THE BERRY INFLUENCE, 1875-1882 209 



review of the disputes which had led up to the strained position, and 

 much sound advice, tending to a satisfactory relation between the 

 two Chambers. 



The embassy returned to Melbourne in June, 1879, without 

 having had the pleasure of seeing the full despatch. Having all 

 along the line boasted of their success, they were constrained to 

 discover much encouragement in the cold dignity of the document. 

 At the banquet given by the National Keform and Protection League 

 to welcome his return, Mr. Berry accepted the assurance of his fol- 

 lowers that his mission had resulted in a most satisfactory definition 

 by the Colonial Secretary of the relative powers of the two Houses ! 

 Nevertheless, when Parliament assembled on the 8th of July, the 

 Governor was made to promise another measure dealing with the 

 paramount question of constitutional reform. The three leading 

 points of Mr. Berry's Bill, as submitted by him on 22nd July, were : 

 That immediately a resolution of the Committee of Supply had been 

 reported to and adopted by the Assembly, the money granted by 

 the resolution should be legally available ; that the Council should 

 be changed from an elective to a nominee Chamber ; and that in all 

 cases where a Bill had passed the Assembly and had been rejected 

 by the Council in two consecutive annual sessions, it should be sub- 

 mitted to the people for their decision by means of a plebiscite. The 

 Opposition were beginning to rally their forces again, and the debates 

 were so protracted that the second reading was not carried until the 

 25th of September, though the division showed fifty votes to twenty- 

 eight. In committee some emendations were made, but when the 

 third reading was proposed, the contents had shrunk to forty-three, 

 and the non-contents risen to thirty-eight. The Government was 

 one vote short of the number to make an absolute majority of the 

 House, despite the activities of the whip and the obsequious truck- 

 ling of the Ministry. A careful count of heads had led the Premier 

 to believe he had secured the necessary forty-four, though it involved 

 the degrading spectacle of bringing in a helpless, drunken member 

 and dumping him down amongst the "ayes". But at the last 

 moment one of the docile band presumed to think for himself and 

 crossed over, with the result that the Bill was lost. 



Before Parliament adjourned for the Christmas recess, the 



VOL. II. 14 



