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

The following is an extract from a memorandum received from the Deputy Director of Navigation, Hobart, in which he reported that a seaman landed ex the s.s. Westralia had subsequently died in hospital:

3. ... wires had been exchanged between the relatives of the deceased in Sydney and the hospital authorities regarding the disposal of the body. As a result, Messrs Clark Bros Undertakers of Hobart are preparing the body for transportation to Sydney (in the s.s. Kanna leaving here on 31st instant) for burial there.
4. Section 127 of the Navigation Act provides that, in case of death, the expenses-if any-of a seaman's burial shall be defrayed by the owners of the ship.
5. In the ordinary course of events, the burial of A. would have taken place at Hobart, and there would have been no question as to the liability of the owners for the expenses in connection therewith. The relatives of the deceased have, however, complicated the matter by requesting that the body be forwarded to Sydney for burial.
6. It does not appear from a reading of section 127 that it was ever contemplated that a deceased seaman's body should be conveyed back to his home port for burial. I should be glad of the Solicitor-General's opinion as to whether the owners of the

Westralia are liable for-

1. any of the expenses incurred in Hobart in connection with the removal of the body;
2. any portion or all of the freight and shipping charges;
3. the burial expenses in Sydney; or
4. only to the extent of the expenses that would have been incurred if the seaman had been buried in Hobart.

Section 127 (1) of the Navigation Act 1912-1920 is as follows:

127 (1) If the master or a seaman or apprentice belonging to a ship-

1. receives any hurt or injury or contracts disease in the service of the ship; or
2. suffers from any illness (not being venereal disease, or an illness due to his own wilful act or default, or to his own misbehaviour),

the expense of providing the necessary surgical and medical advice, attendance, and medicine, and also the expense of the maintenance of the master, seaman or apprentice until he is cured, or dies, or is brought or taken back, if shipped in the King's Dominions, to the port where, in accordance with his agreement, he is entitled to be discharged, or such other port as is mutually agreed upon with the approval of the proper authority, and of his conveyance thither, and in case of death the expense (if any) of his burial, shall be defrayed by the owner of the ship, without any deduction therefor from his wages.

The expense which is to be defrayed by the owner may be divided into the following items:

The expense of-

1. providing surgical or medical advice attendance and medicine; and
2. maintenance until the seaman is cured or dies or is brought or taken back, if shipped in the King's Dominions, to the port of discharge mentioned in the agreement or another port agreed upon with the approval of the proper authority; and
3. the seaman's conveyance to such port; and
4. in case of death, of his burial.

The reference in paragraph (b) to the death of the seaman is for the purpose of determining the liability for maintenance, which liability ceases upon the first happening of either of the events, cure, death or return.

An obligation to pay the expense of his conveyance to a return port applies to the conveyance of the seaman, and not to the conveyance of the body of the seaman after his death.

The expenses required to be met in the case of death are those of the burial (if any). In my opinion the expenses of the conveyance of the body of a seaman for burial in his home port are not covered by the words of the section and there is no obligation on the shipowner to meet such expenses.

[Vol. 19, p. 178]