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(4.) This Act (No. 1 of 1904) need not be laid before Parliament, as this is required only as incidental to reservation.

14863

(5.) Generally. We have nothing to add.

We have, &c.,

R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.

The Right Honourable

Alfred Lyttelton, M.P.,

SIR,

&c.,

&c., &c.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

། ། ཟ། ། ། །

C.O. 885

Reference :-

No. 222.

(AUSTRALIA.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Provisions to be inserted in the Imperial Bill for dealing with reserval Acts.]

Royal Courts of Justice,

April 25, 1904. We were honoured with your commands, signified to us by Mr. Bertram Cox, in his letter of the 25th February last, stating that he was directed by you to bring under our notice the question of the reservation of Bills passed by the Legislatures of the six Australian States for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure thereon, and to request us to favour you with our report upon the provisions necessary or proper to be inserted in the Imperial Bill dealing with this subject as suggested in the last paragraphs of our reports of the 8th April and 6th August, 1903.*

That he was to say that, in accordance with our suggestion, your predecessor addressed a despatch in August last to the Governors of the six Australian States calling attention to the confused and complicated condition of the existing legislation, and suggesting that they should invite the views and suggestions of their Ministers as to the legislation required to place the matter on a simpler and more intelligible basis.

That answers to this despatch had now been received from the Governors of all the States except Victoria, and that he was to transmit these despatches with their respective enclosures with his letter for our consideration.

That it would be observed that the only suggestions which have assumed a con- crete form were those put forward by the Governments of New South Wales and Queensland, who have concurred in the terms of a short Bill to apply to those two States alone. That this Bill gave effect to the view of the Law Officer of New South Wales that the requirements of the Australian Constitution Acts as to reservation of Bills affecting the "Legislative Council" did not apply to Bills passed by the present Legislature of New South Wales and Queensland, which affected only the Legislative Assembly.

That this view, which was repeated in the Minute of the Solicitor-General of New South Wales of the 24th November last, had already been laid before us and rejectedl as untenable in our report of the 8th April, 1903.

That he was, however, to state that, in your opinion, the view of the New South Wales Law Officer was, if incorrect, not unreasonable, and that on this ground and also on account of the greater certainty of construction which would result, he would be prepared to accept a Bill giving effect to it. But that he was to suggest for our consideration that the Bill submitted by the Governments of New South Wales and Queensland (which only purported to be a general outline of the legislation desired), was unsuitable for enactment in its present form.

That in the first place it appeared to you to be inexpedient to deal with this question piecemeal. That the present state of the law which was held to require the reservation of a particular Bill in one State and to dispense with the reservation of a similar Bill in another State was the result of historical accident, and it could not be overlooked that all the six Colonies, whatever had been the history of their respective growth or development, were now of equal status as members of the Commonwealth. That there was, therefore, no reason, legal or political, why they should not now be all put into the same position as regards the reservation of their Bills, and that you were of opinion that any Bill introduced into Parliament dealing with this subject should apply to all the States of the Commonwealth and not merely to New South Wales and Queensland.

That if the proposed Bill assumed this general character, it might take the form of an Act to explain the Australian Constitution Acts in certain particulars, but that it would seem to be a more desirable course expressly to repeal all the provisions of the Australian Constitution Acts requiring the reservation of certain classes of Bills and also all the provisions in which the first mentioned provisions have been incor- porated or applied or explained (e.g., 25 and 26 Viet., c. 11, Sec. 2), and to place the States of Australia in the same position in this matter as every other self-governing

Nos. 183 und 2000.

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15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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