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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PEPERE C.O.88

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

Jurisdiction Act, 1890. If it were held that those Islands were no longer outside British dominions, then the British Settlements Act, 1887, should apply.

It appears, therefore, that the Convention may be made Municipal Law by Order-in-Council.

It is suggested that the insertion of words expressly confirming the Convention might lead to a constitutional debate such as was raised by Mr. Gladstone on the Bill confirming the Heligoland Convention, but this case is entirely different. In the case of Heligoland the Convention was made subject to the assent of Parliament. and Mr. Gladstone objected to the Crown having been advised to make it subject to such assent. He contended that the treaty-making prerogative of the Crown ought to be kept independent of Parliament.

This was, no doubt, right so far as it applied to concessions of territory or other international arrangement, but the present case is one in which the treaty assumes to regulate the future rights and obligations of British subjects, and Mr. Gladstone did not contend that in such a case Parliamentary authority or assent could be dispensed with.

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Elgin, K.G.,

&c., &c., &c.

}

We have, &c.,

JOHN L. WALTON.

W. S. ROBSON.

25584

No. 80.

(WESTERN PACIFIC: NEW HEBRIDES.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Anglo-French Agreement Bill.]

Royal Courts of Justice,

July 18, 1907. MY LORD,

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified to us in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 9th July last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to request us to take into our consideration the following further questions in connection with the draft Bill shortly entitled "The Anglo-French Convention Act, 1907," to which reference was made in his letter of the 17th June last.

British any That Section 3 of the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872, forbids vessel to carry "native labourers of the said islands" unless the master thereof shall have given a bond for £500, and received a licence; and that on reference to the preamble it appears that the "said islands" are "islands in the Pacific Ocean not being in Her Majesty's dominions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power."

That the Anglo-French Convention of the 20th October, 1906, respecting the New Hebrides makes provision for the exercise of authority in that group by this shall group country and France jointly. Article 1, for instance, declares that the form a region of joint influence," and Article 7 provides that the High Commis- sioners (one appointed by His Majesty's Government and one by the French Govern- ment) shall have power to issue jointly, for the peace, order, and good government of the group

local regulations binding on all the inhabitants of the group, and to enforce such regulations by penalties not exceeding one month's imprisonment or a fine of £20.

That it followed that when the Convention came into operation, the group, though it would not be within the jurisdiction of any single civilised Power, would yet be within the jurisdiction of two such Powers jointly; and that your Lordship was inclined to think that the exercise of such jurisdiction would remove it from the category of islands "not within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power" as contemplated by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872.

That if so, it would appear to follow that the Act after the Convention was in force no longer applied to vessels carrying native labourers of the New Hebrides. and that the master of any such vessel 'would be no longer bound by the Act to enter into a bond for £500 or to obtain a licence.

That if this view could be sustained in law, the necessity would be avoided for passing an Act of Parliament authorising His Majesty to direct by Order in Council that Section 3 of the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872, should cease to apply to the New Hebrides under certain conditions; to great public convenience having regard to the state of Parliamentary business and to the controversial matters affected.

That Mr. Bertram Cox was to request us to take the matter into our considera- tion together with the questions raised in his letter of the 17th June last, and report:-

(a) Whether, when the Anglo-French Convention of the 20th October, 1906, came into operation, the New Hebrides would cease to be islands “not within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power" within the meaning of the preamble to the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872?

(b) If so, whether the master of a British vessel carrying native labourers of the New Hebrides would cease, when the Convention came into operation, to be bound to have entered into a bond for £500, and to have received a licence?

(c) Generally.

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

Report—

That in our opinion, although the New Hebrides may now be said to be within

the jurisdiction of a civilised Power or Powers, the Pacific Islanders Protection Act

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