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vincial Councils or abridging the powers conferred on them under section 85, shall be reserved. By paragraph 25 of the schedule to the Act, which lays down the terms and conditions on which the Governor in Council may undertake the government of Native territories if transferred to the Union under section 151, it is provided that all Bills to amend or alter the provisions of this schedule shall be reserved. There is no provision requiring reservation in either the Canadian or Irish Free State Constitutions. 30. Provisions relating to compulsory reservations are also to be found in the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, and in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. These provisions are dealt with in another section of this report. 31. The power of reservation had its origin in the instructions given by the Crown to the Governor of a colony as to the exercise by him of the power to assent to Bills passed by the colonial legislative body. It has been embodied in one form or another in the Constitutions of all the Dominions, and may be regarded in their case as a statutory and not a prerogative power. Its exercise has involved the intervention of the Government of the United Kingdom at three stages —in the instructions to the Governor concerning the classes of Bills to be reserved, in the advice tendered to the Crown regarding the giving or withholding assent to Bills actually reserved, and in the forms in use for signifying the Royal pleasure upon a reserved Bill. Reservation found a place naturally enough in the older colonial system under which the Crown exercised supervision over the whole legislation and administration of a colony through Ministers in the United Kingdom. In the earlier stages of self-government supervision over legislation did not at once disappear, but it was exercised in a constantly narrowing field with the development of the principles and practice of responsible government. As regards the Dominions it gradually came to be realized that the attainment of the purposes of reservation must be sought in other ways than through the use of powers by the Government of the United Kingdom. The present constitutional position is set forth in the statement of principles governing the relations of the United Kingdom and the Dominions contained in the Report of the Imperial Conference of 1926 ; and we have to apply these principles to the power of reservation and its exercise in the conditions now established. Recommendations. Discretionary Reservation. 32. Applying the principles laid down in the Imperial Conference Report of 1926, it is established first that the power of discretionary reservation, if exercised at all, can only be exercised in accordance with the constitutional practice in the Dominion governing the exercise of the powers of the Governor-General ; secondly, that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom will not advise His Majesty the King to give the Governor-General any instructions to reserve Bills presented to him for assent ; and, thirdly, as regards the signification of the King's pleasure concerning a reserved Bill, that it would not be in accordance with constitutional practice for advice to be tendered to His Majesty by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom against the views of the Government of the Dominion concerned. Compulsory Reservation —Principle governing the Signification of the King's Pleasure. 33. In cases where there is a special provision requiring the reservation of Bills dealing with particular subjects, the position would in general fall within the scope of the doctrine that it is the right of the Government of each Dominion to advise the Crown in all matters relating to its own affairs, and that consequently it would not be in accordance with constitutional practice for advice to be tendered to His Majesty by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom in any matter appertaining to the affairs of a Dominion against the views of the Government of that Dominion' 34. The same principle applies to cases where alterations of a Constitution are required to be reserved. Abolition of the Power of Reservation (Discretionary or Compulsory). 35. As regards the continued existence of the power of reservation, certain Dominions possess the power by amending their Constitutions, to establish the discretionary power and to repeal any provisions requiring reservation of Bills dealing with particular subjects, and it is therefore open to those Dominions to take the prescribed steps to that end if they so desire.