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20. His Excellency further believes that he has thereby adopted the only course open to him for securing the object equally desired by him and by you—namely, the greatest amount of justice and benefit, attainable for the Emigrant.
No. 39.
I have the honor to be,
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient Servant,
(Signed) HENRY JOHN BALL,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
APPENDIX No. 10.
REGULATIONS FOR CHINESE EMIGRANTS AT MACAO.
The Governor of the Province of Macao, Timor, and Solor determines as follows:-
Whereas it is necessary that all practicable measures be taken to the end that, without interfering with the right of Chinese to depart from Macao, those abuses be prevented which might occur in the transportation of such as may embark for foreign countries as Colonists or emigrants, and to unite in one single regulation all the enactments heretofore prevailing in this respect, in order that they may the better come to the knowledge of all, and the Council of Government having been heard, I deem it right to determine as follows
CONCERNING BROKERS,
1. Persons occupying themselves in engaging Chinese for emigration, and who are known by the name of Brokers, shall not be authorized to carry on this traffic without having obtained a license from the Procurador of the Loyal Senate.
2. Brokers shall deposit a security of $200 before obtaining a license, which shall be granted for the period of one year.
3. Whenever any Chinese shall have been engaged to emigrate by Brokers, they shall produce him at the office of the Procurador, where explanation shall be made to the Colonist or emigrant respecting the country to which he is going, the service for which he engages himself, and the conditions thereof, the regulations of the depôt in which he is to be received, and all other circumstances which the Procurador may deem necessary, to the end that the Colonist be thoroughly informed of the obligations he is about to contract.
4. The Procurador shall visit from time to time the houses of the Brokers, and whenever he shall meet with any Chinese who has been imposed upon and is kept there against his will, he shall cause him to leave the place, and shall fine the Broker in the amount of $100. In case of repetition of the offence, the Broker's license shall be withdrawn.
5. A like penalty to that provided in the foregoing article shall be incurred by every Broker, who does not produce before the Procurador any Colonist whom he may have engaged, within twenty-four hours of such engagement, if this has taken place in Macao, or, if it has taken place elsewhere, within twenty-four hours after the Colonist shall have entered the city.
6. Brokers shall be bound to send away from the City all Colonists who are rejected by the Emigration Agents, or their representatives, and to pay their passage back to their homes. For every case of infringement of these provisions the Broker shall be mulcted in a fine of $30.
7. Any Broker who shall resort to violence or coercion in order to cause any Chinese he may propose to export as a Colonist to enter his house or the depôts, shall be prosecuted in conformity with the existing laws, in addition to being mulcted in the fine imposed by Article IV.
CONCERNING EMIGRATION AGENTS AND THEIR DEPOTS.
8. The Emigration Agents, or the persons superintending the embarkation of the Colonists shall notify the Government respecting the locality in which they propose to deposit them, their number, the vessel or vessels in which they are to embark, the contracts made with them, and the place of their destination.
9. A place shall be kept apart in the depôts for Colonists, in which the sick shall be cared for.
10. The Surgeon Major of the Province, alone or accompanied by the practitioners constituting the Board of Health, shall inspect from time to time the localities occupied by the Colonists, and shall carefully inquire whether all the precautions required in the interests of public health are observed; he shall give such instructions as he may deem necessary in this respect both to the Emigration Agents to whom the depôts belong, and to the medical men in charge of the same; and he shall propose to the Government whatever measures he may deem necessary upon so important a subject, bearing in mind that he has to watch over not alone the public health, but also the good treatment and comfort of the Colonists.
11. The medical practitioners appointed by the agents to take care of the Colonists in their depôts, and to inspect them, shall be bound to report to the Surgeon Major of the Province the method in which they discharge this service, as well as any circumstance which might endanger the public health, or that of the Colonists, and they shall further comply with all instructions they may receive from the Surgeon Major.
12. The Emigration Agents shall send to the Government a copy of regulations established in their depôts.
13. Contracts entered into between Chinese emigrating to foreign countries, and embarking at the Port of Macao, and Emigration Agents, shall be registered before the Procurador in the same manner as is provided in respect to all contracts between Chinese or Chinese and Christians. This registration shall be made in the presence of the parties interested and before two witnesses.
SECTION 1.—Contracts must be drawn up in the Chinese, and in the language of the country to which the Colonists are destined.
SECTION 2.—The contract must specify the name, sex, age, and native place of the Colonist.
SECTION 3.—No Colonist will be permitted to engage himself unless he has reached the age of eighteen, or is accompanied by his father or mother.
SECTION 4.—The contract shall set forth the period for which the engagement is to last, as also the amount of wages, food, and clothing that the Colonist is to receive,
14. The Procurador shall, on the occasion of his visits to the depôts of Colonists ascertain with scrupulous care, whether any of them are there against their will, or under deception with respect to the destination of the vessel they are to embark upon. In case he shall meet with any individual who has been the subject of violence or fraud, he shall cause him at once to leave the depôt, and shall proceed against the Broker who has imposed upon him.
15. A visit of the kind treated of in the preceding article shall always take place on the evening previous to embarkation, which shall not be accomplished without such visit, for which purpose the Agents shall give timely notice to the Procurador.
16. Chinese who have entered into contracts before the Procurador, and have been fully informed of the place and service for which they are engaged, shall be under obligation to fulfil the same, or to compensate the Emigration Agents for the expenses to which they have been put, which they will be required to repay in case they repent of their engagement or for any other cause whatever wish not to proceed to their destination. The cost of their maintenance shall be repaid by them at the rate of 100 cash per diem.
17. The provisions of the foregoing article shall not empower the Emigration Agent to keep the Colonists imprisoned in the depôts; they will be authorized in taking measures to obtain the deposit of caution-money, or other guarantees that may appear suitable for securing the expenses they incur, but never in detaining the persons of individuals.
18. Emigration Agents shall be liable to a fine of from $50 to $300 for infringement of the preceding rules in so far as they are referred to therein.
CONCERNING THE VESSELS ON WHICH COLONISTS ARE SHIPPED.
19. No vessel shall leave Macao with Chinese Colonists unless she has first been inspected by the Captain of the Port.
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