1 6 njlW so [/tit wales. 



required to exercise with the formal assent and advice of the Executive 

 Council^ this obligation being imposed partly by statute' and partly 

 by the Instructions ;^ other powers he exercises on the advice and 

 responsibility of a single Minister.'' The constitution of the Execu- 

 tive Council, and the duties of its members, are regulated by the 

 Letters Patent/ by the Instructions/ and by statute/ It is usually 

 presided over by the Governor, and consists of the Vice-President, 

 and nine other members, who are at the same time the heads of 

 the great executive departments. Saving the presence of the Gover- 

 nor, the Executive Council is in fact identical with the Ministry 

 or Cabinet. It was no doubt originally intended that the Executive 

 Council should constitute the real executive organ, but the presence of 

 the Governor appears to have led to the adoption by its members of 

 the practice of deliberating in private, and this, in its turn, gave rise 

 to the Ministry or Cabinet as a distinct though informal institution. 

 Hence the Council has come to assume the character of a formal body, 

 through the medium of which the more important acts of State are 

 sanctioned or allowed ; but whose action is prompted or set in motion 

 by a responsible Minister, after consultation with the whole Ministry 

 in matters of moment, or on his own responsibility in minor or 

 departmental matters. Members of the Executive Council resign their 

 offices on ceasing to be Ministers. The Ministry or Cabinet is virtually 

 a committee of the leading members of both Houses, who possess the 

 confidence of the majority in the Legislative Assembly, and generally 

 represent the dominant party in that House. It is made up of the chiefs 

 of the executive departments, who are at liberty to sit in the Legis- 

 lative Assembly,^ and whose tenure of office depends on political 

 considerations ;'' together with the Vice-President of the Council. 

 The Ministry or Cabinet is thus an informal deliberative body; it has 

 no corporate existence or official recognition ; and no formal record is 

 kept of its proceedings. In the Colony there is no distinction, such as 

 exists in England, between Cabinet and Ministry.' For the rest, how- 

 ever, the relations between the Ministry and the Legislature, are much 

 the same as those which exist in the United Kingdom.-' Although 

 the Governor is as a rule bound to act on his Ministers' advice, yet he 

 is expressly authorised by his Instructions to refuse such advice in case 

 of need.'' In practice, however, such cases are not very frequent. 

 It is difficult to reduce them to any satisfactory principle, but roughly 

 they may be said to include : — (1) Cases where the Governor acts as 



=> Constitution Act, sees. 3, 37 ; besides whieh there are an immense number of local 

 statutes, which confer new administrative powers, but expressly ret^uire these to be 

 exercised on the advice of the Executive Council. 



^ Instructions 1892, cl. 6. This clause, however, expressly authorises the Governor 

 to act in opposition of such advice, if he deems it necessary, subject to certain conditions. 



'- Such as the prerogative of mercy in non-capital cases : see Instructions, cl. 9. 



•' Letters Patent, cl. 6. '" Instructions 1892, cl. 3, 4, and 5. 



f Executive Councillors Act, 1881, sees. 2, 4 ; Promissory Oaths Act, 1870, sec. 5. 



- For a list of these officers see Constitution Act Amendnient Act, 1884, sec. 2 and 

 schedule. 



'' Constitution Act, sec. 37. 

 The Cabinet, under the P]nglish system, is strictly a committee of the larger body or 

 Ministry. The tendency in the Colony is to use tlie term to indicate a sitting of the 

 3Iinistry. 



J Aixson II. chap. iii. sec. 3. ■-• Instructions, cl. G. 



