10568.
No. 434.
(CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Lincoln's Inn, November 8, 1866. We are honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Sir Frederic Rogers' letter of the 23rd October ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lord- ship to acknowledge the receipt of our report of the 4th of September* relative to the mode of effecting the proposed annexation of the Penguin Islands to the Colery of the Cape of Good Hope, and that-
The opinion that this annexation cannot be legally made without the authority of an Act of the Imperial Parliament had given rise to serious doubts respecting the legality of other annexations which may have been effected heretofore, and particularly of the annexation of the territory of a considerable district called "Nomanaland" to the Colony of Natal.
Sir Frederic Rogers also said that it is presumed that no doubt is entertained respecting the right from time to time exercised by the Crown to declare and alter the limits of Crown Colonies, us by the annexation of Natal and other territories to the Cape of Good Hope, of Kowloon to Hong Hong, of Bulama and other territories to Sierra Leone, but in a recent decision (the case of the Bishop of Natal) the Colony of Natal was virtually declared not to have been a Crown Colony even while under the legislative authority of a Crown Council, constituted by the Charter of 1847, and still more must its character as a Crown Colony and the attendant powers of the Crown have been superseded by the establishment of a partially representative govern- ment by a subsequent Charter of 1856.
Sir Frederic Rogers also stated that long after the issue of this last-mentioned Charter, i.e., in 1863-64, the Law Officers of the day sanctioned the incorporation of "Nomansland" with Natal by the issue of Letters Patent of annexation supplemented by a local Ordinance which declared that the laws of Natal should take effect in the newly annexed territory, that this course was taken and the incorporation, was then supposed to have been legally effected.
Sir Frederic Rogers was also pleased to add that the present opinion, however, suggested a doubt whether this procedure has not been ineffectual for its purpose and whether it is not consequently necessary to pass an Act of Parliament in order to give validity to this and other annexations in cases where the prerogative has been employed by way of Letters Patent, proclamation, or treaty with neighbouring powers, in order to enlarge or define the limits of Colonies in which representative or semi-representative institutions have been established.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O. 885
Reference :--
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
Sir Frederic Rogers also enclosed a copy of the opiniont to which he referred, together Latter to with copies of the papers on which it was founded, and of the Charter of 1856 esta- blishing semi-representative institutions in Natal, and to request that we would inform 1888 with your Lordship.
Law Officer 9 November
enclosures. Letters Patent m
Whether we are of opinion that under the Letters Patent and Local Ordinance, of annexing which copies were annexed, Nomansland was lawfully annexed to and is now part the Colony of Natal.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to
Report
of Nomansland.
That we are of opinion that Nomansland was lawfully annexed to, and became, and is now, by virtue of such annexation, part of the Colony of Natal.
With respect to the report of the Attorney and Solicitor General of the 4th of September last, as to the annexation of the Penguin Islands to the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, we beg to state that at the time when that report was made the Solicitor General entertained great doubt as to whether an Act of the Imperial Parlia- ment was necessary in order to effect such annexation, and he rather deferred to the opinion of the late Attorney General, Sir Hugh Cairns, upon this point. Further consideration, however, has confirmed him in the opinion, and in which the Attorney
o 16278.-95.
• No. 426.
25-5/86.
† No, 220,
Local Ordin. nance exten-
ding Natal lawn
to Nomansland. Charter of 1855,