MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 613 



lit for the duties he has been engaged to perform, as well 

 as by the above-mentioned " declaration." 



Labour contracts are not legally effective until the 

 existence thereof shall have appeared from Acts executed 

 before any of the recruiting commissioners residing at 

 Batavia, Semarang, or Soerabaya. 



In executing these Acts, which are put in writing in 

 conformity with the specified forms, i.e., for contract 

 labour with penal provisions the forms of labour contracts 

 (vide A (2)) fixed by the various coolie ordinances, and for 

 free labour the form referred to under B (2) of this review, 

 the contents of the contracts shall be clearly explained to 

 the natives in their own language by the official before 

 whom such Acts have to be passed, whilst all necessary 

 information shall also be given to them with regard to 

 any consequences of such contracts as may be of import- 

 ance to them. 



Co-operation in the execution of these Acts on the part 

 of the above-mentioned officials shall be refused, amongst 

 other reasons, if it should appear that the labourer has 

 agreed to the contract through fraud or in error, and if 

 serious doubt should have arisen as to the identity of 

 himself or of the members of his family accompanying 

 him. 



All expenses of transport, feeding, and nursing of the 

 recruited labourers on board ship are to be paid by the 

 recruiting agent. 



As a result of the great demand for Javanese in the 

 Outer Possessions, the number of recruiting offices in 

 Java has increased enormously of late, accompanied by a 

 rise in the cost of recruiting. Whereas about six years 

 ago these charges only amounted to about f. 65 per re- 

 cruited labourer, in 1913 they had risen to f. 165 per head, 

 to fall again in the course of the year 1914 to f. 125 and 

 f. 130. 



(3) Direct Recruiting in Java. Although the recruiting 

 in Java is in the hands of the professional recruiters i.e., 

 of recruiting agents, who, after having been licensed as 

 such by the authorities, conclude the required labour 

 contracts with the prospective labourers as attorneys of 

 the employers in the Outer Possessions some employers 



