May 3.-Departure from Jamaica of the Rev. D. J. East, after a service of 40 years in connection with the Baptist Missionary Society. Mr. East had also rendered valuable service to the Colony as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum, and in other similar positions.

May 10. Election of Mayor and Council of Kingston,-Mr. Henry Vendryes, Returning Officer. The same members were elected as before with the exception of Messrs. Abbott, Nicholas and Harry whose places were taken by Messrs. Ffrench, Hannan and Kerr.

May 12.-The Gazette of this date notified the opening for the treatment of patients, of the Victoria Jubilee Maternity Hospital which had been erected as a memorial of Her Majesty's Jubilee.

May 24.-Her Majesty's 73rd Birthday. The day was kept as usual as a holiday, salutes were fired at Up-Park Camp and at Port Royal, and a ball given by the Governor at King's House in the evening.

May 26.-Opening of the Rio Grande Bridge in the Parish of Portland. This is the last and largest of the series of bridges constructed under Law 18 of 1881.

June 1.-His Excellency the Governor sailed in the S.S. "Adula" on a visit to the Dependencies of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands. His Excellency was accompanied by the Director of Public Works, the Resident Magistrate of St. Elizabeth, and Dr. Strachan of the Public Hospital.

The party returned to Jamaica on the 11th June.

During His Excellency's absence Major-General Black acted as Deputy-Governor of this Island.

June 9.-Announcement in this day's Gazette of the appointment by the Governor of the following gentlemen to be members of the first Board of Education under Law 31 of 1892-the Elementary Education Law :-The Right Revd. Enos Nuttall, D.D., Bishop of Jamaica; Bishop Gordon, Bishop J. Hanna. The Revds. Wm. Gillies, M.A., Thos. M. Geddes, William Pratt, M.A., William Simms, M.A. The Hons. George Stiebel, C.M.G., William Ewen, and John Pringle, and John Calder and Francis B. Lyons, Esquires.

June 27.-Election of Mr. Joseph Henry Levy, to be a member of the Legislative Council, as representative of the Electoral District of St. Mary and St. Ann, in succession to the Hon. Michael Solomon.

July 6.-Flower show of the Kingston Floral and Horticultural Society held at Winchester Park.

July 18.-Mr. W. B. Hannan, a member of the City Council addressed an open air meeting in front of the Kingston Theatre on the subject of the School Tax under Law 31 of 1892.

July 19.-First meeting of the Board of Education at Head Quarter House. Meetings were held also on each of the four succeeding days. Among other business the Board appointed Mr. John Kerrich, the Secretary.

Meeting at the Town Hall presided over by the Mayor to protest against the Education Tax under Law 31 of 1892.

July 21.-Death of Mr. Gabriel J. DeCordova, a prominent member of the Hebrew community in Kingston, and for many years Editor in chief of the "Gleaner"

newspaper.

July 28.-Opening of the New Market at Sav -la-Mar by the Governor, the occasion being observed as a Public Holiday in the Town.

Aug. 2.-A special Session of the Legislative Council to consider the question of the extension for a further period, of the Contract for Steam Communication round the Island, opened by the Governor.

A Select Committee to whom the matter was referred advised the Council to accept neither of the tenders received for the service both of which were for a Subsidy of £2,000 a year, and recommended that a Contract should be made for a single weekly service on the same terms as the existing Contract. And that £1,800 should be provided on the Estimates for payment of a Subsidy not exceeding that sum. Council adopted the Report and the Law passed.

The

The Council also passed a short Bill suspending the collection of the rate of 9d. in the pound on houses in Kingston, under the Kingston Improvements Law, 1890.

Sept. 7.-Publication in the Jamaica Gazette of a notification to the effect that the seat of the Hon. W. B. Espent in the Legislative Council had become vacant, owing to his having been absent, without leave from the Governor, from an entire session of the Council, which began on the 5th November, 1891, and was prorogued on the 29th December, 1891.

At the same time a letter from Mr. Espeut to the Governor explaining the circumstances under which he had failed to apply for leave was, by his own request, published in the Gazette.

The Rev. John Radcliffe, for 48 years Minister of the Scotch Church in Kingston, died this day, at his residence in the St. Andrew's Hills. Mr. Radcliffe had, during the long period of his residence in Jamaica, won the admiration and respect of the community for his intellectual gifts and noble character. His name will always be associated with the progress of education in the Colony, a subject in which he took deep and practical interest.

Mr. Radcliffe's funeral, on the 9th September, was largely attended by representatives of every section of the community.

Sept. 14.-Considerable alarm was caused in Kingston by the report that a case of Cholera had occurred on board the S. S. "Costa Rican" which had arrived in Port the previous evening. Precautions were taken to isolate the case, and a Privy Council was summoned, when it was found that the case, although one of serious illness, was not one of cholera.

The Governor in Privy Council, however, ordered that all the ports on the Continent of Europe should be declared to be infected places within the meaning of the Quarantine Law of 1869.

Sept. 15.-On the evening of this day, telegraphic intelligence was received that Cholera had appeared in the City of New York.

A Privy Council was at once summoned when an order was made declaring all the ports of the North and South American Continent to be infected places.

This was followed on the following day by a similar declaration against all ports and places of the world with the exception of the United Kingdom and the British West Indian Islands.

Among other precautions, the Government appointed Medical Officers to be Visiting Officers of Vessels, under the Quarantine Law, in supersession of the Customs Officers who had previously discharged the duties of that office.

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION.

FROM the time of the English Conquest of Jamaica to the Restoration of Charles II. the island was under Military Jurisdiction. In February, 1661, Colonel D’Oyley, who had then the chief command under a Commission from the Lord Protector was confirmed in his office and instructed "to take unto him a Council of twelve persons, to be elected by the people,* to advise and assist him in the execution of his trust." In the latter part of the same year Lord Windsor, who succeeded Colonel D'Oyley, was directed, "with the advice of the Council, to call Assemblies to make laws, and upon imminent necessity to levy money; such laws to be in force for two years and no longer, unless approved by the Crown." Lord Windsor brought with him the King's Proclamation, dated at Whitehall the 14th December, 1661, declaring "that all children of natural born subjects of England, to be born in Jamaica, shall from their respective births be reputed to be free denizens of England, and shall have the same privileges to all intents and purposes, as free born subjects of England."

Lord Windsor was succeeded by Sir Thomas Modyford, who was appointed Governor-in-Chief by a Commission under the Great Seal, which empowered him "either to constitute, by his own authority, a Privy Council of twelve persons, or to continue the old one, and to alter, change or augment it as he thought fit." He

The Commission was dated in February, 1661, and received by D'Oyley in May, 1661. In the version of the Commission which appears in the Calendar of State Papers (vol. 2) D'Oyley was to "choose" a Council, but in the copy of the Commission priffted in the Appendix to the 1st vol. of the Journals of the Assembly the constitution of the Council was to be as stated above.-COMPILERS.

was also authorised, "with the advice of a majority of the Council, to frame a method for establishing General Assemblies, and from time to time to call such Assemblies together, and with their consent to pass all manner of laws, reserving to himself a negative voice; also upon imminent occasions to levy money." In July, 1664, Sir Thomas Modyford issued a writ for the election of two Assembly men for each Parish; which Assembly met in the October following and passed a body of laws. These laws not having been confirmed would have expired at the end of two years but that they were continued in force until the end of his administration by an Order in Council. Sir Thomas Modyford was recalled and Sir Thomas Lynch was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. The laws passed by the Assembly during the temporary administration of Sir Thomas Lynch also remained unconfirmed.

On the 3rd December, 1674, Lord Vaughan was appointed Governor and authorized, "with the Council and Assembly, to pass laws for the good government of the island;" but the laws thus passed instead of being confirmed were referred to the Lords of the Committee for Trade and Plantations, who recommended to the King "that, for the future, no Legislative Assembly be called without Your Majesty's special directions, but that upon emergencies the Governor do acquaint Your Majesty by letters with the necessity of calling such an Assembly, and at the same time do present unto Your Majesty by letters with the necessity of calling such an Assembly, and at the same time do present unto Your Majesty a scheme of such Acts as he shall think fit and necessary, that Your Majesty may take the same into consideration and return them in the form wherein Your Majesty shall think fit that they be enacted; that the Governor, upon receipt of Your Majesty's commands, shall then summon an Assembly and propose the said laws for their consent, so that the same method in legislative matters be made use of in Jamaica as in Ireland, according to the form prescribed by Poyning's Law; and that therefore the present style of enacting laws, By the Governor, Council, and Representatives of the Commons assembled,' be converted into the style of Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the consent of the General Assembly." The recommendation having been approved a body of laws was prepared by the Committee, and the Earl of Carlisle was appointed Governor of the island, with instructions to "offer them to the Assembly for their consent." This having been done they were all rejected—the Assembly giving their reasons for doing so in an Address to the Governor. The main arguments therein urged were (independently of the objection that the laws themselves contained many fundamental errors) "the inconvenience of such a system of legislation when the distance of Jamaica from England was considered; that the nature of all colonies being changeable the laws consequently must be adopted to the interest of the place and must alter with it; that the people would thereby lose the satisfaction, which through their Representatives they had previously enjoyed, of a deliberative power in the making of laws; that the new form of government rendered the Governor absolute; and that by the former mode of enacting laws the Royal Prerogative was better secured."

The whole question having been submitted to the Privy Council in England the Kimg was recommended to adhere to the previous decision and to empower the Earl of Carlisle, in case the Assembly again rejected the laws, to "govern according to the laws of England, were the different nature and constitution of the colony may permit; and in other cases to act with the advice of his Council, in such a manner as should be necessary and proper for the good government of the island, until His Majesty's further orders." In pursuance of this report the same laws as had been brought out in the first instance by the Earl of Carlisle and rejected were again presented to the Assembly and again rejected. The opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown was then taken on the question, whether Jamaica could be governed by the laws of England, and the Attorney General (Sir C. Wearge) decided "that the people of Jamaica had no right to be governed by the laws of England, but by such laws as are made there and established by His Majesty's authority," the Solicitor General (Sir Philip York) concurring.

About this time Colonel Long, the Chief Justice of the island and late Speaker of the Assembly, arrived in England as a state prisoner to answer the charges of having struck the King's name out of the Revenue Bill that had recently been sent

to the Council from the Assembly, and of having advised and framed the last Address of the Assembly protesting against the change of government. He was several times heard before the King in Council, and pointed out with such force of argument the evil tendency of the measures which had been pursued that the English Ministry reluctantly submitted. Thereupon a second Commission was issued to the Earl of Carlisle, dated the 3rd November, 1680, in which it was declared that "the Assembly, or the major part of them, shall have power, with the advice and consent of the Governor and Council, to make laws for the good of the island and its inhabitants, not repugnant to the laws of England, provided that all laws so to be made shall be transmitted to the King for approval or rejection, and any so disapproved to be void." In the following year an Act was passed by the three branches of the Legislature thus constituted declaring that "in every Assembly hereafter to be called by His Majesty's writs there shall be chosen three Representatives for the Parish of St. Catherine, the like number for the Parish of Port Royal, and two for each of the respective parishes that now are, or hereafter shall be, in the island." The Act 5 William and Mary, chap. 3, sess. 1, enacted that "there shall be chosen three Representatives to serve in every Assembly for the Town and Parish of Kingston." This form of government received confirmation in the commmissions of successive Governors, but few of the laws passed in the colony obtained the assent of the Crown. The recommendation of the Committee of Trade and Plantations for the abrogation of the original Constitution was ascribed to the desire of the Ministry of Charles II. to secure a perpetual annunity to the Crown which the House of Assembly had systematically refused, and the continued non-confirmation of the colonial statutes was attributed to the same cause. But, whatever might have been the reason for this prolonged controversy, it was finally settled in 1728, when an agreement was entered into by the Ministry of George II. and the Assembly, to settle on the Crown "an irrevocable revenue" of £8,000 (subsequently increased to £10,000*) per annum, on condition that the body of their laws should receive the Royal assent; and that "all such laws and statutes of England as had been at any time esteemed, introduce, used, accepted or received as laws in this island should be and continue laws of this His Majesty's Island of Jamaica for ever." The "perpetual revenue" was principally for the support of the local government and the maintenance of the forts.

From the date of this decision the constitutional rights of the Assembly remained undisturbed until the year 1839, when the Imperial Parliament passed the West India Prisons Act by which they legislated for the internal regulations of the prisons of Jamaica. The House of Assembly resented this interference with their legislative functions by three times resolving to do no business "until they were left to the free exercise of their inherent rights as British subjects." Thereupon Governor Sir Lionel Smith recommended, and the Government of Lord Melbourne sanctioned, the introduction of a bill into the Imperial Parliament for the suspension of the Political Constitution of the colony. Mr. Labouchere, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, in presenting the measure stated "that on a general review of the whole case, Her Majesty's Government were of opinion that it would be advisable to suspend the Constitution of Jamaica for a limited number of years, and to provide that during the interval the legislative functions should not be exercised by a Governor, a Council and a House of Assembly, but should reside in the Governor and Council alone." By the party that owned Sir Robert Peel as its leader this measure was vigorously opposed. On the second reading of the bill it was thrown out by a majority swollen by some seceders from the ministerial ranks.† On this Lord Melbourne resigned. Invited to form a Ministry Sir Robert Peel attempted the task, but failed under the pressure of the Bed-Chamber difficulty; the Whigs thereupon returned to office. The Jamaica Bill was then carried through the House of Commons, but it was afterwards amended by the Lords; and the result of these long protracted discussions was an Act that declared that, from and after the expiration of two calendar months from the time of the Assembly being convened for the despatch of business, the Governor in Council should have power to revive and continue in force, or to re-enact, any of the expired laws "which should not have * Old Jamaica currency, equal to £6,000. Kaye's Life of Lord Metcalfe.

been before then revived or continued in force, or re-enacted, by the Governor, Council and Assembly of the island." The Act was laid before the Assembly, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, the newly-appointed Governor, having at the same time delivered a conciliatory speech, they passed a series of resolutions declaring that "all they sought was the continued enjoyment of those rights and privileges that were confirmed in 1661, and which were no less dear to them than to their fellow-subjects in the Mother-Country,"-and then receded from their previous determination.

The work of legislation was then resumed and it continued without interruption until the 20th May, 1853, when the Assembly passed the following resolution : "That in consequence of the rejection of the Revenue Bills by the second branch of the Legislature during the last session, and the recklessness and utter disregard of the interests of the colony thereby displayed, and this House having failed in their endeavours made at the opening of the present session to obtain any assurance that the honourable Board of Council will make any concession, however reasonable, the House feels that it cannot with any confidence continue to originate legislative measures for the benefit of its constituents, and, in self-respect and vindication of the rights of the people, it declines to do any business with the honourable Board of Council." The House then adjourned and another "dead lock" in legislation ensued. The Imperial Government approved generally of the course pursued by the Council (in which they were supported by the Governor) but availed themselves of the expiration of Sir Charles Grey's term of office to appoint a successor who would be independent of the prejudices arising out of the retrenchment struggles. Sir Henry Barclay was accordingly commissioned as Governor and met the Legislature for the first time in October, 1853 After announcing the willingness of the British Government to grant a loan for the purpose of compensating such office-holders as might, in a general retrenchment scheme, lose their appointments or sustain a diminution of income, Sir Henry Barclay called on the Legislature to introduce "such political reform as the experience of the Mother-Country had demonstrated to be most conducive to efficient and economical government, and best calculated to avert the recurrence of ruinous struggles between the various powers of the State." The result was the passing of the Act for the better government of the island (17 Vic., chap. 29) by which the Governor for the time being was authorized to appoint an Executive Committee (who should be members of the Legislature) for the purpose of assisting him in the general administration of the affairs of the island, and acting as official organs of communication between him and the other branches of the Legislature. The Act also prohibited the raising or expending of any money, except and until the same was recommended by the Executive. The old Legislative Council (which consisted almost exclusivly of Officials) was by the same enactment abolished and a new Council consisting of 17 members, of whom five only were to be holders of office, was created. This new Legislative Council was invested with the like political powers and authorities as the House of Lords, of initiating or originating any Legislative measures not involving the imposition of taxes or the appropriation of public money." [The old Board of Council did not possess this power.] The qualification of an unofficial member of the Legislative Council was the possession of a freehold estate in the island producing a clear annual income to him of £300, or the payment of direct taxes to the extent of £30 on a freehold held by him in the island.

The House of Assembly was continued as "heretofore"-the number of Representatives being 47. No person was eligible to be elected a member of Assembly unless he was a freeholder and possessed besides one of the following qualifications:1 A clear annual income after payment of all just debts of £150 arising from lands,

2. A clear annual income as aforesaid arising partly from income, the produce of any freehold office, or of any business, after deducting all charges and expense, of £200.

3. A clear annual income as aforesaid arising from any freehold office, or any business, after deducting all charges of such office or business, of £300.

4. The payment annually of direct taxes or of export taxes, or any one or more of them, to the extent of £10 or upwards.