CO885-(15-16) — Page 161

43385

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

19

C.O. 885

Reference :-

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

SIR,

No. 117.

(ST. VINCENT.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Ownership of certain plots of land adjoining the Camden Park Estate.]

Royal Courts of Justice,

December 7, 1901.

We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. C. P. Lucas's letter of the 14th October last stating that he was directed by you to lay before us a despatch, No. 81, of the 14th June, 1901, from the Governor of the Windward Islands covering a despatch with five enclosures from the Administrator of St. Vincent, and to request the favour of our report upon the question raised in those papers as to the ownership of two lots of land, known as "K" and "L," adjoining the Camden Park Estate in that island.

That the facts were clearly set out in the Administrator's despatch, and that it would appear that the owner of the Camden Park Estate claimed the two lots "K" and "L as part of the Estate, and placed reliance upon the notes contained in the of John Byres, dated 1776, and a plan by Joseph Billinghurst, dated 1829.

map

That Mr. Lucas was, however, to point out that, though it appeared from para- graph 4 of the Administrator's despatch that the owner of the Camden Park Estate claimed that the lots had been held and enjoyed by his predecessors in title from the year 1776, he did not (so far as appeared from the papers before us) definitely assert a title by 60 years' adverse possession on the part of himself and his predecessors in title against the Crown.

That Mr. Lucas was to forward the following maps and plans in connection with the question:-

(1.) John Byres' map above referred to,

(2.) A copy of Billinghurst's plan above referred to of the Canewood Estate, now incorporated in the Camden Park Estate,

(3.) A copy of the plan of the Camden Park Estate as conveyed by the Encum- bered Estates Court in 1888,

(4.) A tracing from Byres' map showing the old numbers and boundaries as there appearing, and the respective sites and area of lots "K" and "L"

That it would appear that lots "K" and "L" were not " smaller spaces left un- numbered, and which are encompassed by lands sold to the contiguous planters," there being several smaller spaces of that description to which the note on Byres' map did properly and literally apply.

That if that were so, it would follow that the note on Billinghurst's plan in 1829 was incorrect, and that Mr. Lucas was to point out that that plan, in contradiction of the note inscribed upon it, showed just as Byres' map did-that lots "K" and "L" abutted on Crown land, and were, therefore, not " encompassed" by the lands of con- tiguous planters.

That Mr. Lucas was to request us to take the papers into our consideration, and to report

(1.) Whether the owner of the Camden Park Estate could make a good title to lots "K" and "L"—

(a.) Under the notes on the map and plan above referred to;

(b.) By sixty years' adverse possession;

(c.) Or how otherwise?

2. Whether, if the legal title to those lots was still in the Crown, it would be equitable for the Crown to assert its title, having regard to the fact that the owners of the Camden Park Estate had enjoyed the user of such lots unquestioned by the Crown from the year 1829, and possibly from an earlier date, down to the year 1888.

We have taken the matter into our consideration and, in obedience to your com- mands, have the honour to

Report-

1. (a) That, in our opinion, if the notes on the map and plan of 1776 and the action of the Commissioners therein described were the only element in this case,

10467-23-12/1901

W: 352 D&S