PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
PART VI.
Mode of
under contract.
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69. The manager of every plantation officially visited by the Immigration Agent-General shall produce before the Immigration Agent-General, at every such indenture visit, any immigrant who may since the last of such visits have entered into a contract of service under indenture on such plantation, and shall deliver to the Immigration Agent-General the contract of service; and if the Immigration Agent- General is satisfied that such contract is a valid and subsisting contract, he shall register such immigrant and the duration of his indenture in the general register of immigrants indentured under contract (Schedule No. 6), and shall deliver to the employer an indenture list of all the immigrants so registered (Schedule No. 11), the and to each of such immigrants whose indenture shall expire before next visit of the Immigration Agent-General, a new certificate of exemp- tion from labor (Schedule No. 9) indorsed with the word "provisional," and with the date at which certificate will fall due, and to every other such other immigrant a certificate of indenture (Schedule No. 8); and every such employer and immigrant shall be, and shall be taken to be, bound by such indenture accordingly.
Indenture. of minor immi- grante residing
tation.
70. Every infant immigrant who shall attain the age of ten years while residing on a plantation, and every minor immigrant whose contract shall expire before he attains the age of fifteen years, may, at the next visit of the Immigration Agent-General to the plantation, be indentured to the employer on whose planta- on a plan- tion he is residing; and every such indenture may be for any term not exceeding five years from the date thereof: Provided that the Governor may from time to time fix any less term as the maximum term for which any such indenture may be entered into. The Immigration Agent-General shall register such immigrant and the dura- tion of his indenture in the register of minor immigrants indentured on planta- tions (Schedule No. 4), and shall deliver the proper indenture list and certificate of indenture, or provisional certificate of exemption from labor, to the employer and immigrant respectively; and such employer and immigrant shall thereupon be, and be taken to be, bound by such indenture accordingly.
Bounty ou re-inden- ture.
Compu- tation of commuta-
tion money on re-in-
denture.
Commuta- tion of ro- indenture.
Invest-
ment of
indenture
71. The bounty payable by the employer in respect of any immigrant inden- tured on a plantation shall be not less than at the rate of Two Pounds for every year, or at a proportionate rate for every fraction of a year of such indenture, or such other minimum rate as shall from time to time be fixed by the Governor: Pro- vided that in the case of every immigrant so indentured who shall, in the opinion of the Immigration Agent-General, be other than an able-bodied immigrant, and in the case of every minor immigrant, the minimum rate of the bounty shall be, and be fixed at, one-half of that which would have been payable if such immigrant had been able-bodied or adult, respectively.
72. The commutation money payable under this Act on determination of trans- fer of an indenture entered into on the plantation, shall be such part of the amount of the bounty which shall have been paid by the employer in respect of such inden- ture, as shall be proportionate to the unexpired remainder of such indenture, with interest thereon at the rate of Six Pounds per centum per annum since the commu- tation of such indenture.
73. Every immigrant who shall have entered into an indenture on a plantation for a period of more than one year, shall, after the expiration of the first nine months, be entitled, upon giving three months' notice to his employer, to determine this indenture on the payment of the commutation money.
74. Of any bounty paid by the employer upon the indenture of a minor immi- grant, only such portion as the Immigration Agent-General shall permit may be bounty on paid to the parents or natural guardians of such immigrant, and the balance shall be invested in the Savings Bank, or otherwise secured to the satisfaction of the Immigration Agent-General, for the benefit of such minor immigrant, until his attaining the age of fifteen years.
of minor
immi-
grants.
Other
75. Except as in this Act provided, with regard to reindentures and contracts hirings of of service under indenture, the hirings, whether verbal or in writing, of all immi- free immi-
grants possessed of or entitled to a certificate of exemption from labor shall be grants.
subject to, and governed by, the provisions of any Act now or hereafter to be in force regulating the hirings of servants and other laborers not immigrants within the meaning of this Act: Provided always that, except as aforesaid, no contract of any such immigrant shall be taken to be an indenture within the meaning of this Act: Provided further that, except as aforesaid, no hiring or contract for service of
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any such immigrant shall be taken to be a contract for more than one month certain from the time of entering into service, any express or implied agreement to that effect notwithstanding.
PART VII.
Desertion and Leave.
PART VI.
PART VII.
absence.
76. Every indentured immigrant who, being an able-bodied male adult immi- Leave of grant, shall have earned wages at the rate of at least Four Shillings and Sixpence per week, or being any other immigrant, shall have earned wages at the rate of at least Three Shillings per week during two consecutive weeks shall be entitled to leave of absence from the plantation at the rate of one day and night for every such undivided period of two weeks; and every employer shall, at the request of such immigrant, furnish him with a free pass accordingly, good for as many days as he may require and be entitled to have leave of absence for: Provided that no immi- grant shall be entitled to leave of absence, and no employer, except for special cause to be stated in such pass, shall be entitled to give leave to any indentured immigrant, for more than seven days at any one time, or more than twenty-six days in any one year; and no pass extended for special cause shall be given for more than twenty-six days at any one time, or more than once to the same immigrant in any one year; and every employer refusing a pass to which any immigrant is entitled, or giving a pass in excess of the limits allowed in this Act, or stating in any pass extended as aforesaid a false, frivolous, or pretended cause for such extension, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall, on conviction at the complaint of the Immigration Agent- General pay a fine not exceeding Five Pounds.
deserters,
77. If any immigrant under indenture shall, without leave, absent himself for Apprehen- seven days from the plantation, he shall be taken to be a deserter from such planta- sion of tion; and the manager shall thereupon proceed to lay an information or make a complaint against him in that behalf before any Justice of the Peace, and to apply for a warrant for his apprehension; and such warrant shall be granted free of cost, and shall be directed to all members of the police force or constables; and every manager failing to lay such information before the Justice within fourteen days after such immigrant shall have become a deserter shall be guilty of an offence, and shall, on conviction at the complaint of the Immigration Agent-General, pay a fine not exceeding Five Pounds, and shall, in addition to such fine, pay an absolute accumu- lating fine of Two Shillings for every day of such default."
and
78. Every manager of a plantation on which immigrants shall be indentured Register of shall keep a register of desertions and absence on leave, and shall enter therein desertions every desertion of an indentured immigrant from such plantation, with the date on absence which such immigrant was last seen at work on the plantation, and every pass granted on leave. by him to an indentured immigrant, with the date and period and the cause of extension, if any, of such pass, and also every leave of absence granted verbally to any such immigrant which shall extend over the night.
79. Every immigrant under indenture who shall desert from his plantation Penalty for shall be guilty of an offence, and shall, on first conviction pay a fine not exceeding desertion. Two Pounds, or be imprisoned with hard labor for a term not exceeding one month, or pay such fine and be so imprisoned; and, on a second or subsequent conviction, shall pay a fine not exceeding Five Pounds, or be imprisoned for a term not exceed- ing two months, or pay such fine and be so imprisoned as the convicting Justice shall direct; and such Justice shall, upon any such conviction, make order that the indenture of such immigrant, if unexpired, shall, on the expiration thereof, be pro- longed, and if already expired, shall on and from the expiration of any sentence of imprisonment then passed, and if no such sentence shall be passed, on.and from the -date of such conviction, be renewed for such period as shall have elapsed from the time when such deserter first quitted the plantation till the expiration of his inden- ture, if already expired, and, if not, till the date of his apprehension, and shall make and sign an entry to that effect in the plantation register of desertions and absences on leave, and shall make order for the re-conveyance of such immigrant to his plan- tation, either then immediately or immediately after the expiration of any sentence of imprisonment then passed; and such indenture shall thereupon be taken to be so prolonged or renewed accordingly.