Num. 35 1443

SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
OF
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1911.

Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, MONDAY, MAY 1, 1911.

Modifying Criminal Law in force in the Cook Islands.

ISLINGTON, Governor.
ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government Buildings, at Wellington, this first day of May, 1911.

Present:

THE HONOURABLE JAMES CARROLL PRESIDING IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS by section three of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand intituled the Cook Islands Government Act, 1908, it was enacted that, subject to the provisions of the said Act, the laws in force in the said Cook Islands at the commencement of the said Act (including the local laws, customs, and usages of the Native inhabitants in so far as the same were not repugnant to the general principles of humanity) should continue until other provision was made, and subject as aforesaid the statute law of the Dominion of New Zealand, exclusive of the Cook Islands, should not be in force in the said islands: Provided that His Excellency the Governor of the said Dominion might from time to time, by Order in Council, direct that any of the laws in force in the said islands should be modified or repealed: And whereas in the said islands a High Court has been established, and jurisdiction has been conferred on such Court to try all crimes committed in the said islands: And whereas by section two of an Act passed in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by the Parliament of the said islands, and intituled “An Act to provide for the Punishment of Offenders,” and which is still in force, it was enacted, inter alia, that an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand intituled the Criminal Code Act, 1893, should be adopted as the criminal law of the said islands: And whereas it is expedient that the criminal law in force in the said islands should be modified so as to adapt it to the conditions and circumstances of the said islands and the inhabitants thereof:

Now, therefore, His said Excellency the Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the power and authority conferred on him by the said Act first hereinbefore referred to, and all other powers him enabling, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, doth hereby direct that the provisions of the criminal law relating to the procedure to be followed in the trial of persons accused of any crime before the said High Court, which are contained in the said Criminal Code Act, 1893, shall be and they are hereby modified to the extent provided in the Schedule hereto.

SCHEDULE.

1. It shall not be necessary when a person is accused before the High Court of a crime alleged to have been committed in the said islands to hold any preliminary inquiry before a Magistrate or Justices, but he shall be formally charged with the said crime before the said Court, and remanded or held to bail to appear before that Court upon a date and at a time and place to be fixed by the said Court.

2. It shall not be necessary to take depositions, but if any inquiry has been held into the matter under any law in force in the said islands or by any person holding an official position in the said islands, a copy in writing of the statements made by all persons giving evidence before any such inquiry shall be given to the person so charged in ample time to allow him to prepare a defence.

3. It shall not be necessary to summon a Grand Jury for the purpose of presenting an indictment against any person so charged, but any person authorized in that behalf either by His Excellency the Governor, or by the Resident Commissioner of the Islands, or by the Chief Justice of the said Court, may prepare and present an indictment before the said Court, charging the person so accused with the crime in respect of which he has been remanded to stand his trial.

4. Such indictment may be in any form which in the opinion of the said Court is calculated to give the person so charged fair and reasonable notice of the crime with which he is charged.