CHAP. 1V] THE GOVERNOR AS HEAD 239 
all the Lieutenant-Governors now holding office prove that 
the correctness of this view has been hitherto recognized in 
practice ; and I cannot doubt that your advisers, from the 
opinions they have expressed, would be equally ready with 
the late Government to appreciate the objections to any 
action which might tend to weaken its influence in the future. 
I have directed your attention particularly to this point, 
because it appears to me to be important that, in.considering 
a case which may be referred to hereafter as a precedent, 
the true constitutional position of a Lieutenant-Governor 
should be defined. The whole subject may, I am satisfied, 
now be once more reviewed with advantage, and I cannot 
but think that the interval which has elapsed (and which has 
from various causes been unavoidable) may have been useful 
in affording means for a thorough comprehension of a very 
complicated question, and in allowing time for the strong 
feelings, on both sides, which I regret to observe have been 
often too bitterly expressed. to subside. 
Another striking instance of the straining of the power of 
dissolution and dismissal entrusted to the Governor was 
shown by the action of the Lieutenant-Governor of British 
Columbia—Mr. T. R. McInnes—in the years 1898-1900.1 
In 1898 Mr. McInnes decided to dismiss the Ministry of 
Mr. Turner, which he considered to have no longer the con- 
fidence of the people of the province. The Ministry which 
took the place of Mr. Turner’s Government was also very 
weak ; it failed to meet Parliament in 1900 until January 4 ; 
it was defeated immediately after the meeting of Parliament, 
and only retained office throughout January and February by 
a majority of either one vote or of the casting vote of the 
Speaker. Moreover, the Ministry requested the Lieutenant- 
Governor to approve warrants for certain expenditures which 
were not authorized by the Legislature, and when the 
Lieutenant-Governor asked that he should receive a legal 
opinion from the Attorney-General as to the constitutionality 
of such warrants, no answer was supplied. Further, the 
Government advised him to take action with a view to 
making an important change in the Minerals Act empowering 
the Governor to cancel certain certificates of improvement 
1 (Canada Sess. Pap., 1900, No. 174.