OF GREAT BRITAIN. 109 



out such leave as aforesaid, he shall be deemed a deserter, and shall 

 forfeit to such hirer or employer all such wages as shall at the time 

 of such desertion be due to him (except so much as is herein-before 

 directed to be reserved and retained for the purpose of paying his 

 passage home ;) and it shall and may be lawful to and for the governor 

 of Newfoundland, or his surrogates, or the commissary of the vice 

 admiralty court for the time being, or for any justice of the peace in 

 Newfoundland, to issue his or their warrant or warrants to apprehend 

 every such deserter, and on the oath of one or more credible wit- 

 ness or witnesses to commit him to prison, there to remain until the 

 next court of session which shall be liolden in .pursuance of the com- 

 mission of the said governor for the time being; and if found guilty 

 of the said offence at such session, it shall and may be lawful to and 

 for the said court of session to order such deserter to be publicly 

 whipped as a vagrant and afterwards to be put on board a passage 

 ship, in order to his being conveyed back to the country whereto he 

 belongs. 



XYIII. Aud be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 

 That all disputes which shall arise concerning the wages of every or 

 any such seaman or fisherman, and all offences which shall be com- 

 mitted by every hirer or employer of such seaman or fisherman, 

 against this act, shall and maybe inquired into, heard and determined, 

 and the penalties and forfeitures thereby incurred shall and may be 

 recovered in the court of session hereinbefore mentioned, or in the 

 court of vice admiralty having jurisdiction in the said island of 

 Newfoundland. 



XIX. And whereas by an act of parliament, passed in the sixth 

 year of the reign of her late majesty Queen Anne, intituled, "An act 

 for the encouragement of the trade to America, it is, amongst other 

 things, enacted That no mariner or other person who shall serve on 

 board, or be retained to serve <>n board, any privateer, or trading ship 

 or vessel, that shall be employed in any part of America nor any mari- 

 ner or other person being on shore in any part thereof, shall be liable 

 to be impressed or taken away by any officer or officers of or belonging 

 to any of her Majesty's ships of war, impowered by the Lord high 

 admiral, or any other person whatsoever, unless such mariner shall 

 have before deserted from such ship of war: and whereas the said 

 privilege; or exempt ion so given by t he said act to mariners serving on 

 ships or vessels employed in any of the seas or ports of the continent 

 of America, or residing on shore there, is prejudicial to the fisheries 

 carried on by his Majesty's subjects of ( treat Britain and 1 reland, and 

 others his Majesty's dominions in Europe, and has proved an en- 

 couragement to mariners belonging thereto to desert in time of war, 

 or at the appearance <>l' a war, to the British plantations on the said 

 continent of America ; be it therefore enacted by the authority afore- 

 said, That the said clause, so far as it relates to t he exempting of mar- 

 iners or other persons serving, or retained to serve, in any ship or ves- 

 sel in the or ports of the continent of America, or other persons 

 on shore there, from being impressed, be ami the same is hereby 



repealed. 



XX. And whereas the immoderate 1 1 -«■ of rum and other spirits 



imported into Newfoundland from bis Majesty's colonies and plan- 

 tations in America has been found to be highly detrimental to the 



