Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)Chapter IV : Engagement, Discharge, Repatriation, Payment, Discipline and General Treatment of Seafarers and Cadets131. Right of suing on allotment notes |
| (1) | The person in whose favour an allotment note under this Act has been made may, unless the seafarer has forfeited or ceased to be entitled to the wages out of which the allotment is to be paid, recover the sums allotted when and as the same are made payable, with costs, from the owner of the ship in respect of which the seafarer was engaged or from any agent of the owner who has authorized the allotment, and the provisions of section one hundred and thirty-six shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to any proceedings for such recovery: Provided that the wife of a seafarer, if she deserts her children or so misconducts herself as to be undeserving of support from her husband shall forfeit all rights to further payments under any allotment made in her favour. |
| (2) | In any proceedings mentioned in subsection (1) it shall be sufficient for the claimant to prove that he is the person mentioned in the allotment note and that the note was given by the owner or by the master or the authorized agent of the owner or master, and the seafarer shall be presumed to be duly earning his wages unless the contrary is shown to the satisfaction of the court— |
| (a) | in the case of a seafarer serving on a foreign-going ship, by the official statement of the change in the crew caused by the seafarer’s absence, made and signed by the master in terms of section 104; or |
[Section 131(2)(a) substituted by section 16 of Act No. 12 of 2015]
| (b) | by a certified copy of some entry in the official log-book, or by a letter from the master, to the effect that the seafarer has left the ship; or |
| (c) | by such other evidence as the court in its discretion considers sufficient to show that the seafarer has ceased to be entitled to the wages out of which the allotment is to be paid. |
[Section 131 substituted by section 29(a) & (i) of Act No. 12 of 2015]