120
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 5TH FEBRUARY, 1898.
Penalty for contra-
preceding sections.
17. EVERY master of a vessel and every other person who knowingly lands any vention of two last labourer in the Colony, without the requirements of the three last preceding sections being complied with, shall be deemed to have landed such labourer in contravention of this Act.
Vaccination of unvaccinated
labourer.
Verification of
contract before a
magistrate.
Ib., s. 13.
Counter signature and registration of contract. Ib., s. 14.
Rescission of
consent.
lb., s. 15.
18. EVERY labourer who does not appear, by the medical certificate required by this Act, to have been vaccinated shall, either before or immediately after his arrival, be vaccinated by the Government medical officer at the port or place of landing, and every person employing or harbouring any labourer who has not been vaccinated shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
19. WITHIN fourteen days after the landing of any labourer within the Colony, or within such extended time as to the Magistrate in his discretion may seem necessary and proper, the employer or his agent and the labourer shall go before the Magistrate of the port of landing, and the employer or his agent shall produce the contract entered into between the parties as aforesaid, and the employer shall prove to the satisfaction of the Magistrate that the contract has been entered into before and signed by a British or Dutch authority, or the authority of some European Government designated by the Governor by a notice published in the Government Gazette, for the purpose of approving such contracts in the country where the contract has been made.
20. IF the Magistrate is satisfied that the contract was entered into before and signed by an authority as aforesaid, and that the particulars required are correctly indorsed, he shall countersign the description indorsed on such contract, and deliver it to the employer or his agent, and it shall thenceforth be deemed to be a valid contract under this Act between the employer and the labourer, and a duplicate copy of such con- tract, signed or marked and countersigned as aforesaid, shall be given by the employer or his agent to the Magistrate, and shall be filed by him in the office of his Court; and the Magistrate shall cause the particulars of every such contract to be entered in a book to be kept in his office and to be called "The Imported Labour Registry Book."
If the Magistrate is not satisfied that the contract was entered into before and signed by such authority as aforesaid, he may adjourn the matter for further evidence; and, if not satisfied at such adjournment, shall order that the labourer be returned to the place of his shipment by the Government at reasonable expense, which the employer shall defray: Provided that if any employer or his agent shall be proved, to the satisfaction of the Magistrate, to have brought labourers to the Colony by the use of force or fraud, he shall be subject, in addition to any penalty otherwise provided, to a penalty of Fifty pounds in respect of each labourer so brought.
SO
21. ANY contract made under this Act may, at any time after the counter signature contract by mutual thereof as aforesaid, be rescinded or amended by mutual consent of the parties thereto, in the presence of a Magistrate, and not otherwise, provided that the employer shall produce the copy of the contract retained by him, and the Magistrate upon being satisfied that the parties to the contract both wish to rescind or amend the same, and that such rescission or amendment is not to the prejudice of the labourer, shall destroy or amend the copy produced to him as aforesaid, and shall make and sign a memorandum of such rescission or amendment, and of the date thereof, on the duplicate copy of the contract, which shall remain filed in the office of his Court, and he shall also cause a note of such rescission or amendment, with the date thereof, to be entered against the particulars of the contract in the aforesaid book. Except as aforesaid and as provided by section twenty seven no contract under this Act shall be rescinded.
On termination of contract employer to return labourer
to the port from which he was shipped.
22. (1.) ON the termination by effluxion of time, rescission, or otherwise of the contract of service on which a labourer has been brought into this Colony, the employer who was party to that contract shall, at the first available opportunity, at his own expense cause such labourer to be returned to the port or place from which he was shipped: Provided that, if the labourer, after the termination of the contract as aforesaid, enters into a new and subsequent contract of service as hereinafter mentioned, the duty hereby imposed on the original and every subsequent employer shall be suspended until the termination of any such one or more subsequent contracts.
(2.) If any such labourer is found within the limits of this Colony without being under an unexpired contract of service made under this Act or the Act hereby repealed, any Magistrate may forthwith cause such labourer to be returned as aforesaid, and for such purpose may
issue his warrant for the arrest and detention of any such labourer in any gaol or lock-up until he can be placed on board ship, and the original employer of such labourer shall be liable to the cost of returning such labourer as aforesaid, and the last employer of such labourer shall also be liable to a fine of Fifty pounds unless such employer proves to the satisfaction of the Court-
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