minutes made by the officers through whose hands it has previously passed. The Secretary then forms his own decision, making a separate minute thereof, which either becomes the subject of a despatch in reply; or, if the matter is very important, the Secretary writes the despatch himself, or makes a brief minute, stating the sense in which it is to be answered, upon which a draft letter is prepared for his approval, which, having received his initials, is copied and forwarded to the colony. Thus everything is brought under the direct notice of the Colonial Secretary. It is of great consequence that the responsible head of a department should keep the reins of government in his own hands, and permit nothing important to be done without his knowledge and approval. The Colonial Secretary requires of his employés that the necessary work of the department shall be faithfully and punctually performed. Once a fortnight he receives a return of the business in arrear, from which he can see whether anything has been neglected. The duty of distributing the work among the subordinate clerks. rests entirely with the permanent Under-Secretary. The appointment of the officers and clerks of his own Patronage. office and in the office of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission is in the patronage of the Colonial Secretary, who has also the appointment of the queen's messengers, alternately with the other Secretaries of State.* The Colonial Land and Emigration Board. Emigration Board. This department is a subordinate branch of the office Land and of the Colonial Secretary. It is of comparatively recent establishment. The germ of it is to be found in a Commission appointed in 1831, by Lord Ripon, then Colonial Secretary, to enquire into the question of emigration. Of this commission Mr. Elliot was secretary, and after the Its duties. close of the enquiry, he was charged, as an officer of the colonial department, to conduct the correspondence connected with emigration. In 1837 he was named AgentGeneral for Emigration. In 1840, the first board was appointed, under its present title, consisting of Mr. Elliot and two other commissioners. In 1846, the duty of reporting on colonial laws, which had previously been performed at the Colonial Office, was transferred to the commissioners; and (a vacancy having occurred at the board) a legal member was appointed for this service. In 1847 the board was reorganised, and was specially charged: 1st. To consider all questions relating to colonial lands which may be referred to them by the Secretary of State, to report on claims to lands, draw up leases for minerals, and draft orders in council relating to land or emigration. As recent examples of these duties may be mentioned certain large claims of the Hudson Bay Company, the working of the coal mines at Labuan, the complex land dispute in Prince Edward Island, the mode of dealing with the Guano islands, &c. 2nd. To deal with all matters relating to the conveyance of emigrants to the various colonies of Great Britain, especially Australia. For this purpose they administer, and from time to time reconstruct the Passengers' Act, which regulates the emigration of the poorer classes, when conducted at their own cost. 3rd. To diffuse information respecting the British Colonies, in aid of the settlement thereof. 4th. To report on all colonial laws and ordinances referred to their consideration, especially such as relate to land or emigration. The duty of reporting on colonial land questions was formerly very onerous. But of late years, the management of the crown lands has been generally transferred to the colonial legislatures; so that the duties of the board in this respect are now considerably reduced. Emigration from the United Kingdom has also materially decreased of late years; but the commissioners have been charged with the administration of the Passengers' Act (18 and 19 Vict. c. 119, as amended by 26 and 27 Vict. c. 51), a duty which involves a considerable correspondence with the emigration officers at the several outports, and with all others engaged or interested in emigration. The commissioners have also to watch or conduct the immigration from India, Africa, and China into Mauritius and the West Indies; and in this connection to consider and report on the various schemes connected with its management, and on the laws by which the relations of masters and servants are governed in those colonies. The Board now consists of two permanent commissioners, the number having been reduced pursuant to the Report of the Commons' Committee on Public Offices, in 1853. All ordinary business is disposed of by the Board on their own responsibility, general directions, only, being received from the Colonial Secretary, who is consulted by the commissioners upon any difficult or important matter.' The commissioners report annually to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on emigration, colonial land questions, and whatever has come before them during the and their report is communicated to Parliament. In view of the consolidation and improvement of the Its protransport service (of troops, convicts, emigrants, stores, abolition. &c.), at present performed under the direction of various public departments, and the transference of the same to a new office, to be placed under the sole control of the Lords of the Admiralty, the abolition of the Emigration Board has been recommended. Should this recommendation be adopted, the transport of emigrants will devolve upon the new Transport Office, and the remaining functions of the Emigration Board will be transferred to the year, Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850. Evid. 1464. Rep. on Public Offices, 1854, vol. xxvii. PP. 293-306. posed Secretary for War. Colonial Office, to which they legitimately appertain." The government, however, have since expressed their decided objection to this proposal, so far as the abolition of the Emigration Board and the transference of its powers to other departments is concerned, being of opinion that the plan now in operation is satisfactory to all parties, and especially to the colonial interests." The Chairman of the Emigration Board receives 1,2007. a year, and the second Commissioner 1,000l. The staff of the office is but small.° The Secretary of State for War. This branch of the secretariat is of very recent origin, at least as a distinct and independent department. For obvious reasons, which have been already noticed in a previous chapter," the army has always been regarded with greater constitutional jealousy, in England, than the navy; and the command of the army has, by uninterrupted usage-until a comparatively recent period-been more immediately in the hands and under the control of the crown, than of its responsible advisers. As respects the navy, ever since the Act of 1690, authorising the placing of the office of Lord High Admiral in commission, the delegation of the royal authority in the government of the navy has been absolute and entire; and the responsibility for the administration thereof has, from the epoch of the Revolution, been considered as resting upon the First Lord of the Admiralty. But it was not until the commencement of the present century that the principle was fully conceded that the control of the army must be exercised by the crown through the medium of a responsible minister. m Rep. of Committee on Transport " Hans. Deb. vol. clxv. pp. 703, Papers, 1862, vol. xxxiv. p. 901. for mental re Until the recent change in the organisation of the War DepartDepartment, the direction and responsibility in military form. affairs, although formally centred in the administration for the time being, was practically divided between the Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Guards, the MasterGeneral, and the Board of Ordnance, the Secretary-atWar, and the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies." The working head of the War Office at this time was the Secretary-at-War, an officer of very subordinate position, who administered a portion of the affairs of the army at home, while the Colonial Secretary had the sole management of all troops directly they left the shores of England. The extensive Ordnance Departments were under a separate head, and the Commissariat was attached to the Treasury. The position of the Commander-in-Chief was anomalous and unsatisfactory. On the declaration of war against Russia, in 1854, the opinion which had for some time prevailed, that a more direct and efficient control should be exercised by the government in military affairs, led to the separation of the duties of War Minister from those of Colonial Secretary, and the appointment of a Secretary of State for War, in whose hands should be concentred the supreme and responsible authority over the whole military business of the country, heretofore transacted by various independent departments. This important change was effected by a See Cox, Inst. 708. For an account of the constitution and powers of the Board of Ordnance before its amalgamation with the office of Secretary of State for War, see Commons Papers, 1854, vol. xxvii. pp. 307-350. See a speech of Sir William Molesworth in the case of Lord Brudenell, in Mirror of Parl. 1836, p. 1306. A plan for the consolidation of the different departments connected with the civil administration of the army was recommended by a Royal Commission in 1837 (see Commons Papers, 1837, vol. xxxiv. pt. 1) but was not carried into effect, |