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of the white population and the fact of their being much inter- married. There is always a probability that one or other of the judges is a relative of a litigant or counsel in the case before him. The present system has been devised to meet the difficulty that there is no Court of Appeal for the Colony except the Privy Council. A local Court of Appeal would be too costly for the volume of work to be dealt with, and any arrangement for sending appeals to an African or Indian Appellate Court is rendered impracticable by the fact that none of these Courts is versed in French law.
We are impressed by the force of the Chief Judge's arguments and, although it is not contended that the volume of work which falls to be dealt with by the Supreme Court is enough to provide full employment for three Judges, we think that a sufficiently strong case has been made out for the retention of all three posts.
3. A line of economy which both the Chief Judge and the Irocureur General were inclined to view favourably, and which we recommend, is that one of the Judges of the Supreme Court should sit in place of a bench of District Magistrates for the hearing of criminal cases which are at present required by law to be dealt with by three District Magistrates sitting together. The necessity under the existing law of having to divert three Magistrates from their ordinary duties for the hearing of these cases frequently results in dislocating the work of the District Courts, and the referm suggested would be of practical convenience in the administration of the Magistracy as well as facilitating a reduction in the number of Magistrates.
4. The Procureur and Advocate General is the chief legal adviser of the Government, the Chief Crown Prosecutor, and the administra- tive head of the District Magistracy. He is assisted by three whole- time officers drawn from the practising membership of the Mauritian Bar, viz., the Substitute Procureur General, and two Additional Substitutes, and by the Crown Attorney whose duties are those of a Chief Crown Solicitor and who is also a whole-time officer. His advisory and administrative duties are largely personal to the Procureur General himself and he has of necessity to devolve the bulk of the Court work upon his assistants. The civil work in the Courts is taken mainly by the Substitute and the criminal work by the Additional Substitutes. No legal opinion is given to the Govern- ment except over the Procureur General's own signature, and no legal proceedings can be instituted except on his personal directions. These limits, which are of long standing constitutional practice. upon the responsibilities of his professional assistants have the effect of compelling the Procureur General to duplicate a considerable part of the work of his subordinates, and of greatly curtailing the margin of time which would otherwise be available for him to devote to the more important duties of his office. The Procureur General expressed the view, in which we entirely concur, that so far at
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least as his principal Substitute is concerned it would be desirable to revise these limits so as to allow that officer, who is of necessity a member of high standing at the Mauritian Bar, to advise the Government, or to authorize legal proceedings, in his own name. The relief afforded to the Procureur General himself by this exten- sion of the Substitute's responsibilities would enable the junior post of Additional Substitute to be abolished, provided that provision were made in the estimates of the departments to enable the services of extra counsel to be obtained in times of exceptional pressure of work. The Procureur General suggested a provision of Rs. 2,000 for this purpose,
which we think would be reasonable.
5. The clerical staff of the Procureur General consists of :-
Chief Clerk Law Clerk
Head Clerk (Crown Attorney's Office)
One Class IV Clerk
Two Class VI Clerks
Salary.
Rs. 6,200--7,200
6,000
4,800
2,600-3,600
1,200-1,680
We inspected the work of the office and do not consider that the staff is excessive.
The Law Clerk has the important duty of preparing the first draft of new ordinances, and this post is rightly treated as a special post outside the general clerical cadre. We propose to maintain it without any reduction in the rate of pay and to create two new special posts, those of the Chief Clerks of the Supreme Court and of the Procureur General's Office, respectively, also outside the general cadre and carrying the same rate of pay as the Law Clerk, namely, Rs.6,000. The post of Head Clerk of the Crown Attorney's Office demands special legal training and should also be considered as outside the general clerical cadre. The rate of pay, Rs.4,400, will correspond with that of the senior clerks in the selec- tion grade which we propose elsewhere.
The Magistrates.-Head 12 C.
6. The budget provides 11 posts of District and Stipendiary Magistrate at Rs.9,000-500-12,000; eight posts are charged against Head 12 C, one against Head 19, for the island of Rodrigues, and two against Head 20, for the Oil Islands. The merchants who control the production of coconut oil and copra in the Oil Islands contribute Rs.18,000 towards the cost of their two Magistrates.
Thirty general clerks and eight interpreters are attached to the Magistrates' Courts in Mauritius, making a total cost of Rs.224,000 for these courts.
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SFOBLIC
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RECORD OFFICE
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C.O.882/12
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