First,
11.
It is submitted that this view is sound in principle.
as a matter of constitutional law, the colonial legislatures are
subordinate to the legislative competence of the UK Parliament,
which retains an inherent authority to legislate for the good
government of dependent territories. Second, even if it is the case
that a certain degree of legislative competence has been devolved to the governmental authorities in the dependent territories, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs retains
ultimate responsibility for all areas of government in dependent
territories and is answerable to Parliament in respect of them.
12. For all these reasons, therefore, it is suggested that the view
of the Clerks is correct, and that a Select Committee is not sitting
"overseas" when it sits in a dependent territory but is still
"within the jurisdiction of Parliament". This therefore means that
the Select Committee can exercise in a dependent territory, as it
can in Westminster, its second important power, namely, the power to
send for witnesses and documents.
13. (b) The Power to Send for Persons, Papers and Records
By virtue of the authority contained in paragraph (5) (a) of Standing
Order 130, witnesses may be summoned to appear before a Select
Committee by an order signed by the Chairman of the Committee requesting the witness to attend. The witness can also be required to bring with him all such documents as he is informed will be
required for the use of the Committee. If a witness fails to attend
when so summoned, his conduct would be reported to the House, which
would usually order him to attend at the Bar. If he still failed to
attend, he would be dealt with as in any other case of disobedience
to an order of the House. In other words, disobedience to the order
of a Committee is a contempt of the House by which the Committee was appointed, provided that the order disobeyed was within the scope of
the Committee's authority. It is likewise a contempt of the House
to refuse to permit books or papers to be inspected, or to refuse to
produce them when requested.
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