CHAP. 11] LEGAL BASIS 69 
time exceed eight, who shall be capable of being elected 
members of either House of Parliament, and of sitting or 
voting therein. (2) Such officers shall be responsible 
ministers of the Crown and members of the Executive 
Council, and four at least of such officers shall be members 
of the Council or Assembly. (3) Not more than two of such 
officers shall at any one time be members of the Council, and 
not more than six of such officers shall at any one time be 
members of the Assembly. 
6. No responsible minister of the Crown shall hold office 
for alonger period than three months, unless he is or becomes 
a member of the Council or Assembly. 
Provision was also made by s. 9 for ministers to be able to sit 
and speak in either house, though not to vote in any but 
the house of which he was a member, if the House consented, 
and provided that only one minister at a time had the 
privilege in either house. 
Tt is clear that the provisions of 1903 carry the matter 
3 good deal further than usual. Historically they are 
adopted in part from the precedent of Natal in 1893, in 
part from the provisions of the Commonwealth Constitution. 
But they do not establish responsible government : they 
do not even constitute the Executive Council, and, as in the 
case of New South Wales and the other States, the royal 
instructions still leave the Governor free to appoint such 
other persons as he pleases to be members of the Executive 
Council of the State. But they provide the Governor with 
a nucleus of a Council who are responsible ministers, and 
they provide that responsible ministers must in part be 
also in Parliament : the provisions are clumsy, but it is clear 
that at any one time four must be in Parliament, and that 
10 one of the whole number can hold an office for over three 
months without becoming a member of Parliament. But, 
again, while a Parliamentary Executive is contemplated, 
though not legally provided for in complete measure, there 
i$ no hint that the Executive must control Parliament or 
depend on Parliament for its position. The Governor might 
theoretically call in a number of non-ministers to make up 
his Council, and again, ministers might legally remain in