TASMANIA.

The Passengers Act, 1885, enacts as follows:—

Bond to be given for certain passengers.

Sec. 3. If the collector (at the port of arrival) shall certify that any passenger shall have arrived in Tasmania on board any ship (except one plying from any one port in the Colony to any other port therein) being either lunatic, idiotic, deaf, dumb, blind, or infirm, or from any cause unable to support himself, or likely, in the opinion of the collector, to become a charge upon the public, or upon any public or charitable institution, the collector shall require the owner, charterer, or master of such ship, within seven days after her arrival, to execute a bond to her Majesty in the sum of 100l. for every such passenger.

Conditions of the bond.

4. Every such bond shall be entered into with at least two sufficient sureties, and the person giving such bond and his sureties shall be bound jointly and severally to pay to the Treasurer of Tasmania all moneys and expenses which shall be laid out or incurred within the space of five years from the execution of the said bond for the maintenance or support of such passenger; and the said sureties shall justify before and to the satisfaction of the collector, and shall by their oath or affirmation satisfy him, that they are respectively residents in Tasmania, and each worth treble the amount of the penalty of such bond over and above all their liabilities.

Provisions as to ships quarantined.

5. Whenever any such ship or the passengers by such ship shall have performed quarantine in accordance with any law for the time being in force, then the period within which the owner, charterer, or master shall be required to give such bond shall be within seven days after such ship or passenger has or have performed quarantine and been duly discharged therefrom.

Bond to be applied to maintenance.

6. If any passenger for whom any bond shall have been given as aforesaid, shall at any time within five years from the execution thereof receive maintenance or support from any public or charitable institution in Tasmania, the amount expended for the maintenance and support of such passenger shall be provided for and repaid as herein-after provided out of the moneys collected under such bond, to the extent of the penalty therein mentioned, or such portion thereof as shall be required for the payment of such maintenance or support.

Authority in charge of institution to report as to forfeiture of bond.

7. It shall be the duty of the authority or person having the control or charge of such public or charitable institution, to ascertain the right and claim of the Treasurer of Tasmania to payment of the amount so expended for the maintenance and support of any such passenger, and to report the same to him with all such information as may enable the Treasurer to recover the moneys due.

Bond may be put in suit.

8. Every such report shall be conclusive in the matter, and shall be evidence of the facts therein stated; and every such bond may be put in suit, and the penalty, or as much thereof as shall be required to defray the expenses of such maintenance or support, may be recovered by suit or information on behalf of her Majesty, and in the name of a law officer in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Penalty for refusing to execute bond.

9. If the owner, charterer, or master of any ship shall neglect or refuse to execute a bond in any case within the provisions of this Act within seven days after being so required as aforesaid, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 100l., and the payment of such penalty shall not be deemed to exonerate such owner, charterer, or master from being compelled to execute such bond as by this Act provided; and such ship shall not either during or after the expiration of the said period of seven days be cleared out unless and until the said bond shall have been executed and the said penalty has been paid.

Act not to extend to Government immigrants, etc.

10. The provisions of this Act shall not extend to immigrants brought to Tasmania either wholly or partly at the expense of the Colony, nor to shipwrecked mariners brought to Tasmania without charge by the master of some other ship than that in which they were wrecked, nor to her Majesty's land and sea forces.

Recovery of penalties.

11. All penalties incurred under section 9 shall be recovered in a summary way before any two or more Justices of the Peace in the mode prescribed by the Magistrates' Summary Procedure Act (19 Vict., No. 8); and any person who thinks himself aggrieved by the imposition of any such penalty, may appeal against the same in the mode prescribed by the Appeals Regulation Act (19 Vict., No. 10).