Merchant Shipping Act 1894

310 Evidence of bond.

(1) Where an emigrant ship is bound to a British possession the chief officer of customs at the port of clearance shall certify on one part of the master's bond that it has been duly executed by the master of the ship and the other person bound, and shall forward the same to the governor of the said possession or to such person as the governor may appoint for that purpose.

(2) The certificate shall, in any court of a British possession in which the bond may be put in suit, be conclusive evidence of the due execution of the bond by the master and the other person bound, and it shall not be necessary to prove the handwriting of the officer of customs who signed the certificate, nor that he was at the time of signing it chief officer of customs at the port of clearance.

(3) Any such bond shall not be put in suit in a British possession after the expiration of three months next after the arrival of the ship in that possession, nor in the British Islands after the expiration of twelve months next after the return of the ship and of the master to the British Islands.