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Again, in 1855, the House of Commons appointed a Committee to inquire whether Baron Lionel de Rothschild had not vacated his seat by reason of his firm having entered into a contract with the G-overnment for a loan of i!16,00;),0t)0 for the Public Service. The Committee reported that, in their opinion, there was no contract, agreement, or commission, within the true intent and meaning of 22nd George 111. c. 45; but in order to avoid future doubts a clause has been introduced into the Acts since passed for raising loans, providing that the Act of George 111. shall not be construed to extend to any subscriber or contributor to the loan. (See " May's Parliamentary Practice," p. 35, 6th edition.) There are several other cases ; but I have referred at length to Royse v. Birley, for the purpose of extracting the remarks of the Judges as throwing light upon the way in which the Act of George 111. is to be construed, and as a guide to help in the construction of the Colonial Act passed for like purposes, although not identically in the same terms. The mischief intended to be remedied by the Disqualification Act was to prevent members having undue influence " with or over the Government of the colony," and I think that the guiding principle of construction ought to have reference to the expressed intention of the Act. Moreover, being in its nature highly penal, the Act would receive a strict interpretation according to the rule of construction in such cases. (See " Dwarris on Statutes/ part 2, p. 631, 2nd edition.) To come within the letter of the Act, there must be a contract or agreement for the Public Service under which public money is to be paid for some service, work, matter, or thing. , The term "contract" in its widest signification comprises every kind of legal tie, whereby a person binds himself to do, or omit to do, some act; but in its more familiar sense it is most frequently applied to agreements not under seal; and the term " agreement" is rarely used except in relation to contracts not under seal, and this is evidently its proper use. (See " Chitty on Contracts," p. 2, Bth edition.) Bearing in mind the rule above stated as to the construction of penal Statutes, and also that statutory words are to be understood in their usual and most known signification, it might be fairly argued that by the use of the terms " contract or agreement" it was intended to exclude deeds or other more formal instruments, and this argument has some force on looking at the proviso to section 9, where dealings with waste lands are set out fully —as by " lease, license, occupation, sale or purchase "or to any agreement for any such lease, &c. But assuming that the terms " contract or agreement" are to be understood in their widest signification, the contracts which are intended to disqualify are those upon which public money is to be paid. Now, contracts are usually divided into "executed" and "executory;" the first, extending to cases where nothing remains to be done by either party, and where the transaction is completed at the time it is made, as when goods are sold and the money paid at once; the second, where some act is to be done at a future time, as for instance, to build a ship within six months. I think that the class of contracts intended to be affected by the Act were those of an executory nature, and this opinion is founded not alone upon the intention of the Act, but upon the express terms of the ninth section; where the disqualifying contract is spoken of as one " under which any public money is to be paid;" which, I think, refers to cases where the contract is of a continuing nature, and the money would be payable from time to time as it became due. Ido not think that entire contracts such as usually form the subject of the sale of lands are within the meaning of the Act, or the mischief it intended to remedy. By an entire contract, I mean a contract upon which a gross sum of money is paid for a certain and definite consideration. Such a contract may be within the words, but, as I have said, I do not think it is within the meaning of the Disqualification Act. In the case of a sale of lands to the Crown, the money is paid when the conveyance is signed, and there the transaction ends. Ordinarily, there would remain no opportunity or occasion for exercising " undue influence" with or over the Government of the colony. True, in such a conveyance, there would usually be inserted covenants for title on the part of the seller, but in case of breach of these, the liability is to the Crown, not against it; so that as far as that part of the contract is concerned, it never could be within the Act, because no public money of the colony could be paid upon it. In any case, I think the dicta of the learned Judges in Royse v. Birley, above cited, clearly establish the principle that where a contract has been completely executed, disqualification would not attach even although some act might remain to be done or payment made under such contract. In the case of a lease of lands to the Crown, no doubt public money would be payable as rent, and such a case might be held to be within the Act. Again, the claas of contracts affected by the Act are " for any service, work, matter, or thing." It may be said that the words " matter or thing " are to have relation to and be read in connection with the words " service or work," in which case, of course, the Act would not apply to such transactions as sales of land, or interests in land; but on the other hand the proviso to the 9th section exempts from the operation of the Act contracts for the sale, &c., of waste lands, and which would seem to apply that the Act was intended to cover transactions relating to contracts for the sale, &c, of other lands. I have referred at greater length than perhaps was necessary to the wording of the Act, with the view of affording the Committee such assistance as I could on the questions before them ; but I wish to remark on this branch of the subject, that I do not think any general rule can safely be laid down for guidance in such cases, but that each case which is alleged to come