638 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART II
telegram duly acknowledged.! Or again, such interesting
questions as that of elective Ministries may there be mooted.
The prediction? that federation would ruin responsible
government or vice versa has not been realized : the Upper
House has not attempted to claim control over the Govern-
ment, and the traditions of responsible government have so
far overwhelmingly prevailed.
In the case of the Commonwealth it was anticipated, as
was natural, that the Upper House, with its fixed representa-
tion according to states and not according to population,
would serve as a means of securing state interests against
encroachments by the Federal Government.
This appears clearly to have been the view held by almost
every one in the discussions preceding confederation, and
it is decidedly curious that these discussions should in effect
have been so singularly far from being fulfilled. The result
might have been different had the Upper House been elected
on a different franchise from the Lower House, but the
Commonwealth Franchise Act, No. 8 of 1902, provided man-
hood and womanhood suffrage for both Houses, with the
result that the only difference between the Houses is that
the Upper House is elected on wider electoral districts than
the Lower House, for the present each state being regarded
as a single area, and therefore three senators being appointed
at each election. The result has been that the Labour party,
which is much better organized electorally than its oppo-
nents, have secured control of the Senate, and the Labour
party is decidedly opposed to attributing to the states any
rights beyond those which clearly belong to them under the
Constitution.
§ 6. THE CaPE oF Goon Horr
In the case of the Cape of Good Hope even less useful
purpose than usual seemed to be served by the Upper
House, for it differed from the Lower House only in the
* Parliamentary Debates, 1910, pp. 6300 seq.
' Sir 8. Griffith, Sir R. Baker, and Mr. Clark, were among the prophets
—false ones, fortunately. See Quick and Garran, Constitution of Common-
wealth, pp. 706, 707.
