PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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In obedience to your commands we have taken this matter into consideration, and have the honour to
Report
That, while we are sensible of the general force of the considerations adverted to by the former Law Officers as weighing against the alteration of established and customary forms in matters of this nature, we do not very clearly collect from their report whether they thought it desirable that a different practice should continue to prevail in Her Majesty's North American and West Indian Colonies from that which is followed in the Australian Colonies, or whether they intended to recommend (as we rather infer from some of the 'expressions used by them) that in all Colonies alike Her Majesty's pleasure that an Act already assented to by the Governor on her behalf is to be left to its operation should for the future be signified either under the Sign Manual and Signet of the Queen or by Order of Her Majesty in Council.
The adoption of the latter course would involve in the Australian and South African Colonies an alteration of the form of procedure hitherto in use, and which is either distinctly contemplated by, or at least is not inconsistent with, the Imperial Acts We relative to the system of parliamentary government established in those Colonies. cannot ourselves see any sufficient reason for recommending this change; especially when it would be opposed to the views, both of policy and of convenience, which are entertained by the department directly responsible for Imperial interests connected with Colonial administration.
But if the form of signifying the Royal pleasure in the cases referred to is not noW uniform in all the Colonies under parliamentary government, and if it is not hereafter to be made so, by adopting universally the method which is in use in the North American and West Indian Colonies, the force of the objections which presented themselves to the late Law Officers against obtaining uniformity of practice by the opposite method of applying to the North American and West Indian Colonies the method of procedure used (and which we assume is to continue) in the Australian Colonies appears to us to be so greatly diminished that we consider the practical reasons in favour of that course to be upon the whole preponderant. Our conclusion, therefore, is that this course may be followed without any substantial risk or incon-
We have, &c.
venience.
The Right Hon. E. Cardwell, M.P., &o.
&o.
&c
(Signed)
ROUNDELL PALMER.
R. P. COLLIER.
3798.
No. 407.
(JAMAICA.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
SIR,
Lincoln's Inn, April 14, 1866. We are honoured with your commands signified to us in Sir Frederic Rogers' letter of the 12th instant, stating that he was directed by you, Sir, to request our opinion on the question therein stated, and further stating that under the critical state of affairs in the Island of Jamaica it was considered desirable that, in the event of the death, incapacity, or absence of Governor Eyre, who was then in the full exercise of the Government of that Island, the administration of the Government should fall into the hands of a competent officer, and that a dormant commission to act as Adminis- trator in the event of such death, absence, or incapacity, was accordingly issued to Mr. Rawson, the present Governor of the Bahamas.
Sir Frederic Rogers was also pleased to enclose a copy of that commission, and of the commission of Governor Eyre, under the provisions of which (clause 11) such Administrator's commission was issued to Mr. Rawson, and to state further, that by a subsequent commission, a copy of which was enclosed in the said letter, the appoint- ment of Mr. Eyre was revoked, or rather suspended, and Sir Henry Storks appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Island of Jamaica during Her Majesty's pleasure, but with the following proviso: "And we do declare our pleasure to be that, except in respect of the appointment of the said Edward John Eyre, the afore- "mentioned commission, and all instructions heretofore issued to the said Edward "John Eyre under our Sign Manual and Signet or by our Order in Council, or by us through one of our Principal Secretaries of State, and all appointments, nomina- tions, and depositions made by or by virtue of such commission or instructions, shall " remain in full force and effect."
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Sir Frederic Rogers further stated that, under these circumstances, he was to request that we would favour you, Sir, with our opinion, whether in the event of the absence of Sir Henry Storks from the Island of Jamaica, and there being no Lieutenant- Governor within the Island, the commission under the Queen's Sign Manual and Signet issued to Mr. Rawson, as Administrator of the Government of Jamaica, would still be good and valid notwithstanding the revocation or suspension of the personal appoint- ment of Governor Eyre, and that you would be glad, if possible, to be favoured with our opinion on the said question before the Despatch of the Jamaica mail of the 16th instant.
In obedience to your commande, we have taken the question submitted to us into our consideration, and have the honour to
Report
That we think the commission to Mr. Rawson is not in its terms applicable to the event of the death, incapacity, or absence of Sir Henry Storks, but only to that of the death, incapacity, or absence from Jamaica of Mr. Eyre, and we are consequently of opinion, that such commission is now in abeyance and that it cannot have effect, while the commission of Mr. Eyre as Governor of Jamaica remains suspended or revoked.
We have, &c. (Signed) ROUNDELL PALMER.
R. P. COLLIER.
The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.
&c.
&c.
&c.
p 16278,--394.
95.—5/84,
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