STATUTORY RULES.
1952. No. 79.
REGULATIONS UNDER THE LIGHTHOUSES ACT 1911-1949.*
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 Lighthouses Act 1911-1949.
Dated this eleventh day of September, 1952.
W. J. McKell
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command,
Minister of State for Shipping and Transport.
LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHT DUES REGULATIONS.
Part I.—Preliminary.
Citation.
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Lighthouses and Light Dues Regulations.
Parts.
2. These Regulations are divided into Parts, as follows:—
Part I.—Preliminary (Regulations 1-3).
Part II.—Lighthouse Advisory Committee (Regulations 4-12).
Part III—Light Dues (Regulations 13-20).
Repeal.
3.—(1.) The Lighthouses (General) Regulations (comprising Statutory Rules 1930, No. 128; and Statutory Rules 1937, No. 83) are repealed.
(2.) The Commonwealth Light Dues Regulations 1925 (comprising Statutory Rules 1925, No. 163; Statutory Rules 1932, No. 35; Statutory Rules 1934, No. 92; and Statutory Rules 1937, No. 88) are repealed.
Part II.—Lighthouse Advisory Committee.
Definitions.
4. In this Part, unless the contrary intention appears—
“member” means a member of the Committee;
“the Chairman” means the Chairman of the Committee;
“the Committee” means the Lighthouse Advisory Committee appointed under this Part;
“the Department” means the Department of Shipping and Transport;
“the Territory of Papua and New Guinea” has the same meaning as in the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949-1950.
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* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on , 1952
8100/47.—Price 5d. 22/21.8.1952.
Lighthouse Advisory Committee.
5.—(1.) The Minister may appoint a Lighthouse Advisory Committee which shall consist of—
(a) the Assistant Secretary (Marine) of the Department;
(b) the Director of Lighthouses;
(c) the Director of Navigation;
(d) an officer of the Department of Works;
(e) an officer of the Royal Australian Navy with hydrographic qualifications;
(f) a representative of certificated navigating officers and other seamen;
(g) a representative of Australian coasting shipping interests;
(h) a representative of oversea shipping interests;
(i) two representatives of the Department of Territories; and
(j) a representative of the shipping interests of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.
(2.) The members specified in paragraphs (g) and (h) of the last preceding sub-regulation are not entitled to attend meetings of the Committee except when matters relating to aids to navigation on the Australian coast are being considered.
(3.) The members specified in paragraphs (i) and (j) of sub-regulation (1.) of this regulation are not entitled to attend meetings of the Committee except when matters relating to aids to navigation on the coasts of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea are being considered.
(4.) The Assistant Secretary (Marine) of the Department shall be the Chairman of the Committee.
Meetings of the Committee.
6. Meetings of the Committee shall be convened by the Chairman by notice in writing, specifying the time and place of meeting, to each member entitled to attend the meeting.
Deputy of Chairman.
7.—(1.) The Chairman may appoint an officer of the Marine Branch of the Department to be his deputy.
(2.) In the absence of the Chairman from a meeting, his deputy shall preside at the meeting and, in relation to the meeting, shall have all the powers and functions of the Chairman.
Deputies of members.
8.—(1.) Where a member (other than the Chairman) who is entitled to attend a meeting of the Committee is unable to attend that meeting, he may appoint a person to be his deputy at that meeting.
(2.) A person so appointed has, in the absence from the meeting of the member of whom he is the deputy, all the powers and functions of that member at the meeting.
Quorum and vacancy in the office of member.
9.—(1.) At a meeting, the Chairman, or, if he is not present, the deputy of the Chairman, and five other members form a quorum.
(2.) A vacancy in the office of a member does not invalidate proceedings of the Committee.
Functions of Committee.
10. The Minister may refer to the Committee for advice a matter relating to—
(a) the provision or alteration of lights, marine marks and other aids to navigation; and
(b) the relative order of importance of the provision or alteration of lights, marine marks and other aids to navigation.
Fees, travelling allowance and fares.
11.—(1.) A member, or the deputy of a member, is entitled to receive a fee of Two pounds two shillings for each day or part of a day on which he attends a meeting of the Committee.
(2.) Where, in order to attend a meeting of the Committee, a member, or the deputy of a member, is necessarily absent overnight from his place of residence, he is entitled to receive travelling allowance at the rate of Two pounds ten shillings per day during the time he is necessarily absent from his place of residence.
(3.) Where a member, or the deputy of a member, attends a meeting of the Council held in a city or town other than that in which he resides—
(a) he is entitled, for the purpose of attending the meeting, to travel first-class by rail or air, at the cost of the Commonwealth, from the city or town where he resides to the city or town where the meeting is to be held and, on the completion of the meeting, from the city or town where the meeting was held to the city or town where he resides; or
(b) if he does not travel by rail or air, he is entitled to receive the amount of the first-class rail or air fare, whichever is the less.
(4.) In this regulation, “member” does not include a member who is an officer of the Public Service of the Commonwealth or of the Public Service of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.
Commencement of Part II.
12. This Part shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-one.
Part III.—Light Dues.
Definitions.
13. In this Part, unless the contrary intention appears—
“Australian port” means a port appointed, proclaimed or prescribed as a port under the Customs Act 1901-1951 or under a law of a State;
“home port” means, in relation to a ship, the port notified as such by the owner or agent to the Collector at that port;
“out of commission” means, in relation to a ship—
(a) being moored in a harbour and not engaged in the ordinary employment, including the loading and unloading of passengers or cargo for hire or reward, of a merchant ship; or
(b) being wrecked or stranded while proceeding from one Australian port to another;
“quarter” means a period of three months commencing on the first day of the month of January, April, July or October in any year;
“sea-going ship” includes a ship which, in the course of its voyage to or from an Australian port, passes a lighthouse or marine mark under the control of the Commonwealth;
“tonnage” means net registered tonnage of the ship at the time light dues become payable in respect of the ship.
Payment of light dues.
14. Light dues are payable in accordance with these Regulations in respect of a sea-going ship other than a ship exempt from payment of light dues under regulation 20 of these Regulations.
Rate of light dues.
15. The rate of light dues payable in respect of a ship is Sixpence per ton on the tonnage of the ship.
Light dues—when and to whom payable.
16.—(1.) Light dues in respect of a ship which trades solely between Australian ports, other than a ship to which the next succeeding sub-regulation applies, are payable on the first day of each quarter to the Collector at the home port of the ship or at such other port as the owner or agent of the ship has notified to the Collector at the home port before the date on which the dues become payable.
(2.) Light dues in respect of a ship—
(a) which is being first placed in commission after construction in an Australian port;
(b) which is regularly employed or moored within the limits of an Australian port;
(c) which is exempt from light dues on arrival at an Australian port and while at that port ceases to be exempt from the payment of light dues; or
(d) which is being placed in commission at an Australian port, or being sent to sea from an Australian port, after a period in respect of which light dues have been remitted in respect of the ship under sub-regulation (3.) of regulation 18 of these Regulations,
are payable on the day of departure of the ship from, and to the Collector at, that port and thereafter in accordance with this regulation.
(3.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, light dues in respect of a ship, other than a ship to which sub-regulation (1.) or sub-regulation (2.) of this regulation applies, are payable—
(a) where light dues have not previously been paid in respect of the ship, on the day of its arrival at an Australian port to the Collector at that port;
(b) where the ship arrives at an Australian port after the expiration of a period of three months from the date on which light dues last became payable in respect of the ship, on the day of its arrival at that Australian port to the Collector at that port; and
(c) where the ship is in an Australian port on the day immediately following the expiration of a period of three months from the date on which light dues last became payable in respect of the ship, on that day to the Collector at that port.
(4.) Light dues are not payable in respect of a ship under the last preceding sub-regulation by reason only of the ship arriving at or being in an Australian port—
(a) to take aboard water, provisions or fuel to be used by the ship for completing a voyage previously entered upon;
(b) to disembark a passenger or a member of the crew for urgent medical treatment; or
(c) for shelter, repairs or refitting.
Refund of light dues.
17.—(1.) Where a Collector is satisfied that, for a continuous period of one month or more, a ship in respect of which light dues have been paid for that period has been—
(a) out of commission;
(b) laid up for repairs; or
(c) prevented from putting to sea consequent upon an industrial dispute,
he may refund that part of the light dues which bears to the amount of the light dues payable in respect of the ship for a period of three months the same proportion as the number of days during which the ship was out of commission, laid up or prevented from putting to sea bears to ninety-one days.
(2.) Where light dues have been paid in respect of a ship which has arrived at an Australian port from a place outside Australia, a Collector shall not make a refund of the whole or any part of those light dues under this regulation if—
(a) payments of light dues in respect of the ship have not been made for two consecutive periods of three months; and
(b) the effect of the refund would be to reduce the amount of the light dues paid in respect of the ship to an amount of less than the amount of light dues payable in respect of the ship for a period of three months.
Remission of light dues.
18.—(1.) Where light dues are payable in respect of a ship to which sub-regulation (2.) of regulation 16 of these Regulations applies, the Collector may, unless the ship is departing, either directly or by way of one or more Australian ports, for a place outside Australia, remit that part of those light dues which bears to the amount of those light dues the same proportion as the number of days in the period from the commencement of the quarter in which the light dues are payable to the date immediately preceding the date of departure bears to ninety-one days.
(2.) Where—
(a) light dues have been paid in respect of a ship under sub-regulation (3.) of regulation 16 of these Regulations; and
(b) before the expiration of a period of three months from the date on which those dues became payable further light dues for a quarter become payable under sub-regulation (1.) of that regulation,
the Collector may remit that part of the further light dues which have become payable which bears to the amount of those further light dues the same proportion as the number of days remaining in that period after the commencement of the quarter bears to ninety-one days.
(3.) Where a ship in respect of which light dues have been paid under sub-regulation (1.) of regulation 16 of these Regulations is, for a continuous period of one month or more, being a period which includes the first day of a quarter—
(a) out of commission;
(b) laid up for repairs; or
(c) prevented from putting to sea consequent upon an industrial dispute,
the Collector may remit further payments of light dues until the ship is again placed in commission or is able to put to sea.
Production of receipt for payment of light dues before clearance.
19. A receipt showing that light dues in respect of a ship have been paid shall be produced at the time of the entry outwards of the ship and an officer of Customs shall not grant a clearance or transire for a ship, other than a ship exempt under these Regulations from payment of light dues, until that receipt has been produced to him.
Vessels exempted.
20. A ship is exempt from the payment of light dues if it is—
(a) a ship belonging to the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Navy of a part of Her Majesty’s, dominions or the Navy of a foreign Government, not being a ship engaged in trade or carrying goods under freight or charter;
(b) a ship belonging to the Commonwealth or a State, to an authority of the Commonwealth or a State or to a Territory of the Commonwealth, not being a ship engaged in trade or carrying goods under freight or charter;
(c) a ship engaged wholly in fishing;
(d) a ship (other than a tug or a pleasure yacht) wholly in ballast on which no freight is earned and not carrying a passenger;
(e) a pleasure yacht under twenty-five tons gross register;
(f) a ship under fifteen tons gross register;
(g) a ship belonging to a religious missionary society;
(h) a ship engaged solely in laying or repairing submarine cables;
(i) a hospital ship not engaged in trade or carrying goods under freight or charter;
(j) a ship belonging to the Admiralty engaged in the conveyance of oil fuel for use only by units of the Royal Navy or the Royal Australian Navy; or
(k) a ship requisitioned by the Admiralty or the Department of the Navy for naval service not being a ship engaged in trade or carrying goods under freight or charter.
By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.