CO882-(2-3) — Page 11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

TTCO 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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15. If an employer fails to have a proper hospital he may, on conviction before a Stipendiary Magistrate, be compelled' to pay a fine of from Bl. to 201.; and the Stipendiary Magistrate may then order the hospital to be repaired and put in order within three months. If this order is not complied with, the magistrate may inflict a heavier fine, from 201. to 501.; and at the suit of the servant the contract may be broken.

A Medical Inspector visits and reports on the hospitals once a quarter. He has no coercive powers, nor can he, except as a Sanitary Inspector, prosecute for infractions of

the law.

III.

16. Having thus hastily reviewed the principal obligations of the employer, I will proceed to the obligations of the immigrant and the enactments which secure the proper performance by him of his part of the contract into which he has entered.

17. The amount of work required from the immigrant varies greatly in different Colonies.

In Demerara* the immigrant is bound to work for five days of seven hours each in "every week, or in each week to perform five tasks.

year.

In Trinidad' the obligation is to work on 280 days of nine hours each during the

Practically, task-work is by mutual agreement more generally performed, although not recognized by law.

In St. Lucia, Grenada, and Jamaica, work may be required on every day of the year, excepting Sundays and holidays."

18. In Mauritius the obligation is to work every day in the year, not excluding Sundays, but on that day only for two hours, and that not at field work, whilst nine hours may be required on every other day of the year.

The master may, instead of nine hours' work, require the performance of task- work, "

giving such tasks as can reasonably be required," their reasonableness being left to be settled in case of dispute by the Stipendiary Magistrate.

19. The penalties for absence from work are also various.

20. In Trinidad the penalty for simple absence from work without lawful excuse on the days on which the immigrant is bound to work is imprisonment for seven days, or not more than thirty days' for a second or subsequent offence. Women are fined instead of being imprisoned, and every day of such absence is ordered by the Magistrate to be made good on the completion of the immigrant's term of service.

In Demerara any immigrant refusing or neglecting, without reasonable cause, to perform five tasks or five days' work in the week is punishable by a fine of 24 dollars, or imprisonment for two months. Any immigrant absent for seven days consecutively 10 may be fined 24 dollars, or imprisoned for two months, or both; and if convicted of twice deserting within the year, the penalty may be doubled, or, instead, twice the period of desertion ordered to be made good after the expiry of the indenture.

21. In Mauritius the immigrant who is absent from work without justifiable cause11 (and it is expressly enacted that absence on account of sickness is not justifiable cause if the immigrant does not go to hospital) loses not only his wages and rations (which latter are, in the West Indies, given whether he works or not), but also a halfpenny on every shilling of his monthly wages, which may be deducted by the employer himself; or he may, at the option of his employer, be imprisoned for fourteen days, or have his contract prolonged for a period corresponding to that of his absence. If he is absent for three days from the estate he becomes a “deserter," and may be apprehended not only by the police, but by his master or his master's servants, and imprisoned for three

months.

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Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1865, Section 8.

• Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1865, Section 9.

* Mauritius, Ordinance No. 29 of 1866, Section 23.

* Demerara, Ordinance No. 9 of 1868, Section 3.

* Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 56.

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Jamaica, Act of 1869, Section 6; Grenada, Act of 1869, Section 86; St. Lucia, Ordinance No. I

of 1865, Section 25.

7 Mauritius, Ordinance No. 31 of 1867, Sections 22 and 23.

* Mauritius, Ordinance No. 17 of 1841, Section 1.

Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 59.

10 Demerara, Ordinance No. 9 of 1888, Section 3; Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 118.

Mauritius, Ordinance No. 16 of 1862, Section 18; No. 31 of 1867, Section 49; No. 29 of 1865,

Section 10.

* Mauritius, Ordinance No. 31 of 1867, Sections 50 and 51.

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"Deserters are, however, more usually punished for vagrancy, of which the initial punishment is only twenty-eight days' imprisonment, but which, after two convictions within two years, renders the vagrant liable to nine months' confinement.

In Trinidad the punishment for vagrancy, if the immigrant be an indentured one, if he be not at once restored to his estate, is seven days' imprisonment,' after which he is sent back to his estate.

IV.

22: I will now compare the checks established in the different Colonies to restrain any possible misuse of the large powers conferred by the law, and the precautions taken to prevent any neglect of its provisions.

23. In the West Indies the great agencies to prevent abuses and insure obedience

to the law are the inspections and returns, and the powers of removal vested in the Governor.

In all these Colonies returns more or less elaborate are required quarterly from estates, under penaltics which are in some cases heavy.

No returns of any description are by law or regulation exacted from the employers

of labour in Mauritius. The Agent-General and other inspecting officers in the West Indies have large powers, and their inspections are frequent.

In Demerara, where the Immigration Agent-General may at any time enter upon an estate for inquiry, and must inspect once every six months, the law requires notice of his half-yearly visits to be given at roll-call for three days before it takes place.

In Trinidad every estate must be visited at least twice a year, and the Agent- General and inspectors have power to enter at any time, inspect all books, examine on oath, and to issue warrants of arrest. In Jamaica, the Agent-General and sub-agents, who have equal jurisdiction and powers of inspection with those given by the Trinidad law, may try and determine all cases punishable by imprisonment of one month, or by a fine of 51.

In St. Lucia the Immigration Agent may visit at any time and must do so quarterly, whilst the Stipendiary Magistrates must do so every two months.

In Grenada* the Immigration Agent may visit at any time, and must do so twice a year.

24. In Mauritius, if we except the visits of the Medical Inspectors with respect to purely sanitary matters, the Protector alone has any legal powers of inspection, and those powers are but limited, for I doubt whether he has any authority to demand the pay lists or other books of the estate..

The Protector, though he may enter on an estate at any time, is not bound by law

to do so at any definite periods, and, consequently, has practically ceased to carry out any regular system of inspection.

The Protector, according to the letter of the law, may specially delegate his own powers in any particular instance to another person, but I am informed that, practically, it is found impossible to do so.

Under no circumstances whatever has the Protector of Immigrants or the Governor the power either to refuse to forward a requisition, to suspend the allotment of immigrants to an estate, or to remove them from it subsequently.

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25. This is, I need not say, very unlike the powers conferred in Trinidad, where the Governor may cancel the indentures at any time and for any reason," and where the Agent-General has a similar power for certain definite causes.

In Jamaica, Demerara, Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada," the Governor has a similar discretion.

1 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Sections 41 and 42.

• Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 84; Trinided, No. 13 of 1870, Sections 64 and 65;

St. Lucia, Ordnance No. 1 of 1865, Sections 31 and 32.

* Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Sections 90, 97, and 111.

• Trinidad, Ordinance No. 13 of 1870, Section 22 and 76.

• Jamaica, Act of 1869, Section 16.

* Jamaica, Act of 1869, Section 15.

7 St. Lucia, Ordinance No. 1 of 1865, Saction 7 and 39.

• Grenada, Act of 1869, Sections 71 and 73.

• Mauritius, Ordinance No. 16 of 1862, Section 17.

10 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 19 of 1870, Section 24.

11 Trinidad, Ordinance No. 18 of 1870, Section 23.

19 Jamaica, Act of 1858; Demerara, Ordinance No. 4 of 1864, Section 112; St. Lucia, Ordinance No. 1 of

1865; Grenada, Act of 1869, Bections 83 and 84.

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