§ MR. JOSEPH PEASE (Northumberland, Tyneside)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, during the five years ending March, 1892, charges were repeatedly made by Petition and otherwise, from the inhabitants of Trinidad and Tobago, against the Chief Justice of those Colonies, of interviewing and advising intending litigants; encouraging speculative litigation and fraudulent conduct in Court; using intemperate language on the Bench; and illegally dispensing with the Statute Laws; why the charges that were made were never brought against the Chief Justice by the Governor in Executive Council in the usual course; what steps have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, to provide for a speedy and effectual method in the future for dealing with similar charges; and whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the late Report of the Trinidad Judicial Inquiry Commission?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BOXTON,) Tower Hamlets, PoplarThe late Chief Justice, whose conduct was impugned, has died, and the Court has been entirely reconstituted. No special arrangements are necessary for dealing with similar charges in the future. There are certain well-defined and well-recognised modes of procedure under which action can be taken in the Colony, and it is not desirable that the Secretary of State should interfere where recourse has not first been had to the usual constitutional action. The Report will be laid on the Table; but, as it is very bulky, it seems undesirable to incur the expense of having it reprinted.