242 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II 
Columbia the Legislature was dissolved on June 7, 1898, and 
not again dissolved until April 10, 1900. 
He denied the statement that legislatures do not divide 
on party lines and that coalition should have been permitted. 
It was true that in British Columbia the Dominion party 
lines were not followed in provincial elections, but there 
had been a distinct division on party lines in provincial 
matters in 1898. Mr. Semlin could not have formed a 
coalition, for though Mr. Semlin moved and carried a motion 
after his dismissal, ‘ That this House, being fully alive to 
the great loss, inconvenience, and expense to the country 
of any interruption of the business of this House at the 
present time, begs leave to express its regret that His Honour 
has seen fit to dismiss his advisers, as in the present crisis 
they have efficient control of the House,’ by a vote of 
twenty-two to fifteen, yet the leader of the Opposition and 
his former colleagues with one exception voted against the 
motion, showing that no coalition had been effected. 
The delay in holding the general election he justified by 
the case of the dismissal by Lieutenant-Governor Angers of 
the Mercier Ministry on December 16, 1891, when the ensuing 
general election was not held until March 8 following—the 
time elapsing being much the same as in the case of British 
Columbia—while no censure had been imposed on Lieutenant- 
Governor Angers for his action in the matter. He also 
quoted the circumstances attendant upon the formation of 
Mr. Pitt’s first administration in 1783. 
Despite, however, the elaborate explanations furnished 
by the Lieutenant-Governor, it was decided by the Dominion 
Government that the Lieutenant-Governor should be dis- 
missed on the grounds that his action in dismissing his 
ministers had not been approved by the people of British 
Columbia, and that in view of recent events in British Colum- 
bia it was evident that the Government of the Province 
could not be carried on in the manner contemplated by 
the constitution under the administration of Mr. McInnes, 
whose official conduct had been ° subversive of the principles 
of responsible government ’.