104 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [pART IT
of the support of the Secretary of State so long as he has
acted within his instructions and in good faith.
In the case of the ordinary Colony or State no question
has ever arisen as to the validity of the issuing of letters
patent to define the duties of the Governor. Nor was the
point raised by the Canadian Government when Mr. Blake 1
criticized very searchingly the commission and instructions
of the Governor-General in 1876. But on the issue of the
letters patent for the Governor-General of the Commonwealth
their terms were criticized by several authorities, including
Sir J. Quick ? and Professor Harrison Moore, as being need-
less, as the power was already conferred upon the Governor-
General by the Constitution. As a matter of fact, the attack
on the letters patent as a whole was hardly valid, and has
been in some measure modified by Professor Harrison Moore
in the later edition of his work on the Commonwealth of
Australia? Clauses II, VI, and VII of the letters patent of
October 29, 1900, were clearly required to delegate the
keeping of the great seal to the Governor-General, to permit
of his appointing deputies on the conditions laid down, and to
allow of the appointment of an administrator of the Govern-
ment. It is true that the powers of appointing officers, of dis-
missing them, and of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving
Parliament given by clauses III-V of the letters patent were
somewhat unnecessary, being copied from the older Canadian
model without regard to the exact terms of the Common-
wealth Act, but they were innocuous; and of the royal
instructions, the clauses regarding oaths were necessary to
empower the Governor-General to impose the oaths in
question, and that delegating the prerogative of pardon has
not only shown the limitations of the power, but also avoided
! Canada Sess. Pap., 1876, No. 116; 1877, No. 13.
* Cf. Garran, The Government of South Africa, i. 375.
See Commonwealth of Australia, pp. 300 seq.
* These powers are also in all cases (including Newfoundland) somewhat
needless, for there are statutory powers as to appointments, usually giving
them to the Governor in Council. But they are harmless, and could be used
to supplement the statute and render appropriate appointments to the
higher offices by instruments in the King’s name.
