81
Note by. Sir Josefel Kemps theef Justice
Mr Katyrors Lad previously
asked the Acting 6.8. to lake the
Statutory Report
and Balance Shut charges together, but
Mr. Wood did not accede to this request
(54). J.M.K.
9.5.31.
(1) That he knowingly and wilfully made a false statement
in a material particular in a Statutory Report filed by him
contrary to Section 7 of Ordinance 21 of 1922.
(2) That he knowingly and wilfully made a false statement in a material particular in a Balance Sheet filed by him contrary
to Section 7 of ordinance 21 of 1922.
(3) That being a Director of the Instone Banking Corporation
he with intent to deceive or defraud, published etc.
a false Balance Sheet contrary to Section 7 of Ordinance 5 of
1865.
For the purpose of this present enquiry we are not
entitled to consider whether or not Brewer could have been
found guilty on the second or third charges, because although
all three charges were enquired into before the Police Magistrate and Brewer committed on all three charges, when it
came before the Acting Chief Justice notwithstanding the fact that Brewer requested the Court that he might be tried on all
three charges at the same time, the Acting Chief Justice refused this request and insisted on him being tried on the
first charge only. This I believe is the cause of the present
trouble.
At the time the Acting Chief Justice refused Brewer's
request for the three charges to be tried together, both
the Acting Chief Justice and the Crown Prosecutor (the Assistant Attorney General) must, not only have been fully aware, from the perusal of the depositions of all the facts that could be alleged against Brewer, but also of the law
applicable to the charges, because both the law and the facts
had been fully argued before the Police Magistrate.
A perusal of the shorthand transcript of the proceedings before the Acting Chief Justice leads me to the conclusion
that the Acting Chief Justice at the very beginning of the proceedings took, to a large extent, the conduct of the
prosecution out of the hands of the Crown Prosecutor, and
2