21

A.—6

position which will take its place, indicated a number of matters connected with merchant shipping in which, in our view, uniformity of laws throughout the British Commonwealth is of great importance in the interests of all, but those who may be entrusted with the duty of preparing the terms of agreements and the form of legislation to implement those agreements may find it desirable to include other matters besides those which have been specifically mentioned. (b) For instance, we recommend that there should be uniformity with regard to the qualifications for ownership, but we consider that uniformity is also desirable in such matters as transfer, mortgage, measurement of ships and tonnage, which are ancillary to the question of qualifications for ownership. It is quite probable that uniformity in such matters will be found to be practicable. The co-ordination of the various registers is also a matter which might well be considered with a view to an arrangement being made. 2. Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890. 110. At the present time, Admiralty Courts in all the .Dominions, except in the Irish Free State, are constituted under the provisions of the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the Irish Free State, Admiralty laws are administered under the provisions of the Courts of Admiralty (Ireland) Act, 1867, and accordingly different considerations apply there. 111. Prior to the enactment of the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, Admiralty law was administered in the Dominions or in the territories now forming the Dominions, other than Ireland, in Vice-Admiralty Courts which were established in the early days under the authority of the Admiralty, and in later years under the authority of enactments passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, which repealed all previous enactments in relation to Vice-Admiralty Courts, provided that every Court of law in a British possession, which is for the time being declared in pursuance of that Act to be a Court of Admiralty, or which, if no such declaration is in force in the possession, has therein original unlimited civil jurisdiction, shall be a Court of Admiralty, and that the jurisdiction of such Colonial Court of Admiralty should, subject to the provisions of the Act, be the same as the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court in England, whether existing by virtue of any statute or otherwise. The Act also provided that any colonial law " shall not confer any jurisdiction which is not by this Act conferred upon a colonial Court of Admiralty." Apparently the intention was that the provisions of the Act should cover the whole field of Admiralty jurisdiction to the exclusion of any legislation by a Dominion. Rules for regulating the procedure and practice in the Court were authorized to be made by a colonial Court of Admiralty, but such rules should not come into operation until approved by His Majesty in Council. Any colonial law made in pursuance of the Act which affects the jurisdiction of, or practice or procedure in the Courts, in respect of the jurisdiction conferred by the Act, must, unless previously approved by His Majesty through a Secretary of State, either be reserved for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure thereon or contain a suspending clause providing that such law shall not come into operation until His Majesty's pleasure thereon has been publicly signified in the Dominion in which it is passed. 112. Under a recent decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council it was held that the jurisdiction of an Admiralty Court established under the Act does not march with the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court in England, but was fixed by the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court as it existed when the Act was passed in 1890. 113. Since the year 1890 important additions have been made to the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court in England, and this jurisdiction has not been added to the Courts of Admiralty in the Dominions. The jurisdiction is therefore not uniform at the present time throughout the United Kingdom and the Dominions. Doubts have been expressed as to whether a Dominion in which the Act is in force has legislative authority to increase the jurisdiction of Admiralty Courts in such