PEARL AND PEARL-SHELL FISHERIES. 223 



And the provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of any shell with respect to which 

 such authority has been given. 



"An inspector may examine any pearl oyster shells collected, carried away, or exposed for 

 sale, and may seize any shells contained in a bag or other receptacle in which is any shell of less 

 size than that hereby prescribed, or any heap or other collection of shells in which is any such shell. 



" 12. All pearl oyster shell shall be shipped for exportation at Port Kennedy, in Thursday 

 Island, or some other port appointed by the Governor in Council for that purpose, and nc 

 such shell shall be shipped for exportation until the expiration of forty-eight hours after notice 

 of the intention to ship it has been given to an inspector. 



"An inspector may require any package containing pearl oyster shell packed for exporta- 

 tion to be opened, and its contents exposed to view, in his presence. 



"Any person who refuses to comply with any such requisition of an inspector or who ships 

 or attempts to ship any pearl oyster shell for exportation contrary to the provisions of this 

 section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. 



" 13. The Governor in Council may, by proclamation, prohibit for a time specified in the 

 proclamation the collecting or obtaining of pearl oyster shell of any variety, or of beche-de-mer, 

 from any port, bank, channel, reef or cluster of reefs, or any portion of a port, bank, channel, reef 

 or cluster of reefs. 



" Any person who obtains or collects pearl oyster shell of any prohibited variety, or any beche- 

 de-mer, from any place from which the collecting or obtaining of pearl oyster shell of that variety, 

 or of beche-de-mer, is prohibited, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, and all 

 pearl oyster shells or beche-de-mer in his possession may be seized by an inspector, and shall be 

 liable to be forfeited. 



" 14. The Police Magistrate at Port Kennedy may grant to any person who is, in his opinion, 

 of good character and reputation, a license to deal in pearls. 



"A fee of twenty-five pounds shall be paid for the license. A license shall be in force until 

 the thirty-first day of December next after the date of its issue, but shall be liable to be cancelled 

 by a Police Magistrate upon the conviction of the licensee of any offence against the provisions of 

 ' The Pearl-Shell and Beche-de-Mer Fishery Acts ' or ' The Licensing Act of 1885." 



" 15. After the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one it 

 shall not be lawful for any person to purchase pearls at any place where the fishery is carried 

 on, or at Port Kennedy, except from a licensed dealer in pearls, without having first obtained 

 a license to deal in pearls. 



"Any unlicensed person who after that time purchases pearls at any place where the 

 fishery is carried on, or at Port Kennedy, except from a licensed dealer in pearls, shall be 

 liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds. 



" 16. The Governor in Council may grant a lease of the whole or any part of an outlying reef 



