318 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



to the Agent-General did not impress the House. But the demand 

 for a change was eager, and he carried his no-confidence motion by 

 three votes. Mr. Patterson, as Premier, took upon himself the duties 

 of Chief Secretary and Minister of Eailways. Mr. Godfrey Downes 

 Carter, though new to Ministerial office, took charge of the Treasury, 

 and the Law Officers were Sir Bryan O'Loghlen as Attorney-General 

 and Mr. I. A. Isaacs as Solicitor-General. As a whole the Cabinet was 

 a somewhat incongruous mixture, comprising Free Traders and Pro- 

 tectionists, Orangemen and Home Kulers, one-man-one-vote men and 

 at least two outspoken supporters of the dual vote. Mr. James 

 Brown Patterson, who was knighted during his Premiership, had 

 the reputation of being a strong and able man. He had administered 

 the Eailway Department a dozen years previously with a vigorous 

 attention to duty that raised up some feeling against him amongst 

 the workers. His prompt action during the great strike of 1890, 

 when he was Minister of Public Works, had made him obnoxious 

 to the labour party. Self-educated and self-helpful, he had passed 

 through stages of gold digging, farming and cattle dealing, and had 

 carved his way to the head of the State without any adventitious 

 aids. He showed something of his strong will by resisting the desire 

 of a majority of the Cabinet that Graham Berry, who had taken up 

 the leadership of the Opposition, should be reappointed Agent- 

 General. Finally, he carried his own purpose into effect by persuad- 

 ing Mr. Duncan Gillies to accept that post, though that gentleman 

 had a great reluctance to quit even for a time the local politics in 

 which he had continuously moved for thirty years. But the stress 

 and strain of the financial crisis, which reached its acute stage within 

 three months of Mr. Patterson assuming office, was too much for 

 him, and his often quoted utterance, " we are all floundering," shows 

 how the unwonted circumstances and their serious possibilities 

 caused him to lose his grip of the helm. Unfortunately, he had no 

 " still strong man " associated with him, or at any rate none conver- 

 sant with financial affairs. His Treasurer was essentially a man of 

 many words and few deeds, and although he was a Bank Director, 

 he lost his head at the critical moment, even more confusedly than 

 his chief. 



The basis of the charge against the Shiels-Berry Ministry had 



