FORMATION OF COUNCIL OF STATE

Northern Advocate, 21 January 1936, Page 6

FORMATION OF COUNCIL OF STATE

(Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, January 20. rpHE “Sun-Herald” representative A states that His Majesty made constitutional history, embracing the whole Empire this afternoon, when, supported on pillows on which he was tenderly raised by his doctors and nurses, he watched through com'municating doors the brief meeting of the Privy Council, and signed a document “Geo. R.,” constituting the Council of State.

It will be recalled that, during His Majesty’s illness in 1928, the Council included the Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor and the Archibishop of Canterbury. The “Stm-Herald” is informed that there is no precedent for a Regency Council composed exclusively of members of the Royal Family. It is understood this was regarded as a corollary to succession. \ Formation Rests With King - . Under recent constitutional changes in the British Commonwealth, as a result of Lord Balfour’s 1926 declaration and the Statute of Westminster, the formation of the Council and its

Status Of Dominions Recognised

personnel rests soely with His Majesty, who delegated to his Family the foreign powers to perform certain duties on his behalf, the constitutional provision of which is contained in the fact that, as members of the Crown, they possess the link with the Dominions similar to himself. Equality of Status. It is pointed out that His Majesty is King of each Dominion, precisely as King of Britain, equality of status having been established between Britain and the Dominions. The Council could not include Ministers of the Mother Country unless the Ministers of each Dominion were aUo appointed. This is obviously impracticable. His Majesty, evidently acting on the advice of the highest constitutional autorifles, limited the Council to his own Family, realising, as does the whole nation, that his sons, who with their " experience and sympathetic understanding of the problems of the British peoples, would adequately discharge all their responsibilities. New Practice. All the Communications from the King to the Dominion lately have been carried out in accordance with the new constitutional practice, under which the Crown is linked direct with Governors-General omitting high commissioners, while the Dominion Office is the only channel of communication as between Governments. It is understood that the Prime Ministers of the Dominions conferred with the British authorities during the Jubilee to clarify the procedure and meet such an eventuality as the present, and, it is believed, the position then was fairly defined, though it is stated the proceedings were not documented.