A.—2

128

Now, therefore, His Majesty, by virtue of the power vested in him by the hereinbefore recited subsection (1) of section 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is pleased to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that from and after the publication hereof in the London Gazette the said section 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall apply in the case of Japan, subject to the condition and qualification following, that is to say : that the application for assistance by the competent consular officer of Japan shall be accompanied by an assurance that all expenses connected therewith shall be repaid, and that this Order shall not apply to subjects of His Majesty. And His Majesty, by virtue of the powers vested in him by the provisions of section 738 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is further pleased to order and declare that, upon and after the publication hereof in the London Gazette, the Order in Council made on the 9th day of October, 1903, shall be revoked, and the same is hereby revoked accordingly. J. C. Ledlie.

No. 116. New Zealand, No. 360 My Lord, — Downing Street, 17th October 1911. With reference to my despatch, No. 313, of the 7th September, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, two copies of a circular instruction which has been issued by the Board of Trade relative to the examination of engineers in the mercantile marine. I have, &c, L. HARCOURT. Governor the Right Hon. Lord Islington, K.C.M.G., D.5.0., &c. Enclosure. (Tor official use.) Examination op Engineers.—lnstruction to Examiners and Notice to Candidates. (Circular 1510.) Board of Trade (Marine Department), August, 1911. The attention of the Board of Trade has been drawn to the circumstances attending the death of a fireman on a British ship. The man attempted to remove a manhole-door of a boiler in which a vacuum existed, and was drawn into the boiler, and so seriously injured that he died the same day. A copy of a statement by the second engineer of the vessel is appended. Examiners should be careful to direct the attention of candidates to these occurrences at the viva-voce examinations for first and second class certificates, questioning them as to their appreciation of the great importance of engineers taking, in all cases, the proper means to assure themselves that there is neither pressure of steam nor a vacuum in the boiler before attempting to remove any of the boiler-doors. H. Llewellyn Smith, Secretary. Walter J. Howell, Assistant Secretary. Statement of Second Engineer. I told the man to knock the salt off the doors, and that I would be in the stokehold in a few minutes and take door off; he asked where the spanner was, and was told that it was in the stokehold, but he was told not to touch the doors, and the next thing that I knew was hearing the donkeyman calling. I then went into the stokehold, the donkeyman telling me as I went that he had seen the man working at the door, and then heard him tapping as though to knock the door in, when he heard a report as of a gun, and on looking round no man was visible and the door was off; when he learned the man was in the boiler he went and brought me. When I saw what had happened I sent the donkeyman to take off the top door as quickly as he could, to let a through draught of air through the boiler; and the third engineer also went with him, afterwards assisting to get the man out. On the previous day I received orders to blow-down boiler (port), winch was done about 7 p.m., finishing about 9 p.m., the chief giving orders that before retiring I was to open the gauge and salinometer cocks; but for some reason this slipped my memory, because the necessity for such action was contrary to my usual custom, my usual custom being to slacken the nuts a little, then easing the door in and waiting till the pressure equalized, then taking the door off completely. The man, however, must have commenced taking off the doors in a mistaken idea as to orders, or out of excessive zeal, being a very good and willing worker.

Enclosure. (Tor official use.) , Examination op Engineers.—lnstruction to Examinees and Notice to Candidates. (Circular 1510.) Board of Trade (Marine Department), August, 1911. The attention of the Board of Trade has been drawn to the circumstances attending the death of a fireman on a British ship. The man attempted to remove a manhole-door of a boiler in which a vacuum existed, and was drawn into the boiler, and so seriously injured that he died the same day. A copy of a statement by the second engineer of the vessel is appended. Examiners should be careful to direct the attention of candidates to these occurrences at the viva-voce examinations for first and second class certificates, questioning them as to their appreciation of the great importance of engineers taking, in all cases, the proper means to assure themselves that there is neither pressure of steam nor a vacuum in the boiler before attempting to remove any of the boiler-doors. H. Llewellyn Smith, Secretary. Walter J. Howell, Assistant Secretary.

Statement of Second Engineer. I told the man to knock the salt off the doors, and that I would be in the stokehold in a few minutes and take door off; he asked where the spanner was, and was told that it was in the stokehold, but he was told not to touch the doors, and the next thing that I knew was hearing the donkeyman calling. I then went into the stokehold, the donkeyman telling me as I went that he had seen the man working at the door, and then heard him tapping as though to knock the door in, when he heard a report as of a gun, and on looking round no man was visible and the door was off; when he learned the man was in the boiler he went and brought me. When I saw what had happened I sent the donkeyman to take off the top door as quickly as he could, to let a through draught of air through the boiler; and the third engineer also went with him, afterwards assisting to get the man out. On the previous day I received orders to blow-down boiler (port), which was done about 7 p.m., finishing about 9 p.m., the chief giving orders that before retiring I was to open the gauge and salinometer cocks; but for some reason this slipped my memory, because the necessity for such action was contrary to my usual custom, my usual custom being to slacken the nuts a little, then easing the door in and waiting till the pressure equalized, then taking the door off completely. The man, however, must have commenced taking off the doors in a mistaken idea as to orders, or out of excessive zeal, being a very good and willing worker.