This Act may be cited as the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1948, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section twenty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph (r) of subsection one, after the words “If the ship”, the words “exceeds six tons register and”.

Section twenty-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in subsection one, after the words “Master of fishing-boat or of a cargo-vessel under twenty-five tons register:”, the words “Master of a ship not exceeding six tons register propelled by mechanical power other than steam and plying in a harbour or within other restricted limits:”.

Where any payment of wages has been made to and accepted by a seaman at a lower rate than that which is fixed by any award or industrial agreement, he may, within two years after the day on which the wages claimed became due and payable, bring an action against his employer to recover the difference between the wages so actually paid and the wages legally payable, notwithstanding that he may have signed a release under section sixty-four of the principal Act without excepting from that release any claim or demand in respect of the wages claimed in the action.

Section one hundred and thirty-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding the following subsections as subsections two, three, and four thereof:—

Section one hundred and fifty-seven of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in subsection two, after the words “To facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea service;”, the words “To hold a preliminary inquiry where a shipping casualty has occurred;”.

Section two hundred and thirty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in subsection one, after the words “Collector of Customs”, the words “or by any Superintendent,”.

Section one hundred and eighty-eight of the principal Act, as amended by section thirty of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1909, and by section three of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1925, is hereby further amended as follows:—

Nothing contained in this section shall in any way affect the authority held by any person immediately before the commencement of this Act to navigate any ship to which paragraph (a) of section one hundred and eighty-eight of the principal Act, as amended by section thirty of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1909, then applied.

Section thirty of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1909, is hereby repealed.

Section two hundred and twenty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section two hundred and seventy-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (b) of subsection one, and also from subsection two, the words “three hundred pounds”, and substituting in each case the words “five hundred pounds”.

Section six of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1911, is hereby amended as follows:—

Except as may be provided in rules or regulations made by the Minister under section seven of the principal Act or under section three of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1946, a fishing-boat which does not exceed ten tons register shall not be subject to the provisions of the principal Act relating to survey and to carrying certificated officers.

This section is in substitution for section twenty-seven of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1909, and that section is accordingly repealed.

Section three of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1946, is hereby amended by adding to subsection one the following new paragraph:—