520

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 16

REGULATIONS.

1. EVERY Judge or Commissioner of the High Court of the Cook Islands and every Judge of the Native Land Court shall have jurisdiction to inquire into-
   (a.) The manner of the death of any person who is killed or drowned, or who dies suddenly or without being attended by a duly qualified medical practitioner, or in prison, or while detained as a mental defective in any institution, and whose body is lying dead;
   (b.) The cause and origin of any fire whereby any building, ship, or merchandise, or any stack of copra or cocoa, or any growing crop is destroyed or damaged.

2. Every such Judge or Commissioner shall in respect to every inquest have all powers, authorities, and jurisdictions that now belong by law to the office of Coroner in England, except so far as the same may be varied by or are inconsistent with any Act or law in force in the Cook Islands; and shall have the same power to punish for any wilful misbehaviour or wilful interruption of the proceedings of any inquest as such Judge or Commissioner has by law in the case of the like offences committed in or in respect of the High Court or the Native Land Court: Provided that no one shall be tried upon an inquisition under these regulations.

3. It shall be the duty of all officers of police to inquire concerning every death within their respective districts or localities, and to report the same to the Chief Officer of Police if the death has taken place in Rarotonga or Niue, or to the Resident Agent if in any other of the Cook Islands, giving the name of some person present at the death or in attendance during the last illness of such deceased person, or of the occupier of the house in which such deceased person died, as the case may require, and stating whether the deceased was during such last illness attended by a duly qualified medical practitioner.

4. Where upon the holding of any inquest touching the death of any person it appears to the Judge or Commissioner that the deceased person was not at or immediately before his death attended by any legally qualified medical practitioner, the Judge or Commissioner may issue a summons for the attendance as a witness at such inquest of some legally qualified medical practitioner, and where the deceased person was attended by any such practitioner the Judge or Commissioner may issue a summons for his attendance.

5. The Judge or Commissioner may by an order in writing at any time before the termination of the inquest direct any legally qualified medical practitioner to perform a post mortem examination of the body of the deceased.

6. Where upon an inquest it appears to the Judge or Commissioner that the cause of death has not been satisfactorily accounted for, the Judge or Commissioner may forthwith cause an analysis or a further post mortem examination to be made by some competent skilled person.

7. The Judge or Commissioner may direct the payment of such reasonable fee as he may think fit for such attendance, post mortem examination, or analysis to the person attending or making the same, except in the case of Medical Officers of the Cook Islands Administration. Such fee shall be paid out of the Cook Islands Treasury.

8. Every medical practitioner or other person on whom any summons or order of a Judge or Commissioner aforesaid is served, either personally or by leaving the same at his usual residence in sufficient time for him to obey the same, who fails without good and sufficient cause to obey such summons or order is liable to a fine not exceeding £20.

9. There shall be no forfeiture of any chattel in respect of the same having moved to or caused the death of man.

10. No proceedings under these regulations shall take away or affect or be deemed to take away or affect the right of any person to sue for or recover compensation for or in respect of any damage or injury occasioned by the reckless or negligent use of fire.

11. It shall be lawful to hold any inquest on a Sunday.

12. In respect of every inquest there shall be paid to the Judge or Commissioner holding the same such travelling allowances and expenses as are prescribed by any regulations in force regarding the Cook Islands Public Service.

F. D. THOMSON,
Clerk of the Executive Council.