972 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART 1V 
assent, or reserves the Bill for further consideration ; in the 
last case he must assent, if at all, within a year from the first 
presentation for assent. The Administrator has no veto on 
legislation, and though he can speak in the Council he does 
not vote. 
The last provision secures, of course, to the Union Govern- 
ment full control over the legislation of the provinces. 
Moreover, it may be taken for granted that the control is 
intended ‘to be exercised freely, and that there is no under- 
standing that the provincial legislation should only be dealt 
with in so far as it contravenes the competence of the 
provincial legislatures. In Canada the claim has from time 
to time been asserted by the provinces that in all matters 
of provincial competence the Dominion Government must 
not interfere, but though the Dominion Government have 
admitted that in most of the cases they should not interfere 
with provincial legislation, they have never hesitated to 
affirm in principle and in practice the right of the Dominion 
to control legislation which runs counter to the general policy 
of the Dominion, even if that legislation be passed on some 
topic in respect of which the legislature of the province alone 
is capable of deciding. So for many years the railway policy 
of the Dominion was carried out by disallowance of provincial 
legislation which conflicted with it.! The same rule will apply 
in the Union, and with all the greater force inasmuch as the 
control of the Union over the province is generally much 
greater than in Canada. 
It appears clear that the legislative power of the Union 
is not fettered by this establishment of Provincial Councils, 
and that its legislation is paramount to any provincial 
legislation. It might, indeed, be argued that the Union 
Parliament could not legislate for merely provincial matters, 
as its function is to legislate for the peace, order, and good 
government of South Africa. But it is clear that the only 
judge of what is desirable for the peace, order, and good 
government of South Africa is the Parliament itself, and 
' See above pp. 739 seq., and cf. Sir W. Laurier in House of Commons 
Debates, 1910-1, pp. 2769 seq.