CO885-(15-16) — Page 142

33207

No. 105.

(MATRA.)

ATTORNEY-GENERAL to COLONIAL OFFICE.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 8

885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY DARLING & SON, LTD., 34-40, Bacon Stant, E.

1901.

SIR,

Royal Courts of Justice,

September 21,

1901

I was honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Antrobus' letter of the 17th instant, stating that he was directed by you to lay before me a despatch, No. 135, of the 31st August, from the Officer Administering the Government of Malta, together with a printed letter addressed to His Majesty the King by Mr. S. Savona, late Director of Education in that Colony, and to request me to favour you with my report upon the question which had been raised as to the taxation of the people of Malta under Orders of His Majesty in Council.

That Mr. Antrobus was also to forward, for my consideration, a confidential despatch of the same date from the Officer Administering the Government of Malta, covering a report by the Crown Advocate upon the legal point involved.

That in a letter dated the 3rd of September the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta communicated to the Colonial Office his views upon the various points raised in Mr. Savona's letter.

That on the 16th of September a telegram was received from the Officer Administer. ing the Government, pressing for a reply to Mr. Savona's letter before the Proclamation of the "Malta Revenue and General Purposes Order in Council, 1901," a copy of the draft

of which was enclosed.

That such draft was to be submitted to His Majesty in Council at the next meeting of the Privy Council, which had been fixed for Thursday, the 26th instant, and that you, therefore, desired Mr. Antrobus to request me to take the papers into my immediate consideration and, at the earliest possible date, to report :-

1. Whether the Act 18 Geo. III., cap. 12, section 1, applied to Malta or not? If

the answer was in the affirmative,

2. Whether, having regard to the provisions of clause 44 of the Letters Patent of the 12th December, 1887, the Crown was stopped by the said Act from making Orders in Council levying taxes in Malta to be spent on purely local objects ?

3. Whether clause 29 of the Letters Patent of 12th December, 1887, as amended

by clause 1 of the Letters Patent of 19th August, 1891, was, or was not, subject to clause 44 of the said Letters Patent of 12th December, 1887 ?

4. If the answer to question I was in the negative, whether under what provisions of the Letters Patent the Crown had power to make Orders in Council levying taxes in Malta to be spent on purely local objects ?

5. Generally.

I have taken the papers into my consideration, and, in obedience to your commands,

have the honour to

Report-

(1) The Act 18 Geo. III., cap. 12, does not apply to Malta. It is, by its express terms, confined to His Majesty's Colonies, Provinces and Plantations in North America

and the West Indies.

(2) and (3) do not arise.

(4) Under the provisions of the Letters Patent the Crown has power to make Orders in Council levying such taxes in Malta. Such Orders in Council are clearly covered by the reservation in clause 44 of the Letters Patent of 12th December, 1887; they make laws for the peace, order and good government of Malta.

9979-25-9,1901 Wt 362 D&S

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