CHAP. VII] MERCHANT SHIPPING 1205 
Act provided for an addition to the wages of the crew, to 
be enforced not by suit in the Courts but by the action of 
the Collector of Customs in refusing a clearance. So that 
So interpreted there was no real discrepancy between the 
Dominion and the Imperial Acts. On the other hand, 
Edwards J. held that s. 75 was ultra vires as conflicting with 
S. 166 of the Imperial Act, and that therefore a seaman was 
neither entitled to extra, wages, nor could he sue for them, 
nor could the Collector of Customs refuse a clearance. He 
tecognized that there was a difference between ships registered 
in Victoria and ships registered in the United Kingdom, and 
that, strictly speaking, the provisions of a New Zealand Act 
could not be repugnant to those of a, Victorian Act, but he 
relied on the argument that if a distinction were made in the 
treatment of ships registered in the United Kingdom, and of 
ships registered in Victoria, the purpose of s. 736 of the 
Imperial Act, which requires that vessels should be treated 
alike wherever registered, would be defeated, and therefore 
that s. 756 must not be held to apply to vessels registered in 
Victoria. He called attention also to the unfairness of the 
position which would result from enforcing s. 75. In several 
cases the wages under the articles were greater than those 
payable in New Zealand, and yet the owners could not 
reduce the wages on that ground, whereas they were required 
to increase the wages in the cases in which they were not 
equal to those payable in New Zealand. 
It is not exactly easy to follow the judgement of the 
majority of the Court. They were not apparently willing 
to claim that the power of regulating the coasting trade 
conferred upon the New Zealand Parliament by s. 736 of 
the Imperial Act of 1894 extended to altering a provision 
of the Imperial Act. On the other hand, they held that the 
New Zealand Parliament could completely alter the effect 
of the Imperial Act by changing the rate of wages of a sea~ 
man engaged for a voyage which was to terminate in the 
United Kingdom, by giving him a right to recover in the 
New Zealand Courts, or by the action of the New Zealand 
Marine Department, the difference between the wages