723.—(1) Where any of the following officers; namely,—

any officer of the Board of Trade,

any commissioned officer of any of Her Majesty’s ships on full pay,

any British consular officer,

the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen or his assistant,

any chief officer of Customs in any place in Her Majesty’s dominions, or

any superintendent,

has reason to suspect that the provisions of this Act, or any law for the time being in force relating to merchant seamen or navigation, is not complied with, that officer may—

(a) require the owner, master, or any of the crew of any British ship to produce any official log-books or other documents relating to the crew or any member thereof in their respective possession or control;

(b) require any such master to produce a list of all persons on board his ship, and take copies of the official logbooks or documents, or of any part thereof;

(c) muster the crew of any such ship; and

(d) summon the master to appear and give any explanation concerning the ship or her crew or the official logbooks or documents produced or required to be produced.

(2) If any person, on being duly required by an officer authorised under this section, fails without reasonable cause to produce to that officer any such official log-book or document as he is required to produce under this section, or refuses to allow the same to be inspected or copied, or impedes any muster of the crew required under this section, or refuses or neglects to give any explanation which he is required under this section to give, or knowingly misleads or deceives any officer authorised under this section to demand any such explanation, that person shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.