5. The carrying out of this Law will be intrusted to the Ministers of Commerce and of Finance.

Vienna, December 20, 1879.

TAAFFE.

KORT.

CHERTEK.

FRANCIS JOSEPII,

ACT of the Government of New South Wales, to protect the Aboriginal Natives of the Islands of the Pacific Ocean from Imposition when engaging as Seamen.

[43 Vict., No. 6.]

[Assented to, July 17, 1879.] WHEREAS the Law, at present in force regulating the engagement of seamen, is insufficient to protect aboriginal natives of the islands of the Pacific Ocean from being imposed upon in their engagements as seamen at ports in this Colony, and it is expedient to amend the Law so as to afford protection to such persons: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as "The Islanders' Shipping Engagements Act."

2. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in "The Seamen's Laws Consolidation Act of 1864," it shall not be lawful for any master of a ship, or other person, to engage as a seaman any aboriginal native of any of the islands of the Pacific Ocean (hereinafter termed "islander") at any port or place in New South Wales, unless such engagement shall be entered into, as hereinafter provided, before the Shipping Master of such port or place. And no Agreement with any such islander, made out of the Colony, not made and appearing to have been made before either a Shipping Master or a Consul, shall be enforceable against such islander in any of the Courts of the Colony, unless a Shipping Master shall have certified that, in his opinion, such Agreement reasonably provides for the victualling and remuneration of such islander. And it shall be the duty of such Shipping Master, when applied to for that purpose, to express, in writing, his opinion whether such Agreement does or does not so provide.

3. The master of any ship, of whatever tonnage such ship may be, and in whatever trade she may be engaged, who shall engage any islander as a seaman at any port or place in New South Wales, shall enter into an Agreement with him in the form of the Schedule

hereto. And every such Agreement shall be so framed as to admit of stipulations being introduced therein, at the joint will of the master and islander in each case, as to advance and allotment of wages, or any other stipulations not contrary to law, and shall be prepared and signed in duplicate, and be filled up by the Shipping Master, and in all cases shall be signed by the master in the presence of, and attested by, such Shipping Master. And one of such duplicates shall, in every case, be left with the Shipping Master, and be retained by him in his office: Provided always that, before any such Agreement shall be signed by such islander, the same shall be read over and explained to him by the Shipping Master, or some person authorized by him, and the signature (or mark, if the islander be unable to write) shall thereupon be attested by the Shipping Master; but no islander shall be allowed by the Shipping Master to sign or affix his mark to any such Agreement uuless, in the Shipping Master's opinion, such islander shall appear fully to comprehend the nature and effect of such Agreement and of the remuneration, whether by wages, lay or otherwise, therein stipulated for.

4. If any master shall engage or enter into an Agreement with any islander in contravention of the provisions of either of the preceding sections, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 501., and not less than 57.; which may be recovered and applied in the same manner as a penalty under "The Seamen's Laws Consolidation Act of 1864" is directed to be recovered and applied: Provided always that proceedings under this section shall be commenced within either six months from the expiration or other determination of such engagement or Agreement, or within six months from the time of such master's return to the Colony.

5. All islanders, being seamen in intercolonial or foreign trade ships, discharged in the Colony, shall be discharged and receive their wages in the presence of a Shipping Master; and any master or owner discharging any such islander, or paying him his wages, in the Colony in any other manner, shall incur a penalty not exceeding 501.

99 66

6. In this Act, master," seaman," ship," "owner," "intercolonial ship," "foreign trade ship," and "Shipping Master," shall, for the purposes thereof, have the like meanings, and include the same persons and things respectively, as the said words bear and include under the said "Seamen's Laws Consolidation Act."

SCALE of Provisions to be served out to the Crew during the Voyage.

Saturday..

:

Equivalent substitutes for all or any of the above may be issued at the master's discretion; such as, fish or pork for beef, yams or potatoes for flour or rice, &c.

Lime or lemon juice and sugar, or other anti-scorbutics, to be issued according to law.

AN Agreement made in pursuance of "The Islanders' Shipping Engagement Act," between

of the

South Wales, of which vessel

the
all of the port of Sydney, New
is the present master,

and the several persons whose names are subscribed hereto.

It is agreed by the said persons, and they severally hereby engage to serve on board the said ship, for the term of this Agreement, in the several capacities set against their respective names, on voyage from the port of Sydney,

New South Wales, to*

And the said crew engage to conduct themselves in an orderly, faithful, honest, careful, and sober manner, and to be at all times diligent in their respective duties, and to be obedient to the lawful commands of the master in everything relating to the said ship, and the materials, stores, and cargo thereof, whether on board such ship, or in boats, or on shore.†

In consideration of which services to be performed the said master doth hereby promise to pay to the said crew, by way of wages, the amount expressed against their respective names. And it is hereby agreed that any embezzlement, or wilful or negligent loss or destruction of any part of the ship's cargo or stores, shall be made good to the owner out of the wages (so far as they will extend) of the seaman guilty of the same. And if any seaman shall have entered himself as qualified for a duty to which he shall prove not to be competent, he shall be subject to a reduction of the rate of wages hereby agreed for, in proportion to his incompetency.

In witness whereof the said parties have hereto subscribed their names, on the days mentioned against their respective signatures.

*Here the intended voyage is to be described as nearly as can be done, and

the places at which it is intended the ship shall touch, or, if that cannot be done, the nature of the voyage in which she is to be employed, and also, when practicable, the probable duration of the voyage, and, if a running Agreement, the several voyages or trips for which the seamen are engaged, and the limits, as near as may be, both of time and place, within which such voyages are to be comprised, and the final port of discharge.

+ Here may be inserted any other clauses which the parties may think proper to be introduced into the Agreement, provided that the same be not contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions and spirit of this Act.