902 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV
measurably. Only one point marred the harmony of the
settlement. The Government in effect made the new
arrangement take place from July 1, 1910, though the
Braddon clause was in force until December 31, 1910, by
enacting that if under this clause more than 10s. 6d. a head
is paid in the first half year there would be proportionate
deductions in the next half year, and in fact there were very
large overpayments in the first six months.
It is open to the Commonwealth, under s." 96 of the
Constitution, to grant financial assistance to any state on
such conditions as it may think fit, but no step has yet been
taken to carry out this policy! which is an exception to the
general rule in s. 99, that the Commonwealth shall not, by
any law or regulation of trade, commerce, or revenue, give
preference to one state or any part thereof over another state
or any part thereof. This latter provision was considered
by the majority of the High Court to be one of the grounds
on which the Commonwealth Excise Act, 1906, regarding
the manufacture of agricultural instruments could successfully
 be impeached, in that it provided that those manufacturers
 should be exempt who manufactured under labour
conditions approved by one or other of several authorities
including state Courts and wages boards, and they held that
thus a different set of conditions would be set up all over
Australia. It was held, on the other hand, by the minority
of the Court that there was no discrimination between states
or parts of states, unless the discrimination were because
A was a part or the whole of one state and B part or the
whole of another state; that is, that the discrimination
must be because of the state character, and this seems the
sounder view of a proposition which is beyond question
doubtful and difficult.
The Commonwealth cannot by s. 100, by any law or regulation
 of trade, abridge the right of a state or of the residents
therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation
 or irrigation—an important law, for water rights in
t Cf. Clark, op. cit., pp. 212-8.
The King v. Barger, 6 C. L. R. 41.