649.—(1) The following persons shall be liable to pay light dues for any ship in respect of which light dues are payable; namely,—

(a) The owner or master; or

(b) Such consignees or agents thereof as have paid, or made themselves liable to pay, any other charge on account of the ship in the port of her arrival or discharge;

and those dues may be recovered in the same manner as fines of a like amount under this Act.

(2) Any consignee or agent (not being the owner or master of the ship) who is hereby made liable for the payment of light dues in respect of any ship, may, out of any moneys received by him on account of that ship or belonging to the owner thereof, retain the amount of all light dues paid by him, together with any reasonable expenses he may have incurred by reason of the payment of the dues or his liability to pay the dues.