92 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART TI 
a letter from your Premier, in which he asks that’ your 
successor in the Government of South Australia may be 
a citizen of the State. 
2. Iwish to acknowledge in the first instance the courteous 
and friendly terms in which Mr. Price has embodied his 
views, implying, I am glad to think, a well deserved com- 
pliment to the present Governor. It isa subject on which 
I had the advantage of learning Mr. Price’s opinions while 
he was in England, and I fully appreciate the strength of 
his convictions in this matter and the reasons which he 
gives in support of his proposal. 
3. But the change which is suggested is a very far-reaching 
one—more so than, perhaps, appears at first sight ; and it 
could not, I consider, be entertained in any case unless it is 
to be applied to all the Australian States, and not to one 
alone, and until public opinion in Australia is demonstrated 
bo be overwhelmingly in its favour. 
4. The proposal as presented to me is one which would 
leave the appointment of the Governor to be made, as now, 
by His Majesty the King ; but His Majesty’s choice would 
be confined to citizens of the State, and, though I understand 
that Mr. Price does not claim that the choice should be 
expressly made upon the advice of the responsible Ministry 
of the State, it is clear that the person selected would need 
to be one fully acceptable to the Ministry of the day. Gover- 
nors, therefore, selected in this manner would be gentlemen 
closely identified with local interests and practically the 
nominees of the party in power when the governorship fell 
vacant. 
5. When the Canadian Dominion wag established, it was 
provided in the British North America Act that the 
tederating provinces should be under Lieutenant-Governors 
appointed by the Governor-General in Council, and with 
salaries fixed and paid by the Dominion Parliament. But 
under the Commonwealth Act the States of Australia, retain 
a more independent position and larger powers than the 
Canadian provinces, and the Governors are appointed, as 
before, by the Crown. From time to time under the present 
system the King’s representative may well be, as has no 
doubt occasionally happened in the past, one who has either 
been born or has passed part of his life in the colony of which 
he is subsequently made governor, but it is of the essence 
of the system of appointment by the Crown that His Majesty 
shall not be fettered in his choice. 
6. There is, no doubt, much to be said in favour of the