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.