No. 205.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
ÖFFICERS OF THE SUPREME Court.
The following Correspondence has been laid before the Legislative Council.
By Command,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 27th August, 1880.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY TO CHIEF JUSTICE SIR JOHN SMALE.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 20th March, 1876.
Copy. No. 231.
SIR,I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of Your Honour's letter of the 6th instant remarking upon the duties of the Registrar and other Officers of the Supreme Court, and I am to inform you that His Excellency has given these remarks all the attention that they merit.
His Excellency fully admits that it is the duty of the Chief Justice to regulate the duties of the several Officers of the Supreme Court, and to distribute the work among them as may be from time to time necessary, and it was therefore a matter of surprise to him to hear that these duties had been delegated to the late Mr. ALEXANDER; yet this notwithstanding. His Excellency fails to see that Your Honour has thereby divested yourself of the powers pertaining to the Office of Chief Justice. and he therefore deems it inexpedient that the Executive should take the initiative in framing new rules for the conduct of business in the Supreme Court, when Ordinances are in existence which, in His Excellency's opinion, empower the Chief Justice to frame general rules and orders regulating the practice and procedure of the Supreme Court generally; for the Executive to do this would be to interfere with the Judge's prerogative and discretionary powers in a matter for which he alone is responsible.
It is clearly, for instance, within the province of the Chief Justice to ascertain precisely what the duties of the Officers have been, and if Your Honour concurs in the opinion which you state was once, entertained, that the Office of Deputy Registrar should be abolished, His Excellency will be most happy to take into consideration the arguments which you may advance with that object in view.
Further than this, however, His Excellency cannot go, and the powers of the Chief Justice being. in his opinion, adequate to take the initiative in any scheme of reform which that Officer may think desirable for the better conduct of the business of the Court, it follows that His Excellency is not prepared to endorse Your Honour's suggestion as to the appointment of a Commission. Such an appointment, he thinks, would be unnecessary and likely to divide or neutralise the responsibility at present clearly defined.
Apart, too, from this consideration, the performance of the duties which Your Honour suggests” should be performed by the Commission, appear to be either already provided for or already in course of completion.
For in the first place, with regard to the information proposed to be obtained by the Commission. unless His Excellency is in error the investigation of the duties of each Officer of the Supreme Court. the enquiry into the books and accounts which he has to keep, the mode in which they are to be auditel. together with the regulation of the hours of attendance, are purely departmental details falling within the cognisance of the Chief Justice, while as to the salaries drawn by the different officers, the other situations that they hold, and the time that they devote to their several duties, all this is already on record and can be ascertained without the intervention of a Commission.
In the second place, I have already stated that, in His Excellency's opinion, it is for the Chic: Justice to make alterations and a rearrangement of duties; and lastly, the matters of emoluments, fors savings and a proper interpretorial staff, are already under the consideration of the Secretary of State. His Excellency, therefore, fails to see the necessity for the appointment of a Commission or the propriety of himself initiating a scheme of reform. At the same time, His Excellency hopes that upo Your Honour becoming acquainted with his views as stated in this ketter, you will not hesitate to proffer any suggestion which Your Honour's long and valuable experience might find it advisable to make for the better conduct of the business of the Supreme Court; such suggestions will meet with the careful consideration that will be due to them, and His Excellency will be very happy to find that he can facilitate in any way Your Honour's wishes to improve the efficiency and economical admini- tration of the Supreme Court of this Colony.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary.
His Honour The Chief Justice,
&c.,
Sc., &c.