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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Re
22 February, 1978
нка 380/2
380/21
INDEX
No
- 6 MAR 1978
to
51
REGISTRY egon Taken
I understand from the Governor that, during his recent visit to London, he discussed, with you and with others, a number of possible amendments to the Constitution.
2. As background to those discussions, you will know already, from our paper on "Constituencies and the Franchise, that we hope it will prove possible to reach local agreement on electoral reform. Even were none reached, some changes in the present electoral arrangements might still be made. Any changes that were made - apart from the changes in registration procedures about which we have been corresponding separately would almost certainly involve amending the Constitution. If it were being amended for this purpose, we think that there would be sense in tackling simultaneously three other amendments to it, two of which have hung fire for some time. We are, therefore, now asking you to look at them again, so that we can raise and consider them locally when electoral reform is under consideration.
3. The first concerns the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy. We originally suggested (my letter of 14 August 1974 to Sir Duncan Watson) that the Governor's discretion should be removed, as in the case of the Bahamas before independence. There, a Minister was interposed between the Committee and the Governor: the Minister was not bound by the Committee's advice, but the Governor was bound by the Minister's, subject to the standard provision under which he was entitled to refer any matter back, once, for reconsideration. The alternative, which the Governor suggested when discussing this subject in London with Cortazzi and also with the Secretary of State, would be to dispense with a Minister and simply make the Committee's advice binding.
4. . John Champion sent me a reply (HX 14/501/2 of 30 October 1974). Despite foreseeing some legal problems about our proposal, he asked us to await the outcome of a test case in Belize. We duly waited, but eventually Sir Duncan told Sir Edwin Leather in his (unreferenced) letter
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
Cont'd