government of our said Colony, as fully as if these presents had not been made.

5. And we do further declare our pleasure to be that, for the purpose of advising our said Governor, there shall be for our said Colony an Executive Council, which shall be composed of such persons, and constituted in such manner, as may be directed by any instructions which may from time to time be addressed to our said Governor by us under our sign-manual and signet, and all such persons shall hold their places in the said Council at our pleasure.

6. And we do authorize and empower our said Governor to keep and use the public seal of our said Colony for the sealing of all things whatsoever that shall pass the said seal. And we do direct that, until a public seal shall be provided for our said Colony, the seal of our said Governor shall be used as the public seal of our said Colony for sealing all things that shall pass the said seal.

7. And we do further authorize and empower our said Governor to make and execute in our name and on our behalf, under the said public seal, grants and dispositions of land, which may be lawfully granted or disposed of by us within our said Colony, either in conformity with instructions under our sign-manual and signet, or in conformity with such regulations as may be made by our said Governor in that behalf and duly published in our said Colony.

8. And we do further authorize and empower our said Governor to constitute and appoint all such Judges, Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, Justices of the Peace, and other necessary officers and ministers as may lawfully be appointed by us, all of whom shall hold their offices during our pleasure.

9. And we do further authorize and empower our said Governor, as he shall see occasion, in our name and on our behalf, when any crime has been committed within our said Colony, or for which the offender may be tried therein, to grant a pardon to any accomplice, not being the actual perpetrator of such crime, who shall give such information as shall lead to the apprehension and conviction of the principal offender; and, further, to grant to any offender convicted of any crime in any court, or before any Judge, Justice, or Magistrate within our said Colony, a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions, or any respite of the execution of the sentence of any such offender for such period as to such Governor may seem fit; and to remit any fines, penalties, or forfeitures which may accrue or become payable to us.

10. And we do further authorize and empower our said Governor, upon sufficient cause to him appearing, to suspend from the exercise of his office within our said Colony, any person exercising the same under or by virtue of any Commission or Warrant granted, or to be granted by us, in our name, or under our authority, which suspension

shall continue and have effect only until our pleasure therein shall be made known to him and signified to him. And we do hereby strictly require and enjoin him, in proceeding to any such suspension, to observe the directions in that behalf given to him by any instructions under our sign-manual and signet as may be hereafter addressed to our said Governor for the time being.

11. And whereas it is necessary that provision be made for the execution of this our Charter in the event of the death or incapacity of our said Governor, or of his removal from his command, or of his absence from the limits of his said Government: Now, therefore, we do further declare our pleasure to be that, in any such event as aforesaid, all and every the powers and authorities hereby vested in him shall be, and the same are hereby vested in such person as may be appointed by us, under our sign-manual and signet, to be the Lieutenant-Governor of our said Colony; or if there shall be no such Lieutenant-Governor, then in such person or persons as may be appointed by us under our sign-manual and signet to administer the Government of our said Colony; and in case there should be no person or persons within our said Colony so appointed by us, then in the senior member of the Executive Council of our said Colony for the time being: and such Lieutenant-Governor, Administrator, or senior member of the Executive Council, as the case may be, shall execute all and every the powers and authorities herein granted until our further pleasure shall be signified therein. Provided always, and we do further declare our pleasure to be, that our Governor for the time being, during the period of his passage by sea from one of our said islands to another, or while visiting or residing at any place within any of our said islands, shall not, for any of the purposes aforesaid, be considered as being absent from the limits of his said Government.

12. And we do further declare and direct that during his absence from any one of our said islands, but while he is within the limits of his said Government as aforesaid, our said Governor may, if he think fit, appoint some person to act as his deputy in administering the Government of our said islands upon such terms and conditions and for such time as he may think fit, and all or such of the powers and authorities aforesaid as our said Governor in his discretion shall, from time to time, think it necessary or expedient to assign to such deputy, shall be vested in such deputy.

13. And we do further direct and enjoin that this our Charter shall be read and proclaimed at such place or places as our said Governor shall think fit within the said Colony.

14. And we do hereby require and command all officers, civil and military, and all other the inhabitants of our said Colony, to be obedient, aiding, and assisting unto our said Governor, for the time

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being, and to the officer appointed to administer the Government of our said Colony, in the execution of this our Commission and of the powers and authorities herein contained.

15. And we do hereby reserve to us, our heirs and successors, full power and authority, from time to time, to revoke, alter, or amend these our Letters Patent as to us or them shall seem meet.

In witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 2nd day of January, in the 38th year of our reign.

By warrant under the Queen's sign-manual.

C. ROMILLY.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, for determining the Mode of exercising the Power and Jurisdiction acquired by Her Majesty within divers Countries on the West Coast of Africa near or adjacent to Her Majesty's Gold Coast Colony.—Osborne, August 6, 1874.*

At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 6th day of August, 1874.

PRESENT: THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT

MAJESTY.

Lord President, Mr. Secretary Cross, Mr. Disraeli.

WHEREAS by an Act made and passed in the session of Parliament holden in the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty's reign [cap. 94], intituled "An Act to remove doubts as to the exercise of power and jurisdiction by Her Majesty within divers countries and places out of Her Majesty's dominions, and to render the same more effectual," it was, amongst other things, enacted that it should be lawful for Her Majesty to hold, exercise, and enjoy any power or jurisdiction which Her Majesty then had or might at any time thereafter have, within any country or place out of Her Majesty's dominions, in the same and as ample a manner as if Her Majesty had acquired such power or jurisdiction by the cession or conquest of territory:

And whereas by certain Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the 24th day of July, 1874, in the 38th year of Her Majesty's reign, Her Majesty's Settlements on the Gold Coast and of Lagos were constituted and erected into one Colony, under the * Proclaimed at Cape Coast, September 12, 1874. + Page 942. + Vol. XXXI. Page 984.

title of the Gold Coast Colony, and a Legislative Council was appointed for the said Colony, with certain powers and authority to legislate for the said Colony, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being had thereto, will more fully appear:

And whereas Her Majesty hath acquired power and jurisdiction within divers countries on the West Coast of Africa near or adjacent to Her Majesty's said Gold Coast Colony, and it is expedient to determine the mode of exercising such power and jurisdiction:

Now, therefore, it is hereby ordered, with the advice and consent of Her Privy Council, as follows:

1. It shall be lawful for the Legislative Council, for the time being, of the said Gold Coast Colony, by Ordinance or Ordinances, to exercise and provide for giving effect to all such powers and jurisdiction as Her Majesty may, at any time before or after the passing of this Order in Council, have acquired in the said territories adjacent to the Gold Coast Colony.

2. The Governor for the time being of the said Colony shall have a negative voice in the passing of all such Ordinances as aforesaid. And the right is hereby reserved to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, to disallow any such Ordinances as aforesaid, in whole or in part, such disallowance being signified to the said Governor through one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and also to make and establish from time to time, with the advice and consent of Parliament, or with the advice of her or their Privy Council, all such Laws or Ordinances as may to her or then appear necessary for the exercise of such powers and jurisdiction as aforesaid, as fully as if this Order in Council had not been made.

3. In the making and establishing all such Ordinances, the said Legislative Council shall conform to and observe all such rules and regulations as may from time to time be appointed by any instruction or instructions issued by Her Majesty with the advice of Her Privy Council, and, until further directed, the instructions in force for the time being as to Ordinances passed by the said Legislative Council for the peace, order, and good government of the said Gold Coast Colony shall, so far as they may be applicable, be taken and deemed to be in force in respect of Ordinances passed by the said Council by virtue of this Order in Council.

4. In the construction of this Order in Council the term "Governor" shall include the officer for the time being administering the Government of the said Gold Coast Colony.

And the Right Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.

ARTHUR HELPS.

ACT of the British Parliament, for amending the Law relating to the Coasting Trade and Merchant Shipping in British [Application of Merchant Shipping Acts to

Possessions.

Canada.]

[32 Vict., cap. 11.]

[May 13, 1869.]

Be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Preliminary.

1. This Act may be cited as "The Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869."

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

The term "British Possession" means any territory or place situate within Her Majesty's dominions, and not forming part of the United Kingdom, or of the Channel Islands, or Isle of Man ; and all territories and places under one legislature as hereinafter defined are deemed to be one British Possession for the purposes of this Act:

The term "legislature" includes any person or persons who exercise legislative authority in the British Possession, and where there are local legislatures as well as a central legislature, means the central legislature only.

3. This Act shall be proclaimed in every British Possession by the Governor thereof as soon as may be after he receives notice of this Act, and shall come into operation in that British Possession on the day of such proclamation, which day is hereinafter referred to as the commencement of this Act.

Coasting Trade.

4. After the commencement of this. Act the legislature of a British Possession, by any Act or Ordinance, from time to time, may regulate the coasting trade of that British Possession, subject in every case to the following conditions:

(1.) The Act or Ordinance shall contain a suspending clause, providing that such Act or Ordinance shall not come into operation until Her Majesty's pleasure thereon has been publicly signified in the British Possession in which it has been passed.

(2.) The Act or Ordinance shall treat all British ships (including the ships of any British Possession) in exactly the same manner as ships of the British Possession in which it is made.

(3.) Where by Treaty made before the passing of this Act Her Majesty has agreed to grant to any ships of any foreign State any