, 1888-08-08
Wednesday, 9th August, 1888

The Colonial Council held one Of it's
meetings in the ordinary course on Mon
day, at which His Excellency the Vice
Governor was present.
The chair was taken by the Vice Chair
man, Judge r. Petersen. The newly cleo
ted member, Mr.. Gautier y Camps, and the
newly appointed CrOwnmember, Mr.. Chr.
Dahl, after examination of their papers and
taking the usual oaths, were declared en-
titled to q seat and vote in the Council.
Judge Il. Petersen was then elected
Chairman in place of Vice Governor
Andersen, retired; and Mr.. F. Raphael was
elected Vice Chairman in place of Judge
Petersen.
The Government brought in a Draft of
Ordinance concerning the reporting of
deaths in ST. Croix. The Draft proposes
to abolish the present law, under which all
dea tbs are to be reported Immediately to
the Dealing Court, under a penalty Of
sG4 and, instead of that, to make it incum-
bent to report at the Police Offices, in
tow within 48 hours after the death,
and in the country, on the first Sa.
turday after the death. The penal
ties for neglect to report are small in com
parisou with those under the existing law,
except in cases Of neglect to report the
death of a person leaving real or personal
property, in which case the fine may be as
high as S64. After some discussion, in
which the chief point brought forward was
% proposal of Lawyer S~Uakemann's, that no
CLERGYMAN or other person ShOuld be allow
ed to bury a corpse, without frs having
received u certificate from the Police that
the required report had been made, and
that the clause us to time of reporting
should be altered accordingly, the draft
passed the first discussion.
Some private members introduced q
sDraft of Ordinance, ab0liShing the Militia
~ Force and the Police Force in ST. CrOix
and in lieu thereof establishing % Royal
Constabulary Force, in said island" For
the details of this sweeping measure our
readers must DE content to wait for the
official report, which We suppose will APP
pear shortly. We will only mention that
it proposes to substitute Is armed cOnSta-
bles under 3 officers for the present militia.
ry force of about 1874 men and the police
force OfabOut 20 men. In other words, to
reduce our protective force to considerably
less than one half Of their present number.
From the remarks appended to the Draft
it appears that the introducerS expect that
about $4,000 per annum would be saved
by the change, though the calculations are
Dy no means CledF, anu In3U IueY IuFUHeE
expect to get rid of the export duty, which
is doubtless very desirable, but would not
necessarily follow from the passing of the
present measure.
Before the introduction of the Draft the
Vice Governor said, that on the part If
Government he would protest against the
introduction of the Draft. He would point
out to the Council that it vas beyond
the province of the Council to discuss an
ordinance for abOlishing the military force.
The military force existed here for State
purposes as we'll as local purposes. In
part it was intended to defend the colony
against foreign enemies, and to guarantee
that no seditiOn arises designed to make
the colony independent of the rule of Den
mark or to make it dependent on q foreign
power. The Colonial Law presuppOSes the
existence of a military force, as for instance
in s12 the Governor is authorised In case
of emergency to declare the island in a
state of siege. How was a state of siege
possible without an armed force 7 The
military force was referred to in other
parts of the law. To abolish the military
force would be tantamount to making an
alteration in the Colonial Law, which
could only be done by the Diet and the
K;nU II wac tbornfore imnoSaihlo that