Lord Parmoor:-

The appellant has been for several years the owner of the La Gloria estate in the ward of Upper Caroni, in the Island of Trinidad. The respondent the Honourable Samuel William Knaggs, C. M. G., was at all material dates the acting Governor of the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago, and the respondent the Honourable Arnauld de Boissiere was at all material dates the head of the Immigration Department of the said Colony and the Protector of immigrants. The question involved in the appeal is whether an order made by the acting Governor for the transfer of the indentures of the immigrants indentured on the said La Gloria estate is a valid and effective order. This question was answered in the negative by Blackwood Wright, J. and in the affirmative by the Supreme Court sitting in appeal. The contention of the appellant is that the order of Black-wood Wright, J., was correct, and that the order of the Supreme Court should be reversed.

The Immigration Ordinance No. 161, as amended by subsequent ordinances, contains the provisions applicable to the introduction and employment of immigrants in the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago. S. 203 provides:

"If at any time it appears to the Governor on sufficient ground shown to his satisfaction that all or any of the immigrants indentured on any plantation should be removed therefrom it shall be lawful for him to transfer the indentures of such immigrants for the remainder of their respective terms of service to any other employer who may be willing to accept their services and pay the remaining indenture fees.

It was under this section of the ordinance that the Governor made the order to which the appellant takes objection. There is no doubt that if the acting Governor did act in good faith within the limits of the authority conferred by the ordinance he is fully protected, and no Court has any power to interfere. The case of the appellant as stated in the endorsement of his writ of summons, is that the order was not made under the proper and statutory exercise of the discretion vested in the acting Governor by S. 203 of the Ordinance, and is consequently null and of no effect. It is clearly within the power and jurisdiction of the municipal Courts to entertain this question and to determine whether the acting Governor, in making the order, which the appellant impugns, acted within the limits of the powers conferred on him by a municipal ordinance.

Sect. 203 of the Ordinance empowers the Governor to transfer the indentures of the immigrants "on sufficient ground shown to his satisfaction, that all or any of the immigrants indentured on any plantation should be removed therefrom." The same section empowers the Protector of Immigrants to make a temporary transfer "pending the decision of the Governor," but it is under the earlier portion of the section that the present case has arisen. The Ordinance does not prescribe any special form of procedure, but there is an obvious implication that some form of inquiry must be made such as will enable the Governor fairly to determine whether a sufficient ground has been shown to his satisfaction for the removal of indentured immigrants. The particlular form of inquiry must depend on the conditions under which the discretion is exercised in any particular case, and no general rule applicable to all conditions can be formulated. In the particular case under appeal the acting Governor exercised his discretion on a complaint made against the appellant by the Protector of Immigrants with regard to the treatment and condition of indentured immigrants on his La Gloria estate. What is the procedure which in such a case the law will imply when the Legislature is silent ? The acting Governor was not called upon to give a decision on an appeal between parties, and it is not suggested that he holds the position of a Judge, or that the appellant is entitled to insist on the forms used in ordinary judicial procedure. It would not be possible to follow such procedure,