7689.
PUBLIC RECORD, OFFICE
CO.
Reference :--
885
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
MY LORD,
No. 276.
(NATAL.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
We were favoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Herbert's
Temple, 29th April 1882. letter of the 24th ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us a copy of a despatch from the Officer Administering the Government of Natal, enclosing an address of the Legislative Council of that Colony, together with a report of a select committee of the Council appointed to draw up a case to be submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown, (a) as to the legality or otherwise of the claim of Sir H. L. Phillips, late Puisne Judge of Natal, to a pension; and (b) as to the legality or otherwise of the payment of this pension or other moneys by the Secretary of State for Colonies in face of the resolution passed by the Council on the 18th of November 1880, the action of the local Executive Government in this matter, and the bearing of the 26th section of the Charter of 1856 thereon.
That the Natal Charter of 1856 to which reference was made was enclosed therewith, and that the resolution of the Council dated the 18th of November 1880 would be found at pages 4 and 5 of the printed report (address No. 19, 1880) of the select committee.
That Mr. Herbert was to request that we would take these papers into our con- sideration, and favour your Lordship with our opinion upon the points raised by the Legislative Council of Natal.
We were further favoured with another letter from Mr. Herbert, stating that with reference to the letter from your Lordship's department of the same date, transmitting a Despatch from the Administrator of Natal relative to a case submitted by the Legislative Council of that Colony as to the legality or otherwise of the payment of a pension to Sir H. L. Phillips, he (Mr. Herbert) was directed by your Lordship to state for our information that in the case of judges' pensions the Natal laws No. 16 of 1865 and No. 12 of 1876 (annexed to the report of the committee) had been understood to secure the pensions of the judges in the same manner as their salaries were permanently secured by law 10 of 1857, (also annexed to the report,) from being dependent upon the annual vote of the members of the Legislative Council for the time being.
That with respect to the queries submitted at the end of the report, Mr. Herbert was to observe that the second appeared to invite a criticism of the discretion exercised by the Executive Government which would hardly fall within the scope of a legal opinion; and that, with regard to the sixth, that the Legislative Council of Natal had always been fully cognizant of, and had sanctioned, the procedure under which the Secretary of State authorised the Crown Agents to make payments on behalf of the Colonial Government from the funds placed in the hands of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, who were recognised by the Legislative Council as the duly empowered agents of the Colonial Government, but that your Lordship had under your considera- tion, in consequence of the objection now for the first time raised as to the strict correctness of this procedure, the expediency of requiring the Governor to issue to the Crown Agents for Colonies such warrants as might be decided to be necessary, in pursuance of Article 26 of the Charter of 1856, for the purpose of placing them effectively in possession of that part of the Natal public revenue which the Government of the Colony might require to expend in this country.
That in the event of our being of opinion that the action taken by your Lordship's department and by the Colonial Government required further explanation than was afforded by the papera accompanying the case, or by Mr. Herbert's letter, your Lordship would cause such further explanations to be supplied.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have the honour to
That-
Report
We are of opinion that Mr. Justice Phillips is, under the circumstances, entitled to be paid a pension in terms of the Natal Judges' Pension Laws, 1865 and 1876.
▲ 12916.-956. 95.-19/84.
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