given to any such bill unless an address shall have been presented by the Legislative Assembly to the Governor, stating that such bill has been so passed. XVIII. Any person absolutely free (except as is hereinafter excepted) who shall be qualified and registered as a voter in and for any electoral district within the said colony, shall be qualified to be elected a member of the Legislative Assembly for any electoral district within the said colony. XIX. Any person holding any office of profit, or having a pension from the crown during pleasure, or for term of years, shall be incapable of being elected or of sitting or voting as an elected member of the assembly in any assembly which may be hereafter convoked and holden, unless he be an official member of the government for the time being, holding one of the following offices:Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Collector of Customs, Auditor-General, Postmaster-General, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Inspector-General of Police, Surveyor-General, and Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands. XX. If any elected member of the said assembly shall accept of any such office of profit or pension from the crown during pleasure, or for term of years, his election, shall be thereupon and is hereby declared to be void, and a writ shall forthwith issue for a new election as if such member were naturally dead: provided that nothing in this act contained shall extend to any person in receipt only of pay, half-pay, or a pension as an officer in her Majesty's navy or army, or who shall receive any new or other commission in the navy or army respectively, or any increase on such commission, or to any such official member of the government or Executive Council promoted to any higher office. XXI. No person shall be capable of being elected a member to serve in the said assembly, and of sitting and voting therein, who shall be a minister of the Church of England, or a minister, priest, ecclesiastic, or teacher, either according to the rites of the Church of Rome, or under any other form or profession of religious faith or worship. XXII. Any person who shall directly or indirectly himself or by any person whatsoever in trust for him, or for his use or benefit, or on his account, undertake, execute, hold, or enjoy, in the whole, or in part, any contract or agreement for or on account of the public service, shall be incapable of being elected or of sitting or voting as a member of such assembly during the time he shall execute, hold, or enjoy any, such contract, or any part or share thereof, or any benefit or emolument arising from the same: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to any contract or agreement made, entered into, or accepted by any incorporated comof more than twenty persons, where such pany or any trading company consisting contract or agreement shall be made, entered into, or accepted, for the general benefit of such incorporated or trading Provided also, that if any company: bly, shall enter into any such contract or person, being a member of such Assemagreement, or having entered into it, shall continue to hold it, his seat shall be void XXIII. If any person by this Act disabled or declared to be incapable to sit or vote in any assembly hereafter to be summoned and holden shall nevertheless, after the dissolution or determination of this present Legislative Council, be elected and returned as a member to serve in the said assembly for any electoral district, such election and return are hereby declared and enacted to be void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and if any person so elected and returned contrary to the provisions of this Act shall presume to sit or vote as an elected member of the said assembly in any session to be hereafter summoned and holden, such person shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds, to be recovered by any person who shall sue for the same in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, or in any other court of record in the said colony having competent jurisdiction. XXIV. It shall be lawful for the Go vernor of the colony of New South Wales | twenty members of the Legislative As for the time being to fix such place or places within any part of the colony of New South Wales, and such times for holding the first and every other session of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the said colony, as he may think fit, such times and places to be afterwards changed or varied as the Governor may judge advisable and most consistent with general convenience and the public welfare, giving sufficient notice thereof; and also to prorogue the said Legislative Council and Assembly, from time to time, and to dissolve the said assembly by proclamation or otherwise, whenever he shall deem it expedient. XXV. There shall be a session of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the colony of New South Wales once at least in every year; so that a period of twelve calendar months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Legislative Council and Assembly in one session and the first sitting of the Legislative Council and Assembly in the next session; and every Legislative Assembly of the said colony, hereafter to be summoned and chosen, shall continue for five years from the day of the return of the writs for choosing the same, and no longer, subject nevertheless, to be sooner prorogued or dissolved by the Governor of the said colony. XXVI. The Legislative Council and Assembly of the said colony shall be called together for the first time at some period not later than six calendar months next after the proclamation of this Act by the Governor of the said colony. XXVII. The members of the Legislative Assembly of the colony of New South Wales shall, upon the first assembling after every general election, proceed forthwith to elect one of their number to be speaker; and in case of his death, resignation, or removal by a vote of the said Legislative Assembly, the said members shall forthwith proceed to elect another of such members to be such speaker; and the speaker so elected shall preside at all meetings of the said Legislative Assembly. XXVIII. The presence of at least sembly of the colony of New South Wales, exclusive of the speaker, shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the said Legislative Assembly for the despatch of business; and all questions (except as herein is excepted) which shall arise in the said Assembly, shall be decided by the majority of votes of such members as shall be present, other than the speaker, and when the votes shall be equal the speaker shall have the casting vote. XXIX. It is declared, that if it shall so happen that no candidate or candidates shall be proposed or seconded at any time duly appointed for the election. of a member or members to serve in any electoral district of the said colony, it shall be the duty of the returning officer to notify the fact to the Governor, who shall announce to the speaker of the said Legislative Assembly the electoral district or districts in which no election shall have taken place; but no such refusal or failure to elect in any electoral district or districts shall be deemed or taken to make the Legislative Assembly incomplete, or to prevent it from meeting and dispatching business, so long as there shall be a quorum of members present. XXX. No member, either of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly of the colony of New South Wales, shall be permitted to sit or vote therein until he shall have taken and subscribed the following oath before the Governor of the said colony, or before some person or persons authorized by such Governor. to administer such oath :— I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Victoria. So help me God!" XXXI. Every person authorized by law to make an affirmation instead of taking an oath, may make such affirmation in every case in which an oath is hereinbefore required to be taken. XXXII. It shall be lawful for any member of the assembly, by writing under his hand, addressed to the speaker tended to be submitted to such Council and Assembly respectively, at any session thereof, may be published in the Government Gazette or otherwise, for general of the said house, to resign his seat therein, and upon the receipt of such resignation, by the speaker, the seat of such member shall become vacant. XXXIII. If any member of the assem-information, for some convenient space bly shall for one whole session of the Legislature, without the permission of the assembly, entered upon its journals, fail to give his attendance in the said house, or shall take any oath or make any declaration or acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to any foreign prince or power, or do or concur in or adopt any act whereby be may become a subject or citizen of any foreign state or power, or become entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject of any foreign state or power, or shall become bankrupt or an insolvent debtor within the meaning of the laws in force within the said colony relating to bankrupts or insolvent debtors, or shall become a public defaulter, or be attainted of treason, or be convicted of felony or any infamous crime, his seat in such assembly shall thereby become vacant. XXXIV. When and so often as a vacancy shall occur as aforesaid, upon a resolution by the assembly declaring such vacancy and the causes thereof, the ́speaker shall cause a writ to be issued for supplying such vacancy: Provided that the speaker may issue such writ when the assembly is not in session. XXXV. The said Legislative Council and Assembly, at the first sitting of each respectively, and from time to time afterwards as there shall be occasion, shall prepare and adopt such standing rules and orders as shall appear to the said Council and Assembly respectively best adapted for the orderly conduct of such Council and Assembly respectively, and for the manner in which such Council and Assembly shall be presided over in case of the absence of the speaker, and for the mode in which such Council and Assembly shall confer, correspond, and communicate with each other relative to votes or bills passed by or pending in such Council and Assembly respectively, and for the manner in which notices of bills, resolutions, and other business in or time before the meeting of such Council and Assembly respectively, and for the proper passing, entitling, and numbering of the bills to be introduced into and passed by the said Council and Assembly, and for the proper presentation of the same to the Governor for the time being, for her Majesty's assent; all of which rules and orders shall, by such Council and Assembly respectively, be laid before the Governor, and, being by by him approved, shall become binding and of force: Provided that no such rule or order shall be of force to subject any person not being a member or officer of the Council or Assembly to which it relates, to any pain, penalty, or forfeiture. XXXVI. It shall and may be lawful for the Governor to transmit by message to the said Legislative Council or Assembly, for their consideration, the draft of any laws which it may appear to him desirable to introduce; and all such drafts shall be taken into consideration in such convenient manner as shall, in and by the rules and orders aforesaid, be in that behalf provided. XXXVII. Every bill which has been passed by the Legislative Council and Assembly, whether with or without amendments, shall be presented for her Majesty's assent to the Governor of the said colony, and the Governor in all bills relating to the local or municipal affairs of the said colony shall declare at once according to his discretion that he assents to such bill in her Majesty's name, or, that he withholds her Majesty's assent; and in all bills touching or affecting any imperial subject, the Governor shall declare according to his discretion, but subject nevertheless to the provisions contained in this Act, and to such instructions as may from time to time be given in that behalf by her Majesty, her heirs, or successors, that he assents to such bill in her Majesty's name, or that he withholds her Majesty's assent, or that he reserves such bill for the signification of her Majesty's .pleasure thereon. XXXVIII. Whenever any bill affecting any imperial subject which shall have been presented for her Majesty's assent to the Governor of the said colony, shall by such Governor have been assented to in her Majesty's name, the Governor shall by the first convenient opportunity transmit to one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, an authentic copy of such bill so assented to; and it shall be lawful at any time, within one year after such bill shall have been so received by the secretary of state, for her Majesty by order in Council, to declare her disallowance of such bill, and such disallowance, together with a certificate under the hand and seal of the secretary of state, certifying the day on which such bill was received as aforesaid, being signified by the Governor to the Legislative Council of the said colony, by speech or message to the said Council, or by proclamation in the New South Wales Government Gazette, shall make void and annul the same from and after the day of such signification. XXXIX. No bill which shall be so reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure thereon, shall have any force or authority within the said colony until the Governor shall signify either by speech or message to said Legisiative Council and Assembly, or by proclamation, that such bill has been laid before her Majesty in Council, and that her Majesty has been pleased to assent to the said bill, and an entry shall be made in the journal of the said Legislative Council and Assembly of every such speech, message, or proclamation, and a duplicate thereof, duly attested, shall be delivered to the registrar of the Supreme Court, or other proper officer, to be kept among the records of the said colony; and no bill which shall be so reserved as aforesaid, shall have any force or authority in the said colony unless her Majesty's assent thereto shall have been so signified as aforesaid, within the space of one year from the day on which such bill shall have been pre sented for her Majesty's assent to the Governor as aforesaid. XL. Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained the legislature of the said colony as constructed by this act shall have full power and authority from time to time, by any act or acts, to alter the provisions or laws for the time being in force under this act or otherwise, and to repeal any act or acts of the Imperial Parliament which it may be necessary to repeal in order to give effect to any such act or acts for altering the provisions or laws for the time being in force under this act or otherwise concerning the Legislative Council, the nomination or election of another Legislative Council, or of a separate Legislative House, to consist respectively of such members to be appointed or elected respectively by such person or persons, and in such manner as by such act or acts shall be determined, and to vest in such new Council and the Legislative Assembly for the time being, or in such other Legislative House, the powers and functions of the Parliament of this colony for which such Legislative House may be substituted: provided always that it shall not be lawful to present to the Governor of the said colony, for her Majesty's assent, any bill of the Parliament of the said colony by which any such alteration in the constitution of the said colony may be made, unless the second and third reading of such bill shall have been passed with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members for the time being of the said Legislative Council and of the said Legislative Assembly respectively: provided also that every bill which shall be so passed for any of such purposes, shall be reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure thereon, and a copy of such bill shall be laid before both houses of the Imperial Parliament for the period of thirty days at the least before her Majesty's pleasure thereon shall be signified. XLI. It shall be lawful for her Majesty, with the advice of her Privý Council, or under her Majesty's signet and sign manual, through one of her principal Secretaries of State, from time | said colony, shall remain and continue to be of the same force, authority, and effect, as if this Act had not been made, except in so far as the same are repealed or varied by this Act, or in so far as the same shall or may hereafter by virtue and under the authority of this Act be repealed or varied by any Act or Acts of the Legislature of the said colony. to time to convey to the Governor of New South Wales such instructions as to her Majesty shall seem meet for the guidance of such Governor in the exercise of the powers hereby vested in him of assenting to or dissenting from, or for reserving for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, bills to be passed by the said Legislative Council and Assembly, affecting any imperial subject, and so that such instructions do not in any way fetter the Governor's discretion in giving or refusing her Majesty's assent to bills of mere local or municipal con cernment. XLII. The appointment to all public offices in the colony hereafter to become vacant or to be created (other than Corporate Offices) whether such offices be salaried or not, shall be vested in the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council. XLIII. The commissions of the present Judges of the Supreme Court of the said colony, and of all future Judges thereof, shall be, continue, and remain in full force during their good behaviour, notwithstanding the demise of her Majesty, (whom God long preserve) or of her heirs and successors, any law, usage, or practice to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. XLIV. It shall be lawful, nevertheless, for her Majesty, her heirs and successors, to remove any such Judge or Judges upon the address of both houses of Parliament. upon XLV. Such salaries as are settled the Judges for the time being by Act of Parliament, or otherwise, and also such salaries as shall or may be in future granted by her Majesty, her heirs, and successors, or otherwise, to any future Judge or Judges of the said Supreme Court, shall in all time coming be paid and payable to every such Judge and Judges for the time being, so long as the patents or commissions of them or any of them, respectively, shall continue and remain in force. XLVI. All laws, statutes, and ordinances which, at the time of the passing of this Act, shall be in force within the XLVII. All the courts of civil aud criminal jurisdiction within the said colony, and all charters, legal commissions, powers, and authorities, and all officers, judicial, administrative, or ministerial, within the said colony respectively, except in so far as the same may be abolished, altered, or varied by or may be inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, or shall be abolished, altered, or varied by any Act or Acts of the Legislature of the colony, shall continue to subsist in the same form and with the same effect as if this Act had not been made. XLVIII. And whereas the Legislatures of the said colony have from time to time passed enactments which were to continue in force for a certain number of years after the passing thereof, and from thence to the end of the then next which the same were passed, whenever ensuing session of the Legislature, in the words "and from thence to the end Legislature," or words to the same effect, of the then next ensuing session of the have been used in any such temporary Act, which shall not have expired before the passing of this Act, the said words shall be construed to extend and apply to the next session of the Legislature, to be constituted under this Act. XLIX. It shall not be lawful for the Legislature of the colony of New South Wales to levy any duty upon articles imported bona fide for the supply of her Majesty's land or sea forces, nor to levy any duty, impose any prohibition or restriction, or grant any exemption from any drawback or other privilege upon the importation or exportation of any articles, nor to enforce any dues or charges upon shipping contrary to or at variance with any treaty or treaties con |