584 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINTIONS [PART ITI
sent up by the House, so that it was essential to find a
remedy ; that with this object in view the Kidston Ministry
advised the Governor to recognize the principle that the
Crown had the power to nominate to the Legislative
Council such number of new members as might be re-
quired to overcome obstruction, and that such power
should be exercised if in the opinion of the Ministry such
a course became necessary ; that on the Governor declining
to accept this advice the Ministry resigned, Mr. Philp formed
a Ministry, and on the 12th of November, met the House
which refused to adjourn and next day passed a resolution
disapproving the contemplated change in the Ministry. It
went on to point out that the House was constrained by the
necessity of the duty it owed to the people of Queensland to
refuse supply, and had done so on the 19th and 20th of
November. The Kidston Ministry had never been defeated,
and still commanded the support of a majority of the
whole of the members of the House. It was quite possible
to carry on the administration, and it was probably un-
precedented in any self-governing state of the Empire
that a House fresh from the people should be dissolved.
Moreover, it was highly inadvisable that a dissolution of
Parliament, suspending Bills dealing with railway and public
works, should take place at that season of the year, entailing
distress to thousands of workers. The House therefore
prayed the Governor to refrain from the exercise of his
prerogative. The address was discussed at great length
and with considerable violence of expression. Most of the
cases on the subject were reviewed, and stress was laid, on
the one hand, on the impropriety of dissolving a Parliament
without supply, and on the other hand, on the fact that
it was impossible to leave in the hands of the House
the question whether it should be dissolved or not by
giving a right to the House to prevent dissolution by the
refusal of supply. Eventually the address was carried
by thirty-seven votes to twenty-seven. It was presented
to the Governor, who sent the following reply, dated
November 22:
