-2-
286
cf serving process.
It would have been dangerous to allow
the law to remain in this condi .ion in a Colony where intimida- tion is practised so frequently and where large masses of the
pcpulation are so susceptible to it. Bribery of course is
another danger. Section 2 of the present Ordinance according-
ly adds a further ground to the various grounds specified in section 29 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1889, and in future it will be
enough to prove that the witness cannot be found at his last
need
known place of residence in the Colony. It
hardly be
said that every effort will always be made to secure the actual
attendance of the witnesses.
3.
The amendments made by paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 2
are formal. It is not known to what the word "warning" refers,
and if that word be deleted the word "given" must go with it.
"Oath" of course includes affirmation.
4. It is well known that there have been a number of somewhat
technical decisions on section 32 of ordinance No. 2 of 1889
and on the English section from which that section was taken. In a recent murder case in this Colony the conviction was quashed
on the ground that the notice did not specify the offence. The Acting Chief Justice seemed to incline to the opinion that the dying deposition was inadmissible on two other grounds also. One was that the notice was not given at a sufficiently long in-
The Acting Puisne terval before the taking of the deposition. Judge thought that the notice was reasonable in this respect in
The other ground upon view of the urgency of the occasion.
which the Acting Chief Justice questioned the admissibility of the dying deposition was that the caption was not full enough.