Sea Fish Industry Act 1938
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1938 c. 30 |
| Year | 1938 |
Sea Fish Industry Act, 1938
(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 30.
An Act to make provision for the better organisation of the white fish industry; to amend the Sea-Fishing Industry Act, 1933, the Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act, 1934, Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and other enactments relating to sea fisheries; and to make provision for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[2nd June 1938]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
Organisation of white fish industry.
The White Fish Commission and the White Fish Industry Joint Council.
1 Constitution and general functions of White Fish Commission.
(1) There shall be constituted a Commission to be called ‘the White Fish Commission’ (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Commission’), which shall have the functions of keeping generally under review matters relating to the white fish industry, and of advising and assisting the Ministers in such matters as aforesaid, and such other functions as are entrusted to the Commission by or under the following provisions of this Act.
(2) The Commission shall consist of five members appointed by the Ministers.
(3) The Ministers may appoint a secretary to the Commission, and the Commission may appoint such other officers, and such servants, as the Ministers may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.
(4) The incidental provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the Commission.
2 White Fish Industry Joint Council.
(1) For the purpose of giving advice and assistance to the Commission in the discharge of its functions, there shall be constituted a council for Great Britain to be called the White Fish Industry Joint Council (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Joint Council’).
(2) The Joint Council shall consist of a chairman appointed by the Ministers as being an independent person, and such other members as may be appointed by the Ministers to represent respectively the interests of persons who carry on in Great Britain any of the following businesses, that is to say,—
(a ) the business of a home producer of white fish,
(b ) the business of selling white fish by wholesale,
(c ) the business of a fishmonger,
(d ) the business of a fish frier, and
(e ) the business of curing, salting, drying, smoking or canning white fish,
and any such other interests (including the interests of fishermen and others who are employed by persons engaged in the white fish industry) as the Ministers consider to be immediately affected, or likely to be immediately affected, by the operation of this Part of this Act.
Any of the businesses specified in paragraphs (a ) to (e ) of this subsection is hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘a designated business.’
(3) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, a person shall be deemed to carry on the business of selling white fish by wholesale if, in the course of any business carried on by him, he sells any white fish to a person who buys the fish for the purpose of selling them again, and shall be deemed to carry on the business of a fishmonger if, in the course of any business carried on by him, he sells white fish by retail:
Provided that—
(a ) a sale of white fish by auction effected at a port by or on behalf of the catcher of the fish shall be deemed not to be a sale by wholesale;
(b ) a person shall not be taken to carry on the business of selling white fish by wholesale, or the business of a fishmonger, by reason only that he sells white fish preserved in any airtight container;
(c ) a person shall not be taken to carry on the business of a fishmonger by reason only that at any premises he sells white fish for consumption at those premises; and
(d ) a sale of white fish to a person who, in the course of carrying on any business other than that of a fish-frier, buys white fish for the purpose only of selling them again in a condition in which they are ready for eating without further treatment, shall be deemed to be a sale by retail and not a sale by wholesale;
and, whenever a person whose business or part of whose business it is to buy white fish for the purpose of selling them again buys any white fish, he shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to buy the fish for that purpose.
(4) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, a person shall not be taken to carry on the business of curing or salting white fish by reason only that, in the course of the business of catching and landing white fish, he cures or salts white fish on board a vessel.
(5) Before appointing a person to be a representative member of the Joint Council, the Ministers shall consult such bodies (if any) as appear to them to be representative of the interests concerned.
(6) The incidental provisions contained in the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the Joint Council.
Regulation of the white fish industry under the administration of the Commission.
3 Registration of persons engaged in the white fish industry.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Commission to keep a register (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘the Commission's register’) of persons carrying on in Great Britain any designated business; and the Commission, on application made by any person to be registered in the Commission's register as a person carrying on such a business in Great Britain and on payment of any fee which, by virtue of the following provisions of this Part of this Act, is payable on such application, shall register him in the said register as a person carrying on that business.
(2) Subject to the following provisions of this Part of this Act, no person shall, after the expiration of the appropriate period beginning at the commencement of this Act, carry on a designated business unless he either is registered in the Commission's register as a person carrying on that business or is exempt, by virtue of the following provisions of this Part of this Act, from the obligation to be registered as aforesaid; and if any person contravenes this subsection, he shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and to a further fine not exceeding twenty pounds for every day on which the offence continues after conviction therefor.
In this subsection the expression ‘the appropriate period’ means, in relation to the business of a home producer of white fish, the period of two months or, in relation to any other designated business, the period of six months.
(3) The Commission's register shall be so kept as to show—
(a ) in relation to a person registered as carrying on the business of a home producer of white fish, the number of fishing boats which for the time being are in the possession of that person; and
(b ) in relation to a person registered as carrying on any other designated business, the several premises at which for the time being he carries on that business in Great Britain, and (if and so far as that business involves the use of vehicles for the purpose of offering or exposing white fish thereon for sale) the number of vehicles used or intended to be used for that purpose which for the time being are in his possession in Great Britain.
(4) A person shall, on making application to be registered in the Commission's register, and also on demand made by the Commission at any time while his name appears in that register, furnish to the Commission such information as it may require for the purpose of performing its duties under this section, and any person registered in the Commission's register as carrying on a designated business shall, whenever requested in writing by the Commission so to do, make to the Commission a written declaration stating whether or not he is carrying on that business as a nominee of another person, and, if so, specifying the name of that other person.
(5) The Commission may, either absolutely or subject to limitations, exempt any class of persons from any obligation to be registered in the Commission's register as carrying on a designated business; and the Commission, on being satisfied that a person whose name is entered in the Commission's register as a person carrying on a designated business has ceased to carry on that business in Great Britain, shall delete that entry in the register.
(6) The Commission's register shall, at all reasonable times, be open to public inspection at the office of the Commission, and any person shall be entitled to take a copy of any entry in the said register.
4 Power of Commission to regulate marketing of white fish.
(1) The Commission may make regulations—
(a ) for securing that, subject to any exemption for which provision may be made by the regulations, white fish of any description or quality defined by the regulations shall not be sold, or consigned, offered or exposed for sale, unless such designation, mark or other means for indicating that the fish are of the said description or quality as may be prescribed by the regulations is used in relation to the fish, in such manner as may be so...
To continue reading
Request your trial