5
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1981, the Attorney-General certainly manoeuvred very politically
against the FCO stance on his post.
be said to have been toward London.
things would have been different.
His loyalty could hardly
With an OSAS appointment,
However, once given up, an
OSAS slot is difficult to claw back. Even so, a query remains.
Governors are subject to FCO inspection. The police are also
subject to FCO inspection. But the Attorney-General post,
albeit a Secretary of State appointment, apparently remains
outside any inspection from the Legal Advisers in London on
behalf of the Secretary of State.
8.
One other point. There are major and growing divergencies
between BVI and UK law. Hanging, I have touched upon, Moreover
BVI murder law permits no defence of diminished responsibility.
Also a life sentence here automatically means prison to the day
you die.
During my time I reduced two such sentences for
prisoners with long records of good behaviour: one came down to 30 years; the other (a case of a man who perhaps should never
have been convicted at all) to 24 years. The local headline read
pejoratively "Governor's leniency to murderers". But as I come
to depart, the community is itself sponsoring a parole system
for the two men. I may have triggered something. I appreciate
that little may be possible on the divergencies in laws.
However, it seems a subject on which Ministers and perhaps also
Parliament should be informed.
THE ECONOMY
9.
Since 1978, the BVI economy has been growing in real terms
at about 15% a year. The national debt (if such a grand word is
possible for our tiny borrowings) is stable. Unemployment is nil
and BVI inflation is less than its neighbours and well below the
UK rate. However, although grant in aid ended in 1978, the
Islands have been recipients of invaluable UK development aid
/running
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