114 THE DOMINION PARLIAMENT. 
then placed on the table and the House adjourns to the fol- 
lowing day. Upon its re-assembling the Usher of the Black 
Rod again desires its attendance in the Senate chamber. 
The Speaker-elect then informs the Governor-General of his 
election and claims for the House “all their undoubted 
rights and privileges.” The Speaker of the Senate on 
behalf of his Excellency replies that “he fully confides in 
the duty and attachment of the House of Commons to Her 
Majesty's person and government and upon all occasions will 
recognize and allow their constitutional privileges.” 
Approval In the English House of Commons the choice of a Speaker 
Yn, is “confirmed and approved” by the Crown. This course 
was followed in some of the Legislatures of the old provinces; 
but when in 1827 Lord Dalhousie, then Governor-General, 
refused to approve the election of Mr Papineau as Speaker of 
the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, the Assembly 
passed a resolution declaring the action of the Governor- 
General to be unconstitutional, as the Act constituting the 
Legislature did not require the choice of Speaker to be ap- 
proved by the Governor-General. The form of approval 
remained in force in Upper and Lower Canada until the 
anion of the two provinces in 1841, but the Act of Union is 
silent on the point. 
After the delivery of the usual speech by the Governor- 
General the members return to their own House, the Speaker 
after taking the chair informs the House that the usual 
privileges had been granted to the House by the Governor- 
General. The reports of Judges and returns of the Clerk of 
the Crown in Chancery respecting elections are then pre- 
sented, and in accordance with the custom prevailing in the 
English House of Commons a bill is read a first time pro 
forma, in order to assert the right of the House to deal with 
any business it may think right to discuss before proceeding 
to the consideration of the matters contained in the 
speech.