CHAP. 11] LEGAL BASIS 71
the Executive Council. S. 33 provides: ‘No officer of
the Government shall be bound to obey any order of the
Governor involving any expenditure of public money : nor
shall any warrant for the payment of money or any appoint-
ment to or dismissal from office be valid except as herein
provided, unless such order, warrant, appointment, or dis-
missal shall be signed by the Governor, and countersigned
by the Chief Secretary.” Ministers do not vacate their seats
on accepting office. Provision is also made as usual for
a Civil List, and for pensions to officers retiring on political
grounds! Act No. 5 of 1873 altered the position slightly
by providing that the Attorney-General need not be a
political officer in the sense of being a member of Parliament,
but he must hold office only as long as the Ministry of which
he was a member held office. An additional minister was
also added, to hold office on the same terms as the other
ministers. Act No. 779 of 1901 provided, as an act of
retrenchment on federation, that there should be only four
officers who should bear such titles and fill such offices as
the Governor might appoint. Act No. 959 of 1908 raised
the number to six, one of whom should be an honorary
minister, and not more than four of the ministers were
to be at any one time members of the House of Assembly.
The royal instructions recognize that some members of the
Executive Council are so ex officio, but they do not limit
the number, and the Chief Justice who administers the
Government in the absence or incapacity of the Governor
has a seat in that body.
Even the moderate provisions of the Act of 1855-6 were
criticized as being an undue effort to legislate on matters
regarding the prerogative, but the Lieutenant-Governor, in
reporting on the Bill}? stated that he was advised that the
provisions were not illegal, and that it was for the Imperial
Government to decide if they should be approved or not.
No exception was expressed in respect of them by that
Government.
In the case of Tasmania, on the other hand, the absolute
' See p. 70, note. + Purl. Pap., July 24, 1856, p. 68.
