1. In this Order-

the term "Government of Western Australia" includes the Governor of Western Australia and any Minister of the Crown and any Department of the Government of Western Australia and any instrumentality of that State;

the term "Merchant Shipping Acts" means and includes any of the Merchant Shipping Acts, any provision of which is by virtue of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 and this Order applicable to Government ships;

the term "Permanent Head of a Department" includes the chief executive officer of an instrumentality of the State of Western Australia;

the term "Western Australia Government ship" means a ship-

2. An application for registry of a Western Australia Government ship shall be made in writing under the hand of the Minister or Permanent Head of a Department. Such application shall contain the following particulars:-

(a)a statement of the name and description of the ship;

(b)a statement of the time when and place where the ship was built, or, if the ship was foreign built and the time and place of building are unknown, a statement to that effect and of her foreign name;

(c)a statement of the nature of the title to the said ship, whether by original construction by or for the Government of Western Australia or by purchase, capture, condemnation, or otherwise, and a list of the documents of title, if any, in case she was not originally constructed by or for the Government of Western Australia;

(d)a statement of the name of the Master.

3. The Registrar of British ships (hereinafter referred to as "the Registrar") shall enter in the register book the following particulars-

(a)a record of the ship as belonging to the Government of Western Australia represented by the Department of (giving the name of the Department);

(b)the name of the port to which the ship belongs;

(c)the particulars stated in the application for registry;

(d)the details comprised in the surveyor's certificate.

4. On the registry of a Western Australia Government ship the Registrar shall retain in his possession the surveyor's certificate and the application for registry and any documents of title mentioned in such application.

5. Upon the transfer of a registered Western Australia Government ship by Bill of Sale the Minister or Permanent Head of a Department for the time being shall be the transferor, and the Bill of Sale shall be in Form A in the proper form prescribed under the principal Act omitting the covenant contained in that form.

6. The application for a certificate of sale referred to in sections 39 to 42 and sections 44 to 46 of the principal Act may be made in respect of a Western Australia Government ship by the Minister or Permanent Head of a Department.

7. The person to whom the management of any Western Australia Government ship is entrusted by the Western Australia Government shall be deemed to be the managing owner of the ship within the meaning of section 59 of the principal Act and shall be registered as provided by subsection (1) of that section.

8. Where any provision of the Merchant Shipping Acts which, by virtue of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 and this Order, is applicable to Western Australia Government ships, imposes any duty or liability or confers any right or power upon or contemplates any act being performed by the owner of a ship, such duty, liability, right or power shall, subject always to the other provisions of this Order, be carried out, borne or exercised by the Permanent Head of the Department in respect of which the ship is registered.

9. The term "seamen" in section 113 of the principal Act shall not be deemed to mean or include any person employed on tugs, dredgers or similar craft owned by the Government of Western Australia.

10. The powers conferred by sections 530 and 532 to 534 of the principal Act shall not be exercised in the case of a Western Australia Government ship without the consent of the Government of Western Australia except in regard to lights, buoys and other matters or things necessary for the immediate protection of traffic.

11. No provision in the Merchant Shipping Acts providing for the forfeiture or detention of a ship by reason of non-compliance with an enactment therein contained shall have any application to a Western Australia Government ship.

12. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Merchant Shipping Acts and this Order the Master of a Western Australia Government ship shall not be liable for any penalty, debt or damage under any provision of the Merchant Shipping Acts in respect of anything done or omitted in pursuance of an Order of the Government of Western Australia.

13. In the application of section 115(6) and section 115A(7) of the principal Act to a Western Australia Government ship, for the references to a period of six months there shall be substituted references to a period of twelve months.

14. The following sections of the Merchant Shipping Acts shall not apply to Western Australia Government ships registered in pursuance of this Order namely:-

(i)the principal Act, sections 1, 2, 8 to 12, 16, 23, 27 to 38, 39 to 42 (so far as relating to mortgages), 43, 44 to 46 (so far as relating to mortgages), 48, 49, 50, 52, 54 to 58, 59(2) and (3), 62, 68 to 72, 74, 76, 84, 85, 87, 103(4), 105, 108, 109, 131 to 147, 155 to 158, 162 to 168, 171(2), 174, 182 to 184, 210, 224(2), 262, 263, 267 to 431, 446 to 450, 457, 459 to 461, 468, 472, 492 to 501, 520(b), 567, 568, 634 to 665, 667 to 679, 689(2), (3) and (4), 692, 693 and 729(1)(d) and (3) (so far as relating to any papers or documents belonging to or in the possession of the Crown).

(ii)The Merchant Shipping Act 1897-the whole Act.

(iii)The Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act 1898-the whole Act.

(iv)The Merchant Shipping Act 1906-sections 9, 13 to 27, 35, 38(2), so much thereof as is subsequent to the word "Master" where it occurs, (3), 51 to 53, 57, 76, 77, 81 and 83.

(v)The Merchant Shipping (Seamen's Allotment) Act 1911-the whole Act.

(vi)Any sections of the said Acts that are inconsistent with the laws of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, including any regulations or other instruments whatsoever made under those laws, in so far as they apply to Western Australia Government ships;

Provided always that no provision of the Merchant Shipping Acts which, according to a reasonable construction, would not apply in the case of Western Australia Government ships shall be deemed to apply to such ships by reason only that its application is not hereby expressly excluded.

15. Any instrument for use in a port of registry outside Western Australia may be signed on behalf of a Minister or Permanent Head of a Department by a person authorised in that behalf by the Government of Western Australia.

16. The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of this Order as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

17. This Order shall come into operation on the 4th March 1964, and may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Western Australia Government Ships) Order 1964.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order makes provision for the registration of Western Australia Government ships as British ships for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping Acts.