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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
APPENDICES.
NATAL.
(No. 1, 1897.)
WALTER HELY-HUTCHINSON,
ACT, "To place certain restrictions on Immigration.”.
WHEREAS it is desirable to place certain restrictions on immigration :
Governor.
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Natal, as follows:-
1. This Act may be known as "The Immigration Restriction Act, 1897."
2. This Act shall not apply to:---
(a.) Any person possessed of a certificate in the form set out in the Schedule A. to this Act annexed, and signed by the Colonial Secretary, or the Agent- General of Natal, or any officer appointed by the Natal Government for the purposes of this Act, whether in or out of Natal.
(b.) Any person of a class for whose immigration into Natal provision is made by
law or by a scheme approved by Government.
(c.) Any person specially exempted from the operation of this Act by a writing
under the hand of the Colonial Secretary.
(d.) Her Majesty's land and sea forces.
(e.) The officers and crew of any ship of war of any Government.
(ƒ) Any person duly accredited to Natal by or under the authority of the Imperial
or any other Government.
3. The immigration into Natal, by land or sea, of any person of any of the classes prohibited immigrant," is defined in the following sub-sections, hereinafter called prohibited, namely :—
(a.) Any person who, when asked to do so by
an officer appointed under this Act,
sball fail to himself write out and sign, in the characters of any language of Europe, an application to the Colonial Secretary in the form set out in Schedule B. of this Act.
(b.) Any person being a pauper, or likely to become a public charge.
(c.) Any idiot or insane person.
(d.) Any person suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease.
(e.) Any person who, not having received a free pardon, has within two years been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour involving moral turpitude, and not being a mere political offence.
(f) Any prostitute, and any person living on the prostitution of others.
4. Any prohibited immigrant making his way into, or being found within. Natal, in disregard of the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed to have contravened this Act and shall be liable, addition to any other penalty, to be removed from the Colony, and upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding six months without
may hard labour: Provided that such imprisonment shall cease for the purpose of deportation of the offender, or if he shall find two approved sureties, each in the sum of fifty pounds sterling, that he will leave the Colony within one month.
5. Any person appearing to be a prohibited immigrant within the meaning of section 3 of this Act and not coming within the meaning of any of the sub-sections (c), (d), (e), (f) of the said section 3 shall be allowed to enter Natal upon the following conditions :-
(a.) He shall, before landing, deposit with an officer appointed under this Act the
sum of One hundred pounds sterling.
(b.) If such person shall within one week after entering Natal, obtain from the Colonial Secretary, or a magistrate, a certificate that he does not come within the
prohibition of this Act, the deposit of one hundred pounds sterling shall be
returned.
(c.) If such person shall fail to return such certificate within one week, the deposit of one hundred pounds sterling may be forfeited, and he may be treated as a prohibited immigrant.
Provided that, in the case of any person entering Natal under this section, no liability shall attach to the vessel or to the owners of the vessel in which he may have arrived at any port of the Colony.
6. Any person who shall satisfy an officer appointed under this Act that he has been formerly domiciled in Natal, and that he does not come within the meaning of any of the sub-sections (c), (d), (e), (ƒ) of section 3 of this Act, shall not be regarded as a prohibited immigrant,
7. The wife and any minor child of a person not being a prohibited immigrant shall be free from any prohibition imposed by this Act.
be
8. The master and owners of any vessel from which any prohibited immigrant may landed shall be jointly and severally liable to a penalty of not less than one hundred pounds sterling, and such penalty may be increased up to five thousand pounds sterling by sums of one hundred pounds sterling each for every five prohibited immigrants after the first five, and the vessel may be made executable by a decree of the Supreme Court in satisfaction of any such penalty, and the vessel may be refused a clearance outwards until such penalty has been paid, and until provision has been made by the master to the satisfaction of an officer appointed under this Act for the conveyance out of the Colony of each prohibited immigrant who may have been so landed.
9. A probibited immigrant shall not be entitled to a licence to carry on any trade or calling, nor shall he be entitled to acquire land in leasehold, freehold, or otherwise, or to exercise the franchise, or to be enrolled as a burgess of any borough or on the roll of any township; and any licence or franchise right which may have been acquired in contravention of this Act shall be void.
10. Any officer thereto authorised by Government may make a contract with the master, owners, or agent of any vessel for the conveyance of any prohibited immigrant found in Natal to a port in or near to such immigrant's country of birth, and any such immigrant with his personal effects may be placed by a police officer on board such vessel, and shall in such case, if destitute, be supplied with a sufficient sum of money to enable him to live for one month according to his circumstances in life after disembarking from such vessel.
11. Any person who shall in any way wilfully assist any prohibited immigrant to contravene the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to have contravened this Act.
12. Any person who shall wilfully assist the entry into Natal of any prohibited immigrant of the class (ƒ) in Section 3 of this Act sball be deemed to have contravened this Act, and shall upon conviction be liable to be imprisoned with hard labour for any period not exceeding twelve months.
13. Any person who shall be wilfully instrumental in bringing into Natal an idiot or insane person without a written or printed authority, sigued by the Colonial Secretary, shall be deemed to bave contravened this Act, and in addition to any other penalty shall be liable for the cost of the maintenance of such idiot or insane person whilst in the Colony.
14. Any police officer or other officer appointed therefor under this Act may, subject to the provisions of section 5, prevent any prohibited immigrant from entering Natal by land or sea.
15. The Governor may from time to time appoint, and at pleasure remove, officers for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act, and may define the duties of such officers, and such officers shall carry out the instructions from time to time given to them by the ministerial head of their department.
16. The Governor in Council may from time to time make, amend, and repeal rules
and regulations for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.
17. The penalty for any contravention of this Act, or of any rule or regulation passed thereunder where no higher penalty is expressly imposed, shall not exceed a fine of fifty pounds sterling, or imprisonment with or without hard labour, until payment of such fine or in addition to such fine, but not exceeding in any case three months.
18. All contraventions of this Act or of rules or regulations thereunder, and suits for penaltier or other moneys not exceeding one hundred pounds sterling, shall be cognizable by magistrates.
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