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despatch or in the margin, and the number of the particular section or paragraph in question must be noted.
178. Each enclosure should be separately numbered or marked and, if in any foreign In the case of printed language except French, should be accompanied by a translation. documents which can be procured without difficulty, six copies should be forwarded.
179. Despatches forwarded to the Secretary of State should be accompanied by a schedule in duplicate, giving their serial numbers, dates and subjects, and also by a statement of the numbers and dates of all despatches which the Governor may have received from the Secretary of State since the preceding occasion. Separate schedules and statements should be furnished for confidential and secret despatches.
180. With the view of facilitating the despatch of business, the Governor will send home by the first mail of every month :—
(1) A schedule of despatches received from the Secretary of State which have been more than a month in his hands without an answer. The cause of the delay should be briefly stated in each case.
(2) A schedule of despatches sent by the Governor to the Secretary of State which appear to have remained unanswered for more than a month after receipt. Attention should be called to any case where inconvenience is occurring or likely to occur by the delay in answering.
181. In the case of telegraphic despatches, the Governor should transmit by the first opportunity a copy, with a translation, of the code words actually sent.
182. Every Legislative Act must be accompanied by a statement from the Law Officer of the Crown to the effect that in his opinion the Governor's assent may or may not be properly given thereto, and also by, a report from the Governor or from the Law Officer giving all requisite explanation respecting the object of the Act and any legal or political question which it may involve. If the Act is based on any Imperial or Colonial statute a reference to that statute should be given.
183. The Secretary of State will not certify signatures other than those of the Governor or the officer administering the government. It is the duty of the Governor to cause it to be made known that the authentication of documents requiring to be certified can only be effected in this manner.
§ 18. Returns.
184. All returns, reports, and local publications referred to in the Royal Instructions, or directed in circular instructions from the Secretary of State or in these A list of the regulations must be punctually forwarded to the proper department. more important returns is given in Appendix 9.
185. Reports of the proceedings of each meeting of the Legislature must be forwarded by the earliest opportunity."
186. The Governor will transmit to the Secretary of State twelve copies of all Acts as soon as printed, and fourteen copies will be sent addressed as below
1. House of Lords.
2. House of Commons.
3. Board of Trade.
4. British Museum.
5. Bar Library, Royal Courts of Justice.
6. Law Society.
7. Library of the Faculty of Advocates of Scotland.
8. Library of Lincoln's Inn.
9. Library of the Inner Temple.
10. Library of the Middle Temple.
11. Library of Gray's Inn.
12. Library of King's Inns, Dublin.
13. Library of the Royal Colonial Institute.
14. Signet Library, Edinburgh.
187. Four copies of every new compilation or corrected edition of the Colonial Laws will be forwarded to the Secretary of State.
188. As soon as possible after the close of each year the Colonial Secretary will cause the annual Blue Book to be completed, and will certify the accuracy of its
contents. State.
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The Governor will immediately transmit it in duplicate to the Secretary of
189. The Blue Book should be accompanied by a report containing a brief account of the financial position of the Colony, its industries and commerce, the condition of its inhabitants, and other matters of interest to persons outside the Colony, with a summary of the more important occurrences of the past year. Opinions, forecasts, controversial matter, details of merely local interest, and tabular statements other than those required for the elucidation of the text should be excluded,
The report should be arranged under the following heads, omitting those under which there is nothing to record of interest to the general public:
1. Financial.
2. Trade, Agriculture, and Industries. 3. Legislation. 4 Education. 5. Government Institutions. 6. Judicial Statistics. 7. Vital Statistics. 8. Postal, Telegraph, and Telephone Services. 9. Military Forces. 10. General.
190. The Governor will transmit annually to the Secretary of State a list of capital sentences executed during the year in the Colony.
191. It is desirable that Colonial Governments should arrange for the interchange of reports on subjects of common interest.
§19. Military.
192. Governors who are actually in command of His Majesty's troops must separate their correspondence with the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary of State for War, as prescribed in the following regulations 193 to 197.
193. All inatters which relate to the discipline of the troops, or to the employment of them in any ordinary and established service, or to the relief of the troops after their time of local service shall have expired, or to the interior economy of His Majesty's land forces, will properly form the subject of correspondence with the Secretary of State for War exclusively.
194. In the event of actual hostilities with any foreign enemy, or of any extraordinary employment of the troops for the maintenance of the public peace, such occurrences must be reported both to the Secretary of State for War and to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
195. In the event of its being thought necessary to make or to advise any military convention with the officer in command of the troops of any foreign Power, a Governor commanding His Majesty's troops will at the same time report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to the Secretary of State for War, the measures which he may have so taken, or those which he may wish to recommend for adoption,
196. In case it should be necessary, in order to render the Governor's military reports clear, to make reference, in his correspondence with the Secretary of State for War, to questions connected with his civil authority, he will in every such case at the same time bring such questions under the notice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
197. As any attempt to define the limits of a Governor's civil and military correspondence may, from the nature of the case, be imperfect and may omit to provide for some unforeseen exigency, he will best meet the requirements of the Secretary of State for War and of the Secretary of State for the Colonies by conducting his civil correspondence exactly as he would conduct it if he possessed no military command, and vice versa. The two functions of Governor and of Commander of the Forces, though for the time combined in the same person, should be regarded in this respect as entirely separate, and the reports made by the Governor in each capacity should be made precisely in the same manner as that combination of functions did not exist,
198. When a Governor shall have occasion to report upon, or bring under the consideration of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, matters which involve military as well as civil considerations, or which require the concurrence or decision of the Secretary of State for War, he will first communicate with the officer commanding the forces in the Colony respecting the matters in question, and, having obtained that officer's opinion or observations thereon, he will transmit the same, with his own report, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and will, in every case, furnish the officer commanding the troops with a copy of any report he may make involving military considerations. If the officer commanding considers that these reports require the consideration of the Secretary of State for War, he will forward the duplicates with his
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observations by the same mail which conveys the original report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
199. Similarly under the King's Regulations, when the officer commanding the troops in a Colony desires to bring to the notice of his military superiors any matter which may involve civil as well as military considerations, he will first communicate with the Governor with a view to obtaining his opinion thereon. He will transmit with his own report any opinion or observations he may thus obtain; and will in every case furnish the Governor with a copy of any reports he may make on subjects other than military discipline and routine. If the Governor considers that these reports require the consideration of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, he will forward the duplicates with his observations by the same mail which conveys the original report to the Secretary of State for War.
§ 20. Naval.
200. The Governor will write in his own name to any senior naval officer (that is to say, the senior officer then within his immediate reach), holding the rank of Flag Officer, Captain or Commander, but will communicate with any senior officer of lower rank through his private secretary. In no case will he so communicate through the Colonial Secretary.
201. Any notice or direction, which the Governor may have occasion to convey to the commander of any foreign vessel in the waters of the colony, will be transmitted through the officers of the Colonial Government, and not through the officers of His Majesty's Navy, whose intervention should not be applied for, unless the directions forwarded through the ordinary channel should fail to produce their effect.
§ 21. Shipping.
202. The Imperial Acts relating to merchant shipping are :—
1. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894
2. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1897.`
3. The Merchant Shipping (Exemption from Pilotage) Act, 1897.
4. The Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners) Act, 1898.
5. The Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898.
6. The Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and others) Act, 1900. 7. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1906.
Under these Acts certain duties in relation to merchant shipping are imposed on officers in British possessions. Officers who are entrusted with duties in con- nection with merchant shipping will make themselves familiar with the provisions of the Acts.
203. Detailed instructions with regard to general duties in connection with merchant ships and seamen are contained in the "Instructions to Officers in British Possessions issued by the Board of Trade; and instructions on matters relating to the Abroad registry of ships are contained in the "Instructions to Registrars of Shipping" issued by the Commissioners of Customs with the approval of the Board of Trade. Officers in Colonies performing duties in connection with shipping will be guided by these Instructions.
204. At the end of each year the colonial officer performing the duties of Registrar of Shipping will prepare and transmit to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen, 30, Carlisle Place, Victoria Street, London, S.W., an account made up to the 31st December showing:
(a) the names and particulars of all ships on the register of the port on the
previous 1st January, and
(b) the names and particulars of all ships registered at the port during the year or of those whose register has been closed. In the latter case, the cause of closing the register should be stated. At the end of the list an abstract should be given of the number and tonnage of vessels belonging to the port on 31st December. It is important that this list should be transmitted as early as possible in the month of January.
205. Notice of any new light-houses, buoys or beacons placed or erected on the shores of the Colony, and of any alterations in those already existing, will be forwarded as early as possible by the Governor to the Board of Trade, who will communicate the information to the Admiralty for publication.
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These notices should be given in the form shown in Appendix 10, which in the case of buoys or beacons should be amended as necessary.
206. Any information of interest to navigators, such as the formation or discovery of new reefs, shoals or currents, should also be forwarded by the Governor to the Board of Trade as early as possible.
207. For the purposes of the Wreck Abstract which is presented annually to Parliament, particulars of every casualty to shipping on the shores of any British possession, or to any British shipping at sea concerning which information can be obtained, should be forwarded by the proper officer in the Colony to the Assistant Secretary, Marine Department, Board of Trade, as soon as possible after the occurrence; and a summary of such casualties should, if possible, be forwarded to the same Department at the end of every year.
Forms for the purpose of making such returns will be supplied on application by the Board of Trade.
§ 22. Consular.
208. Communications from the Governor to a British Consul-General should be signed by the Governor.
209. Communications from the Governor to a British Consul, a foreign Consul or Consul-General, should, in the case of a Crown Colony, be signed by the Colonial Secretary, and in the case of a Colony having responsible government, by the Governor's private secretary.
210. Communications from a Consular Officer to the Governor should be signed by the senior officer, not by a subordinate.
§ 23. Individuals.
211. Persons in a Colony, whether public functionaries or private individuals, who have any representations of a public or private nature to make to the Government, should address them to the Governor through the Colonial Secretary. The duty of the Governor is to consider and act upon each such representation as public expediency or justice to the individual may appear to require, with the assistance in certain cases of his Executive Council; and if he doubts what steps to take thereupon, or if public advantage may appear to require it, he will refer the matter to the Secretary of State.
212. Every individual has the right to address the Secretary of State, if he thinks proper; in which case he must transmit such communication, unsealed and in triplicate, to the Governor requesting him to forward it in due course to the Secretary of State. Every letter, memorial or other document which may be received by the Secretary of State from a Colony otherwise than through the Governor will be referred back to the Governor for his report.
213. The preceding rule requiring transmission of correspondence with the Secretary of State through the Governor is based on the strongest grounds of public convenience, in order that all communications may be duly verified, as well as reported on, before they reach the Secretary of State. It extends therefore to communications relating to public affairs as well as to the concerns of the writer, to those from all public functionaries of whatever rank, and to those from public bodies.
214. Petitions addressed to the King, or the King in Council, memorials to public officers or departments of His Majesty's Government, must be in like manner sent to the Governor for transmission to the Secretary of State.
215. The Governor is bound to transmit to the Secretary of State with all reasonable despatch every communication so received by him, accompanied by such report as its contents may appear to him to require.
CHAPTER V.--FINANCE.
216. The regulations in Chapter V. do not apply to Colonies possessing responsible government.
§ 24. Accounting Officers.
217. The Treasurer is the chief Accounting Officer of the Colonial Government, and, subject to these regulations and to such instructions as may with the authority of the Secretary of State be approved by the Governor, the financial and accounting operations of the Government are under his general management and supervision, but it is also the
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