454
Provision for prisoner being present at taking of statement.
c. 35 s: 7.]
*
No. 2 of 1889, EVIDENCE.
accused person is already committed or bailed to appear for trial, shall transmit the same with the said addition to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, and in all other cases to the Magistrates' clerk who are respectively required to preserve the same and file it for record; and if afterwards, on the trial of any offender or offence to which the same may relate, the person who made the said statement is proved to be dead, or if it is proved that there is no reasonable probability that such person will ever be able to travel or to give evidence, it shall be lawful to read such statement in evidence, either for or against the person accused, without further proof thereof, if the same purports to be signed by the Magistrate or Justice by or before whom it purports to be taken, and provided it is proved, to the satisfaction of the Court, that reasonable notice of the intention to take such statement has been served on the person (whether prosecutor, or person accused) against whom it is proposed to be read in evidence, and that such person, or his counsel or solicitor, had or might have had, if he had chosen to be present, full opportunity of cross-examining the person who made the same.
33. Whenever a prisoner in actual custody has been served with or has received notice of an intention to take such statement as is mentioned in the last section, the Judge or Magistrate by whom the prisoner was committed, or the Visiting Justices of the prison in which he is confined, may, by an order in writing, direct the gaoler having the custody of the prisoner to convey him to the place mentioned in the said notice for the purpose of being present at the taking of the statement; and such gaoler shall convey the prisoner accordingly, and the expenses, if any, of such conveyance shall be paid out of the Treasury.
Order for examination of witnesses in
[ss. 34, 35, rep. No. 8 of 1912, s. 19; ss. 36, 37, rep. The Final Revision Ordinance 1912.]
PART IV. COMMISSIONS TO TAKE EVIDENCE.
38.-(1) Where, on an application for this purpose, it is made to appear to the Court or Judge that any of His Majesty's Courts the Colony in or tribunals of competent jurisdiction outside the Colony has duly relation to action pending before British Court. [22 Vict. c. 20 s. 1.]
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911 and No. 51 of 1911 and No. 62 of 1911.
* As amended by No. 50 of 1911 and No. 63 of 1911.