The Portland daily press., 1868-09-08
Terms $500 per AMMAN, IN. aarance

cohsiueratlon OF your Excelleney. that il /
expedient TO settle the course to he pursuef
with respect to the acts passed by the Pro
vincial Legislatures.
The same powers of disallowance as bav,
always belonged to the imperial Cove, nav
with respect to the acts passed bv coionia
legislatures, have been conferred, by the IT%.
ion Act, on the government OF Canada. q
late years her Majestys government has no
as general rule, mterlered with the legisla
ton OF colonies having representative insti
tutions and responsible government, excep
IN the cases specially mentioned in the in
:eiuctiohs TO the provinces, or in matters o
imperial and not merely local interest
-. ohuer tne pre- sent constitution of Canada
| .ne general government will be called uDOu
W oohS'uer she propriety OF allowance or dis
.ai ano"dn.I ~ VI provincial acts much more fire.
| quently than her Majesty's government has
| been with respect to colonial enactments.
IN deciding whether any act of nrovinc;,l
legislature should be disallowed of sanct oned
| the government must not only consider
whether it affects the interest of the whole
dominion or not, but also whether it be un-
| constitutional, whether il exceeds the juris-
oictlon conferred on local legislatures, and in
cases where the Jurisdiction is concurrent
Whethef u clashes with the legislation of the
Generai farllament. As it is Of Importance
@ .Iat she course OF local legislation should be
lnterfered with as little as possible. and the
power of disallowance exercised with great
caution, and only in cases where the law and
anu general interests OF tho Dominion i'm
peratlVely demand it, the undersigned recon-
mends that the following course be pursued
lnat on the receipt, by your Excelency, OF
the acts passed in any province they be refer
red to the Minister of Justice to report and
ina ne, with all convenient speed, do report
as to those acts which he considers free from
objections OF any kind; and II such report be
approved oil by yOur Excellency in council
that such approval. be forthwith commuui-
Gated to the provincial governments.
mat ne make report or separate re-
ports ON these acts which he NAV consider.
lsf. AS being altogether illegal or unconsti,
tutional. -
"a. As illegal or unconstitutional in part.
I'd. In cases of concurrent jurisdiction as
clashing with the legislation of the General
Parliament -
4th. As cfecting the interests of the Do
minion generally. .alt
, And that in such report Or reports he gives
his reasons for his opinions. That where A
measure is considered only partially detect
I've, or where Objectionable as bein. prejudi-
clal 10 the general interests OF the Dominion,
or as clashing with its legislation, commupi-
cation should be had with the Provincial Gov
eminent with respect to such measure, and
that in such case the act shonld not be dis
allowed, ii the general interests permit such
course until the local government has an
opportunity OF considering and discussing
the objections taken, and the local legislature.
mas also an opportunity OF remedying the de-
feet found to exist. l.f..
All OF which is respectfully submitted.
tSlgned) JOHN A. MACDONALD.
This arhf frar int rcn
ity of local legislation is an act of tyranny
which can hardly fail to rouse the Nova SEQ
tians to frenzy. Ii submitted TO it would
strike final blow to their liberties. The rea-
sons enumerated for disallowance are enough
to excuse the Dominion authorities for con-
demning almost any act of Importance which
they may wish to annul. II they can find
no clause In it which can be construed in
such way as to seem unconstitutional or
inconsistent with some act of the Dominion
Parliament, they can always say that it
"affec's the interest of the Dominion gen.
orally" The scheme, moreover, becomes adj
ditionally offensive from the fact that under
the old order of things, before Confederation,
the power of disallowance was but sparingly
exercised by the Imperial government. But
the power having been transferred to the au-
thorities at Ottawa they propose to push it to
its extreme limits. This interference with
the legislation of the provinces, taken. in
connection with the denial of the right of
petition to the Queen except through the Do
minion government, is Certainly one of the
most arbitrary acts which we have lately had
to record. II the Nova Scotians submit
tamely to such oppression they must be spir-
itless indeed F-t