1196 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [PART V 
In the case of the Commonwealth of Australia the Naviga- 
tion Bill was recast in 1908, so as to correspond generally 
with the recommendations of the Navigation Conference of 
1907. After further discussion with the Government of the 
Commonwealth, practically complete agreement was arrived 
at between the Imperial Government and the Commonwealth 
Government as to the terms of the Bill. The Bill, however, 
did not pass that year, and in 1909 it was not found possible 
to make substantial progress with it. It was reintroduced in 
1910 and again in 1911.2 Practically the only very important 
point in law in which it goes clearly beyond the recommenda- 
tion of the Conference of 1907, as interpreted by the Imperial 
and the Commonwealth Governments, is a question as to the 
validity of certificates returned by the Board of Trade to 
officers of vessels after cancellation in Australia. The Bill of 
the Commonwealth proposes that such certificates should 
not be valid for use in Australia, while the Imperial Govern- 
ment in 1908 secured the agreement of the Common- 
wealth Government to a proposal that this provision should 
in accordance with the principles laid down at the 
Navigation Conference of 1907, be restricted to the case of 
vessels coasting in the Commonwealth or registered therein. 
The Bill insists on the survey of vessels in certain cases, 
and possibilities of international difficulties are contained 
in the clause requiring vessels to be unloaded by local 
workers. 
There is a certain difference in the legislative powers of 
New Zealand and those of the Commonwealth of Australia 
with regard to merchant shipping. The power of New 
Zealand is limited by ss. 735 and 736 of the Imperial Merchant 
Shipping Act of 1894 to regulate the coasting trade and 
vessels registered in the Colonies. 
In the view of His Majesty’s Government, which rests on 
! Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1910, pp. 3717 seq., 3784 seq., 
3881 seq., 3993 seq., 4173 seq., 4264 seq., 4307 seq., 4388 seq., 4503 seq. A 
memo was issued to Parliament showing the differences in the Bill from 
that proposed in 1908 and the points at issue with the Imperial Govern- 
ment. See also Parl. Pap., 1909. Nos. 7 and 25: 1911, No. 11.