Harbours Act, 1947

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Number 34 of 1947.

HARBOURS ACT, 1947.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

FIRST SCHEDULE.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Number 34 of 1947.

HARBOURS ACT, 1947.

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE HARBOURS ACT, 1946 , AND TO TERMINATE AN ANNUAL PAYMENT OF £369 4s. 8d. PAYABLE UNDER THE CORK HARBOUR ACT, 1820, BY THE CORK HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS TO THE LORD MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND BURGESSES OF CORK. [10th December, 1947.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act, the expression “the Principal Act” means the Harbours Act, 1946 (No. 9 of 1946).

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act.

Amendment of section 7 of the Principal Act.

2.—In section 7 of the Principal Act the following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (5)—

“(5) The following provisions shall, for the purposes of paragraph (f) of subsection (1) or paragraph (c) of subsection (2) (as may be appropriate) of this section, apply in relation to an election of elected members of a harbour authority to be held in a particular election year—

(a) in this subsection—

the expression ‘the qualifying year’ means the year immediately preceding the said election year;

the expression ‘Irish body corporate’ means a body corporate incorporated in the State;

the expression ‘resident’ means ordinarily resident in the State;

the expression ‘qualified vessels’ means vessels in respect of which there was paid to that harbour authority, during the qualifying year, tonnage rates in the aggregate of an amount not less than the minimum sum;

(b) where the owner, on the 31st day of December in the qualifying year, of one or more qualified vessels, was—

(i) a person resident during the qualifying year, or

(ii) an Irish body corporate, or

(iii) a group which includes either—

(I) a person resident during the qualifying year, or

(II) an Irish body corporate,

then, the said owner shall be a qualified elector at such election;

(c) where the owner, on the 31st day of December in the qualifying year, of one or more qualified vessels is not, by virtue of paragraph (b) of this subsection, a qualified elector at such election, and the representative manager of the said owner was resident during the qualifying year, then, the said representative manager shall be a qualified elector at such election.”

Application of Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Acts, 1926 and 1940, in respect of harbour authorities specified in First Schedule.

3.—(1) In this section—

the expression “the Act of 1926” means the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 (No. 39 of 1926);

the expression “the Acts of 1926 and 1940” means the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Acts, 1926 and 1940, except subsections (1) and (2) of section 7 and section 11 of the Act of 1926;

the expression “scheduled harbour authority” means any harbour authority, being—

(a) a harbour authority specified in the First Schedule to this Act, or

(b) any body having control of a port or pier, in respect of which an order is made under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 146 of the Principal Act and which is declared by the said order to be a scheduled harbour authority for the purposes of this section.

(2) In the application (by virtue of subsection (4) of section 38 of the Principal Act) of the Acts of 1926 and 1940, in relation to any scheduled harbour authority or to any new authority which is created in pursuance of subsection (2) of section 6 of the Principal Act and which is the successor to a scheduled harbour authority, subsection (1) of section 2 of the Act of 1926 shall be construed as if paragraphs (a) and (b) and the word “other” in paragraph (c) were deleted.

Amendment of section 49 of the Principal Act.

4.—Section 49 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection:—

“(5) A harbour authority may, with the consent of the Minister and subject to such conditions (if any) as he may think fit to impose, employ any vessels, provided by them under this section, for the carriage of passengers for reward.”

Powers of harbour authorities in relation to goods left on quays after time for removal specified in bye-laws.

5.—(1) Where bye-laws made by a harbour authority specify the time during which goods may remain upon any quays or other places within the harbour of that harbour authority, the following provisions shall apply in relation to any goods (other than goods forfeitable under the Customs Acts) remaining upon such quays or other places after the expiration of the time so specified—

(a) the harbour authority may, with the consent of the collector or other proper officer of customs and excise in the case of goods which have not been entered and cleared by the customs, at any time after such expiration remove the goods to another place or store, subject in case the owner of the goods is known to the harbour authority, to their giving to such owner seven days previous notice of their intention to so remove the goods, and the cost of removal and subsequent storage shall be recoverable by the harbour authority from the owner of the goods,

(b) the harbour authority may hold the goods until all rates, rents and other charges due in respect of the goods and the cost of removal and storage (if any) are paid to the harbour authority,

(c) the harbour authority may sell the goods, subject, in case the owner of the goods is known to the harbour authority, to their giving to such owner fourteen days previous notice of their intention to sell the goods.

(2) A harbour authority shall not, under subsection (1) of this section, sell for home use any article if any prohibition or restriction on importation applies in respect thereof or if the price which would be obtained is less than the amount of any duties of customs or excise payable in respect thereof.

(3) The following provisions shall apply in relation to goods sold by a harbour authority under subsection (1) of this section—

(a) the proceeds of such sale shall be applied in paying the following charges in the following order:—

(i) any customs or excise duties due in respect of the goods,

(ii) all rates, rents and other charges due on the goods to the harbour authority,

(iii) the cost of removal and storage (if any) of the goods and the expenses of and incidental to the sale,

(b) where the proceeds of any such sale have been so applied—

(i) if any surplus remains, it shall be paid on demand to the persons appearing to the harbour authority to have been the owner of the goods before such sale,

(ii) if the rates, rents and other charges due on the goods, the cost of removal and storage of the goods and the expenses of and incidental to the sale remain unpaid in part, the balance thereof may be recovered by the harbour authority from the person who was the owner of the goods before such sale as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(4) Nothing contained in the foregoing subsections of this section shall affect the powers of the Revenue Commissioners under section 73 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

Amendment of Section 120 of the Principal Act.

6.—There shall be inserted in section 120 of the Principal Act the following subsection:—

“(8) Where a harbour authority is authorised by the Minister, under subsection (1) of this section, to borrow money by the issue of stock for the repayment of any debt incurred by them under statutory authority, they may, with the consent of the holder of any security issued by them in respect of such debt, issue stock in substitution for such security on terms agreed by the holder and approved by the Minister.”

Assistance to harbour authorities by local authorities.

7.—(1) A local authority may resolve to assist a harbour authority in any one or more of the following ways:—

(a) by making a free grant to the harbour authority,

(b) by making a loan to the harbour authority and by providing the sum necessary for this purpose by borrowing or otherwise,

(c) by guaranteeing the repayment of any loan raised by the harbour authority and the payment of interest thereon,

(d) by contributing the whole or any part of the interest on any loan raised by the harbour authority, whether the repayment of the loan is or is not guaranteed or to be guaranteed by the local authority,

(e) by the repayment of the whole or any part of a loan raised by the harbour authority, whether the repayment thereof is or is not guaranteed or to be guaranteed by the local authority,

(f) by remitting in whole or in part any debt (whether incurred before or after the passing of this Act) due to them by the harbour authority.

(2) The passing by a local authority of a resolution under subsection (1) of this section in relation to the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (f) of subsection (1) of this section and of a further resolution confirming the first mentioned resolution shall—

(a) in case the local authority is the corporation of a county borough, be a reserved function for the purposes of the enactments relating to that corporation,

(b) in any other case, be a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 and 1942.

(3) Where a resolution has been passed by a local authority under subsection (1) of this section—

(a) the local authority shall, within fourteen days after its passing, publish the resolution in three newspapers (of which one at least is a daily newspaper) circulating in their functional area,

(b) the local authority may, not earlier than sixty days and not later than one hundred and eighty days after its passing, confirm the resolution by a further resolution.

(4) Where a resolution has been passed by a local authority under subsection (1) of this section and has been duly published and confirmed under subsection (3) of this section, the Minister for Local Government may by order confirm the resolution and include in the order such further provisions as he thinks necessary for giving effect to the resolution and thereupon the resolution shall become operative.

(5) (a) A local authority may borrow for the purposes of doing anything which they are authorised to do by subsection (1) of this section—

(i) in the case of the council of a county, as if those purposes were purposes for which they are authorised to borrow under Article 22 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, and money borrowed under this subsection by the council of a county for any such purposes shall not be reckoned as part of the total debt of such council for the purposes of the said Article, and

(ii) in the case of the corporation of a county or other borough or the council of an urban district, as if those purposes were purposes for which they are authorised to borrow under the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, but money so borrowed shall not be reckoned as part of the debt of such authority for the purposes of any limitation on borrowing imposed by that Act.

(b) Money borrowed under this subsection may be lent by means of an issue from the local loans fund as if such loan constituted a local loan within the meaning of the Local Loans Fund Acts, 1935 to 1945, and was authorised by an Act of the Oireachtas.

(6) Where—

(a) a local authority resolve under this section to remit in whole or in part a debt due to them by a harbour authority, and

(b) such debt is in respect of a loan which was contracted by the harbour authority and paid off by the local authority, and

(c) the resolution has become operative,

no person shall be entitled to make against such local authority any claim arising out of or in respect of such remission.

(7) Where the amount required to be raised by a local authority for a local financial year ending on or after the 31st March, 1948, in order to defray the cost of assisting harbour authorities in that local financial year exceeds—

(a) in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a sum equal to a rate of one shilling in the pound on the total of the rateable valuations of the hereditaments and tenements rateable to the municipal rate in the county borough at the commencement of that local financial year, or

(b) in the case of the corporation of a borough not being a county borough or the council of an urban district, a sum equal to a rate of eightpence in the pound on the total of the rateable valuations of the hereditaments and tenements rateable to the municipal rate in the area of the local authority at the commencement of that local financial year, or

(c) in the case of the council of a county, a sum equal to a rate of fourpence in the pound on the total of the rateable valuations of the hereditaments and tenements rateable to the county rate in the county at large at the commencement of that local financial year,

then, the Minister may, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, pay to the local authority a sum equal to one-half of such excess as a contribution towards such cost.

(8) In this section the expression “local authority” means a body being the council of a county, the corporation of a county or other borough or the council of an urban district.

Amendment of section 151 of the Principal Act.

8.—There shall be inserted in section 151 of the Principal Act the following subsection—

“(12) (a) A superannuation scheme may, subject to the consent of the Minister given after consultation with the Minister for Local Government, prescribe the conditions under which persons to whom the scheme applies may be allowed to reckon for the purposes of such scheme pensionable local service rendered before appointment to the staff of a harbour authority and may prescribe the nature of the pensionable local service and the amount thereof which may be so reckoned and the extent to which and the manner in which such pensionable local service may be so reckoned, and may prescribe that the body under which the pensionable local service was performed shall refund to the harbour authority part or parts of the annual allowance or gratuity in the manner and to the extent prescribed in the scheme.

(b) For the purposes of this subsection—

the expression ‘local authority’ shall have the meaning assigned to it in a superannuation scheme;

the expression ‘pensionable local service’ means service which by virtue of a person's employment under a local authority is reckonable for superannuation purposes under the enactments in force relating to persons in the employment of local authorities at the date on which such person ceased to serve under a local authority.”

Payment of travelling expenses and allowances to members of harbour authority.

9.—(1) In this section—

the expression “the Act of 1941” means the Local Government Act, 1941 (No. 23 of 1941);

the expression “the Act of 1946” means the Local Government Act, 1946 (No. 24 of 1946);

the expression “local authority” means a local authority to which section 80 of the Act of 1941 applies;

references (except in subsections (5) and (7) to a meeting of a harbour authority shall be construed as including references to a meeting of a committee appointed by that harbour authority.

(2) (a) For the purposes of this section the official residence of a person who is a member of a harbour authority at the passing of this Act shall be the place which was his official residence for the purposes of section 165 of the Principal Act.

(b) Every person who becomes a member of a harbour authority after the passing of this Act shall, immediately after becoming such member, communicate in writing to the harbour authority the address of the place at which he ordinarily resides and that place shall be regarded as his official residence for the purposes of this section.

(3) (a) Subject to subsections (4), (5) and (6) of this section, a harbour authority shall defray the expenses of locomotion actually incurred by each of their members in travelling to and from meetings of that harbour authority.

(b) No person shall be paid expenses under this subsection in respect of a meeting held at a place less than five miles by any route from his official residence.

(c) The amount of expenses paid under this subsection to a person in respect of a particular meeting shall not exceed the amount of the expenses of locomotion which would reasonably have been incurred by him in travelling from and to his official residence to and from the place of that meeting.

(4) (a) A harbour authority may by resolution decide that, in lieu of defraying under subsection (3) of this section, the expenses of locomotion actually incurred by each of their members in travelling to and from their meetings, that harbour authority shall pay to each such member, in respect of every such meeting which he attends at a place not less than five miles by any route from his official residence, a fixed sum for every mile from and to such official residence to and from the place of meeting measured along the route by which such member would normally travel.

(b) A resolution passed by a harbour authority under paragraph (a) of this subsection may be revoked at any time by another resolution of that harbour authority.

(c) A resolution under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection shall not take effect until sanctioned by the Minister.

(d) While a resolution passed by a harbour authority under paragraph (a) of this subsection is in force, that harbour authority shall not defray under subsection (3) of this section the expenses of locomotion actually incurred by each of their members in travelling to and from meetings of such harbour authority but, in lieu thereof, shall, subject to subsections (5) and (6) of this section, make payments to their members attending such meetings in accordance with the terms of such resolution.

(5) Where—

(a) a person who is a member of a harbour authority is also a member of a committee appointed by that harbour authority, and

(b) such person attends on the same day meetings of both such harbour authority and such committee, and

(c) such person is, in respect of his attendance at the said meeting of such harbour authority, entitled to a payment under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section,

then, unless such attendance involves an additional journey from and to his official residence, no payment, in respect of his attendance at the meeting of such committee shall be made under subsection (3) or subsection (4) (whichever is appropriate) of this section.

(6) Where—

(a) a person who is a member of a harbour authority is also a member of a local authority, and

(b) such person attends on the same day meetings of both such harbour authority and such local authority which are held either at the same place or at places which are not more than a mile from each other, and

(c) such person is, in respect of his attendance at the said meeting of such local authority, entitled to a payment under either subsection (3) of section 80 of the Act of 1941 or subsection (6) of section 67 of the Act of 1946,

then, unless such attendance involves an additional journey from and to his official residence, no payment, in respect of his attendance at the meeting of such harbour authority, shall be made to such person under subsection (3) or subsection (4) (whichever is appropriate) of this section.

(7) (a) Where—

(i) a person who is a member of a harbour authority attends a meeting of that harbour authority or (being a member of a committee appointed by that harbour authority) a meeting of that committee, and

(ii) the place at which such meeting is held is not less than three miles by any route from his official residence, and

(iii) such person is, by reason of such attendance, obliged to absent himself from his official residence for a continuous period of not less than three hours,

then, subject to the provisions of this subsection, that harbour authority may (whether they are or are not required to make, under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section (as the case may be) a payment to such member in respect of his attendance at such meeting and if so required, then in addition to such payment) pay to such member an allowance in respect of such absence.

(b) Where—

(i) a person who is a member of a harbour authority is also a member of a committee of that harbour authority, and

(ii) such person attends on the same day meetings of both such harbour authority and such committee at a place not less than three miles by any route from his official residence, and

(iii) such member is, by reason of his attendance at such meetings, obliged to absent himself from his official residence for a continuous period of not less than three hours,

then, subject to the provisions of this subsection, that harbour authority may (whether they are or are not required to make, under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section (as the case may be), a payment to a member in respect of his attendance at such meetings, and, if so required, then in addition to such payment) pay to such person an allowance in respect of such absence.

(c) An allowance under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be calculated in accordance with rules which the Minister is hereby authorised to make.

(d) An allowance to a member of a harbour authority in respect of his absence from his official residence on a particular day shall not be made under both paragraph (a) and paragraph (b) of this subsection.

(e) Where—

(i) a person who is a member of a harbour authority is also a member of a local authority, and

(ii) such local authority are required by subsection (7) of section 67 of the Act of 1946, to pay to such person an allowance in respect of a particular period falling on a particular day, and

(iii) such harbour authority would, but for this paragraph, be authorised by paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection to pay to such person an allowance in respect of his absence from his official residence on that day,

then, no allowance shall be paid by such harbour authority under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection to such person in respect of his absence from his official residence on that day.

Cesser of annual payment to the Cork Corporation under the Cork Harbour Act, 1820.

10.—(1) In this section—

the expression “the Commissioners” means the Cork Harbour Commissioners;

the expression “the Corporation” means the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Cork.

(2) The annual sum of £369 4s. 8d. payable by the Commissioners to the Corporation under section 53 of the Cork Harbour Act, 1820, shall cease to be payable in respect of any year commencing on and after the 1st day of January, 1948.

(3) The Commissioners shall pay compensation to the Corporation in respect of the cesser effected by subsection (2) of this section and the amount thereof shall, in default of agreement between the Commissioners and the Corporation, be determined by an arbitrator (in this section referred to as the arbitrator) appointed by the Chief Justice at the request of the Minister.

(4) In fixing the compensation payable under this section the arbitrator shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case and in particular the circumstances in which the annual sum, in respect of the cesser of which the compensation is payable, became payable.

(5) The remuneration of the arbitrator shall be fixed by the Chief Justice and paid by the Commissioners.

(6) The arbitrator may, as respects the costs and expenses of the parties in the proceedings before him, by his award and at his discretion—

(a) direct the Commissioners to pay to the Corporation a sum (to be measured by him) towards the costs and expenses of the Corporation, or

(b) direct the Corporation to pay to the Commissioners a sum (to be measured by him) towards the costs and expenses of the Commissioners, or

(c) direct the Commissioners and the Corporation respectively to abide their own costs.

(7) If compensation under this section is not paid before the 1st day of January, 1949, it shall bear interest at the rate of three per cent. per annum as on and from the said 1st day of January, 1949, until the date of payment.

Repeals.

11.—The enactment (the Principal Act) mentioned in column (2) of the Second Schedule to this Act is, to the extent mentioned in column (3) of that Schedule, hereby repealed.

Short title and collective citation.

12.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Harbours Act, 1947.

(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Harbours Acts, 1946 and 1947.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

Harbour Authorities to which application of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Acts, 1926 and 1940, is restricted.

Section 3 .

1. Annagassan Pier Commissioners.

2. Ballyshannon Harbour Commissioners.

3. Baltimore and Skibbereen Harbour Commissioners.

4. Buncrana Harbour Commissioners.

5. Dingle Harbour Commissioners.

6. Killybegs Harbour Commissioners.

7. The council of the urban district of Kilrush in their capacity as a harbour authority.

8. Kinsale Harbour Commissioners.

9. New Ross Harbour Commissioners.

10. Westport Port and Harbour Commissioners.

11. Wicklow Harbour Commissioners.

12. The council of the urban district of Youghal in their capacity as a harbour authority.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Enactment Repealed in Part.

Section 11 .