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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference

mmmmmmC.O. 885

SJB,

No. 76.

(WESTERN AUSTRALIA.)

ATTORNEY-GENERAL to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice,

February 27, 1901.

No. 5 of

I was honoured with your commands signified in Mr. H. Bertram Cox's letter No. 2 of of the 19th instant stating that he was directed by you to transmit to me copies of two 1900. Acts passed by the Legislature of Western Australia, and to request me to favour you 1900. with my advice on the questions hereinafter mentioned which had arisen in connection therewith.

That Act No. 2 had been passed to correct certain errors in the description of the boundaries of two electoral districts mentioned in the second schedule to the Constitution Acts Amendinent Act, 1899, of Western Australia. That those errors were due to the necessity of amending the boundaries of those districts in consequence of an alteration made in the boundaries of a third district having been overlooked when that schedule was under the consideration of the Legislature. That that Act was assented to by the Officer Administering the Government in the name and on behalf of Her late Majesty.

That the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1899, was reserved for the significa- tion of Her Majesty's pleasure, and was assented to by Her Majesty in Council on the ground that it came within the provisions of the Imperial Act 5 & 6 Vict. Cap. 76, Ser. 31, as to classes of Bills needing reservation, and that those provisions applied to Bills passed by the Legislature of Western Australia by virtue of the proviso (a) con- tained in Section 2 of the Western Australia Constitution Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. Cap. 26). That the question had now arisen whether Act No. 2 should not also have been reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, and did not consequently require the assent of His Majesty in Council to render it operative.

That Act No. 5 affected the qualification of members of cach House of the Western Australian Parliament, as it disqualified for membership in either House members of either House of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia.

That that Act had been assented to by the Officer Administering the Government in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, but that the question had arisen whether, by reason of the provisions of the Imperial Act 13 & 14 Vict. Cap. 59, Sec. 32, and of proviso (a) to Section 2 of the Western Australia Constitution Act, 1890, it should not have been reserved, and whether consequently to render it operative it must be laid before Parliament for thirty days, and thereafter he assented to by His Majesty in Council. That in connection with the above questions as to Act No. 2 and Act No. 5, Mr. Bertram Cox was to call attention to the Law Officers' Report (dated 9th February, 1894), in which the applicability of Section 31 of 5 & 6 Vict. Cap. 76 to enactments of the Legislature of New South Wales was dealt with, and to the Law Officers' Report (lated 8th February, 1897†), in which the applicability of Section 32 of 13 & 14 Vict. Cap. 59 to Bills passed by the Legislature of Western Australia was considered.

That from those Reports it would appear that Acts Nos. 2 & 5 should have been reserved, and that to render them operative they must be assented to by His Majesty in Council; Act No. 5 being also laid before Parliament for thirty days before His Majesty's assent was given to it. That as, however, the effect of the repeal contained in Section 2 of the Western Australia Constitution Act, 1890, on the question whether Section 31 of 5 & 6 Viet. Cap. 76 and Section 32 of 13 & 14 Vict. Cap. 59 applied to Bills passed by the Legislature of Western Australia, had apparently never been brought under the consideration of the Law Officers, it was deemed desirable to obtain my opinion on that general question.

That in connection with the general question, Mr. Bertrain Cox was to call attention to the similar question raised in his letter of the 15th February instant relating to Acts Nos. 73 & 84 of the Legislature of New South Wales, and to ask that in that respect that letter and the present one might be regarded as complementary to each other.

No. 51 in Vol. V. ↑ No. 127 in Vol. V.

8255-25-3,1901 Wt 324 DAY

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