A Source Book of Australian History Part 21

+Source.+--Victorian Sessional Papers, 1877-8 Thirty Years of Colonial Government (Bowen), Vol. II, pp. 80-83, 114-119

Owing to the lack of the political traditions of the English Parliament friction was bound to rise between the Houses of the colonial Legislatures. A bill to provide temporarily for the payment of members had been pa.s.sed several times by the Victorian Parliament, but the Council was opposed to making a permanent provision for the purpose. In 1877 Sir Graham Berry tacked the measure to the annual appropriation bill, which was consequently rejected by the Council.

Memorandum to His Excellency the Governor.

The Premier on behalf of himself and his colleagues, respectfully advises the Governor to sign the message required by the 25th Clause of the Const.i.tution Act transmitting for the consideration of the Legislative a.s.sembly the accompanying additional estimates for the service of the year 1877-8.

His Excellency will observe that it has been thought right by his Responsible Advisers to include in these Additional Estimates provision for reimbursing members of the Legislative Council and the Legislative a.s.sembly their expenses in relation to their attendance in Parliament at the rate of 300 per annum each, from and after the present session of Parliament.

(Signed) Graham Berry, Treasurer.

21st Nov. 1877.

The Governor acknowledges the receipt of the Memorandum submitted to him by the Hon. the Premier on this day.

The Governor has in conformity with the advice of his Responsible Ministers signed the message submitted to him by them, transmitting for the consideration of the Legislative a.s.sembly additional or further estimates for the service of the year 1877-8.

(Signed) G.F. Bowen.

Government Offices, Melbourne.

_21st November 1877._

_January 12, 1878._

Address from the Legislative Council to His Excellency the Governor.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL AND ST. GEORGE, and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of Victoria and its Dependencies and Vice-Admiral of the same, etc.

May it please your Excellency,

We her Most Gracious Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the members of the Legislative Council of Victoria, in Parliament a.s.sembled beg leave to approach Your Excellency with renewed a.s.surances of unabated loyalty to Her Majesty's Throne and Person.

We desire to draw Your Excellency's attention to the answer given by the Hon. the Post-Master General during the sitting of the Council on the 1st instant to the question put by one of our members, viz.:--Whether it is the intention of the Ministry to afford this House the opportunity of considering the propriety of renewing or discontinuing the payment of members of Parliament by submitting the measure by Bill as heretofore.

The answer was as follows:--In reply to the Hon. Member the Cabinet desire me to state that it is unusual and inexpedient to state the intention of the Government otherwise than by the due presentation of business to Parliament; but in this instance there is an additional serious objection to the question of the hon. member. It deals with the appropriation of revenue which is the exclusive privilege of the Legislative a.s.sembly, and it is highly undesirable that the Legislative Council should interfere even by a question with appropriation, the initiation of which is by message from the Crown, on the advice of the responsible Ministers and is further controlled by the exclusive privileges of the a.s.sembly.

This being the opinion of Your Excellency's advisers, were we to continue silent it might with some show of reason be inferred that we were satisfied with the answer of the Government, and would accept their dictum as representing the true position of the matter as between the two Chambers.

We have thought it inc.u.mbent upon us to lay before Your Excellency the following circ.u.mstances connected with the question of payment of members:--In the session of 1860-1, a separate Bill for payment of members was introduced into the a.s.sembly, but was lost in the Council.

In the session 1861, Sir Henry Barkly, who was then Governor, was warned by the Legislative Council of the inevitable consequences of a sum being included in the annual Estimates of Expenditure for the compensation of members of Parliament, and the objectionable item was not included in the Estimates for the year when laid before the a.s.sembly that session.

On five subsequent occasions separate Bills for the same object have been sent up from the Legislative a.s.sembly, three of which were rejected, and the two last were pa.s.sed by the Legislative Council, but on both these occasions the princ.i.p.al supporters of the Bills distinctly stated that their votes were given on the understanding that the measures were to be tentative only, and limited in their duration.

The question at the present time is in exactly the same position as it was when originated in 1861, and is still in the region of experimental legislation. It is not a mere question of the appropriation of the public revenue, but of public policy upon which an uniform usage has been adopted in the colony, with the concurrence of both Houses, with the marked co-operation of Her Majesty's Representative in 1861.

The usage, moreover, is in strict conformity with the Royal Instructions which direct that "in the pa.s.sing of all laws each different matter must be provided for by a different law without intermixing such things as have no proper relation to each other, and that no clause or clauses be inserted in, or annexed to any Act which shall be foreign to what the t.i.tle of that Act imports."

We desire to inform Your Excellency that we claim the right to exercise the same free and deliberate vote on any Bill which may be submitted to us for providing compensation to members of Parliament as we have exercised on all previous occasions and we submit that the inclusion of a sum for that purpose in the Annual Appropriation Bill might make such procedure the instrument of enabling one branch of the Legislature to coerce the other.

GOVERNOR SIR G.F. BOWEN, G.C.M.G., TO THE EARL OF CARNARVON, RECEIVED 23RD JAN. 1878. Telegraphic.

_23rd Jan. 1878._

In consequence of the rejection of the annual Appropriation Bill by the Legislative Council, ministers have made large temporary reductions in the public expenditure to economise funds for Police Gaols, and protection of life and property to the latest possible moment, and that is about until next May. A number of civil servants and minor officers of the judicial department have necessarily been dispensed with temporarily, but sufficient provision has been made for the administration of Justice and maintenance of law and order. The Government will do nothing contrary to law or Imperial interests.

Full Reports by Mail.

TELEGRAMS FROM MELBOURNE

Melb. _14th Jan._

Appropriation Bill was rejected by Legislative Council consequent upon clause for payment of members being inserted. Government in Council dismissed at a moment's notice all County Court Judges, Police Magistrates, Wardens, Coroners, many Heads of Departments. Further sweeping changes announced. Great Alarm and Indignation. Trade disorganised.

_25th Jan._

No political change. Many more dismissals.

_30th Jan._

Eminent Counsel declare Acts of Sir George Bowen in closing Courts illegal. The country alarmed. Secretary of State urged to await letters by mail and not act on exparte statements.

To the Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bart, M.P.

Government House, Melb. _April 12th, 1878._

Sir,

On the 29th ultimo I forwarded to you a telegram announcing the happy termination, through a fair compromise honourable to both sides, of the protracted crisis and "deadlock" between the two Houses of Parliament, which had caused so much excitement and agitation, and so much suffering and loss in this community, and which was straining the const.i.tution of this Colony to a degree which it could not have endured for long.

Ever since December constant efforts have been made to induce the conflicting Houses to agree to an honourable compromise of their differences. Personally I omitted no proper opportunity of recommending mutual forbearance and mutual concessions. It was proposed on behalf of the Ministry and the a.s.sembly that the Council should agree to pa.s.s the separate Bill sent up to them in December, and that the a.s.sembly should simultaneously, or as nearly so as might be, appoint a Committee to search for the Appropriation Bill which had been "laid aside" and should then reenact that Bill without the item objected to by the Upper House.

The Ministers, a strong minority of the Councillors, the a.s.sembly, and the general public--all united in pressing the Council to accept this arrangement, but there were many disappointing delays and failures in the negotiations.

Finally, however, all difficulties were overcome, and both the separate Bill continuing the reimburs.e.m.e.nt of the expense of members and the annual Appropriation Act have become law.

General satisfaction has been felt and everywhere expressed at this termination of the late dangerous and disastrous parliamentary "deadlock," and the political and social animosities caused by it are already fast subsiding. The country is tranquil and generally prosperous. Before the commencement of the political crisis there had been a partial depression in trade and depreciation in the value of certain kinds of property, in consequence of a long drought succeeded by very heavy floods, and from other temporary causes. These evils had been aggravated by the sense of uncertainty rather than of insecurity produced by the fierce and protracted political and social agitation and antagonism of the last four months. But a young and strong community like that of Victoria, full of life and energy, and of that general good humour which flows from the habitual prosperity of all cla.s.ses, rapidly recovers from depression and discontent, however caused.

It has been very satisfactory to me to receive the a.s.surances that throughout the late financial deadlock, no public money has been expended except in due form of law, and in strict accordance with parliamentary usage. Those public works which had been legally provided for by Railway and Loan Acts, or otherwise, have been carried on without interruption; while by dint of strict economy and of the large retrenchments in the civil service effected by the Ministry, the administration of justice and of the several departments of the Government has proceeded regularly and without intermission.

In a speech delivered in last October before the actual beginning of the recent crisis, but in antic.i.p.ation of its near approach, I recommended the members of both Houses of Parliament and of both political parties to lay to heart the subjoined pa.s.sage in one of Mr. J.S. Mill's works:

"One of the most indispensable requisites in the practical conduct of politics, especially in the management of free inst.i.tutions, is conciliation, a readiness to compromise, a willingness to concede something to opponents, and to shape good measures so as to be as little offensive as possible to persons of opposite views, and of this salutary habit the mutual 'give and take' (as it has been called) between two Houses is a perpetual school; useful as such even now, and its utility would probably be more felt in a more democratic const.i.tution of the Legislature." Nor have I ever ceased to urge the adoption of such principles as those laid down by Mr. Merivale when he wrote "Moderation in success, self-denial in the exercise of power, habitual consideration for the opinions and feelings of others, readiness to compromise differences, love of justice and fair play, reluctance to push principles to extremes, the moral courage which will dare to stand up against a majority, the habit of constantly, and, as it were instinctively postponing self to the public interest, and this whether arising from moral choice or from the constraint imposed by public opinion; these are the balancing qualities which prevent the misuse of political freedom."