THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 28TH AUGUST, 1880.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL
HICKS-BEACH, BT., M.P.
643
No. 72.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 30th May, 1879.
SIR,-I have the honour to lay before you some copies of the Report of the Commission on the Offices of the Supreme Court, together with a letter from the Judges of the Court and a letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Judges on the subject.
2. You will observe that, pending your decision, on the recommendation of the Commissioners, I have ventured, as a purely temporary and provisional measure, to sanction some of their more urgent recommendations.
3. I have also the honour to enclose for your information a Report of the brief statement I ad- dressed to the Legislative Council on the subject, and of the Chief Justice's observations.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY.
The Right Honourable Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bt., M.P.,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of Stute for the Colonies,
fc.,
&'c.,
fc.
No. 657.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 25th May, 1879.
SIR-I am desired by His Excellency the Governor to inform you that, pending the consideration of the Report of the Commission on certain Offices of the Supreme Court, which, together with the minutes of evidence, has just been laid before him, His Excellency would be glad if Your Honour would give immediate instructions to the Registrar to stop the practice which the Commissioners in paragraphs 8 and 9 of this Report thus refer to:-
It appears to have been the practice for the Registrar for the time being to appropriate to his own use the interest paid by the Banks on money under the charge of the Registrar in current "account. This interest does not appear in any way to have passed through the books of the Supreme Court. The present Registrar has followed the rule in this respect adopted by his predecessors in
"office."
His
As to the money hitherto appropriated by Mr. PLUNKET under the precedent he found established. in the office, His Excellency understands that that gentleman is quite willing to refund it. Excellency would be glad if this were done, and the sum, whatever it may be, together with the interest in future, paid into the Colonial Treasury under the provisional heading "Deposits Unavail-
Interest on Funds in Court," until His Excellency can consider the whole subject more fully.
able.
The Honourable Sir Joux SMALE,
Chief Justice.
I have, &c.,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
SUPREME COURT HOUSE,
HONGKONG, 27th May, 1879,
SIR-We have conferred together on the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into rtain offices of the Supreme Court.
All the thirteen Recommendations of the Commissioners are most valuable, and we trust that they will all ultimately be adopted by His Excellency as far as practicable, having regard to existing rights. It will require time, however, and much and serious consideration to work out a definite scheme prepare a satisfactory body of Rules and Regulations for bringing the proposed changes into tual operation.
Legislation, too, will be required.
Meanwhile, the present exigencies of the Court should, we submit, be at once provided for by some tice and provisional appointments and regulations, and we have now the honour to submit certain Proposals with that view.
If these proposals are adopted, they will, we believe, not only provide for the immediate wants of Court, but will afford, what in itself we think very desirable, an opportunity of bringing the re- mendations of the Commissioners to the test of practical experience and of working them tentatively experimentally before they are developed into a system and permanently adopted.