cHAP. viii] RELATIONS OF THE HOUSES 605

came very violently to the front. The Governor, Sir George
Bowen, reported in a telegram of the 19th of September
that his ministers proposed to place on the estimates the
payment of members, as in Newfoundland and Canada. The
Governor desired to know whether he was prohibited by
the dispatch from the Secretary of State of the lst of
January, 18682 from consenting to this proposal; if he
were prohibited a collision between the Imperial Government
and the House of Assembly was probably inevitable. In
replying on September 27, Lord Carnarvon authorized
the Governor to follow the advice of his ministers. In
a dispatch of September 193 the Governor explained the
situation at greater length: payment of members had
been in force since 1871 under temporary Acts, and his
Government proposed to regard the principle as the established
 law and to place a sum on the annual estimates to
provide for the expenses of members. The Governor was
of opinion that he should consent to this course, and he
thought that a clear distinction could be drawn between
the case in question and the proposed grant to Lady Darling,
which formed the subject of the dispatch of January 1, 1868.
The publication of that dispatch had caused the resignation
 of the then Prime Minister, Sir James McCulloch
and his colleagues, on the ground that the Secretary of
State had attempted an unconstitutional interference with
the principle of self-government as conceded to Victoria by
the Queen and the Imperial Parliament. An address had
been carried to the Assembly on the 4th of June 1868, in
which the Governor had been informed that the dispatch
suggesting that the vote to Lady Darling should not be
recommended, except on the clear understanding that the
grant would be brought before the Legislative Council in
a particular form, was a violation of the constitutional rights
of the Legislative Assembly and a dangerous infringement
of the fundamental principles of the system of responsible
government. Lord Canterbury had been unable to form
* Parl. Pap., C. 1982, p. 1. * Purl. Pap., H. C. 157, 1868, p. 49,
' Parl. Pap., C, 1982, p. 1; Rusden, Australia, iii. 413 seq.