63¢ PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART III
by the House of Representatives in sending up a Supply Bill
purporting that a grant had been made by the Lower House :
but the Senate at once asked for an amendment so as to
remove the address to the Crown in the preamble, and to
insert a schedule showing what the grant was for, and the
Lower House consented after some discussion to the sugges-
tion! In 1904 the Governor-General’s speech was altered
so as at prorogation to convey thanks to both Houses for
the grant, and at the opening of the session to refer merely
to the originating of Bills for grants in the Lower House.
In 1901 the practice of printing in italics proposals as to fines
and penalties which the House of Lords is allowed by custom
to do, the Commons not objecting on grounds of privilege to
this mode of suggesting amendments on small points like these,
was omitted on the direction of the President of the Senate.
Much more serious has been the question of the power to
suggest amendments. In 1902, in the course of discussion of
the Tariff Bill, the Upper House suggested a set of amend-
ments : some were accepted, some rejected in the Lower
Hbuse, but on the Bill being returned the Upper House
still insisted on some and sent back new suggestions, Then
the matter was solved by a compromise, as all were deter-
mined to get the tariff through : the Lower House without
prejudice proceeded to consider the amendments, and there
was in effect a compromise between the Houses, but the
Upper House passed a resolution affirming that the action
of the House of Representatives in receiving and dealing
with the reiterated requests of the Senate was in compliance
with the undoubted constitutional position and rights of the
Senate. In 1908 the same performance was repeated : the
Senate made one set of requests : some were granted, some
returned ungranted : then they sent down a second set, and
then the Lower House, to avoid a third set and a consti-
tutional deadlock. decided to make a compromise with the
* Parliamentary Debates, 1901, pp. 1021, 1153, 1174, 1190, 1352, 1471 ;
Act No. 1 of 1901. 2 Thid., pp. 942-7.
* Ibid., p. 763. Cf. May, Parliamentary Practice,” pp. 460, 529, 548, 705,
* Ibid., 1902, pp. 15676 seq. ® Thid., pp. 15813 seq.
