It would appear from the criminal statistics that Freetown has a demoralizing effect on the aboriginal native who comes from the Protectorate to trade or obtain employment, and this is probably due to the fact that he is free from tribal authority and that his superstitious belief does not present any obstacle to his helping himself to the white man’s property.

There is very little stigma attached to imprisonment, which, after all, is the chief deterring factor in civilized countries; it does not necessarily follow that a scale of punishments suitable for offences committed by a civilized people is suitable for offences committed by an uncivilized people, and there are strong arguments in favour of allowing corporal punishment to be inflicted as well as imprisonment for offences committed by uneducated natives. Imprisonment to the educated native is of course a real punishment, though the social consequence following it would not be as serious as in the case of a European.

Commercially the importance of Sierra Leone is small as compared with its easterly neighbours, the Gold Coast Colony with its hinterland Dependencies of Ashanti and the Northern Territories, and the huge new Colony of Nigeria made up of three older Colonies, but of all our West African Colonies Sierra Leone is probably the best known to the British public, and with the fine harbour and important coaling station at Freetown, its capital, Sierra Leone is a valuable link in the great chain of Imperial communication.

I have the honour to transmit, for your information, a report on the steps taken to deal with unlawful societies in the Protectorate.

Report on the Measures adopted to deal with Unlawful Societies in the Sierra Leone Protectorate.

For a number of years past the Northern Sherbro district has been the principal field for the operations of an organization which goes under the name of the Human Leopard Society. It has not yet been decided whether the object of the Society is merely to satisfy the craving which some savages have for human flesh, or whether the eating of human flesh is only part of some ceremony which is believed to have the effect of increasing the mental and physical powers of the members of the Society. Whatever the object is, the result is a very powerful and widespread secret organization, to which most, if not all, of the principal men of certain districts belong.

2. Several cases of murder committed by this Society have at various times come before the Circuit Court, and convictions have been obtained, but the full extent of the Society’s operations was not brought to light until last year, when the District Commissioner received information that from 20 to 30 murders had been committed since the year 1907, the Imperri sub-district and the country round Pujehun being the principal centres of the trouble.

3. The District Commissioner reported the matter to the Government at the end of July, and proceeded to arrest the persons who appeared to be implicated. By the middle of October 336 persons had been arrested, including several Paramount Chiefs and leading men from the different chiefdoms. A company and a half of the West African Frontier Force were sent down to the Northern Sherbro District to preserve order and assist in guarding the prisoners.

4. The only direct evidence against the persons arrested was found in the statements of certain of their number who turned King’s evidence. These men admitted that they themselves were members of the Human Leopard Society, and described what had taken place at the various murders in which they had taken part.

5. In many cases there was no corroborative evidence, and all attempts to obtain such evidence proved fruitless, a very strong oath of secrecy having clearly been imposed on all the people. Even the relatives of the victims, who were in most cases young boys and girls, were afraid to give information.

6. It soon became clear that, although the District Commissioner and his assistants relied on being able to prove a special mark indicating membership of the Society, there was not sufficient evidence against many of the persons arrested to justify their being committed for trial. Accordingly, in order to assist the District Commissioner, who was overwhelmed with work, the Solicitor-General was sent to the Northern Sherbro District with instructions to go into the cases with him and ascertain in how many there was a sufficiently strong prima facie case against the accused.

7. The result of the Solicitor-General’s enquiry was: out of 336 persons who were detained in custody at Pujehun and Gbangbama, 42 were committed for trial, three turned King’s evidence, and 291 were discharged after the preliminary enquiry had been held. Later on, 66 other persons were arrested, all of whom were committed for trial on various charges. The total number committed was, therefore, 108.

8. The state of things disclosed by the reports of the District Commissioner was so serious, and the pernicious influence of the Human Leopard Society appeared to be so widely spread, that it was considered necessary, in order to deal adequately with the situation, to give the Government special powers. The Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance of 1909 was accordingly amended in the following particulars:—

(a) The two Societies were declared to be unlawful societies.

(b) Power was given to the Governor to proclaim any chiefdom in which a murder had been committed in connection with an unlawful society, and to the District Commissioner to arrest and detain any person in a proclaimed chiefdom on a warrant under his hand.

(c) It was made an offence to be a member of an unlawful society, or to take part in the operations of any such society or of any meeting of an unlawful society. The effect of this provision was made retrospective.

(d) Powers of search were given to the police in the Colony, and to court messengers and the West African Frontier Force in the Protectorate.

(e) Power was given to the Governor-in-Council to order the expulsion of any alien convicted under the Ordinance and sentenced to imprisonment on the expiration of his term of imprisonment. A copy of the amending Ordinance (No. 17 of 1912) is attached.

9. It was further considered necessary to appoint a special tribunal to deal with offences committed by members of unlawful societies, for the following reasons:—

(1) The number of cases to be heard and the number of persons committed for trial was so large that it would have been impossible for the Judge of the Circuit Court to hear them without seriously interfering with the ordinary criminal and civil work of the Court.

(2) In the Circuit Court, native chiefs sit with the Judge as assessors, and as it appeared from the reports of the District Commissioner that many of the Paramount Chiefs in his District were implicated in the crimes of the Human Leopard Society, there was a danger of the Assessors being in sympathy with the persons whom they would be called upon to try.

10. An Ordinance was accordingly passed empowering the Governor to appoint a Court or Courts of Special Commissioners for the trial of persons charged with offences committed in connection with unlawful societies, whether before or after the commencement of the Ordinance, and defining the powers and jurisdiction of the Court. A copy of the Ordinance (No. 18 of 1912) is attached, together with a copy of Ordinance No. 21 of 1912, by which certain amendments in matters of detail were made.

11. Under Section 2 (2) a Special Commission Court consists of three persons, one of whom must be a judge or barrister or solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Colony or of any other Court in the British dominions, and one of the members is appointed to be President of the Court. By Section 10 the powers conferred by Sections 5 and 6 of the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Amendment Ordinance, 1912, and various other powers conferred by the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance of 1909 are extended to persons convicted by a Special Commission Court.

12. It was recognized that, in view of the terror inspired by the Society and the oath of secrecy which was believed to have been imposed on the people of the District, there would be great difficulty in obtaining evidence; and that persons of whose connection with the Society there was no moral doubt whatever might be acquitted for want of sufficient evidence to satisfy legal requirements. Section 11 of the Ordinance accordingly provides that in any such case, if the Court is of opinion, after hearing all the evidence, that it is expedient for the security, peace or order of the District that the accused person should be expelled from the District, the Court may, notwithstanding his acquittal, send to the Governor a report of the case, and thereupon the accused may be expelled from the Colony and Protectorate.

13. The importance of having an officer of high legal attainments, and one who had had previous experience of West Africa, as President of the Court was obvious, and the Government was fortunate in being able to secure the services of Sir William Brandford Griffith, late Chief Justice of the Gold Coast. The other members of the Court, as it was at first constituted, were Mr. A. Van der Meulen, Solicitor-General, and Mr. K. J. Beatty, Police Magistrate, both of whom are barristers-at-law. Later on, Mr. Van der Meulen went on leave, and his place was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel H. G. Warren, District Commissioner of the Karene District.

14. The Court commenced its sittings on the 16th December. Owing to the large number of prisoners and witnesses, all of whom resided in the Northern Sherbro District, it was decided that the Court should sit at Gbangbama, in the Imperri chiefdom. The Crown was represented by Mr. E. D. Vergette, Crown Prosecutor, assisted by Major R. H. K. Willans, Acting District Commissioner, and Mr. C. S. H. Vaudrey, Assistant District Commissioner. The prisoners were all represented by counsel.

15. The trials were conducted with the utmost care and patience. The hearing of the first case occupied 11 days, of the second 36 days, and of the third 28 days. The other cases were disposed of more rapidly.

16. In the third case the question of the initiation mark alleged to be borne by members of the Human Leopard Society was very carefully gone into. The accomplices showed the mark on their own persons, and described how it was made. They also pointed out marks on the prisoners which they alleged to be the mark of the Society. Unfortunately, their evidence in some instances was contradictory, and they identified different marks on the same person as being the initiation mark. Moreover, it was proved, by taking persons haphazard in the Court who were not suspected of any connection with the Society, that it was hardly possible to distinguish the alleged Human Leopard mark from scars caused by disease or slight injuries. The Court was, therefore, unable to accept the mark as evidence of membership of the Society.

17. In view of this ruling, it was obviously useless to proceed with cases in which the alleged mark formed the only corroboration of the evidence of accomplices, and it was decided to enter a nolle prosequi in such cases.

18. Out of 108 persons committed by the District Commissioner, 34 were brought to trial, 71 were released after a nolle prosequi had been entered, and three died before trial. Of the persons brought to trial, nine were convicted of murder and 10 others of lesser offences, the remaining 15 being acquitted. Seven of the nine men convicted of murder were executed, and in the case of the other two the capital sentence was commuted for one of imprisonment for life. Of the 15 persons who were acquitted 11 have since been expelled from the Colony and Protectorate on the recommendation of the Court; and by arrangement with the Government of Southern Nigeria those who have been sentenced to imprisonment will be transferred to Lagos to undergo their sentences there.

19. While it is permissible to believe that the action taken by the Government has had the effect of checking the activities of the Human Leopard Society, at all events for the time being, it would be by no means prudent to assert that this criminal organization has been broken up. Many persons of whose connection with the Society there is little or no doubt are still at large, and probably there are not a few others who have hitherto not come under the notice of the authorities.

20. The blind belief of the natives in the efficacy of the “medicines” concocted by the Society (especially that known as “Borfima”); the power and authority enjoyed by the possessors of these medicines; the fact that periodical human sacrifices are considered to be necessary in order to renew the efficacy of the medicines; and a tendency on the part of some natives to cannibalism pure and simple—all these causes will contribute to the survival of this baneful organization. It has held sway for many years—possibly for centuries—and the task of stamping it out will undoubtedly be one of great difficulty.

An Ordinance to amend the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance, 1909

Be it enacted by the Governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:—

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Amendment Ordinance, 1912.

2.—(1) Whenever it appears to the Governor that a murder has been committed in connection with an unlawful society in any chiefdom, it shall be lawful for him by proclamation to declare such chiefdom or any part thereof to be a proclaimed district.

(2) In a proclaimed district it shall be lawful for a District Commissioner to order the arrest and detention in custody of any person whose arrest and detention he may consider desirable in the interests of justice. A warrant under the hand of a District Commissioner shall be sufficient authority to the person named therein to detain any such person in such place as shall be mentioned therein.

3. For the words “the/any Human Leopard Society and/or Alligator Society” wherever they occur in the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance, 1909 (hereinafter called the Principal Ordinance), shall be substituted the words “any unlawful society.”

4.—(1) Every person who knowingly—

(a) is or has before the commencement of this Ordinance been a member of an unlawful society; or

(b) takes or has before the commencement of this Ordinance taken part in the operations of an unlawful society or of any meeting thereof, shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

(2) A Magistrate or District Commissioner on sworn information may authorize any member of the Sierra Leone Police Force or West African Frontier Force or a court messenger to search any person whom there is good reason to suspect of being a member of an unlawful society or of having taken part in the operations of an unlawful society, or of any meeting thereof, and for this purpose may authorize any of the afore-mentioned persons to enter any premises at any time and, if need be, by force, on Sundays as well as on other days; and if any person wilfully hinders, molests or obstructs any of the aforesaid persons in searching such suspected person, every such person shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding twelve months.

5. For Section 12 of the Principal Ordinance shall be substituted the following section:—

12. When any person shall have been convicted of complicity in any murder committed in connection with an unlawful society, whether before or after the commencement of this Ordinance, and the Governor shall have decided to grant a pardon to such person on condition of his undergoing a term of imprisonment with or without hard labour, or when any person shall have been convicted of complicity in any murder aforesaid not involving the punishment of death, or when any person shall have been convicted of an offence under this Ordinance or any Ordinance amending the same, and shall have been sentenced by the Court to undergo a term of imprisonment with or without hard labour, the judge before whom such person was so tried and convicted shall forthwith send a report of such case to the Governor, and it shall then be lawful for the Governor-in-Council to direct that such person, not being an alien, shall be deported from the Colony or Protectorate to any other British Colony, there to serve such term of imprisonment in such prison as the Governor of such Colony may direct.

6.—(1) In the case of a convicted person, who is an alien, it shall be lawful for the Governor-in-Council, after the completion of the term of imprisonment awarded to such convicted person, to make an order (in this Ordinance referred to as an expulsion order) requiring such alien to leave the Colony or Protectorate within a time fixed by the order and thereafter to remain out of the Colony and Protectorate.

(2) If any alien in whose case an expulsion order has been made is at any time found within the Colony or Protectorate in contravention of the order, he shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding ten years.

(3) Any person aiding or attempting to aid any person, in whose case an expulsion order has been made, to return to the Colony or Protectorate, and any person harbouring such person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.

7. The schedule to the Principal Ordinance is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words:—

(6) A dress made of baboon skins commonly used by members of an unlawful society.

(7) A “kukoi” or whistle, commonly used for calling together the members of an unlawful society.

(8) An iron needle, commonly used for branding members of an unlawful society.

8. In this Ordinance “unlawful society” means the Human Leopard Society, the Human Alligator Society, or any other society existing for the purpose of committing or encouraging or procuring the commission of murder.

“Alien” means a person who is a natural-born subject or citizen of a foreign state, or has been naturalized as such.

9. Whereas various murders are alleged to have been committed in connection with unlawful societies, and various persons have been arrested and detained in custody in connection therewith;

Now it is hereby enacted that all persons who were before the commencement of this Ordinance concerned in the arrest or detention in custody of such arrested persons are hereby fully indemnified for anything done by them in the arrest or detention in custody of such arrested persons, and no action at law or otherwise shall be maintained for such arrested persons having been so arrested and detained in custody, and no writ of habeas corpus shall be issued on their behalf.

10. This Ordinance shall apply to the Colony and Protectorate.

Passed in the Legislative Council this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and twelve.

An Ordinance to constitute Special Commission Courts for the trial of persons charged with offences committed in connection with unlawful societies.

No. 18 of 1912

Whereas there exist in the Colony and Protectorate certain unlawful societies formed for the purpose of committing murders;

And whereas many murders have recently been committed under the influence of such unlawful societies;

And whereas, owing to the number of these murders, it is expedient to try all persons charged with offences committed in connection with such unlawful societies by a special tribunal;

Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:—

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Special Commission Ordinance, 1912.

2.—(1) The Governor may from time to time direct a commission or commissions to be issued for the appointment of a Court or Courts of Special Commissioners for the trial in manner provided by this Ordinance of persons, committed for trial before the Supreme Court of the Colony or the Circuit Court of the Protectorate, for any of the following offences committed in the Colony or Protectorate, whether before or after the commencement of this Ordinance; that is to say,

(a) murder, committed in connection with an unlawful society;

(b) attempting or conspiring to commit murder in connection with an unlawful society;

(c) any of the offences under Section 2 of the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance, 1909, or under any Ordinance amending that Ordinance;

and the Governor may by warrant assign to any such Court of Special Commissioners (in this Ordinance referred to as a Special Commission Court) the duty of sitting at the place named in the warrant, and of there, without a jury and not assisted by any native chief, or non-native or native assessors, hearing and determining, according to law, the charge made against the person so committed for trial and named in the warrant, and of doing therein what to justice appertains.

(2) A Special Commission Court shall consist of three persons to be named in such commission, of whom one shall be a judge or barrister or solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Colony or of any other Court in the British dominions, and they shall try in open court, according to the tenor of a warrant under this Ordinance, all persons named in the warrant who may be brought before them for trial. The Governor shall appoint one of the members of a Special Commission Court to be the President thereof.

(3) A member of a Special Commission Court shall take such oaths as are prescribed by the Promissory Oaths Ordinance of 1870, to be taken by Judges.

(4) The evidence taken on a trial before a Special Commission Court and the reasons, if any, given by the members of the said Court in delivering judgment, shall be taken down in writing by the President of the said Court.

(5) A person tried by a Special Commission Court shall be acquitted unless the whole Court concur in his conviction, and the members of the said Court shall in all cases of conviction give in open court the reasons for such conviction.

(6) The Governor shall from time to time provide for the payment of the reasonable expenses of witnesses.

3.—(1) There shall be attached to a Special Commission Court an Assistant Master, who shall attend such Special Commission Court, when sitting to try persons charged with offences under this Ordinance. Such Assistant Master, while discharging or performing the duties of his office, shall have all the powers of the Master of the Supreme Court of the Colony.

(2) If at any time the Assistant Master shall be prevented by illness or other unavoidable absence from acting in his office, it shall be lawful for the Court to appoint from time to time a deputy to act for the said Assistant Master and to remove such deputy at its pleasure, and such deputy, while acting under such appointment, shall have the like powers as if he were the Assistant Master.

4.—(1) A warrant for the trial by a Special Commission Court of a person charged with an offence shall be in the form contained in the Schedule to this Ordinance.

(2) Not less than seven days before the sitting of any Special Commission Court, notice thereof shall be published in the Gazette stating the names of the Special Commissioners, the place at which the Court will sit, and the day on which the sitting of the Court will begin.

(3) An objection to the jurisdiction of a Special Commission Court to try a person for any offence shall not be entertained by reason only of any non-observance of the provisions of this section; but the Court, on application, may adjourn the case, so as to prevent any person charged being prejudiced by such non-observance.

5.—(1) If any member of a Special Commission Court dies, or if it appears to the Governor that from illness or some reasonable cause it is necessary that another person should be appointed in the place of a member of a Special Commission Court, the Governor may, if he thinks it expedient so to do, direct a supplemental commission to be issued, appointing another person to fill the vacancy in such Court.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, and for the purpose of the trial of any persons charged before them, a Special Commission Court shall have the same privileges, powers and jurisdiction as if it were the Circuit Court of the Protectorate, trying with native chiefs, or non-native or native assessors an offender before such Court, and shall follow, as far as possible, the practice and procedure of that Court, and in hearing and determining the cases of all persons tried before a Special Commission Court, such Court shall, as far as possible, be guided in arriving at a decision by the laws in force in the Colony. A Special Commission Court shall be a court of record, and the same intendment shall be made in respect of all orders, writs, and process made by and issuing out of such Special Commission Court, as if it were a court of record acting according to the course and by the authority of the common law.

(3) All the members of a Special Commission Court shall be present at the hearing and determination of the case of a person tried before such Court, but, save as aforesaid, the jurisdiction of the Court may be exercised by any of such members, and any act of the Court shall not be invalidated by reason of any vacancy among the members.

(4) The trial by a Special Commission Court of a person in pursuance of a warrant under this Ordinance shall begin as soon as may be, but it shall be lawful for the Court to postpone such trial on the request of such person, or on account of the illness or absence of a witness, or on account of a vacancy in the Court, or of the illness of such person, or some other sufficient cause, and to discontinue a trial of a person, when commenced, on account of a vacancy in the Court or the illness of such person, or some other sufficient cause.

(5) Where a trial of a person is postponed or discontinued, the trial of such person may take place before the same Court or any other Special Commission Court, and shall take place as soon as may be.

(6) In the event of a trial of a person taking place before another Special Commission Court, a new warrant shall be issued for the trial of such person.

(7) A commission appointing a Special Commission Court shall not be superseded or affected by the issue of another like commission, nor shall the sitting or jurisdiction of such Court be affected by the sitting of any such commission or of the Supreme Court of the Colony or the Circuit Court of the Protectorate.

(8) A Special Commission Court shall be a Court within the meaning of the Perjury Ordinance, 1896, and the Children (Criminal Law Amendment) Ordinance, 1910.

(9) The provisions of the Supreme Court Amendment Ordinance, 1912, shall not apply to a trial of a person by a Special Commission Court.

(10) An objection to the jurisdiction of a Special Commission Court to try a person in pursuance of a warrant under this Ordinance shall not be entertained by reason only of any want of form in the warrant, or of any mistake in the name or description of such person in the warrant, if it is shown that the person tried is the person to whom the warrant relates; and an objection to the proceedings of such Court for any want of form on the trial of any person shall not be entertained, if no injustice was thereby done to such person.

6.—(1) When a person is brought up for trial before a Special Commission Court, he shall be triable for any offence, being one, or connected with one, of the offences referred to in Section 2 of this Ordinance, disclosed by the depositions taken by the Court of the District Commissioner at the investigation of the charge, and the Special Commission Court shall inform such person specifically of the charge whereon he is to be tried, and shall record such charge in writing and call upon such person to plead thereto.

(2) At any time before the trial, on application by a person charged with an offence or by some person on his behalf, a copy of the written charge, if any, of the depositions and of the statement of such person so charged shall be supplied by the officer in whose custody the originals are deposited at the time of such application, for which a reasonable charge, not exceeding sixpence for every hundred words, may be made, or the same may be supplied without payment, as shall to the officer granting the application in his discretion seem expedient.

7. The deposition of any witness taken by the Court of the District Commissioner at the investigation of the charge in the presence of the person charged, such person having had full opportunity of cross-examining such witness, may be given in evidence before a Special Commission Court if the witness be dead, or if the Court be satisfied that for any sufficient cause his attendance cannot be procured.

8. Barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court of the Colony and officers appointed by the Governor to prosecute shall be allowed to appear and be heard at the trials of persons charged with offences before a Special Commission Court.

9. A Special Commission Court shall have power in capital cases to inflict punishment of death, and when a sentence of death has been passed, all the proceedings in the case shall with the least possible delay be forwarded, together with a report from the Special Commission Court, to the Governor, and no sentence of death shall be carried into effect except upon the warrant of the Governor and in the mode and in the place directed by him, and such warrant shall be the authority for carrying the same into effect.

10. A Special Commission Court shall send to the Governor a report of the cases of all persons convicted by such Court, and thereupon the power of deportation and expulsion conferred by sections 5 and 6 of the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Amendment Ordinance, 1912, shall extend to persons convicted by a Special Commission Court, and all the applicable provisions contained in Sections 13, 14 and 15 of the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Ordinance, 1909, and in Section 6 of the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Amendment Ordinance, 1912, shall extend to all persons deported or expelled under this Ordinance, and to all persons aiding or attempting to aid such deported or expelled persons unlawfully to return to the Colony or Protectorate, and to all persons unlawfully harbouring such deported or expelled persons.

11.—(1) If a person tried by a Special Commission Court shall be acquitted, but the Court shall be of opinion that it is expedient for the security, peace or order of the district in which the offence with which such person was charged took place, that such person should be expelled from such district, the said Court shall send to the Governor a report of the case, and thereupon it shall be lawful for the Governor-in-Council to make an order (in this Ordinance referred to as an expulsion order) requiring such person to leave the Colony or Protectorate within a time fixed by the order, and thereafter to remain out of the Colony and Protectorate.

(2) If any person in whose case an expulsion order has been made is at any time found within the Colony or Protectorate in contravention of the order, he shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding ten years.

(3) Any person aiding or attempting to aid any person, in whose case an expulsion order has been made, to return to the Colony or Protectorate, and any person harbouring such person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.

12. The expression “unlawful society” has the same meaning as in the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies Amendment Ordinance, 1912.

13. This Ordinance shall apply to the Colony and Protectorate.

14. This Ordinance shall continue in force until the expiration of one year next after the commencement thereof: Provided that the expiration of this Ordinance shall not affect the validity of anything done in pursuance of this Ordinance, and any person convicted under this Ordinance may be punished as if this Ordinance continued in force, and all prosecutions and other legal proceedings pending under this Ordinance at the time of the expiration thereof may be carried on, completed and carried into effect, and the sentences carried into execution as if this Ordinance had not expired.

Whereas by a commission dated the      day of      and issued under and by virtue of the Special Commission Court Ordinance, 1912, you have been appointed Special Commissioners to form a Special Commission Court for the trial in manner provided by the said Ordinance of persons committed for trial before the      Court of the      for offences, in connection with unlawful societies;

And whereas the persons whose names are set out in the Schedule hereto have been committed for trial before the      Court of the      for offences in connection with unlawful societies;

Now I,      , Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Sierra Leone, hereby assign to you the said Special Commissioners the duty of sitting at      in the Protectorate (or Colony) of Sierra Leone, and of there, without a jury and not assisted by any native chief or non-native or native assessors, hearing and determining, according to law, the charges made against the persons whose names are set out in the Schedule hereto, and of doing therein what to justice appertains, and this shall be to you a sufficient warrant in that behalf.

Given under my hand this      day of

Passed in the Legislative Council this Fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and twelve.

Be it enacted by the Governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:—

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Special Commission Court (Amendment) Ordinance, 1912.

2. The Special Commission Ordinance, 1912, is hereby amended,

(1) In section 1, by inserting the word “Court” after the word “Commission.”

(2) By adding at the end of subsection (5) of section 2 the following paragraph:—

“In all other matters the decision or opinion of the Court shall be according to the decision or opinion of a majority of the members of the Court.”

(3) In line 3 of section 3, by inserting the word “triable” after the word “offences,” and in line 8 of the same section by substituting the words “reasonable cause” for the words “unavoidable absence.”

(4) In subsection (10) of section 5, by inserting the words “to be” before the word “tried” in line 5 thereof.

(5) In section 6, by inserting the words “which may in the opinion of the Court be” after the word “Ordinance” in line 4 thereof.

(6) In section 9, by inserting the words “the notes of evidence and” after the word “passed” in line 2 thereof, and by inserting after the word “case” in line 3 thereof the words “or copies thereof certified under the hand of the Assistant Master.”

(7) In subsection (3) of section 11, by inserting the word “unlawfully” before the word “harbouring” in line 3 thereof.

(8) By inserting the word “To” at the beginning of the Schedule, by transferring the words “given under my hand this      day of      Governor” in lines 19 and 20 of the Schedule to the end of the Schedule to the Schedule, and by striking out the word “To” in line 22 of the Schedule.