Numb. 66

DIEU ET MON DROIT

643

THE

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1871.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 20th December, 1871.

THE following Despatches, with Enclosures, from the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, are published for general information.

W. GISBORNE.

Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Earl of KIMBERLEY to Governor Sir G. F. BOWEN,
G.C.M.G.

(Circular.)

Downing Street, 8th August, 1871.

SIR,— I transmitted to the Lord President of the Privy Council extracts of so much of the Report
of the Royal Commission appointed by the Governor of Victoria to consider and report upon certain
questions of Intercolonial Legislation, as relates to the proposed establishment of a High Court of
Appeal for the Australasian Colonies, and I have received in reply the enclosed letter and statement,
which, in accordance with His Lordship's suggestion, I request that you will communicate to your
Government, and to the Judges, and make generally known in the Colony, in such manner as you may
deem most convenient.

As I have not yet been informed that the Government of Victoria has adopted the recommenda-
tions of the Commission, and as I have no means of judging whether those recommendations are likely
to be favourably received in the other Australasian Colonies, I abstain at present from attempting to
form any conclusion as to the necessity or expediency of constituting such an Appeal Court as is
proposed.

I will only observe that the Lord President's letter, with the statement annexed to it, seems to me
to deserve the careful consideration of your Government, and of all persons in the Colonies who take
an interest in this important subject.

I have, &c.,
KIMBERLEY.

Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G.

Enclosure.

The REGISTRAR of the PRIVY COUNCIL to the ASSISTANT UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE for the
COLONIAL DEPARTMENT, on the Subject of the Appellate Jurisdiction of Her Majesty in
Council, over the Australian Colonies.

20th July, 1871.

SIR,— I have laid before the Lord President of the Council your letter of the 21st June, enclosing,
by direction of the Earl of Kimberley, a copy of the First Report of the Royal Commission of the
Colony of Victoria on the subject of Intercolonial Legislation and a Court of Appeal for the Australian
Colonies, and I am to inform you that His Lordship's attention has been directed to that part of the
Report which relates to Appeals to Her Majesty in Council. On this subject I am directed by the
Lord President to address to you the following remarks, in the hope that they may serve to correct
some misapprehensions which appear to exist in the Australian Colonies.

In order to show precisely the amount of the business which has come before Her Majesty in
Council and the Judicial Committee from the Australian Colonies since their settlement, Lord Ripon
has caused the Statement to be prepared which I have the honor to annex to this letter. His Lordship
would suggest that it may be desirable to cause this Statement to be extensively made known in all
the Australian Colonies, and for this purpose forty copies of it will be sent herewith.

It appears from this Statement that the total number of Appeals from New South Wales from
1842 to 1871 has been 64, of which 41 have been heard, and 23 dismissed for non-prosecution; from
Victoria there have been 32 Appeals, of which 23 have been heard, 9 have been dismissed for non-
prosecution; from Tasmania there have been 3 Appeals; from Queensland, 1; from New Zealand, 3; from
South Australia 5 have been heard and 4 dismissed for non-prosecution; from Western Australia there
have been none.