Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 50 Part 2.djvu/226

 1132 Chapter II.- Con- struction. Application. CHAPTER II.- C ONSTRUCTION. ARTICLE 4. Application. Newpassengerships 1. This Chapter, except where it is otherwise expressly provided, on international voy- ages. applies to new passenger ships engaged on international voyages. Definition. Exemptions in cer- tain cases. Relaxations. Post, p. 1204. Modification of ex- isting ships. Pilgrim, etc., trades. 2. A new passenger ship is a ship the keel of which is laid on or after the 1st July, 1931, or a ship which is converted to passenger service on or after that date, all other passenger ships being described as existing passenger ships. 3. Each Administration may, if it considers that the route and the conditions of the voyage are such as to render the application of the requirements of this Chapter unreasonable or unnecessary, exempt from the requirements of this Chapter individual ships or classes of ships belonging to its country which, in the course of their voyage, do not proceed more than 20 miles from the nearest land. 4. In the case of a passenger ship which, in the course of its voyage, does not proceed more than 200 miles from the nearest land, the Administration of the country to which the ship belongs may allow relaxations from such of the requirements of Regulations IX, X, XV and XIX as may be proved to the satisfaction of the Administration to be neither reasonable nor practicable. 5. In the case of existing passenger ships engaged on international voyages which do not already comply with the provisions of this Chapter relating to new passenger ships, the arrangements on each ship shall be considered by the Administration of the country to which the ship belongs, with a view to improvements being made to provide increased safety where practicable and reasonable. 6. In the case of passenger ships engaged on international voyages which are employed in the carriage of large numbers of unberthed passengers in special trades, such, for example, as the pilgrim trade, an Administration, if satisfied that it is impracticable to enforce compliance with the requirements of this Chapter, may exempt such ships, when they belong to its country, from those requirements on the following conditions:- TREATIES Persons who are on board a ship by reason of force majeure or in consequence of the obligation laid upon the master to carry ship- wrecked or other persons shall not be taken into account for the pur- pose of ascertaining the application to a ship of any provisions of the present Convention.

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