Where any crime or offence shall be committed or alleged to be committed by any person of the aboriginal race against any other person of the same race, no Police Magistrate or other Justice of the Peace or any other person shall, except under the special authority in writing of the Governor or of the Superintendent of the Southern Division for the time being, issue any warrant or take any other proceeding whatsoever against the alleged offender until an information charging such offence shall have been duly made by two principal chiefs of the tribe to which the injured party may belong; and in case any warrant may be issued for the apprehension of any such alleged offender, such warrant shall be directed for execution to two principal chiefs of the tribe laying such information, or (where the alleged offender, shall belong to a different tribe) then to two principal chiefs of the tribe to which such alleged offender shall belong, and no further proceedings shall be taken in the case unless the alleged offender shall be brought up for examination by or by the authority of the chiefs to whom such warrant shall have been directed.

And to the end that, in cases where any crime or offence shall be committed by any person of the aboriginal race against the person or property of any other person not belonging to the said race, the law may be enforced against any such offender with the least possible risk of interrupting the peace of the community: Be it enacted, That where the person to be apprehended by virtue of any warrant of any Police Magistrate or other Justice of the Peace shall be beyond the limits of any town, such warrant shall, except where the ordinary course of proceeding shall be sanctioned by such special authority as aforesaid, be directed in blank to two of the principal chiefs of the tribe to which such person shall belong, and shall be forwarded by such Police Magistrate or other Justice of the Peace to the Chief Protector of Aborigines or Protector of the District, as the case may be.

Such Protector shall fill up the blank left in the warrant with the names of such two of the said principal chiefs as to him may seem meet, and shall countersign the said warrant, and shall indorse thereon a translation thereof into the Native language signed by such Protector, and shall forthwith cause the same to be conveyed to the chiefs to whom it shall be directed.

For every chief who in compliance with any such warrant as aforesaid shall have caused any offender to be apprehended and brought before the Police Magistrate of the district, there shall be allowed as a compensation for his trouble in so doing a sum of money according to the scale in the Schedule hereunto annexed.

At the foot of the translation so to be indorsed on the warrant as aforesaid, there shall be added by such Protector as aforesaid a note stating that the chiefs to whom the warrant shall be directed will on complying therewith receive compensation, and stating the amount of compensation according to the aforesaid scale.

And whereas difficulties are found to arise in the administration of the Criminal Law among the aboriginal population of the Colony by reason of our mode of enforcing the same being in some cases greatly repugnant to the natural habits of the said population, and the objects of the Criminal Law may more easily and more generally be attained by certain modifications for the present in the mode of procedure and nature of the punishment now by law prescribed: Be it enacted, That where any person of the aboriginal race shall be charged with any crime or offence other than the crimes of rape or murder, and where such person would otherwise have been committed to take his trial, every such person shall be allowed to go at large on making or procuring to be made a deposit in manner and to the amount hereinafter mentioned as a security to be forfeited in case of his non-appearance to take his trial at the time and place then named for that purpose.

The sum to be deposited shall in charges of theft or receiving stolen goods not exceed four times the value of the goods alleged to have been stolen or received: Provided that in the case of either of the charges aforesaid, or of any other charge whatsoever where a deposit may be allowed, the sum deposited shall not exceed twenty pounds.

Where any person by whom or on whose behalf any deposit shall have been so made shall have failed to appear at the time and place fixed for his trial, the Court shall name a day for the person or persons by whom the deposit shall have been made to show cause why the same should not become forfeited. If sufficient cause shall not be shown accordingly, the deposit shall be declared to be forfeited, and where the charge shall be of theft or of receiving stolen goods, and it shall appear that restitution of the goods charged to have been so stolen or received as aforesaid has not been or cannot be made, the Court shall have power, upon application then made by the owner of such goods or his representatives, to award to such owner or representatives such part of the forfeited deposit as shall be equal to the sworn value of such goods. The deposit, or in either of the cases last mentioned the residue thereof, shall be duly accounted for and paid over to the Colonial Treasurer or Treasurer of the county or district, for the use of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, for the public uses of the Colony and the support of the Government thereof.

And be it further enacted, That in case any person of the aboriginal race shall be convicted upon any charge of theft or of receiving stolen goods, either by the verdict of a jury, or, in the case of theft, in a summary way before any Police Magistrate, every such person may after such conviction, and at any time before sentence passed, pay into the Court four times the value of the goods so stolen or received as aforesaid. Such payment being made no sentence shall be passed, but the person so convicted shall be discharged from custody, and shall be in the same condition in all respects as if he had received sentence and undergone his punishment in the ordinary course of law.

In every case where any such person as aforesaid shall be convicted by the verdict of a jury, the jury shall at the same time find the value of the property or goods so stolen or received as aforesaid.

Where any such payment as last mentioned shall have been made, the same shall be applied and dealt with by the Court in the manner hereinbefore provided in the case of a forfeited deposit.

And whereas, while the aboriginal people remain ignorant of the operation of the law in civil cases, they cannot justly or safely be subjected to the more severe penalties thereof: Be it further enacted, That no person of the aboriginal race shall be subject to imprisonment by virtue of any judgment obtained against him in any action or civil proceeding in any Court.