WESTERN AUSTRALIA THE SECOND ORIGINAL COLONY.
The first Imperial Act ap plicable to Western Australia was 10 Geo. IV, c. 22 (1829). It was entitled °An Act to Provide Until the 31st Dav of December 1834, For the Government of His Majesty's Settle ments in Western Australia on the Western Coast of New Holland.* It will be noticed that the name •Australia* first suggested for the continent in 1814 by Matthew Flinders is here used and for the first time mentioned by an Imperial Act. By that act the king, with the advice of the Privy Council, was empow ered to authorize any three or more persons resident within the settlements to make, ordain and constitute laws, institutions and ordinances for the order and good government of His Majesty's subjects and others within the settlement.
A Representative Under the Act 13 and 14 Vic., c. 59 (5 Aug. 1850), Western Australia was granted a Legislative Council, consisting of 26 members, nine of whom were nominated by the Crown and 17 were elected by qualified inhabitants. Three years afterward an agitation was commenced in favor of responsible government as it existed in the eastern colonies. In 1874, a draft of a Constitutional Bill was sent to the Sec retary of State, who, however, decided that the colony was notyet ripe for the change.
C The New The movement was not successful until July 1890, when a new Constitution was passed by the Imperial Parlia ment, being embodied in the Act 53 and 54 Vic., c. 26. It created a bicameral legislature con sisting of a nominee Council and an elective Assembly to make laws in and for Western Australia, and along with it responsible gov ernment was introduced. The first Premier was Sir John Forrest.
Administration and The dis covery of goldfields and a rapid influx of popu lation were factors which largely contributed toward the success of the constitutional move ment. The new Parliament was called upon to pass legislation relating to gold mining, land settlement, railway construction and water sup ply. Under the old regime a railway 243 miles long had been constructed on the land grant system between Beverly and Albany. Under the terms of the contract, payment was made at the rate of 12,000 acres for every mile of completed road. The lands selected in payment were situated within a belt of 40 miles on each side of the line; half the frontage to the rail way was reserved to the government. In 1896 the government acquired this private land-grant railway, the purchase price being £1,100,000. The Perth waterworks constructed by the Perth Water Supply Company were taken over by the government at a cost of f220,000.
Among the lines of railways which greatly as sisted in the development of the interior were the lines to Kalgoorlie, Menzies and Kanowna, penetrating into the heart of the eastern gold fields. A gigantic scheme of water supply for the conveyance of water through pipes by pumping from station to station, from the Mundanng Reservoir to Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, a distance of 330 miles at a cost of £2,500,000, was inaugurated, z.nd afterward successfully completed.
In 1897-99 the question of federation came into prominence. The attitude of the Forrest government toward the new constitution was not favorable whilst on the gold-fields there was a strong movement in favor of the bill backed up by threats of separation. This led to a change of attitude on the part of the government, and at the test referendum that followed a majority of electors voted in favor of Federal union.
In 1899 an Electoral Bill was passed which conferred the political franchise on adult women; it was exercised for the first time on the occasion of the Federal referendum.
Sir John Forrest retired from state politics in February 1901, and G. Throssell succeeded him as Premier. The Throssell Ministry was defeated at a general election held the same year. George Leake then formed a ministry which was short-lived, as also was another formed by Alfred Edwards Morgans. On 23 Dec. 1901 Leake formed his second ministry and held office until his death on 24 June 1902. He was succeeded in the premiership by Walter H. James on 1 July 1902. The only notable matters of legislation passed in this period of short-lived ministries were the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and the Workmen's Com pensation Act. On 10 Aug. 1904 James was de feated and a Labor ministry was formed by Henry Daglish. It remained in office until 25 Aug. 1905 when it was displaced—partly by dissension within the ranks of the Labor party, and ostensibly on the question of purchasing and resuming possession of the Midland Rail way. On 25 Aug. 1905 Cornthwaite Hector Rason became Premier of a Liberal adminis tration, pledged to oppose the extreme policy of the Labor party. He secured a dissolution and went to the country from which he returned with a strong working majority. He resigned in May 1906, to accept the position of agent eneral in London and Mr. (now Sir) Newton James Moore became Premier and he held office until September 1910 when he was suc ceeded by Mr. Frank Wilson who was defeated by the Labor party in October 1911 and Mr. John Scadden became Premier, until July 1916 when he was defeated by Mr. Frank Wilson.