35.
34. After taking the Memorandum into consideration, the meeting was attended by the undersigned, and by the four now official Justices especially referred to in the Memorandum, comprising the whole of the non-official Justices in the Commission, at present in Colony, with the exception of one who was prevented from attending by indisposition. None of the official Justices attended. The grave importance of the imputations made by His Excellency in the Memorandum and of the principles involved in it, compelled the most serious attention, and we beg most respectfully to submit to His Excellency the following observations in reply.
The remarks in the Memorandum regarding the Return of attendances of Justices at Sessions appear to imply a complaint of neglect of duty on the part of many of them, and we beg most respectfully to remind His Excellency that several of the Justices in the present Commission declined to accept office under it, should it be expected that they should punctually attend at the Petty Sessions if their nomination were intended chiefly for that purpose. It was conceived that
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