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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

النسائي

19

C.

Reference :-

885

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

PART VII.

Extension

of inden- ture on

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80. When any indentured immigrant shall be sentenced by any Court to imprisonment for any crime, his employer shall be entitled to procure from the Court sentencing him a certificate of his conviction and imprisonment; and on presentation of the same to any Justice of the Peace such Justice shall make order account of that the indenture shall, on expiration of the imprisonment, be prolonged, or re- imprison- newed, as the case may be, for a term equal to that of his indenture which he may have passed in imprisonment; and, on his liberation from imprisonment, the immi- grant shall be re-conveyed to his plantation, and his indenture shall be taken to be prolonged or renewed accordingly.

ment.

Vagrancy of immi- grant.

Penalty on conceal- ment of identity by immi- grant.

harboring,

81. Every police officer or constable may, without warrant, stop any immigrant whom he may have cause to suspect of being absent from his plantation without leave, and may require him to show his certificate of exemption from labor, or a pass signed by his employer; and if such immigrant shall not produce any such certificate or pass, the police officer or constable may thereupon take him into custody, and carry him, if elsewhere than in Port Darwin, to the nearest police station, and, if in Port Darwin, to the office of the Immigration Agent-General, and if such immi- grant shall be ascertained to be under indenture to any employer, the police officer shall communicate with such employer, and the immigrant shall be detained in custody until he can be charged before any Justice of the Peace, or until he shall give security for his appearance to answer such charge: Provided that, if the employer shall so require, the police officer or constable shall cause such immigrant to be re- conducted to his plantation.

82. If any immigrant, on being brought to the Immigration Agent-General or to any police station by any police officer or constable, shall wilfully refuse to give his name, or the name of the ship in which he was introduced into the colony, or any other information that may reasonably be required by the Immigration Agent-General, or by the officer in charge of such police station for purposes of identification, he shall be guilty of an offence, and shall, on conviction, pay a fine not exceeding One Pound or be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for any term not exceeding fourteen days.

Penalty for

83. Every person, not being entitled to the services of such immigrant under employing, this Act, who shall employ or knowingly harbor any immigrant under indenture and induc. or who shall induce or attempt to induce any such immigrant to leave off work or ing immi- to quit his plantation against the will of his employer, shall be guilty of an offence, grants. and shall, on conviction, pay a fine not exceeding Ten Pounds, and shall in the Case of employment, in addition to such fine, pay to the employer entitled to the services of such immigrant by way of damages at the rate of Four Shillings for every day such immigrant may have been so employed; and, in case of the person charged being the manager of a plantation, it shall be sufficient to support a conviction under this section to prove that such immigrant has been employed thereon in the service of such manager.

PART VIII.

Work and wages.

Assign- ment of work,

Statement

ef wages

by tm-

ployers.

PART VIII. The Labor Law.

84. The employer shall provide every indentured immigrant with sufficient work for a full day's labor on every day on which fieldwork is not rendered im- possible by reason of bad weather, Sundays and authorised holidays excepted, and shall pay him wages either by the task or by the day, weekly on the same day in every week.

85. The employer may require any indentured immigrant to perform, either by way of taskwork or timework, any work for which he is not physically unfit; but all work, whether in the buildings or otherwise, which requires the co-operation of more than two laborers at once in such a fashion that the indolence or negligence of one or more may prevent another from earning the full amount of wages which other- wise he might have earned in a day, shall be paid for by the day, and not by the task.

86. The employer shall inform every laborer upon the assignment to him of any task or time work whether he is to be paid wages for it by the task or by the day, and at what rate for the task or day, respectively.

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87. Subject to the provision for leave of absence from the plantation herein- PART VIII. before contained, every indentured immigrant shall be present at the work assigned Hours of him on each week day in every week, in the field for seven hours, and in the build- work. ings for ten hours: Provided that no immigrant employed in the field labor who shall have been present at the work assigned him for forty-two hours, and shall have earned Six Shillings wages during the week, shall be again compelled to be again present at work during that week.

88. No task shall be of greater extent than can be performed by the laborer Maximum to whom it is assigned within one working day of seven hours without extraordinary extent of exertion.

task.

of wages

for time-

89. The employer shall pay to every indentured immigrant employed in time- Minimum work day wages at the rate for each day during which such immigrant shall have been present at work for the full time prescribed by this Act of not less than One work. Shilling for an able-bodied male adult immigrant, and not less than Eightpence for any other immigrant.

wages for

task work.

rate of

90. The rate of wages for any description of task work shall not be less than Rate of that ordinarily paid for the same description of work to indentured laborers upon neighboring plantations: Provided that the wages agreed upon for a task shall be in no case less than the minimum amount of day wages payable for timework.

91. If the immigrant shall be dissatisfied with the amount of wages tendered Enforce- for any task or timework assigned him by the employer, he may, after performance ment of of the task or timework in question, proceed in a summary manner before any wages by Justice of the Peace to recover any deficiency by which the wages so tendered shall immi- fall short of a fair remuneration for the work so performed, or may lay an informa- grant. tion or make a complaint against such employer for the unlawful withholding of wages duly earned; and any such information or complaint may be turned by the Justice into such proceedings for recovery, if he shall be of opinion, after hearing the case, that there exist grounds for further inquiry before estimating such wages.

Proceed-

recovery of

estimation

of wages.

92. In any proceedings for the recovery of wages by an indentured immigrant, inge for the it shall not be necessary for such immigrant to take out a summons against the employer, or to lay or make any formal information or complaint; but the Justice wages. may, upon receiving from such immigrant any verbal statement of complaint, require of the manager a statement in writing of the work in question performed by such immigrants, and of the wages paid therefor, together with any other material facts or documents; and if the matter at issue shall appear to be such as should be tried upon a complaint for the unlawful withholding of wages, the Justice shall forth- with issue, free of cost, a summons to the employer to appear and answer such com- plaint, and shall proceed thereupon as if the immigrant had in the first place made such complaint, and shall give notice to the immigrant accordingly; but if the rate of wages be the subject-matter of dispute, the Justice shall forthwith proceed to estimate to the best of his ability what is a fair remuneration for the work in question.

93. In making such estimate, whether for taskwork or daywork, the Justice Judicial shall have regard, in the first place, to the rule laid down in the section relating to task wages, and, in the second place, to the rates paid to unindentured immigrants, if any, on neighbouring plantations for descriptions of work the most nearly similar to that in question; and it shall be lawful for him to summon witnesses skilled in the valuation of labor, and to allow such witnesses their travelling expenses and payment for their time at a rate not exceeding One Pound a day for a manager, Two Shillings a day for a day laborer, and Eight Shillings a day for any other person, or such further sum as the Immigration Agent-General may sanction; and the Immigration Agent-General shall supply such Justice, at his request, with any information which may assist him in forming a decision, and, if necessary, shall hold an investigation upon the spot of the circumstances material to the question, and report to such Justice the result; and the Justice shall make such order in the premises as to him shall seem just, and shall direct by whom and in what proportions the cost of such proceedings shall be paid, and shall specify in such order the grounds of his decision, and shall forward a copy thereof to the Immigration Agent- General; and every such order shall be enforceable, and every payment directed thereby shall be recoverable, in the same manner as in the case of any order made in the exercise of the ordinary summary jurisdiction; and every such order shall be final and without appeal.