sent to the Secretary of State and the members of the Privy Council.1 Another element of hostility had been introduced by the new member for Melbourne, Mr. Westgarth, who on the 15th April moved that an Address should be presented to the Governor for "all evidence, correspondence, and other documents, explanatory of the principles acted upon in determining the boundary, as at present fixed, between the Sydney and Port Phillip Districts, now to be constituted the Colonies of New South Wales and Victoria respectively." But this motion was lost.2 In spite of these evidences of discontent, the Legislative Council performed the task allotted to it. Four of the five statutes of the session provide the necessary machinery for setting the constitution in motion, and three of them specially concern Victoria. mother colony. The fourth was a new Electoral Act for the The 14 Vic. No. 45 (N. S. W.) provides in effect that all justices of the peace and other officials holding office or commonly resident within the Port Phillip District at the passing of the Act shall continue to act as though the Separation Statute had not been passed, until removed or re-appointed by the Government of Victoria. 3 The 14 Vic. No. 47 (N. S. W.) is the Victorian Electoral Act. It provides that the Legislative Council of Victoria shall consist of thirty members, ten nominee and twenty elective. The elective members are to represent sixteen electoral districts constituted as follows 1. Northern division of Bourke County. 2. Southern Bourke County, and Counties Evelyn and Mornington. 3. County Grant. 4. Counties Normanby, Dundas, and Follett. 5. 6. 7. Villiers and Heytesbury. Ripon, Hampden, Grenville, and Polwarth. 8. Pastoral district of Gipps Land. 1 V. and P. (N. S. W.), 1851 (Sess. i.), p. 31. 2 Ibid. 15th April. (The votes were 18 to 14.) 3 § 1. CHAP. XVI NEW CONSTITUENCIES IN VICTORIA 153 that part included in counties of Dalhousie, Bourke, Anglesey, Evelyn, Mornington, and Talbot). 11. Pastoral district of the Wimmera. 12. City of Melbourne. 13. Town of Geelong. 5 Kilmore, Kyneton, and Seymour.1 6 2 Amongst these constituencies the twenty members are to be distributed thus. Melbourne gets three, Northern Bourke and Geelong two each, and each other electorate one, the areas comprised within the towns having separate representation being excluded from the county franchise.3 In Melbourne and Geelong the mayors are to be returning officers, in other districts persons appointed by the Governor.1 Electoral lists are to be formed of persons entitled to vote under the franchise section of the 13 & 14 Vic. c. 59, by Collectors appointed by the mayors in Melbourne and Geelong, and by the chief constables in the other electoral districts, and these lists are to be kept by the town clerks and clerks of petty sessions open for public inspection. Revision Courts are to be held, in each ward of the towns by the alderman and assessors, and in the other electoral districts by the justices of the peace in Petty Sessions, and the revised lists are to be recorded and copies circulated." The writs for the first election are to be issued by the Governor of New South Wales; for subsequent general elections by the governor of Victoria, but for casual vacancies by the Speaker. 10 They are to be directed to the returning officers, who must hold polls, if necessary, on the demand of six electors, at which the voting is to be taken by signed papers." 11 (During the passage of the bill through the Council there had been three petitions from Port Phillip in favour of the ballot, but their suggestions were not adopted.) The names of the successful candidates are to be endorsed on the writs, and returned to the Clerk of the Legislative Council, and by him kept as evidence for five years.' 12 12 V. and P. (N. S. W.), 1851, Sess. i., 11th, 15th, and 29th April. 13 13 14 Vic. No. 47, §§ 44, 45. Clerk of which Legislative Council? The The Act prescribes substantial penalties for bribery, personation, and repetition.1 The Council may proceed to business when there are not more than three vacancies by non-return,2 and disputed returns are to be decided by a committee of seven members nominated (subject to the approval of the Council) by the Speaker at the beginning of each session, as "the Committee of Elections and Qualifications." 3 Cases are to be brought on by petition, signed by a candidate or alleged elector, and presented to the Governor, or (at a bye-election) the Speaker, within four weeks from the return complained of, and referred to the Committee. The Committee is to have large powers of summoning witnesses, inspecting documents, and awarding costs; and it may either declare simply upon the validity of an election, or report a special resolution to the Council. It will be noticed that this provision for the trial of election questions, which was adopted also in the contemporary New South Wales Electoral Act,® is a return to the principle of the Grenville Act. It hardly appears to be an improvement upon the plan of 1842. Finally, the Council passed the 14 Vic. (N. S. W.), No. 49, which provided that all laws and Government or other Public Regulations, especially laws imposing Customs and revenue duties, previously made for the colony of New South Wales, and then in force within the District of Port Phillip, should remain in force, after separation, in the new colony of Victoria, until altered by the Victorian legislature. Having made these preparations, the old Legislative Council was, on the 2d May, prorogued till the 1st July, and, on the 30th June, dissolved. On the following day, 1st July 1851, the writs for the first election to the Victorian legislature were issued,s and thereupon Victoria became a separate colony. So much for the changes in legislative machinery. We have now to notice the arrangements made by the executive. But before passing to these, we may turn aside for a moment to note an event which, though not of obvious con Victorian Council was not yet in existence, and therefore, presumably, could not have a clerk. 3 §§ 54-57. 4 S$ 64, 65. 2 § 53. 1 §§ 46-51. 7 V. and P. (N. S. W.), 1851, Sess. i. sub date. 8 G. G. (N. S. W.), 1851, 1st July. CHAP. XVI EXECUTIVE ARRANGEMENTS 155 stitutional importance, was practically to change the whole character of Australia, and with it the Victorian Constitution. The existence of precious metals in Australia had long been suspected, and the price of land had risen in consequence. But in the month of May 1851 the discovery of gold at Bathurst placed the matter beyond all question, and sent through the community an electric shock of such force as threatened to paralyse its members. The Governor took a firm stand at once, and by a proclamation of the 22d May 18511 claimed for the Crown the exclusive property in all gold, whether found in private or Crown land, and threatened prosecution against all who should attempt to take it without licence. At the same time the proclamation promised speedy regulations for the issue of licences. The promise was fulfilled on the very next day, when Regulations for Gold Licences, drawn up by the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, duly appeared.2 The details do not fall within our province, for the Regulations were re-issued by the separate government of Victoria upon the discovery of gold within the new colony, and it is doubtful if the New South Wales Regulations were ever deemed to be in force in Victoria. To return to more immediate topics. At the beginning of June arrived an important despatch containing the arrangements of the executive in contemplation of the ensuing changes. Lord Grey encloses the following documents— 1. Four Royal Commissions under the great seal, appointing Sir 2. The Instructions for carrying out each of these Commissions. [The Secretary of State also intended to include a commission to Sir Charles Fitz Roy, under the seal of the High Court of Admiralty, as vice-admiral of the four colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and Victoria; but at the last moment it was found that this document was not ready.] 1 Gov. Gazette (N. S. W.), 1851, 22d May. 2 Ibid. 23d May. 4. Three Commissions, under the Royal Sign-Manual, to the respective Lieutenant-Governors of Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and Victoria. The explanation of this somewhat embarrassing wealth of documents is given as follows. Sir Charles is to open immediately his Commissions as Governor of New South Wales and Governor-General, and the former, together with its appropriate Instructions and the Commission as Vice-Admiral of New South Wales, is to be deposited in the archives of that colony. The Commissions as Governor and Vice-Admiral of the other colonies, together with the appropriate Instructions, are to be transmitted to the respective Lieutenant-Governors, to be by them opened and deposited in the archives of their colonies. With these the Governor-General is to transmit the Commissions of the Lieutenant-Governors. The Commissions as Governor-General and Governor are not to be used to interrupt the ordinary course of administration in the other colonies, which will continue to be perfectly distinct from that of New South Wales, the Lieutenant-Governors corresponding directly with the Colonial Office. But the view of the Secretary of State is, that "the officer administering the government of the oldest and largest of those colonies should be provided with a general authority to superintend the initiation and foster the completion of such measures as those communities may deem calculated to promote their common welfare and prosperity." The Lieutenant-Governors, therefore, will be instructed to communicate on matters affecting common interest with the Governor-General, and to be guided by his judgment. Especially, the Secretary of State desires that no legislation shall be allowed which has for its object the creation of differences between the import duties of New South Wales and Victoria, without mutual communication. And if the Governor-General does deem it necessary to visit either of the three colonies, his authority will unquestionably supersede that of the Lieutenant-Governor for the time being. Earl Grey regards it as unlikely that Sir Charles will have occasion, under any circumstances, to visit Western Australia.1 In pursuance of these instructions Sir Charles Fitz Roy took 1 Copy of despatch in Gov. Gazette (N. S. W.), 1851, 7th June. |