214 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



The first duty to which he set himself was to secure the continu- 

 ance of the temporary Act dealing with payment of members, which 

 would shortly expire. The Bill he introduced included payment for 

 both Houses, and passed the Assembly by forty-two votes to twenty. 

 The Council, while unwilling to accept any pecuniary recompense 

 for their own services, recognised that the electors of the Assembly 

 had pronounced distinctly in favour of such a measure and hesitated 

 to assert their right to reject it. They requested a conference, which 

 was held, with the result that two Bills were substituted for the 

 one under discussion, and the Council rejected the one relating to 

 themselves and passed that for which the Assembly clamoured. 

 One of the main causes of strife was thus removed, and little else 

 was attempted before Christmas, when Parliament went into recess 

 for a couple of months. 



A period of political tranquillity was not favourable to Mr. 

 Berry's retention of office, even though the vigorous personality of 

 Mr. Service was absent from the Opposition benches. It was neces- 

 sary to revive the question of reform of the Constitution, which had 

 a pleasant sound in the ears of the advanced radical party, though to 

 them the desired reform was exclusively limited to the Legislative 

 Council. So, early in March, 1881, Mr. Berry once more launched 

 a Bill for that purpose. The features of the Bill in which Mr. Berry 

 sought to outbid Mr. Service were: (1) Abolition of property quali- 

 fication for members ; (2) extension of franchise to the ratepayers' 

 roll ; (3) division of the provinces into thirty single electorates ; but 

 there was no attempt to secure the much required " finality," nor 

 any allusion to the now discredited idea of the plebiscite. It seemed 

 almost incredible that the man who had so long and fiercely declared 

 that the Council must be and should be coerced, who had ever 

 opposed the idea of popularising it as a dangerous mistake, now 

 proposed to go even further than Mr. Service in bringing it in closer 

 touch with the electors, and loftily put aside that gentleman's com- 

 paratively moderate suggestions of pressure. 



When the Bill reached the Council, the President ruled that, as it 

 dealt exclusively with the privileges of that Chamber, it ought con- 

 stitutionally to have originated there. Further, a Bill with similar 

 objects had been sent thence to the Assembly, as to the fate of 



