WILLIAMS, J.—This is an application for a new trial. The Court has already delivered judgment upon a point which we need not further refer to, ordering that a new trial should take place upon the ground there dealt with. But now Mr. Schutt, counsel for the defendants, says that there is an objection which would be a fatal objection to the plaintiff’s case, that it is an objection which could not possibly be got over, and that the Court ought not to send a case for a new trial when the trial would be futile. The Court saw the force of that contention of Mr. Schutt, and so we have heard arguments on that point. Now, that point was this—that this action was an action brought under sect. 109 of our Marine Act, 1890, and that that section only applies to the case of a British ship, and that therefore the plaintiff, before he could bring his action upon the implied contract created by sect. 103, must show that the _Alert_, the ship in question, was a British ship. So far Mr. Schutt’s contention appears to be correct, because sect. 98 of the same Act says, “The provisions contained in this part of this Act”—_i. e._, the part dealing with the safety of ships and prevention of accidents, in which sect. 103 is included—“shall (except where it is otherwise specially provided) apply to all British ships registered or being at any place within Victoria, and to no others.” Therefore it is perfectly clear, so far, that sect. 103 only applies to British ships. Well then, Mr. Schutt further contended that a ship could not be a British ship unless it was owned by British subjects, and unless it was registered in the manner provided by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, 17 and 18 Vict., c. 104. Now, there is no doubt that those provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, as to registration, and as to what constitutes a British ship, apply to this colony, because sect. 17 says, “The second part of this Act shall apply to the whole of Her Majesty’s dominions.” Now it is upon that point that Mr. Schutt seems to have based his contention—namely, that to constitute the _Alert_ a British ship, it must be proved not only that she belongs to British subjects, but that she was registered as required by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. He certainly argued the point very ably, and displayed great ingenuity in his argument, but, unfortunately, I cannot agree with him on that point. Sect. 18 of the same Act provides that “no ship shall be deemed to be a _British_ ship, unless she belongs wholly to owners of the following description, that is to say,” and then the subsections proceed to give the description of the persons to whom she may belong—viz., natural-born British subjects, persons made denizens by letters of denization, or naturalised by or pursuant to any Act of the Imperial Legislature, or by or pursuant to any Act or Ordinance of the proper Legislative authority in any British possession, and bodies