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RIGHT OF APPEAL TO THU'PRIVY
COUNCIL.
To the Editor of "The Mercury." I
Sir, Hitherto I have refrained from
taking part, except privately, in the controversy
as to the amendments with regard
to the right of appeal, which have
been proposed to be made in the Commonwealth
Bill in its passage through
the Imperial Parliament. But the question
is now assuming some phases which
denote, possibly, serious danger to the
cause of federation, or, at least, very considerable
delay in the consummation of
the complete union of the five continental
colonies and Tasmania. In the absence
of any correction or amplification, I presume
we may take the wording of the so
called "compromise" as cabled to th%ri
Premier of Queensland by the Hon. Mr.
Dickson as correct. At all events, I observe
that "The Argus" and other leading
newspapers have commented upon the
telegram as representing the exact words
proposed to be introduced as an amendment
of clause 74. To some learned
gentlemen of the legal profession it may
be regarded as presumption on my part
to criticise the wording of the proposed
clause, but I do not hesitate to say that
the words fire ill-chosen, and the intention
is extremely ambiguous. I notice
that in "The Argus" of last Tuesday Sir
George Turner is reported to have expressed
a similar opinion. Sir George
gooD so for as to say that he cannot be
lieve it possible that it was intended that
the right of appeal by private persons was
intended to be subject to the permission of
any Executive, either Federal or State
Executive, hut that only questions aris-
ing as to the interpretation of the
Federal Constitution or the Constitution
of any State, were to be subject to such
permission, and he very plainly indicated
that if his interpretation is not the correct
one, he would very strongly object
to the compromise
I think Mr. Barton, and other so-called
delegates (delegates from whom) have
a very gravely misinterpreted the views
and sentiments of a very large majority
of those electors of Australia who are
capable of understanding the question,
when they have represented them as
likely to oppose the modification first
suggested by Mr. Chamberlain. I feel
convinced that, if it were possible to obtain
an intelligent vote on the question,
the very reverse would be found to be the
opinion of a large majority.
In addition to objections to the com-
promise" itself, we have to deal with the
very serious complication likely to arise
in Queensland, whose Premier has announced
that, if the compromise ' is
agreed to, the representative of Queensland
in London will be instructed to endeavour
to have inserted in the covering
clauses a proviso that the Commonwealth
Act shall not be regarded as accepted
by Queensland except upon a joint
resolution of both Houses of the Queensland
Parham out.
In view of those, and other considerations,
the enumeration of which would
unduly extend the length of this communication,
I have suggested to the Hon.
the Premier that it may be well for him
to invite the Tasmanian delegates to the
late Convention to an informal meeting,
in order to consider whether some definite
instructions should be forwarded
to the Agent-General on the subject, and
if so, what those instructions should be.
As this is not an Executive matter, but
one in which every member of the community
is equally and deeply interested,
it seems reasonable that those who have
gone through all the discussions on this
important subject, which took place in
the three meetings of the Convention,
should be asked to said so far as they
can-in ascertaining what is the real and
intelligent opinion as to the wisest course
to pursue in this matter. The Commonwealth
Bill is not to be again discussed
in the House of Commons until the 18th
Inst., so that there is ample time for the
informal meeting that I have suggested,
and for a cablegram to be sent to the
Agent-General. Even if the result of
the meeting should be a decision that we
must now leave the question without any
further interference, it will be well that
such a decision shall mile he arrived at
after careful deliberation -
-Yours, etc..
NICHOLAS T. BROWN.
Hobart, June 8, 1900.
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