§ MR. DAVITTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what grounds were the people of Freetown, Sierra Leone, deprived of the right of trial by jury in civil cases; is it a fact that municipal government has been conferred on the citizens since Ordinance No. 6, of 1866, was promulgated; and whether, in view of the changed condition of things involved in the exercise of the responsibilities of municipal privileges by the inhabitants of Freetown, he will recommend the repeal of the ordinance in question and the restoration of the abrogated right to such citizens?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIESOrdinance 4, of 1866, which is no doubt the one referred to by the honourable Member, enacted that civil actions should be tried before a judge without a jury; and the honourable Member will find the reasons which were given for that enactment fully explained in the printed correspondence given to the House, No. 197, April 1867. Municipal government was conferred for the first time on the town of Freetown by an Ordinance of 1893, but no rate has yet been imposed, and the system is therefore only in its infancy. I have received no representation from the Colony in favour of reverting to the system which had proved unsatisfactory up to 1867, and I am not therefore prepared to advise the repeal of the enactment.