CHAP. viii] RELATIONS OF THE HOUSES 643 
either dissolve the Houses, and after a general election 
and a repeated rejection of the Bill convene a joint session 
of the Houses, or if he preferred, he might at once convene 
2 joint session. The former procedure involved considerable 
delay and a general election ; the latter permitted of the 
Whole matter being disposed of in the second session of 
Parliament. In the case of the Commonwealth,! from 
Which the provisions in the Transvaal Constitution are 
borrowed with modifications, the procedure permits of the 
Second passing of the Bill in question in the same session, 
but three months after the first rejection, and then the 
dissolution may take place, but it does not permit the simple 
holding of a joint session after the second rejection, and in 
this regard the Transvaal and Orange River Constitutions 
Were more democratic. Perhaps this alteration was due to 
the fact that the Upper House in these Colonies was not 
to be in the first instance elective, and therefore it was felt 
that it would be impossible to insist always on a penal 
dissolution of the Lower House. The South African rule, 
as first drafted for discussion at the Natal Conference, was 
of remarkable simplicity ; the whole thing could take place 
IN one session, and there was no need for a second passing 
of the disputed Bill. The Upper House was thus certainly 
Placed in a somewhat weaker position than any other elective 
Upper House in the Dominions, for as a rule any Bill passed 
by a substantial majority in the Lower House would be able 
to secure the majority in the joint sitting requisite for the 
Passing of the law. On reconsideration, however, a second 
session was required to take place before a joint sitting 
could be held? On the other hand, the Upper House will 
have power to amend laws in all questions of detail, and to 
BXercise a revising power on legislation. and if it does this 
163 & 64 Viet. ¢. 12, Const. 8. 57; Quick and Garran, Constitution of 
Commonwealth, p. 687; Egerton, Federations and Unions, p. 256, n. 1. 
* Save in the case of Bills for the appropriation of revenue or moneys for 
the public service (s. 63). It may be noted that the Upper House is only 
about a third in number of the Lower House, while in Australia it must he 
hearly g hale