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370 extending the scope of this Amalgamation Ordinance, Sir H. Robinson repealed it altogether to the infinite regret of the public (by Ordinance 12 of 1862). It seems he was instigated to this retrogressive act by the new Chief Justice (W. H. Adams) and the new Attorney General (J. Smale) who, like the Governor, knew little of the sad condition in which the legal profession in the Colony had been before the introduction of this Ordinance. The beneficial effects it had produced were now considered a proof that it was no longer needed. In vain did the community, who heard of this measure only a few hours before it was read in Council, protest against the repeal. In vain did the unofficial Members of Council (F. Chomley, C. W. Murray, A. Perceval) demand that at least an inquiry be instituted into the working of the Amalgamation Ordinance and into the necessity for a repeal. The Governor was going away on furlough and had made up his mind to settle this matter before leaving, 'on the basis of the opinions of high legal officers, whose credit was at stake in the utterance of their opinions, rather than on the views of irresponsible outsiders.' The Chief Justice (W. H. Adams) and the Attorney General (J. Smale) thought the repeal necessary to preserve the purity of the higher branch of the profession. The public interest had to yield to that. But the impetuous haste with which the Governor rushed the Bill through Council (July 3, 1862), and the inexorable predetermination with which he brushed aside all objections whilst refusing any inquiry or consideration, caused the general public to stigmatise the conduct of Sir Hercules in this case, as in some others, as marked by 'mulish obstinacy.' As to other legal enactments of this period, the principal Ordinance of permanent value was that (7 of 1860) which gave authority to two Commissioners, H. J. Ball, Judge of the Summary Jurisdiction Court, and W. H. Alexander, Registrar of the Court, to compile an edition of the Ordinances in force in the Colony and to consolidate particularly the criminal law. This important work, by the starting of which the Governor complied with one of the recommendations of the Parliamentary