A lugger named the Baltia, the property of the Wyben Pearling Company, has been sold to Shoijima & Co., of Thursday Island.

As the property of the Wyben Pearling Company, the vessel is registered under the Merchant Shipping Act. The purchasers, Shoijima & Co., are not qualified to own a British ship. It is understood that the purchasers desire to remove the vessel to the Solomon Islands trade. Regulation IS of the War Precautions (Shipping) Regulations provides that:

From and after the date of these Regulations no vessel registered in Australia or engaged in the coasting trade or any share therein shall be transferred, and no contract or agreement for the transfer of any such vessel or share therein shall be entered into unless the consent in writing of the Prime Minister has first been obtained.

So long, therefore, as the vessel is registered in Australia, the consent of the Prime Minister is required. I understand that the consent of the Prime Minister has not been given, and an offence against the Regulations therefore appears to have been committed.

The vessel having been sold to a person who is not qualified to own a British ship, the question arises as to whether a permit to close the vessel's registry can now be legally refused, and upon this question the papers have been referred to me for advice.

Section 21 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, as amended by the Act of 1906, provides that, in the event of a registered ship ceasing, by reason of a transfer to persons not qualified to be owners of British ships, to be a British ship, every owner of the ship or of any share in the ship shall, immediately on obtaining knowledge of the event, if no notice has already been given to the registrar, give notice thereof to the registrar at her port of registry, and that registrar shall make an entry thereof in the registry book, and the registry of the ship in that book shall be considered as closed except so far as relates to any unsatisfied mortgages or existing certificates of mortgage entered therein.

In view of this provision there is, in my opinion, no legal power to refuse to close the registry notwithstanding that a transfer of the vessel appears to have taken place in contravention of the War Precautions (Shipping) Regulations.

[Vol. 16, p. 478]