a speedy administration of Justice indispensable to the true interests of the Colony; and as I view Judicial Tribunals as an integral part of the Government, upon their movements and working will, in my judgment, greatly depend the respect with which this Colony will be regarded by its own Inhabitants, and those of its immediate vicinity.
I wrote to Major Hulme a private note requesting to be informed if the Vacation were granted, that if the measure were granted, no Courts were to be held for the disposal of Business, or for the adjudication of matters of a Criminal, Civil or Summary nature during the four months, and I think it proper to enclose a Copy of his reply. To prevent misapprehension I would now remark that as a matter of course, the Court would not sit in its Summary Jurisdiction; a state of things that I know does not exist within the jurisdiction of the Queen's Courts at any one of the three Presidencies of India, nor at any of the three settlements in the Straits of Malacca.
In each of the latter, Courts of Requests for the adjudication of small debts sit at least once a week, and the Superior Court twice in each week when required throughout the year, except when occupied in holding its Criminal Sessions. This system was not dissented from by any of the Recorders, among whom I may mention the late Sir Benjamin Malkin, afterwards Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, Sir Edward Gambier now Chief Justice at Madras, and Sir William Morris, for ten years Recorder in the Eastern Settlements. With all these gentlemen, I had the honour to be associated as one of the Judges of the Court of Judicature of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore, and Malacca; and I therefore speak from personal knowledge of the facts.
From Your Lordship's Despatch No. 136