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IY. AUSTRALASIA.

3TEW SOUTH WALES.

Constitution and Government.

The constitution of New South Wales, the oldest of the Austra- lasian colonies, was proclaimed in 1855. It vests the legislative power in a Parliament of two Houses, the first called the Legislative Council, and the second the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council consists of not less than twenty-one members nominated by the Crown, and the Assembly of seventy-two members, elected in as many constituencies. To be eligible, a man must be of age, a natural-born subject of the Queen, or, if an alien, then he must have been natiiralised for five years, and resident for two years before election. There is no property qualification for electors, and the votes are taken by secret ballot. The executive is in the hands of a governor nominated by the Crown.

Governor of New South Wales. — Earl of Belmore, born 1835, the eldest son of the third Earl of Belmore, in the peerage of Ireland ; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated M.A. 1856 ; elected Representative Peer of Ireland, 1857; Under- Secretary of State for the Home Department, July 1866 to August 1867 ; appointed Governor of New South Wales, August 19, 1867; assumed government January 8, 1868.

The governor, by the terms of his commission, is commander-in- chief of all the troops in the colony. He has a salary of 7,000/. In the exercise of the executive he is assisted by a Cabinet of seven ministers, called respective!}', the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, the Secretary for Public Works, the Secretary for Lands, the Solicitor-General, the Postmaster-General, and the Representa- tive of Government in the Legislative Council. The Colonial Secretary has a salary of 2,000/., and the other ministers of 1,500/., 1,000/., and 900/., with the exception of the last-named member of the Cabinet, who has no allowance. The Cabinet is responsible for its acts to the Legislative Assembly. The statute laws of Great Britain are in force throughout New South Wales.