STATUTE OF WESTMINSTER

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1931, Page 5

STATUTE OF WESTMINSTER

CRITICISED BY MR BAVIN (Australian Press Association.) SYDNEY, Nov. 13. Mr Bavin, the leader of the State Opposition, in a speech at a University Law Society dinner, said the Statute of Westminster had been thrust upon the self-geveming Dominions, mainly for mere party political reasons. The Australian Parliament had adopted it. No sensible Austra i n wanted to see the self-geveming rights of the Dominions curtailed, but, equally no sensible Australian imagined that the existence of a reserve power in the Imperial Parliament to legislate for the whole Empire involved any real danger to these self-govern-ing power. The Statute of Westminster, lie tidded, was full of legal ambiguities.

Mr Latham (Deputy Leader of the Federal Opposition) said that it appeared a mistake, from a political point of view, to attempt to embody in strict legal terminology and under standing 1 and convention which ought to be fluid and elastic. Relationships between nations could more wisely be adjusted by political leaders acting in accordance with general public opinion than by the Law Courts interpreting the strict terms of a Statute.

PROVISIONS OF STATUTE, (Received this day at 9.25 a.m) LONDON, November 13. Sponsored by Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Mr .Stanley Baldwin, and 'Sir Herbert Samuel, the Statute of Westminister, the Itext of which has been issued, provides that the Colonial Laws Validity Act, (1865, does not apply to any dominion legislation. From the commencement of this act on December Ist, it removes the bar of repugnance to any law of England. It gives power to the Dominions, merchants, shipping courts, and admiralty acts, and stipulates no repeal and no alteration of Australian and New Zealand constitutions except in accordance with prior law. Section nine preserves the legislative prerogatives of Australian States and conversely maintains Britain’s rights to legislate on State matters in accordance with previous constitutional practice. Any Dominion is empowered to revoke any section of the Statute.