ALSACE=LORRAINE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 839, 10 June 1910, Page 5

ALSACE=LORRAINE.

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. Bj Tolsiraph— Press Association-CoDyricht (Bee. June 9, 11.40 p.m.) Berlin, June' 9. The question of a broader constitution for Alsace-Lorraine (the , provinces conquered by Germany from France) has advanced a stage. lierr Dclbruck, German Minister of the Interior, will mnet at Strassburg Count von Wedel, Statthalter (Governor-General) of Alsace-Lorraine, also 'the Alsace-Lor-raine Ministry, and a dozen deputies holding moderate views. -' They will discuss tho constitutional reforms outlined in "The Times" on May 5. [Tho fundamental laws under which the Reichslaud, or Imperial Land, of -Alsace-Lorraine is governed were voted by the German Reichstag June 9, 1871, June 25, 1873, May 2, 1877, July d, 1879. By the law of Juno 9, 1871, it is enacted, "The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, ceded by Prance in the peace preliminaries, of February 26, 1871, under limits definitely fixed in the Treaty of.Peace of May 10, 1871, shall be for ever united with the German Empire." The Constitution of the German Umpire was introduced in Alsace-Lorraine on January i, 1871. In May, 1901, the provision for dictatorship in matters of organisation and administration was abolished. The administration of Alsace-Lorraine is under a Governor-Genentl, bearing the title of "Statthalter." , The Emperor appoints the Statthalter, who represents the Imperial Government. A Ministry composed' of four departments, with _ a responsible Secretary of State at its head, acts under tho Statthalter, who also is assisted by a Council of State, comprising the Statthalter as President, the Secretary of State, the threa Undersecretaries of State, the President of the Chief Provincial Court of Justice, the Attorney-General, and eight to twelve other members appointed by the Emperor, of whom three are presented by the Laudesausschuss, or Provincial Committee. This committee, which attends to local legislation, consists of 58 members.]