BOATS

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Boats Ordinance.

2. Subject to the provisions contained in section 28, no boat shall be used for carrying goods or passengers for hire from any port* or place in Sri Lanka to any other port or place in Sri Lanka, or in any portion of the sea adjacent to Sri Lanka, or in any river, canal, lake, or inland water within the same, unless the owner thereof shall have obtained a licence for the same from the proper authority having jurisdiction within the province or town in which such owner resides or exercises his calling under the provisions of this Ordinance.

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5. The proper authority shall number each licence issued by him consecutively, commencing at the beginning of every year with the number 1, and shall keep a book in which he shall register all the particulars stated in the licence granted by him, and every entry in such register shall be numbered in accordance with the number of the licence to which it has reference. Any authenticated copy or extract from the register shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.

6. It shall be lawful for the proper authority to withdraw a licence, after the same shall have been issued, if he has reason to believe that a boat is out of repair and not fit to be used for the purpose for which it was licensed, or if the owner shall commit any breach of the provisions of this Ordinance or the by-laws made thereunder :

Provided that when the proper authority withdraws a licence after it is issued, he may, if satisfied that the boat has been repaired and is fit to be used for the purpose of carrying goods or passengers, reissue such licence free of stamp duty.

7. The owner of every boat shall paint or cause to be painted, and shall keep painted, in arable figures, and not less than nine inches in length, in white or yellow on a black ground, or in black on a white or yellow ground, on a conspicuous part on both sides of the bow of such boat, in a legible and distinct manner, the number of such boat as mentioned in the licence, preceded by a distinguishing letter in Sinhala denoting the port or place of registry; and in the case of any boat propelled by a sail or sails, such number and letter shall be similarly painted on such sail or sails; and the licence of such boat may be withheld until it is so marked.

8. In case any boat so licensed as aforesaid shall be transferred to another by sale, gift, or otherwise, the person to whom the same shall be so transferred shall notify the same to the proper authority, in order that such transfer may be entered in the book of licences and a new licence issued to the person to whom it shall be so transferred.

9. If any boat shall be sunk, destroyed, or rendered wholly unfit for use, the owner thereof shall notify the same to the proper authority, in order that the number may be erased from the book of licences.

10. The original of the licence shall be retained by the owner of the boat, but the person in charge of the boat shall have the duplicate of such licence, and be ready to produce the same whenever thereunto required.

11. The proper authority may, on his being satisfied that any licence has been lost or destroyed by accident, issue an exemplification of the licence on the application of the owner of the boat.

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14. The owner of every licensed boat used for the conveyance of goods for hire shall, in the absence of any specified contract between him or the person in charge of such boat and any other party for the conveyance of such goods, be liable for any loss of or injury to any goods, articles, or property whatsoever delivered to be carried therein for hire, which shall be occasioned by the neglect or misconduct of such owner or of any boatman, book- keeper, or other person or servant in his employ or in charge of any such boat; and such liability shall be deemed to continue in the person who shall have made the application under section 3, unless and until he shall have given the notice of transfer required by section 8 :

Provided, however, that nothing in this section contained shall be construed to limit or in anywise affect the liability of any such owner as a common carrier, if he shall be such.

15. No such owner shall be liable for the loss of or injury to any article or articles or property of the description following, that is to say;gold or silver coin of this or any other country, or any gold or silver in a manufactured or unmanufactured state, or any precious stones, jewellery, watches, clocks, or timepieces of any description, trinkets, bills of exchange, orders, notes, or security for payment of money, stamps, maps, writings, title deeds, paintings, engravings, pictures, gold or silver plate or plated articles, glass, china, opium, silks in a manufactured or unmanufactured state, and whether or not wrought up into other material, or lace, or any of them, contained in any parcel or package which shall have been delivered to be carried for hire, or to accompany the person of any passenger, when the value of such article or articles or property aforesaid contained in such parcel or package shall exceed the sum of fifty rupees, unless at the time of delivery thereof at the office, warehouse, or receiving house of such owner, or to such owner or his boatman, book-keeper, or other servant, for the purpose of being carried, or of accompanying the person of any passenger as aforesaid, the value and nature of such article or articles or property shall have been declared by the person sending or delivering the same, and such increased charge as hereinafter mentioned, or an engagement to pay the same, be accepted by the person receiving such parcel or package.

16. When any parcel or package containing any of the articles above specified shall be so delivered and its value and contents declared as aforesaid, and such value shall exceed the value of fifty rupees, it shall be lawful for the person receiving the same for carriage on hire to demand and receive an increased rate of charge, to be notified by some notice affixed in legible characters in some public and conspicuous part of the office, warehouse, or other receiving house where such parcel or package was received for the purpose of conveyance, stating the increased rates of charge required to be paid over and above the ordinary rate of carriage as a compensation for the greater risk and care to be taken for the safe conveyance of such valuable articles; and all persons handing or delivering any such parcel or package at any such office shall be bound by such notice without further proof of the same having come to their knowledge.

17. Whenever any goods shall have been received for conveyance for hire by any licensed boat, whether the same be such goods as are mentioned in section 15 or other goods, the person receiving the same for conveyance on hire shall, if thereto required when the rate of conveyance shall have been paid, or an engagement to pay the same shall have been accepted, sign a receipt for the said goods, setting out therein the name and residence of the owner ; and if such receipt shall not be given when required, the person so receiving the same for conveyance, in addition to any other liability which he may incur by such refusal, shall not have or be entitled to any benefit or advantage under section 15, and shall be liable to refund any increased rate of charge he may have received in respect of the goods specified therein, and shall further be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

18. No public notice or declaration by the owner of any licensed boat shall be deemed or construed to limit or in anywise affect his liability as aforesaid for or in respect of any articles or goods to be conveyed by him, but all and every such owner shall be liable to answer for the loss of or any injury to any articles and goods in respect whereof they may not be entitled to the benefits of section 15, any public notice or declaration by them made and given in anywise, limiting such liability to the contrary notwithstanding.

19. Any one or more of the owners of any licensed boat shall be liable to be sued by his or their name or names only; and no action or suit commenced to recover damages for loss or injury to any parcel, package, or person shall abate for the want of joining any co-proprietor or co-partner in such boat.

20. Where any such goods as are mentioned in section 15 shall have been delivered as aforesaid, and the value and contents declared as aforesaid, and the increased rate of charge (if any) paid, and such goods shall have been lost or damaged, the party entitled to recover damages in respect of such loss or damage shall also be entitled to recover such increased charge so paid as aforesaid, in addition to the value of such goods.

21. Nothing in section 15 of this Ordinance contained shall be deemed to protect the owner of any licensed boat from liability to answer for loss or injury to any goods or articles whatsoever arising from theft or fraudulent conduct of any boatman, book-keeper, or other person or servant in his employ or in charge of such boat, or to protect any boatman, book-keeper, or other person or servant from liability from any loss or injury occasioned by his or their own personal neglect or misconduct.

22. No owner of any licensed boat shall be concluded as to the value of any goods whereof the value shall be declared in pursuance of section 15, but he shall in all cases be entitled to require from the party suing in respect of any loss or injury proof of the actual value of the said goods by the ordinary legal evidence; and such owner shall be liable to such damages only as shall be proved as aforesaid, not exceeding the declared value, together with the increased charges as aforesaid.

23. All goods and merchandise sent by any licensed boat for the purpose of delivery at any place within Sri Lanka shall, in the delivered twenty-absence of any special contract to the contrary, be delivered according to the direction thereof within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any such boat at the place of delivery, and in default thereof the owner of such boat shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding twenty rupees.

24. It shall be lawful for the Minister, from time to time, or at any time, to make, and when made revoke, add to, or alter regulations for any of the following purposes:-

25. Any regulation when made, added to, or altered shall be published in the Gazette, and when so published shall, until the same is revoked in manner aforesaid, be as valid, legal, and effectual as if such regulation had been inserted in this Ordinance,

26. Any person committing any of the following acts shall be guilty of an offence, and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees:-

27. Nothing in this Ordinance contained shall authorize any proper authority to issue a licence to any owner of a boat to use a boat for the purpose of the conveyance of goods or passengers for hire in any port which has been declared by Proclamation or Order to have been brought within the provisions of the Masters Attendant Ordinance, nor shall the owner of any boat used for the purpose of conveying goods 01 passengers for hire in any port which has been duly licensed under the provisions of the said Ordinance, whilst plying for hire within the limits of such port, be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance or be liable to prosecution for the breach of any provision herein.

28. The Minister may by notification in the Gazette delegate the enforcement and execution of any provisions of this Ordinance in respect of boats which are used for carrying passengers by sea from any port or place to any other port or place to the Master Attendant or Collector of Customs at any such port or place, and may authorize such Master Attendant* or Collector of Customs to perform all or any of the powers and duties vested in and imposed on the proper authority under this Ordinance, subject to such restriction as the Minister may from time to time think fit to impose.(Master Attendant” shall be deemed to be a reference to the Ports Authority in the application of this provision to any ” specified port” within the meaning of section 2 of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act-See section 86 (3) thereof.)

29. If in any prosecution or proceeding under this Ordinance any question shall arise as to whether any boat has been used for the conveyance of any passengers or goods for hire without a licence, or as to whether a licence has been obtained for any boat within the meaning thereof, or as to whether any person has made the declaration required by section 3, the proof that such passengers or goods were not conveyed for hire, or in the case of goods that the goods belong to himself, or that licence has been obtained or the declaration made, shall be upon the accused or the party against whom such prosecution or proceeding shall be had :

Provided that it shall be lawful for the court to award a reasonable sum in lieu of costs to the accused against any person who may have made a vexatious complaint, and such sum shall be recovered in like manner as any fine imposed under the provisions of this Ordinance.

30. Where a person is charged with any offence against paragraph (d) of section 26, and it is established by the prosecution to the satisfaction of the court that there were more persons carried in such boat than were necessary for its working, such person shall be presumed to have used such boat for the purpose of carrying passengers for hire, unless and until he shows to the satisfaction of the court before which he is charged that none of the persons in such boat were carried for hire.

31. The court before which the prosecution or proceeding is taken may award any share of the fines actually recovered and realized, not exceeding one- half, to be paid to the informer.

32. No prosecution shall be instituted against any person for any offence committed against any of the provisions of this Ordinance, cognizable by the Magistrate’s Court, unless the same shall be commenced within one month from the time of the commission of such offence.

33. The provisions of this Ordinance shall not apply to boats the property of the State or of Urban Councils, or Town Councils, or of Village Councils.

34. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires;

” boat” shall include all boats, padas, dhonies, kulla boats, battals, ballams. canoes, and catamarans, whether propelled by steam or otherwise, and used in the sea adjacent to, or in the rivers, canals, lakes, and inland waters of Sri Lanka;

” Collector of Customs ” shall include the Principal Collector, Deputy Collector, Assistant Collector, or other principal officer of customs of any port or place ;

“goods or passengers” shall include goods and passengers;

” port” shall include all harbours, roadsteads, and places of anchorage in Sri Lanka;

” proper authority” shall include the Government Agent of any administrative district, the Mayor of any Municipal Council, or the Chairman of any Urban Council or Town Council.