8271.
No. 37. (BAHAMAS)
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
2
Reference :-
TC.O.885
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
MY LORD,
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
M
Law Officers' Department, Royal Courts of Justice, May 17, 1893.
We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Wingfield's letter of the 21st ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to request that we would advise you as to the course to be adopted in dealing with the case of Mr. Yelverton, Chief Justice of the Bahamas, as to which certain questions were recently referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
That as stated in the case submitted to the Privy Council, Mr. Yelverton, as Chief Justice of the Bahamas, on the 17th of May 1892, sentenced Alfred E. Moseley, the editor of the "Nassau Guardian " newspaper, to fines and imprisonment for alleged contempt of court in (1) publishing in that newspaper a letter criticising the Chief Justice, and (2) refusing to disclose the name of the writer of the letter and deliver up the manuscript, and on the following day the Governor of the Colony in exercise of the prerogative of pardon delegated to him by his Commission and the Letters Patent constituting the office of Governor, ordered Moseley to be released from prison,
That the Judicial Committee by their report, dated the 15th December 1892, reported (1) that the letter in the "Nassau Guardian" though it might have been made the subject of proceedings for libel did not constitute a contempt of court; (2) that Mr. Moseley was not guilty of contempt of court in respect of his refusal to give up the name of the writer or to hand over the manuscript of the letter, there being no authority in point of law to require him to do either; and (3) that assuming contempt of court to have been committed, the sentences passed were in accordance with law.
That shortly after the imprisonment and release of Mr. Moseley, Mr. Yelverton came to England on leave of absence, and that he had remained ever since and still remained in this country on extended leave.
That Mr. Wingfield was also to refer us to the accompanying memorials which were received by the late Secretary of State, viz. :
(1.) Memorial from Mr. Moseley dated 31st May 1892, asking for redress.
(2.) Further memorial from Mr. Moseley dated 30th June 1892, asking for the
restitution of a portion of the manuscript of the letter signed which the Chief Justice had obtained from an employé of Mr. Moseley, and Colonist," had ordered to be impounded, but had taken out of the custody of the Registrar.
(3.) A memorial dated 14th August 1892, from a committee appointed by a public
meeting at Nassau formulating nine charges against Mr. Yelverton. That the sixth of the charges in the third memorial relating to alleged unbecoming conduct was also contained in Mr. Moseley's first memorial and supported by a statutory declaration annexed to that memorial.
That the impounded document referred to in Mr. Moseley's memorials, and in the fifth charge in the Committee's memorial, was brought by Mr. Yelverton to England and subsequently returned by him to the Registrar of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas.
That in August 1892 Mr. Yelverton sent a letter to the editor of the London news- paper "Truth," which was published in that newspaper on the 18th of August, containing strictures on the Civil and Judicial Administration of the Bahamas. That the publication of that letter led to the passing of a resolution by the Executive Council of the Colony, a copy of which was enclosed.
That upon reference to the Judicial Committee, Mr. Yelverton sought to bring before the Committee and place on the record, a printed document healed "Notes by the Chief Justice of the Colony" containing scandalous statements relating to various persons in the Colony; that the Committee would not allow that document to remain on the record or to be referred to in argument, but that the fact of its having been laid before the Committee and the nature of its contents became known in the Colony from the newspaper reports of the hearing of the case. was sent by Mr. Yelverton to the Secretary of State.
That a copy of the document
That your Lordship had received from the Governor of the Bahamas a resolution passed by the two branches of the Colonial Legislature, the Legislative Council and
0 74772.-18. 25.-6/93.