cHAP. vii] CABINET SYSTEM IN DOMINIONS 333 
ruled that the matter was a personal act of the Governor- 
General which was not subject to the usual rule of ministerial 
responsibility.! It may be said, however, that it is more 
common in the Colonies to offer advice unasked than in 
England, where the practice is not to suggest unless a sugges- 
tion is asked for : thus Mr. Gladstone was not consulted on 
laying down office for the last time. The power of suggestion 
is often useful : Sir E. Lewis in Tasmania, in 1909, defeated 
the malcontents of his party by resigning and advising the 
Governor to send for the leader of the Labour Party and 
not for the leader of the malcontents, with the result that 
Mr. Earle was allowed only a few days of office, the dissidents 
hastening to submit. 
§ 5. Tur Conpucr oF BUSINESS WITH THE (GOVERNOR 
The procedure with regard to the conduct of actual business 
between the Governor and ministers varies considerably in 
the different Dominions or states. 
It is the rule in the Commonwealth and under the royal 
instructions in New Zealand and the States that the Governor 
should preside in Council? for the transaction of all business 
which requires to be transacted there. Meetings are there- 
fore held once a week, or as often as may be required, at 
which such business as is necessary to be transacted in 
Council is carried out. Of course these meetings are quite 
distinct from Cabinet meetings, in which policy is discussed 
and determined, but they assure a most effective and com- 
! Parliamentary Debates, 1908, p. 2796. 
* For cases of the Governor's absence, of. New Zealand Interpretation 
Act, 1908, s. 22; Forsyth, Cases and Opinions in Constitutional Law, p. 81. 
In the famous decision of the Executive Council of New South Wales 
to seize the wire netting detained by the Commonwealth Customs, the 
Lieutenant-Governor was present, vice the Governor, who was ill. In the 
Colonies of South Africa the Governor was also expected to preside and 
often did so, and sometimes, as in 1906 in the case of the rebellion in 
Natal, the Council with the Governor acted as a Cabinet for purposes of 
discussion ; Parl. Pap., Cd. 2805, p. 3. But Sir Bartle Frore’s attempt 
to insist on this in the Cape was in great measure prevented by Sir J. 
Molteno ; see Molteno, ii. 190, 191. 353. 390. note 1.