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16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
(8392)
REPORT OF The Law OffICERS OF THE CROWN.
re THE CHIEF Justice of Seychelles.
Royal Courts of Justice,
6th March, 1909. In our opinion the papers before us do not disclose any misconduct on the part of the Chief Justice of Seychelles such as the Privy Council (to which the matter might come by way of Appeal under Burke's Act) would be likely to regard as justifying his removal from office. We come to this conclusion with some reluctance, for the incidents referred to by the Governor in his despatches indicate a technical and unconciliatory disposition on the part of the Chief Justice which no doubt makes for administrative friction and difficulty in matters in which he is concerned. Those incidents, however, cannot, in our opinion, support a charge of misconduct, unless when considered in the light of the alleged deliberate intention of the Chief Justice to give trouble to the Colonial Office with the view to obtaining promotion. The statement to this effect which is ascribed to the Chief Justice depends on the testimony of only one witness, and it is certain to be denied by the Chief Justice or explained by him as being a jocular or satirical remark.
Under those circumstances it would be difficult of satisfactory proof, and we are unable to recommend that it should be made a ground of dismissal.
W. S. ROBSON.
S. T. EVANS.
No. 112. (TRANSVAAL.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
"
[Whether the Public Service and Pensions Bill and Railway Service and Pensions
Bill are 'Money Bills'
within the meaning of the Letters Patent of 6th December, 1906.]
Royal Courts of Justice,
MY LORD,
9th March, 1909. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified to us in Mr. H. W. Just's letter of the 23rd January last, stating that he was directed by your Lord- ship to transmit to us a despatch from the Governor of the Transvaal, forwarding a minute, with enclosures, in which his Ministers asked that our opinion might be sought on the question whether the Public Service and Pensions Bill and Railway Service and Pensions Bill, which were before the Parliament of the Colony last session, were "Money Bills" within the meaning of the Letters Patent. That your Lordship considered that before referring the question to us it would be advan- tageous to obtain the observations of the Clerk of the House of Commons upon it, and that Mr. Just was to transmit a memorandum from him on the subject, together with the materials, additional to those supplied by Ministers, on which it was based. That Mr. Just was to request that we would be good enough to take the matter into our consideration, and favour your Lordship with our opinion on the question raised
in the minute of Ministers.
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
That, in our opinion, the meaning of the expression "Money Bills" as it is used in the Letters Patent of 6th December, 1906, can be ascertained by a careful consideration of the provisions of the Letters Patent themselves without reference to the somewhat indeterminate meanings attached to that expression in connection with the proceedings of the British Parliament.
Article LVI. of the Letters Patent provides that the Legislative Council may either accept or reject any money bill passed by the Legislative Assembly but may not alter it, and, in our opinion, this restriction applies to those bills which are required by Article LV. to originate in the Legislative Assembly, namely, all bills for appropriating any part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or for imposing, altering, or repealing any tax, duty, or impost.
The object of Articles LV. and LVI. appears to be to confer on the Legislative Assembly privileges in reference to certain matters of finance, and we think that the privilege of freedom from alteration is clearly intended to be co-extensive with the privilege of originating the bills mentioned in Article LV., or, in other words, the Legislative Council is prohibited from altering these bills which are required to originate in the privileged body.
If the money bills mentioned in Article LVI. are the Appropriation and Taxa- tion Bills mentioned in Article LV., the question arises whether the "bills submitted for our consideration are bills for the appropriation of any part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund." We think that the clue to the meaning of these words is to be found in Article LVII.
That article speaks of laws "which shall have the effect of appropriating any part of the revenue," and as, in our opinion, it deals with the same class of measures as those mentioned in Article LV., it indicates that the true meaning of the words "bills for appropriating " is "bills which shall have the effect of appropriating."
We think that the Public Service and Pensions Act, 1908, will have the effect of appropriating part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and that in consequence that Act was, when introduced in the Legislative Council, a money bill, although its main object may not have been appropriation of revenue.
As regards the Railway Service and Pensions Act, 1908, the Consolidated Revenue Fund does not appear to be charged with the payment of pensions, and on the facts before us we see no reason for regarding that measure as a money bill.
We have, &c.,
W. S. ROBSON. S. T. EVANS.
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Crewe, K.G.,
&c., &c., &c.
(1976 (-2) Wt. 231–250. 25, 8/03. D & 8,