In the meantime the Report was sent out to the colonies. In Port Phillip and South Australia the concession of representative institutions was considered so great a boon that the other parts of the scheme were not too closely criticised. In Port Phillip especially, where an ancient contest had been carried on to obtain separation from New South Wales, the new constitution was received with the utmost enthusiasm. In New South Wales, where a representative council had existed for several years, the sections of the report which gave the most satisfaction were those which appeared to give control over the expenditure of the land revenues, and the power of fixing the price of land.
In the session of 1850 a bill became law, of which the following is an abstract:—
13 and 14 Viet. cap. 59—An Act for the better Government of her Majesty's Australian Colonies.
§ 1, after reciting the previous acts for the government of the Australian governments, enacts that the district of Port Phillip shall form a separate colony, to be henceforth known as the colony of Victoria. After the separation (§ 2), in the colony of New South Wales the Legislative Council is to consist of such a number of members as the Governor and Council shall determine, of which one-third is to be appointed by her Majesty, and the remaining two-thirds to be elected by the inhabitants of the colony; and the Governor arid Council are to establish the electoral districts and polling-places, issue the necessary writs for the elections, and make regulations for taking the polls and deciding on the validity of the returns. § 4 provides that every natural-born or naturalised subject of her Majesty, of the age of 21, possessing a freehold estate within the district of £100 clear value above all incumbrances or charges on it, for at least six months before the date of the writ or the last registration, if a registration has been established, or occupying a dwelling-house for six months of the clear annual value of £10, or holding a licence to depasture lands within the district, or holding a leasehold estate in the district of the yearly value of £10 of which the lease has not less than three years to run, and on which in all cases the rates and taxes due to within three months of such election or registration have been paid, and is not attainted of treason, felony, &c., is to be entitled to vote at the election of a member of the Legislative Council.
Power is given (§ 11) to the Governor and Legislative Council to alter the districts, and to increase the number of members, but in the case of an increase a number equal to one-third of the whole is to be appointed by her Majesty.
The Governor and Legislative Council (§ 14), when thus constituted, are authorised to make laws within the said colony, and to appropriate the whole of the revenues arising from taxes, duties, rates, &c., provided such are not repugnant to the laws of England; but they are not to interfere with the lands belonging to the crown, nor with the revenues arising therefrom, nor shall it be lawful to appropriate any sums of money to the public service, unless the Governor have first recommended to the Council to make such provision for the specific public service towards which such money is to be appropriated, nor shall any money be issued except under the order of the Governor directed to the treasurer; and the revenues (§ 15)
