930 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART 1v 
As regards the mere merits of the proposal it is sufficient to 
say that the new Government of Mr. Fisher, which won at the 
general election, proceeded to adopt the terms which had 
been arranged upon, but by means of an ordinary Act, which 
can, of course, be altered by the Parliament at any time by 
ordinary legislation (Act No. 8 of 1910) as distinct from the 
amendment of the Constitution.! 
The case was of importance as showing that the Common- 
wealth Government was by no means prepared to accept as 
desirable the making permanent and changeable only by 
the referendum of any financial provisions, and their attitude 
was noteworthy because the referendum in the abstract was 
a part of the Labour ‘ plank ’ throughout Australia. 
The other two referenda have been discussed in full above. 
The Referendum in the Dominions. 
Note A 
The referendum has been used on the whole very little in 
the Colonies for any purpose whatever.? Even in the cases 
where a referendum is possible it has seldom so far been 
employed, and little assistance as to the merits or demerits 
of the system can be drawn from Colonial conditions, which 
differ very greatly from English conditions. The use of 
a referendum in the Colonies has been confined to cases 
which may be classified as follows : 
(1) Cases of great constitutional changes, viz. the formation 
of the Federation of Australia and the Union of South Africa. 
(2) Alterations of Constitution. 
(3) Decision of questions which Parliament for one reason 
or another is anxious to avoid deciding itself. 
The referendum has never yet been used in the Dominions 
to settle a dispute between the two Houses of Parliament, 
although provision exists in the Constitution of the Common- 
wealth as regards constitutional questions, and in that of 
Queensland, that it should be used for this purpose. 
(1) The first case of its use is of importance and interest, 
because it is remarkable that it completely differed from the 
precedent of the formation of the federation of Canada. In 
Turner, Australian Commonwealth, pp. 269-72. 
* For the Australian cases, cf. Harrison Moore, Quarterly Review, 1911, Pp 
329 seq. ; Parl. Pap., Cd. 5778, 5780 : for Natal, Cd. 5099. and pn. 949. n. 1.