4654
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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SIR,
No. 69A.
(GOLD COAST.)
ATTORNEY-GENERAL TO COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice, February 5, 1901.
I WAS honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 17th ultimo, stating that with reference to the Report of my predecessors of the 21st October, 1899,* dealing with the question of the powers and jurisdiction acquired by Her late Majesty in the territories adjacent to the Gold Coast Colony, he was directed by you to transmit for my consideration a copy of a memorandum submitted by Sir W. Brandford Griffith, the Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, in which he discussed the question of the steps which should be taken to deal with the difficulties of administration which had arisen.
That after careful consideration of the memorandum and full discussion of the question with Sir F. Hodgson, the late Governor of the Gold Coast, you had come to the conclusion that it was desirable to annex to the Gold Coast Colony those districts which owing to their proximity to the seat of Government had been brought more directly under the control and administration of the Colonial Government.
That with regard to the other portions of the territories near or adjacent to the Gold Const Colony, you considered that the time had come to declare and define by Order in Council certain new Protectorates with specific boundaries, and in this manner to clearly delimit the area which was part of Her Majesty's Dominions, and those areas which Her Majesty would govern under the powers given by the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890.
That Mr. Bertram Cox was therefore to submit drafts of,
(a) An Order in Council annexing to Her Majesty's Dominions certain districts
near or adjacent to the Gold Coast Colony:
(6) An Order in Council providing for the Government of Sefwhi:
(c) An Order in Council-providing for the Government of Kwahu :
(d) An Order in Council providing for the Government of Ashanti:
(e) Instructions to the Governor of the Gold Coast with reference to the administra- tion of Ashanti:
(ƒ) An Order in Council providing for the Government of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast:
(y) Instructions to the Governor of the Gold Coast with regard to the administration of the Northern Territories:
(4) An Order in Council revoking the Order of Her Majesty in Council of the 29th December, 1887, but providing that acts done under its provisions shall be valid.
That it would be necessary to explain somewhat more fully the provisions contained in the above documents.
DRAFT A.
That it was extremely difficult to define what parts of the territories on the Gold Const were or were not part of Her Majesty's Dominions, and you thought it desirable to set out at some length the legal history of the Colony for our assistance in considering the first of the instruments submitted, namely the Order in Council providing for the annexation of certain territories to the Gold Coast Colony.
That by a Royal Charter granted by King Charles the Second, dated September 27th, 1672, the Royal African Company of England was established, and to it were given and granted all the countries in South Barbary, Guinny, Binny or Angola. That reference to that Charter would be found in the preamble to the Statute 25 Geo. II., c. 40.
That by an Act of Parliament passed in 1750 (23 Gev. II., c. 31) a Company was established by name of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa which took over the forts and settlements previously established on the West Coast of Africa owned by the Royal African Company, the latter Company receiving compensation under the provisions of the subsequent Act 25 Geo. II., c. 40. That reference might also be made to
• No. 235 in Vol. V.
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