Responsible government in the Dominions: Responsible government in the Dominions

Responsible government in the Dominions (Vol. 2)

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1896933912

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Press

Year of publication:: 1912-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1896935052

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-238139

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 2

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: XI Seiten, Seiten 570-1100

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part IV. The federations and the union // Chapter II. The commonwealth of Australia

Collection:: Economics Books

cHAP. 11] THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 791 them seriously! and the constitution of the Senate in this manner was very unpopular in the large states, but as a matter of fact the decision of the Federal Parliament in 1902, by Act No. 8, to establish permanently the same franchise for both Houses, and the generosity of that franchise, have resulted in the Upper House being dominated by the Labour party, which has secured the return of its nominees by more successful electoral organization than that of the other parties? Plumping is forbidden, and proportionate represen- tation has never been adopted. The Labour party, as a whole, has no sympathy for state rights, and there is no case in the ten years of its existence in which the Senate can be accused of supporting state rights, an interesting example of the futility of endeavouring to bring about results in political matters by imitation of what has proved successful under other circumstances. The principle of state representation is maintained in a minor degree in the Lower House. The number of repre- sentatives is to be as nearly as may be double the number of senators, an important provision in view of the deadlock clauses in s. 57 of the Constitution, and is to be proportional to population. The means of securing this is laid down as follows : a quota is to be obtained by dividing the number of people of the Commonwealth as shown in the latest statistics by twice the number of senators ; then the number of members for each state is decided by dividing the popula- tion by the quota, and counting a remainder greater than a half as one member. But the states which originally joined must always have five members at least, thus reducing the risk of the complaint made by Prince Edward Island, ! In 1910 the Tasmanian senators turned the day against the Government in connexion with a proposal of a vote for a quarantine station near Hobart, a good example of state interests of a minor character influencing Jecisions; Parliamentary Debates, 1910, pp. 3236, 3450-8, 3582, 3583. For the theory of the Senate, see Quick and Garran, op. cit., pp. 413 seq. * Cf. Harrison Moore, op. cit., pp. 111 seq. The circumstances in which a new election should take place as opposed to the filling of a casual vacancy are shown by Vardon v. O’Loghlin, 5 C. L. R. 201; cf. Parlia- mentvry Debates, 1907, pp. 4393 seq. Parl. Pap., 1907-8, No. 111, 112.

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