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

ON THE JUDICIAL AND MINISTERIAL AGENCY TO BE

EMPLOYED.

The execution of the new law is expressly confided by
Parliament to the special justices of the peace mentioned
in the 14th section. Each of those officers must, of
course, have certain limits assigned for the exercise of his
jurisdiction, and for that purpose the colonies must be
divided into judicial districts. It must be left to the
governors to make such divisions; the requisite topogra-
phical knowledge would be sought in vain in this country.
An effective police establishment is of the very essence
of the whole measure. It may, however, be safely said,
that in none of the colonies does such a pollee at present
exist. To devise a scheme of police for a remote country
might seem a hopeless enterprise, but from the assistance
to be desived from the Jamaica Police Act of 1831, which
was a measure devised by the highest of all the local
authorities, in favour of that scheme may therefore be
repeated all those arguments which are usually employed
to establish the superiority of colonial to English legisla
tion on colonial affairs. Independently of that considera-
tion, the scheme itself appears to offer every promise of
efficiency and economy. It is, in general, developed in
the suggestions which follow under the present head.
It is not, however, merely officers of police, but places
of imprisonment or safe custody in the rural districts,
which are required, in order to render the law effectual.
Hitherto each separate plantation has had its ergastulum.
Hereafter prisons must be provided under the charge of
pub ic.officers. To obtain places of residence for the spe-
cial magistrates will also be no light difficulty. The
want of such abodes, and the impossibility of hiring them
defeated the plan of establishing a system of protectors in
the country parts of Guiana. The scheme projected by
the Assembly of Jamaica suggests, as will be seen, the
means of obviating each of these difficulties; not, indeed,
without a serious expenditure, which in such under-
takings as the present is absolutely inevitable, but at a
rate of expense much below what would be required on
almost any other plan. With these preliminary remarks
the following outline may perhaps be sufficiently intelli
gible:-
1. The colony of British Guiana shall be divided into
not more than eight judicial districts.
2. The Governor shall by proclamation define, and as
occasion may require, shall alter the limits of such dis-
tricts.

3. One special justice shall be appointei to each of the
before-mentioned districts.

4. In each district shall be set apart a tract of lind,
which, with the buildings to be erected thereon, shall be
called the police settlement of the district.
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6. V The Governor shall appropriate for the formation of
the police settlements any waste lands of the Crown which
may be situate conveniently for that purpose ; and in dis-
tricts where such Crown lands cannot be found, shall, by
exchange, or, if necessary, by purchase, procure the lands
wanting for that purpose.
'7. At the first formation of any such police settlement
the members thereof, assisted by such hired labourers as
may be indispensable, shall be employed in the erection of
temporary buildings for their own occupation ; such build-
ings to be hereafter superseded by more permanent build-
ings, to be erected by the means subsequently mentioned.
S. At each police settlement shall be erected a house of
correction.
9. At each police settlement shall also be established a
penal gang, to be composed of such persons as shall be
condemned to imprisonment with hard labour.
10. The members of the police settlement, when not
engaged in actual service as policemen, and the penal gang
aforesaid, under their direction, shall be employed in the
erecting or repair of the buildings at each such police set-
tlement.
11. Every such police settlement siasi! lie placed under
the immediate superintendence of the special justice of the
district, who shall reside thereat or in the immediate
vicinity thereof.
12. Esch police settlement shall consist of one sergeant
and ten privates, all being able-bodied men, between the
ages of 20 and 50 years.
13. The sergeant and privates of each police settlement
shall be appointed by the Governor, and shall be liable to
be removed by him for bad conduct or inefficiency.
14. The sergeants and privates shall be liable to be
suspended from office by the special justice of the district,
subject to the Governor's confirmation or disallowance of
such suspension.
15. As often as the special justice of the district shall
so direct, the penal gang before mentioned shall, under the
superintendence of the sergeant, or, in his absence, of some
other member of the police, be employed in any laborious
work upon the provision grounds of the police settlement,
either for the support of the prisoners at such settlement,
or towards the general maintenance of the establishment.

ind condition of the police force at each settlement;
16. The special justice shall, once in each quarter,
make to the Governor a report of the effective strength
and of the state of the buildings and provision grounds
there, and of the state and conduct of the prisoners con-
fined therein.

17. The Governor shall from time to time establish all
necessary rules for the interval discipline of the mid police

9. If the complaint shall appear to the justice immate-
rial, and not to deserve further inquiry, he may at once
di•miss the complaint; but if be shall think inquiry neces-
sary, he shall call upon the complainant to make oath that
the complaint is true.
10.. Upon taking any complaint, to the truth of which
such oath shall have been so made, the special justice shall
either issue his warrant for the arrest of the party
charged, or shall issue a summons for his attendance, as the
case may require. The warrant of arrest shall be in the
form annexed, marked A, and the summons in the form
annexed, marked B.
11. The warrant of arrest shall be issued in all cases
which impute to the party charged a capital or a tran-
sportable offence; in all cases where there is reason to
apprehend that the party charged would endeavour to
escape; and in all cases where there is reason to appre-
hend danger to the public peace from delay. In all
other cases the justice is to proceed in the first instance
by summons.
12. In cases in which it may be necessary to adduce
witnesses in support of, or in answer to, any such com-
plaint, the justice shall issue a summons to every such
witness, in the annexed form, marked C.

13. At the time and place appointed by any such war-
rant or summons fir proceeding upon any such complaint
the justice shall, in the presence of all parties, firmt read
over the written complaint, and then take down in writing
the answer of the party charged, and then proceed to
examine on oath the party complaining and the witnesses,
taking down in writing the deposition of each witness,
which shall be read over to and signed by him.
14. The justice may, from time to time, adjourn any
such proceeding for further inquiry, and if necessary,
commit the party charged to custody pending such
adjournment, or take bail for his appearance. Every
such commitment or bail shall be in the annexed forms,
marked D and E.

15. At the close of such proceedings the justice shall
pronounce his decision thereupon, which decision he shall
reduce into writing, and subscribe with his hand.
16. By any such decision the justice shall, as law and
reason may seem to him to require, either dismiss the
complaint, or sanction any compromise between the parties
which be may think just, or convict the party charged, or
commit him to prison to take his trial for the imputed
offence.

17. If the complaint shall be dismissed, the justice shall,
in such his written decision, state whether it was so dis-
missed as being unproved, or as being frivolous and vexa-
tious, or as being malicious.
18. If any such complaint shall be so dismissed as
frivolous and vexatious, the judge may adjudge the com-
plainant, if a labourer, to work in the service of his
employer for any time not exceeding in the whole 15 extra
hours in any one week; or if the complainant be the
employer, the justice may adjudge such employer to the
pryment of a penalty for the use of the labourer, of nut
less than 20s. and not greater than Si.
19. If any such complaint shall be so dismissed as
malicious, it shall be competent to the justice, at the
instance f the party charged, to adjudge the complainant,
if an apprenticed labourer, to imprisonment with hard
labour for any time not exceeding one month ; or if the
employer of any such labourer, to a fine not exceeding
40t., for the benefit of the party charged, which judgment
shall be a bar to any suit, action, or prosecution against
such complainant for calumny, defamation, or otherwise,
in respect of such his complaint.
20. If the justice shall, by such his decision, convict the
party cbarged,or shall convict the complainant of preferring
a frivolous and vexatious, or a malicious complaint, such
conviction shall be severally drawn up according to the
forms annexed, marked F, G, H.

21. If such magistrate shall commit the party charged
to take his trial for the imputed offence, such commitment
shall he drawn up in the form annexed marked I.
22. Upon any such conviction as aforesaid, by suct►
special justice, he shall forthwith issue a warrant for the
execution thereof, which warrant shall be in the form
annexed, marked K.

23. All summones, warrants, commitments, and other
orders, so to be issued by any such justice as aforesaid,
shad be executed by the police-officers of his district—such
justice being nevertheless authorized, as occasion may re-
quire, to address the same to any other person or persons
j dotty with, or instead of such officers of police, as to
him may seem requisite.
21. Any summons, warrant, or order, issued by any
such special justice within his own district, may without
any further authority be carried into execution in any part
of the colony, though beyond such district.
25. If any person summoned by any such justice as a
witness shall not appear in obedience to such summons, or
appearing, shall refuse to be sworn or examined, or to
answer any question proposed to him by such justice ill
relation to the matter depending before him, it shall
be lawful for such justice to issue bis warrant for the
arrest of any such defaulter, or to commit him to close
custody, there to remain until he 'shall submit to be
sworn and examined, and to make such answers as afore..
Kati. Every such warrant of arrest, or commitment,
shall be in the form annexed, marked L and M.
26. If
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the several districts within the colony, or of any one or
;tune of such district, or that they impede or interfere
eltlely burdensome upon the justices of
with the prompt and effective execution of the law, the
Governor shall be entitled to suspend any pact of tha
preceding rules relating to such procedure, or to adapt the
,aine to the circumstances of tl,e case, so as more
etfectu.lly to promote the punctual, olderly, and drective
execution of the law; and fur that purpose to issue pro.
elevations, which 8411 be transmitted for hie Iliajeaty'e

senfirmation, and which, until disallowed, shall be in full
force.
27. If any suit or action shall be commenced against
any special justice, in respect of any act, matter, or thing
by him done by ♦irtue and in pursuance thereof, and if the
Court shill give judgment for the defendant, the plaintiff
shall, by such judgment, be condemned to pay treble costs
of suit.
28. If in any such suit or action, such justice shall,
at any time before final judgment, tender to the plaintiff
sufficient amends for the wrong or injury in respect of
which the same may be brought, and submit to pay the
costs of suit up to that time incurred ; and if the plaintiff
shall refuse to accept such amends and costs of suit, then
upon proof made to the Court at the trial of such suit,
that such amends have been so tendered, and were suffi-
cient, judgment shall be given for the plaintiff, in the
amount of the sum so tendered ; subject, nevertheless, to
the reduction therefrom, of the costs of suit of the de-
fendant.
29. No suit or action shall be brought against any such
justice in respect of any matter or thing by him done
under or in pursuance hereof, unless the same shall be
commenced within six months after the cause of action
occurred.

CAP. 111.

ON THE DIVISION OF APPRENTICED LABOURERS INTO

THEIR RESPECTIVE CLASSES.
The fourth section of the Act require■ the division of
the apprenticed labourers into the three classes of prsedial
attached, prsedial unattached, and non-prwdial ; and this
distribution is supposed or assumed in all the subsequent
clauses. The question to be solved is, how it shall be
ascertained in reference to each individual to which of the
three classes he belongs. The following suggestions for
that purpose are framed not without a constant reference
to the single rule laid down by Parliament respecting it,
that no person above the age of 12 shall be included in
the class of prsedial apprentices, unless for 12 months
before the date of the Act he had been habitually employed
in prxdial labour.
1. By a day to be appoited for that purpose, the regis-
trar of slaves shall deliver to every owner of slaves a list
of the slaves appearing in the registry to belong to him ;
for which a fee of 2s. only shall be charged.
2. By a time to be fixed for the purpose, every such
owner of slaves shall return such list to the registrar, dis-
tinguishing in reference to each slave therein_mentioned to
which of the three classes he belongs.
3. To every such return shall be annexed an affidavit to
the effect that the distinctions therein made correspond
with the occupations usually pursued for 12 months next
preceding the date of the Act by each of the slaves to whom
such returns may refer.
4. If in any case the registrar shall see cause to doubt
the accuracy of the return, he shall appoint a time and
place at which the owner shall attend him to substantiate
the accuracy of such return.
5. At the time and place so to be appointed the person
to whom such notice shall be addressed shall attend such
registrar, and, if required, shall bring with him any
slave respecting whom any such doubt may have arisen.
6. The registrar shall then proceed to examine the
person making such return, and the slave respecting
whom such doubt has arisen, and any witnesses who may
be adduced respecting the truth of such return ; and may,
if necessary, adjourn such examination from time to time.
7. The registrar shall then either confirm or correct
any such return as he may see fit, giving notice to the
party making such return, and to the slaves respectively,
of such his decision.
8. If either the party making such return, or the slave
to whom it may refer, shall be dissatisfied with the decision
of the registrar, such party may on his own behalf, and
the registrar may on behalf of such slave, apply to the
chief or any other judge of the superior court in such
colony by petition, setting forth the nature of such decision
and the objections thereto.
9. The judge to whom any petition may be preferred
shall proceed in a summary wry to hear and to decide
upon the same, and his decision shall be final and con-
clusive.

10. The judges of the said court shall make all neces-
sary rules for regulating the proceedings upon every such
petition in the manner which may be most conducive to
method, punctuality, and despatch.
11. When such proceedings as aforesaid shall have
taken place, there shall be affixed to the entry of the name
of each prandial attached slave in the registry the letters
P A ; of each prandial unattached slave the letters
P U ; and of each non-prmdial slave the letters N P.
12. During the continuance of the apprenticeship the
slave registry, so corrected as aforesaid, shalt be deposited
amongst the records of the superior courts of the colony ;
and when any question shall arise respecting the class to
which any apprenticed labourer belongs, such corrected
registry, or a certified extract thereof, shall be taken as
conclusive evidence of the fact.
13. Any person neglecting or omitting to make the
return or the affidavit before-mentioned, or to attend the
registrar when summoned by him for that purpose, shall
incur a penalty of not more than 101. nor less than 20s. ;
and in the event of the wilful absence of any such person,
it shall he lawful for the registrar to proceed and to decide
any such question as though such party had attended.

CAP. IV.
ON VIE MAINTENANCE OP THE APPRENTICED

LABOURERS.

Tinder the 11th clause of the Act the rules of law at
present regulating the maintenance of slaves, are to apply
to the case of apprenticed labourers. In colonies where
such rules exist, nothing remains to be done on this sub-
ject, except to denounce penalties for disobedience to, or
neglect of, the law. ' But in those colonies where slaves
are maintained, not by the supply of provisions, but by
the allotment of ground, it will be necessary to regulate
the quantity and the situation of such ground, and to
determine what portion of time is to be deducted for that
purpose, from the forty-five hours of weekly labour to
which the employer is entitled.
In the Crown colonies these matters have been regulated
partly by the Order ;n Council of November, 1831, and
partly by certain supplementary regulations, which the
Governors were authorized to establish. It is proposed,
therefore, to transcribe, in form of a quotation or preamble,
the law of Guiana respecting the supplies and provisio❑
grounds as modified by the late Governor, and to declare
all such rules applicable to the case of apprenticed la-
bourers; transferring only to the special justice the powers
at present exercised by the protector, for insuring obedi-
ence to such laws.