24 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT [PART I
Even then the grant of self-government which the Assembly
claimed to have been foreshadowed in 1839 was delayed
until 1851, when it came into full effect.
In the case of British Columbia self-government was
granted on its entry into the Dominion of Canada, by the
creation of a representative Legislature by an Order in
Council of August 9, 1870, under the Act 33 & 34 Vict. c. 66
and by the local Act No. 147, 1871, and was continued by
the instructions to the Lieutenant-Governor given by the
Dominion Government ; it already had an Executive distinct
from a Legislative Council : the same remark applies also
to Manitoba, which was created entirely by Dominion Acts
and instructions, and to Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905,
though much earlier a certain limited self-government had
been conferred upon the North-west Provinces, in 1897.1
In the case of Newfoundland representative government
had rather a stormy inception: the Legislature was dis-
tracted by a quarrel between the two Houses as to appropria-
tion, which prevented the usual Acts being passed in 1837
and 1839; then questions of privilege led to much excite-
ment and ill-feeling, and the interference of the Catholic
clergy in elections produced strong party disturbances.
Already, in 18422 an Imperial Act was passed to allow the
Crown to establish a property qualification for members
not to exceed a hundred pounds income or £500 capital
value, to lengthen up to two years the periods of residence
laid down in the Commission of 1832 authorizing the
summoning of a legislature, to amalgamate the two Houses
provided that there should never be more than two-fifths
of the members nominee members, to forbid money votes
being brought forward save on the advice of the Government,
and so forth. The Act was a temporary one, and was
extended for one vear in 1846, and in 1847 3 the provisions
! See Mr. Sifton in Canada House of Commons Debates, 1897, ii, 4115,
pxplaining the Act 60 & 61 Viet. c. 28.
* 5 & 6 Viet. ¢. 120.
® 10 & 11 Vict. c. 44. The provisions are still law under instructions of
1842 and May 4, 1855, which carry out the powers given by the Acts.
