PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
61
Reference :-
C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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That Mr. Lucas was, however, to point out that such a construction appeared to be open to doubt in view of our recent Report of 15th November last,* and of Sir R. Finlay's Report of the 20th February, 1901,† both of which Reports advised that a New South Wales Act of the second of the three classes required to be laid before Parliament.
That in the case of Acts passed by the present Legislatures of New South Wales and Victoria the question as to the effect of 25 and 26 Victoria, Cap. 11, Section 2, would appear to be further complicated by the provisions of the Imperial Acts 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54 and 55, and the Bills scheduled thereto respectively.
That by Section 3 of 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54, the provisions of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, which related to the "reservation of Bills for the signification of Her were made to apply to the present Legislature of New Majesty's pleasure thereon South Wales. That of the three classes of Bills required by Section 32 of 13 and 14. Victoria Cap. 59, to be reserved and laid before Parliament, the second and third classes were, it was submitted, also required to be reserved and laid before Parliament by But that in the case Section 36 of the Bill scheduled to 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54.
of the first class of those three classes of Bills it would appear that, under Section 4 of 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54, and Section 15 of the Bill scheduled thereto, such Bills might now be passed subject to neither reservation nor laying before Parliament unless the express provision of Section 3 of 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54 excluded such con- struction. That it remained to be determined how the above provisions referred to in this paragraph were affected by the later enactment 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11, Section 2, and that Mr. Lucas was to request us to take this question into our consideration, and to refer us to Sir. R. Finlay's Report of the 20th February, 1901,† from which it would appear that the Section last referred to did not affect the second of the three classes of Bills required, by Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, and Section 3 of 18 and 19 Vietoria Cap. 54, to be reserved and laid before Parliament, although this question was not there brought directly under his notice.
That by Section 3 of 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 55 the provisions of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, which related to the "reservation of Bills for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon" were made to apply to the present Legislature of Victoria. That of the three classes of Bills required by Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria C'ap. 59 to be reserved and laid before Parliament it was submitted that, under 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 55, Section 4, and Sections 60 and 61 of the Bill scheduled thereto, only the third class was required to be reserved, and that laying before Parliament was dispensed with in the case of all three classes, unless the express provision of Section 3 of 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 55 excluded such a construction. That it remained to be determined how the above provisions referred to in this paragraph were affected by 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11, Section 2, and that Mr. Lucas was to request us to take this further question into our consideration.
That with regard to the two other Colonies-Tasmania and South Australia-to which, as shown by its preamble 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11 applied, it would appear that the question stated above with reference to New South Wales was not compli- cated by any other Imperial Acts, and that he was accordingly to request us to con- sider whether Acts passed by the present Legislatures of Tasmania and South Australia respectively of all the three classes specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59 or only of such one or two classes as were mentioned in the preamble to 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11, were exempted from being reserved and laid before Parliament by Section 2 of the last mentioned Act.
39
That in the case of Western Australia it was to be observed that Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, originally applied to that Colony, and that 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11 did not apply to it, as at the date of the passing of that Act the original Legis lature of Western Australia had not been replaced by any substituted Legislature. That the provisions of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, which related to the "reservation of were, however, applied Bills for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon by 53 and 54 Victoria Cap. 26 Section 2, to the present Legislature of Western Australia, though Section 5 of that Act and Section 73 of the Bill scheduled thereto would appear to empower that Legislature to pass Acts of all the three classes specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, without any necessity for reservation or laying before Parliament, unless the express provision of Section 2 (a) of 53 and 54 Victoria Cap. 20 excluded such a construction. That in this connection Mr. Lucas
↑ No. 74.
• No. 173.
3
was to refer us to the Report of our predecessors in office of the 8th February, 1897,* and Sir R. Finlay's Report of the 27th February, 1901,† which would appear to be conclusive that Acts of all the three classes specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Vict. Cap. 59, passed by the present Legislature of Western Australia were required to be reserved and laid before Parliament, notwithstanding the provisions of 53 and 54 Vict. Cap. 26, Section 5, and Section 73 of the Bill scheduled thereto.
That with regard to Queensland, it was observed that neither 13 and 14 Vict. Cap. 59 nor 25 and 26 Vict. Cap. 11 as originally enacted, applied to that Colony. But that under Clauses XIV. and XXII, of the Queensland Letters Patent of the 6th of June, 1859 (which were confirmed by 24 and 25 Vict. Cap. 44 Section 3), the provisions of 13 and 14 Vict. Cap. 59, which related to the "reservation of Bills for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon," were made to apply to Bills passed by the present Legislature of Queensland. That Clause XIV. was, in fact, similar in its terms to 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 54 Section 3 (New South Wales) 18 and 19 Victoria Cap. 55, Section 3 (Victoria), and 53 and 54 Victoria Cap. 26, Section 2 (A) (Western Australia) and that, in the case of all four Colonies, it was to be considered whether reservation of Bills" in this context included "reservation and laying before Parlia- ment" as required by Section 32 of 13 and 14 Vict. Cap. 59. That it was, however, submitted that the Report of our predecessors in office of the 8th of February, 1897,* covered not only the case of Western Australia but, by parity of reasoning, also that of Queensland, and that Acts of all the three classes specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, passed by the present Legislature of Queensland were required to be reserved and laid before Parliament.
That in the event of our reporting that any one or more of the three classes of Acts specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, passed by the present Legislature of any of the six Colonies now constituting the six States of the Commonwealth was, or were, exempted from the necessity of being reserved and laid before Parliament, the further question arose whether such Acts now required even to be reserved, unless they also fell within one of the classes of Act required by Section 31 of 5 and 6 Victoria Cap. 76 to be reserved. That in the cases of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia, Mr. Lucas was to point out that Section 33 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, was not affected in any way by 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11, and that as regarded those States the question would appear to depend upon the meaning of the said Section 33. That if that Section merely meant that reservation and laying before Parliament under Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, was to have the same effect as reservation under 5 and 6 Victoria Cap. 76 (see Section 33 of that Act) then an Act exempted from "reservation and laying before Parliament," as required by Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, was entirely exempted from reservation unless it fell within one of the classes of Acts required to be reserved by Section 31 of 5 and 6 Victoria Cap. 76. But that it was possible that the Section (Section 33 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59) might mean that an Act required to be reserved and laid before Parliament under Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, was also to be regarded And that as an Act required to be reserved by Section 31 of 5 and 6 Victoria Cap. 76. in this case, as 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11 did not appear to affect the Section in question, an Act though exempted from "reservation and laying before Parliament might still be an Act requiring "reservation," even although it did not fall within the actual terms of 5 and 6 Victoria Cap. 76 Section 31.
That Mr. Lucas was to ask us to be good enough to take the points raised in his letter, and the Statutes and reports referred to, into our consideration and report :---
1. Whether Section 2 of 25 and 26' Victoria Cap. 11 was in active and continuous effect at the present time?
2. If so, which-if any of the three classes of Acts specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59, were exempted by Section 2 of 25 and 26 Victoria Cap. 11 (or by any other, and what, enactment) from being reserved and laid before Parlia- ment when passed by the present Legislatures of (a) New South Wales, (b) Victoria, (c) Tasmania (d) South Australia.
3. Which, if any, of the three classes of Acts specified in Section 32 of 13 and 14 Victoria Cap. 59 were now required to be reserved and laid before Parliament when passed by the present Legislatures of (a) Western Australia (b) Queensland.
4. Whether any class or classes of the Acts above referred to passed by the present Legislature of any of the six States which was, or were, exempt from reservation and
No. 127 in Vol. V.
+ No. 76,
**