186 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



His estimate of expenditure exceeded that submitted by Mr. Berry 

 in September by nearly 50,000, and that which Mr. Service put 

 forward in July by 136,000 ! Although his estimates of revenue 

 showed similar proportional increases, they were mainly under the 

 head of "recoups," expected repayments out of proceeds of loans. 

 These included 100,000 for school buildings, an application of loan 

 money which at that time Mr. Service had not considered justifiable. 

 The event of this session was the masterly speech which Mr. 

 Service made in reviewing the budget and its taxation proposals. 

 Though it occupied four hours in delivery, it was listened to by a 

 full House with excited attention, and it elicited praise from the entire 

 press of the colony. When he sat down he received hearty cheers 

 from both sides of the House, a very unusual experience. His clear 

 analysis of the financial position and the ineptitude of the proposed 

 taxation brought conviction home to members. It looked for a 

 time as if the rejection of the budget was a certainty. He sternly 

 rebuked the Premier for the intrigues by which he had successively 

 turned two Governments out of office and wasted four months of 

 public time, without having anything better to offer than an imperfect 

 adaptation of the proposals submitted by those Governments, either 

 of which could have been amended in committee. At the conclusion 

 of his philippic Mr. Service surprised and greatly disconcerted the 

 Berry party by intimating that he would not be a party to perpetu- 

 ating their factious tactics, and would vote for the budget, reserving 

 his right to reject the income tax, and to amend certain other pro- 

 posals in committee. The final result, after many months of strenu- 

 ous debate, was that on the 23rd of March, 1876, Sir James McCulloch 

 formally withdrew his Bill for imposing land, property and income 

 taxes, as owing to the defection of some of his followers the second 

 reading was only carried by a majority of three. The session came 

 to an ignominious close on the 7th of April, having done no per- 

 manent work, but its latter days were notorious for the violent 

 scenes which arose out of the "stonewall" Opposition and the 

 " Iron Hand " Government. 



Mr. Berry and his colleagues, who believed that the people 

 sympathised with them in being refused a dissolution, spent the 

 recess in trying to rouse the country, denouncing McCulloch as " a 



