R
2
5. This question we answer in the affirmative. Under the commission as settled by us he would have power to proclaim martial law as understood in British territory.
6. We have nothing to add except that the proposed steps may, if it is deemed expedient, be properly taken as soon as the Orange Free State has been conquered.
We have, &c.,
The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.,
&c.,
&c.
&c.,
R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.
14717.
.
GENTLEMEN,
No. 36o.
(GOLD COAST.)
Downing Street,
May 18, 1900.
COLONIAL OFFICE to LAW OFFICERS.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
til mutila
C.O. 885
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
1
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to request you to favour him with your opinion on the circumstances arising out of the following state of facts.
2. The Governor of the Gold Coust has recently been blockaded by certain Ashanti tribes in Coomassie, a place under his jurisdiction and has been cut off from regular communication with the seat of his Government, which is about 120 miles distant, and situated on the coast of the Colony of the Gold Coast properly so called.
3. The serious inconvenience resulting from his inability to perform his ordinary duties has appeared from several telegrams, but particularly from one, the 11th instant, in which the Colonial Secretary of the Colony reports that two murderers who had been tried and sentenced on the 6th of April had not yet been executed owing to the public seal of the Colony being locked up, and means of communication with the Governor being absolutely impossible. This state of affairs is likely to continue for some time longer.
4. The Governor of the Gold Coast holds his appointment under Letters Patent of the 13th of June, 1886, of which a copy is enclosed, and subject to instructions of the same date of which a copy is also enclosed. You will observe that these Letters Patent distinguish between the Gold Coast Colony, which is defined in Clause II. thereof and the "territories adjacent to the Colony" which include not only those which come within the purview of the Order in Council of 29th December, 1887, of which a copy is enclosed, but also territories which have been brought under the government or protectorate of the Gold Coast since that date.
5. Coomassie, where the Governor is at present shut off from communication with the rest of the territories under his jurisdiction, is included in the category of territories adjacent to the Colony.
6. It is usual for the Governor of the Gold Coast when he makes a tour in the adjacent territories to appoint a Deputy Governor to perform certain of his functions under Clause XVII. of his Letters Patent. But this has not been done on the present occasion.
7. By Clause XVI. of the Letters Patent provision is made for automatic succession to the administration of the Government in certain contingencies, one of which is" if the Governor become incapable."
8. The question on which Mr. Chamberlain desires your opinion in the first place is whether the word "incapable" can be construed so as to cover the Governor's present position. I am to point out that he is not "incapable" in the ordinary sense, as he is still daily exercising a portion of his functions as Governor, and instructions from time to time come through from him from Coomassie to his officers in the Colony proper, and it is desirable that he should still be able to exercise such of his functions as can be exercised under present circumstanees.
9. If in your opinion it is impossible to construe the word "incapable" in a limited sense, so as to bring Clause XVI. of the Letters Patent into operation at the present juncture, I ani to ask you to favour Mr. Chamberlain with your opinion as to the best and most expeditious course to adopt for enabling the ordinary duties of the Governor in the Colony proper to be performed as long as the absence of the Governor in Coomassie continues.
The Law Officers of the Crown.
I am, &c.,
H. BERTRAM COX.
B
6510-25—8/1900 W 324 DB-5
2
}