, 1873-02-15

OF AUTHORIZATIONS TOR THE
SUGAR ESTATES OF ST. CROIX.
IVlt6 Vouc5er8 cttac4ed Mereto)


Although in practice it has been observed as
a rule that persons between Is and IS years Of
age are at liberty to make contracts Of labour
on their own behalf, still it is here proposed
that an enactment be given establishing an ex-
press warrant for that deviation from the gene
raj principle of The Law (see the Draft discuss
ed in Colonial Council in 1922
Another wording Of l proposed by Sarauw
will with the appended motives and e|xpIana-
tions be found in bis Minority Vote at the close
Of this Report.
ad 2.
We retain the stipulation that contracts shall
be- made in the presence Of witnesses and enter
ed in the d~ay-bo0k Of ,he Estate, and at the
same time we propose that the .abourer shall
be given IN acknowledgement in writing sta
ting the contents of the contract, especially The
term during which notice of removal is to be-
given. Disputes or disagreements about the
contents or the nature OF a contract are not of
untrequent occurrence, chiefly originating on
the one hand from an assertion on the nart of
the I|a52urer that he bad been emploved with
the understanding, that he was only bound to
discharge certain sorts eff work, such as plough
ing, cart driving, and on the whole any other
kind of work but that in the fald-eang; while
the employer on the othor hand,-under refer
ence to The Iab0urer in question having been
entered in the day book, with the general de-
signation Of LIST Glass Labour,-tries to have
the labourer compelled to perform ordinary
heId-W0rk, OtJentime3 after the laO0urer had
for a length OF time been employed exclusively
to q particular sort OF work, the so-caIled side
work" and if the Iab0urer had not made sure
to have his side-5argain noted, or perhaps had
not been mind al of it, he will in most cases
Ina n r.vievAl J-1ApavNV fha r4,4+i,, --
the point Of evidence. But since The GrJi-
nance of oath August 1867 emaaated, disputes
or diSagreements nave been sill more fredrart
regarding the time to give notice to remove
from the property. A misunderstanding
oversight or mis- calculation in reference to
" the irs5 I5 days Of the last month Of the
term 0fcontraGt, TO which the lab0urer is ma
tufally more easily liable than the employer-
very often binders the lab0Qrar Ia removing:
and 1t can not be denied that, to say the least,
the employers have as a rule SheWu very little
inclination to guide the labourer in that re-
spect. TAo enactment proposed by us will re-
move all possibility Of taking advantage of the
labourers in this point.
The form of the acknowledgment ought in
our opinion to consist in q copy or extract of
the Regulations, on which may then be sud
scrlbod all special stipuIa5ions that may have
been agreed on, and then the term fer giying
notice specified in q conspicuous manner
An entry in the Day Book OF the Estate as
prescribed in the Ordinance of 1867, of the
date when the labourer entered service, has
been considered unnecessary and no-doubt also
Incorrect, since it is nearest to suppose the that
day on which the Iabourer was to enter service
must be the same as that from which the con.
tracted term Of one year IS to reckon, except
were a delay from some reason or other was
unavoidable.
1t has been proposed by the Section of this
Commission dealing with that part of the mat
ter, that all contracts should be corroborated
by the Labourers in the presence of the Police
master, who would thus be enabled to see that
the contracts be not at q subsequent period
applied on the labourer in a manner deviating
from what was understood between the contrao-
ting parties. From other sides weightv obiec-
tions were raised against intermixing the Ma
gistrates IN the relation between employer and
~labourer, and besides that, the duties connected
Herewith could at times become extremely
burthensoussk especially at October time, or
even in~surmohntable, if the confederation is to
take place within As hours. The proposal in
its general tenor was therefore set aside in ia
vor of the one aforementioned, prescribing a
written Acknowledgements.
But in reference to the contracts for longer