A.—7.

10

■Article XXX. General Rules for all Vessels. (1) The High Commissioners shall jointly prescribe general rules applicable to all vessels, with regard to the conditions under which these vessels may use the ports and harbours of the Group. (2) They shall jointly enforce these rules, either personally or through their Delegates. Recruitment op Native Labourers. Article XXXI. Recruiting Licence. (1) No vessel shall recruit native labourers in the New Hebrides, including the Banks and Torres Islands, unless she sails under the flag of one of the two Signatory Powers, and unless she is provided with a recruiting licence issued by the High Commissioner representing the Signatory Power under whose flag the vessel is sailing, or by his Delegate. (2) In the case of professional recruiters, the recruiting licence shall only be issued on the deposit of 801., as security, with the agent appointed by the High Commissioner, whose duty it will be to issue the recruiting licence, or by his Delegate. (3) The High Commissioners shall inform one another every month of the recruiting licences which they have issued. The same rule shall apply to their Delegates. (4) The recruiting licences shall be valid for one year only. Article XXXII. Register of Engagements. All masters of recruiting vessels shall keep a register of engagements, in which there shall be entered without delay the name, sex, identification marks, the name of the tribe, place of recruiting, and place of destination of every native recruited, the name of the employer, the length of the engagement, the sum agreed on by way of premium and wages, and the amount of the advance paid to the native at the time of engagement. Article XXXIII. Engagement of Women and Children. (1) Women shall only be engaged : — If they are married, with the consent of their husbands ; ' If they are unmarried, with the consent of the Head of the tribe. (2) Children shall only be engaged if they are of a certain minimum height, to belflxed by the Resident Commissioners jointly. Article XXXIV. Length of Engagements. (1) No engagements shall be concluded for more than three years. (2) They shall date from the day the labourer lands in the Island where he is to be employed, but the time spent on board ship by the labourer shall count for wages. Article XXXV. Deaths on Board Recruiting Vessels. (1) A report in duplicate on every death occurring on board a recruiting vessel shall be drawn up immediately by the master. Such report shall describe the circumstances under which the death occurred. (2) Within twenty-four hours an inventory in duplicate shall also be drawn up of the effects left on board by the deceased. The amount of the wages to which the labourer is entitled from the day of engagement to the day of his death shall be stated in this inventory. (3) The master shall, on arrival, transmit to the competent authority a copy of the report and the inventory, as well as the objects and articles of value belonging to the deceased, and the premium and wages to which he was entitled. The second copy of the report and the inventory shall be annexed to the register of engagements. Article XXXVI. Sickness of Labourers on Landing. Every native recruited who, on landing, is found to be in such a state of health as to incapacitate him for the work for which he was engaged, shall be cared for at the expense of the recruiter, and the time spent in hospital and the time during which he is unable to work shall be included in the term of engagement. Article XXXVII. Delivery of Labourers to their Employers. A recruiter who is acting as an agent for other persons cannot divest himself of hisjresponsibility for the natives whom he has engaged until the signature of the employer has been affixedjto the register ■of engagements opposite the name of the labourer.