CO885-(13-15) — Page 675

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

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

14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Order in Council, 30th July, 1891, Section II.

Order in Council,

9th July,

1891.

Section II.

Order in Council; 8th May, 1891, Section VIII.

See Pro-

9. The High Commissioner in issuing such Proclamations shall respect any native laws or customs by which the civil relations of any native chiefs, tribes, or populations under Her Majesty's protection are now regulated, except so far as the same may be incompatible with the due exercise of Her Majesty's power and jurisdiction.

10. Every Proclamation of the High Commissioner shall be published in the Gazette, and shall, from and after a date to be mentioned in such Proclaination, and there- after until disallowed by Her Majesty or repealed or modified by any subsequent Proclamation, have effect as if contained in this Order.

11. Her Majesty may disallow any such Proclamation wholly or in part, and may signify such disallowance through a Secretary of State, and upon such disallowance being publicly notified by the High Commissioner in the Gazette the provisions so disallowed shall from and after a date to be mentioned in such notification, cease to have effect, but without prejudice to anything theretofore lawfully done thereunder.

12. Subject to any Proclamation made under this Order any jurisdiction exerciseable otherwise than under this Order, whether by virtue of any Statute or Order in Council, or of any Treaty, or otherwise, and whether exerciseable by Her Majesty, or by any person on Her behalf, or by any Colonial or other Court, or under any Commission, or under any Charter granted by Her Majesty, shall remain in full force.

13. Such estimates of the expenses of the administration of Barotziland-North- Western Rhodesia as may from time to time be necessary shall be submitted to the Company for approval and, after the approval of any such estimates by the Company, if in any year the revenue raised and in pursuance of the provisions of this Order shall be insufficient to provide for the payment of the expenses of the administration, the Company shall make good the deficiency, and if in any year the said revenue is more than sufficient to provide for the payment of the said expenses, the surplus remaining after the payment of such expenses shall be paid to and become the property of the Company.

14. The Administrator shall be accountable to the Company for all revenue raised clamation, in pursuance of the provisions of this Order, and for all expenditure for the purposes of the administration of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia, in such manner and subject to such instructions or rules as may from time to time be described by the High Commissioner at the request of the Company.

10th June, 1891,

Section II.

Order in

Council, 8th May, 1891, Section IX. Order in Council,

15. No Customs duties levied on any articles produced or manufactured in any part of Her Majesty dominions or in any British Protectorate, and imported into Barotziland-- North-Western Rhodesia, shall exceed in amount the duties levied on such articles according to the tariff in force in the South African Customs Union, at the date of the coming into operation of the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council, 1898, or the tariff contained in the Customs Union Convention, concluded between the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, the Orange Free State, and the Colony of Natal, in May, 1898, whichever are the higher.

16. Subject to the provisions of this Order and of any other Order in Council for the time being in force, and to the provisions of any Proclamation made under the provisions of any such Order us aforesaid, so much of the law of England for the time being, as is applicable to local circumstances, shall apply to and be in force within Barotzi- land-North-Western Rhodesia, subject to such qualifications as local circumstances

render necessary.

17. Judicial notice shall be taken of this Order and of the commencement thereof. and of any Proclamation made under this Order and published in the Gazette.

18. This Order shall be published in the Gazette, and shall thereupon commence and come into operation; and the High Commissioner shall give directions for the 8th May, publication of this Order, at such places, and in such manner, and for such time or times.

as he thinks proper for giving due publicity thereto.

1891, Section X.

Order in

Council,

8th May, 1891, Sec tion XII.

19. Her Majesty may from time to time revoke, alter, add to, or amend this Order.

R.E.W.

R.B.F.

31387.

We were

No. 211.

(STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, SIR,

11th November, 1899. honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 4th instant, stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us the accompanying copies of two despatches (with enclosures) from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, dated respectively the 18th May and the 2nd October, 1899, with reference to an application by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company for the grant of a submerged tract of land adjoining the eastern boundary of their existing premises at Singapore, consisting partly of foreshore and partly of the bed of the sea below low water mark. That Mr. Bertram Cox was also to enclose a tracing showing the premises of the Company and the proposed extension, which was therein coloured yellow.

That it would be seen from the correspondence enclosed in the despatch of the 18th May, that the extension was applied for in the first instance on account of negotiations which were then in progress between the Company and the Admiralty for the construction of a large Naval dry dock and dockyard upon the property of the former. That those negotiations had since resulted in the abandonment by the Admiralty of their scheme; but that the Company, notwithstanding this, had decided to continue their appli- cation for the tract of land in question.

That the Company based its application on the fact that the lease of the land adjoining this tract was granted on the understanding contained in a letter from the Colonial Secretary of 20th April, 1881, that the Company was to have the option of refusal of the land now referred to at any time when the Government might be desirous of selling, or the Company of purchasing it, in whole or in part.

That to this application the Colonial Government, while recognizing the existence of the understanding mentioned by the Company, replied that they were advised that such a grant as that made in 1881, and as the one now desired, was of very doubtful legality, and that the matter was being referred to the Secretary of State for his decision. That the Company then addressed a further letter to the Colonial Government reiterating their claim to pre-emption of the land, and demurring to the views expressed by the Government as to the illegality of the grants in question.

That on receipt of the despatch of the 18th May, you had requested the Governor to furnish you with a full report by the Attorney-General of the Colony upon the subject, setting forth the grounds on which his objections were based, and the circumstances under which similar grants had been made, and similar reclamations undertaken in the past. That it was added that there appeared to be no record of any legal objection having been raised to the grant made to the Company in 1881.

That the report asked for from the Attorney General was forwarded in the despatch of the 2nd October, and that it would be seen that he suggested that the subject should be dealt with by legislation, and based his objection to the granting of this land to the Company without such legislation on the ground that such grant could only be made subject to the right of the public to pass and repass in boats and ships, and to fish there— citing the Attorney-General r. Burbridge, 10 Price 350, Free Fishers of Whitstable r. Gann, 11 C.B., N.S. 387, and the Mayor, &c., of Colchester r. Brooks, 7 Q.B. 339, in support of his contention. That it further appeared from his report that the deed by which the former tract was leased to the Company (No. 1034, of 2nd December, 1881) was a common form of lease such as was in use in the Colony for ordinary agricultural holdings, referring to the subject matter as “land," and containing provisions as to the right to dig gravel, &c., but making no reference to reclamation from the sea and that varions other alienations of sea bottom had been made in a similar manner with no further sanction than the order and direction of the Governor.

Mr. Bertram Cox further stated that you requested that we would take the papers into our consideration, and favour you with our opinion upon the following points :--

1. Whether the common law of England as to (2) foreshore, and (5) open sea within territorial limits applies to the Straits Settlements ?

In this connexion Mr. Bertram Cox was to refer us to the ease of Year Cheah Neo r. Ong Cheng Neo, L.R. 6 P.C., at page 393.

4146—25-11,99 Wt 439 D&S 5