per package or unit or the equivalent of that sum in other currency unless the nature and value of such goods have been declared by the shipper before shipment and inserted in the bill of lading. This declaration if embodied in the bill of lading shall be prima facie evidence but shall not be binding or conclusive on the carrier. By agreement between the carrier, master, or agent of the carrier and the shipper another maximum amount than that mentioned in this paragraph may be fixed, provided that such maximum shall not be less than the figure above named. Neither the carrier nor the ship shall be responsible in any event for loss or damage to, or in connection with, goods if the nature or value thereof has been knowingly misstated by the shipper in the bill of lading. 6. Goods of an inflammable, explosive, or dangerous nature to the shipment whereof the carrier, master, or agent of the carrier has not consented with knowledge of their nature and character may at any time before discharge be landed at any place or destroyed or rendered innocuous by the carrier without compensation, and the shipper of such goods shall be liable for all damages and expenses directly or indirectly arising out of or resulting from such shipment. If any such goods shipped with such knowledge and consent shall become a danger to the ship or cargo, they may in like manner be landed at any place or destroyed or rendered innocuous by the carrier without liability on the part of the carrier except to general average, if any. ARTICLE V A carrier shall be at liberty to surrender in whole or in part all or any of his rights and immunities, or to increase any of his responsibilities and obligations under this convention provided such surrender or increase shall be embodied in the bill of lading issued to the shipper. The provisions of this convention shall not be applicable to charter parties, but if bills of lading are issued in the case of a ship under a charter-party they shall comply with the terms of this convention. Nothing in this convention shall be held to prevent the insertion in a bill of lading of any lawful provision regarding general average. ARTICLE VI Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding articles, a carrier, master, or agent of the carrier and a shipper shall in regard to any particular goods be at liberty to enter 'into any agreement in any terms as to the responsibility and liability of the carrier for such goods, and as to the rights and immunities of the carrier in respect of such goods, or his obligation as to seaworthiness so far as this stipulation is not contrary to public policy, or the care or diligence of his servants or agents in regard to the loading, handling, stowage, carriage, custody, care, and discharge of the goods carried by sea, provided that in this case no bill of lading has been or shall be issued and that the terms agreed shall be embodied in a receipt which shall be a nonnegotiable document and shall be marked as such. Any agreement so entered into shall have full legal effect: Provided that this article shall not apply to ordinary commercial shipments made in the ordinary course of trade, but only to other shipments where the character or condition of the property to be carried or the circumstances, terms, and conditions under which the carriage is to be performed are such as reasonably to justify a special agreement. ARTICLE VII Nothing herein contained shall prevent a carrier or a shipper from entering, into any agreement, stipulation, condition, reservation, or exemption as to the responsibility and liability of the carrier or the ship for the loss or damage to, or in connection with, the custody and care and handling of goods prior to the loading on, and subsequent to the discharge from, the ship on which the goods are carried by sea. ARTICLE VIII The provisions of this convention shall not affect the rights and obligations of the carrier under any statute for the time being in force relating to the limitation of the liability of owners of seagoing vessels. ARTICLE IX The monetary units mentioned in this convention are to be taken to be gold value. Those contracting States in which the pound sterling is not a monetary unit. reserve to themselves the right of translating the sums indicated in this convention in terms of pound sterling into terms of their own monetary system in round figures. The national laws may reserve to the debtor the right of discharging his debt in national currency according to the rate of exchange prevailing on the day of the arrival of the ship at the port of discharge of the goods concerned. ARTICLE X The provisions of this convention shall apply to all bills of lading issued in any of the contracting States. ARTICLE XI After an interval of not more than two years from the day on which the convention is signed, the Belgian Government shall place itself in communication with the governments of the high contracting parties which have declared them-selves prepared to ratify the convention, with a view to deciding whether it shall be put into force. The ratifications shall be deposited at Brussels at a date to be fixed by agreement among the said governments. The first deposit of ratifications shall be recorded in a procès-verbal signed by the representatives of the powers which take part therein and by the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs. The subsequent deposits of ratifications shall be made by means of a written notification, addressed to the Belgian Government and accompanied by the instrument of ratification. A duly certified copy of the procès-verbal relating to the first deposit of ratifications, of the notifications referred to in the previous paragraph, and also to the instruments of ratification accompanying them, shall be immediately sent by the Belgian Government through the diplomatic channel to the powers who have signed this convention or who have acceded to it. In the cases contemplated in the preceding paragraph the said Government shall inform them at the same time of the date on which it received the notification. ARTICLE XII Nonsignatory States may accede to the present convention whether or not they have been represented at the International Conference at Brussels. A State which desires to accede shall notify its intention in writing to the Belgian Government, forwarding to it the document of accession, which shall be deposited in the archives of the said Government. The Belgian Government shall immediately forward to all the States which have signed or acceded to the convention a duly certified copy of the notification and of the act of accession, mentioning the date on which it received the notification. ARTICLE XIII The high contracting parties may at the time of signature, ratification, or accession declare that their acceptance of the present convention does not include any or all of the self-governing dominions, or of the colonies, overseas possessions, protectorates, or territories under their sovereignty or authority, and they may subsequently accede separately on behalf of any self-governing dominion, colony, overseas possession, protectorate, or territory excluded in their declaration. They may also denounce the convention separately in accordance with its provisions in respect of any self-governing dominion, or any colony, overseas possession, protectorate, or territory under their sovereignty or authority. ARTICLE XIV The present convention shall take effect, in the case of the States which have taken part in the first deposit of ratifications, one year after the date of the procès verbal recording such deposit. As respects the States which ratify subsequenty or which accede, and also in cases in which the convention is subsequently put into effect in accordance with Article XII, it shall take effect six months after the notifications specified in paragraph 2 of article XI, and paragraph 2 of Article XII, have been received by the Belgian Government. ARTICLE XV In the event of one of the contracting States wishing to denounce the present convention, the denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Belgian Government, which shall immediately communicate a duly certified copy of the notification to all the other States informing them of the date on which it was received. The denunciation shall only operate in respect of the State which made the notification, and on the expiry of one year after the notification has reached the Belgian Government. ARTICLE XVI Any one of the contracting States shall have the right to call for a fresh conference with a view to considering possible amendments. A State which would exercise this right should notify its intention to the other States through the Belgian Government, which would make arrangements for convening the conference. ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES RELATING TO BILLS OF LADING The high contracting parties may give effect to this convention either by giving it the force of law or by including in their national legislation in a form appropriate to that legislation, the rules adopted under this convention. They may reserve the right: 1. To prescribe that in the cases referred to in paragraph 2 (c) to (p) of Article IV, the holder of a bill of lading shall be entitled to establish responsibility for loss or damage arising from the personal fault of the carrier or the fault of his servants which are not covered by paragraph (a). 2. To prescribe that the last subparagraph of paragraph 5 of Article IV shall not apply in cases in which the shipper has made an understatement of the true value. 3. To apply Article VI in so far as the national costing trade is concerned to all classes of goods without taking account of the restriction set out in the last paragraph that article. STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN NICOLSON, COUNSEL, COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION, UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD Mr. NICOLSON. Mr. Chairman, on January 20, 1925, the Shipping Board passed a resolution, a copy of which I will now read. I will not read the preamble. The resolution itself is: Resolved, This board approves the general principles and proposals of H. R. 11447, subject to changes that the committee on legislation of this board believes to be wise in the light of hearings which that committee has held and in the light of its own analysis of the bill. The committee on legislation is authorized to approve the general purpose and provisions of the bill, and to recommend to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the House of Representatives the adoption of any incidental amendment which the committee on legislation may propose or in which it may concur. (The resolution in full is as follows:) UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD, [Memorandum for the committee on legislation: Commissioner Plummer, Commissioner Haney, Commissioner Hill] The Shipping Board at a meeting on January 20, 1925, adopted the following resolution: Whereas, conferences have been held from time to time by persons informally representing various maritime nations, having in view a uniform contract for the carriage of goods by sea, and a form was agreed upon by these persons in October, 1923, which has in the main been enacted into law by the British Parliament, and a proposal is now pending in Congress in the form of H. R. 11447 for its adoption by the United States: Resolved, This board approves the general principles and proposals of H. R 11447, subject to changes that the committee on legislation of this board believes to be wise in the light of hearings which that committee has held and in the light of its own analysis of the bill. The committee on legislation is authorized to approve the general purpose and provisions of the bill and to recommend to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the House of Representatives the adoption of any incidental amendments which the committee on legislation may propose or in which it may concur. CARL P. KREMER, Secretary. Chairman: Commissioner BENSON, Mr. NICOLSON. Mr. NICOLSON (continuing). As I have already indicated, Mr. Chairman, the Shipping Board is in hearty sympathy with this bill on the whole, and the several things we are going to propose have no bearing on the really fundamental policies underlying the bill. We do feel, though, very strongly, that this bill should be treated as a piece of domestic legislation; that what the bill itself speaks is the thing which this committee must consider, and, therefore, not what this convention, which is on file in Brussels, may read. That is why I drew out of Mr. Barnes, of the Department of State, that the official product of the conferences, to which you have heard reference made, is in French and that which they agreed to is what is there written in French. Now that which has been produced in America. is not official, and I am told (I have one amendment in mind particularly) that which we wish to change the reading to is, in fact,. what the French means. But we are confronted with English and not with French in this bill. I would like, before going into those amendments, Mr. Chairman, to say we have had Mr. Boal, of the admiralty division of the Shipping Board, give special study to the provisions of this bill, and, with the exception of certain amendments which I myself am going to present, I would like to have Mr. Boal speak for the bill as a whole, if you will permit it. Mr. EDMONDS. These amendments have been originated how? Mr. NICOLSON. They have been originated, sir, and have been adopted by the Shipping Board itself, and we are authorized to present them here. Mr. EDMONDS. By hearings or how? Mr. NICOLSON. Yes; we had quite a hearing down there and different interests were present. Mr. EDMONDS. Can you tell the interests that were present? Mr. NICOLSON. Well, sir, the meat interests were present; Mr. Campbell was present; the National Industrial Traffic League was present. Mr. EDMONDS. Who else was present; were any of the insurance interests or banking interests present? Mr. NICOLSON. Yes; Mr. Campbell was present; Mr. Englar was present. Unfortunately, Mr. Haight could not attend. He desired to attend, but could not. Mr. Laws, of Philadelphia, was present. Mr. BACON. Who do those gentlemen represent? Mr. LAWS. I represent the Insurance Co. of North America, who are generally in favor of this bill, but is a kicker on one or two provisions that we would still like to kick about. [Laughter.] Mr. EDMONDS. That is a good habit that they have nowadays. Mr. NICOLSON. I would like to introduce Mr. Boal, of the admiralty division, for the purpose of speaking generally on the bill. Mr. EDMONDS. You want Mr. Boal to speak generally on the bill and then you are going to follow him with your amendments? Mr. NICOLSON. Yes; with my amendments. I have asked Mr. Boal to address himself to one amendment, which relates to deviation, which is the one which he specially wishes to speak upon. Mr. EDMONDS. We were in hopes we would not hear from that at all to-day. STATEMENT OF MR. ARTHUR M. BOAL, ADMIRALTY DIVISION, UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD Mr. BOAL. The Shipping Board has in effect now a bill of lading which complies with these rules, which we must use in shipments out of the United Kingdom and Great Britain. On one or two things there is a conflict between these rules and the Harter Act, and, as the Harter Act applies to shipments into this country, we are at a loss to know just what to do about those. We also have various bills of lading in various trades and those can be simplified under this proposed act. I could not say very much about the bill without repeating what Mr. Haight has already told you. There is only one objection that I have to the bill as it stands, and that is on page 8, section 4, the so-called deviation clause. The first part of that clause reads: Any deviation in saving or attempting to save life or property in jeopardy at sea, or any deviation agreed upon between the carrier and the shipper at the time cargo space is contracted for shall not be deemed to be an infringement or breach of this act or of the contract of carriage * Now, I think the insertion of the words "in jeopardy" will limit that unreasonably; that, if a master of a ship gets an S O S call and he deviates to rescue that property and it is not in fact in jeopardy, the carrier should not be liable for that deviation. If he actually deviates for the purpose of saving property at sea, I think the carrier should be relieved from liability. The provision in the Harter Act has not the words "in jeopardy" in there. Mr. DRAPER. Might I ask a question? Would the Shipping Board be willing to put in there some words that would mean "believed to be in jeopardy at sea," or believed by the master of the ship to be in jeopardy at sea? Mr. BOAL. I think that is what the provision would mean without the words "in jeopardy." If he deviates for the purpose of saving property, he has got to think it is in jeopardy. Mr. DRAPER. Would the Shipping Board have any objection to putting that in, if the shippers desire? Mr. WHITE. Do they not have to answer an S O S call? Mr. BOAL. They have got to answer it. Mr. WHITE. And they do not know. The only thought they have in mind about it is that they have gotten an SOS. |