The principle of that decision is precisely the same as the principle on which I rely in this case. JUSTICE A’BECKETT: I wish only to add a few words to say that I think that, without the answer to the interrogatory, and without considering the conduct of the defendants, it cannot be said, on the construction of the statutes, that the _Alert_ does not come within the meaning of sect. 103, and that her owners do not come within the liability imposed by that section; and in approaching the subject, I think we have first to consider that the Marine Act 1890 is a Victorian statute, and we have to ascertain what was the meaning of that Victorian statute in saying in sect. 98 that the provisions contained in Part VI. of the Act “shall ... apply to all British ships registered or being at any place within Victoria and to no others.” We must find a meaning for these words, and of course may refer to the English Act for the purpose of interpreting them. One thing required is that the ship shall be a British ship registered in Victoria. Primarily, those words would mean a ship of British nationality. The _Alert_ was a British ship so far as nationality is concerned, and she was at the time of her wreck registered _de facto_; but Mr. Schutt says that, by reason of a defect in her registration, we are not to regard her as duly registered, and that consequently she has ceased to be a British ship. It seems to me, having regard to what Part VI. deals with—viz., “The Safety and Prevention of Accidents,” that, when a particular obligation is cast upon the owner of a registered ship, it would be an altogether unwarrantable construction of that section to read it as equivalent to “duly registered,” in such a way as to allow an owner to escape its provisions by omitting to do something which the English Act required to make a valid registration. He could not, by his own default, put himself in a position to say that he was not registered, by altering his ship after registration and neglecting to register that alteration. I think, having regard to the object of this legislation, that a registration _de facto_ is sufficient to bring a ship within the provisions of sect. 98. If the _Alert_ was within the section, the only question is whether her owner would be subject to the consequences of not being recognised as the owner of a British ship. What are those consequences? They are defined in sect. 106 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854, and, as my brother Williams has pointed out, there is nothing in that section to alter the civil liability imposed on the owner by sect. 103 of the Marine Act 1890. I therefore think, on the words of the Act alone, that the defendants have no case on the point raised. JUSTICE WILLIAMS: This appeal will be allowed, with costs, and there will have to be a new trial before a Judge of this Court. _Appeal allowed. New trial ordered before a Judge of the Supreme Court._ [Illustration: Decoration] FOOTNOTES: [4] Num. xxxii. 23.