§ Mr. WRIGHTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) what were the circumstances which prevented Her Majesty assenting to the Act passed by the New South Wales Government in 1896 to apply and extend certain provisions of the Chinese Restriction and Regulation Act of 1888 to other coloured races, to repeal Section 15 of that Act, and for other purposes incidental to or consequent upon the before-mentioned subjects; whether any protest was made by the New South Wales Government against the refusal to give Her Majesty's assent to the Act; whether the Governor acted on his own responsibility, upon the advice of Ministers, or as the result of instructions from the Imperial Government; if upon instructions, were such instructions general or special instructions in respect of this particular measure; whether the law has since been amended; if so, in what way were the objections met which prevented the Act receiving Her Majesty's assent; and (2) what were the circumstances which prevented Her Majesty assenting to the Act passed by the Government of South Australia in 1896 for the restriction of coloured immigration; whether any protest was made by the Government of South Australia against the refusal to give Her Majesty's assent to the Act; whether the Governor acted on his own responsibility, upon the advice of Ministers, or as the result of instructions from the Imperial Government; if upon instructions, were such instructions general or special instructions in respect of this particular measure; whether the law has since been amended; and, if so, in what way were the objections met which prevented the Act receiving Her Majesty's assent?
Mr. HARCOURTThe circumstances which prevented the right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Birmingham from advising Her Majesty to assent to these two Bills are explained at pages 13 and 14 305W of the Proceedings of the Colonial Conference of 1897 (C. 8596). In both cases the Bills were reserved by the Governors on the advice of their law officers, and in accordance with the Royal Instructions. The instructions on which they acted were general instructions. As a result of the considerations which were urged at the Conference of 1897 by Mr. Chamberlain, the New South Wales Parliament passed in 1898 an Act dealing with immigration on the lines of the Natal Act of 1897, and this Act was duly assented to. In the case of South Australia no further action was taken, probably in view of the early approach of federation and the likelihood of legislation by the Commonwealth Parliament. The Commonwealth Parliament legislated on the subject by Act No. 17 of 1901. This Act, like the New South Wales Act of 1898, provided, on the model of the Natal Act of 1897, for a dictation test involving ability to write in a European language, and did not contain any discrimination by name against asiatics, and thus carried out the suggestion made by the Colonial Secretary at the Conference of 1897.
§ Mr. WRIGHTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what were the circumstances which prevented Her Majesty assenting to the Act passed by the Government of Victoria in 1857 to explain to whom the term Crown as used in certain cases shall apply; whether any protest was made by the Government of Victoria against the refusal to give Her Majesty's assent to the Act; whether the Governor acted on his own responsibility, upon the advice of Ministers, or as the result of instructions from the Imperial Government, and if upon instructions, were such instructions general or special instructions in respect of this particular measure; and whether the law has since been amended; and, if so, in what way were the objections met which prevented the Act receiving Her Majesty's assent?
Mr. HARCOURTThe Act which was passed in 1858 by the Parliament of Victoria purported to transfer to the Governor of Victoria all the powers vested in the Crown by any legislative enactment in force in Victoria and to ratify all acts done by him which could have been done by the Crown. It was reserved by the Governor with the concurrence of his Ministers and in accordance with the Royal Instructions, on the ground that its provisions were too wide and affected the Royal Prerogative. These instructions306W were general in character. The Act has not been re-enacted, but by an Act of 1884 (No. 799) such part of it as was necessary was given legal validity.