56 



AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 



Germany had 695 entries, including 108 fine- 

 art; Austria, 170; France, 350 industrial and 

 168 fine-art; Belgium, 236 industrial and 50 

 paintings; United States, 150 industrial collec- 

 tions. Among the best filled sections were 

 railway apparatus and material, steel and cut- 

 lery from Sheffield, guns and miscellaneous 

 manufactures from Birmingham, and Manches- 

 ter goods. 



The term of Sir George Bowen, the Gov- 

 ernor of Victoria, expired in 1878, and the 

 Marquis of Normanby was appointed in his 

 place. Lord Normanby had been previously 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, and Gov- 

 ernor of Queensland and New Zealand, and 

 his appointment was welcomed with great sat- 

 isfaction by the inhabitants of Victoria. The 

 dispute between the Legislative Council and 

 the Assembly terminated in the proposition, 

 made in the latter part of 1878, to send an 

 embassy from the Assembly to the Home Gov- 

 ernment, to represent to it the state of affairs 

 in the colony, and to ask its intervention. An 

 embassy of three was accordingly sent off, but 

 in February a dispatch from the Colonial Sec- 

 retary of Great Britain, Sir M. Hicks-Beach, 

 was published in Melbourne, expressing the 

 opinion that no sufficient reason had been 

 shown for the intervention of the Home Par- 

 liament. If, however, representatives of both 

 the Council and the Assembly would come to 

 England, every assistance would be rendered 

 them. An act was passed by the Assembly in 

 February, authorizing an International Exhibi- 

 tion, upon a somewhat extensive scale, at Mel- 

 bourne. The building is to cost 95,000, and 

 the exhibition will be opened on October 1, 

 1880, and closed on March 31, 1881. 



On February 21st the following notice was 

 issued by Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, acting Chief 

 Secretary : 



In consequence of the fabrication by, and the pub- 

 lication in, the "Argus" journal of false news, purport- 

 ing to be genuine and authoritative, concerning the 

 proceedings and discussions of the Cabinet, being 

 continuously persisted in for several weeks past, the 

 public are hereby cautioned against giving any cre- 

 dence to either those statements or any similar kind 

 of news for the future in that journal. The " Argus " 

 journal has been refused any official information of 

 the kind by the Acting Chief Secretary, who feels 

 justified in taking this course, as that journal has for 

 several months unpatriotically attempted to depre- 

 ciate the financial credit of Victoria. 



This action of the Government created con- 

 siderable excitement, and was severely de- 

 nounced as aiming at the subversion of the 

 liberty of the press. 



On May 3d Sir M. Hicks-Beach sent another 

 dispatch to the Government of Victoria, in 

 which, after referring to the arrival of the 

 Commission, headed by Mr. Berry, and to his 

 former dispatch, he continues as follows : 



The request urged by Mr. Berry in his letter of 

 February 26th. that Parliament should, " by a simple 

 alteration of the 60th section of the Constitutional 

 Act of Victoria, enable the Legislative Assembly to 

 enact in two distinct annual sessions, with a general 



election intervening, any measure for the reform of 

 the Constitution," is, in my opinion, even more open 

 to objection than the proposal I understood him to 

 convey in his memorandum of August 6th. But it is 

 not necessary to discuss the merits of this or any other 

 proposal, for, though fully recognizing the confidence 

 in the mother-country evinced by the reference of so 

 important a question for the counsel and aid of the 

 Imperial Government, I still feel that the circum- 

 stances do not justify any Imperial legislation for the 

 amendment of that Constitutional Act by which sell- 

 government, in the form which Victoria desired, was 

 conceded to her, and by which the power of amend- 

 ing the Constitution was expressly, and as an essential 

 incident of self-government, vested in the Colonial 

 Legislature with the consent of the Crown. The in- 

 tervention of the Imperial Parliament would not, in 

 my opinion, be justifiable, except in an extreme emer- 

 gency, and in compliance with the urgent desire of 

 the people of the colony, when all available efforts on 

 their part had been exhausted. But it would, even if 

 thus justified t be attended with much difficulty and 

 risk, and be in itself a matter for grave regret. It 

 would be held to involve an admission that the great 

 colony of Victoria was compelled to ask the Imperial 

 Parliament to resume a power which, desiring to pro- 

 mote her welfare, and believing in her capacity for 

 self-government, the Imperial Parliament had volun- 

 tarily surrendered ; and that this request was made 

 because the leaders of political parties, from a general 

 want of the moderation and sagacity essential to the 

 success of constitutional government, had failed to 

 agree upon any compromise for enabling the business 

 of the Colonial Parliament to be carried on. 



In speaking of the recent differences, he 

 says they turned upon the ultimate control of 

 the finances. In order to avoid this difficulty, 

 he recommends to the Council and the Assem- 

 bly to follow the practice of the Imperial Par- 

 liament. 



Parliament was opened on July 8th. The 

 Governor's speech stated that signs of a re- 

 vival of trade were apparent, and that agri- 

 culture and mining prospects were improving. 

 He expressed regret at the necessity for in- 

 creased taxation, owing to the loss of revenue. 

 He referred briefly to the recent mission of 

 Mr. Berry to England, which he hoped would 

 result beneficially for the future progress of 

 necessary legislation. The speech announced 

 the introduction of bills for amending the 

 land-tax, and measures of constitutional re- 

 form, including the amendment of the electoral 

 law, the abolition of plural voting, and the 

 amendment of the Local Government Act. 

 On July 22d Mr. Berry, the Premier, intro- 

 duced in the Assembly a bill to amend the 

 Constitution. It gave to the Assembly abso- 

 lute control over expenditure and taxation, 

 provided for the gradual substitution of a 

 nominee Council in place of the present elec- 

 tive Legislative Council, and provided that 

 bills passed by the Assembly, and twice re- 

 jected by the Legislative Council, should be 

 referred by the Governor to a plebiscite. On 

 July 30th Mr. Berry presented his financial 

 statement to the Assembly. The revenue for 



1878 amounted to 4,807,000, and the expendi- 

 ture to 4,944,000 ; the estimated revenue for 



1879 was 5,088,000, and the expenditure 5,- 

 374,000, inclusive of the deficiency of 137,000 

 from last year's budget. It was proposed to 



