113. All fermented, distilled, or other intoxicating liquids passing into any State or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage shall be subject to the laws of the State as if such liquids had been produced in the State.

114. A State shall not, without the consent of The Parliament of the Commonwealth, raise or maintain any naval or military force, or impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to the Commonwealth; nor shall the Commonwealth impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to a State.

115. A State shall not coin money, nor make anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts.

116. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

117. A subject of the Queen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in such other State.

118. Full faith and credit shall be given, throughout the Commonwealth, to the laws, the public acts and records, and the judicial proceedings, of every State.

119. The Commonwealth shall protect every State against invasion and, on the application of the Executive Government of the State, against domestic violence.

120. Every State shall make provision for the detention in its prisons of persons accused or convicted of offences against the laws of the Commonwealth, and for the punishment of persons convicted of such offences, and the Parliament of the Commonwealth may make laws to give effect to this provision.

CHAPTER VI.

NEW STATES.

121. The Parliament may admit to the Commonwealth or establish new States, and may upon such admission or establishment make or impose such terms and conditions, including the extent of representation in either House of The Parliament, as it thinks fit.

122. The Parliament may make laws for the Government of any territory surrendered by any State to and accepted by the Commonwealth, or of any territory placed by the Queen under the authority of and accepted by the Commonwealth, or otherwise acquired by the Commonwealth, and may allow the representation of such territory in either House of the Parliament to the extent and on the terms which it thinks fit.

123. The Parliament of the Commonwealth may, with the consent of the Parliament of a State and the approval of the majority of the

electors of the State voting upon the question, increase, diminish, or otherwise alter the limits of the State, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed on, and nay, with the like consent, make provision respecting the effect and operation of any increase or diminution or alteration of territory in relation to any State affected.

124. A new State may be formed by separation of territory from a State, but only with the consent of the 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.

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

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.

126. The Queen may authorise the Governor-General to appoint any person or any persons jointly or severally to be his deputy or deputies within any part of the Commonwealth, and in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure of the Governor-General such powers and functions of the 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 Governor-General himself of any power or function. 127. In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted.

CHAPTER VIII.

ALTERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

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 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 first-mentioned 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 GovernorGeneral 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.)

298

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE STATES AND OF NEW ZEALAND.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

THE present form of government in New South Wales was inaugurated forty-six years ago, the "Act to confer a Constitution on New South Wales, and to grant a Civil List to Her Majesty," having received the Royal assent on the 16th July, 1855. This important statute was proclaimed in Sydney on the 24th November of the same year, and at once came into operation, sweeping away entirely the former system, and constituting an elective representative Chamber -thus, by the granting of equal privileges, making the colonists of New South Wales the equals of their countrymen in other parts of the Empire. The ties which bound the state to the mother country were in no way loosened, for the Constitution Act simply conceded to the people of New South Wales the rights which prevailed in the United Kingdom, namely, of taxing themselves, and of being governed by Ministers responsible to a Parliament elected by popular vote. The authority vested in the Sovereign remains the same as before, though the mode of its exercise is widely different. Prior to Responsible Government, the Sovereign exercised, through the Governor, almost despotic power, this official uniting in himself the executive and legislative functions. Personal liberty and independence were, therefore, to no small degree in his control; but with the establishment of Responsible Government this state of things ceased, and the greatest measure of individual liberty is now found compatible with the full protection of public rights. The readiness with which the people of the state adapted themselves to the forms and practice of their new government was not a little remarkable, and fully justified their assumption of its privileges.

All laws are enacted in the name of the King, "by and with the advice of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly," the Governor, as the Royal Deputy, immediately giving the assent of the Sovereign to Acts of Parliament, or, if he should think fit, reserving them for the consideration of His Majesty. In order that the Constitution may be clearly understood, it will be well to consider, under distinct heads, the several elements of which the Government and Legislature consist.

The Governor.

Prior to 1879 the Governor of the state was appointed by Letters Patent under the Great Seal; but in that year the practice was discontinued on the advice of Sir Alfred Stephen, given during the tenure of office of Sir Hercules Robinson. The change was first carried out in the appointment of Sir Augustus Loftus. The office of Governor is now constituted by permanent Letters Patent, and by a standing Commission, instead of as formerly by letters issued pro hac vice only. The Governor receives his appointment at present by Commission under the Royal sign manual and signet, which recites the Letters Patent of the 29th April, 1879, as well as the instructions issued (under sign manual and signet) in further declaration of the King's "will and pleasure." The original Letters Patent, thus recited and enforced, declare that the Governor is directed and empowered "to do and execute all things that belong to his office according to the tenor of the Letters Patent, and of such Commission as may be issued to him under our sign manual and signet, and according to such instructions as may from time to time be given to him under our sign manual and signet, or by our order in our Privy Council, or by us through one of our Principal Secretaries of State, and to such laws as are now or shall hereafter be in force in the colony." In accordance with a custom which has long prevailed, no Governor retains his office for a longer period than six years; and should he die or become incapable of performing his duties during his tenure of office, or be removed before the arrival of his successor, or should he have occasion to leave the state for any considerable period, the government is to be administered (1) by the Lieutenant-Governor ; or, if there be no Lieutenant-Governor, (2) by an Administrator to be appointed according to the provisions of the Letters Patent and Instructions. The present Lieutenant-Governor is Sir Frederick Matthew Darley, G.C.M.G., C.J., who was appointed by a Commission, dated the 23rd November, 1891; and in recent years the duties of Administrator have been fulfilled by Sir John Lackey, K.C.M.G., President of the Legislative Council.

The Lieutenant-Governor, or, in his absence, the Administrator, is empowered by his Commission to fill the office of Governor during any temporary absence of the Governor from the state; but the Governor may not be absent from the state, except in accordance with the terms of his instructions. Without the King's special leave he may not leave the state for a period exceeding one month at a time, or exceeding in the aggregate one month for every year of his service, unless on a visit to the Governor of a neighbouring state; but, on the other hand, he may leave the state for any period not exceeding one month without its being reckoned as a departure, if he shall have previously informed the Executive Council in writing of his intention, and appointed a deputy to act for him till his return. This deputy must, in the first instance, be the Lieutenant-Governor; but if, from any cause,