HC Deb 05 December 1934 vol 295 cc1564-5
9. Sir PERCY HURD

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can make a statement of the circumstances attending the dismissal of a customs official in Jamaica for alleged fraud and the subsequent order for his reinstatement?

Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER

A member of the staff of the Collector-General in Jamaica admitted that he had misappropriated a sum of about £14 from Government funds. In view of his service of over thirty-five years and as dismissal would have entailed the loss of pension, the Governor in Privy Council recommended that he should be punished by a. reduction in rank, and should be retired on reaching the pensionable age of 60 in 1937. I accepted this recommendation.

The elected members of the Jamaica Legislature deleted from the Estimates of the Colony the provision for the salary of the officer in his new appointment. While on reconsideration in the light of fuller information which subsequently became available I reached the conclusion that the delinquent officer had been treated with undue leniency and should have been dismissed, I found myself unable to agree to a procedure of which the effect would have been to try him twice for the same offence and to allow the Jamaica, Legislature to intervene in regard to discipline in the public service, a matter in which, under the constitution of the island, His Majesty exercises his prerogative through the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governor in Privy Council. As it was my duty to maintain that prerogative, I requested the Governor to bring the matter before the Legislature with a view to financial provision being made for the salary of the officer concerned. On the elected members declining to reconsider their action, the Governor, with my authority, declared the matter to be one of paramount importance, and the motion to restore the salary was carried on his casting vote.

I will place in the Library a copy of my despatch to the Governor of Jamaica, which has been laid before the Colonial Legislature, and which elaborates the reasons for my decision.