carried out, rearrangement of ministerial offices. By this change he took the departments of Colonial Treasurer and Secretary, Mr. Burt retained the Attorney-Generalship, Mr. Venn, the office of Commissioner of Railways and Director of Public Works, Mr. Marmion, and then Mr. Richardson, that of Commissioner of Crown Lands, and he offered Mr. Parker, who hitherto had performed the duties of Colonial Secretary, the Mines and Education Departments. Mr. Parker preferred to relinquish his connection with the Ministry, mainly because of disagreement with the premier, and be forthwith retired. Mr. E.W. Wittenoom assumed control of Mines and Education. Mr. S.H. Parker, in that change so general in Australian politics, became a frank critic of the Government, and in 1896-97 circumstances brought him into direct opposition. In Australia where rapid development is constantly reversing the conditions, men who work together with a single purpose in one year are in hearty opposition a few years later.
The situation of the Government in 1895-6-7 was not so uneventful as previously. This was not altogether due to any fault in the Ministers, but was caused by the enormous influx of people. The volume of business increased to such an unexpected extent that the railway traffic became congested, and the telegraph and postal departments could not cope with the severe strain so suddenly put upon them. In March, 1895, Sir Wm. Robinson finally severed his active connection with the colony, and proceeded to England. His third term of office as Governor had increased the personal regard in which he was held by the community. When in the Old Country he was a very hearty and generous appraiser of Western Australia, and he advocated her interests up to the time of his death, in 1897. Chief-Justice Onslow, who was knighted in 1895, was Acting Administrator until the arrival, in December, 1895, of Colonel Sir Gerard Smith, formerly member of the House of Commons. Sir Gerard still retains his dignified office.
The budget speech of the Treasurer, Sir John Forrest, in August, 1895, contained several gratifying announcements. His estimate of revenue for the financial year 1894-5 was exceeded by £252,290, and amounted to the substantial sum of £1,125,940. The actual expenditure—£936,728—on the other hand, was £17,737 less than the estimate. There was a credit balance in hand of £277,232. The Customs yielded the main proportion of the revenue with £513,508, and the Railways and Trams the next largest item, £295,733. Sir John adverted with peculiar pleasure to the growth in affairs. Said he:—"From having been unknown and isolated as a colony, we have became known all over the world. From having been the least important and least known of all the Australian colonies, we have now certainly outrun one, at any rate, of those colonies; so that we are not now either the least important or least known of the colonies in the Australian group." Sir John referred to Tasmania, and he pointed out that in 1890 the revenue of the little southern island nearly doubled that of Western Australia, but in 1895 the Western Australian revenue nearly doubled that of Tasmania. Truly, the years of responsible government had been full years.
The flourishing state of the finances led to a slight clamour for a reduction in the duties. A Joint Commission of both Houses of Parliament suggested amendments. and the Government carried a measure which was assented to on 4th October, 1893. In the tables of specific duties this provided for a tariff of 10s. per gallon on spirits; 1s. 3d. per gallon on ale, beer, and stout in wood, and 1s. 6d. in bottles; and of 10s. per gallon on sparkling wine, and 6s. 6d. on still wine. Flour was customed at £1 10s. per ton; wheat, at 6d. per bushel; oats, at 4d. per bushel; chaff and hay, at £1 10s. per ton; bran, pollard, and potatoes, at £1 per ton; butter, at 2d. per lb.; eggs, at 2d. per dozen; salt, at £1 per ton; sugar, at 4s. per cwt.; tea, at 4d. per lb.; manufactured tobacco, at 3s. per lb.; unmanufactured at 2s.; and cigars and cigarettes, at 6s. per lb. A tax of £2 each was placed on camels, and £1 on dogs. Men's leather boots (invoiced at or under 10s. per pair) were customed at 10s. per pair, and women's boots (invoiced at or under 6s. per pair) were customed at 10s. per dozen. A duty of 5 per cent., according to value was placed on bags and sacks, boilers, machinery and parts, carriage and cart makers' materials, and steel fencing wire; of 10 per cent. on blankets, rugs and shawls, boots, shoes and slippers (children's), calicoes in the piece, carpetings, clocks and watches, enamelled ware of all kinds, fresh fruits, hats and caps, muslins of all kinds (in the piece), textile piece goods not containing silk, shirts, collars and cuffs, poultry and other birds, and vegetables (preserved); of 15 per cent. on bicycles, boots, including shoes and slippers, copperware of all kinds, cutlery, drapery, made up dresses and shirts, preserved fruits, galvanised ironware, glassware, haberdashery, harness and saddlery, ironmongery, hosiery, lace goods, mantles, medicines (patent) of all kinds, millinery, musical instruments of all kinds, potted hams, chicken, tongues or other meats, silks, satins, velvets, and plush (in piece); and of 20 per cent. on bricks, carriages, carts and waggons, cordials (not spirituous), furniture (household and cabinetware), jewellery of all kinds, plate (silver and gold), saddles (riding), sandalwood oil, soap, timber (worked), and tinware of all kinds. Among the articles admitted free of duty were books (printed, of all kinds), coal and coke, patent fuel, fire engines, iron and steel (bar, rod, pig, plate, hoop, and sheet), plants, printing paper for newspapers, vine cuttings, immigrants' baggage and effects (including only wearing apparel and other personal effects that had been worn or were in use by persons arriving in the colony), also implements, instruments, and tools of trade, occupation, or employments of such persons, and household effects not exceeding £50 in value. Sir John Forrest in his speech upon the second reading of this Tariff Bill, said he did not think anyone could call it a free trade or protection tariff; it was a revenue tariff with a good savouring of protection in many particulars. Members of the Commission, which proposed to reduce the duties upon certain daily requirements of families, and to increase those on articles of luxury, objected that the Government had not given due consideration to their recommendations. The Government carried a Repeal Bill in 1895, and placed coffee (raw), arrowroot, sugar and molasses, tea, bags, sacks, and other goods on the free list. In 1896 another Act was assented to, which abolished the duty on agricultural, horticultural (not garden rollers), and viticultural implements and machinery, and parts of the same, asbestos, boilers (steam and parts), carriage and cart makers' materials, cyanide, electrical machinery, engines (steam) and parts, furniture-makers' materials, hose of all kinds, machinery and parts, mining machinery of all kinds, and parts thereof, telegraph and telephone materials, including instruments, timber in short lengths for case-making, tin (ingot stream, strip, and foil), wire cloth, gauges, and screens for quartz-crushing, and wire rope. There was an agitation or a reduction in duties in 1897.
In 1894 Mr. G. Randell, M.L.A., was appointed leader of the Opposition, but he resigned this position in 1895, and Mr. G. Leake, M.L.A., succeeded him. A Want of Confidence motion was introduced in July by Mr. Leake, who attacked the Government on the Educational question. After a warm debate, and a
