223
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
EPILCO.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
96
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
Government, it would seem most convenient for any additional remuneration which His Majesty's Government decide to allow to be based upon the fees payable scale fees," appear to to the officer under Appendix C. These fees, which are represent a moderate scale of remuneration, and, if this method of remuneration is adopted, the amount payable, leaving out of consideration for the moment the official salary of the person concerned, will be commensurate with the amount of work done.
20. In cases where the Proper Officer has appeared in Court for the Crown he might also be allowed fees for appearances in Court.
21. We have caused inquiries to be made through the Colonial Office as to the amounts which may be expected to become payable to the Proper Officer in the territories where there has been most Prize Court business if remuneration upon this scale is paid. We find that in Gibraltar and Malta, where the work appears to have been heaviest, the amounts payable for the first two years of the War, for fees under Appendix C (apparently not including appearances in Court) would be approximately £2,500 and £2.700 respectively.
22.
These figures are considerable, and it may be thought desirable to impose some limitation upon the amount receivable by any Proper Officer who is already. a salaried officer of the Oversea Government concerned, by fixing a maximum beyond which his total remuneration, including both salary and fees, is not to go. It is hardly for us to suggest on what basis this maximum should be fixed, since this would appear to be a matter to be decided between His Majesty's Government, represented by the Treasury and the Admiralty, on the one hand, and the Oversea Governments, acting though the proper departments of the Imperial Government, on the other.
23. We observe, however, that the Proper Officer in Gibraltar receives an official salary of £800, and the Proper Officer in Malta an official salary of £600, while the Proper Officer in receipt of the highest official salary appears to be the Attorney-General of the Straits Settlements, who receives a salary of £1,500 a year and £300 duty allowance. We imagine that it would not be desired to fix a maximum below the amount of the highest salary received by any of the Proper Officers concerned, and we would, therefore, suggest tentatively that the maximum should be such an amount as would leave a substantial margin above the official salary of the best paid Proper Officer. In making this suggestion we have not taken into consideration the position of any of the Proper Officers in the Self- governing Dominions and India, but, if it should be decided that the Proper Officers in those territories should be paid out of Imperial funds, we see no reason why similar principles should not be applied.
24.
We therefore recommend:--
(1) That the Crown, as captor, should pay out of Imperial funds all fees leviable on the Crown as a litigant in Oversea Prize Courts under the Prize Court Rules.
(2) That it should be left to the Government of each Oversea Territory in which a Prize Court is established to decide, in consultation if necessary with the appropriate department of His Majesty's Government, what remuneration. if any, in addition to the salaries received by them out of local funds, should be paid to the Judges and other officers of, or employed by, the Court who are also salaried officers of the local Govern- ment, and to provide such additional remuneration out of local funds. (3) That steps should be taken, if occasion arises, to obtain an Act of Parlia- ment empowering His Majesty in Council to remit to the local Govern- ment concerned the amount by which any fees, payable under Section 10 of the Prize Courts Act, 1864, and Section 4 of the Prize Courts Act, 1915, into the Consolidated Fund, in the case of any British Possession or Protectorate, exceed the total amount of the salaries and remunera- tion grarted under those sections to Judges and other officers in that Possession or Protectorate.
(4) That steps should be taken to secure so far as possible that the Marshals of Oversea Prize Courts who may be entitled to take fees personally do not retain for their personal use any amount paid by the Crown in respect of item 49 of Appendix B to the Prize Court Rules, 1914, on a delivery order under Order 27. Rule 1. of the Prize Court Rules, 1914, as amended by the Order in Council of 3rd February, 1915.
25.
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
97
(5) That the Proper Officer of the Crown in the different parts of His Majesty's Oversea Dominions, other than the Self-governing Dominions and India, who are already salaried officials of the local Governments, should be paid out of Imperial funds additional remuneration on the scale laid down in Appendix C to the Prize Court Rules, 1914, includ- ing reasonable fees for appearances in Court, but that some maximum should be fixed above which the total amount payable to any officer in respect of salary from local funds and additional remuneration from Imperial funds should not rise. If it should be decided that the Proper Officers of the Crown in the Self-governing Dominions and in India are to be paid out of Imperial funds. we would suggest that similar prin- ciples should be applied to them also.
ALEXANDRIA PRIZE COURT.
The Alexandria Prize Court stands in a different position to the other Oversea Courts. We have therefore thought it desirable to deal with it separately. 26. That Court is composed by the two Judges who, in peace time, were the Judges of the British Consular Court in the Ottoman Empire. Normally this Court sat at Constantinople and the Judges only went to Egypt (to which country their jurisdiction extended under the Ottoman Order in Council) on circuit. The Consular Court is not a local Court forming part of the administrative machinery of a Colony, but a British Court in a foreign country exercising jurisdiction over British subjects under the extra-territorial rights possessed by His Majesty. Its expenses are borne, not by the local funds of a Colony but by Imperial funds, i.e., the Diplomatic and Consular Vote. The gross fees levied, which are sanctioned by the Treasury, form an appropriation in aid of that vote.
27. When the Alexandria Prize Court was established under the Prize Courts (Egypt, Zanzibar, and Cyprus) Act, 1914, it was not possible, owing to the conditions explained above, to staff it from the officials of an existing Court to the same extent as in the Colonies. The two Judges were available, but it was neces- sary to provide the Registrar and Marshal from outside, and special arrangements were made to remunerate the persons appointed by salary. The whole of the salary of the Marshal, the additional grant which the Registrar (who is an official lent by the Egyptian Government) receives for performing his duties, and the other expenses of the Prize Court have to be paid from Imperial funds, and the Treasury have expressed the opinion that these charges should fall on the Diplomatic and Consular Vote. No question arises of a claim by any officials to receive fees personally.
28. In these circumstances we think it plain that, having regard to the form of the Prize Court Rules, 1914, and the ordinary practice and constitution of the Court, the fees taken in prize proceedings, will be disposed of in the same way as those taken in the Consular Court, and the case can therefore be dealt with on the same principles as those of the other Oversea Courts, the place of the local revenues being taken by the Diplomatic and Consular Vote. If the Crown pays all fees as recommended above, including the 1 per cent. Marshal's fee in the case of ships which have been delivered to the Crown, it appears probable that the fees will cover the expenses of the Prize Court, excluding the remuneration of the Proper Officer of the Crown, which is dealt with below. Any questions which arise as to the remuneration of the officers of the Court should be dealt with between the Treasury and the Foreign Office, who have been in correspondence throughout as to the expenses of the Court.
29. The gentleman acting as the Proper Officer of the Crown at Alexandria is a barrister in private practice there, whose only official position is that of Crown Prosecutor. for which he receives a salary of £150 a year. It has therefore been necessary to make special arrangements as to his remuneration, which must neces- sarily be on a substantial scale, as the Prize Court work has occupied the whole of his time and practically prevented him from taking private practice. The question as to its amount is at the present moment before the Treasury. We would propose that the amount of his remuneration, when decided, should be charged to the same fund as the additional remuneration proposed to the Proper Officers of the Crown in other Prize Courts in accordance with our recommendations above.
EDMOND J. W. SLADE,
R. A. WISEMAN,
Secretary.
23rd August, 1916.
for the Committee.
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