“The Bill also provides that there must be unanimity before a prisoner can be convicted. The procedure will be practically the same as that of the Circuit Court, and all the procedure of the Circuit will be followed.
“It will be observed in Clause 10 that the same powers of deportation will be given to the Governor when dealing with prisoners convicted by the Special Commission Court as with those convicted by the Circuit Court. By Clause 11 further power is given to the Governor. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens in these cases that there are several persons who are more or less connected with these Societies, but against whom there is no evidence; they will be simply ordered to leave the Colony and will not be allowed to return.”
The Colonial Office were fortunate in being able to secure the services of an able and distinguished lawyer and judge in the person of Sir William Brandford Griffith, an Ex-Chief Justice of the Gold Coast Colony, to be President of the Court, and he arrived in the Colony from England on the 8th December, 1912.
[1]. These observations, to be found in vol. i. of Samuel Purchas’s “Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, containing a History of the World, in Sea Voyages, and Lande Travells,” by Englishmen and others, are printed in full at p. 94.
[2]. “Observations upon the Windward Coast of Africa, the Religion, Character, Customs, etc., of the Natives, etc. etc., made in the years 1805 and 1806,” by Joseph Corry, 1807.
[3]. “Travels in the Timmanee, Kooranko, and Soolima Countries in Western Africa,” by Major Alexander Gordon Laing, 1825.
[4]. “The White Man’s Grave, a Visit to Sierra Leone in 1834,” by F. Harrison Rankin, 1836.
[5]. “The Sherbro and its Hinterland,” by T. J. Alldridge, 1901.