Finding, however, that his candidature would split up the advanced Liberal party, a portion of whom considered themselves pledged to Sir George (then Mr. Trevelyan), he withdrew.
He was a member of a Commission that discovered an extraordinary system of legal oppression upon natives of India who had completed their indentures as coolies.
In the new colony of Fiji, an altogether different native race and language had to be studied, and as the Chief Justice was a member of the Legislative Council, a different class of work had to be undertaken.
Sir John drafted with great labour an ordinance to introduce Indefeasible Titles, and to give security for local advances.
An Australian newspaper wrote, On his return to the colony lately from a visit home, the reception accorded to him was of an impressive and enthusiastic character,[2] but this welcome was not universal.
As a result of a campaign to remove him, a commission investigated his administration of justice in Trinidad and Tobago, and when the governor suspended him from office pending a final decision in London, he returned to Britain in the middle of 1892 to fight his case personally but died a few days after arrival on 4 August 1892.
[1] Sir John Gorrie married, on 6 December 1855, Marion, daughter of Michael Graham of Edinburgh, who died in 1884, leaving issue.