67
on the regulations alone, then this legislature
can deal with the matter but as the
Section before me requires these things
to be done the case
Ship proceeding on a
of every passenger
voyage of more than seven days I apprehend the Colonial legislature cannot alter that.
New Regulations might be framed
Compliance
effect - A voyage of 21 days duration would in reality only include the ports of China and Manila - It seems to be
intended that free emigrants to Australia
and the ships conveying
them are not to be exempted from the requirements of the act except probably as
to the necessity of explaining to them the
nature of their contract passage ticket
in such a way as to render a
compliance with Section 4. A mere
form
will
I
need not
say
how vexatious it would
be to require compliance with that form especially where the giving a Bond
is
part of it - The device would
be
so
cumbersome that I would be loath to adopt it But practically I do not think the proposed change
would have the desired
effect on
voyages
to
which they
are
bound
(emigrants or
perhaps "bound" would
be the more correct word) to Siam,
Singapore, the Indian Archipelago,
and the ships conveying
them
are to be
exempted. Now the length of a voyage from Hongkong to these places varies at different periods of the year according