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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

SIR,

No. 162.

(WESTERN PACIFIC SOLOMON ISLANDS.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Right of the Crown to minerals in the Solomon Islands Protectorate.]

-

Law Officers' Department,

Royal Courts of Justice,

29th January, 1912.

WE were honoured with your commands signified to us in Mr. Henry Lambert's letter of the 16th October last, stating that he was directed to request that we would favour you with our opinion on certain questions affecting the right of the Crown to minerals in the Solomon Islands Protectorate.

That Mr. Lambert was to enclose two despatches from the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific dealing with that question, from which it would be seen that the present practice was that in certificates of occupation of waste lands in the Protectorate which were issued by the Government minerals and mineral oils were reserved, but that when native owners granted leases of land in the Protectorate no such reservations were made. That it was presumed that the same rule obtained with regard to sales of land by native owners.

That Mr. Lambert was also to enclose copies of Law Officers' Reports dated 13th December, 1899, and 15th August, 1905,* relating respectively to the power of dealing with leases in Protectorates generally, and the ownership of mining rights in the British Central Africa Protectorate.

That for the purpose of this reference it should be understood that His Majesty's Protectorate over the Solomon Islands rested upon a declaration of protection made on behalf of His Majesty and upon the actual exercise of protection over the tribes of the Protectorate, and that it did not rest upon treaties made with the native chiefs, and that indeed many of the natives of the Islands were too uncivilised for it to be practicable to obtain jurisdiction by treaty.

That it would appear to follow from the Law Officers' Report of the 13th December, 1899, that the Crown had full right to deal as it thought fit with un- occupied land and all minerals thereunder and to issue certificates of occupation, subject to such conditions as it deemed desirable.

That on the other hand the position of the Crown with regard to lands which were occupied by natives, and which were leased or sold by them to other persons, did not appear to be clear. That it would seem to follow from the Law Officers' Report of the 15th of August, 1905, that the right to minerals in those lands, whether gold or silver or other minerals, did not vest in the Crown by reason merely of the declaration of a Protectorate, but that if the Crown assumed the right of regulating the title to mines of gold or silver or other mines the conditions which it imposed could not be questioned in any municipal court.

That Mr. Lambert was, however, to state that the Government had not hitherto claimed for itself the right to issue certificates in respect of leases of lands granted by the natives to other persons, that, therefore, the position was not precisely parallel to the state of affairs which existed in the British Central Africa Protectorate, and that it would appear that the Crown had no right to any minerals unless that right could be conferred upon it by some act of legislation and had actually been so conferred.

That in this connection Mr. Lambert was to invite our attention to the Law Officers' Report of the 21st May, 1909,† with regard to the right of the Crown to dispose of bond vacantia in Northern Nigeria, and was also to call our attention to the provisions of Section 20 of the Western Pacific Order in Council, 1893, which

reads as follows:-

"Subject to the other provisions of this Order, the civil and criminal jurisdiction exercisable under this Order shall, as far as circumstances admit, be exercised upon the principles of, and in conformity with, the substance of

* Nos. 242 in Vol. V. and 15 in this Vol. (29965-9.) Wt, 98-481. 25. 8/12. D & 8.

t No. 116.

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