CHAP. viI] MERCHANT SHIPPING 1207 
provisions of the Imperial Statute had no application, for not 
only was the vessel in question registered in Victoria, but the 
seamen were not engaged for a voyage or engagement which 
was to terminate in the United Kingdom. 
All the members of the Court appear to have acquiesced 
in the view that the Victorian Statute No. 1557, which 
adopted the provisions of the Imperial Act, 1894, including 
S. 166, was to be regarded in the light of a Colonial Statute. 
The Chief Justice merely said that as the vessels were Tegis- 
tered and controlled by statute which the Imperial Legislature 
had authorized the State of Victoria, to pass, they ought to 
have the same protection as British ships registered in 
England ; apparently admitting that the Act had not, strictly 
speaking, the force of an Imperial Act, and this view was 
clearly expressed by Edwards J. If this were the case, then 
it is clear that the provisions of the New Zealand Act could 
not possibly be invalid, as there was nothing to which they 
could be repugnant except the law of another Colony. But 
as a matter of fact, the Court appears to have overlooked 
the fact that by s. 264 of the Imperial Merchant Shipping 
Act of 1894 the same effect as that of the Imperial Act itself 
is given to Acts passed by Legislatures of British Possessions 
which apply to British ships registered at, trading with, or 
being at another port in that possession, any provisions of 
part ii of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 which would 
not otherwise apply. 
The Victoria Parliament by Act No. 1557 applied mutatis 
mutandis to ships registered in Victoria the provisions of 
part ii of that Act including s. 166, and it would appear 
therefore that as a result there is imported into the Imperial 
Act a provision to the effect that if a seaman is engaged for 
d Voyage terminating in Victoria he shall not be entitled 
to sue abroad for his wages. There does not therefore 
Appear to be any substantial difference between the case of 
vessels registered in the United Kingdom and vessels regis- 
tered in a Colony, if that Colony has adopted under s. 264 
the provisions of s. 166 of the Act of 1894, 
It may also be noted that the Court did not discuss the