196.—(1) If a seaman, without having previously committed an act amounting to and treated by the master as desertion, leaves his ship in order to enter the naval service of Her Majesty, and is received into that service, the master shall deliver to him his effects on board the ship, and shall pay, subject to all just deductions, the proportionate amount of his wages down to the time of his entering Her Majesty’s service, to the officer authorised to receive the seaman into that service, either in money or by bill drawn upon the owner, and payable at sight to the order of the Accountant-General of the Navy; and the receipt of that officer shall be a discharge for the money or bill so given; and the bill shall be exempt from stamp duty.

(2) If the master fails so to deliver the seaman’s effects or to pay his wages, as by this section required, he shall, in addition to his liability to deliver and pay the same, be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(3) If any such bill be not duly paid when presented, the Accountant-General of the Navy or the seaman on whose behalf the bill is given, may sue thereon, or may recover the wages due by all or any of the means by which wages due to seamen are recoverable.