under the like control have custody of all official papers relating to the territories.

3. The members of the commission shall be appointed by the governorgeneral in council, and shall be entitled to hold office for a period of ten years, but such period may be extended to successive further terms of five years. They shall each be entitled to a fixed annual salary, which shall not be reduced during the continuance of their term of office, and they shall not be removed from office except upon addresses from both houses of parliament passed in the same session praying for such removal. They shall not be qualified to become, or to be, members of either house of parliament. One of the members of the commission shall be appointed by the governor-general in council as vice-chairman thereof. In case of the absence, illness, or other incapacity of any member of the commission, the governor-general in council may appoint some other fit and proper person to act during such absence, illness, or other incapacity.

4. It shall be the duty of the members of the commission to advise the prime minister upon all matters relating to the general conduct of the administration of, or the legislation for, the said territories. The prime minister, or another minister of state nominated by the prime minister to be his deputy for a fixed period, or, failing such nomination, the vicechairman, shall preside at all meetings of the commission, and in case of an equality of votes shall have a casting vote. Two members of the commission shall form a quorum. In case the commission shall consist of four or more members three of them shall form a quorum.

5. Any member of the commission who dissents from the decision of a majority shall be entitled to have the reasons for his dissent recorded in the minutes of the commission.

6. The members of the commission shall have access to all official papers concerning the territories, and they may deliberate on any matter. relating thereto and tender their advice thereon to the prime minister.

7. Before coming to a decision on any matter relating either to the administration, other than routine, of the territories or to legislation therefor, the prime minister shall cause the papers relating to such matter to be deposited with the secretary to the commission, and shall convene a meeting of the commission for the purpose of obtaining its opinion on such matter.

8. Where it appears to the prime minister that the despatch of any communication or the making of any order is urgently required, the communication may be sent or order made, although it has not been sub

mitted to a meeting of the commission or deposited for the perusal of the members thereof. In any such case the prime minister shall record the reasons for sending the communication or making the order and give notice thereof to every member.

9. If the prime minister does not accept a recommendation of the commission or purposes to take some action contrary to their advice, he shall state his views to the commission, who shall be at liberty to place on record the reasons in support of their recommendation or advice. This record shall be laid by the prime minister before the governor-general in council, whose decision in the matter shall be final.

10. When the recommendations of the commission have not been accepted by the governor-general in council, or action not in accordance with their advice has been taken by the governor-general in council, the prime minister, if thereto requested by the commission, shall lay the record of their dissent from the decision or action taken and of the reasons therefor before both houses of parliament, unless in any case the governorgeneral in council shall transmit to the commission a minute recording his opinion that the publication of such record and reasons would be gravely detrimental to the public interest.

11. The governor-general in council shall appoint a resident commissioner for each territory, who shall, in addition to such other duties as shall be imposed on him, prepare the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure for such territory, and forward the same to the secretary to the commission for the consideration of the commission and of the prime minister. A proclamation shall be issued by the governor-general in council, giving to the provisions for revenue and expenditure made in the estimate as finally approved by the governor-general in council the force of law.

12. There shall be paid into the treasury of the Union all duties of customs levied on dutiable articles imported into and consumed in the territories, and there shall be paid out of the treasury annually towards the cost of administration of each territory a sum in respect of such duties which shall bear to the total customs revenue of the Union in respect of each financial year the same proportion as the average amount of the customs revenue of such territory for the three completed financial years last preceding the taking effect of this act bore to the average amount of the whole customs revenue for all the colonies and territories included in the Union received during the same period.

13 If the revenue of any territory for any financial year shall be

insufficient to meet the expenditure thereof, any amount required to make good the deficiency may, with the approval of the governor-general in council, and on such terms and conditions and in such manner as with the like approval may be directed or prescribed, be advanced from the funds of any other territory. In default of any such arrangement, the amount required to make good any such deficiency shall be advanced by the government of the Union. In case there shall be a surplus for any territory, such surplus shall in the first instance be devoted to the repayment of any sums previously advanced by any other territory or by the Union government to make good any deficiency in the revenue of such territory.

14. It shall not be lawful to alienate any land in Basutoland or any land forming part of the native reserves in the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland from the native tribes inhabiting those territories.

15. The sale of liquor to natives shall be prohibited in the territories and no provision giving facilities for introducing, obtaining, or possessing such liquor in any part of the territories less stringent than those existing at the time of transfer shall be allowed.

16. The custom, where it exists, of holding pitsos or other recognized forms of native assembly shall be maintained in the territories.

17. No differential duties or imposts on the produce of the territories shall be levied. The laws of the Union relating to customs and excise shall be made to apply to the territories.

18. There shall be free intercourse for the inhabitants of the territories with the rest of South Africa subject to the laws, including the pass laws, of the Union.

19. Subject to the provisions of this schedule, all revenues derived from any territory shall be expended for and on behalf of such territory: provided that the governor-general in council may make special provision for the appropriation of a portion of such revenue as a contribution. towards the cost of defence and other services performed by the Union for the benefit of the whole of South Africa, so, however, that that contribution shall not bear a higher proportion to the total cost of such services than that which the amount payable under paragraph 12 of this schedule from the treasury of the Union towards the cost of the administration of the territory bears to the total customs revenue of the Union on the average of the three years immediately preceding the year for which the contribution is made.

20. The king may disallow any law made by the governor-general in

council by proclamation for any territory within one year from the date of the proclamation, and such disallowance on being made known by the governor-general by proclamation shall annul the law from the day when the disallowance is so made known.

21. The members of the commission shall be entitled to such pensions or superannuation allowances as the governor-general in council shall by proclamation provide, and the salaries and pensions of such members and all other expenses of the commission shall be borne by the territories in the proportion of their respective revenues.

22. The rights as existing at the date of transfer of officers of the public service employed in any territory shall remain in force.

23. Where any appeal may by law be made to the king in council from any court of the territories, such appeal shall, subject to the provisions of this act, be made to the appellate division of the supreme court of South Africa.

24. The commission shall prepare an annual report on the territories which shall, when approved by the governor-general in council, be laid before both houses of parliament.

25. All bills to amend or alter the provisions of this schedule shall be reserved for the signification of his majesty's pleasure.

THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT.1

[March 29, 1867.]

An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the Government thereof; and for purposes connected therewith.

Whereas the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have expressed their desire to be federally united into one Dominion. under the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom: And whereas such a union would conduce to the welfare of the provinces and promote the interests of the British empire:

And whereas on the establishment of the union by authority of parliament it is expedient, not only that the constitution of the legislative

1 This and the following acts, relating to the constitutions of Canada and Australia, are reprinted from Dodd's Modern Constitutions, University of Chicago Press: 1909, vol. I, pp. 33-68 and 185-225. — J. B. S.

authority in the Dominion be provided for, but also that the nature of the executive government therein be declared:

And whereas it is expedient that provision be made for the eventual admission into the union of other parts of British North America:

Be it therefore enacted and declared by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the British North America Act, 1867. 2. The provisions of this act referring to her majesty the queen extend also to the heirs and successors of her majesty, kings and queens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

II. UNION.

3. It shall be lawful for the queen, by and with the advice of her majesty's most honourable privy council, to declare by proclamation that, on and after a day therein appointed, not being more than six months after the passing of this act, the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall form and be one Dominion under the name of Canada; and on and after that day those three provinces shall form and be one Dominion under that name accordingly.

4. The subsequent provisions of this act shall, unless it is otherwise expressed or implied, commence and have effect on and after the union, that is to say, on and after the day appointed for the union taking effect in the queen's proclamation; and in the same provisions, unless it is otherwise expressed or implied, the name Canada shall be taken to mean Canada as constituted under this act.

5. Canada shall be divided into four provinces, named Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.2

6. The parts of the province of Canada (as it exists at the passing of this act) which formerly constituted respectively the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada shall be deemed to be severed, and shall form two separate provinces. The part which formerly constituted the prov

2 The following additions have been made to the membership of the confederation: Manitoba, July 15, 1870; British Columbia, July 20, 1871; Prince Edward Island, July 1, 1873; Alberta and Saskatchewan, September 1, 1905. Newfoundland has never joined the union.