PART V.-Estate Duties. 13. Section 5, sub-section 2, of "The Finance Act, 1894," shall be read and have effect as if the following words had been inserted at the end thereof: "and who if on his death subsequent limitations under the settlement take effect in respect of such property was sui juris at the time of his death or had been sui juris at any time while so competent to dispose of the property." 14. Where in the case of a death occurring after the commencement of this Act settlement estate duty is paid in respect of any property contingently settled, and it is thereafter shown that the contingency has not arisen, and cannot arise, the said duty paid in respect of such property shall be repaid. PART VI.-Miscellaneous. 15. Notwithstanding anything in "The Suez Canal Shares Act, 1876," or "The Finance Act, 1894," any money paid into the Exchequer, whether before or after the passing of this Act, in respect of the capital of Suez Canal shares drawn for repayment shall be issued and applied in like manner as the new sinking fund. 16. Section 57, sub-section 9, of "The Taxes Management Act, 1880," is hereby repealed; and it shall be lawful for the General Commissioners to permit any barrister or solicitor to plead before them on any appeal for the appellant or officer either viva voce or by writing. 17. This Act may be cited as "The Finance Act, 1898." 18. The Acts specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent in the third column of that Schedule mentioned. ACT of the British Parliament, to amend the Law with regard to the provision for the Payment of certain Expenses under "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894,"* and with regard to the Levying of Light Dues. [61 & 62 Vict., c. 44.] [August 12, 1898.] BE it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1.-(1.) As from the commencement of this Act (a.) All sums accounted for and paid to the Mercantile Marine Fund, except the light dues or other sums mentioned in paragraph 1 of section 676 of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894," shall be paid into the Exchequer ; (b.) All expenses charged on and payable out of the Mercantile Marine Fund, except the expenses relating to lighthouses, buoys, and beacons mentioned in paragraph 1 of section 677 of the same Act, and except also any expenses incurred by a general lighthouse authority under section 531 of the same Act, shall, so far as they are not paid by any private person, be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament; (c.) The said excepted sums shall be accounted for and paid to, and the said excepted expenses shall be charged on and payable out of a fund which shall be called the General Lighthouse Fund; and references in Part XI and in sections 531 and 679 of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894," to the Mercantile Marine Fund shall be construed as references to the General Lighthouse Fund. (2.) The General Lighthouse Fund shall be applied to the payment of the expenses by this Act charged thereon, and to no other purpose whatever. (3.) The amount standing at the commencement of this Act to the credit of the Mercantile Marine Fund shall be carried to the credit of the General Lighthouse Fund, and the liabilities of the Mercantile Marine Fund existing at the commencement of this Act shall be discharged out of the General Lighthouse Fund. 2.-(1.) All Colonial light dues shall, after the commencement of this Act, be carried to the General Lighthouse Fund, subject to the prior payment thereout of any sums payable on account of money secured on those dues at the commencement of this Act in accordance with the conditions on which the money is secured. (2.) All sums which at the commencement of this Act, are * Vol. LXXXVI, page 633. standing to the credit of the accounts kept by the Board of Trade with respect to Colonial light dues (including any sum standing to the credit of the Basses Lights Fund), shall be transferred and paid to the General Lighthouse Fund, but shall remain subject to any existing charges thereon. (3.) All expenses incurred in constructing or maintaining any Colonial lights, and the contributions made by Her Majesty's Government in respect of the lighthouse on Cape Spartel, Morocco, shall, after the commencement of this Act, be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund. (4.) Sections 661, 662, and 663 of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894" (which relate to the advance and borrowing of money for the purpose of the construction and repair of lighthouses), shall apply in the case of Colonial lights as they apply in the case of other lighthouses, buoys, or beacons. (5.) All expenses incurred after the commencement of this Act by the Board of Trade or any of the general lighthouse authorities in making and maintaining communication between lighthouses and the shore shall be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund: Provided that such communication shall be available for private messages at reasonable charges, so far as may be compatible with the efficiency and safety of the lighthouse service, and all sums received in respect thereof shall be paid to the General Lighthouse Fund. 3. Such fees shall be paid in respect of the registration, transfer (including transmission), and mortgage of British ships as the Board of Trade, with the consent of the Treasury, determine, not exceeding those specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and all such fees shall be paid into the Exchequer: Provided that fees shall not be payable under this section in respect of vessels solely employed in fishing or sailing-ships of under 100 tons. 4. Section 193 of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894" (which relates to the recovery of expenses incurred on account of distressed seamen), shall extend to expenses incurred under that Act on account of any distressed seamen within the meaning of that Act, except where it is certified in pursuance of section 188 of the Act, that the cause of a seaman being left behind is desertion or disappearance; and paragraphs (a) and (b) in sub-section 1 of the said section 193 shall be repealed. 5.-(1.) On and after the commencement of this Act the general lighthouse authorities shall levy light dues with respect to the voyages made by ships or by way of periodical payment, and not with respect to the lights which a ship passes or from which it derives benefit, and the dues so levied shall take the place of the dues now levied by those authorities. (2.) The scale and rules set out in the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of the levying of light dues in pursuance of this Act; but Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, alter, either generally or with respect to particular classes of cases the scale or rules and the exemptions therefrom. (3.) Before any Order in Council is made under this section, the draft thereof shall be laid before each House of Parliament for not less than thirty days on which that House is sitting, and if either House, before the expiration of the thirty days during which the draft has been laid before it, presents an address to Her Majesty against the draft, or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon; but this shall be without prejudice to the making of any new draft Order. 6. On proof to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that a British ship has during any financial year carried, in accordance with the scale and regulations to be made by the Board of Trade, with the concurrence of the Treasury, boys between the ages of 15 and 19, there shall be paid to the owner of the ship, out of moneys provided by Parliament, an allowance not exceeding one-fifth of the light dues paid during that year in respect of that ship: Provided that no such payment shall be made in respect of any boy unless he has enrolled himself in the Royal Naval Reserve, and entered into an obligation to present himself for service when called upon, in accordance with rules to be issued by the Admiralty. The scale and regulations aforesaid may be modified from time to time by the Board of Trade with the concurrence of the Treasury. This section shall continue in force until the 31st day of March, 1905, and no longer, unless Parliament otherwise enact. 7. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires The expression "Colonial Lights" means any lighthouses, buoys, or beacons on or near the coast of a British possession, and maintained by the Board of Trade out of moneys provided by Parliament or out of Colonial light dues, and includes the lighthouses mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act. The expression "Basses Lights Fund" means the fund referred to in section 5 of "The Public Works Loans Act, 1887," formed by the dues levied in respect of the Basses lights. Other expressions have the same meaning as in "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894." 8. The enactments mentioned in the Fourth Schedule to this Act, are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule. 9.-(1.) This Act may be cited as "The Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898." (2.) This Act shall be construed as one with "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894," and that Act and "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1897," "The Merchant Shipping (Exemption from Pilotage) Act, 1897," and this Act may be cited together as "The Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1898." (3.) This Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1899. SCHEDULES. FIRST SCHEDULE. Table of Maximum Fees to be paid on the Registration, Transfer, and 200 Vessels 100 to 200 tons gross with 10s. for every additional 100 tons, or fraction of 100. 2.-TRANSFER AND MORTGAGE. 2. On transfer, transmission, registry anew, transfer of registry, mortgage, and transfer of mortgage. According to the gross tonnage represented by the ships or shares of ships transferred, &c. (e.g., the transfer of a share in a ship of 6,400 tons to be reckoned as the transfer of 100 tons). and a further fee of 2s. 6d. for every additional 50 tons, or part of 50 tons, up to 500 tons, after which 28. 6d. for every 100 tons, or part of 100 tons. SECOND SCHEDULE. Scale of Payments. 1. 1d. per ton per voyage for home-trade sailing-ships. |