35848.
We have, &c.,
R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.
SIR,
No. 108.
(JAMAICA.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
October 11, 1901.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. C. P. Lucas's letter of the 12th ultimo stating that. he was directed by you to lay before us a despatch-No. 463 of 29th July-from the Governor of Jamaica, together with the correspondence and minutes transmitted therewith, and to request us to be good enough to tavour you with our opinion raised as to the proper construction of the Jamaica Law 16 of 1898.
That on the 2nd August, 1897, a contract was entered into between the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury and the Halifax and Bermudas Cable Company for the construction, laying and maintenance of a submarine cable between Bermuda and Jamaica.
That in the month of September, 1897, the above-mentioned contract was, with their Lordships' assent, assigned to the Direct West India Cable Company, Limited, as appeared from a letter of the 18th October, 1897, addressed by their Lordships to the Colonial Office.
That on the 3rd June, 1898, the Jamaica Law 16 of 1898 was passed defining the mutual rights and obligations of the Direct West India Cable Company and the Govern ment of Jamaica, and that on the 21st July, 1899, an amending Law 29 of 1899 was passed (amongst other amendments), giving complete effect as between the Company and the Government of Jamaica to all the provisions of Article 9 of the contract of 2nd August, 1897, between the Company and the Imperial Government.
That it had been ascertained from the Governor of Jamaica that there was no written contract between his Government and the Company, and that consequently, as appeared from his telegram of 27th August, the question which had been raised with reference to the subsidy payable by the Government of Jamaica must be determined by the con- struction of the Law 16 of 1898, as amended by Law 29 of 1899.
That Mr. Lucas was to point out that, whereas the preamble to Law 16 of 1898 recited the agreement of the Company to supply daily bulletins of news to the Govern- ment in consideration of the grant of "an annual subsidy of two thousand pounds sterling" (in general terms), section 17 of the law limited the payment of the latter to a term of five years, whilst section 19 provided for the supply of News Bulletins with no such limit, and that the Company's liability in that respect would appear to extend over the whole period during which the law was operative.
That the period during which the Company's rights (and consequently its obliga- tions) under the law were to exist was defined by section 23, the construction of which appeared to you to be open to considerable doubt.
That Mr. Lucas was, therefore, to ask us to take the papers into our consideration, and to report :--
(1.) Whether the Government of Jamaica, having paid the subsidy for five years under section 17, was entitled thereafter to the supply of the News Bulletin under section 19 without further payment during the period limited by section 23 ?
(2.) What that period was, according to the true construction of the section, and whether the term of 20 years was a maximum or minimum term, and how and to what extent it might be affected by the payment or non-payment of
(a.) The Imperial subsidy payable under the contract of 2nd August, 1897; (b.) The Jamaica subsidy payable under the law in question?
(3.) Arising out of the last question, whether, having regard to section 17, the period limited was five years which might be increased up to a maximum of 20 years if the Jamaica subsidy (in addition to the Imperial subsidy) continued to be paid so long?
(4.) Whether the latter part of section 23 could be taken to refer to the provisions of section 18, as amended by "Law 29 of 1899 ?
(5.) Generally.
10067-25-10/1901 W 352 D & B
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
། ། ། ། ། ། mmimmim C.O. 885
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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