So the Prayer Question was shelved, and allowed to rest in peace, until the inauguration of our double branch Parliament in 1856, when it was revived in the Legislative Council, every sitting of which to the present time has been c o m m e n c e d with a solemn Presidential Pater Noster. T h e Council settled to work, and Mr. Francis M u r p h y was appointed Chairman of Committees. A s a maiden effort, the Session did credit to the newly-born body, and some of the members put forth symptoms of the business aptitude and debating powers for which they were subsequently distinguished. With the exception of a five days' Christmas recess, the sitting was continued as a rule for four days each week, and they met twice on Saturdays and M o n d a y s — i n all 34 meetings, and the general result of their legislation m a y thus be summarised : — N u m b e r of Bills passed and received the Royal assent, 15; Lapsed in Committee, 1; Lapsed in the Council, 2 ; Negatived on third reading, 1; Withdrawn, 3; Disposed of by the question that it be read a second time that day six months, 1 ; Total Bills introduced, 23. THE
PROROGATION
CEREMONY
Was effected on the 6th January, 1852, at half-past one o'clock, and when the Speaker took the Chair, the Chamber was wellfilled,but not to the same extent as on the Opening Day, a circumstance accounted for by the intense heat of the weather. T h e discharge of artillery posted at Batman's Hill, announced that the Lieutenant-Governor had set forth on his mission. After the usual salaams had been interchanged, and the standing members requested to be seated, his Excellency read " in a clear and distinct voice," a Valedictory Address, from which I have transcribed two or three passages :—" T h e Provision which you have sanctioned for the maintenance of the different branches of the Public Service, would, doubtless, in ordinary times, be held, in the great majority of instances, to be amply sufficient for the purposes intended. Its insufficiency in certain important particulars, under the extraordinary circumstances in which the colony is placed, must nevertheless be conceded; and as the Council has not felt disposed to admit as charges upon the ordinary revenue, any expenditure which, however obviously necessary, it m a y consider consequent upon the gold discovery, and has declined to m a k e the requisite provision to meet the extraordinary circumstances of the time, I have assumed the responsibility of sanctioning such additional expenditure as appears absolutely requisite, if the Public Service is not to be subjected to the most serious embarrassment, and have directed that such extraordinary expenditure should be borne upon the territorial revenue, pending reference to the H o m e Government. T h e Council will nevertheless be aware that there are branches of the Public Service which no justifiable sacrifice or exertion on the part of the Executive Government can place upon a thoroughly satisfactory footing, or render thoroughly efficient, under the existing circumstances." It afforded His Excellency pleasure to accede to certain suggested modifications in the Estimates originally submitted ; and, in the prospect of a rapidly increasing revenue, to sanction various additions to the original scheme of appropriation. A considerable addition had been made to the sums devoted to purposes of internal improvement, and he promised to provide for their effectual and economical employment, whenever the circumstances of the colony might give the required facilities. Acknowledging the attentive consideration given to the subject of the future Administration of Justice in the colony, and the readiness with which the Council supplied the deficiency in the sum devoted under the Imperial Act to the maintenance of the various branches of the Public Service, His Excellency thus continued :— " T h e Address presented to m e by the Council, deprecating the continuance of the system of Transportation to these colonies, with the request that I would forward it to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, has already been transmitted to its destination, with a confident expression of m y belief, that on whatever grounds of expediency the continuance of this system m a y have been hitherto sanctioned, it will no longer be persisted in. " I fully concur in, the opinion of the Council that, notwithstanding the great addition to our population, which the present development of the mineral resources of the colony is effecting, its
