CHAP. 11] LEGAL BASIS 63 
interpretation on the words. The only conditions, therefore, 
to be inserted in the Act on the part of Her Majesty’s Govern- 
ment were those relative to the surrender of the Crown 
revenues ; the rest stood (as was the case in the other North 
American Provinces referred to) on the faith of the Crown. 
The views of the Secretary of State in the main prevailed, 
and the requirement of responsible government was omitted 
from the Act as passed in 1851 (No. 3) in response to his 
despatch of Jan. 31, 1851. Therefore in Prince Edward 
Island also no mention of responsible government or legal 
Provision regarding it, other than the grant of pensions for 
retiring officers, is known. 
To allow responsible government to rest upon constitu- 
tional practice has prevailed ever since in the Dominion. 
The constitutions of the Provinces of British Columbia, of 
Manitoba, and of Alberta and Saskatchewan, contain practi- 
cally nothing which effects responsible government. The 
Acts of these Colonies merely provide that the Executive 
Council shall consist of such persons as the Governor may 
appoint, or they specify certain officers who shall be members 
of the Executive Council, but not who shall constitute the 
Executive Council. They also permit the members of 
the Council or certain specified officers to sit in Parliament 
without, even re-election! The case of Alberta may be 
cited as illustrating the whole practice, and as one of the 
most striking examples of the unwillingness of Canada to 
reduce responsible government to a legal system: the 
Constitution Act provides that the Executive Council of the 
said province shall be composed of such persons under such 
designations as the Lieutenant-Governor from time to time 
* For Ontario and Quebec see 30 Vict. c. 3, s. 63; Ontario Act, 1908, 
C. 6; Quebec Rew. Stat., 1909, ss. 572 seq. ; Nova Scotia Rev. Stat., 1900, 
C. 9 (number fixed at nine); New Brunswick Rev. Staf., 1903, ¢. 10; 
Manitoba, Rev. Stat., 1902, c¢. 59 ; British Columbia Act, 1908, c. 128 (num- 
ber limited to seven); Saskatchewan and Alberta Acts of Canada, cc. 42 
pd 3, 1905; Alberta Act, 1909, c. 6 ; Saskatchewan Act, 1906, c. 3. In 
rrince Edward Island the number is unlimited, as it rests on the old 
Ineaaniony of 1872 to Lord Dufferin, confirmed by the Order in Council of 
73 incorporating the province in the Dominion.