MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 603 



In so far as they have not been drawn up on the basis 

 of the Recruiting Ordinance in force in Java, they have 

 no force of law until they shall have been registered 

 by the Head of the Local Government within whose 

 jurisdiction the estate on which the labourers have 

 contracted to serve is situated, and no such registration 

 shall take place until after it has been shown through 

 interrogation that the labourers have voluntarily entered 

 into such contract and are duly acquainted with the 

 contents thereof. 



In the event of the registration being refused the 

 labourers engaged shall, at the expense of the employer, 

 be returned to the place where such engagement was 

 made. 



(3) Labourers. The labourers employed on the estates 

 in the Outer Possessions as contract coolies, i.e., whose 

 labour contracts are governed by the coolie ordinances, 

 number nearly 300,000, of whom there are 183,000 in 

 the Residency of the East Coast of Sumatra (Deli) alone. 

 They are composed principally of Javanese, also to a 

 large extent of Chinese, with a small number of men 

 from various parts such as Atjeh, Nias. West Coast of 

 Sumatra, Timor and Borneo. On the rubber estates 

 many Javanese women are at work. 



(4) Employer's Obligations. The principal obliga- 

 tions of the employer are good treatment of the 

 labourers, regular payment of the contract wages, the 

 supply of suitable dwellings free of charge, and proper 

 medical attendance, including all necessary medicines 

 and the provision of good bathing* and drinking water. 



The employer is also under obligation to return to 

 the place where they were engaged all labourers dis- 

 charged on the expiration of the contract or whose 

 contract has either been arbitrarily violated by the 

 employer or considered by him as dissolved on account 

 of duly confirmed continual unfitness for the work which 

 they undertook to perform, unless such labourers desire 

 to remain and have received permission to that effect 

 from the Government. 



(5) Obligations of the Employed. The labourer is 

 under obligation to perform regularly the work for 



