DOMINICA. (Hansard, 12 March 1824)

§ Mr. Hume
said, he could not understand why She island of Dominica should not pay its own chief justice; for the 600l. was the salary of that officer. He thought that ministers might reduce some useless places in the island, and apply the salaries which would thus fall in, to the payment of the chief justice.

Mr. Wilmot Horton
said, that if the hon. member would refer to the correspondence which had taken place between lord Bathurst and the principal civil colonial officers which had been printed and laid upon the table of the House in March, 1821, he would there find a statement of the reasons which had induced ministers to call upon the House for the present grant. Ministers did not possess the power of compelling the House of assembly of Dominica to pay the salary of the chief justice.

§ Mr. Bennet
said, that if the colony did not choose to pay for their chief justice, they ought to go without one. He believed the ground taken by the colonists, 954 in their correspondence with lord Bathurst, was, that while the government of the colonies was administered in so unjust and oppressive a manner, they would not pay for their civil establishments. Under these circumstances he thought the House ought not to be called upon to vote this sum of 600l.

Mr. W. Horton
said, that the government would have taken a very serious responsibility on themselves, if they had deprived this colony of the services of the chief justice. There were many considerations which rendered those services necessary in the highest degree. In many cases it became the duty of government to attempt to force a civil establishment on colonies, to which the colonists had no disposition. He trusted, however, that ere long, the colony in question would be able to pay this small sum.

Colonel Davies
objected to the general impolicy of our colonial system, and complained, that appointments in the colonies were made the objects of patronage.

§ Mr. Hume
said, that the importance of the duties which the chief justice had to perform was no reason why the people of England should be called upon to pay for his services. If they were important, they were worth paying for by the colonists; and if they were not worth paying for by the colonists, that was a reason why the people of England should not be called upon to pay for them. The charges for the colonies, to be just, ought to be equal. There was no chief justice at St. Lucie or Jamaica; no civil establishment was paid for in those islands. The principle of taxing the people of England for the civil establishment of the colonies was so unjustifiable, that he would take the sense of the committee on the subject.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer
said, that by far the greater portion of the West-India Islands did pay the whole expenses of their civil establishment, but the island of Dominica was, and always had been, one of the most distressed spots in the West Indies. It had suffered repeatedly from violent hurricanes, which had destroyed the whole annual produce of the island. Many parts of it were so sterile as scarcely to repay the labour of cultivation. Under these circumstances, though undoubtedly the propriety of the general rule, that the colonies should pay for their own civil establishments, could not be denied, yet, in the case of this small island, which had a difficulty in 955 raising its own supplies, he thought we ought, in fairness and justice, to take upon ourselves the moderate portion of the expenses called for in this vote. The salary to the chief justice was not a matter which merely interested the planters of that island; the office was of essential importance to that unfortunate portion of the population, whose well-being mainly depended on the pure administration of justice. Under these circumstances he trusted the. House would not refuse its sanction to the vote.

§ Mr. Hume
said, that after what had fallen from the right hon. gentleman, he would not divide the committee on the question; but he would do so next year, if the vote should be then proposed.