THE KING’S REPRESENTATIVE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1930, Page 3

THE KING’S REPRESENTATIVE

(Christchurch Times). It was known that Australia, intended to bring before the Imperial Conference a claim to make a recommendation to the King when the appointment of a Governor-General was in be made, and the decision reached by the Conference supporting the claim will occasion no surprise. Whether this new procedure can he adopted in the. Commonwealth without art amendment of the Constitution is a matter on which there are widely opposed opinions, but there is no doubt that means will be found to make the concession effective.

Tlio change is the more iimportant, of course, because of the desire of the Cdriimonwealth Labour Party that the Governor-General should be an Australian citizen. While it is admitted that with the growl) of national spirit there has been a marked tendency to regard the GovernorGeneral as more or less of a figurehead, with duties limited to social or noil-political functions, it is contended that he exercises all the constitutional functions which the' Crown performs in the parliamentary system in Great Britain. He may therefore Kb celled upon to discharge functions of the greatest political importance. At times such as these the. Gov-ernor-General must act upon his own responsibility, and therein lies the danger, it is contended, if the representative of the Sovereign owes his position to the recommendation of a political party and has lived his life in the atmosphere of political strife. The further argument that it would he difficult to and one to fill the office of Governor-General so far removed from the party politics of his country that the people would have condence in Iris impartiality and detachment from personal or private influence when political crisis demanded his decision can he met hv quoting the provincial Governors of Canada, who. though appointed by the Gov-ernor-General. are Canadian citizens. Had the system there brought about the da Hirers nredicted in Australia a change would undoubtedly have been made ere this. The success of the experiment to he tried in the Commonwealth will, of course, depend entirely on the choice made, and the right to. make a .recommendation to the Sovereign for the office of GovernorGeneral seems a natural corollary to the new status of the dominions agreed upon at the 1926 Imperial Conference.