III. SPECIAL LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF LABORERS AND EMIGRANTS.
The greater part of the laboring population of British Guiana were formerly slaves. They have been lately set free by the justice and bounty of the British government, which is very jealous of their rights, and which has enacted many special laws for their protection.
A leading measure of this kind is, the appointment of the Stipendiary Magistrates above described. These stipendiary magistrates have exclusive jurisdiction over all controversies between employers and laborers touching wages and contracts. It is provided by the fourth chapter of the Orders in Council of Sept. 7th, 1838, which are the supreme law in British Guiana, that any laborer, on complaint preferred, and proof made before any stipendiary magistrate, that his employer has not paid his wages, or delivered him the articles agreed upon between them as a part of his wages, or that the articles delivered were not of the quality or quantity agreed upon, or that through the negligence of the master the contract has not been properly performed, or that the laborer has been ill used,—upon complaint preferred for any of these reasons, and proof made, the stipendiary magistrate may, by summary process, order the payment of the wages, the delivering of the stipulated articles, or compensation to be made for any negligence or ill usage on the part of the employer; and if the order be not complied with, the magistrate has power to issue his warrant for the seizure and sale of the goods of the employer, or so much as may be necessary; or if no goods are to be found, the magistrate may commit the employer to prison for any time not exceeding one month, unless compensation be sooner made; and the magistrate may dissolve the contract if he see fit.
To prevent contracts being made with emigrants, disadvantageous to them or unfair in any respect, previous to their arrival in the colony, it is provided in the same Orders in Council, chapter third, that no contract of service made out of the colony shall be of any force or effect in it; that no contract of labor shall remain in force for more than four weeks, unless it be reduced to writing; and that no written contract of service shall be binding, unless signed by the name or mark of the persons contracting in the presence of a stipendiary magistrate; nor unless the magistrate shall certify that it was made voluntarily, and with a full understanding of its meaning and effect; nor can any written contract of service remain in force for more than one year.
It is evident from these statements with what careful safeguards against fraud and oppression the benevolence of British law has surrounded the laborer and the emigrant.
There is an Emigration Agent in British Guiana, who is a stipendiary magistrate, and whose duty it is to furnish emigrants, arriving in the colony, with every information, and to prevent any imposition from being practiced upon them. It will appear, from an examination of the above provisions, that all those colored persons from the United States who may emigrate to Guiana, will go out perfectly free and unshackled. On their arrival in the colony, they will be perfectly their own masters, at full liberty to choose any kind of employment which the colony offers; and should they be dissatisfied, or disappointed, no obstacle will exist to their return.