The difficult position of Dominion or State Governors is discussed
by Professor A. B. Keith of Edinburgh in an important letter appearing in Tuesday's Times. Professor Keith, who speaks with authority on the Constitutional law of the Dominions, points out that while hero the King invariably accepts the advice of his Ministers, Governors in the Dominions act on the older theory that the Governor's duty is to guard the Constitution and protect the people against tho possible misuse of power by a Ministry. This theory, obsolete in Great Britain, is responsible for the difficulties that have arisen in recent years between able Governors like Lord Chelmsford, Lord Carmichael, and, mere recently, Sir Gerald Strickland, and their Ministers. Professor Keith urges that Governors should henceforth follow the British rule and invariably act on their Ministers' advice, regardless of precedents or of local controversy. We agree. The Governments of the Dominions need leading-strings no more than we do here. In tho last resort the people must exercise the only veto that is tolerable.
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