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

ON THE DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE EMPLOY•

YRS TOWARDS THEIR APPRENTICED LABOURERS, AND

THE PEN•LTIES FOR TIIEIR NON-PERFORMANCE.

1. If the employer of any prmdial apprenticed labourer
shall, by force or fraud, protract the weekly services of
such labourer beyond the period by law allowed for that
purpose, be shall forfeit for the benefit of such labourer,
the sum of one shilling.
2. It shall be the duty of every such employer to in-
timate to the labourers in his employment the commence-
ment and the close of the legal hours of labour; for
which purpose, a signal shall be given in such manner
as shall, in reference to each plantation, have been
previously approved by the special justice of the district;
which signal shall always be of such a nature as to be
distinctly visible or audible to the several prsedial ap-
prenticed labourers in the service of any such person.
3. No apprenticed labourer shall be bound to undertake
any task work, except with his own free assent to the
same, save as hereinafter is excepted.
4. Every contract between the employer and the prw-
dial apprenticed labourer, for the performance of any
specific work as a task, and in lieu of the prescribed
daily labour, or for the performance of any labour in
extra hours, shall by such employer be reduced into
writing and entered in a book to be kept for that purpose
on the plantation ; which book it shall be the duty of the
special justice to inspect, as often as he shall in manner
aforesaid repair to the several plantations within his
district.
5. No contract between the employer and the prandial
apprenticed labourer for the performance of any such
specific er task work, or for the performance of any labour
in extra hours, shall endure or continue in force, or he
binding upon the parties entering into the same or either
of them, after the expiration of 11 days from the making
thereof, unless the same shall have been made and entered
into by such parties in the presence and with the approba-
tion of such special justice of the peace, or unless, having
been entered into in his absence, the same shall be con-
firmed and approved by him before the expiration of such
14 days. And every such approbation of any such
contract shall, by such special justice, be attested under
his hand in the book so to be kept as aforesaid.
6. It shall be the duty of the special magistrate, before
approving any such contract, to ascertain that the terms
thereof are distinctly understood by the apprenticed
labourers entering into the same; and that such labourers
have entered into such contract freely and voluntarily, and
that the same is not unreasonable or unjust.
7. In every such contract of task-work, or for extra
service extending beyond the period of one fortnight, the
nature and amount of the extra labour to be performed,
and the amount of the consideration to be given for the
same, and the time and manner of paying such considera-
tion, shall be distinctly expressed.
8. No contract for such extra service as aforesaid shall
continue in' force for more than one year from the day of
the date thereof.
9. Upon proof being made, to the satisfaction of such
special justice, of the non-payment of the consideration
stipulated for in any such contract as aforesaid, whether
for task work or for extra services, it shall be competent
to such justice, and he is hereby authorized to award
execution against such employer for the amount of such
consideration ; and if the same shall not be paid within
one week next after such award, to issue a❑ attachment
against the produce, utensils, and other chattels upon such
plantation, which execution and award shall be respectively
in the forms annexed, marked N and 0.
10. Such execution and attachment as aforesaid shall
be executed by the sergeant of the police of the district,who
shall thereunder seize and sell so much of the produce,
utensils and other chattels, as may be found upon such
plantation, as may be necessary for the payment of such
debt, delivering over the surplus, if any, to such employer.
11. Any apprenticed labourer violating the terms of
such contract as aforesaid fur task work or for extra
service, shall be liable to the same pains and penalties as
are before provided in respect of the violation by any such
labourer, of the duties to be by him performed in the
discharge of the services owing by him by law to such
his employer.
12. Every married woman, notwithstanding her cover-
ture, and every child of the age of twelve years and up-
wards, notwithstanding his infancy, shall be competent to
enter into such contracts as aforesaid for task work or for

extra service.
13. If any employer of any apprenticed labourer shall
whip, beat, imprison, confine in the stocks, or otherwise
maltreat any such apprenticed labourer, or shall, by way
of punishment, commit any assault upon his person, such
employer shall incur a penalty, to be imposed by such
special justice as aforesaid, not exceeding 51., with impri-
sonment for any time not exceeding one month, in default
of the payment of such fine.
14. In any such case as last aforesaid, it shall be compe-
tent to any such apprenticed labourer, instead of preferring
his complaint to such special justice, to maintain any civil
suit or action, as in the case of any other free person, for
damages for such assault ; and it shall also be competent
to such special justice, if he shall see occasion, to ab-
stain from imposing such penalty, and to commit the
offender to take his trial for such offence before any court
having jurisdiction iu the premises. If any such em-
ployer shall be convicted before any court of competent
jurisdiction
iof any cruelty towards his apprenticed la-
bourer, or f any such employer shall be twice convicted
of inflicting any corporeal punishment, or of making any
assault upon the person of any such labourer, then the
labourer shall be discharged from his apprenticeship by
order of the court before which such conviction shall
be had.