§ MR. ADDERLEYI beg to ask the hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary for the 654 Colonies, whether the Government have in preparation the Bill for the extension of British Jurisdiction in South Africa to the Equator, which Earl Grey stated his intention to introduce this Session, in a despatch to Sir Harry Smith given in the papers, on the assumption of the Orange territory, presented to the House on the 19th of May last.
MR. PEELIn the year 1836 an Act of Parliament was passed bringing British subjects in territories adjacent to the Colony of the Cape, and south of the 25th degree of south latitude, under the jurisdiction of criminal laws and courts of the colony of the Cape. The object of that Act was to protect the natives against the outrages and violence of any of the British subjects. That Act was, I believe, found to be of considerable service in checking outrages; but a difficulty arose with respect to assigning limitations, and fixing upon the exact latitude of the spot where a crime was committed; and a recommendation was made, with a view of removing that objection, to do away with the limitation of the degree, and, at all events, to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of the colony as far as the Equator; and Earl Grey did announce to Sir Harry Smith that it was his intention to bring in a Bill, and to act upon that recommendation. If matters had proceeded in conformity with that recommendation, a Bill would have been introduced last Session; but, seeing the state of affairs on the eastern frontier of the colony, it was not thought advisable to proceed with that measure; and as the war still continues on the eastern frontier of the Cape, no step has been taken for the preparation of such a measure as that to which the hon. Gentleman refers.