4-412 (Raw)

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Whereas it is expedient to constitute a Federal Council of Australasia, for the purpose of dealing with such matters of common Australasian interest, in respect to which united action is desirable, as can be dealt with without unduly interfering with the management of the internal affairs of the several colonies by their respective legislatures: 
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 
2. There shall be in and for Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia a Federal Council, constituted as herein-after provided, and called the Federal Council of Australasia, which shall have the functions, powers, and authority herein-after defined. [458]
3. Within such possessions Her Majesty shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, to make laws for the purposes herein-after specified, subject to the provisions herein contained respecting the operation of this Act.
4. A session of the Council shall be held once at least in every two years.
5. Each colony shall be represented in the Council by two members, except in the case of Crown colonies, which shall be represented by one member each. Her Majesty, at the request of the legislatures of the colonies, may by Order in Council from time to time increase the number of representatives for each colony.
6. The legislature of any colony may make such provision as it thinks fit for the appointment of the representatives of that colony, and for determining the tenure of their office.
7. The first session of the Council shall be held at Hobart, in the colony of Tasmania. Subsequent sessions shall be held in such colony as the Council shall from time to time determine.
8. The Council shall be summoned and prorogued by the Governor of the colony in which the session shall be held; and shall be so summoned and prorogued by proclamation, published in the "Government Gazette" of each of the colonies; and shall meet at such time and at such place as shall be named in the proclamation.
9. The Governor of each colony shall from time to time transmit to the Governors of the other colonies the names of the members appointed to represent the colony of which he is Governor.
10. Notwithstanding any vacancy in the representation of any colony, the Council shall be competent to proceed to the dispatch of business, and to exercise the authority hereby conferred upon it.
11. At the request of the Governors of any three of the colonies, a special session of the Council shall be summoned to deal with such special matters as may he mentioned in the proclamation convening it. Until the Council shall make other provision in that behalf, any such special session shall be summoned by the Governor of Tasmania, and shall be held at Hobart.
12. The Council shall in each session elect one of its members to be president.
13. The presence of a majority of the whole number of members of the Council for the time being, representing a majority of the colonies with respect to which this Act is in operation, shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the dispatch of business, and all questions which shall arise in the Council small be decided by the votes of a majority of the members present, including the president. [459]
14. No member of the Council shall sit or vote until he shall have taken and subscribed before the governor of one of the colonies the oath of allegiance contained in the schedule hereto: Provided that every member authorised by the law of the colony which he represents to make an affirmation instead of taking an oath may make such affirmation instead of the oath hereby required to be taken.
15. Saving Her Majesty's prerogative, and subject to the provisions herein contained with respect to the operation of this Act, the Council shall have legislative authority in respect to the several matters following: - 
(a) The relations of Australasia with the islands of the Pacific:
(b) Prevention of the influx of criminals:
(c) Fisheries in Australasian waters beyond territorial limits:
(d) The service of civil process of the courts of any colony within Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia out of the jurisdiction of the colony in which it is issued:
(e) The enforcement of judgments of courts of law of any colony beyond the limits of the colony:
(f) The enforcement of criminal process beyond the limits Of the colony in which it is issued, and the extradition of offenders (including deserters of wives and children, and deserters from the imperial or colonial naval or military forces):
(g) The custody of offenders on board ships belonging to Her Majesty's Colonial Governments beyond territorial limits:
(h) Any matter which at the request of the legislatures 'of the colonies Her Majesty by Order in Council shall think fit to refer to the Council:
(i) Such of the following matters as may be referred to the Council by the legislatures of any two or more colonies, that is to say, general defences, quaranthe, patents of invention and discovery, copyright, bills of exchange and promissory notes, uniformity of weights and measures, recognition in other colonies of any marriage or divorce duly solemnized or decreed in any colony, naturalisation of aliens, status of corporations and joint stock companies in other colonies than that in which they have been constituted, and any Other matter of general Australasian interest with respect to which the legislatures of the several colonies can legislate within their own limits, and as to which it is deemed desirable that there should be a law of general application: provided that in such cases the Acts of the Council shall extend only to the colonies by whose legislatures the matter shall have been so referred to it, and such other colonies as may afterwards adopt the same. [460]
Every Bill in respect of the matters marked (a), (b), or (c), shall, unless previously approved by Her Majesty through one of Her Principal Secretaries of State, be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure.
16. The Governors of any two or more of the colonies may, upon an address of the legislatures of such colonies, refer for the consideration and determination of the Council any questions relating to those colonies or their relations with one another, and the Council shall thereupon have authority to consider and determine by Act of Council the matters so referred to it.
17. Every Bill passed by the Council shall be presented, for Her Majesty's assent, to the Governor of the colony in which the Council shall be sitting, wino shall declare, according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in Her Majesty's name, or that he withholds such assent, or that he reserves the Bill for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, or that he will be prepared to assent thereto, subject to certain amendments to be specified by him.
18. When the Governor assents to a Bill in Her Majesty's name, he shall by the first convenient opportunity, send an authentic copy of the Act to one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and if Her Majesty, within one year after receipt thereof by the Secretary of State, thinks fit to disallow the Act, such disallowance (with a certificate of the Secretary of State of the day on which the Act was received by him) being signified by such Governor by message to the Council, or by proclamation in the "Government Gazette" of all the colonies affected thereby, shall annul the Act from and after the day of such signification.
19. A Bill reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure shall not have any force unless and until within one year from the day on which it was presented to the Governor for Her Majesty's assent such Governor signifies, by message to the Council, or by proclamation published as last aforesaid, that it has received the assent of Her Majesty.
20. All Acts of the Council, on being assented to in manner herein-before provided, shall have the force of law in all Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia in respect to which this Act is in operation, or in the several colonies to which they shall extend, as the case may be, and on board all British ships, other than Her Majesty's ships of war, whose last port of clearance or port of destination is in any such possession or colony.
21. Every Act assented to in the first instance shall be proclaimed in the "Government Gazette" of the colony in which the session of the Council at which it was passed was held, and shall also) be transmitted by the Governor assenting thereto to the Governors of the several colonies affected thereby, and shall be proclaimed by them within the respective colonies of which they are Governors. [461] 
22. If in any case the provisions of any Act of the Council shall be repugnant to, or inconsistent with, the law of any colony affected thereby, the former shall prevail, and the latter shall, so far as such repugnance or inconsistency extends, have no operation.
26. The necessary expenditure connected with the business of the Council shall be defrayed in the first instance by the colony wherein the expenditure is incurred, and shall be ultimately contributed and paid by the several colonies in proportion to their population. The amounts payable by the several colonies shall be assessed and apportioned, in case of difference, by the Governor of the colony of Tasmania.
29. The Council may make such representations or recommendations to Her Majesty as it may think fit with respect to any matters of general Australasian interest, or to the relations of Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia with the possessions of foreign powers.
30. This Act shall not come into operation in respect of any colony until the legislature of such colony shall have passed an Act or Ordinance declaring that the same shall be in force therein, and appointing a day on and from which such operation shall take effect, nor until four colonies at the least shall have passed such Act or Ordinance.
31. This Act shall cease to be in operation in respect to any colony the 'legislature of which shall have passed an Act or Ordinance declaring that the same shall cease to be in force therein: Provided nevertheless that all Acts of the Council passed while this Act was in operation in such colony shall continue to be in force therein, unless altered or repealed by the Council.
32. This Act shall be styled and may be cited, as the Federal Council of Australasia Act, 1885.
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