cHAP. 1] POWERS OF DOMINION PARLIAMENTS 365 
seems very difficult indeed to maintain. The act of altering 
the post of Governor and its duties can hardly be said to be 
beyond the powers of a Colony to legislate for peace, order, 
and good government. Again, any misuse of legislative 
authority can be corrected, whether by the action of the 
Imperial Parliament or by disallowance of an Act. The 
Colonial Legislatures are constantly imposing new duties on 
the Governor; can it be said that an Act affecting his 
position so as to make it elective would be invalid ? In the 
old North American Colonies in some cases the proprietors 
could select the Governor, subject to royal assent In 
Tasmania it was proposed in 1853,in drafting the Constitution 
Act, to make the Governor removable by reason of a two- 
thirds majority of the two Houses of the Legislature ; could 
it have been held beyond the powers of the Crown to assent 
to such an Act, and for that Act then to be valid ? 
On the other hand, it is fair to say that a Colonial Legis- 
lature must remain within the bounds of colonial legislation. 
It might indeed allow enemy subjects to trade with Colonial 
British subjects, and the permission would be valid within the 
territory, assuming of course that the Crown sanctioned any 
Act for this purpose, since such trading is illegal at common 
law. It could resolve (as some politicians desired to do in 
the Cape during the Boer war and now do) to remain neutral 
in war to the extent that it would not assist the Mother 
Country 2; it is then for the Mother Country to say whether 
it will acquiesce in that decision ; if it does not it can of 
course apply force to compel participation : but no amount 
of declarations will create neutrality in international law if 
the other power concerned does not care to accept such 
neutrality, and Mr. Gavan Duffy’s attempt to obtain a reso- 
lution in 1870 from the people of Australia in favour of the 
neutralizing of the Colonies was properly laughed out of 
court by his colleagues as impracticable and utopian. 
Moreover, the legislatures are legislatures for a Colony, and 
1 Chitty on the Prerogative, pp. 25, 26, 31, 33. 
$ Cf. Sir W. Laurier’s remarks on the Imperial Conference on June 1, 
1911, Cd. 5745, pp. 116, 117; Ewart, Canadian Independence, pp. 17 seq; 
Times, July 21 and 22, 1911,