Sierra Leone To-day

This article represents the greater part of a Lecture by theretiring Governor, now a Crown Agent for the Colonies, deliveredat a joint meeting with the Royal Empire Society on the 23rdJuly, when Lord Milverton was in the Chair.     

JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ADMINISTRIATIVE DECISIONS – A BACKGROUND PAPER

Judicial review is now the normal route for anyone seeking to challenge an administrative decision, unless there is a separate statutory right of appeal as for example in town planning matters. Grounds for challenge have been variously described by the courts but include (a) that the decision was wrong in law, (b) that it was unreasonable or irrational and (c) that there was procedural unfairness. Those who seek review must understand that the court will not substitute its own view for that of the decision taker. The adequacy of the remedy of judicial review has been challenged by some on the grounds that leave to proceed has to be sought from the court within three months. There is too the difficulty in some cases of establishing that the plaintiff has a sufficient interest to sue. Whilst it is too early to talk of a distinct body of public as opposed to private law, recent decisions have widened the concept of public law and have interpreted the circumstances in which a private right may be pursued against a public authority.     

The U. N. Disposal of Eritrea

This forms the greater part of a lecture given on the 29th January,with Major-General Sir Richard Lewis in the Chair. In introducingthe speaker General Lewis said that Sir Duncan Cumming had beenone of the first to enter Eritrea when it was captured duringthe war and had been the last to leave in 1952. During, andafter, the war, Sir Duncan had been responsible for the civiladministration of all of the occupied Italian Colonies in theMiddle East, of which Eritrea was one. In 1949, he returnedto his own service in the Sudan and in February, 1951, whenhis predecessor retired from Eritrea owing to ill health, heconsented to undertake the difficult task of implementing theUnited Nations resolution on Eritrea. In eighteen months hehad to hold democratic general elections, in an area where suchthings were not well understood, to create a Government in accordancewith the provisions of the constitution and the resolution,to create a civil service, which entailed as a starting pointthe elementary education of selected literates, and to leavethe country with a balanced budget. Sir Duncan had not had aclean start at the job because at the time of his arrival inEritrea it was not possible to move about freely. The localbrigands had made unescorted movement unsafe: incidents occurreddaily and murders and atrocities were frequent. By the latesummer of 1951 he had made brigandage unprofitable and was ableto turn to his constructive task. In doing so, he won the confidenceand respect and, indeed, the affection, not of merely some ofthe conflicting interests but of them all.