Responsible government in the Dominions: Responsible government in the Dominions

Responsible government in the Dominions (Vol. 2)

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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:: 1896935052

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-238139

Document type:: Volume

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

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 2

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: XI Seiten, Seiten 570-1100

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part V. Imperial control over dominion administration and legislation // Chapter II. Imperial control over the inernal affairs of the dominions

Collection:: Economics Books

1046 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [PART V would involve the Imperial Government in liability for matters of the control of which it has divested itself, and for which the Colony has accepted full responsibility. 17. In the present circumstances of Newfoundland there are special reasons of the greatest importance which preclude Her Majesty’s Government from taking such a departure from recognized constitutional principles and usage as the memorialists desire. 18. You have stated in your dispatch of the 30th of April last, that the language used by the responsible Finance Minister of the Colony, in the speech in support of the Con- tract which he delivered from his place in the Assembly, implied clearly that if the measure was rejected the Colony would be unable to meet its immediate financial obligations. 19. Neither in your dispatches nor in the memorials is this assertion challenged, and it is obvious that if Her Majesty’s Government were to annul a measure seriously declared by the person who is in the best position to know to be essential to the continued solvency of the Colony, the creditors of Newfoundland would not fail to fasten on Her Majesty’s Government responsibility for the consequences of their action. 20. As I have already said, the debts of the Colony have been incurred solely on the credit of the Colony, and any step which would transfer responsibility for them in the slightest degree to the Imperial Government would entail consequences which would not be confined to Newfoundland, and which Her Majesty’s Government would not under any circumstances be justified in contemplating. 21. The considerations which preclude me from advising Her Majesty to disallow the Act apply equally to the alter- native request, that I should defer tendering advice to Her Majesty in regard to it until the people of the Colony have had an opportunity of expressing their views upon the measure. 22. The Act is already in force, and the Contract to which it gives effect has been in part already performed, and the continuing obligation of the Contractor would not be sus- pended until Her Majesty's pleasure was finally declared. It remains in full force till the Act is disallowed or repealed. It would be unjust therefore to the Contractor, and would only add to the already heavy liabilities of the Colony, to accede to the prayers of the petitions. 23. The question of the propriety of a dissolution is not one upon which I can advise ; it is entirely a matter for the Governor and his advisers.

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