124 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



in a vigorous championship of the constitutional rights of the 

 Chamber, said: "If the House passed this Bill they might expect 

 that next session a Land Bill would be tacked to the Appropriation 

 Bill, or that a variety of other Bills would be tacked to it, or 

 that even the whole legislation of the session would be disposed 

 of in one day, in one great consolidation measure ". 



When the decision reached the Assembly the Chief Secretary 

 caused the House to record a series of resolutions, by which he 

 intended to commit his followers to a course of action from which 

 retreat would be impossible. These declared the exclusive and 

 inherent right of the Assembly to deal with all matters of taxation, 

 and pledged it not to entertain any other Appropriation Bill until 

 the Legislative Council should have adopted the tariff which had 

 been sanctioned by the Lower House. Violent invective and pas- 

 sionate assertion characterised the denunciations of the Council, 

 and a few days later the Government Gazette contained an an- 

 nouncement from the Treasurer that "the payment of salaries, 

 wages and contingencies must be delayed until the necessary 

 authority for the expenditure has been obtained ". 



These high-handed proceedings naturally alarmed the mercantile 

 classes, who for over six months had been paying duties which had 

 not been levied by Act of Parliament, and which now seemed likely 

 to fail in acquiring that sanction. The law was put in motion, 

 and actions were commenced by importers to recover the duties 

 illegally exacted. The Government responded with an intimation 

 that they " intended to resist to the court of final appeal this 

 attempt improperly to recover money legally paid under the 

 sanction of the Legislative Assembly, and that the Act of Parlia- 

 ment intended to be passed to give legal form to the resolutions 

 would be retrospective in its operation, and would subject all 

 persons who endeavoured by legal means to defraud the revenue 

 to the costs of their litigation ". The Supreme Court decided in 

 favour of the merchants, but the Commissioner of Customs an- 

 nounced that the decision of the Judges would not alter the 

 determination of the Ministry, and that the collection of the duties 

 would continue. This flouting of recognised authority, so rare 

 in a British community, where respect for the decision of an 



