In re Letters of Request to Examine Witnesses from the Court of Queen's Bench for Manitoba, Canada

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO VACATE PRIOR ORDER AND TO QUASH SUBPOENA

On February 6, 1973, this Court issued an ex parte Order presented by James L. Browning, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, appointing C. Rhodes Smith, Q. C.; Leon Mitchell, Q. C.; and Murray Donnelly, Ph.D., of Manitoba, Canada, as commissioners to take such steps as may be necessary to obtain the testimony and other relevant evidence from Cyril C. Hermann and James L. Zeigler. *627 The Order was based upon a Letter of Request addressed to this Court by the Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench for Manitoba, Canada, and 28 U. S.C. § 1782. The Letter of Request sets forth that Mssrs. Smith, Mitchell, and Donnelly are Commissioners appointed for a Public Inquiry under the authority of Part V of The Manitoba Evidence Act, R.S.M., c.E 150, and Order-in-Council No. 9471. The subject of their inquiry is all aspects of The Pas Forestry and Industrial Complex, a multi-mil-lion dollar forestry and industrial project in Manitoba.

On March 9, 1973, the Commission caused to be served upon Zeigler in Ti-burón, California, a subpoena to appear and give testimony under oath. The witness…