AN ENGLISH VIEW OF THE VICTORIAN CRISIS.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1298, 17 May 1878, Page 3

AN ENGLISH VIEW OF THE VICTORIAN CRISIS.

["London Times.”] The gradty of the Constitutional crisis which has been developed in the colony of Victoria his certainly not been diminished by the publication of the despatches that have passed between the Governor and the Colonial Office since the beginning of the quarrel. It is most clearly apparent that the questions in dispute are far too important to be subjected to the influence of any scntimentalimpnasion. The colony of Victoria bas raised an issue which touches upon one of the central and vital principles of our'Oonstitutional law, and that issue must be decided by the Imperial Parliament wit bout regard to persons. It is hard to say whether even now Parliament can bring itself to the serious consideration of a problem which must, nevertheless, be settled sooner or later. At any rate, the question ought to bo stated clearly and without prejudice. There is no reason for supposing that the present Governor of Victoria, bir George Bowen, is less impartial than those of his predecessors who have hud to deal with similar disputes. T£ ho is perplexed, as big de-jiafcVs Pvtow thpk Jaa is, qUiap G be

equally puzzled, or, at any rate, are in danger of being so. It is time that the duties of a Colonial Governor when he has to consider the advice of bis Ministers upon questions of executive action should be determined by the authority of ( he House of Commons. On the 19th of September last Sir George Bo»en a-ked whether the limitations imposed by the Coloniil Office despatches of 18H0 were binding upon him, and whether he might not, in spite of those instructions, comply with the advice of his Minis ers in regard to placing the vote which was the subject of contention upon the Estimates. Lord Carnarvon, who was then Secretary of Slate for the Colonies, replied by telegraph, “ As responsibility must rest entirely with the Ministers, I see no reison why you should hesitate to follow their advice.” Sir George Bowen had taken the pains to add that “the question was urgent,” which was of itself apparent; but lie did not make it clear that the vote for the payment of members had boon placed on the Estimates after a threat directed by the Prime Minister against those who refused to pass the Bill. It is clear that Lord Carnarvon’s telegram of September last, though it may cover Sir George Bowen’s subsequent action, was dictated in ignorance of some of the material facts of the case. But this telegram evidently shaped the whole of Sir George Bowen’s subsequent conduct. Mr Berry admitted that, according to Lord Oardwi 11, Lord Granville, and other colonial Ministers, it was the du'y as well as the *ight of a colonial Governor in all cases in which issues of public money was concerned “to ascertain, in the first place, what the Statute Law was, and, secondly, what was the proper interpretation of the law.” But he insisted that if the propositions we have cited were to be admitted, they applied, not to the Governor, but to the “ Governor in Council ” —that is, to the Governor as the mouthpiece and instrument of his Ministers. Mr Berry accordingly “recommended” Sir George Bowen to sign certain warrants for the payment of public moneys, and the Governor yielded. Sir George Bowen has published in the papers presented to Parliament the memorandum which he laid before his Ministers in January last, when Mr Berry, carrying out the views he had declared, asked the Governor's assent 1o the sweeping dismissals in the public service. The Ministers, though on the platform and in t he Press their supporters were threatening to get rid of public servants of every degree and to throw the country into anarchy, laid the proposals to dismiss the County Court Judges, the Stipendiary Magistrates, ai d Coroners before Sir George Bowen as a measure intended only “ to economise the funds at the disposal of the Government.” The Governor was struck by the dangerous consequences of the proposal, and stated his objections. But “he was assured that the p >licy proposed had been definitely adopted by the Ministry,” and though he had, as he admitted, “ grave misgivings” when he came to consider the dismissal of judicial officers, he felt, compelled to give way after all. Sir George Bowen a week or two after the abrupt dismissal of the judicial officers and civil servants was fomd to “strongly recommend Ministers to take measures for publicly contradicting the false rumours that had been circulated to the effect that the Governor contemplated some interference with the currency and banking institutions ” The “ false rumours” had been circulated by the Government newspapers, which had wildly denounced the banks as supporters of the Council, and had declared that measures of retaliation must be adopted. The Governor went on to say—“ It is well known how sensitive public credit is, and that great damage would be done to the interests of this colony, both in Australia and in Europe, by even the uncontrudicted report of any such interference. Moreover, as was communicated to the Premier gome time back, the Governor is precluded by the Queen’s instructions from sanctioning any measure of that nature.” Sir George Bowen, therefore, clearly sees that somewhere or other he may, or must, refuse to follow the advice of his Ministers. Yet though the orders transmitted to him from the Colonial Office in the month of September do not technically cover his policy when he sanctioned the dismissals of January last, it is clear that Lord Carnarvon and the Governor of Victoria were agreed that whatever the Victorian Premier approved was to be carried into effect by the Queen’s representative. Is this the readi g of the Constitution which the Imperial Parliament is ready to approve ? If so, the sooner it is put into an intelligible form the better.