(2) for supervising and restricting within due limits the practice of midwives. S. 4 provides for a register of midwives being kept by the Registrar of the Ceylon Medical College. S. 7 provides that no woman shall be entitled to recover any charges in any Court of Law for services rendered by her as midwife unless she is registered as such. S. 8 empowers the Governor to prohibit unregistered women from practising as midwives in specified areas. Firearms. The Firearms Amendment Ordinance (No. 6). It has been found that there is difficulty under the Firearms Ordinance, 1916, in exempting articles which are technically guns but which if properly used do not fall within the intention of the Ordinance. An instance of this is the "Humane Killer" for slaughtering cattle. The amendment allows of such articles being exempted. It also makes it possible to grant special exemptions in the case of ordinary guns. Peace. The Treaty of Peace (Enforcement) Ordinance (No. 7) makes certain modifications in the Order in Council for the purpose of adapting its provisions to the circumstance of this Colony. Local Governments.-The Local Government Ordinance (No. II) follows the lines laid down in the report of the Local Government Commission. The new bodies are vested with extensive powers over public thoroughfares, public health, public services, and general local wants and interests. With a view to securing uniformity and efficiency of work s. 5 provides for the creation of a Local Government Board to supervise the numerous local authorities. The general duties of the Board may be gathered from s. 6 of the Ordinance. The Ordinance deals with local government in all except municipal areas. The District Councils created by the Ordinance are of three kinds: (1) Urban District Councils. (2) General District Councils. (3) Rural District Councils. The areas brought within the administrative units of these several bodies correspond to the larger towns other than municipalities, to the smaller towns connected by business or association with the country around, and to the rural districts respectively. In the areas of the Urban and District Councils two-thirds of the members are to be elected members (s. II). Part 4 sets out the powers and duties of the District Councils. C. I, ss. 43 and 45 specify the property to be vested in a District Council. The powers of a District Council in regard to: (1) Thoroughfares is set out in c. 2. (2) Public Health in c. 3. (3) Public Services in c. 4. Part 4 deals with the power of the Councils to make by-laws. Part 6 sets out the sources from which the incomes of the District Councils are to be derived. Vehicles.-The Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance (No. 13 of 1920). This Ordinance was introduced at the request of the Ceylon Society for ! the prevention of cruelty to animals. It was found that animals are used for drawing vehicles which were not passed by the proper authority or which had become unfit for the purpose. The Ordinance introduces an amendment by which rules could be made for marking from time to time on the hoof or otherwise such animals as are to be used, and as are in the opinion of the proper authority fit, to draw vehicles, and for the obliteration of any such marks in the case of animals ceasing in the opinion of the proper authority, or of a convicting court, to be fit to draw vehicles. Buffaloes.-The Buffaloes Protection Ordinance (No. 17), 1920. Buffaloes are largely used in the Island for agricultural purposes, and the object of the Ordinance is to restrict and if necessary prohibit the slaughter of buffaloes. The Governor in Executive Council is empowered to make rules: (a) Prohibiting the slaughter of buffaloes except on the permit of the local authority. (6) Prohibiting the removal of buffaloes or the transport of buffalo meat from one area to another, except on the permit of the local authority. 6. THE STATE OF NORTH BORNEO. [Contributed by C. F. C. MACASKIE, ESQ.] During the year 1920 four Ordinances only were promulgated. Three of these Ordinances may be classified as war or post-war measures, namely: The Passport Ordinance (Ord. I of 1920), which gives power to the Governor to make rules prohibiting any person from entering or leaving the State without a passport. The War Emergency (Amendment) Ordinance (Ord. 2 of 1920), which enables the Governor to extend for a further period the powers conferred on him by the War Emergency Ordinance, 1917 (which Enactment ceased to have effect six months after the termination of the war), if the state of emergency therein contemplated shall still exist or shall appear likely to recur. This measure was rendered necessary by the serious rice shortage. The Treaty of Peace Order Ordinance (Ord. 3 of 1920), which adopts the provisions of the Treaty of Peace Orders in Council, regulating the establishment of local Clearing Offices. The fourth Ordinance of the year was: The Machinery Ordinance (Ord. 4 of 1920), which provides for the appointment of inspectors of machinery and the examination of engineers and drivers. This Ordinance prohibits the working of machinery unless certified as fit and except by qualified persons. No child under sixteen years old may be employed on any service involving management of or attendance on or proximity to machinery in motion. VII. WEST AFRICA. 1. GOLD COAST. [Contributed by W. H. WILKINSON, ESQ.] During the year 1920 thirty-two Ordinances were passed by the Legislative Council, of which the following are those of more general interest: Treaties of Peace. The Treaty of Peace (Germany) Ordinance, 1920 (No. 2), defines and provides the requisite modifications under which the Treaty of Peace Order, 1919, shall apply to the Gold Coast Colony. The Royal Order in Council which deals with questions connected with enemy properties, contracts, debts, and the like, applies of its own force to this Colony; but it provides that in its application it shall be applied subject to such statutory modifications as the particular laws of the Colony may render necessary. Motors.-The Motor Traffic Amendment Ordinance, 1920 (No. 12), amends s. II of the principal Ordinance by reintroducing the principle that before a person can obtain a driving licence he must pass a satisfactory test in motor driving. Under s. 7 of the Ordinance a reservation is made in favour of holders of driving licences issued under the existing law. Customs.-The Customs Tariff Second Further Amendment Ordinance, 1920 (No. 13), was passed in order to remove the duty now chargeable on certain classes of necessary food-stuffs imported into the Colony, the result of which should be a reduction in the sale prices of these food-stuffs. The strain of increased prices which everyone has felt led to this measure being taken to alleviate, to some extent, that strain. Imports and Exports.-The Imports and Exports Restriction Ordinance, 1920 (No. 15), is designedly of a temporary nature; and its purport is to empower the Governor to impose restrictions on the importation and exportation of animals and articles the importation or exportation of which the exigencies of the existing and anticipated post-war conditions render or may render dangerous or undesirable. This Ordinance is intended to place on a regular footing the postwar exercise of the powers therein referred to which up to the present have or could have been exercised under the authority of emergency war measures. Laws. The Revised Edition of the Laws Ordinance, 1920 (No. 16), empowers the Attorney-General (the Hon. D. Kingdon) to compile a new and revised edition of the Gold Coast Laws, which has become necessary as there has been no new edition published now for over ten years. The Ordinance is in the usual form of such Ordinances and is in accordance with the most precedents. The last Ordinance of the Colony of similar purport was the Reprint of Statutes Ordinance, 1909 (No. 16 of 1909). Post Office.The Post Office (Charlatanic Uses) Ordinance, 1920 (No. 21), was passed in order to prevent the circulation of charlatanic advertisements and matter of a kind commonly met with in this Colony, and to provide for their detention and destruction by the postal authorities. Such advertisements not infrequently induce natives to waste their money, and are also in some instances of a morally injurious nature, and it is for these reasons that it is thought desirable to repress such pernicious activities. Census.-The Census Ordinance, 1920 (No. 3), was passed at the pleasure of His Majesty that a census of the British Empire be taken in the year 1921. It gives Government the powers necessary for taking the census in 1921. Gratuities.-The West African Officers Compassionate Gratuity Ordinance, 1920 (No. 25), was passed in order to systematize the policy of granting compassionate gratuities to the dependents of deceased native officials. Such gratuities have frequently been granted in the past, each case being judged on its merits, and the practice of granting them is an increasing one. The Ordinance formulates a scheme whereby a gratuity proportionate to his length of service and final salary should become payable to the dependents of a deceased native official on his death while still in the service. Currency.-The Mixed Metal Currency Ordinance, 1920 (No. 26), extends the provisions of the Currency Offences Ordinance, 1918 (No. 39), as amended by the Currency Offences Amendment Ordinance, 1920 (No.7), to mixed metal currency, and was passed in order to safeguard the depreciation which has now been put into circulation. Electricity Supply.-The Electricity Supply Ordinance, 1920 (No. 27), was passed in order to make provision for the supply by private enterprise of electricity for lighting and other purposes, and the general scheme of the Ordinance follows that of the Proprietary Railways Ordinance, 1907, though parts of it have been adapted from various English and other sources. Spirituous Liquors. - The Second Spirituous Liquors Ordinance (No. 31) repeals and re-enacts the Spirituous Liquors Ordinance No. 5 of 1920, the main purport of which was to make provision for the better effectuation with respect to this Colony of the international African Liquor Traffic Convention of September 10, 1919. (i) ASHANTI. During the year 1920 nineteen Ordinances were enacted with respect to Ashanti. Several of these were enacted for the purpose of applying to Ashanti various Ordinances of the Gold Coast Colony. Probate and Administration.-The Probates (British and Colonial) Recognition Ordinance (No. 6) provides for the Recognition in Ashanti of Probate and Letters of Administration granted in the United Kingdom or in a British Possession or Protectorate or in a British Court in a foreign country. Laws.-The Revised Edition of the Laws Ordinance, 1920 (No. 8). The general purport of this Ordinance is similar to that of the Gold Coast No. 16 of 1920. Judicature. The Judicature Amendment Ordinance, 1920 (No. 19), adds a proviso to s. 4 of the principal Ordinance to enable the Circuit Judge to deal with Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in Ashanti. (ii) NORTHERN TERRITORIES. During the year 1920 twelve Ordinances were enacted with respect to the Protectorate. Several of these were enacted for the purpose of applying to the Protectorate various Ordinances of the Gold Coast. Apart from these, Ordinance No. 5 of 1920, namely, the Revised Edition of the Laws of the Protectorate, seems to deserve mentioning, the purport of which is similar to that of the Ordinances of the Gold -Coast Colony and of Ashanti, No. 16 of 1920 and No. 8 of 1920 respectively. 2. NIGERIA. [Contributed by E. GARDINER SMITH, ESQ.] Surveyors.-The prohibition of surveyors from surveying property in which they are interested, introduced by No. 13 of 1918, aroused a storm of protest, and was repealed in No. 1 (Survey Amendment). Letter Writers.--The licensing of letter writers has been tried (No. 5 of 1910 of Southern Nigeria), and given up (No. 24 of 1915). Restrictions on their charges, on the other hand, after having been abolished (No. 24 of 1915), have been reintroduced (No. 3, Illiterates Protection (Amendment)). Railways. To deter native blacksmiths from drawing their supplies of iron from the railway line clauses have been borrowed from the law protecting telegraph lines (No. 60 of 1916, s. 17). Villages are made responsible for arresting offenders and reporting damage, under penalty of a collective fine. (No. 5, Railways.) 3 Shipping. During the war the law was altered to enable coasting steamers to ply with only one certificated engineer on board. This relaxation was abolished somewhat prematurely in 1917, and had to be restored this year (No. 9-Shipping and Navigation (Amendment)) owing to the continued scarcity of engineers. Mining. To prevent the locking-up of valuable land by holders of exclusive prospecting licences, who could not or would not go to the expense of mining, but were able to exclude others, the Minerals Ordinance (No. 10 of 1916, s. II (3)) provided that a former licensee should not be granted a fresh licence for any part of his old area. This has been modified by allowing him to get a second licence after a year's interval. (No. II, Minerals (Amendment.)) Customs Duties.-No. 12 (Customs (Amendment)) enables the Customs authorities to permit entries of dutiable exports to be passed after shipment. Plague. No. 13 (Quarantine (Amendment)) authorizes regulations to prevent the introduction of plague from any place, whether for the time being infected or not. Currency. The shortage of silver had forced Government to introduce an alloy coinage The opportunity was taken to codify the laws forbidding discounting, etc., of currency (Nos. 1 and 25 of 1919) and to extend these to the new coinage. (No. 14, Currency Offences.) 4 Wills. By s. 22 of No. 12 of 1915 (Land Registration) a will affecting Crown Land was declared to be void if it was not registered within twelve months of the death of the testator. This provision was derived from Proclamation No. 1 of 1912 of Northern Nigeria. In practice it was found that natives rarely if ever registered a will within the prescribed time. The result was a vast deal of involuntary intestacy which the interested parties were blissfully ignorant. By No. 15 (Land Registration (Amendment)) wills were taken out of the Ordinance, and this was made retrospective to the date when the Ordinance came into operation. 1 See Journal (June 1920), P. 149. 2 No. 9 of 1916, Review of Legislation, 1918. of |