92 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



than half of his salary before the period at which it may please 

 her to determine his tenure of government." 



In the light of these views Parliament once more considered 

 the matter, and eventually the salary of future Governors was fixed 

 at 10,000 per annum, which was to include staff allowances, the 

 Act to come into operation on Sir Henry Barkly's retirement. It 

 happened that the British Colonial Office urgently required an 

 experienced man for Mauritius, where great industrial and political 

 movements were pending, and Sir Henry's resignation was accepted 

 with a view to his transfer thither. 



The seven years during which Sir Henry Barkly presided over 

 the Victorian Executive were fertile in substantial progress, not- 

 withstanding the political unrest by which the period was marked. 

 A capable and continuous Government might have done more in 

 that direction, but all the personal struggles for office, all the petty 

 scheming and jealous rivalry, without even the excuse of dignified 

 party lines, were not able to seriously retard the onward movement 

 of a community so lavishly endowed by the Crown, by nature, and 

 by that gift of energy and enterprise commonly found in connection 

 with Anglo-Saxon colonisation. 



The most important factor in that progress during the period in 

 question, apart of course from the grand products of the mines, was 

 undoubtedly the bold commencement of railways throughout the 

 colony. It must be a source of regret for all time that the con- 

 ditions under which these really national works were originally 

 contemplated were altogether ignored. So far back as February, 

 1855, Sir Charles Hotham had addressed a message to the old 

 Council inviting them to consider a system by which railways 

 might be undertaken. He laid down several sound propositions : 

 1. That no scheme should be entertained that did not provide for 

 the eventual liquidation of the loan. 2. That no lines should be 

 undertaken that did not promise to be remunerative, and to ensure 

 the interest which it was proposed the State should guarantee. 3. 

 That as a means of repaying the borrowed capital within twenty- 

 one years land on each side of the railway should be reserved to 

 provide the necessary fund. 4. And that as each section of a line 

 was completed tenders should be called for the lease of it for a 



