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Unofficial Members.
Provisional appoint- ment of members.
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in pursuance of Instructions from Us through one of Our Prin- cipal Secretaries of State, may from time to time appoint by an Instrument under the Public Seal of the Colony, and all such persons shall be styled Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council.
If any Official Member of the Legislative Council cease to hold office under the Crown in the Colony, his seat in the Council shall thereupon become vacant.
XIV. Whenever any Member of the Legislative Council, other than an ex officio Member, shall, in the manner hereinafter provided, have resigned his seat in the Council or shall die,. or whenever the seat of any such Member shall otherwise become vacant, or wherever any such Member shall be sus- pended from the exercise of his functions as a Member of the Council, or be declared by the Governor by an Instrument under the Public Seal to be incapable of exercising his functions as a Member of the Council, or be absent from the Colony, or shall be acting in an office the holder of which is an ex officio Member of the Council, the Governor may, by an Instrument under the Public Seal, appoint some person to be provisionally a Member of the Council in the place of such Member.
Such person shall hold his place in the Council during Our pleasure and shall forthwith cease to be a Member of the Council if his appointment is disallowed by Us, or revoked by the Governor or superseded by the definitive appointment of a Member of the Council, or if the Member in whose place he was appointed shall be released from suspension, or, as the case may be, shall be declared by the Governor capable of again exercising his functions in the Council, or shall return to the Colony, or shall cease to sit in the Council as an ex officio Member.
Tenure of Office of Unofficial Members of Legislative Council.
When any person shall be lawfully dicharging the functions of more than one of the offices the holders of which are ex officio Members of the said Council, the Governor may, by an Instru- ment under the Public Seal, appoint any fit person to be pro- visionally a Member of the Council so long as the said offices shall continue to be so discharged by one person but any such appointment may be disallowed or revoked as aforesaid.
The Governor shall, without delay, report to Us, through one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, every provisional appointment of any person as a Member of the Legislative Council.
XVI. Every Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council shall vacate his seat at the end of four years from the date of the Instrument by which he is appointed or of such other period as may be specified in that Instrument, but shall be eligible to be re-appointed in the manner hereinbefore provided for a further period or periods, each period not exceeding four years:
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Provided that if any such Member is provisionally appointed Unofficial to fill a vacant seat in the Council and his provisional appoint- Members ment is immediately followed by his definitive appointment, eligible for the aforesaid period of four years shall be reckoned from the re-appoint- date of the Instrument provisionally appointing him.
ment.
XVIII. Any Member of the Legislative Council, other than an Resignation ex officio Member, may resign his seat in the Council by writing of Members. under his hand, but no such resignation shall take effect until it
be accepted by the Governor in writing, or by Us through
one of Our Principal Secretaries of State.
XX. The Members of the Legislative Council shall take pre- Precedence cedence as We may specially assign, and in default thereof, as of Members. follows:-
(1) First, the Official Members in the following order:-
(a) The ex officio Members in the order in which their offices are hereinbefore mentioned (except that the Senior Military Officer, if below the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in Our Army, shall take precedence after the person lawfully discharging the functions of Attorney-General);
(b) Other Official Members according to the priority of their respective appointments, or if appointed by the same Instrument, according to the order in which they are
named therein.
(2) Secondly, the Unofficial Members in the following
order :-
(a) The Unofficial Members who are also Members of the Executive Council of the Colony according to the precedence taken as be- tween themselves as Members of the Executive Council;
(b) Other Unofficial Members according to the priority of their respective appointments, or if appointed by the same Instrument, according to the order in which they are named therein: Provided that any such Unofficial Member who is re-appointed immediately on the termination of his term of office shall, as between himself and other Unofficial Members who are not also Mem- bers of the Executive Council, take prece- dence according to the date from which he has been continuously a Member of the Legislative Council.
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