Mr. David Adamsasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there has been any amendment of the Masters and Servants Ordinance in Antigua in the direction of the abolition of the penal clauses for breach of civil contract by employés; and, if so, whether any similar amendment is contemplated in other territories in the West Indies?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo, Sir, but this matter was taken up last year with the Governor of the Leeward Islands and is under consideration in Antigua and in the other Presidencies of the Colony. With regard to the second part of the question, the desirability of causing the elimination of penal sanctions from Masters and Servants legislation at the earliest possible date was impressed last autumn upon the Governors of all the other Colonial Dependencies in the West Indian area.1796W Legislation has since been introduced in Barbados and Grenada repealing th penal sanctions and the question is under consideration in Trinidad, Jamaica, British Guiana, British Honduras, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.