677.—Subject to the provisions of this Act and to any prior charges that may be subsisting on the Mercantile Marine Fund under any Act of Parliament or otherwise there shall be charged on and payable out of that fund the following expenses so far as they are not paid by any private person:—

(a) The salaries and other expenses connected with local marine boards and mercantile marine offices, and with the examinations conducted under the Second and Fourth Parts of this Act:

(b) The salaries of all surveyors of ships and officers appointed under this Act and all expenses incurred in connexion with the survey and measurement of ships under this Act, and the remuneration of medical inspectors of seamen under the Second Part of this Act:

(c) The salaries and expenses of persons employed under the Third Part of this Act:

(d) The superannuation allowances, gratuities, pensions, and other allowances granted either before or after the passing of this Act to any of the said surveyors, officers, or persons:

(e) The allowances and expenses paid for the relief of distressed British seamen and apprentices, including the expenses declared under this Act to be payable as such expenses, and any contributions to seamen’s refuges and hospitals:

(f) Any sums which the Board of Trade, in their discretion, think fit to pay in respect of claims to moneys carried to the Mercantile Marine Fund on account of the property of deceased seamen, or on account of the proceeds of wreck:

(g) All expenses of obtaining depositions, reports, and returns respecting wrecks and casualties:

(h) All expenses incurred in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act with regard to receivers of wrecks and the performance of their duties under this Act:

(i) All expenses incurred by the general lighthouse authorities in the works and services of lighthouses, buoys, and beacons, or in the execution of any works necessary or expedient for the purpose of permanently reducing the expense of those works and services:

(k) Any pensions or other sums payable in relation to the duties formerly performed by the Trinity House in respect of lastage and ballastage in the River Thames:

(l) Such expenses for establishing and maintaining on the coasts of the United Kingdom proper lifeboats with the necessary crews and equipments, and for affording assistance towards the preservation of life and property in cases of shipwreck and distress at sea, and for rewarding the preservation of life in such cases, as the Board of Trade direct:

(m) Such reasonable costs, as the Board of Trade may allow, of advertising or otherwise making known the establishment of, or alterations in, foreign lighthouses, buoys, and beacons to owners, and masters of, and other persons interested in, British ships:

(n) All costs and expenses incurred by the Board of Trade under the Boiler Explosions Acts, 1882 and 1890 (so far as not otherwise provided for), including any remuneration paid in pursuance of section seven of the Boiler Explosions Act, 1882, and any costs and expenses ordered by the court in pursuance of those Acts to be paid by the Board of Trade:

(o) Any expenses which are charged on or payable out of the Mercantile Marine Fund under this or any other Act of Parliament.