832 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PARTI
It was suggested in the correspondence before the passing
of the Constitution by Sir Napier Broome,! the Governor of
Western Australia, that provision should be made to prevent
tacking on the one hand, and on the other to obviate con-
stitutional deadlocks. But Sir Napier Broome’s suggestion,
which was by no means a bad one, and which would seem
to have been dictated by common sense, was not viewed
with favour either by the Secretary of State for the Colonies 2
or by the Committee of the Legislative Council of the time,
which was engaged in the study of the proposed Constitution,
and the Constitution as it was issued contained no provisions
on the subject, beyond the provision that appropriation and
tax Bills must originate in the Legislative Assembly and that
money votes. or Bills must be recommended by the Governor.
Things remained comparatively in a satisfactory con-
dition so long as the Upper Chamber was nominee, as was
provided in the Act for the first six years, or until the
population of the Colony attained 60,000 souls; but when
the Legislative Council was appointed it was at once pro-
vided by the Act of 1893 3 that in the case of a proposed Bill
which, according to law, must have originated in the Assem-
bly, the Legislative Council might at any stage return it to
the Assembly with a message requesting the omission or
amendment of any items or provisions, and the Legislative
Assembly might, if it thought fit, return such omissions or
amendments with or without alterations.
The Legislative Council has not hesitated to exercise
this right, as indeed it is entitled to do, and it has
maintained a close control over legislation.t so that the
t See Parl. Pap., C. 5743, pp. 15, 36. He wished the Lower House after
a period of eight months to be able to pass a Bill over the head of the
Upper House—a drastic anticipation of the Imperial Parliament Act, 1911.
* Parl. Pap., C. 5743, pp. 25, 26. Sir H. Holland preferred a nominee
Upper House, which would in other matters have co-ordinate authority
with the Lower House, but give way on money matters, as in Queensland.
* 57 Vict. No. 14, s. 23, repeated in 63 Vict. No. 19, 8. 46. See Parlia-
mentary Debates, iv. 621. The Council cannot insist on a request: see
Parliamentary Debates, xxx. 3020, and cf. xxix. 1125,
¢ Compare its action in 1907 over the Land and Income Tax Bill. which it
