PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ITILT CO. 885
חון וזה
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
J
We did provide that the districts in Our Colony of the Transvaal known as Vryheid and Utrecht, together with such parts of the district of Wakkerstroom as might be defined by should any Boundary Delimination Commission theretofore appointed for that purpose. from a date to be determined as therein provided cease to form part of the said Colony and that the Governor of the said Colony should, when the said boundaries have been so defined and deliniited, declare by Proclamation the boundaries of the Colony, and the boundaries so declared should from the date of such Proclamation be the boundaries thereof:
AND WHEREAS it is expedient that the aforesaid-districts should be annexed to and form part of Our Colony of Natal the boundaries of Our Colony of Natal should be altered so as to include the said Districts within the boundaries of Our said Colony :
AND WHEREAS by the Colonial Boundaries Act, 1895, it is provided that where the boundaries of a Colony have either before or after the passing of the said Act been altered by Us by Order in Council or Letters Patent the boundaries so altered shall should be and be deemed to have been from the date of the alteration the boundaries of the Colony, provided that the consent of a self-governing Colony shall be required for the alteration of the boundarics thereof:
AND WHEREAS Our Colony of Natal is a self-governing Colony within the meaning of the said Act:
AND WHEREAS the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Our Colony of Natal have expressed their desire that the boundaries of our said Colony should be altered so as to include the aforesaid districts should-be annexed to and form part of within Our Colony of Natal and have consented to the alteration of the boundaries of Our said Colony as aforesaid and have passed-a-Bill-to provide for the annexation to the Colony of Natal of certain territories now forming part of the Transvani-Colony
NOW THEREFORE know ye that We do by these Our Letters Patent declare Our Will and Pleasure to be as follows :-
I. The boundaries of Our said Colony of Natal shall from a date to be determined as hereinafter provided, be altered so as to include within Our said Colony the districts known as Vryheid and Utrecht, together with such parts of the district of Wakkerstroom all such districts to as-may be more particularly defined and delimitated by any the Boundary Delimitation Commission heretofore appointed for that purpose shall from a date-to-be determined as hereinafter provided he annexid te and shall form part of Our Colony of Natal:
II. The Governor of Our said Colony of Natal shall when the said boundaries districts have been ee more particularly defined and delimitated by such Commission as aforesaid declare by Proclamation the boundaries of the Colony as altered as aforesaid and the boundaries so declared shall from the date of such Proclamation be the boundaries thereof. III. AND WE do hereby reserve to Ourselves Our Heirs and Successors full power and authority from time to time to revoke, alter, or amend these Our Letters l'atent as to Us or them shall seem fit.
IV, AND inasmuch as it is expedient that these Our Letters-Putent-shall-come-into-operation without-delay now We do direct and enjoin that these Our Letters Patent shall come-inte eperation forthwith and shall be read and proclaimed within Our Colony of Natal.
IN WITNESS whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent.
WITNESS Ourself at Westminster this
in the Second Year of Our Reign,
day of
R. B. F.
E. C'.
47473.
No. 172.
(AUSTRALIA—GENERAL.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Pardon in cases of sentences passed by Courts Martial upon members of the Naval and Military Forces of the Commonwealth.]
SIR,
Royal Courts of Justice, 15th November, 1902. WE were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. H. Bertram Cox's letter of the 28th August last referring to our opinion dated 14th June, 1901, which was communicated by the Admiralty to your Department, as to the power of a Colonial Governor to pardon prisoners sentenced by Naval Courts Martial held within the limits of the Colony, and stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us, for our considera- tiou, a despatch from the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia forwarding a copy of an opinion furnished by the Federal Attorney-General with regard to the interpretation of clause 8 of the Royal Instructions as to sentences of Courts Martial passed on members of the Military and Naval Forces of the Commonwealth, and as to whether the Australian State Governors, and not the Governor-General whom the Constitution made the Commander-in-Chief, were to exercise the power of pardoning members of the Commonwealth Forces sentenced by Courts Martial.
That Mr. Bertram Cox was to enclose for our information a copy of a circular despatch which, on the suggestion of the Admiralty, was addressed to the Governors of Colonies on the 5th September, 1901, and a copy of a further circular despatch which was being issued with regard to the power vested in a Governor of pardon in relation to sentences of Military Courts Martial. That he was, at the same time, to enclose a copy of a Report of the Law Officers of the Crown, dated 4th September, 1865,† in which your Department was advised that a Governor had the power of pardoning soldiers sentenced by Military Courts Martial in the Colony, and copies of (a) the Letters Patent constituting the Offices of Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Common- wealth of Australia and of the several Governors of the States included in the Commonwealth, (b) the Royal Instructions to the Governor-General and the State Governors, and (c) the Acts dealing with the Military Forces in the Australian States which were still in force, as no Commonwealth Statute dealing with the organisation and discipline of the Defence Forces had yet been passed, and that he was to request that we would, with reference to clauses 51 (6), 68, 69 & 70 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, furnish you with our opinion on the following points :-
1. Whether the power of pardon vested in the Governor-General of the Common- wealth by clause 8 of the Royal Instructions applied to members of the Naval and Military Forces of the Commonwealth sentenced by Court Martial for offences against the laws under which they were serving, or whether that power was vested in the State Governors; or
2. Whether the opinion expressed in our report of 14th June, 1901, had reference only to members of the Imperial Forces sentenced by Naval Courts Martial held within the limits of the Colony?
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your commands, have the honour to
Report—
That (1) in our opinion the Governor-General of the Commonwealth has power to pardon in cases of sentences passed by Courts Martial upon Members of the Naval and Military Forces of the Commonwealth. We do not think that since the passing of the Australia Constitution Act of 1900, and on the assumption that a Proclaniation has been issued under section 69, such power is vested in the State Governors.
• No. 86**.
25-WL 2757 12,1902 D&S 5 13001
No. 357 in Vol. I.
2
2. Our opinion of the 14th June, 1901, had reference only to members of the Imperial Forces in the case of sentences by Naval Courts Martial held within the limits of the Colony.
&c.
The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.,
&c.,
&c.,