National Security (Marine War Risks Insurance) Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1942. No. 317.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT 1939-1940.*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the National Security Act 1939-1940.

Dated this eighteenth day of July, 1942.

(SGD.) GOWRIE

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Defence.

 

National Security (Marine War Risks Insurance) Regulations.

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the National Security (Marine War Risks Insurance) Regulations.

Administration.

2. These Regulations shall be administered by the Treasurer.

Repeal.

3. The National Security (Marine War Risks Insurance) Regulations (being Statutory Rules 1941, No. 47, as amended by Statutory Rules 1941, No. 209 and 1942, Nos. 71, 220 and 253) are repealed.

Definitions.

4. In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—

“Australian ship” means a ship registered in Australia;

“ship” includes every boat or other description of vessel used for any purpose on the sea or in navigation not ordinarily propelled by oars only and includes the hull, materials and outfit, stores and provisions for the officers and crew, the machinery, boilers, fuel and engine stores, and, in the case of a ship engaged in a special trade, the ordinary fittings requisite for that trade;

“the Board” means the Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board constituted under these Regulations;

 

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on , 1942.

4522.—Price 5d. 25/13.7.1942.

“the repealed Regulations” means the Regulations repealed by these Regulations;

“war risks” means—

(a) the risks excluded from the Standard Form of English Marine Policy by the following clause:—

“Warranted free from capture, seizure, arrest, restraint or detainment, and the consequences thereof or of any attempt thereat; also from the consequences of hostilities or warlike operations, whether there be a declaration of war or not, civil war, revolution rebellion insurrection or civil strife arising therefrom, or piracy”;

(b) loss or damage caused by—

(i) hostilities, warlike operations, civil war, revolution, rebellion or insurrection, or by civil strife arising therefrom; or

(ii) mines, torpedoes, bombs or other engines of war;

(c) loss or damage caused by strikers, locked-out workmen or persons taking part in labour disturbances, riots or civil commotions;

(d) destruction of, or damage to, property caused by persons acting maliciously;

(e) liabilities of shipowners in respect of ships for—

(i) loss of life or personal injury to masters, officers, crew and pilots, and hospital, medical and funeral expenses resulting therefrom;

(ii) repatriating masters, officers and crew;

(iii) loss or damage to the clothes or effects of masters, officers and crew;

(iv) wages of masters, officers and crew during unemployment consequent on shipwreck; and

(v) the cost of removal of wreck,

when any such liability arises from any of the risks specified in the preceding paragraphs of this definition;

(f) liabilities of shipowners arising out of the capture or detention by the enemy of masters, officers and crew; and

(g) expenses incurred by shipowners during the detention of ships in consequence of the existence of a state of war between His Majesty and any other power, or under the instructions or advice of any Commonwealth Department or Commonwealth Authority issued or given in expectation or in consequence of any such event,

and includes such other risks as the Treasurer, by order published in the Gazette, declares to be war risks for the purposes of these Regulations.

 

Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board.

5.—(1.) For the purposes of these Regulations there shall be a Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board, which shall be constituted in the manner provided by these Regulations.

(2.) The Board shall be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and may sue or be sued in its corporate name.

(3.) The Board shall consist of a Chairman and such other members (not exceeding three) as the Governor-General thinks fit.

(4.) The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Governor-General and shall hold office during his pleasure.

(5.) The Governor-General may appoint a Judge of a Court of a State to be the Chairman of the Board.

(6.) The Chairman and other members of the Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board holding office under the repealed Regulations immediately prior to the commencement of these Regulations shall be deemed to have been appointed the Chairman and other members, respectively, of the Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board under these Regulations.

(7.) All rights, property and assets and all obligations and liabilities which, immediately prior to the commencement of these Regulations, were vested in or imposed on the Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board constituted under the repealed Regulations shall, by force of this regulation, be vested in or imposed on the Commonwealth Marine War Risks Insurance Board constituted under these Regulations, and in any contract, agreement or other instrument to which the Board constituted under the repealed Regulations was a party any reference to that Board shall be read as a reference to the Board constituted under these Regulations.

Remuneration of members of Board.

6. The members of the Board shall be paid such remuneration and allowances (if any) as the Governor-General determines.

Board not subject to taxation.

7. The income, property and operations of the Board shall not be subject to taxation under any law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth, and no policy or other instrument issued, made, given or entered into by the Board shall be subject to stamp duty under any such law.

Appointment of officers.

8.—(1.) The Board may appoint such officers and employees as are necessary to assist the Board in exercising its powers under these Regulations and officers and employees so appointed shall hold office on such terms and conditions as the Board determines.

(2.) Persons so appointed shall not be subject to the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1922-1941.

(3.) If an officer of the Public Service of the Commonwealth is so appointed, his services as an officer or employee under these Regulations shall, for the purpose of determining his existing and accruing rights, be taken into account as if it were a service in the Public Service of the Commonwealth and the Officers’ Rights Declaration Act 1922-1940 shall apply as if this regulation were a section of an Act and that Act and section were specified in the Schedule to the Officers’ Rights Declaration Act 1922-1940.

Powers of Board.

9.—(1.) The Board shall have power to insure any person (including the Commonwealth) —

(a) against any war risk to which—

(i) any Australian ship;

(ii) any unregistered ship the owner of which resides or carries on business in Australia; or

(iii) any British or allied ship which appears to the Board to trade, or to be about to trade, in Australian waters or from an Australian port or ports,

is or may be subject;

(b) against any war risk to which the master, officers, crew or pilot of any ship specified in sub-paragraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of the last preceding paragraph, or any other person, or any matter or thing, in any way connected with any such ship, is or may be subject;

(c) against any war risk to which goods being carried by sea from a port or place in Australia to any other port or place in Australia are or may be subject;

(d) against any war risk to which any goods which are afloat in Australia aboard a barge, hulk or other craft (whether for the purposes of storage, carriage or otherwise) are or may be subject; and

(e) against any war risk to which goods specified by the Treasurer, by order published in the Gazette, to be goods to which this paragraph applies, are or may be subject while those goods are being carried by sea from any country to Australia, and against any war risk to which any such goods are or may be subject while in transit from the manufacturer’s or supplier’s warehouse at the port or place of shipment of the goods in the country of export to the ship in which they are to be carried to Australia.

(2.) Any contract of insurance in respect of a ship or of any goods entered into in pursuance of the power conferred by this regulation may be for any amount not exceeding such amount as the Board is satisfied represents the full insurable value of the ship or goods.

Incidental powers of Board.

10. The Board shall have, in addition to the powers specifically conferred upon it by the last preceding regulation, power to do anything incidental to the exercise of any of its powers under these Regulations.

Certain contracts of marine war risk insurance not to be made except with Board.

11.—(1.) A person shall not enter into any contract of insurance against any war risk—

(a) to which any Australian ship is or may be subject; or

(b) to which the master, officers, crew or pilot of any Australian ship, or any other person, or any matter or thing, in any way connected with any such ship, is or may be subject,

unless the contract is entered into with, or with the consent of, the Board.

(2.) After such date as the Treasurer, by order published in the Gazette, specifies to be the date from which this sub-regulation shall

 

have effect, a person shall not enter into any contract of insurance against any war risk to which any goods being carried by sea from a port or place in Australia to any other port or place in Australia are or may be subject, unless the contract is entered into with, or with the consent of, the Board.

Goods not to be insured against war risks unless insured against marine risks.

12. Except with the consent in writing of the Board, a person shall not enter into any contract of insurance with the Board against any war risk to which any goods are or may be subject unless a contract of marine insurance has been entered into covering the goods against corresponding marine losses.

Marine War Risks Insurance Trust Account.

13.—(1.) For the purposes of these Regulations, there shall be a Trust Account, to be known as the Marine War Risks Insurance Trust Account, which shall be a Trust Account for the purposes of section 62a of the Audit Act 1901-1934.

(2.) There shall be credited to the Trust Account—

(a) the amount standing to the credit of the Trust Account referred to in regulation 10 of the repealed Regulations immediately prior to the commencement of these Regulations;

(b) all moneys received by the Board in the exercise of its powers under these Regulations; and

(c) all moneys advanced to the Board, or appropriated by the Parliament, for the purposes of these Regulations.

(3.) There shall be debited to the Trust Account all expenditure incurred by the Board in the exercise of its powers under these Regulations.

Guarantee by Commonwealth.

14. The Commonwealth, by force of this regulation, guarantees payment of any debt or other liability incurred by the Board in the exercise of its powers under these Regulations or imposed on the Board by these Regulations.

Investigation.

15. The Treasurer may refer to the Board for investigation and report any matter relating to insurance against war risks and the Board shall make an investigation and report accordingly.

Arrangements with States.

16.—(1.) The Governor-General may arrange with the Governor in Council of any State for the performance by an officer in the Public Service of the State or in the service of any authority of the State, for the Board, of any work or services in connexion with the exercise of the powers of the Board under these Regulations.

(2.) In any such case the Governor-General may, by agreement with the Governor in Council of the State or otherwise, make arrangements for determining—

(a) the rate of payment to be made by the Board for the work or services to be performed; and

(b) any matters relating to the performance of the work or services.

Annual report.

17. The Board shall, as soon as practicable after the expiration of each financial year, report to the Treasurer generally as to the operation of these Regulations.

 

By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.