The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-28 00:00:00

CAP. VII.

ON OFFENCES WHICH MAY BE COMMITTED BY THE
APPRENTICED LABOURERS AGAINST THE STATE, AND

THE PUNISHMENT OF SUCH OFFENCES.
The peace and good order of society will be endangered
by the apprenticed labourers, considered as a distinct class,
i❑ one or other of the five following modes:--Ist, by

riot; 2d, by maronnage ; 3d, by the desertion of helpless
children ; 4th, by settling upon lands without any legal
title; sth, by the desertion of the colonies to which they
belong. The following proposed enactments are intended
to counteract these various dangers :-
1. If any three or more apprenticed labourers shall
unite together in any riot or tumultuous assemblage, any
justice of the peace who shall be present at the same;
shall cause a flag or some other conspicuous signal to be
exhibited as a warning to all persons there present to se-
parate and disperse quietly.
2. All persons who, at the expiration of 10 minutes
from the exhibition of such flag or signal, shall continue
present at any such riotous assemblage, shall, on conviction,
be liable to imprisonment with hard labour for any time
cot exceeding twelve months.
3. No labourer shall reside beyond the limits of the
district in which he may be resident on the Ist of August
next, unless either by the authority of his employer, or
with the consent is writing of the special justice of such
district.

4. Every labourer found beyond the limits of the dis-
trict to which he belongs, except in his way to and from
market, or to or from some place of public worship, and
not having with him a written pass for that purpose from
his employer, or from the special justice of the district,
shall be liable to be apprehended and detained, and shall,
on conviction, be adjudged a vagabond and punished ac-
cordingly.
5. Any apprenticed labourer who shall for seven days
or upwards absent himself from his employer's service
without reasonable cause, to be allowed by the special
justice of the district to which he may helong, shall by
such special justice be adjudged a runaway, and shall be
sentenced to three months' imprisonment and hard labour,
or, if a male, to whipping not exceeding 39 stripes.
6. If it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of
any special jeatice that any apprenticed labourers have,
without lawful authority, established themselves in any
part of the colony as a distinct community, habitually
abandoning and neglecting to perform the duties imposed
upon them by law, such justice of the peace shall cause any
Isuch community to be dislodged, and, if necessary, shall
also cause their habitations to be taken down and removed.
7. Any labourer convicted of having been a member
of any such community shall be liable to imprisonment
with bard labour for any term not exceeding six months,
and, if a male, to whipping by any number of stripes not
exceeding 39.
8. All officers and privates of the colonial militia shall
be aiding in carrying into effect any directions which may
be issued by any such special magistrate as aforesaid for
dislodging any community as aforesaid.
9. If any apprenticed labourer, being in good health
and able to work, and being the father of a child under
the age of twelve years, shall not make adequate pro-
vision for the subsistence of such child, it shall be lawful
for any special magistrate to adjudge any such labourer
to hard labour, and to apply the earnings of such labourer
towards the support and maintenance of any such child.
10. For the purpose last aforesaid, such special justice
may hire out of the labour of any such father to any
person who may be willing to agree for the same, or to
labour on any public works, on the best terms which can
be procured.
11. Such compulsory labour as aforesaid shall not be
continued longer than may be necessary to provide for
the maintenance of the child of such labourer for one
month in advance.
12. Ira case any such child, so unprovided for as
aforesaid, shall have no father living, then the regulations
aforesaid shall apply to the mother of such child, if alive,
and competent by her labour to provide for the mainte-
nance of such child.
13. All the penalties before denounced in case of in-
dolence, neglect of work, or otherwise, in respect of
labour performed by the apprenticed labourers in the
service of their employ ere, shall apply to the case of
labour undertaken for the maintenance of such child as
aforesaid, by virtue of any such order as aforesaid.
14. If any such labourer shall, without lawful autho-
rity, enter into possession of any land belonging to his
Majesty, or to any other person, it shall be lawful for any
special justice to dispossess such labourer from such land,
and from any buildings thereon erected, and to cause
the same, with all crops growing thereupon, to he de-
livered up to the owner of such land ; or in case such
owner shall not, within one month after such seizure
appear and prefer his claim to such land, then the special
justice shall order the crops, cattle, and other goods seized
thereupon to be sold, and the proceeds of such sales to be
paid over to the public treasurer of the colony.
15. The summary process aforesaid shall not be taken
in any case where any such apprenticed labourer may have
been for two yeats in the undisturbed possession of any
such land.
16. The special justice may further adjudge any ap-
prenticed labourer, unlawfully taking possession of such
land, to imprisonment with hard labour for any time
not exceeding three months, if it should be made to
appear to his satisfaction that such possession was taken
fraudulently and with knowledge that the party had no
lawful claim to such possession.
17. No apprenticed labourer shall quit the colony except
without a passport from the governor, which passport shall
not he granted except with the written consent of the em-
ployer.
18. Any labourer quitting, or attempting to quit the
colony without such passport, shall be liable to imprison.
ment with hard labour for any term not exceeding six

months.
19. All persons whose ordinary occupation is on the
sea, or on any navigable stream, as fishermen or mariners,
shall be registered as such at the office of the special justice
of the district; and any apprenticed labourer engaging in
such occupation, without being first so registered, shall be
liable to imprisonment with hard labour for any time not
exceeding three months.
20. All vessels and boats not registered under the Na-
vigation Acts shall be registered at the office of the special
justice of the district, with whom shall be entered the
description of the vessel or boat, the name of the owner,
and the place at which the same is usually moored.
21. No person shall keep a ♦essel or boat so registered
except by a license from the governor.
22. All licensed owners of such boats or vessels shall be
bound to moor them, when not actually afloat, at the place
or places mentioned in such license.
23. All unlicensed vessels and boats shall be liable to
seizure and confiscation ; and all other vessels and boats
moored at any place not mentioned in the license, shall be
liable to detention until the owner thereof shall have paid
a fine of not less than 205., nor more than 51.
24. All persons removing or assisting to remove any
apprenticed labourer from the colony, in any boat or vessel,
without a passport from the governor, shall be liable to a
penalty of 501., or to imprisonment for any time not
exceeding one month.

CAP. VIII.