956 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV
effect permanent as compared with that of ministers, who
are dependent on Parliament for their position.
It is, however, significant that there is no mention of the
political conventions of the Constitution in the Act. Strictly
speaking, there is no need even for the ministers to do more
if they desire to hold office permanently than to secure for
themselves seats in Parliament, and they can be up to the
number of eight nominee members of the Upper House.
The Governor-General’s instructions make no mention of
the convention by which he chooses ministers who possess
the confidence of Parliament, and he will do so merely in
accordance with the established practice. It might have
been expected that the Constitution would have gone further
in this regard, but the old custom is convenient, and it is
always possible that any attempt to define more closely the
nature of the Executive Government might have led to
difficult questions of law. The Constitution does not even
define the quorum of the Executive Council, and it is not
provided for in the royal instructions to the Governor-General.
The control of the military and naval forces within the
Union is vested in the King or in the Governor-General
as his representative, by s. 17. This provision is rather
curious ; the corresponding provision in the case of the
Commonwealth refers to the naval and military forces of
the Commonwealth, and while the provision of the British
North America Act includes the land and naval militia
and all naval and military forces of and in Canada, the
command-in-chief in that case is vested only in the Crown,!
and it is by the letters patent that the Governor-General is
given the title commander-in-chief.2 This title, which is held
by practically every Colonial Governor, is merely honorific,3

! Otherwise in the Quebec Resolutions ; see The Framework of Union,
p. 27. See 30 Vict. c. 3, 8. 15; 63 & 64 Vict. c. 12, Const. s. 68.
? By a mere accident this was not done until 1903. when the omission
was noticed.
* The title has led to confusion when conferred by local Act; see the
case of New South Wales in 1869, Clark, Australian Constitutional Law,
pp. 266 seq.; below, p. 1263.