DISMISSAL OF LANG

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19138, 6 October 1936, Page 5

DISMISSAL OF LANG

RIGHTS OF GOVERNOR JUDGE RAISES ISSUE LONDON, Sept, 26. Sir Philip Game’s dismissal of Mr. J., T, Lang from the Premiership of New South Wales in May, 1932, is challenged by Mr. Justice Evatt, of the High Court of Australia, in a book “The King and his Dominion Governors.” - The book is, in effect, a plea that the reserve powers of . the Crown should be reduced to known and positive principles. Mr. Justice Evatt. says that if the propriety of actions such as that of Sir Philip Game is carefully and dispassionately considered, it will become reasonably plain that the power of dismissal can hardly be regarded as properly exercised if a Governor justifies it merely by reliance upon Ministers having broken the law, and a competent legal tribunal is available to determine the question of legality and issue appropriate orders and injunctions to see that they are enforced.. He is of opinion that the difficulties existing in the British Dominions include the following

(1) Uncertainty of the extent to which and the conditions under which the Sovereign or his representative possesses the right to refuse a dissolution of Parliament to Ministers.

(2) The power of dismissal of Ministers possessing a majority of the popular Assembly’s confidence is not precisely ascertained. (3) The power of the Crown or its representative to insist upon a dissolution against- Parliament’s and the Ministers’ will is also undefined.

(4) The conditions of exercise of the prerogative, of the appointment of peers in the United Kingdom cannot- be precisely stated. (5) The ultimate right of the Sovereign or his representative to veto legislation is still asserted to, exist,.

(6) There is no clear understanding regarding the precise constitutional-rela-tion between the Prime Minister or Premier and other Ministers.