THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 363 



secured a vote, and it was hoped to bring under it the more per- 

 manent of the diggers, who for the sake of securing political rights 

 might be disposed to take out licences for a year instead of from 

 month to month. The duration of an elected assembly was to be 

 five years, unless sooner dissolved by the Governor. 



To the Parliament thus constituted the Imperial Government 

 surrendered all its rights over the Crown Lands and Crown Eevenues 

 of the colony, the appointment of its own executive and public 

 officers, and generally the sole management of its affairs. The only 

 power retained by the Crown, the one strong connecting link, was 

 the appointment of the Governor as the Queen's representative, 

 and a stipulation for a Civil List which should be a fixed charge on 

 the revenue. In the Act it is scheduled at 112,000, nearly half 

 of it, 50,000, being for the " advancement of the Christian religion 

 in Victoria ". The balance included the salaries of the Governor 

 and his staff, the judges, and the executive ; certain Parliamentary 

 expenses, and pensions to officers retired, or removed on political 

 grounds. While Parliament had full power to alter or increase the 

 electoral districts and the number of members in its discretion, it 

 was debarred from passing any Act altering the Constitution, unless 

 it was carried by an absolute majority of the whole number of mem- 

 bers of both Houses, and was thereafter reserved for the Eoyal assent. 

 Despite this hint to hasten slowly, the Act was hardly circulated 

 before the tinkering process commenced. Within two years the 

 qualification for members of the Assembly was abolished, and uni- 

 versal manhood suffrage swept away the limitations imposed upon 

 its electors. Shortly afterwards the life of the Assembly was reduced 

 from five years to three. Was it surprising that these inexperienced 

 men, who had so suddenly entered upon such a grand heritage, should 

 be impatient to make experiments in political economy which were 

 checked in the motherland by the restricting influences of a thou- 

 sand years of tradition and precedent ? 



