cHAP. 111] THE GOVERNOR AND MINISTERS 167
only by the advice of his responsible ministers. With the
exception of the difference of historical origin, responsible
government existing in Australia by statute and not by
common law, its limitation to local affairs and the reserva-
tion of Bills, the analogy between the British and Colonial
systems of government, and between the King and the Gover-
nor, was complete. He discussed in detail the letters patent
and the instructions ; he pointed out that the letters patent
purported to vest certain authorities in the Governor
which were already vested in him by the Constitution
Statute, and to limit his action by instructions given under
the sign-manual and signet, or through a Secretary of State,
or by Order in Council, and such limitations were void and
illegal. The duty laid down in Clause VI of the Instructions
to consult an Executive Council was meaningless if it applied
to the Executive Council, which in Victoria included ex-
ministers, and if it meant the Cabinet the instruction was
unmeaning and void. The duty of the Governor to consult
his advisers did not spring from the royal instructions. If
the clause referred to consulting them on Imperial matters
this was an indirect instruction, offensive in form and without
either legal authority or means of enforcement, to Her
Majesty’s Ministers for Victoria to do something which they
were not required by their duties as Ministers of the Crown
to do.
Clause VII of the instructions, which provided—° The
Governor mayact in the exercise of the powers and authorities
granted to him by our said letters patent in opposition to the
advice given to him by the members of the Executive Council,
if he shall in any case deem it right to do so, but in any such
case he shall fully report the matter to us by the first con-
venient opportunity, with the grounds and reasons of his
action,” could only be characterized as a distinct denial of
the existing public law of Victoria. As a direct instigation
to Her Majesty’s representative to violate that law it offered
grave indignity and conveyed an unmistakable menace to
him and his advisers.
He criticized with equal severity Clause XI of the Instruc-
