cuap. 11] THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 899 
revenue, which was to cover the difference between the excess 
of interest on the debts and the surplus revenue due to the 
states. This plan was not acceptable to the states, which 
were reluctant to give up the revenue from the railways, and 
one of them, New South Wales, was not anxious for the 
taking over of the debts at all. At the Premiers’ Conference 
at Hobart, in 1905, a new line was adopted, the proposal 
being merely to secure the future of the states by removing 
the time-limit of the Braddon clause. A conference in April 
1906.2 at Sydney, led to the rejection of a scheme, suggested 
by Sir John Forrest, for the payment to the states for a 
definite time of a definite sum based on the receipts from 
customs and excise in past years, but a conference in 
Melbourne in October of that year seemed to bring the 
parties near to agreement. It was then agreed by the 
states to accept a proposal of Sir John Forrest to pay to 
sach for ten years and until further alteration of the Con- 
stitution a sum equal to the three-quarters of the customs 
and excise revenue contributed by it for the ten years pre- 
ceding December 31, 1910. If in any event three-quarters 
of the customs and excise revenue exceeded the guaranteed 
amount the excess should be distributed on a per capita 
basis. On the other hand, the Commenwealth could impose 
new duties for a specific purpose without returning anything 
to the states, and a subsequent conference of May 1907 
added to that the power of increasing existing duties for such 
a purpose. At that conference also the arrangement was 
to be alterable after ten years by a simple Act. It was 
estimated that under this scheme there would be due to the 
states in 1910-11 £8,041,000. The treasurer’s scheme for 
a gradual conversion of the state debts and applying the 
surplus payments in interest was approved, but the details 
were not worked out pending the decision on the Braddon 
clause? 
The whole project fell through with the resignation of 
Sir John Forrest, and Sir W. Lyne in April 1908 proposed 
! Victoria Parl. Pap., 1905, No. 29. 3 Tbid., 1906, No. 23. 
¢ Commonwealth Parl, Pap., 1907-8, Nos. 2, 13. 
79