[Editor: This article, regarding the Immigration Restriction Bill, was published in The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 26 July 1901. When it became law, the Immigration Restriction Act formed the foundation of the White Australia Policy.]
Immigration Restriction Bill.
A bill “to place certain restrictions on immigration and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of prohibited immigrants” was circulated this morning.
The measure, as foreshadowed in the “Sydney Morning Herald” some time ago, is practically on the lines of the Natal Act of 1897. Clause 4 prohibits the immigration of “any person who, when asked to do so by an officer, fails to write out and sign, in the presence of the officer, a passage of 50 words in length in the English language dictated by the officer;” any person likely to become a charge on any charitable institution, any idiot or insane person, any person who has within three years been convicted of an offence otherwise than a political offence and has been sentenced to imprisonment for one year or longer therefor, and any person suffering from an infectious or contagious disease of a dangerous character.
The exemptions include persons holding certificates of exemption, members of the King’s land and sea forces, the master and crew of any vessel, any Government persons duly accredited to the Commonwealth Government by the Imperial or any other Government, the master, and the crew of any vessel landing under certain restrictions during her stay in any port of the Commonwealth.
Any prohibited immigrant entering the Commonwealth in contravention of the law shall be liable to imprisonment for six months, and may be deported. The master, owners, and charterers of any vessel from which prohibited immigrants enter the Commonwealth contrary to law shall be jointly and severally liable to a penalty of £100 for each prohibited immigrant.
Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 26 July 1901, p. 7 (Second Edition)
Editor’s notes:
bill = a proposed law, or an amendment to an existing law
See: “Bill (law)”, Wikipedia
charge = burden, liability, or load; duty or responsibility; care, custody, or supervision; regarding someone whose existence or livelihood requires that a person or organisation be put in charge of that someone (to look after them, to care for or provide for them, or to give them financial support)
Commonwealth = the Commonwealth of Australia; the Australian nation, federated on 1 January 1901
Commonwealth Government = the government of the Commonwealth of Australia, i.e. the federal government of Australia
idiot = a mentally retarded person; someone with the mental capacity of a young child; someone with low general intelligence; someone with a severe learning disability; a foolish, stupid, or weak-minded person
Imperial = in the context of the British Empire, of or relating to official elements of the British Empire (e.g. Imperial troops, the Imperial Government); of or relating to the British Empire
the Natal Act = (in the context of immigration restriction) an act of legislation designed to block the immigration of non-white migrants, mainly by the use of a dictation test in any European language (this type of law was used by the British colony of Natal in South Africa in 1897, and was primarily designed to stop Indian immigration)
See: 1) “Founded on the American Act: Natal introduces immigration restriction”, in: Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective,
2) “Anti-Indian Legislation 1800s – 1959”, South African History Online
therefor = (archaic; legal) for it, for that, for this; in exchange for, in return for; for that object, for that purpose (distinct from the word “therefore”, meaning consequently, for that reason, or thus)
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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