CO885-(11-13) — Page 582

2021.

거리의 이

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO.

885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Mr LORD,

No. 289.

(CANADA.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, 3rd February 1883. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Herbert's letter of the 18th January last, stating that he was directed to transmit to us, for our consideration, a copy of an Act passed by the Canadian Parliament, entitled " An Act respecting the Windsor branch of the Intercolonial Railway," with a copy of a corre- spondence which had taken place respecting it between Messrs. Bircham and Co., the Colonial Office, and the Officer Administering the Government of the Dominion.

That it would be observed that Messrs. Bircham and Co. forwarded a petition, addressed to the Queen in Council, from the Windsor and Annapolis Railway Company. dated the 27th of June 1882, in which the petitioners prayed that the above-mentioned Act might be disallowed, and that they might be heard, as Her Majesty might be pleased to order, in support of the allegations contained in the petition, and of their objections to the said Act, and their reasons for praying that it might be disallowed.

That your Lordship requested that we would take those papers into our consi- deration, and inform your Lordship whether in our opinion, having regard to the special powers of legislation conferred by the British North American Act, 1867, upon the Parliament of Canada (see particularly sections 56, 91, and 92), Her Majesty should be advised to disallow the Act on any of the grounds stated in the petition.

In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have the honour to

Report

That in our opinion, having regard to the special powers of legislation conferred by the British North American Act, 1867, upon the Parliament of Canada, Her Majesty should not be advised to disallow the Act on any of the grounds stated in the petition. The matter dealt with by the Act is purely Canadian, and one with which the Parliament of Canada was clearly competent to deal; and we think it would be dangerous if in such a case the Secretary of State were to advise Her Majesty to disallow an Act because, in his opinion, private or corporate rights in Canada had been dealt with in a manner which he might deem inexpedient or unfair.

It is not necessary to go the length of saying that the Secretary of State would never be justified in taking this course, however flagrant the injustice, for in the present case we are of opinion that it is not established that the operation of the Act would of itself work any injustice at all. The Act only has any effect when the ownership of the petitioners' railway has been transferred to the Government of Nova Scotia. If no such transfer takes place they sustain no damage, and the Act does not purport to give any additional powers to the Government of Nova Scotia to take over the railway. If, on the other hand, that Government, in the exercise of lawful powers, should become the owners, and on the transfer the petitioners should receive the compensation to which they are entitled, they would have no ground of complaint.

And the Act under consideration in no way prejudges the question what the amount of compensation should be. On the contrary, section 1 recognises the existence and validity of the agreement of September 1871, and that the rights and privileges acquired under it are held in connection with the ownership of the line of railway from Windsor to Annapolis, and are to continue vested in the company so long as they continue owners of that line of railway. And we see nothing to justify the assumption that these rights and privileges will not be taken into consideration if the amount of com- pensation has to be fixed; at all events, if they are disregarded, it will not be in obedience to any enactment in the Act complained of.

We have, &c.,

(Signed)

The Right Hon. the Earl of Derby,

&c.

&c.

&c.

HENRY JAMES. FARRER HERSCHELL.

19916.-968. 25.-12/84