Parliament thereof, and a new State may be formed by the union of two or more States or parts of States, but only with the consent of the Parliaments of the States affected.

CHAPTER VII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

CHAP. VII.

Miscel

laneous.

Govern

125. The seat of Government of the Commonwealth Seat of shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within ment. territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.1

Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefor.

The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meet at the seat of Government.

Her Ma

authorise

126. The Queen may authorise the Governor-General to Power to appoint any person, or any persons jointly or severally, to jesty to be his deputy or deputies within any part of the Common- Governorwealth, and in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure General to appoint of the Governor-General such powers and functions of the deputies. Governor-General as he thinks fit to assign to such deputy or deputies, subject to any limitations expressed or directions given by the Queen; but the appointment of such deputy or deputies shall not affect the exercise by the GovernorGeneral himself of any power or function.

1 The seat of Government has, after much hesitation, been fixed in the Yass Canberra District. The area which is to be handed over to the Commonwealth as federal territory consists of nine hundred square miles.

It was only after that the Bill had not been accepted in New South Wales by the required number of votes in 1898 that this provision was inserted. Before this it had been consistently maintained that the matter was one which should be decided by the Commonwealth Parliament.

Aborigines

not to be

127. In reckoning the numbers of the people of the counted in Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted.

reckoning popula

tion.

CHAP. VIII.

Alteration

of Constitution.

Mode of altering

the Constitution.

CHAPTER VIII,

ALTERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.1

128. This Constitution shall not be altered except in the following manner :—

The proposed law for the alteration thereof must be passed by an absolute majority of each House of the Parliament, and not less than two nor more than six months after its passage through both Houses the proposed law shall be submitted in each State to the electors qualified to

1 On the introduction of the principle of the referendum see Introduction, p. 65.

The provisions with regard to the alteration of the Constitution set out in Article V of the Constitution of the United States are as follows: The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided . . . that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Compare Article 20 of the Swiss Constitution: Lorsqu'une section de l'assemblée fédérale décrète la revision (totale) de la constitution fédérale et que l'autre section n'y consent pas, ou bien lorsque cinquante mille citoyens Suisses ayant droit de voter demandent la revision (totale), la question de savoir si la constitution fédérale doit être revisée est, dans l'un comme dans l'autre cas, soumise à la votation du peuple Suisse, par oui ou par non.

Si, dans l'un ou l'autre de ces cas, la majorité des citoyens Suisses, prenant part à la votation, se prononce pour l'affirmative, les deux conseils seront renouvelés pour travailler à la revision.

The alteration of the Canadian Constitution rests, as we have seen, with the British Parliament.

The South African Union, being a unitary Government and not a federation, its Parliament has full powers to alter the Constitution. In certain cases, however, such power cannot be exercised till after the expiration of a period of ten years from the coming into force of the Act; and, in certain other cases, a majority of two-thirds is required of the total number of both Houses voting at a joint sitting.

vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives.

But if either House passes any such proposed law by an absolute majority, and the other House rejects or fails to pass it or passes it with any amendment to which the firstmentioned House will not agree, and if after an interval of three months the first-mentioned House in the same or the next session again passes the proposed law by an absolute majority with or without any amendment which has been. made or agreed to by the other House, and such other House rejects or fails to pass it or passes it with any amendment to which the first-mentioned House will not agree, the Governor-General may submit the proposed law as last proposed by the first-mentioned House, and either with or without any amendments subsequently agreed to by both Houses, to the electors in each State qualified to vote for the election of the House of Representatives.

When a proposed law is submitted to the electors the vote shall be taken in such manner as the Parliament prescribes. But until the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives becomes uniform throughout the Commonwealth, only one-half the electors voting for and against the proposed law shall be counted in any State in which adult suffrage prevails.

And if in a majority of the States a majority of the electors voting approve the proposed law, and if a majority of all the electors voting also approve the proposed law, it shall be presented to the Governor-General for the Queen's assent.

No alteration diminishing the proportionate representation of any State in either House of the Parliament, or the minimum number of representatives of a State in the House of Representatives, or increasing, diminishing, or otherwise altering the limits of the State, or in any manner affecting the provisions of the Constitution in relation thereto, shall become law unless the majority of the electors voting in that State approve the proposed law.

SCHEDULE.

OATH.

I, A.B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Her heirs and successors according to law. SO HELP ME GOD!

AFFIRMATION.

I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Her heirs and successors according to law.

NOTE.-The name of the King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the time being is to be substituted from time to time.

6. Incorporation of Colonies into the Union.
7. Application of Colonial Boundaries Act, &c.

III. EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT.

8. Executive power.

9. Governor-General.

10. Salary of Governor-General.

11. Application of Act to Governor-General. 12. Executive Council.

13.

Meaning of Governor-General in Council.

14. Appointment of ministers.

15. Appointment and removal of officers.

16. Transfer of executive powers to Governor-General in Council.

17. Command of naval and military forces.

18. Seat of Government.

24. Original constitution of Senate.

25. Subsequent constitution of Senate.

26. Qualifications of senators.

27. Appointment and tenure of office of President. 28. Deputy President.