(1) Whenever it is made to appear to a magistrate that any person within the limits of his or her jurisdiction is probably a leper, it is lawful for the magistrate, upon the application of any person legally bound to maintain the supposed leper, to hold an inquiry into the case, and if the magistrate is satisfied that the supposed leper is a leper and that he or she has become or is likely to become a burden upon the person legally bound to maintain him or her, it is lawful for the magistrate by warrant under his or her hand to order the detention of the leper in a leper asylum until he or she is discharged by order of the Governor General; and the person legally bound to maintain the leper shall pay every month to the Government of Saint Lucia during the detention of the leper such sum for his or her maintenance as the magistrate, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, shall order.