Consular Conventions Act 1949

5 Amendments of Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

(1) Where it appears to the Minister of Transport that any person to whom any money or other property of a deceased seaman may be paid or delivered under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section one hundred and seventy-six of the [57 & 58 Vict. c. 60.] Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (which relates to the disposal of property not exceeding one hundred pounds in value) is resident in a foreign State, he may pay or deliver the money or property to a consular officer of that State on behalf of that person; and the provisions of that section shall have effect accordingly.

(2) The powers of a consul general or other consular officer under subsection (2) of section five hundred and twenty-one of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (which enables a consular officer in certain circumstances to act as the agent of the owner for the purposes of the custody and disposal of articles belonging to or forming part of a foreign ship wrecked on or near the coasts of the United Kingdom) shall extend to the custody and disposal of the wrecked ship itself as well as to the custody and disposal of such articles as aforesaid.