A—3

Ordinances of the Cook Islands, made by the Legislative Council of the Cook Islands — The Mosquito Control Ordinance 1947, No. 1. The Copra Ordinance 1947, No. 2. Local Island Ordinances — The Mangaia Ordinance 1947, No. 11, made in February, 1947, was disallowed by the Governor-General. 6. South Pacific Commission Steady progress was made during the year in the preliminary organization of the South Pacific Commission. The broad objective of the Commission is the economic and social advancement of all the islands people of the South Pacific and the prosecution of scientific research under a wide common plan of regional co-operation, and many particular projects of vital interest to the people of the Cook Islands are already envisaged. 7. Judicial Organization The judiciary comprises a High Court, a Native Land Court, and a Native Appellate Court. The High Court exercises civil and criminal jurisdiction throughout the Cook Islands, and the Native Land Court is concerned largely with litigation on lands and titles. The High Court consists of a Judge and two Commissioners in Rarotonga and the Resident Agents in their capacity of Commissioners in the outer islands. There are two Judges of the Native Land Court (the senior Judge being also 1 the Judge of the High Court), but there are no Commissioners at the present time. The Native Appellate Court was established by the Cook Islands Amendment Act, 1946. This Court will sit in the Cook Islands and will hear appeals and applications for rehearings. Previously, appeals were to the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and in practice Natives were usually unable to exercise their right of appeal on account of the expense involved. Rules of the Appellate Court were gazetted during the year,, and arrangements are in train for the first sitting. High Court actions l during the last five years are summarized as follows

Although there were numerous cases of assault, there was no recurrence of the more seri6us crimes dealt with in the previous year. Approximately 1,200 of the actions brought were for offences under legislative provisions governing the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. A summary of Native Land Court proceedings for the last five years is as follows :

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— 1943-44. 1944-45. 1945-46. 1946-47. 1947-48. Civil judgments : Rarotonga Divorces granted: Whole Group Criminal convictions : Rarotonga 50 26 1,360 60 15 1,401 35 13 1,105 51 20 1,179 42 9 1,762

— 1943-44. 1944-45. 1945-46. 1946-47. 1947-48, Applications heard 165 124 169 123 244 Orders made 161 115 159 99 192 Applications outstanding — ■ Rarotonga 389 401 454 502 589 Outer Islands 702 738 838 858 988