CHAPTER XIX.

THE REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION OF
SHIPS AND SEAMEN,

The Shipping Industry is subject to the provisions of the
Merchant Shipping Act, which is the longest Act on the Statute
Book, The responsibility for its administration is vested in several
Government Departments.

The Board of Trade is charged with the duty of not only
drawing up rules and regulations for the safeguarding of life and
property at sea but of ensuring that they are adhered to ; such, for
example, as the Load Line Regulations which are now International
in application, the carriage of goods by sea, life-saving appliances
on board ship, navigational apparatus, registration of ships, inquiry
into casualties, shipping and discharging crews and their accommoda-
tion on board, certification of masters, mates, engineers and
lifeboatmen.

The Customs and Excise is the office through which ships are
registered as having cleared inwards and outwards at British ports.
All goods imported into the country or exported must be recorded
and vouched for at the Custom House and duty thereon paid, or
guaranteed, before they are released for shipment.

The Ministry of Health is responsible for granting pratique to
vessels arriving from overseas, and the visiting medical officer
decides whether the ship is healthy, suspect or infected. The
inspection of the crew accommodation from a sanitary point of
view is carried out by this Department and also the deratisation of

The Home Office is concerned with the administration of the
Factory Act as applied to docks and ships.
The Ministry of Labour, through its exchanges, deals with
questions of employment, unemployment, payment of benefits, etc,
538