TNAG-0601-FCO40-749-Capital-punishment-in-Dependent-Territories-1977 — Page 61

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effectiveness of the Act to five years in the first instance

(Hansard, volume 713: columns 528-568). The resolution

to remove the five year limitation was debated and carried on

16 December 1969 (Hansard, volume 793: columns 1148-1298);

the previous day a motion seeking to censure the Government

for introducing the resolution prematurely was defeated (Hansard,

volume 793: colums 939-1062). An earlier move by Mr Duncan-

Sandys to throw out the Act altogether was defeated on 24 June

1969 (Hansard, volume 785: colums 1228-1236).

6.

Finally the Secretary of State asked why it is not

possible for the Governor of Bermuda to do as the Governor of

Hong Kong does and commute the death penalty in every case.

The difference derives from the different constitutional positions

in the two territories. In Hong Kong, because there is no

elected legislature, it was considered acceptable in 1973 for the

Secretary of State to overrule a decision by the Governor and

recommend that The Queen should grant a petition for mercy.

The policy followed by the Governor since then is to commute

death sentences in every case even if none of the normal grounds

for commutation exist. In Bermuda, on the other hand, there is

an elected local legislature, and, in accordance with the Creech-

it Jones doctrine, would be inappropriate for the Secretary of

State to interfere with the Governor's decisions on matters of

internal policy. The Governor, for his part, has accepted it

as proper that he should be guided by the clearly expressed

views of the local legislature in 1975 on the retention of the

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