CHAP.vV] THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURE 449 
the privileges of Parliament are to be such as are appointed 
by Parliament by legislation : until then they are to be those 
which are enjoyed by the Imperial House of Commons from 
time to time. Thus the House of Commons privileges are 
to be the minimum which the Commonwealth has; it may 
increase these privileges by ordinary legislation, though it has 
not yet done so. An Act, No. 16, was passed in 1908 to protect 
parliamentary prints from the danger of libel actions. In the 
Cape of Good Hope and Newfoundland the Constitution 
Acts contained no hint as to privileges at all, and the privi- 
leges of the Houses rest on ordinary legislation ; by s. 57 of 
the South Africa Act, 1909, the privileges of the Parliament 
of the Union are to be those of the Cape Lower House until 
Parliament decides otherwise. It has defined its code by 
Act No. 19 of 1911, and has imposed on future Acts the 
constitutional obligation that the privileges exercised must 
not exceed those of the House of Commons from time to 
time. In the case of New South Wales! Tasmania, and 
Queensland,® the Constitution Acts and the letters patent 
refer merely to the power of each House adopting standing 
orders, and in New South Wales there is still no Act 
conferring privileges on the House. In Tasmania, on the 
other hand, the defect was removed in 1858 by a local 
Act, and in Queensland by an Act, 25 Vict. No. 7, which was 
consolidated in the Constitution Act of 18672 so that the 
matter is now part of the constitution of the Colony and 
subject to alteration only in the manner appropriate in such 
cases. In the Transvaal® and the Orange River Colony ¢ 
the constitutions allowed each House to take by legislation 
the privileges of the House of Commons from time to time, or 
any less privileges, and this privilege was availed of by the 
Transvaal by the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1907. 
When legislation has been passed there is no doubt of its 
effect, provided of course it does not infringe the constitution : 
t 18 & 19 Viet. c. 54, sched. s. 35. * Act 18 Viet. No. 17 5, 29. 
} Letters Patent, June 6, 1859, s. 13. 4 31 Viet. No. 38, ss. 41-56. 
* Letters Patent, December 6, 1906, s. 33. 
¢ Letters Patent, June 5, 1907, s. 35. See now South Africa Act No. 19 
of 1911. 
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