The permanent commission of miners' provident funds shall be appointed by royal decree.

The Government shall consult with this commission in the exercise of the powers which this article confers upon it and particularly in regard to examining the constitution.

ART. 39. The Government shall present to the chambers triennial reports concerning the enforcement of the present law.

Additional provision.

ART. 40. The first two phrases of paragraph 1 of article 3 of the act of March 28, 1868, are replaced by the following provision:

The right to contract for, dispose of, and acquire property, to sue and be sued in the courts, under the restrictions, if any, provided by royal decree.

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT, 1902.(a)

1. This act may be cited as the "Workmen's Compensation Act, 1902."

2. (1) If in any employment to which this act applies personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment is caused to a workman, his employer shall, subject as hereinafter mentioned, be liable to pay compensation in accordance with the first schedule to this act:

(2) Provided that

(a) The employer shall not be liable under this act in respect of any injury which does not disable the workman for a period of at least two weeks from earning full wages at the work at which he was employed:

(b) When the injury was caused by the personal negligence or wilful act of the employer, or of some person for whose act or default the employer is responsible, nothing in this act shall affect any civil liability of the employer, but in that case the workman may, at his option, either claim compensation under this act or take the same proceedings as were open to him before the commencement of this act; but the employer shall not be liable to pay compensation for injury to a workman by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment both independently of and also under this act, and shall not be liable to any proceedings independently of this act, except in case of such personal negligence or wilful act as aforesaid:

(c) If it is proved that the injury to a workman is attributable solely to the serious and wilful misconduct or serious neglect of that workman, any compensation claimed in respect of that injury shall be disallowed.

(3) If any question arises in any proceedings under this act as to the liability to pay compensation under this act (including any question as to whether the employment is one to which this act applies), or as to the amount or duration of compensation under this act, the question if not settled by agreement shall, subject to the provisions of the first schedule to this act, be settled by arbitration in accordance with the second schedule to this act.

(4) If, within the time hereinafter in this act limited for taking proceedings, an action is brought to recover damages independently of this act for injury caused by any accident and it is determined in such action that the injury is one for which the employer is not liable in such action, but that he would have been liable to pay compensation under the provisions of this act, the action shall be dismissed; but the court in which the action is tried shall, if the plaintiff shall so choose, proceed to assess such compensation, and shall be at liberty to deduct from such compensation all the costs which, in its judgment, have been caused by the plaintiff bringing this action instead of proceeding under this act. In any proceeding under this subsection, when the court assesses the compensation it shall give a certificate of the compensation it has awarded and the directions it has given as to the deduction for costs, and such certificate shall have the force and effect of an award under this act.

(5) Nothing in this act shall affect any proceedings for a fine under the enactments relating to mines and other industries, or the application of any such fine, but if any such fine, or any part thereof, has been applied for the benefit of the person injured, the amount so applied shall be taken into account in estimating the compensation under this act. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 1.)

3. (1) Proceedings for the recovery under this act of compensation for an injury shall not be maintained unless notice of the accident has been given as soon as practicable after the happening thereof, and before the workman has voluntarily left the employment in which he was injured, and unless the claim for compensation with respect to such accident has been made within six months from the occurrence of

• Statutes of British Columbia, 1902, pp. 313-322.

the accident causing the injury, or in case of death, within six months from time of death: Provided always, that the want of, or any defect, or inaccuracy in, such notice shall not be a bar to the maintenance of such proceedings, if it is found in the proceedings for settling the claim that the employer is not prejudiced in his defense by the want, defect or inaccuracy, or that such want, defect or inaccuracy was occasioned by mistake or other reasonable cause.

(2) Notice in respect of an injury under this act shall give the name and address of the person injured, and shall state in ordinary language the cause of the injury and the date at which it was sustained, and shall be served on the employer, or, if there is more than one employer, upon one of such employers.

(3) The notice may be served by delivering the same to or at the residence or place of business of the person on whom it is to be served.

(4) The notice may also be served by post, by a registered letter addressed to the person on whom it is to be served at his last known place of residence, or place of business, and if served by post shall be deemed to have been served at the time when the letter containing the same would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post; and in proving the service of such notice it shall be sufficient to prove that the notice was properly addressed and registered.

(5) Where the employer is a body of persons, corporate or incorporate, the notice may also be served by delivering the same at, or by sending it by post in a registered letter addressed to the employer at the office, or, if there be more than one office, any one of the offices of such body. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 2.)

4. (1) If the attorney-general, after taking steps to ascertain the views of the employer and workmen, certifies that any scheme of compensation, benefit, or insurance for the workmen of an employer in any employment, whether or not such scheme includes other employers and their workmen, is on the whole not less favorable to the general body of workmen and their dependents than the provisions of this act, the employer may, until the certificate is revoked, contract with any of those workmen that the provisions of the scheme shall be substituted for the provisions of this act, and thereupon the employer shall be liable only in accordance with the scheme, but, save as aforesaid, this act shall apply notwithstanding any contract to the contrary made after the commencement of this act.

(2) The attorney-general may give a certificate to expire at the end of a limited period not less than five years.

(3) No scheme shall be so certified which contains an obligation upon the workman to join the scheme as a condition of their hiring.

(4) If complaint is made to the attorney-general by or on behalf of the workmen of any employer that the provisions of any scheme are no longer on the whole so favorable to the general body of workmen of such employer and their dependents as the provisions of this act, or that the provisions of such scheme are being violated, or that the scheme is not being fairly administered, or that satisfactory reasons exist for revoking the certificate, the attorney-general shall examine into the complaint, and, if satisfied that good cause exists for such complaint, shall, unless the cause of complaint is removed, revoke the certificate.

(5) When a certificate is revoked or expires any moneys or securities held for the purpose of the scheme shall be distributed as may be arranged between the employer and workmen, or as may be determined by the attorney-general in the event of a difference of opinion.

(6) Whenever a scheme has been certified as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the employer to answer all such inquiries and furnish all such accounts in regard to the scheme as may be made or required by the attorney-general. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 3.)

5. Where, in an employment to which this act applies, the undertakers as hereinafter defined contract with any person for the execution by or under such contractor of any work, and the undertakers would, if such work were executed by workmen immediately employed by them, be liable to pay compensation under this act to those workmen in respect of any accident arising out of and in the course of their employment, the undertakers shall be liable to pay to any workmen employed in the execution of the work any compensation which is payable to the workman (whether under this act or in respect of personal negligence or wilful act independently of this act) by such contractor, or would be so payable if such contractor were an employer to whom this act applies: Provided that the undertakers shall be entitled to be indemnified by any other person who would have been liable independently of this section. This section shall not apply to any contract with any person for the execution by or under such contractor of any work which is merely ancillary or incidental to, and is no part of, or process in, the trade or business carried on by such undertakers respectively. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 4.)

6. Where any employer becomes liable under this act to pay compensation in respect of any accident, and is entitled to any sum from insurers in respect of the amount due to a workman under such liability, then in the event of the employer becoming bankrupt, making an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, or making a composition or arrangement with his creditors, or if the employer is a company, of the company having commenced to be wound up, such workman shall have a first charge upon the sum aforesaid for the amount so due, and a judge of the supreme court may direct the insurers to pay such sum into any chartered bank of Canada in the name of the registrar of such court, and order the same to be invested or applied in accordance with the provisions of the first schedule hereto with reference to the investment in any chartered bank of Canada of any sum allotted as compensation, and those provisions shall apply accordingly.

7. Where the injury for which compensation is payable under this act was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than the employer to pay damages in respect thereof, the workman may, at his option, proceed, either at law against that person to recover damages, or against his employer for compensation under this act, but not against both, and if compensation be paid under this act, the employer shall be entitled to be indemnified by the said other person. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 6.)

8. (1) This act shall apply only to employment by the undertakers as hereinafter defined, on or in or about a railway, factory, mine, quarry, or engineering work, and to employment by the undertakers as hereinafter defined or in or about any building which exceeds forty feet in height, and is either being constructed or repaired by means of a scaffolding, or being demolished, or on which machinery driven by steam, water, or other mechanical power, is being used for the purpose of the construction, repair, or demolition thereof.

(2) In this act

"Railway" means a road owned by a private person or public company on which carriages run over metal rails, and shall include railways or tramways operated by electric or other power:

"Factory" means a building, workshop, or place where goods are manufactured, and includes mills where manufactures of wood, flour, meal, pulp or other substances are being carried on, also smelters where metals are sorted, extracted or operated on; every laundry worked by steam, water or other mechanical power, and also includes any dock, wharf, quay, warehouse, ship building yard, marine railways, where goods or materials are being stored, handled, transported or manufactured:

"Mine" means a mine to which the "Coal Mines Regulation Act" and amending acts, or the "Mineral Act" and amending acts, or the "Placer Mining Act" and amending acts, apply:

"Engineering work" means any work of construction or alteration or repair of a railroad, harbor, dock, canal or sewer, and includes any other work for the construction, alteration, or repair of which machinery, driven by steam, water, or other mechanical power, is used:

"Quarry" means an open cut from which rock is cut or taken for building purposes: 'Undertaker," in the case of a railway, means the railway company; in the case of a factory, quarry, laundry, smelter or warehouse means the occupier or operator thereof; in the case of a mine means the owner thereof, and in the case of an engineering work, or other work specified within this act, means the person undertaking the construction, alteration, repair or demolition:

"Employer" includes any body of persons, corporate or incorporate, and the legal personal representative of a deceased employer:

"Workman" includes every person who is engaged in an employment to which this act applies, whether by way of manual labour or otherwise, and whether his agreement is one of service or apprenticeship or otherwise, and is expressed or implied, is oral or in writing. Any reference to a workman who has been injured shall, where the workman is dead, include a reference to his legal personal representative or to his dependants, or other person to whom compensation is payable:

"Dependants" means wife, father, mother, husband, sister, brother, child or grandchild, provided that they were wholly or part dependent upon the earnings of the workman at the time of his death.

(3) A workman employed in a factory which is a ship-building yard shall not be excluded from this act by reason only that the accident arose outside the yard in the course of his work upon a vessel in any dock, river, or tidal water near the yard. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 7.)

9. This act shall not apply to persons in the naval or military service of the Crown, but otherwise shall apply to any employment by or under the Crown to which this act would apply if the employer were a private person. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), c. 37, s. 8.)

10. Any contract existing at the commencement of this act, whereby a workman relinquishes any right to compensation from the employer for personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, shall not, for the purposes of this act, be deemed to continue after the time at which the workman's contract of service would determine if notice of the determination thereof were given at the commencement of this act. (60 and 61 Vict. (Imp.), 1897, c. 37, s. 9.)

11. This act shall come into force upon the first day of May, 1903.

FIRST SCHEdule.

Scale and conditions of compensation.

1. The amount of compensation under this act shall be

(a) Where death results from the injury:

(1) If the workman leaves any dependants wholly dependent upon his earnings at the time of his death, a sum equal to his earnings in the employment of the same employer during the three years next preceding the injury, or the sum of one thousand dollars, whichever of those sums is the larger, but not exceeding in any case the sum of fifteen hundred dollars: Provided that the amount of any weekly payments made under this act shall be deducted from such sum, and if the period of the workman's employment by the said employer has been less than the said three years, then the amount of his earnings during the said three years shall be deemed to be 156 times his average weekly earnings during the period of his actual employment under the said employer:

(2) If the workman does not leave any such dependants, but leaves any dependants in part dependent upon his earnings at the time of his death, such sum, not exceeding in any case the amount payable under the foregoing provisions, as may be agreed upon, or, in default of agreement, may be determined, on arbitration under this act, to be reasonable and proportionate to the injury to the said dependants; and

(3) If he leaves no dependants, the reasonable expenses of his medical attendance and burial, not exceeding one hundred dollars.

(b) Where total or partial incapacity for work results from the injury, a weekly payment during the incapacity after the second week not exceeding fifty per cent. of his average weekly earnings during the previous twelve months, if he has been so long employed, but if not, then for any less period during which he has been in the employment of the same employer, such weekly payments not to exceed ten dollars: Provided that the total amount paid as compensation for injury causing such total or partial incapacity shall not exceed the sum of fifteen hundred dollars.

2. In fixing the amount of the weekly payment, regard should be had to the difference between the amount of the average weekly earnings of the workman before the accident and the average amount which he is able to earn after the accident, and to any payment not being wages which he may receive from the employer in respect of his injury during the period of his incapacity.

3. Where a workman has given notice of an accident, he shall, if so required by the employer, submit himself for examination by a duly qualified medical practitioner provided and paid by the employer, and if he refuses to submit himself to such examination, or in anyway obstructs the same, his right to compensation, and any proceeding under this act in relation to compensation, shall be suspended until such examination takes place.

4. The payment shall, in case of death, be made to the legal personal representative of the workman, or, if he has no legal personal representative, to or for the benefit of his dependants, or, if he leaves no dependants, to the person to whom the expenses are due; and if made to the legal personal representative shall be paid by him to or for the benefit of the dependants or other person entitled thereto under this act.

5. Any question as to who is a dependant, or as to the amount payable to each dependant, shall, in default of agreement, be settled by arbitration under this act. 6. The sum allotted as compensation to a dependant may be invested or otherwise applied for the benefit of the person entitled thereto, as agreed, or as ordered by the committee or other arbitrator.

7. Any sum which is agreed or is ordered by the committee or arbitrator to be invested may be invested, in whole or in part, in the savings department in any chartered bank in Canada by the registrar of the supreme court in his name as registrar.

8. Any workman receiving weekly payments under this act shall, if so required by the employer, or by any person by whom the employer is entitled under this act to be indemnified, from time to time submit himself for examination by a duly