colony may extend to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men belonging to such force, whether within or without the limits of the colony; and that where any such force is serving with Her Majesty's regular forces, then so far as the law of the colony has not provided for the government and discipline of such force, the Imperial law shall apply.-Army Act, 1881; 44 and 45 Vic. c. 58, s. 177.

17. Authorizing the legislature in any British possession to constitute courts to make enquiries into charges of incompetency or misconduct on the part of masters, mates or engineers of ships, or as to shipwrecks or other casualties affecting ships, in cases occurring within or outside the limits of such possessions.-45 and 46 Vic. c. 76; re-enacted in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, 57 and 58 Vic. c. 60, s. 478.

18. Enacting that where the legislature of any British possession provides for the fixing and certifying of load lines on British ships registered therein, and such provision is satisfactory to Her Majesty, certificates given thereunder shall be as effective as if given under the Imperial Act.53 Vic. c. 9, s. 3; re-enacted in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, 57 and 58 Vic. c. 60, s. 444.

(2) VICTORIA.

FOUNDATION.-On 5th January, 1802, Lieutenant Murray, in command of the Lady Nelson, whilst exploring the great indentation in the southern coast reported by Lieutenant Grant, discovered the heads leading into an expanse of inland water, to which he gave the name of Port King, in honour of Governor King, but which the Governor afterwards altered to Port Phillip, as a compliment to his predecessor, the founder of the Sydney settlement. On 9th March, "the united colours of Great Britain and Ireland" were hoisted on the ship and on the shores of the port, a volley was fired, and the place was taken possession of in the name of King George III. On 20th January, 1803, Mr. Charles Grimes, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, entered the port in the Cumberland, explored the coast line, and ascended the Yarra as far as Dight's Falls (Studley Park). During the same year Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins was sent from England to Port Phillip in charge of an expedition, consisting in all of 400 souls, with instructions to establish a penal settlement on the shores of the port. The first ship of the expedition, the Ocean, arrived on 7th October, and the second, the Calcutta, on 11th October. Collins was not satisfied with the place, and on 27th January, 1804, with the consent of the Sydney Government, he abandoned the attempt to form a settlement at Port Phillip, and removed his charges to Sullivan's Cove, on the Derwent, Tasmania.

The Port Phillip District was first reached overland from Sydney by Hume and Hovell, in 1824. In November, 1834, Messrs. Edward and Francis Henty established a pastoral station at Portland. They are considered to have been the pioneer settlers of the southern part of the continent. In 1835, an association was formed in Van Diemen's Land to colonize Port Phillip. On 31st May, 1835, John Batman sailed up the Yarra. the Yarra. In the same year John Pascoe Fawkner followed. A settlement was formed on the banks of the Yarra. On 29th September, 1837, Captain William Lonsdale arrived at Port Phillip, being appointed to act as Resident Magistrate; with him was Captain Hobson, after whom Hobson's Bay was named. Captain Lonsdale selected the site on which was built a town that afterwards grew into the city of Melbourne. On 1st October, 1839, Mr. Charles Joseph La Trobe became the head of the Port Phillip community under the title of Superintendent, a post which he occupied for fifteen years; Captain Lonsdale acted as secretary to the local Government.

In 1840, the territory of New South Wales was, for all purposes connected with the disposal of Crown lands, divided into three districts, known respectively as the North District, the Middle or Sydney District, and the Southern or Port Phillip District. The first of these Districts practically comprised all the lands north of latitude 32°, but it was expressly noted that its northern limits were not yet fixed. The second comprised nineteen counties, bounded on the north by the southern boundary of the first District and on the south by the southern boundaries of the counties of St. Vincent and Murray, "and thence by the rivers Murrumbidgee and Murray to the eastern boundary of the Province of South Australia." The third, or Port Phillip District, included all the lands to the south of the southern boundary of the Sydney District.-Jenks' Gov. of Vict., p. 40.

By the Act 5 and 6 Vic. c. 76 (30th July, 1842) New South Wales was granted a Legislative Council consisting of 30 members, 12 of whom were to be appointed by Her Majesty, and 18 to be elected by the qualified inhabitants of the colony. The old Council was authorized to divide the colony into electoral districts for the return of elective members, but the Imperial Act specially provided that the District of Port Phillip, the town of Sydney, and the town of Melbourne should be electoral districts; that the district of Port Phillip should return at least five members, the town of Sydney two members, and the town of Melbourne one member, and that for the purpose of the Act, the northern and north-eastern boundary of the Port Phillip District should be a "straight line drawn from Cape Howe to the nearest source of the river Murray, and thence the course of that river to the eastern boundary of the Province of South Australia." It was by this Act that the colony of Victoria, afterwards to be created, lost the Murrumbidgee as its northern boundary.

SEPARATION. By the Act 13 and 14 Vic. c. 59 (5th August, 1850), intituled "An Act for the better Government of Her Majesty's Australian colonies," it was provided "that after such provisions as hereinafter mentioned shall have been made by the Governor and Council of New South Wales, and upon the issuing of the writs for the first election in pursuance thereof, as hereinafter mentioned, the territories

now comprised within the said District of Port Phillip, including the town of Melbourne, and bounded on the north and north-east by a straight line drawn from Cape Howe to the nearest source of the river Murray, and thence by the course of that river to the eastern boundary of the colony of South Australia, shall be separated from the colony of New South Wales, and shall cease to return members to the Legislative Council of such colony, and shall be erected into and thenceforth form a separate colony, to be known and designated as the colony of Victoria." The Legislative Council of New South Wales was empowered to determine the number of members of which the Legislative Council of Victoria should consist. It was also authorized to pass an Electoral Act fixing the electoral districts for which the elective members should be returned.

The powers and functions of the Victorian Legislative Council were, by this Constitutional Act, similar to those of the re-organized Legislative Council of New South Wales and the newly constructed Councils of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia, viz., (1) to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the colony; (2) to impose taxation, including the imposition of customs duties; (3) to appropriate to the public service the whole of the public revenue arising from taxes, duties, rates, and imposts. Her Majesty was authorized by letters patent to appoint a Court of Judicature to be styled "the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria." The restrictions on the powers and functions of the Legislative Council of Victoria were similar to those of the Councils of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and South Australia, viz., (1) that no such law should be repugnant to the law of England; (2) that no such law should interfere with the sale and appropriation of the waste lands of the Crown within the colony; (3) that no customs duties of a differential character should be imposed; (4) that it should not be lawful for the Council to pass any Bill appropriating to the public service any sum of money for any purpose unless the Governor should have previously recommended that provision for such appropriation be made.

The qualifications of electors and of elective members of the proposed Legislative Council of Victoria were to be the same as those of the electors and elective members of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, under the Act 5 and 6 Vic. c. 76, as amended by 13 and 14 Vic. c. 59.

This Act was proclaimed on 11th January, 1851. The old Legislative Council of New South Wales met on 28th March for the purpose of making electoral and judicial arrangements required to bring the new Act into force in Victoria. Two Acts were passed specially concerning Victoria. The first was 14 Vic. No. 45 (N.S.W.), which provided that "all justices of the peace, and other officials holding office or commonly resident within the Port Phillip District at the passing of the Act, shall continue to act as though the Separation Statute had not been passed, until removed or re-appointed by the Government of Victoria." The other Act was 14 Vic. No. 47 (N.S.W.), which provided that "the Legislative Council of Victoria shall consist of 30 members, 10 nominee and 20 elective."

These arrangements having been made, the old Legislative

Council of New South Wales was dissolved and re-elected on the lower franchise. On 1st July, 1851, the writs for the election of 20 elective members of the Legislative Council of Victoria were issued. On 15th July Mr. La Trobe announced his appointment as LieutenantGovernor of the colony. In this manner the colony of Victoria was called into existence and received the first pulsation of autonomous political life.

POLITICAL PROGRESS.-The Act of 1850, by the liberality of its provisions in creating so many new Australian Constitutions, as well as giving scope and room for the development of the best energies of the young Commonwealth, was a recognition, on the part of the Imperial Government and Parliament, of the success of the experimental legislation in British North America in 1840, and in the senior settlement of Australia in 1842. In one particular the Act of 1850 contained a very large and important grant of power to the newly-created legislatures. By section 32, it was lawful for the Governors and Legislative Councils of New South Wales, Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and Western Australia respectively to amend the provisions or laws for the time being in force, under the Act or otherwise, concerning the election of elective members of such Legislative Councils respectively, or the qualification of electors and elective members of the same; or to establish in the said colonies respectively, instead of the Legislative Council, a Council and a House of Representatives, or other separate Legislative Houses. The only proviso to this power was that such bills should be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. It was under this section that a few years afterwards the present Constitution Act of Victoria was drawn up and sent to the Imperial Government for ratification by the British Parliament. This was, indeed, an important concession. It was the first grant of power to the

Australian colonists to alter the form and structure of their Constitutions, subject to Imperial control. Thus were continued the foundations of Parliamentary Institutions in Australia, commenced by the Act of 1842. They were truly miniature legislatures to start with, but it was certain that their progress and development would be guided by the natural laws of growth and evolution; and time has demonstrated the elasticity and vitality of the transplanted political system of the mother country.

The new Legislative Council of Victoria, partly nominated and partly elected, was convened for the despatch of business on 11th November, 1851. The official members were:-Mr. W. Lonsdale, Colonial Secretary; Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. F. Stawell, AttorneyGeneral; Mr. (afterwards Sir) Redmond Barry, Solicitor-General; Mr. C. H. Ebden, Auditor-General; and Mr. R. W. Pohlman, Chairman of the Court of Requests. Mr. J. F. Palmer was elected Speaker.

In his inaugural speech to the Council the Lieutenant-Governor said:"In now formally opening this first session, I would offer to you, and through you, to the inhabitants of the colony at large, my most hearty congratulations upon the event which, after much delay, has at length crowned your wishes. Under the provisions of the recent Imperial Act, and Her Majesty's favour, you meet here to-day

as the representatives of the people of an independent colony of the British Empire, with power to watch over the general interests and to control your own affairs, which has hitherto been, from circumstances, in a great measure denied to you; and it is my earnest prayer to God that you may be endowed with wisdom and prudence, which are requisite for the due discharge of the important duties entrusted to you."

THE NEW CONSTITUTION.-The next important stage in the constitutional history of Australia was that which was consummated by the attainment of complete local legislative independence coupled with complete local Executive authority. The Legislative Councils, partly nominated and partly elected, together with the system of personal government, were doomed to be swept away, and to give place to a more perfect type of legislature, and to a responsible administration according to the British model. The discovery of gold, which was announced to the world a few months after the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, soon began to attract a large and ever-increasing population to the shores of Australia, and new and exciting events followed one another in rapid succession. The legislature of New South Wales took the lead in the movement for an extension of Constitutional power, and the Home Government promptly and willingly agreed to grant the reform of the Constitution asked for.

Reference has been made to, and an extract given from, Sir John Pakington's despatch to the Governor of New South Wales promising to give effect to the wishes of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, that a Constitution resembling that of Canada, based on a bicameral legislature, should be adopted, and suggesting that the Legislative Council should proceed to frame one. A similar despatch, dated 18th January, 1853, offering the same concessions, was received by the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria. The Victorian Legislative Council appointed a select committee of twelve members, chosen by ballot, to consider and report on the best form of government for the colony. The committee subsequently brought up a report accompanied by a Draft Bill. On 25th January, 1854, the Bill was read a second time, committed and reported. On 24th March it was passed, and on the 28th it was reserved for the Queen's assent.

The Constitution, so sent to England, proposed to create a bicameral legislature, consisting of a Legislative Council, to be composed of 30 members, elected by qualified voters, and a Legislative Assembly, consisting of double that number, elected on a more liberal franchise. The Queen, with the advice and consent of this legislature, was authorized to make laws in and for Victoria in all cases whatsoever;" to impose and levy duties of Customs; to appropriate public revenue for specific purposes. All Bills for appropriating any part of the revenue or imposing any duty, rate, tax, rent, return, or impost, were required to originate in the Assembly and could be passed or rejected but not altered by the Council. The Assembly could not originate any vote, resolution, or Bill for the appropriation of the consolidated revenue for any purpose which should not have been first recommended by a message of the Governor to the Assembly. The