approval of a Secretary of State, and may be removed by the Company. At the end of two years from the first appointment of members, and at the end of every succeeding period of two years, one of such members shall retire. The first two members to retire shall be determined by agreement, or, in default of agreement, by lot. Thereafter the member shall retire who has been longest in office without re-appointment. A retiring member may be re-appointed, and shall hold office until the appointment of his successor.

13. Whenever any such member of council resigns, or is removed from office, or dies, the Company shall within nine months thereafter appoint a successor, with the approval of a Secretary of State. In default of such appointment a Secretary of State may appoint. Any member appointed under this article shall hold office for so long only as the person in whose stead he is appointed would have been entitled to hold office.

14. The council shall meet whenever summoned by the administrator, and shall be competent to discharge its functions notwithstanding the existence of one vacancy among its members, whether caused by a vacancy in the office of Judge or of one of the other members. The administrator shall preside at all meetings of the council, and any two members, with the administrator, shall form a quorum. All questions shall be decided by a majority of the votes of those present, and if the votes are equal, the administrator shall have a casting vote.

15. The administrator shall take the advice of the council upon all matters of importance affecting the administration of affairs within he limits of this Order, except in cases which are too urgent to admit of their advice being taken. In all such urgent cases he shall as soon as possible summon the council and acquaint them with the action taken and the reasons therefor.

16. The administrator may act contrary to the advice of the council, but in every such case he shall report the matter forthwith to the Company, with the reasons for his action. In every such case any member of the council who dissents may require that the reasons for his dissent be recorded and transmitted to the Company. The Company may reverse any action of the administrator whether taken with, or without, or against, the advice of the council.

17. The administrator, with the concurrence of the council, may make, alter, and repeal regulations. Such regulations when promulgated as herein-after mentioned shall take effect within the limits of this Order as if they were contained in this Order.

A regulation shall only be valid if

(1) two members of the Council besides the administrator have concurred in it;

(2) the High Commissioners has approved it;

(3) it be promulgated by being published in the Gazette by authority of the High Commissioner.

The production of a copy of the Gazette in which a regulation purports to be published by authority of the High Commissioner shall be evidence of promulgation, and of the approval of the High Commissioner, and of its having received the requisite concurrence of the Council.

18. At any time within one year after promulgation, a regulation may be disallowed by a Secretary of State or by the Company. Such disallowance shall be notified in the Gazette by the High Commissioner or by the administrator, and thereupon the regulation so disallowed shall cease to have any force or effect, but without prejudice to anything theretofore lawfully done thereunder.

19. A regulation or an ordinance may, if the administrator or the Company have previously received the consent of the High Commissioner, amend or repeal a proclamation; and without such consent a regulation may suspend the operation of an ordinance or any part thereof.

A regulation may at any time be repealed or amended by an ordinance.

20. If any regulation or if any ordinance of the Company is in any respect repugnant to the provisions of an Order made by Her Majesty in Council, or a proclamation of the High Commissioner (unless made with his previous consent), such regulation or ordinance shall be read subject to such Order or proclamation, and shall to the extent of such repugnancy be absolutely void.

21. The Company by ordinance approved by a Secretary of State, or the administrator and council by regulation, may empower any local municipal body or other local authority to levy rates for the lawful purposes of such municipal body or local authority, and to make byelaws for the more efficient carrying out of such purposes, and to prescribe a penalty not exceeding ten pounds sterling for breach of such byelaws, and to recover such penalties by proceedings before a magistrate.

22. The Company may by ordinance approved by a Secretary of State impose such taxes, including a hut tax in respect of the occupation of native huts, and such Customs duties upon goods entering the limits of this Order as are necessary to provide a revenue for carrying out the effective administration of affairs within the limits of this Order.

23. The Company shall not by ordinance, nor shall the administrator and council by regulation, impose upon natives any conditions, disabilities or restrictions which do not equally apply to persons of European descent, save in respect of the following matters:

(a.) The supply of arms, ammunition, and liquor.

(b.) Any matter in respect of which a Secretary of State upon the recommendation of the High Commissioner, thinks fit to authorise an ordinance or regulation.

24. A native may acquire, hold, encumber, and dispose of land on the same conditions as a person who is not a native, but no contract for encumbering or alienating land the property of a native, shall be valid unless the contract is made in the presence of a magistrate, is attested by him, and bears a certificate signed by him stating that the consideration for the contract is fair and reasonable, and that he has satisfied himself that the native understands the transaction.

25. In case of a revolt against the Company, or other misconduct committed by a native chief or tribe, the administrator and council may impose a reasonable fine upon the offender. The administrator shall forthwith report every such case to the High Commissioner, who may emit the fine in whole or in part; the administrator shall give effect to any such remission.

Part III-Judicial.

26. There shall be a Court of Record, styled the High Court of Matabeleland, with full jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over all persons and over all matters within the limits of this Order, and the law to be administered by the High Court and by the Magistrates' Courts herein-after mentioned shall, as nearly as the circumstances of the country permit, be the same as the law in force in the colony at the commencement of this Order, except so far as that law has been modified by any Order in Council or proclamation or ordinance in force at the date of such commencement. The Courts shall give effect to such Orders in Council, proclamations, or ordinances until altered or repealed, and to any Order in Council, proclamation, ordinance, or regulation hereafter to be made, except so far as any proclamation, ordinance, or regulation is repugnant to this Order, or to any other Order made by Her Majesty in Council.

27. In civil cases between natives the High Court and the Magistrates' Courts shall be guided by native law so far as that law is not repugnant to natural justice or morality, or to any Order made by Her Majesty in Council, or to any proclamation or ordinance. In any such case the Court may obtain the assistance of two native assessors, to advise the Court upon native law and customs, but the decision of the Court shall be given by the Judge or magistrate alone. In all other respects the Court shall follow as far as possible the procedure observed in similar cases in the Courts of the colony.

28. If in any civil case between natives a question arises as to the effect of a marriage contracted, according to native law or custom, by a native in the lifetime of one or more other wives

married to him according to native law or custom, the Court may treat such marriage as valid for all civil purposes, in so far as polygamous marriages are recognised by the said native law or

custom.

29. There shall be as many Judges of the High Court, to be paid by the Company, as from time to time may be required. Every Judge shall be appointed by the Company, with the approval of a Secretary of State, and shall hold office during pleasure, but shall only be removed by a Secretary of State. The salaries of the Judges shall be fixed by the Company with the approval of a Secretary of State, and shall not be increased or diminished without his approval.

30. If on a vacancy in the office of Judge the Company does not within nine months thereafter appoint a successor a Secretary of State may appoint some person to be Judge.

31. The High Court shall be held at such places as may from time to time be prescribed by proclamation or ordinance. The jurisdiction of the High Court may, until other arrangements are made by proclamation, be exercised by any Judge thereof sitting alone.

32. If any sentence of death is pronounced by the High Court, a copy of the evidence shall be transmitted to the High Commissioner, and the sentence shall not be carried into effect until confirmed by him; the High Commissioner may signify his confirmation by telegraph.

33. The High Commissioner may remit or commute, in whole or in part, any sentence of the High Court.

34. The High Court may make rules for regulating its procedure and practice and the admission of practitioners, and subject thereto, and so far as the same do not extend, the procedure, rules, and regulations of the High Court shall be the same as the procedure, rules, and regulations of the Supreme Courts.

35. In civil matters when the amount or value in dispute exceeds one hundred pounds sterling, an appeal shall lie from the High Court to the Supreme Court.

Every appeal shall be brought within such time, and in such manner as regards the form and transmission of the appeal, as may be prescribed by any rules of procedure made by the Supreme Court.

As regards matters not provided for by such rules, the procedure on appeal in the Supreme Court may be the same as the ordinary procedure of that Court on appeal, and the order of that Court on the appeal shall be certified under its seal to the High Court, which shall give effect thereto.

An appeal from an order of the Supreme Court on appeal shall lie to Her Majesty in Council in the same manner and on the same conditions as appeals from the judgment of the Supreme Court in its ordinary jurisdiction..

The High Court may, before deciding any matter when the amount or value in dispute exceeds one hundred pounds, state a case in writing for the opinion of the Supreme Court. The High Court shall decide the matter in accordance with the opinion of the Supreme Court, and no appeal shall be brought against such decision unless by leave of the Supreme Court.

The jurisdiction conferred by this Order upon the Supreme Court shall not be exercised until the Legislature of the colony shall, by resolution or otherwise, have expressed its assent thereto; the High Commissioner shall communicate such assent to the High Court.

36. There shall also be Magistrates' Courts, with jurisdiction over all persons within the districts assigned to them. A magistrates' Court shall be a Court of record, and shall have jurisdiction over the same matters, and to the same extent, as a Court of resident magistrate in the colony has jurisdiction within the district in which it is established.

37. The Company may from time to time determine the number of Magistrates' Courts required within the limits of this Order, and, by notice in the Gazette, assign to each such Court the local limits of the district within which it is to have jurisdiction, and may alter such limits. The Company by the like notice may fix the places at which the Court is to be held, and, with the approval of the High Commissioner, may appoint a magistrate to each such Court, and, if occasion requires, an acting magistrate, and every person so appointed may exercise all the jurisdiction of the Court. A magistrate appointed to one Court may exercise the jurisdiction of any other Court if present therein.

38. A magistrate upon appointment by the Company may forthwith enter upon the duties of his office, but the appointment is subject to confirmation by a Secretary of State; if such confirmation is refused, the High Commissioner shall give public notice thereof in the Gazette, and thereupon the powers of the magistrate will cease. A magistrate may at any time be removed from office by a Secretary of State, or by the Company with the approval of a Secretary of State.

39. A magistrate, before exercising any of the functions of his office, shall in open Court take the following oath :—

I, A.B., do promise and swear that I will faithfully, impartially, and diligently execute to the best of my abilities. the duties of the office of magistrate. So help me God.

40. Appeals shall lie to the High Court from the Magistrates' Courts in the same cases, in the same manner, and with the same procedure as are allowed in the colony with respect to appeals from the Courts of resident magistrates; and any criminal case which would be liable to review if tried by a resident magistrate in the colony shall be liable to review by the High Court.