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CONFIDENTIAL
with the Home Office. The Committee recommended, and the
Secretary of State agreed, that on legal, constitutional and
political grounds, the existing procedure originally set out
in the Secretary of State for the Colonies Circular Despatch
of 12 December 1947 should be reaffirmed. The essential
feature of this procedure is that the Governor of a Dependent
Territory has undivided responsibility for the exercise of
the delegated Royal Prerogative of Mercy, and that when a
condemned man petitions beyond the Governor to Her Majesty
the Secretary of State will always advise Her Majesty not to
intervene, except in the very rare case of an apparent mis-
carriage of justice.
CONFIDENTIAL
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