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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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We may add that Law 4 of 1895 in section 7 expressly recognises the right of such a bank as the Nova Scotia Bank to carry on business in Jamaica.

(2.) Does not arise.

(3.) The issue of the license by the Stamp Commissioner has, in our opinion, no bearing on the question whether the Nova Scotia Bank is entitled to carry on business and issue notes in Jamaica. If, by law, that right did not exist it could not be conferred by the issue of the license.

(4.) Legislation would be required to effect any of these purposes.

(5.) Yes. There is no right on the part of the Government to refuse the license, or to revoke it when once granted, if the Bank is legally entitled to carry on business and issue notes.

(6.) We have nothing to add by way of general observation.

We have, &c.,

RICHARD E. WEBSTER,

ROBERT B. FINLAY.

The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.,

&c.,

&c.,

&c.

10706.

SIR,

No. 29.

(Mauritius.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, April 3, 1900. We were honoured with your commands signified to us in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 19th ultimo, stating that he was directed by you to forward to us a copy of an Ordinance passed by the Legislature of Mauritius, entitled "The Foreign Judgments Ordinance, 1899."

That the circumstances of its introduction were fully stated in the Procureur-General's Explanatory Report upon the Ordinance.

That the necessity for its introduction would appear to have been disclosed by the unsatisfactory result of an action tried in the Colony between the Sargerhausen Fabrik Company and one de Chazal, in which the successful defendant failed to obtain from the plaintiff's, a German company, the costs of suit he had been awarded, although he had endeavoured for upwards of three years to obtain them by legal action in Germany.

That this result, it appeared, was partly due to the rigorous interpretation put upon the word "reciprocity," which was an essential condition according to the German code for the execution of foreign judgments in Germany.

That, having regard to the international and other questions involved, you entertained considerable doubt as to the advisability of sanctioning the Ordinance, and had accordingly referred it informally to Professor Dicey and Sir C. P. Ilbert for an expression of their opinion upon it.

That copies of their Reports were enclosed for our perusal.

Memo.,

Mr. Bertram Cox further stated that he was to request that we would take these 13 March, matters into our consideration, and report-

1900.

We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your commands, have the honour to

Whether it was desirable that the Ordinance should be sanctioned, and, if not, upon February, what grounds should Her Majesty be advised to decline to sanction it.

Report, 28

1900.

Report-

That, in our opinion, this Ordinance ought to be disallowed.

We are not very favourably impressed by the measure as a whole, but it appears to

us that section 1 (1) (d) affords sufficient ground for disallowance. It appears to us to be most impolitic to allow an Ordinance providing for affixing by the act of the Executive a stigma to the judgments of any foreign country. It is much better that, if the judgment has been obtained by fraud, it should be alleged and proved in each particular case according to the present practice.

It is not very easy to say what the precise effect of this Ordinance would be held to be. If it were a measure which affected only local interests at Mauritius, we should not advise its disallowance; but it must be looked at with reference to its effect on various parts of the Empire and on our relations with foreign countries. The advantages of the measure appear to us doubtful, and its disadvantages great.

If the subject is to be dealt with at all, it should be dealt with by some simpler and shorter measure capable of general application.

We have, &c.,

The Right Honourable J. Chamberlain, M.P.,

&c., &c.,

&c.

RICHARD E. WEBSTER. ROBERT B. FINLAY.

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