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SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Constitution and Government.
The constitution of South Australia bears date October 27, 1856. It vests the legislative power in a Parliament elected by the people. The Parliament consists of a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly. The former is composed of eighteen members, six of whom retire every four years, their successors being then elected for twelve years. The executive has no power to dissolve this body. It is elected by the whole colony voting as one district. The qualifications of an elector to the Legislative Council are that he must be twenty-one years of age, a natural-born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, and have been on the electoral roll six months, besides having a freehold of 50/. value, or a leasehold of 20/. annual value, or occupying a dwelling-house of 25/. annual value. The qualification for a member of Council is merely that he must be thirty years of age, a natural-born or natural- ised subject, and a resident in the province for three years. The President of the Council is elected by the members.
The House of Assembly consists of thirty-six members, elected for three years by seventeen districts, but liable to dissolution by the executive. The sole qualification for an elector is that of having been on the electoral roll for six months, and of having arrived at twenty-one years of age ; and the qualification for a member is the same. The Speaker of the House of Assembly is chosen by the mem- bers of a new House on its first meeting. Judges and ministers of religion are ineligible for election as members, as well as aliens who have not resided five years in the colony. The elections of members of both Houses take place by ballot.
The executive is vested in a governor appointed by the Crown and a responsible Executive Council, the members of which must have been elected deputies of either of the two Houses of Parliament.
Governor of South Australia. — Sir James Fergusson, born 1882, eldest son of Sir J. Fergusson, Bart. ; educated at University College, Oxford ; entered the army, and served as captain in the Grenadier Guards during the Crimean War ; M.P. for Ayrshire, 1854-57, and again 1859-68 ; appointed Governor of South Australia, Sept. 1868.
The governor, who is at the same time commander-in-chief of all the troops, has a salary of 4,000/. per annum. The Cabinet, or Exe- cutive Council, of which he is the president, consists of five members, called the Chief Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and the Commissioner of Public Works. The Chief Secretary has a salary of 1,300/. per annum, and each of the other members of the cabinet fcSOO/. The
