Convicts No. 18 of the sixteenth year of the reign of Queen Victoria, either in section 2 or elsewhere, as refers to offences committed by convicts during the voyage hereto or on the high seas, shall be and is hereby repealed. 2. That the words in section 3, 'less than three years,' shall be and the same are hereby repealed. CHARLES FITZGERALD, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. Preamble See now 42 Vic. Notice to party WESTERN AUSTRALIA ANNO SEPTIMO DECIMO VICTORIE REGINE No. 6 An Ordinance to regulate the mode of awarding Compensations for Town Lands resumed by the Governor, on behalf of the Crown, [Assented to 17th May, 1854. WH HEREAS by the terms of Crown Grants now in use of lands on town sites, the Governor is empowered to resume such portions of land as he may deem necessary for making roads, canals, bridges, towing paths or other works of public utility or convenience; and whereas doubts have arisen as to the compensation which can be claimed for land resumed under such power; and whereas it is expedient that the amount of such compensation be fixed by impartial persons, duly authorised to make the necessary inquiries: Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia and its Dependencies, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that from and after the first day of June, 1854, before land situated on town sites be resumed, compensation therefor be tendered and awarded in the following manner and form : 2. That in all cases of any intended resumption as aforesaid the Colonial Secretary shall cause a notice in or to the effect of the following form, to be published thrice consecutively in the Government Gazette of the said Colony, and a copy thereof to be affixed on some portion of the land intended to be resumed : To all persons interested in (here designate the allotment) TAKE Resumption of Town Lands (Compensation) the lands above described will be resumed on behalf of the Colonial Secretary. 3. That in case such notification so required by the Colonial Secretary by notice aforesaid, be not duly given within the number of days specified in such notice, it shall be lawful for the Governor to resume on behalf of the Crown, the land referred to by such notice on the terms tendered therein, and the person or persons interested in such land shall not be entitled to any further compensation. If not complied with Governresume ment may sioners 4. In case such compensation so tendered be refused, the Governor Three Commis. shall nominate and appoint one Commissioner, the person or persons interested as aforesaid in such land shall appoint a second, and these two shall choose and name a third, which three Commissioners shall constitute a Board, the award of a majority of whom shall be final. 5. That the person or person interested as aforesaid, or his or their representatives, and the Crown Solicitor or other person appointed on behalf of the Government, shall respectively be allowed to address the Board and adduce any oral or documentary evidence. 6. That this Board shall appoint one of their number as Chairman, Chairman and before proceeding to business each of the three Commissioners shall make the following declaration :-. I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely declare that I will hear 7. That the Chairman of such Board shall administer to every witness produced before him an oath or affirmation to the following effect: The evidence you give before this Board in this matter, shall be Oath 8. That the award of such Board be forwarded to the Colonial Award Secretary, signed by all the members of the Board or a majority thereof. 9. That in the event of the Commissioners being so divided in If divided, origi opinion that they make no definite award, the sum tendered in the nal tender paid original notice shall be deemed amply sufficient and legally established and paid to the parties as aforesaid. 10. That in the event of such Board awarding a sum not greater Costs than the amount tendered in the notice, or not awarding as aforesaid any definite sum, the person or persons refusing the amount so tendered, shall pay his or their own costs and one half the entire expenses of the Commission. 11. That should the said Board award a sum exceeding the amount when the tendered in the first instance in the notice as aforesaid, all such costs Government pay costs Government may waive; in such case costs paid by Government Fees to Commissioners Resumption of Town Lands (Compensation) shall be defrayed by the Government, being first taxed if required by the Registrar Clerk of the Civil Court, according to the scale for the time being in force in such Court. 12. That after the award so forwarded to the Colonial Secretary, it shall be lawful for the Governor to resume the land, by proclamation as usual or not, according to his discretion, to be exercised within fourteen days after the receipt by the Colonial Secretary of such award, it being enacted that in all such cases of waiver by the Governor of resumption, the entire expenses of the inquiry shall be defrayed by the Government. 13. That the fees to be paid to each Commissioner shall be one guinea per day for loss time and maintenance and mileage for travelling expenses at the rate of one shilling a mile one way. CHARLES FITZGERALD, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. Preamble Armed escaped convict Entering house with intent An Ordinance for the Suppression of Violent Crimes committed by Convicts illegally at large. W [Assented to 17th May, 1854. THEREAS since the Colony of Western Australia became a penal settlement, certain robberies of arms, provisions and other articles by force or intimidation have been committed therein by convicts illegally at large, and the lives of Officers of Justice and their assistants, while in the execution of their duty in endeavouring to apprehend such offenders, have been perilled by resistance with deadly weapons; and whereas it is expedient, as well for the peace and security of Her Majesty's free subjects resident within the said Colony as for the due protection of such Officers of Justice, that such offences should be prevented or suppressed by more stringent laws than now exist Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia and its Dependencies, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that from and after the date at which this Ordinance shall come into operation, if any convict illegally at large shall rob any person, and at the time of or immediately before or immediately after such robbery, shall beat, strike or use any other personal violence to any such person, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being thereof convicted shall suffer death. 2. That if any convict illegally at large shall enter any dwellinghouse or any building within the curtilage of a dwelling-house with intent to commit a felony therein, and shall beat, strike, bind, confine Convicts or use any serious personal violence so as to cause grievous bodily harm,. Violence 3. That if any convict illegally at large, being armed with any offensive weapon or instrument, shall, by striking, beating, or other personal violence, assault with intent to rob any person, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall suffer death. Armed escaped assault with in tent to rob Armed escaped convict, if rethrow down weapon quired, must 4. That if any convict illegally at large (or if any convict kept to Attempt to shoot labour in the service of Government, in or at any place appointed by or wound the said Governor, or used, with his knowledge and sanction, as a place of confinement, or detainer, or hard labour for convicts) shall unlawfully and maliciously shoot at any person, or shall by drawing a trigger or in any other manner, attempt to discharge any kind of loaded arms at any person, or shall stab, cut, or wound any person, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to do some grievous bodily harm to such person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer, or to effect the forcible escape of himself or of any other person, every such offender, and every person aiding or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall suffer death. 5. That if any convict illegally at large, and being armed with any description of firearms or with any weapon or instrument adapted for cutting or stabbing and capable of inflicting a dangerous incised or punctured wound, shall be required to surrender himself by any Justice of the Peace, policeman, constable or officer of a convict prison or depot or any free person acting under the direction or in aid of any such peace or other officer (whether such policeman, constable, officer or free person shall or shall not then have a magistrate's warrant for the apprehension of such convict), and such convict shall refuse or decline so to surrender himself, and still retaining such firearms, weapon or instrument, shall by threats or gestures give reasonable cause to believe Threat or gesthat he is about to use such firearms, weapon or instrument for the purpose of preventing his apprehension, then and in any such case it shall be lawful for such Justice, policeman, constable or officer having first declared and notified his official character to such convict, or for any free person acting in aid as aforesaid, by the discharge of any loaded firearms or by the use of any weapon or instrument whatsoever to disable and overpower such convict, with a view to his apprehension, with- May be shot out bodily injury to his captor; and in case the death of such convict shall be thereby caused, the same shall be deemed an act of justifiable homicide; and every such Justice, policeman, constable, officer or free person acting in aid as aforesaid, shall be and is hereby indemnified and discharged from any indictment, penalty, action or other proceeding for so doing. 6. That if any convict shall, by force or flight, attempt to escape from any place appointed by the said Governor or used with his knowledge and sanction as a place of confinement or detainer for convicts or from any party of convicts employed in the service of Government on any road or public work, or from the custody or charge of any warder or other officer of the Convict Department, or from the custody of any policeman or constable, under a commitment for trial on a charge ture Convict attempting to escape, if on refusal may be fired on called on to stay Prevent escape Aid to constable by all witnesses Terms used Evidence Convicts of felony; and if such convict being called upon by such warder or officer, or by any warder or other officer of such place of confinement, or of such working party as aforesaid, or by any military or other sentry then being on guard over such convicts, to stop and surrender himself, shall refuse or decline so to do, then and in any of the aforesaid cases, it shall be lawful for such warder, officer, policeman, constable or sentry, to fire upon or use any weapon or instrument against such convict for the purpose of preventing such escape; and in case the death of such convict shall be thereby caused, the same shall be deemed an act of justifiable homicide; and every such warder, officer, policeman, constable or sentry, shall be and is hereby indemnified and discharged from any indictment, penalty, action or other proceeding for so doing. 7. That all Her Majesty's subjects, and others resident within the said Colony, being males, above the age of eighteen years and below the age of sixty years, and being free persons or convicts holding tickets-of-leave, and not being aborigines, may lawfully be called upon to aid and assist any Justice of the Peace, constable or police officer in the pursuit and capture of any convict illegally at large; and every person who shall be so called upon to aid and assist, and shall refuse or neglect so to do without just and reasonable excuse shown to the satisfaction of any Justice or Justices of the Peace, before whom such person shall or may be charged with such refusal or neglect, shall forfeit and pay (over and above any other punishment to which such person shall be liable by law) any sum of money not exceeding ten pounds, to be awarded, recovered or enforced in a summary manner within one calendar month after the commission of such offence, before any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace, according to the provisions of the Ordinance No. 5, of 1850; and every such fine when recovered shall be paid into the hands of the Colonial Treasurer to the use of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, for the public uses of the said Colony, and the support of the Government thereof. 8. That throughout this Ordinance the word 'convict' shall be deemed and construed to mean any offender being in the said Colony under an unexpired or unremitted sentence of transportation, whether such sentence shall have been passed in the said Colony or elsewhere; and also any offender being in the said Colony whose sentence shall have been commuted to transportation for a term still unexpired or unremitted; and that the words convict illegally at large' shall be deemed and construed to mean a convict (whether holding a ticket-ofleave or otherwise) escaped from any prison, depot or station of convicts employed in the service of Government on any road or public work or from any place appointed by the said Governor or used with his knowledge and sanction for the confinement or detention of convicts, or from the custody of any warder, policeman or constable. 9. That on the trial, and on any previous examination before a Justice or Justices of the Peace, of any person charged with any offence against this Ordinance, the fact of such offender being a convict shall or may be proved primâ facie, in like manner as is provided by the 7th section of the Ordinance No. 18 of 1858; and that evidence of any person having acted as a warder or other officer of the convict department, or as a sentry over a convict or convicts, at any particular time or place, shall be sufficient evidence of such person being a duly |