to be found in some added considerations. Section 4A of the Commissions
of Inquiry Act, enacted in 1980 in place of briefer provisions and in
time for the Erebus inquiry, provides:

"4A. Persons entitled to be heard--(1) Any person shall, if he is
party to the inquiry or satisfies the Commission that he has an
interest in the inquiry apart from any interest in common with the
public, be entitled to appear and be heard at the inquiry.

(2) Any person who satisfies the Commission that any evidence given
before it may adversely affect his interests shall be given an
opportunity during the inquiry to be heard in respect of the matter
to which the evidence relates.

(3) Every person entitled, or given an opportunity, to be heard
under this section may appear in person or by his counsel or
agent."

The section may be seen as a recognition by Parliament that natural
justice should apply. It does not purport to enact a complete code of
procedure or to cover the whole field of natural justice, which would
not be easy in a statute of this general kind. The statute specifically
requires an opportunity to be heard to be given to any person who shows
that evidence may adversely affect his interests. In the parallel
situation of the statutory investigation which must be undertaken
following any aircraft accident considerations of fairness are carefully
spelled out in Regulation 15 (1) of the Civil Aviation (Accident
Investigation) Regulations 1978. There it is provided that "where it
appears to an Inspector that any degree of responsibility for an
accident may be attributable to any person, that person or, if he is