CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12] — Page 292

-2-

286

cf serving process.

It would have been dangerous to allow

the law to remain in this condi .ion in a Colony where intimida- tion is practised so frequently and where large masses of the

pcpulation are so susceptible to it. Bribery of course is

another danger. Section 2 of the present Ordinance according-

ly adds a further ground to the various grounds specified in section 29 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1889, and in future it will be

enough to prove that the witness cannot be found at his last

need

known place of residence in the Colony. It

hardly be

said that every effort will always be made to secure the actual

attendance of the witnesses.

3.

The amendments made by paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 2

are formal. It is not known to what the word "warning" refers,

and if that word be deleted the word "given" must go with it.

"Oath" of course includes affirmation.

4. It is well known that there have been a number of somewhat

technical decisions on section 32 of ordinance No. 2 of 1889

and on the English section from which that section was taken. In a recent murder case in this Colony the conviction was quashed

on the ground that the notice did not specify the offence. The Acting Chief Justice seemed to incline to the opinion that the dying deposition was inadmissible on two other grounds also. One was that the notice was not given at a sufficiently long in-

The Acting Puisne terval before the taking of the deposition. Judge thought that the notice was reasonable in this respect in

The other ground upon view of the urgency of the occasion.

which the Acting Chief Justice questioned the admissibility of the dying deposition was that the caption was not full enough.