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(4.) We do not consider that the proposed Order in Council under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890, to amend the Cyprus Extradition Order would be, or require to be treated as, a Statutory Rule within the meaning of section 1 of the Rules Publication Act because it is not directed by an Act of Parliament that such Order or any rules contained in it, shall be laid before Parliament within the provision of section 1, sub-section 4, of that Act.

The Clerk of the Council.

We are, &c.,

R. T. REID.

FRANK LOCKWOOD.

3743.

DEAR COLONEL FELLOWS,

House of Commons, February 27, 1895.

In regard to your question to the Solicitor-General, it is certainly provided that any Order in Council under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890, must be laid before Parliament, and that must, of course, be done.

But we do not consider that the Order in Council is a Statutory Rule, and it does not, in our opinion, come within section 1, sub-section 4, of the Rules Publication Act. And therefore, though it must be laid before Parliament, it should not, in our view, be treated as a Statutory Rule.

The Solicitor-General agrees with this.

Colonel Fellows.

Yours truly,

R. T. REID.

No. 79.

(BRITISH NEW GUINEA-QUEENSLAND.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

MY LORD,

Royal Courts of Justice, February 27, 1895. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Bramston's letter of the 22nd ultimo, with reference to the report of our predecessors of the 25th of August last on the subject of the annexation of the Kermadec Islands to New Zealand, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to inform us that it was desired to detach from the Colony of Queensland and to attach to British New Guinea certain small islands in Torres Straits which were primâ facie dependencies of, and belonged geographically to, the latter, and that the question had arisen as to the means by which this transfer could be effected.

2. That it appears unnecessary to go back to the creation of the Colony of New South Wales, of which Queensland was formerly a part, but that by the Act 5 & 6 Vict. c. 76. s. 51, Her Majesty was empowered by Letters Patent to define the limits of New South Wales and to erect into a separate Colony or Colonies any territories comprised within the said Colony not being to the southward of the 26th degree of south latitude and that by the Act 13 & 14 Vict. c. 59. s. 34, those powers were extended to include territories lying to the north of the 30th degree of south latitude.

3. That by the New South Wales Constitution Bill passed by the parliament of that Colony and assented to by Her Majesty in Council under the powers conferred by the first section of the Act 18 & 19 Vict. c. 54, of which Act the Bill formed the schedule, Her Majesty was given power by clause 46 to alter the boundary of the Colony to the northward as to Her might seem fit, and that by section 7 of the Imperial Act Her Majesty was empowered by Letters Patent to erect into separate Colonies any territories so separated from New South Wales.

4. That by Letters Patent dated the 6th of June 1859 Her Majesty separated from New South Wales certain territory within the boundaries therein described together with the adjacent Islands in the Pacific Ocean and erected such territory into a separate Colony to be called the Colony of Queensland.

5. That by Letters Patent dated the 30th May 1872, provision was made for the annexation to the Colony of Queensland, with the consent of the Legislature of the Colony, of all islands lying within 60 miles of the Coast, and that by subsequent Letters Patent dated the 10th of October 1878, similar provision was made for the annexation to the Colony of the islands in Torres Straits, including the islands now in question. That the subsequent proceedings prescribed by both these Letters Patent were duly taken in the Colony, and the various islands referred to had been regarded as forming part of the Colony, and that various acts of administration in connexion with them had from time to time been done in them by the Government of the Colony of Queensland.

6. That Mr. Bramston was to invite our attention to the Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 44. section 3 whereof confirmed the Letters Patent of 1859, and to explain at the same time that the doubt referred to in the Act arose from the fact that for the first six months or so of its existence the Colony was governed without a Parliament and that the Order in Council of June 6th, 1859, had created a qualification for the electors different in some respects from that which then obtained in New South Wales.

7. Mr. Bramston further stated that he was to request us to take the papers into our consideration, and to inform your Lordship.

(1.) Whether in our opinion the islands in Torres Straits now in question have been legally annexed to, and form part of, the Colony of Queensland?

(2.) Whether they may be effectually detached from that Colony, and annexed to British New Guinea by means of Letters Patent, followed by suitable legielation in the Colony and in the Possession?

(3.) If not, what measures would be necessary?

Q

65965,-2.

25.-3/95.

• No. 76.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O. 885

Reference :-

14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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