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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.8
Reference :-
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
COMMITTEE FOR THE REVISION OF THE COLONIAL REGULATIONS.
REPORT
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
MY LORD,
Br a minute dated 27th of March, 1905, your Lordship's predecessor appointed a departmental Committee of seven members to revise the Colonial Regulations. The original members were as follows :—
H. Bertram Cox, Esq., C. B., Chairman.
Sir George O'Brien, K.C.M.G.
Sir William Baillie-Hamilton, K.C.M.G., C.B.
Sir Ralph Moor, K.C.M.G.
G. V. Fiddes, Esq., C.B.. C.M.G.
G. W. Johnson, Esq., C.M.G.
Sir Sydney Olivier, K.C.M.G.
with Mr. J. F. N. Green as Secretary.
Mr. C. H. Niblett and Mr. J. A. Smith were afterwards appointed Assistant Secretaries.
On the death of Sir George O'Brien in April, 1906, Sir Edward Noel-Walker, K.C.M.G., was appointed by your Lordship a member of the Committee. Sir Sydney Olivier ceased to take part in the proceedings of the Committee on his appointment as Governor of Jamaica in March, 1907.
The Committee now have the honour to report to your Lordship as follows:---
1. The Committee have held twenty-three meetings, but the greater part of the work has been carried out in Sub-Committees, of which four were appointed, entitled "Trade and Legal." "Appointments," "Ceremonial," and " Financial." A reprint of the regulations under consideration was first circulated to the members of each Sub-Committee with a view to proposals for additions or amendments, and other notes. These were then collated by one of the Assistant Secretaries, with notes of circulars and Colonial Office decisions, and put into type as agenda for the Sub-Committee. The preliminary revision prepared by the Sub-Committee was thereafter printed for submission to the full Committee with marginal notes showing the origin of the revised regulations. It was decided that no formal minutes should be kept by the Sub-Committees, and therefore the number of Sub-Committee meetings cannot be precisely stated, but was probably not less than sixty.
2. When the whole of the Regulations had thus passed through Sub-Committee and Committee, they received a final revision and re-arrangement at the hands of the full Committee.
3. The Colonial Regulations were first issued in 1837 under the title "Rules and Regulations for the Information and Guidance of the Principal Officers and Others in His Majesty's Colonial Possessions." Their genesis and aim are stated in Lord Glenelg's preface, dated March 30th, 1837.
In administering the affairs of this department, Lord GLENELG has had frequent occasion to observe, that there are various regulations connected with His Majesty's Colonial Service, which appear to be inaccurately understood, and, on that account, imperfectly observed, in many of His Majesty's Colonies. To prevent, as far as possible, such misconceptions, and the inconvenience to which they have given rise, he has brought together, in the following pages, various Rules which he finds to have been hitherto dispersed through the correspondence of his predecessors. The attempt to consolidate them will probably, at first, be inaccurately and imperfectly made; but the standing regulations, now, for the first time, collected together, will, at least, form a basis for future improvements; and will, probably, tend to the immediate introduction of a better method, and of greater certainty in the despatch of the duties of the Governors, and other Public Officers in the Colonial possessions of the Crown. Lord GLENELG has, therefore, instructed them to receive it as a rule for the guidance of their conduct on the several matters to which it relates."
4. In 1843 a revised edition was published under the title, still in use, Regulations for Her Majesty's Colonial Service" with the following preface :-
"Rules and
The original Edition of the Rules and Regulations for Her Majesty's Colonial Service being in many respects obsolete, defective, or erroneous, the following revision of these Rules and Regulations has been compiled by Lord Stanley's directions, and is now printed for the information and guidance of the Governors of Her Majesty's Colonics and of all Her Majesty's Officers subordinate to them.'
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5. The substantial alterations made in 1843 were not great, but the matter was re- arranged in the order in which it now stands. Further revised editions were issued in 1856 and 1867, but it does not appear that any thorough revision has been attempted since that of 18:43. The present numeration of the Regulations is that of the elition of 1867. No record appears to have been preserved with regard to the preparation of any of these editions.
6. The Colonial Regulations in their origin were simply a collection of decisions, each no doubt taken on some particular case, but extended to cover the Colonial Service generally. With the exception of the revision and re-arrangement in 1813, their history has been one of continual growth and modification. Whenever a regulation has been amended or inserted, it has been in consequence of an actual decision on an administrative question, and in no instance have regulations been framed to meet hypothetical cases.
7. The first part of the existing Regulations, together with some subsequent sections, is in effect an elementary handbook of Colonial constitutional law, not regulating but describing the powers and duties of Governors and of Executive and Legislative bodies, which are to be found in various legislative enactments, Imperial and Colonial, in Letters Patent, and in Royal Instructions. Several chapters lay down the proper forms and ceremonies to be observed by the Colonial Service in connection with official functions and visits. The part, however, which is in most constant use, both in the Colonial Office and by Colonial Officers, consists of a collection of general rules affecting the duties and conduct of Colonial Officers and the conditions under which they serve. These rules may be roughly divided into two classes, those which lay down broad principles which have to be applied to each particular case on its merits and those which contain definite and detailed instructions on matters in which it is necessary or convenient that Colonial practice should be uniform. As an instance of the former may be cited the regulation which prohibits public officers from "being connected with any, occupation or undertaking which might bring their public interests into real or apparent conflict with their public duties or in any way influence them in the discharge of those duties" of the latter, the regulation that leave on half salary is not granted "for a period which added to an officer's previous absences on leave with half salary would exceed by six months one-sixth of his resident service in the Colony."
8. During the forty years which have elapsed since any general revision of the Colonial Regulations was undertaken, those declaratory of constitutional law and practice have become largely inaccurate or obsolete, but no occasion has arisen requiring their amendment, as in practice Governors have been guided by the laws and legal instruments which have been passed from time to time. On the other hand, as the regulations relating to ceremonial matters constitute a work of reference on the subject and are constantly appealed to, they have been regularly revised and brought up to date. The regulations affecting the conduct and conditions of Colonial service have been repeatedly amended on points of detail, and additions have been made to them at intervals, but a considerable part relates to circumstances not now existent and is thus wholly obsolete.
9. In the minutes appointing this Committee, Mr. Lyttelton laid down that "good cause should be shown before any changes are made." The Committee have understood this to refer to actual changes in practice and not to changes made with the object of improving the wording or arrangement of the regulations, embodying in them authori- tative interpretations and bringing them into accordance with present practice as authorised by successive Secretaries of State, or inserting regulations based on that practice. The substantial changes recommended by the Committee are few and, with one or two exceptions, of slight importance. It was found that about one-fourth of the Regulations were obsolete, and the alterations involved by the process of bringing them into conformity with existing practice and re-drafting thein with a view to brevity and lucidity are so great that the revised and the existing, regulations cannot easily be compared in parallel columns. The two tables annexed show (1) what has been done with each rule of the present Regulations (2) the origin of each rule of the revised Regulations.
100 & 3 G 725 Wt 5204 2/08 D&S 5 24985