39th GEO. III.

No. 531.

A. D. 1798.

No. 531. An Act to prevent the Stealing or Destroying of Sheep or other Cattle.

PREAMBLE.

14. GEO. II.

C. 6.

Аст.

Stealing

Sheep or Cat

tle enumerated; or kil

WHEREAS it hath been found necessary, that the Crimes of

stealing or destroying Sheep, or other Cattle, in this Island should British Stat. be punished in the same manner as is directed, in and by the Statute made and passed at Westminster, in the fourteenth Year of His late Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act to render the Laws more effectual for the Preventing the Stealing and Destroying of Sheep, and other Cattle; We, therefore, Your Majesty's loyal and obedient Subjects, the Commander-in-Chief of Your Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands in America, and the Council and Assembly of this Your Majesty's Island Antigua, do humbly pray Your Most Excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted and ordained; and be it, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person or Persons shall, at any time from and after the Passing and Publication of this Act, feloniously drive away, or, in any manner, feloniously ling, with In- steal one or more Sheep, or any Bull, Cow, Ox, Steer, Bullock, tent to steal- Heifer, Calf, or Lamb of any other Person or Persons whomsoever; assisting in or shall, wilfully, kill one or more Sheep, or any Bull, Cow, Ox, such Offence, Steer, Bullock, Heifer, Calf, or Lamb of any other Person or Perand punisha- sons whomsoever, with a felonious Intent to steal the whole Carcase or Carcases, or any Part or Parts of the said Carcase, or Carcases, of one or more Sheep, or of any Bull, Cow, Ox, Steer, Bullock, Heifer, Calf, or Lamb, that shall be so killed; or shall assist or aid any Person or Persons, to commit any such Offence or Offences ; that, then, the Person or Persons guilty of any such Offence or Offences, being thereof convicted in due form of Law, shall be adjudged guilty of Felony, and shall suffer Death, as in Cases of Felony without Benefit of Clergy.

Carcase; or

-Felony;

ble with

Death, as Felony without

Clergy.

Dated at Saint Christopher's, the eighth Day of December, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and of His Majesty's Reign the thirty-ninth.

JAMES ATHILL, Speaker.

Passed the Assembly, this thirtieth Day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight.

JOHN HILL, Clerk of the Assembly.

Passed

39th GEO. III.

Nis. 531, 532.

A. D. 1798.

Passed the Council, the first Day of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight. By Command,

WILLIAM MATHEWS, Deputy Secretary.

ROBERT L. S.) THOMSON.

ANTIGUA. Published this thirteenth Day of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight.

ROBERT CLOGSTOUN, Dep. Pro. Marshal.

CONTINUED

AND AMEND

ED by Act of

26th June,

An Act for ascertaining the Freights of Goods and Mer- No. 532. chandizes, and of Sugar, Rum, and other Produce of this Island, which shall be carried and transported, from one Part of the said Island to another Part of the 565.) said Island, in any Sloops, Shallops, Boats or Vessels, commonly called Sugar Droughers.

1802, (No.

WHEREAS the free and easy Conveyance and Carriage of PREAMBLE.

Goods and Merchandizes, and of Sugar, Rum, and other Produce
of this Island, which shall be carried and transported, from one
Part of the said Island to another Part of the said Island, in any
Sloops, Shallops, Boats, or Vessels, commonly called Sugar
Droughers, contributes very much to the Advancement of Trade,
as well as to the Ease and Convenience of the Inhabitants in general :
And whereas the Proprietors of Boats and Vessels commonly called
Droughers, labour under very great Hardships from the present low
Rates of Freight, which bear no Proportion to the heavy and
unavoidable Expenses they incur, in the navigating of their Vessels,
and to the Risk they run of their Vessels and Negroes in transport-
ing Goods from one Part of the Island to another: And whereas the
Value of Flour, Beef, Pork, and every Necessary of Life, as well
as of Cordage, Canvas, and Naval Stores of all and every kind, are
considerably advanced in Price, since the Time of passing a former
Act regulating the said Freights, dated the twenty-first Day of
October, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three: And whereas
the Hire of Negro Tradesmen of every Denomination, such as Car-
penters, Caulkers, Sailmakers, Blacksmiths, and Sailors, (being
VOL. II.
Rr

People

No. 265.

See TABLE and PROVISIONAL ALTERATION, in No. 565, S. 2.

No. 532.

39th GEO. III.
A. D. 1799.
People necessary for carrying on the said Droughing Business,) is also
greatly increased, and the Value of the Boats and Vessels employed
at present as Droughers exceed, very considerably, Vessels of the
same Description employed, when the said Act of one thousand
seven hundred and sixty-three was passed: and in case of the Loss of
one or more Hogsheads of Sugar or Rum, the Owners of the said
Vessels would be subject and liable to pay three times as much for
such Loss, as they would when the said Act of one thousand seven
hundred and sixty-three was passed; We, therefore, Your Majesty's
most dutiful, loyal, and obedient Subjects, the Commander-in-Chief
for the time being, in and over all Your Majesty's Leeward Caribbee
Islands in America, and the Council and Assembly of this Your Ma-
jesty's Island Antigua, do humbly pray Your Most Excellent Majesty,
that it may be enacted and ordained; and be it, and it is hereby
enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and
after the Passing and Publication of this Act, all Owners of Boats
and Vessels commonly called Droughers, which shall hereafter
be employed to transport Goods and Merchandize, and Sugar, Rum,
and other Produce of this Island, from one Part of the Island to
another, shall take and receive, for their Trouble and Risk in
carry-
ing of the same, at and after the Rates specified
and no more, in Time of War:

in the following Table,

St. John's, and to and from and be-11.37..64..63.22.622.67.637.622.6

tween Johnson's Point and St. John's

39th GEO. III.

No. 532.

A. D. 1799.

II. And be it enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That, on account of the Risk of Vessels being much diminished in Times of Peace, and the Prices of Materials and Provisions being also reduced, that in the Space of one Month from and after the Conclusion of the present War, the following Table of Rates of Freight, shall be substituted in Lieu of the one specified in the foregoing Clause of this Act, that is to say:

[By No. 565, S. 2. THIS TABLE, AS WELL AS THE PRECEDING, IS SUPERSEDED BY A TABLE CONSTRUCTED FOR THE TIME OF PEACE, WHICH, WITH AN AUGMENTATION OF FIFTY PER CENT, ON THE RATES, IS TO SERVE IN TIME OF WAR.]

Owners of
Droughers re-
sponsible as
CARRIERS

BY WATER

No. 532.

39th GEO. III.
A. D. 1799.
III. And be it also enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid,
That all and every Owner and Owners, Master or Masters, of any such
Shallop or Shallops, Boats or Vessels, carrying and transporting of Goods
in or about this Island, who shall exact, take, and receive, for the Car-
riage of such Goods, more than the Sums specified in the preceding Tables
of War and Peace Rates of Freight, shall, for every such Offence com-
mitted, forfeit double the Freight so charged by them, to be levied on his,
her, or their Goods and Chattels, by Distress and Sale of the same, by
Warrant under the Hands and Seals of any two or more Justices of the
Peace of the said Island; which Warrant such Justices are hereby required
to issue upon the Information of any one credible Witness upon Oath; the
whole of which said Forfeiture shall go to him that shall so inform. [By
No. 565, S. 3. it is enacted, that if any Owner or Master of a
Drougher exact a higher Rate of Freight than is expressed in the
Table of S. 2. of that Act, including the provisional Augmentation
thereby allowed in time of War; such Owner or Master shall, on
Information before Justices, on Oath of credible Witness, forfeit
double the Freight charged.]

upon

IV. And be it also enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all Owners of Droughers, shall, in every Instance, be the same footing with the CARRIERS OF GOODS BY WATER IN IN ENGLAND. ENGLAND; and that the same Responsibility which attaches to one, shall attach to the other, in every Instance whatever: any Agreement or Declaration to the contrary, notwithstanding.

By No. 565, S. 1. 4. in force,

as altered, for

V. And be it also enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall continue and be in force for the Space of one Year from three Years from the Publication thereof; and, from thence, to the 1802, and till next Meeting of the Council and Assembly.

26th June,

the Meeting of the Houses.

Dated at Saint Christopher's, this twenty-first Day of February, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and of His Majesty's Reign the thirty-ninth.

JAMES ATHILL, Speaker.

Passed