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A.—2

No. 1. New Zealand, No. 123. My Lord, — Downing Street, 31st March, 1911. With reference to my despatch, No. 47, of the 10th February, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, the accompanying copy of an Order of His Majesty in Council with regard to the procedure in connection with appeals from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa to His Majesty in Council. I have, &c, L. HARCOURT. Governor the Right Hon. Lord Islington, K.C.M.G., D.5.0., &c.

Enclosure. At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 4th day of March, 1911. Present: The King's Most Excellent Majesty, Lord President, Lord Denman, Lord Sandhurst, Mr. J. A. Pease, Master of Elibank. Whereas by the South Africa Act, 1909 (9 Edward VII, cap. 9), it is among other things enacted that there shall be no appeal from the Supreme Court of South Africa or from any division thereof to the King in Council, but that nothing therein contained shall be construed to impair any right which the King in Council may be pleased to exercise to grant special leave to appeal from the Appellate Division to the King in Council: And whereas it is desirable, with a view to promoting uniformity in the practice and procedure in appeals to His Majesty in Council, that provision should be made for regulating the manner in which the proceedings in the case of appeals by such special leave shall be conducted: It is hereby ordered by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of the Privy Council, that the rules hereinafter set out shall regulate appeals from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa to His Majesty in Council. 1. In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,— " Appeal " means appeal to His Majesty in Council; " His Majesty " includes His Majesty's heirs and successors ; " Judgment " includes decree, order, sentence, or decision ; ■" Court " means the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa ; " Record " means the aggregate of papers relating to an appeal (including the pleadings, • " proceedings, evidence, and judgments) proper to be laid before His Majesty in Council on the hearing of the appeal; - "Registrar" means the Registrar or other proper officer having the custody of the records in the Court appealed from ; " Month " means calendar month ; Words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular. 2. The preparation of the record shall be subject to the supervision of the Court, and the parties may submit any disputed question arising in connection therewith to the decision of the Court, and the Court shall give such directions thereon as the justice of the case may require. 3. The Registrar, as well as the parties and their legal agents, shall endeavour to exclude from the record all documents (more particularly such as are merely formal) that are not relevant to the subject-matter of the appeal, and, generally, to reduce the bulk of the record as far as practicable, taking special care to avoid the duplication of documents and the unnecessary repetition of headings and other merely formal parts of documents ; but the documents omitted to be copied or printed shall be enumerated in a list to be placed after the index or at the end of the record. 4. Where in the course of the preparation of a record one party objects to the inclusion of a document on the ground that it is unnecessary or irrelevant, and the other party nevertheless insists upon its being included, the record, as finally printed (whether in South Africa or in England), shall, with a view to the subsequent adjustment of the costs of and incidental to such document, indicate in the index of papers, or otherwise, the fact that, and the party by whom, the inclusion of the document was objected to. 5. The record shall be printed in accordance with the rules set forth in the schedule hereto. It may be so printed either in South Africa or in England. 6. Where the record is printed in South Africa the Registrar shall, at the expense of the appellant, transmit to the Registrar of the Privy Council forty copies of such record, one of which copies he shall certify to be correct by signing his name on, or initialling, every eighth page thereof, and by affixing thereto the seal of the Court. 7. Where the record is to be printed in England the Registrar shall, at the expense of the appellant, transmit to the Registrar of the Privy Council one certified copy of such record, together with an index of all the papers and exhibits in the case. No other certified copies of- the record shall be transmitted to the agents in England by or on behalf of the parties of the appeal. 8. Where part of the record is printed in South Africa and part is to be printed in England, Rules 6 and 7 shall, as far as practicable, apply to such parts as are printed in South Africa and such as are to be printed in England respectively. 9. The reasons given by the Judge, or any of the Judges, for or against any judgment pronounced in,the course of the proceedings out of which the appeal arises shall by such Judge or Judges be communicated in writing to the Registrar, and shall by him be transmitted to the Registrar of the Privy Council at the same time when the record is transmitted.