The observation that occurs to one is that this section is found in a collection or group of clauses which are headed with the words: “And with respect to the appointment of harbourmasters, dock-masters, and pier-masters and their duties, be it enacted as follows.” “An act so penned,” says Lord Wensleydale, speaking of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, which is framed in a similar manner, “cannot be read as a continuous enactment would be; various clauses relating to each separate subject are collected under various heads, with an appropriate heading to each class, which must apply to the whole of that class of which it is the heading”; and he adds that the effect is the same as if the heading had been repeated at the head of each section (Eastem Counties, & c., Companies V. Marriage). The section, therefore, must be read in connection with the general heading. So read, it purports to be concerned primarily with the duties of harbour-masters, dock-masters, and pier-masters. That is the scope of the section and its proper province. The general heading supplies the key to the enactment. There is no indication that the enactment was intended to effect a serious alteration in the law to the prejudice and detriment of individuals. It rather seems to be indicated that nothing more was intended than to confer upon the harbour-master, acting in the public interest, power to do on behalf of the owner that which might be done by the owner in his own interest, with less regard perhaps to the interest of the public.
