CO885-(13-15) — Page 235

19525.

No. 224.

(BRITISH HONDURAS.)

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

885

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13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

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MY LORD,

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Edward

Royal Courts of Justice, September 30, 1891. Wingfield's letter of the 19th August ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us a copy of a despatch from the Officer Administering the Government of British Honduras enclosing a letter from the Attorney General of the Colony, and a copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Colony in an action of Steven Brothers and Company versus McKinney, by which it was decided that an Ordinance recently enacted by the Governor, with the advice of the Legislative Council, was invalid on the ground that when it was passed the Legislative Council was not constituted according to the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Consolidated Laws of British Honduras. That Mr. Wingfield was also to enclose a copy of the Belize Colonial Guardian " newspaper, containing a report of the hearing of the above-

..

mentioned action.

2. That it would be seen that the leave of the Court had been obtained on behalf of the defendant, the Collector of Customs, to appeal to Her Majesty in Council, and Mr. Wingfield was to enclose a copy of the statement of the case for the appellant, which had been prepared and signed by the Colonial Attorney General.

3. That the Legislative Council of British Honduras was constituted by an Act passed in 1870 by the then existing Legislature of the Colony, and assented to by the Queen in Council, a copy of which was enclosed for reference, and that Act was in 1888, upon the consolidation of the Statutes of the Colony, re-enacted with some amendments and embodied as Chapter 2 of the Consolidated Laws of British Honduras. That a bound volume of the Consolidated Laws was sent therewith, and separate copies of Chapter 2 and also of Chapter 92 under which the action was instituted.

4. That the circumstances which gave rise to the constitutional question raised by the action in question were as follows:-

5. That in 1890 the whole of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, all of whom were persons not holding any Government Office, being dissatisfied with a money vote which had been passed by the Governor's casting vote, against their unanimous vote, resigned their seats, and after some delay their resignations were accepted.

b. That the Officer Administering the Government having reported that no person not holding a Government Office whom he could recommend as a fit and proper person for appointment as a Legislative Councillor would be willing to accept a seat in the Council unless Her Majesty's Government would consent to such an amendment of the Constitution as would secure to the unofficial members of the Legislative Council a majority of votes in the Council, Her Majesty was advised to fill up the vacant seats by the appointment of four persons who held offices under the Government.

"

7. That those appointments were made on the assumption that in the construction of Chapter 2 of the Consolidated Laws the terms "official members members "

should be construed to mean respectively persous designated as members and "unofficia!

by virtue of their offices, and persons appointed as members without reference to. office, and that there was nothing to restrict the Crown in the selection of unofficial members to persons not holding public offices. That the above construction of the law appeared to be supported by the report of the Law Officers of the Crown, of which a copy was enclosed, upon the construction of the Leeward Islands Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. cap. 107).

8. That Mr. Wingfield was to request that we would advise your Lordship whether, in our opinion, if the appeal was proceeded with, the judgment of the Supreme Court of British Honduras was likely to be reversed by the Judicial Committee either (2) on the ground that the Legislative Council was legally constituted, or (b) on the ground that the Court was incompetent to declare the Ordinance invalid by reason of the Constitution of the Council which passed it, or (c) on both of those grounds.

9. That if the decision of the Supreme Court should be acquiesced in or should be affirmed by the Judicial Committee, and if it should be found impossible to induce four competent persons not holding offices to accept seats in the Legislative Council, except upon conditions with which Her Majesty's Government might not think it right in the interests of the Colony to comply, it would be necessary to consider whether, and in what manner, an alteration of the Constitution of the Legislative

E 65459.-1, 25.-10/91.

Reference :-

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