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

In connection with the early proclamation of the coasting trade provisions of the Navigation Act, the question has arisen as to when, in point of time, the engagement of an oversea vessel in the coasting trade commences and ends. Section 289, for example, provides that every seaman employed on a ship engaged in any part of the coasting trade shall, subject to any lawful deductions, be entitled to be paid for the period during which the ship is so engaged, wages at the current rates ruling in Australia. In the case of ships trading to places beyond Australia such wages must be paid before the departure of the ship from Australia.

Take for example the case of a vessel of the Orient Line. She arrives, say, at Fremantle on the morning of 1 November, discharges oversea cargo and disembarks passengers. On the afternoon of the following day (2nd) she embarks a number of passengers and loads cargo for Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. After calling at the intermediate ports, she arrives at Sydney, say, on the morning of the 14th and disembarks the balance of her passengers and discharges the cargo taken on board at Fremantle. On the 15th she proceeds to Brisbane and arrives there early on the 18th. She commences the return voyage for Fremantle on 20 November with passengers and cargo, arriving at the latter port on, say, 10 December. She disembarks her interstate passengers, also the cargo for Fremantle and on the following day (11th) embarks passengers and loads cargo for oversea ports, and sails. For what period would the seamen on that vessel be entitled to be paid wages at the standard Australian rates as provided in the Act?

Section 7 of the Act defines engagement in the coasting trade as follows:

A ship shall be deemed to be engaged in the coasting trade, within the meaning of this Act, if she takes on board passengers or cargo at any port in a State, or a Territory which is part of the Commonwealth, to be carried to, and landed or delivered at, any other port in the same State or Territory or in any other State or other such Territory.

From this it would appear that the determining factor is the presence on the ship of either a passenger or a quantity of cargo taken on at one port in a State or Territory, and intended to be landed at another such port. The engagement in the coasting trade would therefore commence from the time at which the passenger or cargo was taken aboard, and would cease immediately the passenger or cargo was landed.

In the example cited, the vessel's engagement in the coasting trade would commence on the taking on board of the passengers and cargo at Fremantle, and would cease on the landing of the last of such at Sydney. It would recommence on the taking on board of the passengers and cargo at Brisbane, and again cease at the landing of the last of such (or of any other passengers or cargo taken on at intermediate ports) at Fremantle.

I do not think that the fact that a ship has not on board, for the time being, any interstate passengers or cargo, is necessarily conclusive that she is not engaged in the coasting trade. If that were so, every ship on the Australian coast would be exempt from the coast-trade provisions during the interval between discharging one lot of passengers and cargo and taking the next on board.

Section 7 of the Act is as follows:

7. A ship shall be deemed to be engaged in the coasting trade, within the meaning of this Act, if she takes on board passengers or cargo at any port in a State, or a Territory which is part of the Commonwealth, to be carried to, and landed or delivered at, any other port in the same State or Territory or in any other State or other such Territory.

I think that that definition must be applied to the particular voyage or employment in which the ship is engaged, the question of whether she is engaged in the coasting trade being decided by consideration of all the facts.

For instance, a vessel plying backwards and forwards between Australian ports and not leaving the Australian coast, would be engaged in the coasting trade all the time, though she might happen to be travelling empty between particular ports.

So also an oversea ship which in the course of a voyage along the coast of Australia takes interstate passengers or cargo, should, from the time she does so, be considered as engaged in the coasting trade during the remainder of that voyage along the coast.

In the example submitted, I think the answer would depend on whether in fact the voyage from Sydney to Brisbane were part of the original voyage or the commencement of a new voyage. If it were part of a continuous voyage, I think

she would be engaged in the coasting trade from 2 November to 18 November, and from 20 November to 10 December; and perhaps also during the interval from 18 November to 20 November.

[Vol. 16, p. 307]