920 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV 
of 1907, No. 946, the agreement in question is ratified, and 
the territory is declared to be accepted by the Commonwealth 
ander the name of the Northern Territory of Australia, in- 
cluding the Port Darwin and Pine Creek Railway, and all the 
state’s right, title, interest in, and control of all state real 
and personal property in the territory, except moneys held 
by or on behalf of, or to the credit of, or due, or accruing due 
to the state at the date of the acceptance. All laws in force 
in the Northern Territory shall remain in operation until 
altered by any law of the Commonwealth, and any functions 
which are given under any law of the Commonwealth in force 
at the time of acceptance to state officers shall be exercised 
by such officers as the Governor-General shall appoint. The 
powers and functions vested in the Governor of the state, or 
the Governor with the advice of his Executive Council or any 
state authority, shall be vested in the Governor-General or 
the Governor-General in Council, or in such authority as the 
case requires, or as the Governor-General directs. The 
existing Courts of Justice shall continue until other provision 
is made by the Commonwealth Parliament, and magistrates 
and justices of the peace, and all public officers and func- 
bionaries, shall continue to hold office under the Common- 
wealth on the same terms as they hold office under the state. 
All estates and interests held by any person within the 
Northern Territory shall continue to be held from the 
Commonwealth on the same conditions that they were held 
from the state. 
The Government Residents and other officers may be 
transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, 
preserving all their existing and accruing rights. 
Trade, commerce, and intercourse, whether by sea or land, 
between the Northern Territory and the states shall be 
absolutely free. 
The latter Act! provides that the Governor-General may 
appoint an administrator for the purpose who shall hold 
office subject to good behaviour for five years, and shall 
perform all the functions of his office according to such 
' See Parliamentary Debates, 1910, pp. 5786 seq.; 6265 seq.