912 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV 
the authority of an Australian Act for the Imperial letters 
patent. Thereupon letters patent placed the territory under 
the control of the Parliament of the Commonwealth. It is 
not a part of nor annexed to the Commonwealth, and the 
letters patent of the Governor-General had to be amended 
in 1911 to permit of his visiting Papua without being deemed 
bo quit the Commonwealth. 
It is indeed a compliment to the excellence of the letters 
patent for the Government of a Crown Colony that the Act 
simply repeats their provisions over again, substituting the 
Governor-General for the Queen! Provision is made for 
the appointment of a Lieutenant-Governor, for his keeping 
the seal of the Colony, for his appointing and removing 
officers, for the grant of land, but the conditions are specified, 
and forbid the grant of freehold land and require reassessment 
of land on the unimproved value from time to time as deter- 
mined by ordinance. Other provisions require that licences 
for the sale of intoxicants cannot be increased in number, 
and may be abolished and diminished without any possibility 
of compensation. Provision is made for polls to decide as to 
the sale of intoxicants, and the supply of liquor to natives is 
forbidden except gratis for medicinal purposes for an urgent 
cause or necessity, the burden of proof being laid on the 
supplier. These are curious and odd provisions, but are due 
to the old rules in force before the transfer. 
The Executive Council is to be appointed by the Lieutenant- 
Governor, and not to exceed six members, three being a 
quorum. The Lieutenant-Governor is to preside as a rule, 
and he may decide against their advice, but must then 
report to the minister under whose department he comes. 
The Legislative Council is composed of the Executive Council 
plus nominated members, of whom, while the population 
' The political character of the relationship of the local and Common- 
wealth Governments is explained and emphasized in Strachan v. The 
Commonwealth, 4 C. L. R. 455, where an unsuccessful attempt was made 
to hold the Commonwealth Government responsible for alleged torts 
by the pre-Commonwealth administration. 
* Thus the power—not normally exercised in a Colony under the letters 
patent—is made statutory and becomes a part of the Government.