The Comptroller-General of Customs has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

Adverting to his opinion of 24.1.22⁽¹⁾, relative to the above, I shall be glad if the Solicitor-General will be good enough to give further consideration to this matter, and to advise as to the manner in which the matters dealt with in items (a) to (f) of section 217A may best be applied by regulation to ships other than those coming within the scope of the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

Certain other sections of the Navigation Act, it is realised, give power to deal by regulation with the life-saving appliances (sections 191 and 215) and apparatus for preventing or extinguishing fires (section 191). Section 215 also provides that the prescribed life-saving appliances 'shall be used and kept available for use as prescribed', whilst section 235 provides that the master of every ship registered in Australia or engaged in the coasting trade shall 'exercise his crew in collision, boat, and fire drills in such manner, and at such intervals, as are prescribed'.

None of these provisions satisfactorily provide, however, for the application to ships other than those covered by the Convention mentioned of regulations dealing with the items of section 217A mentioned above. There is apparently no power, for instance, to deal by regulation, in relation to ships outside the Convention, with the internal arrangement and lighting of ships (Art. LIII of the Convention), the manning of boats and certificates of lifeboatmen (Art. LIV, regs. 47 and 48).

Unless the general power to make regulations, conferred by section 425, is sufficient to enable these matters to be dealt with, it appears desirable that section 217A be amended in order to cover not only such ships as come within the scope of the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea but also such others as may be prescribed.

If the Solicitor-General considers that the amendment of this section is desirable, I shall be glad if he will kindly advise as to the manner in which such may best be effected.

Adverting once more to the Solicitor-General's opinion above-mentioned, it may be pointed out that it was not intended, in my memorandum of 28.11.21, quoted therein, to suggest that the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was limited in its application to state-owned vessels. That it did so was due to a typist's error, the words 'owned in some state a party to the Convention' having been rendered, by inadvertence, as 'owned by some state a party to the Convention'.

None of the sections mentioned in the above memorandum are, in my opinion, of such scope as to authorise the making of regulations applying to vessels not subject to the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea the comprehensive provisions of that Convention.

I am accordingly of opinion that the matter can only be dealt with by amendment of the Act.

It is suggested that the necessary amendment be effected-

(a) by altering section 215 (1) to read-

215 (1) The Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for requiring-

1. that life-saving appliances shall be carried on ships and shall be used and kept available for use as prescribed;
2. that precautions for protection against fire shall be observed on ships; and
3. that so much of the provisions of the Convention for Safety of Life at Sea as relates to life-saving appliances and fire protection shall be observed on ships (whether the provisions of the Convention apply to the ships or not),

and determining to which classes of ships those provisions of the Convention shall apply and in particular prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed with respect to-

1. the internal arrangement and lighting of ships;
2. the manning of boats;
3. certificates of lifeboatmen;
4. the prevention, detection, and extinction of fires on board ship;
5. the mustering and duties of the crew in case of accident; and
6. practice and drills with a view to action in emergencies.

2 The penalty for any breach of any regulation made under this section shall be-

1. on the owner (if in fault), not exceeding One hundred pounds;
2. on the master (if in fault) not exceeding Fifty pounds;

1. by adding as sub-section (3) the present sub-section (2) inserting after the word 'Australia' the words 'to which the provisions of the Convention do not apply';
2. by inserting in section 216 after the word 'Australia' the words 'to which the provisions of the Convention for Safety of Life at Sea do not apply'; and
3. by omitting section 217A.

[Vol. 18, p. 443]

(1)Opinion No.1186.