176 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



precedent for Ministers retaining office after specific items in their 

 budget proposals had been rejected. Mr. Kerferd was, however, 

 a wavering leader, listening to many advisers, and he had been 

 persuaded that the country would give him a substantial majority. 

 Mr. Service was hurt by the defection of so many Free Traders, and 

 smarted under the charge that he had courted defeat by making 

 a test of the spirit duties, a proposal which seriously affected 

 important vested interests, and which many of his supporters dared 

 not vote for, without jeopardising their seats at the next election. 

 A low view certainly to take of senatorial responsibility, but one 

 which the press of the day seemed quite ready to excuse. In any 

 case the resignation was irrevocable, and Mr. Graham Berry made 

 his first entry as Premier on the 7th of August, 1875, a role that 

 he assumed off and on during several years of the most contentious 

 and stormy period of Victorian politics. 



Happily Parliament, though an important factor in helping or 

 hindering the progress of the colony, was not the be-all and end-all 

 of its existence. Despite the swirling agitation which marked the 

 filling and emptying of the Treasury benches, the great bulk of the 

 community prayed only to be let alone in the pursuit of their 

 several avocations. In the twelve years since the departure of Sir 

 Henry Barkly, the population of the colony had increased by 40 

 per cent., and at the close of 1875 stood at 792,000. The increase 

 in the revenue was over 50 per cent., reaching 4,240,000, while 

 the public expenditure always kept close up to it, when it did not 

 exceed it. There was something to show for the outlay, for great 

 improvements and enormous extensions had taken place in the 

 roads and bridges throughout the colony, partly by direct expendi- 

 ture and partly by subsidies to local bodies. Substantial Govern- 

 ment offices had been provided in the Metropolis for most of the 

 Departments of State ; others were in course of erection. Hand- 

 some schools were scattered by scores over the land, not as yet 

 paid for out of loans. Close upon 100,000 had been spent in the 

 erection and equipment of a branch of the Royal Mint, which was 

 a drag upon the revenue to the extent of 10,000 to 12,000 a 

 year. The Alfred Graving Dock at Williamstown, the finest in 

 the Southern Hemisphere, had been opened with congratulatory 



