308 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PARTII 
Premier asks them to stay on ; in accordance with this rule 
Sir N. Moore of Western Australia offered the resignation 
of himself and colleagues to the Governor, though the 
Governor decided only to accept his personal resignation, 
a course which, if convenient and corresponding to facts, was 
scarcely in accordance with the established practice, for it 
left the ministers in full possession of their places before the 
Premier who took the place of Sir N. Moore had an oppor- 
tunity of deciding what ministers he should keep, and it 
would seem desirable to follow the strict course of accepting 
the resignations en bloc, and then allowing the members to 
hold on until the new Premier has decided on his policy. 
This avoids the necessity of asking a minister whose presence 
is not desired to resign his office instead of merely not 
asking him to remain in office.l 
It may be doubted whether a Premier in the Dominions 
has the full control over the Ministry which a Premier in 
the United Kingdom possesses. Thus in 1908 the Premier 
of Victoria was noted with some surprise to have laid down 
the rule that his colleagues should discuss measures with him 
first of all, and obtain his approval before they brought them 
before the public as being his Government’s views. In the 
same year one of his colleagues was the repeated object of 
attack by a newspaper which professed itself as a strong 
supporter of the Premier. In the case of the Commonwealth 
Parliament there was during the illness of the Prime Minister 
in 1907 an open fight between the Treasurer and the Minister 
for Trade. which ended in the retirement of the former. though 
* For an older case of disregard of the rule in 1847, see Pope, Sir John 
Macdonald, i. 50, contra 157 (1856), 285 (1865). Sir B. Frere tried to 
disregard the rule in 1878; see Molteno, Sir John Molieno, ii. 342. In New 
Zealand, on Mr. Ballance’s death in 1893, all the ministers resigned and a 
new Ministry was formed ; in 1906, on Mr. Seddon’s death, a new Ministry 
was formed on June 21 under Mr. (now Sir W.) Hall Jones, and on August 6 
he resigned and Sir J. Ward formed a Government, really only a change of 
Premier. In September 1876, after a short interval, the Atkinson Ministry 
all resigned and then reconstituted themselves. In 1911 on Mr. Kidston’s 
resignation in Queensland all the Ministers resigned. See also Anson. 
Law of the. Constitution? 11. i, 120,