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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Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. The executive Government

Collection:: Economics Books

cuAP. vir] CABINET SYSTEM IN DOMINIONS 337 It is also clear that if ministers and the Governor are to be harmonious the Governor must not—unless under Imperial instructions for an Imperial end—hold language disagreeing with the policy of his ministers. Thus if a Gover- nor comes to South Australia, where his Government have decided against religious training in the schools, and makes a speech in favour of religious influences in education, the position will be a difficult one for the Governor and for ministers also with their ultra followers, and not every Governor will be lucky enough to find so able a minister as Mr. Jenkins to defend him! and to explain away his action as due to ignorance of local circumstances. Nor, again, must a Governor express himself as an entity in political matters beside his ministers in normal circum- stances. There is almost an extreme case of that in the effective attack made by Mr. (now Sir George) Reid on the Governor-General of the Commonwealth on January 30, 1902, an attack which doubtless helped to induce the Governor- (General to decide that he would not remain on in the Common- wealth. The Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, with his usual generosity, felt that the Government were being unfairly attacked in Parliament and out of it, because of their failure to send further forces to South Africa to take part in the Boer war. He took, therefore, the opportunity of a speech at a public occasion on January 27 to declare that the Ministry and himself had carefully considered the whole situation, and decided that more troops were not necessary, clearly intending to show that as an Imperial officer he was accepting a full share of the responsibility for the decision not to send more men for the time being. But Mr. Reid 2 censured the speech as a grave breach of etiquette and as improper, and ' Cf. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vi. 346, and Mr. Martin’s attack on Lord Grey, Debates on Colonial Affairs, 1910, pp. 73, 75. Cf. Sir John Macdonald’s remarks, Canada House of Commons Debates, 1877, p. 313. Lord Dudley’s support of his ministers’ views on naval defence was censured in some quarters; see Hobart Mercury, April 27, 1909. Mr. Verran, in South Australia, publicly attacked the Governor ; see Register. December 29, 1910, which censures his action; above, p. 269, note 1. ' Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1901-2, pp. 4976 seq. 1979 -

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