212 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



measures which had already been carried there by Sir Charles 

 Sladen and Mr. Cuthbert. It will be remembered that, in the 

 conference with Mr. Berry, Sir Charles Sladen had volunteered a 

 proposal for the dissolution of the Council under certain conditions 

 of non-agreement. The passage of Mr. Service's Bill at that time 

 would have saved more than twenty years of futile dispute and 

 petty fault-finding, and saved thousands of pages of wasted decla- 

 mation in the Parliamentary records. 



The most important feature of the Service Eeform Bill was its 

 machinery for securing finality in disputes. It provided that if any 

 Bill was passed by the Assembly in two consecutive sessions, and 

 rejected by the Council in each of such sessions, the Governor 

 might dissolve both the Council and the Assembly at the same 

 time. If such rejected Bill should be again passed by the new 

 Assembly, and be again rejected by the Council, then the two 

 Houses should sit together in deliberation, and the decision of 

 the majority should receive the assent of the Governor and become 

 law. This was converting the absolute veto, which the Council 

 possessed under the Constitution Act, into a suspensive veto, which, 

 it was reasonably contended, was a sufficient safeguard against 

 ill-considered legislation. The clauses for popularising the Council 

 by extending the franchise, subdividing the electorates and reducing 

 the tenure of office were, on the lines of previous suggestions, liberally 

 construed. 



Mr. Service felt that the narrowness of his defeat entitled ihim 

 to ask for a dissolution, and Lord Normanby granted it, though it 

 was less than five months since the country had been appealed to. 

 The second general election of the year took place on the 14th of 

 July, and even in so short an interval the unstable multitude had 

 changed its mind. To some extent they were deluded by the 

 rallying oratory of Mr. Berry into a belief that the Service Eeform 

 Bill was inspired by the people's enemies in the Council. Another 

 adverse factor was a sectarian one. Sir John O'Shanassy, having 

 failed to win over Mr. Service to his views on education matters, 

 had declared war against him, and his influence alienated many 

 votes. The returns showed thirty-five Ministerialists, forty-four 

 declared Oppositionists, and seven members who refused to commit 



