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Recital of various Regulations necessary for giving Effect to this Act.
This Act not to prevent the Enactment by His Majesty in Council, of the Laws necessary for establishing such Regulations.
Provisions repugnant to this Act contained in any such Colonial Law void.
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XVI. ‘And whereas it is necessary that various Rules and Regulations should be framed and established for ascertaining, with reference to each apprenticed Labourer within the said Colonies respectively, whether he or she belongs to the Class of attached prædial apprenticed Labourers, or to the Class of unattached apprenticed Labourers, or to the Class of non-prædial apprenticed Labourers, and for determining the Manner and Form in which and the Solemnities with which the voluntary Discharge of any apprenticed Labourer from such his or her Apprenticeship may be effected, and for prescribing the Form and Manner in which and the Solemnities with which the Purchase by any such apprenticed Labourer or his or her Discharge from such Apprenticeship without, or in opposition, if necessary, to, the Consent of the Person or Persons entitled to his or her Services, shall be effected, and how the necessary Appraisement of the future Value of such Services shall be made, and how and to whom the Amount of such Appraisement shall in each Case be paid and applied, and in what Manner and Form, and by whom the Discharge from any such Apprenticeship shall thereupon be given, executed, and recorded; and it is also necessary, for the Preservation of Peace throughout the said Colonies, that proper Regulations should be framed and established for the Maintenance of Order and good Discipline amongst the said apprenticed Labourers, and for ensuring the punctual Discharge of the Services due by them to their respective Employers, and for the Prevention and Punishment of Indolence, or the Neglect or improper Performance of Work by any such apprenticed Labourer, and for enforcing the due Performance by any such apprenticed Labourer of any Contract into which he or she may voluntarily enter for any hired Service during the Time in which he or she may not be bound to labour for his or her Employer, and for the Prevention and Punishment of Insolence and Insubordination on the Part of any such apprenticed Labourers towards their Employers, and for the Prevention or Punishment of Vagrancy or of any Conduct on the Part of any such apprenticed Labourers injuring or tending to the Injury of the Property of any such Employer, and for the Suppression and Punishment of any Riot or combined Resistance of the Laws on the Part of any such apprenticed Labourers, and for preventing the Escape of any such apprenticed Labourers, during their Term of Apprenticeship, from the Colonies to which they may respectively belong: And whereas it will also be necessary for the Protection of such apprenticed Labourers as aforesaid that various Regulations should be framed and established in the said respective Colonies for securing Punctuality and Method in the Supply to them of such Food, Clothing, Lodging, Medicines, Medical Attendance, and such other Maintenance and Allowances as they are herein-before declared entitled to receive, and for regulating the Amount and Quality of all such Articles in Cases where the Laws at present existing in any such Colony may not in the Case of Slaves have made any Regulation or any adequate Regulation for that Purpose; and it is also necessary that proper Rules should be established for the Prevention and Punishment of any Frauds which might be practised, or of any Omissions or Neglects which might occur, respecting the Quantity or the Quality of the Supplies so to be furnished, or respecting the Periods for the Delivery of the same: And whereas it is necessary, in those Cases in which the Food of any such prædial apprenticed Labourers as aforesaid may either wholly or in part be raised by themselves by the Cultivation of Ground to be set apart and allotted for that Purpose, that proper Regulations should be made and established as to the Extent of such Grounds, and as to the Distance at which such Grounds may be so allotted from the ordinary Place of Abode of such prædial apprenticed Labourers, and respecting the Deductions to be made from the Cultivation of such Grounds from the annual Time during which such prædial apprenticed Labourers are herein-before declared liable to labour: And whereas it may also be necessary, by such Regulations as aforesaid, to secure to the said prædial apprenticed Labourers the Enjoyment for their own Benefit of that Portion of their Time during which they are not hereby required to labour in the Service of their respective Employers, and for securing Exactness in the Computation of the Time during which such prædial apprenticed Labourers are hereby required to labour in the Service of such their respective Employers; and it is also necessary that Provision should be made for preventing the Imposition of Task-work on any such apprenticed Labourer without his or her free Consent to undertake the same; but it may be necessary by such Regulations in certain Cases to require and provide for the Acquiescence of the Minority of the prædial apprenticed Labourers attached to any Plantation or Estate in the Distribution and Apportionment amongst the whole Body of such Labourers of any Task-work which the Majority of such Body shall be willing and desirous collectively to undertake; and it is also necessary that Regulations should be made respecting any voluntary Contracts into which any apprenticed Labourers may enter with their respective Employers or with any other Person for hired Service for any future Period, and for limiting the greatest Period of Time to which such voluntary Contract may extend, and for enforcing the punctual and effectual Performance of such voluntary Contracts on the Part both of such apprenticed Labourers and of the Person or Persons engaging for their Employment and Hire; and it is also necessary that Regulations should be made for the Prevention or Punishment of any Cruelty, Injustice, or other Wrong or Injury which may be done to or inflicted upon any such apprenticed Labourers by the Persons entitled to their Services; and it is also necessary that proper Regulations should be made respecting the Manner and Form in which such Indentures of Apprenticeship as aforesaid shall be made on behalf of such Children as aforesaid, and respecting the registering and Preservation of all such Indentures: And whereas it is also necessary that Provision should be made for ensuring Promptitude and Dispatch, and for preventing all unnecessary Expence, in the Discharge by the Justices of the Peace holding such Special Commissions as aforesaid of the Jurisdiction and Authorities thereby committed to them, and for enabling such Justices to decide in a summary Way such Questions as may be brought before them in that Capacity, and for the Division of the said respective Colonies into Districts for the Purposes of such Jurisdiction, and for the frequent and punctual Visitation by such Justices of the Peace of the apprenticed Labourers within such their respective Districts; and it is also necessary that Regulations should be made for indemnifying and protecting such Justices of the Peace in the upright Execution and Discharge of their Duties: And whereas such Regulations as aforesaid could not without great Inconvenience be made except by the respective Governors, Councils, and Assemblies, or other local Legislatures of the said respective Colonies, or by His Majesty, with the Advice of His Privy Council, in reference to those Colonies to which the Legislative Authority of His Majesty in Council extends:’ Be it therefore enacted and declared, That nothing in this Act contained extends or shall be construed to extend to prevent the Enactment by the respective Governors, Councils, and Assemblies, or by such other local Legislatures as aforesaid, or by His Majesty, with the Advice of His Privy Council, of any such Acts of General Assembly, or Ordinances, or Orders in Council as may be requisite for making and establishing such several Rules and Regulations as aforesaid, or any of them, or for carrying the same or any of them into full and complete Effect: Provided nevertheless, that it shall not be lawful for any such Governor, Council, and Assembly, or for any such local Legislature, or for His Majesty in Council, by any such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, or Orders in Council as aforesaid, to make or establish any Enactment, Regulation, Provision, Rule, or Order which shall be in anywise repugnant or contradictory to this present Act or any Part thereof, but that every such Enactment, Regulation, Provision, Rule, or Order shall be and is hereby declared to be absolutely null and void and of no effect.
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