Proc. No. 37 of 1901.

Penalties for forging passes.

Natives discharged from gaol.

Rest-houses for accommodation of natives at Pass Office.

18. Any person who shall illegally withhold a Passport from a Native, or who shall defraud any Native of his wages or deduct therefrom any sum of money not authorised to be deducted under this Proclamation shall, upon conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or in default of payment, to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding six months.

19. It shall not be lawful for any person within any Labour District—

(a) To engage or have in his service any Native who has not a Labour Passport showing that such Native has been properly discharged by his last employer, or that he has not previously been employed under such Passport.

(b) To engage or have in his service any Native whose Passport shows that he has been discharged for longer than six days, or that he has been in the Labour District in which his Passport has been endorsed for more than six days without finding work, or whose Passport is not endorsed by the Medical Officer at the Pass Office under Proclamation Transvaal No. 23 of 1901.

(c) To harbour any Native who is not in his lawful employ.

(d) To refuse, at the request of a Native on the termination of his contract of service, to sign his discharge.

(e) To tamper in any way with a Passport belonging to a Native not in his employ.

(f) To issue permits to visit or travel to any Native not in his bonâ fide employ.

(g) To register himself as the employer of a Native, unless it is his bonâ fide intention to employ such Native.

Any person guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this Regulation shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or in default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months.

20. Any person guilty of forging, imitating or altering any Passport which may in terms of these Regulations have been issued by a Pass Officer, or of uttering the same, or guilty of forging and uttering counterfeit Passports, shall, upon conviction be liable to a fine of fifty pounds, and for default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months; or to both such fine and imprisonment.

21. (1) Every Native who shall have been discharged from gaol shall be sent by the Officer in charge thereof to the Registry Office in the Labour District in which such gaol is, with a letter of discharge which shall state the nature of such offence for which he was punished and the term of imprisonment he served; and any Native convicted of a criminal offence for which a fine was imposed and paid, shall be sent by the Clerk of the Court before which he was convicted to the Registry Office with a similar letter of discharge. Every Native discharged from gaol shall, at the option of his master, be compelled to return and complete the term of his engagement.

(2) A Native sent to the Registry Office as aforesaid having a Passport but no master, shall be granted six days to find one.

(3) A Native sent to the Registry Office as aforesaid not having a Passport shall have one issued to him, and shall be allowed six days to look for work.

(4) The provisions of Regulation No. 5 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the Native referred to in sub-sections (2) and (3) of this Regulation.

22. The Government shall erect a rest house at each Passport Office, or where it is deemed necessary for the accommodatian and rationing of Natives who are seeking work in any Labour District, and any Native accepting such accommodation shall pay a fee of 18. a day.

Proc. No. 38 of 1901.

Preamble.

Governor power to make Regulations.

Definition of

terms.

PROCLAMATION

By His Excellency the Administrator of the Transvaal.

(DATED 10TH DECEMBER, 1901.)

WHEREAS it is expedient to regulate and control the pro

curing and engaging of Natives to do work or labour within or beyond the borders of the Transvaal Colony :

Now therefore by virtue of the authority in me vested I do hereby declare, proclaim, and make known as follows:

* 1. The Administrator of the Transvaal may from time to time make Regulations for the purpose of regulating and controlling the procuring and engaging of Natives to do work or labour within or beyond the borders of the Transvaal; and of regulating the issue, suspension and cancellation of licenses to persons exercising or desiring to exercise the calling of Labour Agents and Compound Overseers, and the fees to be paid for such licenses.

Such Regulations shall, on publication in the Gazette, be of full force and effect.

2. The term "Labour Agent" shall mean and include any person who shall himself, or through Agents or Messengers, in his own name or otherwise procure or attempt to procure, seek for, engage, conduct, take charge of, supply or undertake to supply, Natives to be employed in work or labour of any kind within the Transvaal; provided that the term "Labour Agent" shall not include any person who procures or engages or conducts Natives for his own bond fide domestic or personal service or business exclusively; provided that the total number of Natives so employed by him does not exceed twenty at any one time.

The term "Native" in this Proclamation, and the Regulamade thereunder, shall include every person belonging to any of the aboriginal races or tribes of Africa south of the Equator, and every person one of whose parents belongs to any such race or tribe as aforesaid. The term "Compound Overseer" shall mean and include any person having the charge, management, or superintendence of fifty or more Natives employed to work in any Labour District. The term "Employer" shall, in the case of a Company, mean the Responsible Manager thereof, and, if there be no Manager, then the person registered as responsible for the control, management, and direction thereof.

Such Regulations have been made and are published under Government Notice No. 1195 of 1903 (Gazette, 23rd Oct., 1903, p. 1063), and are in substitution for those contained in the Schedule to this Proclamation.

3. Any person contravening any of the Regulations made under this Proclamation shall be liable on conviction to the penalties provided by such Regulation, and if no penalty be provided then to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, or in default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a period not exceeding six months. Any such contravention wherever committed may be summarily dealt with by any officer empowered to deal with contraventions of this Proclamation within whose jurisdiction the person accused of such contravention may be; and such officer shall, on the conviction of any person for a contravention of any of such Regulations as aforesaid, make a report thereof to the Commissioner for Native Affairs.

* 4. The Regulations in the Schedule annexed to this Proclamation shall be of full force and effect until revoked or amended, and there shall be paid on the licences in the said regulations mentioned the fees therein prescribed.

5. This Proclamation may be cited for all purposes as the "Labour Agents' and Compound Overseers' Proclamation, 1901."

* SCHEDULE.

A-Labour Agents.

1. It shall not be lawful for any person to act as a Labour Agent within the Transvaal unless he is in lawful possession of a Licence issued by the Commissioner for Native Affairs, or by any officer appointed by him thereto.

Such a Licence may be issued for periods of not less than three months and not more than one year, and shall in every case expire on the thirty-first of December of each year.

No person to act as a Labour Agent unless licensed.

2. (1) Application for a Licence must be made on a printed form to the Commis- How application for sioner for Native Affairs, or any officer appointed by him thereto, either direct or licences to be made. through the Native Commissioner of the district in which the applicant wishes to exercise his calling, or in the case of any person wishing to act as a travelling Conductor of Natives, to the Native Commissioner, and if there be none, then to the Resident Magistrate of the district in which the journey is to begin.

(2) Every application for a Licence must be accompanied by a statement giving the following particulars :

(a) Copy of the agreement between the applicant and his employer.

(b) The place or places where the Natives to be engaged or conducted by him are to
work.

(c) The name and location of the Native Chief (if any) in whose district the
applicant desires to engage labourers; the route which he desires to follow (if
he is a Conductor); and in cases where the applicant proposes to receive and
conduct Natives recruited beyond the borders of the Transvaal, the name or
names of the person or persons who hold Licences to recruit such Natives.
(d) Particulars of any previous Licence issued to the applicant, or refused, can-
celled, or suspended in any place in South Africa.

In addition to this statement, the applicant must at the time of making his appli-
cation deposit with the officer to whom his application is made, and to the
satisfaction of such officer, security to the amount of ONE HUNDRED pounds for
all charges and fines for which he may become liable.

(3) Any person wilfully giving any false particulars in such statements as aforesaid shall be deemed to be guilty of perjury, and shall, on conviction, be liable to the penalties provided by law for the commission of that offence.

The Regulations in the Schedule were revoked and new Regulations published under Government Notice No. 1195 of 1903 (Gazette, 23rd Oct., 1903, p. 1063), in lieu of the same.

Proc. No. 38

of 1901.

Application must be accompanied by a report from Native Commissioner or Magistrate.

to be

No licence granted until proper security deposited.

Amount payable for a licence.

Term of licence.
Renewal of licence.
Cancellation of li-

cence.

Labour Agent may only employ natives for one employer.

Rights under licence

not to be exercised on Public Roads and Diggings.

No Labour Agent to have exclusive rights.

3. The application, when made through a Resident Native Commissioner, or Resident Magistrate, shall, together with a confidential report by him thereon, be forwarded to the Commissioner for Native Affairs.

4. No Licence shall be granted until the aforementioned security has been deposited and the formal application and confidential report mentioned in the last preceding Regulation shall have been received.

5. The Licence, if granted, shall be sent to the applicant through the officer to whom the application was made.

6. The amount payable for such Licence shall be at the rate of FIFTEEN pounds sterling for each year or portion of a year ending the thirty-first day of December in each year: Provided that in respect of Licences issued after the first day of July in any year one half of the said amount shall be payable.

7. The issue or renewal of a Licence may be refused by the Commissioner for Native Affairs without any reason being given therefor.

8. The granting of a Licence to any person shall not confer any right to its renewal.

9. (1) Any Labour Agent who has been convicted of any crime and imprisoned therefor by a Court of Law or who has been convicted of any contravention of this or any other law relating to Native labour or Native passes, or who has had his Licence cancelled or suspended in any other Colony or territory in South Africa is liable to have his Licence cancelled or suspended by the Commissioner for Native Affairs in this Colony, in addition to any other punishment to which he may have rendered himself liable.

(2) In case of such cancellation as above the security deposited by him under Regnlation No. 2 shall be forfeited to the Government.

(3) Any Labour Agent who, in the opinion of the Commissioner for Native Affairs, has been guilty of any misconduct which renders it undesirable that he should be allowed to continue to carry on the calling of a Labour Agent under the provision of this Proclamation is liable to have his Licence cancelled.

10. (1) Every Licence shall be issued to engage Natives for one employer or registered company or association of employers only, who must be registered, as provided in Regulation No. 16, and the District or Districts for which it is issued shall be clearly defined. All these particulars shall be embodied in the Licence.

(2) Any Agent holding a Licence who desires to exercise the rights thereunder in any District other than that specified on his Licence shall, before doing so, on entering such other District for that purpose, immediately report himself to the Native Commissioner, and if there be none then to the Resident Magistrate thereof, who may grant him permission to exercise such rights as aforesaid in such District. Such permission, if granted, shall be endorsed upon the Licence.

11. No Labour Agent shall be entitled to exercise the rights granted to him under his Licence on any public road or thoroughfare, or within any public diggings or Labour District.

12. No Labour Agent shall be granted the sole and exclusive privilege of exercising the rights granted by a Licence in any District or specified area.

No concession or contract by any Native Chief or Headman binding himself or his people to provide Native Labour shall be valid; and any person inducing or attempting to induce any Native Chief or Headman so to bind himself shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ONE HUNDRED pounds, and in default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a period not exceeding six months, and shall further, if he hold a Licence as a Labour Agent, be liable to have such Licence cancelled.

Penalty for wilful 13. Any person who shall by wilful misrepresentation of the terms or conditions misrepresentation by of employment induce Natives to leave this Colony, or to engage themselves for work or Labour Agents. labour either within or beyond the borders thereof, shall be liable on conviction for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding ONE HUNDRED pounds, or in default of payment to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a period not exceeding six months, and if he hold a Licence under this Proclamation he shall be liable to have the same cancelled.

Penalty for seducing servants from the service of their employers.

14. Whoever shall (whether a Labour Agent or not) directly or indirectly, either by himself or by an Agent, by offer of higher wages or other privileges or by any other means, cause, induce, or persuade, or attempt to cause or induce or persuade, or aid, or assist in causing, inducing, or persuading, any Native servant, by words or any other means, to leave his employer's service in violation of any agreement of service whether in writing or not, shall on conviction thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding FIFTY pounds, or to be imprisoned with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding six months,