was formed by Mr. B. T. Finnis, Chief Secretary, and his colleagues were Mr. R. D. Hanson, Attorney-General; Colonel R. R. Torrens, Treasurer; Mr. C. Bonney, Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration; and Captain A. H. Freeling, Commissioner of Public Works, succeeded by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Samuel Davenport. Mr. James Hurtle Fisher was appointed President of the Council; and Mr. George Strickland Kingston first Speaker of the House of Assembly.

RELATIONS OF THE TWO HOUSES.-In 1857, a dispute arose between the two Houses of the South Australian Parliament as to their respective powers in dealing with Money Bills. A Bill to repeal certain duties of tonnage was passed by the Assembly and sent to the Council. The Council amended it as it would an ordinary Bill. The Bill as amended was sent back to the Assembly, which raised a question of privilege. The Assembly contended that the Council had no right to modify any Money Bill, but that it could only either pass or reject such a Bill. The Council replied that it had an undoubted right to amend all Bills whatsoever sent up to it by the Assembly. The dispute was eventually settled by a compromise, commonly called "the Compact of 1857," which was adopted by resolutions of both Houses. This "Compact" defines those Bills, which the Council cannot amend in the ordinary way, as being "all Bills the object of which shall be to raise money, whether by way of loan or otherwise, or to warrant the expenditure of any portion of the same," and provides that it shall be competent for the Council to suggest any alteration in any such Bills, except that portion of the Appropriation Bill which provides for the ordinary annual expenses of the Govern

ment."

In 1881, an Act to amend the Constitution of South Australia (No. 236) was passed, which provided that "Whenever any Bill for any Act shall have been passed by the House of Assembly during any session of Parliament, and the same Bill, or a similar Bill with substantially the same objects and having the same title, shall have been passed by the House of Assembly during the next ensuing Parliament, a general election of the House of Assembly having taken place between such two Parliaments, the second and third reading of such Bill having been passed in the second instance by an absolute majority of the whole number of members of the said House of Assembly, and both such Bills shall have been rejected by, or fail to become law in consequence of any amendments made therein by the Legislative Council, it shall be lawful for, but not obligatory upon, the Governor of the said province, by proclamation to be published in the Government Gazette, to dissolve the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, and thereupon all members of both Houses of Parliament shall vacate their seats, and members shall be elected to supply the vacancies so created; or for the Governor to issue writs for the election of one, or not more than two, new members for each district of the Legislative Council: Provided always that no vacancy, whether by death, resignation, or any other cause, shall be filled up while the total number of members shall be 24 or more ;" and that "in the event of the Council being dissolved, six members shall be elected for each of the said districts, and the names of such members shall

be placed on the roll of members for the said districts in the order provided for in Section 12 of this Act, and thereafter the several periodical retirements of members referred to in Sections 8 and 13 of this Act shall date from the day of their election." Hitherto no double dissolution has taken place under this section.

REFORMS. By the Constitution Amendment Act, 1894 (No. 613, assented to in 1895), the South Australian Parliament granted to women possessing the necessary qualification the right to vote for members of both Houses of Parliament.

The Legislative Council of South Australia at present is com. posed of 24 members who are theoretically elected for nine years. Every three years eight members whose names stand first on the roll retire and are eligible for re-election. The qualifications of members of the Council are: male; 30 years; natural-born or naturalized subjects; resident in the Province for three years if natural-born, and five years if naturalized; no property qualification. The qualifications of electors for the Council are: adults; natural-born or naturalized subjects; ownership of freehold property of the clear value of £50; or ownership of leasehold estate of the clear annual value of £20; or occupation of a dwelling house of the clear annual value of £25. The Assembly consists of 54 members, elected for a period of three years, subject to be sooner dissolved by the Governor. They, well as members of the Council, are entitled to £200 per year each for their services. Manhood suffrage for Assembly elections was adopted in 1856; and in 1895 the franchise was extended to women. Under the Electoral Code, 1896, all British subjects of the age of 21 years, inhabitants of South Australia, who have been registered upon any Assembly roll for six months, may vote for members of the Assembly. There is no plural voting; and provision is made for absent electors to poll their votes.

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(5) WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

FIRST STATUTORY AUTHORITY.-During the French scare of 1826, when the French were suspected of designs to annex unoccupied portions of the Australian continent, Governor Ralph Darling despatched from Sydney a detachment of the 39th Regiment with a number of convicts, in all seventy-five persons, in command of Major Lockyer, to occupy King George's Sound, with a view to taking possession of the western part of the continent. In 1827-8, Captain James Stirling, in H.M.S. Success, surveyed the coast from King George's Sound to Swan River, and being favourably impressed with its suitability for settlement, he recommended the formation of a colony there. In 1829, Captain Fremantle, in H.M.S. Challenger, was sent to do pioneering work; he hoisted the British flag on a spot near the mouth of Swan River, which now bears his name. 1st June, 1829, Captain (afterwards Sir) James Stirling arrived at Swan River in the Parmelia, with 800 intending settlers, from which date the history of the colony commences. Captain Stirling was the first Lieutenant-Governor, and the officials associated with him were:

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Mr. Peter Brown, Colonial Secretary; Lieutenant J. S. Rowe, R.N., Surveyor; Mr. C. Sutherland, Assistant-Surveyor; Mr. H. Morgan, Storekeeper; Mr. W. Shilton, Clerk to the Secretary; Mr. J. Drummond, Agriculturist; and the Rev. J. B. Wittenoom, first colonial Chaplain.

In the same year the first Imperial Act applicable to Western Australia was passed, viz., 10 Geo. IV. c. 22. It was intituled "An Act to provide until the 31st day of December, 1834, for the government of His Majesty's settlements in Western Australia, on the western coast of New Holland." It will be noticed that the name "Australia," first suggested for the continent in 1814 by Matthew Flinders, is here used and for the first time sanctioned by an Imperial Act. See p. 33, supra. By that Act the King, with the advice of the Privy Council, was empowered to make, ordain, and to authorize any three or more persons resident within the settlements, to make, ordain, and constitute laws, institutions, and ordinances for the peace, order, and good government of His Majesty's subjects and others within the settlements.

In 1831 Captain Stirling was appointed "Governor and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's settlements on the west coast of Australia," and, by letters patent, Vice-Admiral, with authority from Cape Londonderry (lat. 13° 44′ S.) to West Cape Howe, in lat. 35° 8' S., and from Dirk Hartog Island (long. 112° 52′ E.) to long. 129° E. He was authorized to appoint an Executive Council, to provide for the defence of the colony, to institute local government and dispose of the land according to British law. The members of the first Council were-Colonial Secretary and Military Commander, Captain Irwin; Surveyor-General and Advocate-General, Mr. G. F. Moore: Commissioner of Civil Courts and Chairman of Sessions, Mr. W. H. Mackie; Resident Magistrates, Mr. G. Leake, Mr. H. Whitfield, Colonel J. Molloy, and Sir R. Spenser. Under the Act of George IV., a Legislative Council was formed consisting of members of the Executive Council and two nominated members, the Governor being President and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Luke S. Leake Speaker. In 1839 Mr. John Hutt succeeded Captain Stirling as Governor. For fifty years the history of the colony was uneventful except for the explorations of Major Warburton, Mr. Ernest Giles, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John

Forrest.

A REPRESENTATIVE LEGISLATURE.-By the Act 13 and 14 Vic. c. 59 (5th August, 1850) sec. 9, it was enacted "that upon the presentation of a petition signed by not less than one-third in number of the householders within the colony of Western Australia, praying that a Legislative Council according to the provisions of this Act be established within such colony, and that provision be made for charging upon the revenue of such colony all such part of the expenses of the civil establishment thereof as may have been previously defrayed by Parliamentary grants, it shall be lawful for the persons authorized and empowered to make, ordain, and establish laws or ordinances for the government of the said colony, by any law or ordinance to be made for that purpose, subject to the conditions and restrictions to which laws or ordinances made by such persons are now subject, to establish

a Legislative Council within such colony, to consist of such number of members as they shall think fit, and such number of the members of such Council as is equal to one-third part of the whole number of members of such Council, or, if such number be not exactly divisible by three, one-third of the next greater number which is divisible by three, shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and the remaining members of the Council shall be elected by the inhabitants of the said colony." Under this Act Western Australia, in 1870, was granted a Legislative Council consisting of 26 members, nine of whom were nominated and 17 were elected.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT SOUGHT.-Three years after the grant of this instalment of Representative Institutions a movement was commenced in Western Australia in favour of Responsible Government as it existed in the Eastern colonies. Earl Kimberley, in reply to the first application, said: "Her Majesty's Government would not be disposed to resist any widespread and sustained desire which might prevail in the colony for Responsible Government." In 1874 a draft of a Constitution Bill was sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who, however, decided that the colony was not yet ready for the change. On 9th April, 1884, the Governor, Sir Napier Broome, reported that though he saw no valid reason for withholding free institutions from the colony, after its inhabitants should have expressed a general and decided wish to take upon themselves the burden and responsibility of that form of government, he was strongly of opinion that, until such a wish was expressed, which certainly it had not been as yet, it would be a mistake to make such a great and irretrievable change. He also said that Western Australia must be separated into two parts, and that the northern portion, above the 26th degree of latitude, should remain for the present a Crown colony. On 6th July, 1887, the Legislative Council of Western Australia (1) affirmed the desirability of the concession of self-government, but (2) protested against the division of the colony. On 12th July, 1887, the Governor reported that having carefully considered the whole matter, he strongly supported both the first and second of the resolutions, and gave his reasons why he had changed his opinion in respect to the suggested division of the colony in his despatch of three years previous, but added that it was only a matter of time when Western Australia would be separated into two or more colonies.

In a despatch, dated December, 1887, the Secretary of State intimated that Her Majesty's Government favoured the view that, in any new constitutional scheme, the colony should be divided at about latitude 26° (or in the neighbourhood of the Murchison River); that it should be lawful for the legislature of Western Australia to regulate, by Act passed in the usual way, the sale, letting, and other disposal of the waste lands of the Crown south of that line, and the disposal of proceeds arising therefrom; and that all the regulations affecting the sale, letting, disposal and occupation of waste lands of the Crown in the territory north of that line should remain under the control of Her Majesty's Government, the proceeds of all land sales being invested at interest, to form a fund of which the principal would be reserved for the benefit of any colony or colonies, which

might thereafter be created in such northern territory, except so far as it might from time to time be expended for the special advancement of the district in which it was raised.

PREPARATION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION.-In 1889, the Legislative Council was dissolved and a general election took place, the principal question being the introduction of Responsible Government. The new Council passed a resolution, without dissent, in favour of the proposed change. A new Constitution was then drafted by the Council. It provided for the creation of a bi-cameral legislature, composed of an elective Upper House of 15 members, and an elective Lower House of 30 members. To this legislature it was proposed to give powers and functions similar to those vested in the legislatures of the eastern colonies, including the disposition of the waste lands of the Crown. It was further provided that, notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, Her Majesty might divide the colony of Western Australia by separating therefrom any portion thereof, and either erect the same or any part thereof into a separate colony or colonies, or subdivide any colony so erected, or re-unite to the colony of Western Australia any part of any colony so created. The sum of £5,000 per year was appropriated for the benefit of the aboriginal natives within the colony, to be expended in providing them with food and clothing and in promoting their education. Pensions were provided for Sir Malcolm Fraser, Colonial Secretary; Mr. Charles N. Warton, AttorneyGeneral; Mr. A. O'Grady Lefroy, Colonial Treasurer; and Mr. John Forrest, Surveyor-General and Commissioner of Crown Lands, upon their retirement from office on political grounds.

The Bill was forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who, on 31st August, 1888, returned it with suggested amendmentsthe principal being that the members of the Council should be nominated, instead of elected. The Legislative Council agreed to accept the proposed amendments, subject to the provision that after the expiration of six years, or as soon as the colony acquired a population of 60,000, the Upper House should be constituted by election, instead of nomination. The Bill was passed and reserved on 29th April, 1889. This compromise was accepted by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Knutsford, and on 11th July, 1889, he moved the second reading of a Bill to enable Her Majesty to assent to a Bill for conferring a Constitution on Western Australia. One of the grounds suggested, as justifying the change, was that it was desirable that all the colonies on the Australian continent should, as soon as practicable, be placed on the same footing. Until there was uniformity of government, there could be little chance of any system of federation, to which he looked forward as a change which would largely tend to increase the wealth and strength of the colonies. The Bill was passed by the House of Lords, but it encountered strong opposition in the House of Commons, where the principal objection raised was the inadvisability of handing over such a vast area of country, viz., 978,000 square miles, to a Government responsible to only a small population, not exceeding 40,000 inhabitants. On the 26th August the Bill was withdrawn.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.-In the next session of Parliament,