STATE BOUNDARIES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13251, 9 December 1913, Page 9

STATE BOUNDARIES.

» VICTORIA v. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. LONDON, December 2. The hearing of the appeal m what is known as the boundary dispute between Victoria and South Australia was continued before the Judicial Committee of , the Privy Council. I Mr Lawrence, for South Australia, continued his argument, and placed before the members the historical retro- • specfc of the case down to the time of the institution of proceedings. Even then, he said, an adjustment between the two Governments was quite feasible. Lord Haldane remarked that m this matter two questions arose. The first was, did the Act of .the Imperial Government definitely lay down the boundary, or did it lay down merely a conception of a boundary thereafter to be laid down, and secondly, did anything take place 'between the two. Governments that raised the inference that they » -had tactil.v. or by actual overt fact, 3 settled and concurred m such a bound ary. "Of course," added the Lord Chan--1 cellor, "long and continued possession | might be set up by the other side." 1 Sir Robert Finlay, for Victoria, said that the question of long enjoyment of 1 use was distinguishable from the mere r fact of acquiescence. . . | Mr Lawrence submitted that the Crown -had the power to fix the boundary between the two States. Lord Haldane: There must also be a 1 question whether the Crown .had the power to unfix the existing boundary. It has been laid down that when the Crown established a colony, with_power to make laws and grant land, it" could ' not go back on its Imperial Parliament. Mr Lawrence quoted an Act of 1861, [ relating to Queensland, to prove that power had been given to the Australian • States to determine among themselves c the .questions of boundaries without , troubling about the consent of* the Crown. The hearing was ;: mourned. J ' The territory m dispute m this case is on the borders of South Australia and ' Victoria: The boundary, between the I two States is the 141 st meridian of longi- . tude, but when the State of Victoria • was constituted the astronomical survey ! placed the 141 st meridian m the wrong ' position. The question to be decided is whether the boundary is to be fixed ■ by the actual position of the meridian or by the position which it now wr6ngly occupies according to the survey. For . a great number of years the expanses ' of administration m the disputed territory have heeri shared by the tWo c States, I and many attempts have been made at «vi agreement.