CO129-594-9 Membership of Legislative and Executive Councils 31-12-1945 - 14-1-1947 — Page 134

CIRCULAR

Downing Street,

5th June, 1945.

133

sir,

I have the honour to inform you that it has come to notice recently that the requirements and limitations of the provisions contained in Constitutional Instruments (Letters Patent, Orders in Council or Royal Instructions) regarding the appointment of members of Legislative and Executive Councils and similar authorities have not always been fully observed.

2. It is unnecessary to stress the importance, if the proceedings of legislative and executive bodies are not to be open to challenge, on the ground of irregularity of ensuring that they are properly constituted.

3. Among the points which have created difficulties are the following:-

(a) Several instances have occurred in which the expiry

of a member's term of office has been overlooked with the result that persons have continued to attend meetings after their membership has come to an end. These irregular attendances necessitate the adoption of expedients which are not only troublesome but may sometimes be of doubtful legal efficacy.

(b) Appointment of Nominated Members of Councils,

whether by the Governor on his own initiative or on instructions from His Majesty, cannot be made with retrospective effect; they tako effect only from the date of the instrument by which they are made.

(c)

х

A member's tenure of office depends upon the

terms of the constitution. If he holds office during pleasure, His Majesty has power to give instructions for the limitation of a period of the appointment as he thinka fit, but in the absence of such instructions or specifio provision in the Constitutional Instruments, the Governor has no authority to place a time limit upon an appointment, whether definitive or provisional.

(d) Provisional appointments can be made only in

the circumstances specified in the Constitutional Instruments. They are a temporary expedient and should not be used as a substitute for definitive appointments.

(e) The terms of enactments relating to provisional

appointment vary, but it is probably correct to say of all Colonial territories that such an appointment is made to fill a specific vacancy and depends upon its continuance. It is therefore incorrect to regard one person as filling successive vacancies without re-appointment.

The Officer Administering

the Government of

For