cHAP. Vv] THE PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURE 463 
In the case of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, 
all difficulty was avoided by the requirement that the copy 
of each law to be signed by the Governor and enrolled in 
the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court was to be the 
English copy, and was to be final evidence of the terms: of 
the Act. In the case of the Union there shall be two copies 
prepared and the Governor-General shall sign which he 
chooses, and that shall be the final copy in cases of disagree- 
ment, though both copies will be enrolled in the office of the 
Registrar of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division. He signs 
some in Dutch, some in English, and confusion seems probable. 
The necessity of safeguarding existing interests is recognized 
by a provision in the Act which exempts existing officers 
from the necessity of acquiring both tongues, but the 
provision of two official languages may be expected to tell in 
favour of Dutch applicants for posts, as the learning of 
English will be more common among the Dutch than the 
reverse process, for in South Africa, while a knowledge of 
English is very valuable, a knowledge of Dutch can hardly 
be deemed anywhere absolutely essential to the ordinary 
Englishman. 
§ 4. THE PROCEDURE OF PARLIAMENT 
The procedure of Parliament is based avowedly and 
minutely on the practices of the Imperial Parliament. It 
has been so from the beginning, the pomps of the Imperial 
chambers having been introduced into Canada at a time when 
the capital where the Legislature of Upper Canada met was 
merely a small village. There have been proposals from 
time to time to simplify the procedure, but they have not 
been very sympathetically received in any quarter ; indeed, 
there is some advantage in inducing the Houses to realize 
that the action which they are engaged upon is of serious 
importance, and should be treated in a spirit of dignity and 
responsibility. All the forms are therefore observed, state 
openings, messages from the Governor, and, what is more 
important, the full procedure by three readings in either 
House, with committee stages and sometimes report stages, 
though the Canadian House of Commons has discarded