The House of Commons, on Friday week, decided by a
majority of 180 to 11 that Sir Bryan O'Loghlen's acceptance of the Attorney-Generalship of Victoria vacated the seat for Clare,—a vote the more to be regretted, because in form the division was taken on a proposal of Sir Julian Goldsmid to settle the whole question by Bill. It is only by the most rigid and formal interpretation of the Statutes that they can be made to cover the case, which could have been easily settled by the expulsion of the individual Member ; and the vote -endangers the right of every Member to hold office as agent for a Colony. Until the law is modified, therefore, the House has impeded the working of a system which, as Mr. Forster pointed out, in a most statesmanlike though brief speech, provides an in- direct but unobjectionable method of representation for the Colonies. They are beginning to want such representation more and more. There has not been even a discussion in Par- liament on the prayer of Victoria for an alteration in her Con- stitution, or on the serious question, the separate right of the Governor-General, as the Sovereign's representative, to dismiss Lieutenant-Governors, which is now rising in Canada. No one speaks on behalf of the Colonies with authority, except the Secre- tary for the Colonies, who needs the benefit of Parliamentary criticism as much as any other head of a department, and would find half his difficulties made easier if he could confer in the House with a Member having almost the position of a Plenipo- tentiary.
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