CO885-(15-16) — Page 83

3885.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

To Te Ti

C.O. 885

Reference !→→→

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

SIR,

No. 67.

(BRITISH HONDURAS.)

ATTORNEY GENERAL to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice,

January 30, 1901. I was honoured with your commands, signified in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 4th instant, stating that with reference to the Law Officers' Report of the 18th October last," on the subject of the extradition of Military and Naval deserters who had escaped from Mexico into British Honduras, he was directed by you to inform me that upon consideration it appeared to you desirable that provision should be made by an agreement between Her Majesty's Government on behalf of the Colony of British Honduras, and the Government of Mexico for the reciprocal surrender of Military and Naval deserters as such, irrespective of the question whether or not they had committed an offence extradit- able under the present treaty.

That in this connection Mr. Bertram Cox was to enclose for my information an extract from a Memorandum prepared in the Foreign Office, and in especial he was to refer me to the Report of the Law Officers, dated November 23rd, 1893,† with reference to a proposal for a similar agreement between the Governments of the Straits Settlements and of Netherlands India. That in that Report the opinion was expressed that no reciprocal arrangement for the arrest and surrender of Military and Naval deserters could be entered into on behalf of Her Majesty without further legislation, that neither the Foreign Deserters Act, 1852, nor the Extradition Act of 1870 applied to the case suggested, and that Statutory authority to enter into the proposed arrangement would be

necessary.

That Mr. Bertram Cox was also to refer me to the Law Officers' opinion of the 8th June, 1883,‡ regarding an agreement between the English General in command of the Fortress of Gibraltar, who was also Governor, and as such had full power to legislate for Gibraltar, and the Spanish General at Algeciras. That the agreement in question That it had however been suggested was still in force and was frequently acted upon. that the later Law Officers' opinion of 1893† implied that Imperial legislation was required to validate a Convention for the surrender of Military deserters, and he was therefore to request that I would take the papers into my consideration and advise :—

(a.) Whether there was anything in Section 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, the Extradition Acts, or generally in any Imperial Statute, to prevent Her Majesty's Government from entering on behalf of the Colony of British Hondurus into an arrange- ment with the Government of Mexico for the reciprocal surrender under proper conditions of Military and Naval deserters.

(b.) Whether, assuming that the answer to the first question was in the negative, a Colonial Ordinance would be sufficient to provide for the carrying out of such an arrangement.

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

Report-

(a.) That in my opinion His Majesty's Government cannot, on behalf of the Colony of British Honduras, enter into the suggested arrangement with the Government of Mexico for the reciprocal surrender of Naval and Military deserters without fresh legislation. The right of His Majesty's Government to enforce extradition is at present derived from the Extradition Act, 1870, and it would require Statutory authority from the Imperial Parliament, or the local Legislature, to bring into effect any arrangement with reference to Naval and Military deserters who are not included in the Extradition Act.

An Act of the (h.) A Colonial Ordinance would be sufficient for the purpose. local Legislature in British Honduras is all that is wanted to confer upon the Executive there the requisite authority. Indeed, the 18th Section of the Extradition Act, 1870,

• No. 55.

D & S 7875-23-2:1901 Wi 324

† No. 48 in Vol, V.

No. 297 in Vol. III.

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