CO885-(13-15) — Page 129

14,233.

MY LORD,

No. 156.

(TRINIDAD.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

WE were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Wingfield's

Royal Courts of Justice, July 17, 1889. letter of the 20th ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit. for our consideration, copies of a despatch from the Governor of Trinidad and its enclosures, with reference to the position of attorneys and solicitors practising in the Courts of Trinidad.

That Mr. Wingfield was to observe that although the Spanish law, which was in force in Trinidad at the time of the conquest of the island by the English, was still in force there, except so far as it had been repealed or superseded by subsequent legislation, the law of the Colony on many most important matters, for instance, civil procedure, crime, wills, mortgages, prescription, limitation of actions, leases, distri- bution of intestate estates, bills of exchange, and bills of sale, had been assimilated to the law of England, and that, though, having regard to sections 6 and 7 of the Colonial Ordinance of 1871, it might be doubted whether the qualifications for admission as an Attorney or Solicitor in the Superior Courts of Trinidad completely fulfilled the conditions specified in section 3 of the Colonial Attorneys Relief Act, 1859, any objection founded upon that defect appeared to your Lordship to be removed by the Colonial Attorneys Relief Act Amendment Act, 1884, which was not referred to in the enclosed petition of the Trinidad solicitors.

That Mr. Wingfield was to ask us to furnish your Lordship with our opinion whether Her Majesty might properly be advised to issue an Order in Council extending the Colonial Attorneys Relief Act to the Colony of Trinidad.

We have taken the matter into our consideration, and in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to

Report

2

That, in our opinion, Her Majesty may properly be advised to issue an Order in Council extending to the Colony of Trinidad the Colonial Attorneys Relief Act.

We have, &c.,

The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford.

7014 2. 25.-7/89.

(Signed)

RICHARD E. WEBSTER. EDWARD CLARKE.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

EPERC.O.885

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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