§ MR. DEASY (Mayo, W.)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether George Walpole Leake, Police Magistrate in Perth, Western Australia, who has been lately appointed Acting Justice by Governor Broom during the suspension of Chief Justice Onslow, was convicted in Perth and fined £10 for having used a defaced postage stamp; whether he was committed for contempt of Court in the same town; whether he is the same George Walpole Leake who, while acting as Attorney General, assaulted an attorney named Burt by hurling at him a large pewter ink bottle during a trial in the Supreme Court; and, whether the Colonial Office Regulation, No. 75, has been departed from in appointing him?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)I have made inquiry, and find that there is no record in the Colonial Office of the circumstances referred to. The hon. Member does not state whether the transactions which he alleges to have occurred were of distant or recent date; but whatever foundation there may be for the statements which have reached him, it is clear that successive Governors have held a high opinion of Mr. Leake's character and ability, as he has since 1857 been on many occasions appointed to act as Crown Solicitor, Police Magistrate, Attorney General, and Public Prosecutor; and he now holds the responsible post of Police Magistrate of Perth, the capital of the Colony. His appointment to act temporarily as Chief Justice has 1303 involved no departure from the 75th Colonial Regulation, which relates to permanent appointment.