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August last, I consulted with Mr. Ackroyd and we both concluded that in view of its 47th section, read in conjunction with section 16(3) of the Act, the system of fees meant to be continued under the new Rules and we directed Mr. Wise accordingly.
The object of the directions in Section 16(3) was not stated in the despatch to be the compensation of ex-officers of the Vice Admiralty Court, but to prevent the difficulty which would otherwise arise of a scale of fees being in force and no officers entitled to take them. This difficulty was got over by confining the beneficial interest in the fees to ex-officers.
Now in Section 44 of the despatch, I suggest that the statement, viz.: that the Admiralty business being part of the business of the Colonial Court would put an end to the system of personal fees, means (when read in conjunction with Section 47) that in Colonies where new Rules came into force with the Act the change would be at once effected, but that in other Colonies it would be effected as soon as the Admiralty Rules superseded the old Rules.
A few days after seeing the despatch (sometime in the first week in September) - Mr. Ackroyd in the meantime having gone to Japan - I came to the conclusion, in view of the language of Section 44 taken by itself and of the expression "existing officers" in Section 47, being identical with the description of "officer of...