"DEMISE OF THE CROWN."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume VX, Issue 7101, 25 January 1901, Page 2

"DEMISE OF THE CROWN."

We have had many enquiries as to the effect the death of a British Sovereign would have on our political and other conditions. There seems to be a general impression that not only the Parliaments of Great Britain, but those of all the colonies, must be dissolved, and some querists are afraid that it must upset all civil contracts. That is not so now, at least in Great Britain and New Zealand. In former times, however, the demise of the Sovereign did dissolve Parliament, cancel all appointments under the Grown, and all contracts with the Grown, though not contracts between private citizens. In the reign of William 111., an Act was passed postponing the dissolution of Parliament until six months after the death of the Sovereign, but Grown appointments and contraots were left cancelled, as before. In the Reform Act of 1867 it was provided that the demise ' of the Sovereign should not affect the existence of Parliament, nor contracts with the Crown. We are not sure that this extended to appointments by the Crown, as we cannot find any definite authority on the subject, but our impression is that it does. This belief is partly based on the New Zealand Demise of the Crown Act, 1888. Most of our readers are doubtless aware that auy British Act of Parliament passed prior to the foundation of New Zealand as a colony applied to the colony. Since then if we wish to bring our laws into line with those of the Mother Country, our Parliament has had to pass an Act containing similar provisions. In 1888 Sir Harry Atkinson brought down the Act we have just referred to. Hansard does not record any debate on the second reading, but, if memory serves us truly, Sir Frederick Whitaker, who, as Attorney-General, had charge of the measure, stated that it was on the lines of the English Act, and was intended to avoid inconvenience and confusion on the death of the Sovereign. Thi9 provides (1) that Parliament is not dissolved by demise of the Crown ; (2) that it shall not affect anything done in New Zealand before the proclamation thereof; (3) that all appointments, eto., made by the Governor are to continue in farce ; (4) that all criminal or oivil process, and all contracts, bonds, and engagements with or on behalf of Her Majesty, Bhall subsist and continue ; and (5) that all contractors with the Crown muat fulfil their engagements. We cannot say whether all the other self-govern-ing colonies have passed similar Acts ; if not, great coniußion may arise. O! course Crown colonies come under the English Act, whioh applies also to India. — H.B. Herald. (