PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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complained of that deduction having been made from their pay, have made false state- ments. Theír sirdar has made himself answerable for the tools confided to them.
Stoppages for Absences.
It is not true that I stop a whole week's rations for one day's absence without leave. I give all my men a pound and a half of rice per week in excess of what is due to them by contract. When a man is one day absent I deduct from his rations one dlay's rice according to contract, besides the pound and a half. The distributions are made every Saturday in advance.
Fines for Cutting Wood.
I deny that I prevent my men from taking brush-wood from my estate to cook their victuals with. I make it a rule to point out one square at a time from which they may take their firewood, so that they should not wantonly destroy the wood on my estate. When a man is found cutting wood elsewhere than in the square appro- priated to the purpose of supplying firewood to the men of my camp, he is arrested and brought to me. I then send him to the police station, except when he voluntarily offers to pay for the damage done, and I then allow him to pay a sum, which varies from 1 to 5 dollars, according to the quantity of wood destroyed.
Day's Work.
I ring my first bell at half past four, the second at five. The roll-call takes place at a quarter past five. At half past five my men go off to their work. They leave off
work at half past five.
Shops.
I have two shops on the estate. They do not belong to me. They are hired by a Chinaman and a Madrassee. I never give my men any "hons" or orders addressed to those or any other shop-keepers. These shop-keepers do attend the payments I make.
The practice as to the mode of paying wages on this estate is as follows:-I count out to each man what he is entitled to receive. If he owes anything to me or the shop- keepers, the claim of the latter is then asserted. If it be not objected by the labourer the portion claimed is allowed to be taken by the claimant, the shop-keeper; but if the claim is not admitted, the shop-keeper is never allowed to take a single farthing.
Task Work.
When a task which can be finished, and is finished by most of the men of a gang, is not gone through by any man, this is how I manage :-When 200 holes are given to be as the task, if only 100 be made, I mark "malade-travail," which leads to the man not being paid, but he is fed. When 150 holes are gone through, I don't stop the pay, unless it be often repeated.
APPENDIX No. 2.
Judgment by Stipendiary Magistrate.
"MONT CHOISY" CASE.
Judgment given by C. Renouf, Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate.
This case has been a very long and unnecessarily protracted one, and the longth of it is due to the mode of proceeding adopted in Stipendiary Courts for collective complaints. A mass of evidence has been brought forward, and mostly by Indians, and on most of the important points it has been very conflicting.
However, after a mature and careful examination of the evidence, I have come to the following conclusion:-That some of the grounds of the complaint are founded, and that others have either been totally disproved, or have not been completely proved, for the five complainants. Accordingly upon the several counts of the complaint, my judgment is as follows:--
1. On the 1st count complainants stated :-"That they were woke up at 2 o'clock A.M. to be sent to work, and kept at work until 6:30 P.M., and thus obliging them to reach their camp at 8 P.M."
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On this point my judgment is in favour of defendant.
2. The 2nd count runs thus :-
"When absent from work one day, their week's rations are cut off."
This point also has not been proved for the five complainants, and I dismiss it. 3. The 3rd count runs thus:-
"When sick and after medicine has been given to them, they are not allowed to remain in hospital, and are sent to work with the bullocks."
As regards this section of the complaint, the extent to which the alleged practice is shown by the evidence to have been carried on, does not totally satisfy me that the
five complainants were ill-treated, and, therefore, on this point also, my judgment is in favour of defendant.
4. The 4th count runs thus :-
"When they do not appear at pay-day to receive their wages, the same are forfeited, and it is only when they re-engage that the said money is refunded to them."
This count is not proved and is also dismissed.
5. The 5th counts runs thus:---
"The amount of pioches' and other tools given to them to work on the estate is deducted from their wages."
Although defendant's intention was to return to the complainants at the end of their contracts the amount of the tools used by them, still I consider that he had no right whatever to deduct the same from their wages, and I therefore order him to pay to each complainant the sum of 58. as an indemnity or refund.
6. The 6th count runs thus:
"Two rupees were forcibly cut off from their wages for the "Ghoone," but that money was used for that religious purpose."
am satisfied that that deduction was really made in compliance with an alleged general practice in the Colony, and that the complainants did in fact authorize their master, and without any profit to him, to make a certain advance upon their wages for the purchase of their "Ghoone." Accordingly I consider that the master was entitled to repay himself in the manner complained of.
7. The 7th count runs thus:
"For the use of the water from the well, a dollar is out off every year from their wages."
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It is true that a dollar has not been cut off yearly from the wages of complainants for a pump erected on the estate, but I am satisfied that a deduction on this point was once illegally made; I therefore order defendant to pay to each of the complainants a further sum of 48. as an indemnity or refund.
8. The 8th count runs thus:
"Whenever they are caught picking up dry wood, 10 rupees are asked from them, and when they refuse to pay that amount, they are sent to the police." This count is not within the competency of the Stipendiary Court.
9. The 9th count runs thus:
"When the task work is not finished at 5 o'clock F.M., their wages are cut off." The evidence adduced on this point has been too vague to enable the Court to estimate the amount of prejudice done to each of the five complainants.
10. "Two months' wages are also claimed from the defendant." Defendant to pay immediately to complainants the wages that may be due, according to the labourers' wages book.
Therefore the whole of these indemnities are forthwith to be paid to the com. plainants by defendant.
Costs of suit reserved until judgment be given concerning the remaining com- plainants in the plaint.
Lastly, it has been a matter of serious consideration with me as to whether the grievances the five complainants have undergone in this case, at the instance of their employer, were such as to render it just and proper that the contracts of service should be cancelled, and I have come to the conclusion that that extreme penalty is, under these circumstances, unnecessary and uncalled for. Complainants to return to their work.
Given under my hand and seal, this twentieth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
(Signed) CHS. RENOUF, Stipendiary Magistrate,