204 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



The Constitution Amendment Bill, introduced on 17th July, did 

 not reach its third reading until the 8th of October. It would serve 

 no purpose to follow the prolonged debates over a measure that 

 never achieved the dignity of an Act of Parliament. It was essen- 

 tially a sham, and proposed conditions under which the Council was 

 to be ignored if it failed within one month to pass such Bill for 

 "reforming" it as might be assented to by the Assembly. The 

 Governor was to give Her Majesty's assent to this one House 

 measure, anything in the Constitution Act to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. There were other equally impossible proposals, and it was 

 evident that " Keform of the Council " was a rallying cry which the 

 great Liberal party was unwilling to part with. Hence its achieve- 

 ment was not sought on lines that promised success. The Council, 

 however, took the initiative in meeting the alleged popular demand. 

 Mr. Cuthbert, who had represented the Ministry in the Council, 

 resigned his portfolio when the Berry Keform Bill appeared, and, in 

 conjunction with Sir Charles Sladen, he piloted a Bill through the 

 Council, which would have brought that body into much closer 

 touch with the voting power of the colony. Though the attempt 

 failed, it should be recorded how far the Council, by passing this Bill 

 through all its stages, were then willing to go in the direction of 

 reform. The Sladen-Cuthbert Bill proposed to increase the number 

 of provinces from six to twelve, thus materially reducing the cost of 

 an electoral canvass. To increase the number of members from 

 thirty to forty-two ; to reduce the tenure of the seats from ten years 

 to six, and the property qualification to an estate yielding 150 per 

 annum, instead of 250 ; and it proposed to extend the franchise to 

 electors rated at 20 per annum, in lieu of the existing limit of 50. 



It was roughly calculated that this Bill would quite treble the 

 number of voters for the Council, giving it a constituency of nearly 

 100,000. Possibly on this account, when the Bill reached the As- 

 sembly the Government would have none of it. A private member 

 secured its formal introduction, but when the second reading was 

 proposed the Attorney-General blocked it. He declared, amidst 

 cheers, that the Government had their own Bill, endorsed by a large 

 majority of that House, and it would be highly inconvenient and 

 antagonistic to a settlement to allow the second reading of a Bill at 



