§ Mr. Bryant Godman Irvineasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs if he will state the purpose of the Western Pacific Courts Order, 1967, Statutory Instrument 1967, No. 586.
§ Mr. BowdenIt was decided last year that the combined office of judge and legal adviser Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony should be abolished and replaced by two officers, namely, one an Attorney-General and the other a senior magistrate. Section 6(4) of the Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, 1961, before it was amended by the Western Pacific Courts Order, 1967, provided that the office of a judge should not be abolished during his continuance in office, and as there is a holder of the office of judge, Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, the office could not have been abolished. 251W Section 2 of the 1967 Order amends section 6(4) to bring it in to line with the provision to be found in some other constitutional instruments and to enable the office of a judge to be abolished with the consent of the holder.