3HAP. 11] CONTROL OVER INTERNAL AFFAIRS 1033
of State approved his having assented, considering that the
Act was of doubtful legality which could best be tested in
the Courts ; if it was held to be illegal it would be disallowed
if the period available had not by the time run out. In
that case the ground of illegality was repugnance to previous
Imperial Acts dealing with land legislation in the Australian
Colonies.!
The case of Prince Edward Island is of some interest, for
the questions there presented some analogies to those which
have caused so much trouble in Ireland. The province was
burdened by a race of absentee landlords, the tenants were
unable to pay the rents, and the Colony was in a wretched
condition of lack of progress and of all prospect of advance-
ment. It passed, therefore, an Act (No. 814) in 1851 which
was intended to fix in currency the payments for land which
as fixed in sterling had become beyond the ability of the
tenants to pay, but the Act was disallowed as an interference
with property, though passed unanimously by the Legislature
of the island in the Lower House.? Then in 1855 they passed
two Acts (Nos. 913 and 915), one to impose a rate upon
the proprietors for the purpose nominally of paying for the
military protection of the island on the withdrawal of the
forces, and another to secure compensation to tenants for
improvements in the lands of the island. Both were re-
fused the royal assent; Sir George Grey wrote3: ‘The
Lieutenant-Governor and Legislature of Prince Edward
Island must remember that, although responsible govern-
ment has been established in that island, responsible
government exists also in Great Britain ; and Her Majesty’s
Government cannot take upon themselves the responsibility
of advising the Crown to give its assent to Colonial Acts
which are at variance with the principles of justice and
invade those rights of property which are the foundation
of social organization ; and I have to observe that former
Governments have on various occasions been obliged, with
reference to Acts passed in Prince Edward Island, to uphold
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Voles, 1859-60, iii. 911,
* Parl. Pap., H. C. 520, 1864, p. 41. # Ibid., p. 42.
