ACTS NOT SANCTIONED. 153 For those reasons, the colonial minister did not advise Her Majesty to sanction the two acts which had been for¬ warded, and which were, of course, intended to render the award obligatory on all who had consented to the reference. The report of the commissioners was therefore regarded by the homo government simply as an expression of opinion which was not binding, and which ought not to be allowed to stand in the way of any other proposal which promised an amicable settlement of the question.