The British government continued not to appoint high commissioners to the Dominions , holding that the British government was already represented by the relevant governor-general or governor . This arrangement began to create problems after the First World War with Dominions expecting a greater degree of control over their external and foreign affairs and beginning to challenge the constitutional role of their governors-general . In Canada , matters came to a head during the King – Byng affair of 1926 , when the governor-general refused the advice of the Canadian prime minister to dissolve parliament and call elections , as would normally apply under the Westminster system . The incident led to the Balfour Declaration made at the Imperial Conference of 1926 that established that governors-general in the independent Dominions were not the representatives of the United Kingdom government but the personal representatives of the monarch . In 1930 , Australia broke another tradition by insisting that the monarch act on the advice of the Australian prime minister in the appointment of the governor-general , and insisted on the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs , the first Australian-born person to serve in the office . The practice became the norm throughout the Commonwealth . The first British high commissioner to a dominion was appointed in 1928 to Canada . South Africa received a British high commissioner in 1930 ; Australia in 1936 ; and New Zealand in 1939
Imperial Conference of 1926
1926 Imperial Conference
High commissioner (Commonwealth)