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cHAP. 1] PRINCIPLES OF IMPERIAL CONTROL 1019
in the British North America Act} the Commonwealth of
Australia Constitution Act,2 the State Constitutions, the
Constitution of New Zealand,* and that of the Union of
South Africa.’ It was also given in the Constitutions of the
Cape, Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony.
The time allowed in the case of Canada, the Australian States,
and New Zealand, and also formerly in the Cape and Natal,
was two years from the date of receipt of the Bill by the
Secretary of State, a necessary provision in the days when
communications were so slow. In the case of the Common-
wealth and the Union of South Africa, following the model
of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, the period
is dated from the time of assent, and in the Commonwealth
and the Union of South Africa the period allowed is one year
only, this being the same period as that allowed in the case
of the Provinces of Canada, except that the time runs from
the receipt of the Bill by she Governor-General in the latter
case. In the case of Newfoundland the period is nowhere
defined and is indefinite ; it was, however, in the case of
that Colony as well as formerly in the case of the Maritime
Provinces of Canada, the rule to disallow within two years
if at all, not as a matter of law, but on the analogy of the
Constitutions where the limit was imposed by law. The
power to disallow at any time is one which the Crown still
possesses in the case of all the Crown Colonies except a very
few® A disallowance must be made by Order in Council
in the case of responsible-government Colonies under the
Constitutions, and in the case of Newfoundland under the
letters patent, and it must be a disallowance in foto ; partial
disallowances, though not unknown in Crown Colony Con-
stitutions, are not, it is clear, possible with a responsible-
vovernment Colony, and indeed they are open to so many
30 Vict. c. 3, 8. 56. 2 63 & 64 Vict, ¢. 12, Const. s. 59.
} See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 76, the provisions of which apply to all the states.
+15 & 16 Vict. e. 72, 8. 58. 8 9 Edw, VII, c. 9, s. 65.
' Tt is limited in the case of the Leewards Federation by 34 & 35 Vict.
c. 107; in the case of Jamaica by the Order in Council under 29 & 30 Vict,
a, 12, &c.