GOODS BY SEA

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 108, 1 February 1943, Page 4

GOODS BY SEA

Royal Assent To Measure

The Minister of Industries and Commerce. Air. Sullivan, announces that the Sea Carriage of Goods Act. which was passed by Parliament at the end of 1940 but which contained a clause delaying its operations till a proclamation should be issued notifying that the Koya! Assent had been given, will come into force on Alarch 1. A proclamation published in last week’s Gazette notified that the Royal Assent had now been obtained.

“The Act does not make any sweeping changes in the law but is part of a world wide movement, initiated at a conference of the International Law Association at The Hague in 1921, to make the law governing the respective rights and liabilities of shipowners and shippers of goods under bills of lading uniform in all maritime countries,” said the Minister. “The New Zealand Act, passed in 1922, incorporated the spirit of the ‘Hague Rules’ drafted by the International Law Association but as it was passed before the Rules took their final form it differed iu some details from Acts passed subsequently in Great Britain and other countries. The new Act makes our legislation uniform with that of the other countries concerned. The law affecting coastwise shipping in New Zealand waters is not altered nor does the Act affect goods arriving in New Zealand from overseas as these are shipped under the law in force in the country of origin.”