PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
CO. 885
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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contended for by Sir John A. Macdonald were correct, the same course might be pursued, notwithstanding a complete and overwhelming majority in the Provincial Assembly.
For these reasons we are of opinion that it will not be a right or sufficient answer to the reference which has been made to Her Majesty's Government to instruct the Governor-General that the matter so referred is one in respect of which it will be in accordance with the constitution of the Dominion of Canada that he should act upon the advice tendered to him by his responsible Ministers. On the contrary, we think it is a matter in which the Governor-General must act upon his own individual discretion.
There is no part of our constitutional system which presents any analogy to the relations which exist between the Dominion and the Provincial Assemblies.
The Right Hon.
Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart., M.P.,
&c.
We have, &c., (Signed) JOHN HOLKER.
HARDINGE S. GIFFARD.
&c.
&o.
No. 205a.
(CYPRUS.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
MY LORD,
We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Sir Julian
Temple, June 21, 1879. Pauncefote's letter of the 18th instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to acknowledge the receipt of our letter of the 11th instant* on the subject of a pro- posed regiment of Cyprus pioneers, and Sir Julian Pauncefote was to state to us in reply that, in view of the opinion expressed therein, it was proposed to modify extensively the proposal which was originally sent home by Sir G. Wolseley.
That Sir Julian Pauncefote enclosed therewith a draft of an Ordinance which it was proposed that the High Commissioner of Cyprus should lay before his Legislative
Council.
That we would observe that. in the framing of that Ordinance, the precedent of Ordinance V., 1872, of the Parliament of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, establishing a "force for the better protection of life and property in the Colony, to
be called the Cape Mounted Rifles," had been closely followed.
That Sir Julian Pauncefote was to request us to take the enclosed papers into our consideration, and to inform your Lordship whether, our opinion, there was any
illegality in the proposed Ordinance.
That the papers sent with Sir Julian Pauncefote's previous letter were returned for convenience of reference.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to
Report
That we observe the men proposed to be embodied to serve as an armed force are to act "as a military force for the defence of the Island," and "discharge military duties in connexion therewith when called upon so to do." They are, in fact, to be soldiers, armed, trained, clothed, equipped, and commanded by officers, as soldiers, and not merely to act as civilians in a police force.
In our opinion the proposed Ordinance would be illegal under the 1st Vict. cap. 29. Sec. 2. The Cypriotes are not British subjects, as the men enlisted at the Cape were, and in other respects the case of the Cape Colony is so different that it affords no pre- cedent for the creation of the proposed force in Cyprus.
In
The Cape Colony force was established by the Act of the Legislature of the Colony, and the pay of the men and officers was provided for out of the colonial revenue. the case of Cyprus the pay is, we presume, to come out of the estimates, and the force is created by the Ordinance.
The Ordinance contains no provision for the pay, enforcing discipline, or anything beyond the formation of a military corps.
We have, &c., (Signed)
The Right Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury.
JOHN HOLKER. HARDINGE S. GIFFARD. J. PARKER DEANE.
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▲ 20491.-16. 25.-6/86.
• No. 204a.