HOUSE OF COMMONS. _Select Committee on West Coast of Africa._ R. R. GIBBONS, Esq. to MESSRS. ZULUETA & CO. Gentlemen, July 13th, 1842. I am desired by Lord Sandon, the chairman of this committee, to forward to you copies of evidence taken before them, in which your house is mentioned; and I am to acquaint you that if you are desirous of making any statement thereon, either personally or by letter, the committee will be ready to receive the same. I have, &c. (signed) _R. R. Gibbons._ MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON WEST COAST OF AFRICA. _Veneris, 10º die Junii, 1842._ MEMBERS PRESENT. Sir T. D. Acland. Mr. Aldam. Lord Viscount Courtenay. Lord Viscount Ebrington. Mr. Evans. Captain Fitzroy. Mr. Forster. Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Metcalf. Mr. Milnes. Mr. W. Patten. Mr. Stuart Wortley. LORD VISCOUNT SANDON in the chair. _Henry William Macaulay_, Esq. called in; and further examined. 5003. _Chairman._] Will you state what has been your connexion and acquaintance with the coast of Africa?--I went out to Sierra Leone first in the early part of the year 1830 as a merchant, and at the latter end of the year 1831 I was appointed one of the judges in the court of Mixed Commission; I then left business and devoted myself entirely to the business of the court; and I ceased to act as a judge on the 31st of December, 1839. 5004. Since what time have you been at home?--I remained on the coast a short time to recover my health. I was too unwell to move for some months, and then went to the Island of Ascension, from which I came home in the latter end of the year 1840. 5005. Will you state what the court of mixed commission consists of?--The Portuguese court consists of a British commissary judge and a Portuguese commissary judge, who have to decide upon every Portuguese case; in case of any difference of opinion between the two principal judges, the British commissioner of arbitration and the Portuguese commissioner of arbitration draw lots as to which of the two the case is to be referred to for final decision. In the same way, in the Spanish court, the British commissary judge meets the Spanish commissary judge, and in case of difference of opinion, the case is left to either the British or Spanish commissioner of arbitration, as the lot may determine. 5006. Are there any judges for other nations?--The courts at Sierra Leone are the Portuguese court, the Spanish court, the Brazilian court, and the Dutch court; but no court during my time has been perfect in the number of its judges except the Brazilian court. 5007. You mean by perfect, that the British judge has had to sit alone?--The treaties require that after a certain time, in the absence of any foreign judge, the British commissioner of arbitration shall act as the foreign commissary judge.