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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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Sir John Edge, member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India (appointed by him to attend the Conference on behalf of the Government of India).

Mr. Bertram Cox, Legal Assistant Under-Secretary to the Colonial Office. After considerable discussion, it was agreed that the Delegates should meet privately, and, after full deliberation amongst themselves, submit for further consideration any Resolutions at which they might arrive, and formulate proposals which would give expression to their joint views on the various issues raised. As a result of their defiberations, the Resolutions, of which a copy is enclosed, were arrived at. It will be seen that the majority of the Delegates were of opinion that appeals should continue to lie from the Colonies and from India to His Majesty in Council; that appointments to the Judicial Committee should be, from time to time, made in such numbers as might be considered necessary from the Colonies and from India; that the persons appointed should, if Judges, vacate any judicial appointment held at the time of their appointment to the Privy Council; but that the selection of persons so appointed should not be limited to Judges and ex-Judges. The Delegates were further of opinion that the Colonial members to be appointed should be appointed for life or for a term of years; and the suggestion was also put forward that sufficiently ample salaries should be provided; that arrangements should be made for securing a larger attendance of Lords of Appeal to sit on the Judicial Committee, and that with a view to avoid- ance of delay the Colonies should suggest any alterations and amendments which they considered desirable in the various Orders in Council regulating appeals to the Privy Council.

4. Mr. Justice Emerson, while concurring in the recommendations above sum- marized, did so subject to the proposal (hereafter referred to) which has been made for the establishment of an Imperial Court of Appeal for the Empire.

5. Sir James Prendergast was of opinion that while, for the present, appeal should continue to lie from the Colonies and from India to His Majesty in Council, the time might soon arrive when a new Final Court of Appeal for the whole British dominions would be practically possible. He was unable to agree with the Resolution of the majority of the Delegates as to appointments from the Colonies to the Judicial Committee, because he considered that that Resolution did not indicate a satisfactbry scheme of Colonial representation; and he further stated that, in Colonies where the legal systems were substantially the same as that of England, he failed to find sufficient reason for any Colonial representation.

6. Mr. Justice Hodges, who represented the Commonwealth of Australia, while agreeing with the majority of the Delegates that the selection of members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council should not be confined to Judges and ex- Judges, and that any Judge appointed should vacate any judicial office held at the time of his appointment to the Judicial Committee, was unable to concur in the Resolutions arrived at by the majority of the Delegates. It will be seen from a letter from him, dated the 9th July† (a copy of which is enclosed), that, in his opinion, it was desirable that there should be only one Court of Final Appeal, which should have vested in it the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords and of His Majesty in Council; that this Court should contain representatives from India, Canada, South Africa, and Australia, and should ordinarily sit in two divisions, though, in cases of exceptional difficulty, both divisions might sit together. Ife was of opinion that it was desirable that an entirely new Court should be formed, which he considered would command the admiration and respect not only of the whole British race, but of every race in the British dominions, and would be a powerful factor in the develop- ment of a closer union between all parts of the Empire.

7. The Resolutions of the Delegates were considered at a further meeting of all the members engaged in the Conference on the 11th July, and, after further discussion, the proceedings of the Conference were brought to a close.

8. As I have previously stated, it would be impossible should the Colonies not be practically unanimous in their recommendations to make any drastic changes in the constitution or procedure of the existing Courts of Appeal. Moreover, it is apparent that the majority of the Delegates are in substance satisfied with the existing system, though they offer suggestions which will have the careful consideration of His Majesty's Government for the amendment of the present system of Colonial Appeal on matters of detail.

9. The result of the Conference has been to show that no far-reaching alteration in the present Tribunal is desired, or would be considered satisfactory by the Colonies

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generally, and so long as the Colonies are of that opinion, His Majesty's Government do not propose to make any material changes for the establishment of an Imperial Court of Appeal.

10. In conclusion I have to thank your Government for the readiness with which they complied with the desire of IIis Majesty's Government that they should send to this country a Delegate to confer with IIis Majesty's Government upon this very important question; and I would ask your Ministers to consider the point suggested by the Delegates-namely, whether any, and if so what amendments are desirable in the present procedure under which appeals lic from your Colony to His Majesty in Council which will tend to simplicity, the avoidance of unnecessary delay, and the reduction of the cost of appeal.

I have, &c.

J. CHAMBERLAIN.