oHAP. 11] THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 935

the first, which was carried it will be noticed by about three
times the majorities of the answers to the second and third
questions, negatived the answers to the second and third, no
action was or could be taken on the result of the referendum.
As mentioned above, no instance has yet occurred in
which the difference of opinion between the two Houses
has been settled by the referendum. Provision for settling
differences between the two Houses in this manner does not
form any part of the ordinary Colonial Constitution. The
only exceptions to this rule are that of the Commonwealth
in the case of constitutional alterations and that of Queensland.
 The first case is, however, quite exceptional, and it
is only adopted because every constitutional alteration
requires a referendum, and as the whole trend of the issue of
the referendum in such cases means that the will of the
people is to be superior to the will of Parliament, it is natural
that the referendum should be allowed to decide whether
or not the two Houses agree. But for ordinary deadlocks
there is no such provision at all. The procedure in such
cases is a joint sitting of the members of the Senate and
the House of Representatives, which follows upon a dissolution
 of the two Houses preceded by the passing twice of
a Bill by the Lower House and its rejection by the Upper
House. It is worth noting that in the case of a constitutional
alteration either House can bring about a referendum, which
again is in harmony with the principle of the referendum.
In the case of Queensland, under Act No. 16 of 1908,
whenever a Bill has been twice rejected by the Legislative
Council, the Governor in Council may, after the close of the
session in which the Bill was rejected for the second time,
direct that the Bill shall be submitted by referendum to the
slectors, and thereupon the electors are entitled to vote,
and on a majority of the votes recorded being in favour of the
Bill the Bill shall be presented to the Governor for the royal
assent. A Bill is deemed to be rejected a first time when it
has been passed by the Legislative Assembly not less than
one month before the close of a session of Parliament, and
then transmitted to the Legislative Council, which before
the close of the session has either rejected or failed to pass
the Bill, or passed the Bill with any amendment in which the
Legislative Assembly does not concur. A Bill is deemed to
have been rejected a second time when the Legislative
Assembly in the next session of Parliament has, after an
interval of not less than three months from the first rejection
of the Bill, again passed the Bill, or a Bill substantially the