Responsible government in the Dominions: Responsible government in the Dominions

Responsible government in the Dominions (Vol. 1)

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1896933912

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Press

Year of publication:: 1912-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1896934455

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-236504

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 1

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: LI, 568 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. The executive Government

Collection:: Economics Books

256 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II subject to certain charges, the revenue of the Colony ‘ shall be subject to be appropriated to such specific purposes as by any Act of the Legislature of the Colony shall be pre- scribed in that behalf.” The ‘Legislature of the Colony’ consists of the Governor, Council, and Assembly, and it follows that to spend money without the authority of the Governor, Council, and Assembly is a breach of the law. The 55th section of the Constitution Act provides that no part of that revenue shall be issued or shall be made issuable except in pursuance of warrants under the hand of the Governor of the Colony directed to the Public Treasurer thereof.’ On the Governor, therefore, is imposed the duty of seeing that no breach of the law is committed. Your ministers are of opinion that if they desire the Governor to sign a warrant authorising the issue of any amount of public money for a purpose confessedly un- warranted by law, he is bound, whatever his opinion may be, to comply with their demand, if only they place before him a statement, even if it appears to him to be unfounded, that an emergency has arisen justifying that expenditure. Any position less unqualified than this would leave some personal discretion to the Governor, and therefore some opening for the collision which Mr. Samuel holds to be unconstitutional. Her Majesty’s Government cannot adopt this conclusion. They admit that the Legislature of New South Wales might, if they had chosen, have deprived the Governor of all right to interfere with the public finance. It might have left the Treasurer without control in his issue of public money, or subjected him in this respect to the check of the Auditor or some other permanent or political officer. Instead of doing this they have made the Governor responsible for the execu- tion, and therefore for every violation of the law. That responsibility is, in the opinion of Her Majesty’s Govern- ment, a personal one. The distinction drawn by Mr. Samuel in the passage Ihave first quoted from his memorandum between the action of the Governor alone and that of the Governor in Council is correct and material, but it is misapplied. He rightly assumes that duties imposed by law on the Governor alone are to be exercised by him, with an amount of personal discretion far greater than belongs to him when acting in Council. But it will be seen by reference to the above cited clause from the Constitution Act that, to reverse Mr. Samuel’s

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