11.
First,
It is submitted that this view is sound in principle.
as a matter of constitutional law, the colonial legislatures are subordinate to the legislative competence of the UK Parliament, which retains an inherent authority to legislate for the good government of dependent territories. Second, even if it is the case that a certain degree of legislative competence has been devolved to the governmental authorities in the dependent territories, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs retains ultimate responsibility for all areas of government in dependent territories and is answerable to Parliament in respect of them.
12. For all these reasons, therefore, it is suggested that the view of the Clerks is correct, and that a Select Committee is not sitting "overseas" when it sits in a dependent territory but is still "within the jurisdiction of Parliament". This therefore means that the Select Committee can exercise in a dependent territory, as it
can in Westminster, its second important power, namely, the power to
send for witnesses and documents.
13. (b) The Power to Send for Persons, Papers and Records
By virtue of the authority contained in paragraph (5) (a) of Standing Order 130, witnesses may be summoned to appear before a Select Committee by an order signed by the Chairman of the Committee requesting the witness to attend. The witness can also be required to bring with him all such documents as he is informed will be required for the use of the Committee. If a witness fails to attend when so summoned, his conduct would be reported to the House, which would usually order him to attend at the Bar. If he still failed to attend, he would be dealt with as in any other case of disobedience to an order of the House. In other words, disobedience to the order
of a Committee is a contempt of the House by which the Committee was appointed, provided that the order disobeyed was within the scope of the Committee's authority. It is likewise a contempt of the House to refuse to permit books or papers to be inspected, or to refuse to produce them when requested.