Notes on the ADELAIDE AND VICINITY xix Constitution nf South Austraha » ^ » aia. And who have, in addition, either one or more of the following qualifications : — (a) A freehold estate in possession either legal or equitable situate within the Province of the clear value of ^50 sterling money above all charges and encumbrances affecting the same. (i) A leasehold estate in possession situate within the Province of the clear annual value of ^20, the lease thereof having been registered in the General Registry Office for the registration of deeds, and having three years to run at the time of voting, or containing a clause entitling the lessee to become the purchaser of the land thereby demised. (c) Occupy a dwelling-house of the clear annual value of £2^ sterling. (a) As to qualification (a), it may be mentioned that no trustee is entitled to vote in respect of land held by him as trustee ; the beneficiaries equitably entitled to such land can claim to vote, provided they are entided " in possession " ; that is to say, are entided to be paid the rents or profits by the trustee. No person having a contingent interest or entitled in remainder has any electoral right under (a). (b) As one of the elements of this qualification (5) is the " clear annual value of the leasehold estate," the question arises, the annual value to whom. To the landlord or to the tenant ? If to the tenant, then inasmuch as the less rent the tenant pays the greater value the " leasehold estate " is to him, it would follow that if two properties of equal value were leased at different rents, the tenant who paid least rent might have a vote, and he who paid most have no vote; or, if a tenant paid ^1,000 per annum rent, and could not make the rent out of the premises leased, he would have no vote, because the leasehold estate would have no value to him ; various other absurdities might be pointed out to which this construction would lead. On the other hand, it seems anomalous to give a tenant a vote in respect of the value of his "leasehold estate" to someone else — the landlord ; yet this has been decided to be the true meaning of similar words in the English Reform Act (Colville z'. Wood and others). The value of the leasehold estate to the landlord is practically the rent, so that in effect the rental must not be less than ^20 per annum. It must be noted the lessee must be in possession of the land, and the lease must have been registered and have three years to run, or the lessee must have a right of purchase. The alternative o?' only refers to the length of the lease, so that a lessee who has a right of purchase must also have a registered lease, and the annual value of the leasehold estate must be over ^20. ■ (c) As to qualification (r), the only qualification necessary is to occupy a dwelling- house of the annual value of ^25. No rent need be specified in the lease or paid; in fact, there need be no lease ; the occupier of a dwelling-house of the annual value of ^25 can claim to vote simply because he occupies. ■ No occupier (who is not also owner) of a shop, a store, farm, or vacant land, etc., can claim to vote because of such occupation. He may be entitled because he is the owner under («), or registered lessee under (/;) ; but he cannot claim as an occupier. The Constitution Act itself granted the franchise for the Legislative Council to males alone. It has since been extended to females possessing the specified qualifications. At the first election in 1857 there were 10,092 registered voters out of a population of 109,917; at the last election in 1897 there were 45,814 registered voters out of a population of 355,286. By the Constitution Act itself the Governor has no power to dissolve the Legislative Council ; that is, to prevent the members from holding their .seats for the full term of nine
