Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/139

The Legislators ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 113 wasted. In later years the harbor at Port Victor was improved, where a breakwater 1,000 feet in length has been formed. During the administration of Governor Young the sum of ;/^400,ooo was authorised to be spent in railway construction, the principal schemes being a railway to Port Adelaide (1851) and a line to Gawler (1854). A further sum of ^100,000 was set apart for deepening and improving th(i harbor at Port Adelaide, and these sums formed the nucleus of the national debt of South Australia. Meanwhile, events were proceeding towards the realisation of the expectations cherished by colonists of a system of responsible government. In the years following the inauguration of representative institutions, the electors had quietly but plainly shown that they desired a further instalment of self-government, and Governor Young heartily entered into the spirit of their demands. To his sympathy, intelligence, and statesmanship the Province and the city are indebted for their greatest civic privileges. A fuller measure of parliamentary representation was advocated in 1852-3, both among the public and in the Legislative Council. Sir Henry Young communicated the desire of the colonists to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in July, 1853, despatches were read in the Council announcing that upon certain conditions South Australia could obtain control of its internal affairs, with the management and revenue of the waste lands of the Crown. Two Bills were thereupon introduced — one to constitute a Parliament consisting of a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assemblv, the other to grant a Civil List to Her Majesty. It was provided in the former, upon the suggestion of the Imperial Government, that the Legislative Council should consist of nominee members, and that the As.sembly should be elected by the people for three years. Newspapers condemned the proposal of a nominee Chamber, and, when the Bill was under discussion, Mr. J. H. Fisher moved — " That, in the proposed Bill for constituting a Parliament for South Australia, this Council is of opinion that the Upper House should be elective." For three days members discus.sed Mr. Fisher's motion, and many of the speeches were brilliant and patriotic. The nominee principle was repugnant to them ; but several members compromised with the Government on the understanding that the nominated Upper Chamber should be amended after nine years upon the vote in two consecutive sessions, with a dissolution between, of two-thirds of the members of the Assembly. Under these circumstances Mr. P'isher was defeated by a majority of eight votes, and the second and third readings were carried by a majority of five. The Civil List Bill was also passed, These measures were forwarded to England, but colonists in public meetings and memorials continued to object to nomineeism ; but before there was any positive result from their active opposition. Governor Young had been appointed Governor of Tasmania, and sailed for that colony on December 20, 1854. As an administrator he was an excellent successor to Captain Grey, and his actions at once commanded the gratitude of colonists and