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4. For these reasons it is in my view necessary for the
British Government to give to the governments of the Territories concerned prior notice of the practical effect of any intended change so that any views they may wish to express can be given due weight before the proposed change is implemented. A suitable way of doing this might be the kind of personal talk at Ministerial level which Mr Rowlands had with Mr Price last month Belmopan telegram Personal 59 (copy annexed). In this connexion British Ministers will wish to give due weight to the responsibilities of Ministers in a self-governing Dependency to their own public and electorate, particularly for law and order in the Territory. The Governor's letter quoted in paragraph 4 above
went on:-
see
"... the case has an important hearing on the considered
policy of this Belize Government, as of other governments in the Caribbean, to retain the death penalty for murder and to inflict it in serious cases. This is based on a deliberate political judgment of the will of the people, the state of public social conscience and the requirements
of law and order
It would be quite wrong in my
view for the Governor to seek to substitute his own personal opinions aversion to capital punishment7, related to a different social background, for the public policy of the elected government in a Territory which enjoys full constitutional internal self-government."
29 July 1977
cc:
Mr H Stanley
Mr Duff
Mr Shakespear
Mr Bickford, Legal Advisers
RN POSNETT
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