An extraordinary session of twenty days was held in January, 1905, to reconsider the Elections Bill, rejected by the Legislative Council in December previously. This having been done, and the Council having agreed to the bill, Parliament was prorogued, and met for the regular session of the year in July following, the sittings being continued till the Christmas holidays.
The ordinary session of 1905 was a busy one, though the measures generally were short and of a practical nature. A distinguishing feature of the work of this Parliament was the humanitarian and social legislation which was placed on the Statute-book. The interests of workers generally were conserved by the Workers' Compensation Act, which made injuries or fatal accidents met with by employees a charge upon the industry in which they were engaged. The comfort of a very large number of workers in the pastoral and sugar industries was provided for by the Shearers and Sugar Workers Accommodation Act. A most valuable piece of legislation was the Infant Life Protection Act, the object of which was to prevent the alarming sacrifice of infant life in nursing homes from neglect, all such homes having to be registered and made subject to Government inspection. An Act imposing a penalty of £10 upon any person selling or giving tobacco or cigars to a young person under the age of sixteen years was passed, as was also an Act forbidding the sale or supply of firearms to a young person under fourteen years, and also forbidding such young person to use or carry firearms, the penalty for a breach of the Act being £20. Another measure of interest, which was passed in response to the request of a large number of workers, was an Act providing for railway employees a Board of Appeal against disciplinary decisions of superior officers. A short Act became law giving the right to women to admission and practice as barristers, solicitors, or conveyancers. Quite a number of other small Acts was passed, among them being a Fertilisers Act, the object of which was to prevent loss to farmers by the sale of fraudulent fertilisers.
The most contentious measure of the session of 1906, which opened, as usual, in July, was the Railways Act, its principal object being to hold the ratepayers of a benefited area responsible for all losses in working a newly-constructed railway. It empowers the local authority to levy a railway rate to make good the deficiency, if any, after providing for working expenses and interest at the rate of three per cent. on capital expended on the line. If the local authority fails to levy and collect the railway rate, the Commissioner is empowered to do so. An important principle of the Act requires, when lands in a benefited area are being valued for rating purposes, that to the capital value shall be added the enhancement through the railway facilities provided. The object of the Act is undoubtedly good, in so far as it discourages landowners from agitating and bringing political pressure upon the Government in favour of railway undertakings not justified by the prospective traffic. It was supposed that persons desiring a new railway would hesitate to guarantee the Government against loss through its construction, but the applications for new lines have not been less numerous since the passing of the Act than when the burden fell entirely upon the general taxpayer. Yet there can be no doubt that many unwarranted undertakings have been quashed by the liability imposed upon local landowners.
During the session there were thirty-four Acts passed, among them one for the protection of opossums, native bears, and other wild animals specified in the schedule, by the proclamation of a close season, and the prohibition of the use of cyanide as poison by collectors of skins for export. The Mining Machinery Advances Act empowered the Minister to advance loans from moneys appropriated by Parliament to persons or companies erecting machinery for carrying on mining operations or treating metalliferous ores, such loans to be made on the basis of £1 for £1 of money expended by the applicant. A comprehensive Weights and Measures Act also became law. Another useful measure was the amending Public Works Land Resumption Act, the compensation provisions being greatly improved. The Etheridge Railway Act also passed in this session despite the objection of several members of the Labour party to "syndicate" lines. The opposition of these members, however, was not characterised by the obstructive tactics adopted in regard to similar measures in 1908.
[Footnote a:] See page [50], ante.
THE SIXTEENTH PARLIAMENT: 23rd July to 31st December, 1907.
The sixteenth Parliament was elected in May, 1907, but none of the three parties, into which the Assembly was divided by the cleavage between the moderate and the extreme sections of the Labour party consequent upon the adoption by the latter of the socialistic objective at the Convention held earlier in the year at Rockhampton, came back with a majority, and little legislation was found possible, the only public Acts passed relating to Appropriations, Children's Courts, Poor Prisoners' Defence, and an amending Income Tax measure raising the exemption to £200, and giving other relief to taxpayers. Towards the end of November the Government, failing to pass several democratic measures through the Council and to obtain adequate support from the Labour party, resigned, and Parliament was dissolved on 31st December on the advice of Mr. Philp, who had been called on to form a new Government from the Opposition party, and had failed to secure a parliamentary majority.
THE SEVENTEENTH PARLIAMENT: 3rd March, 1908-31st August, 1909.
The result of the appeal to the constituencies was to leave parties much as before, the Kidston and Labour parties being slightly strengthened numerically, and the Philp party—the Government at the moment—weakened correspondingly, they and the Kidston party numbering 25 each, while the Labour party were 22 strong. Mr. Philp's appeal having thus failed, he retired, and Mr. Kidston, being recalled, sought to secure for his Government more than casual support from the Labour party. The House met on 3rd March, 1908. The session lasted barely seven weeks, and among the fifteen measures which became law were the following:—An amending Constitution Bill repealing the provisoes to section 9 of the principal Act, the first of which required a two-thirds vote of both Houses to any amendment for varying the mode of appointment or number of members of the Legislative Council; and the second, that any such amending bill should not receive the Royal assent until it had lain thirty days on the table of both Houses of the Imperial Parliament. Another Constitution Bill provided for a referendum to the electors when a bill passed by the Assembly had been twice rejected by the Council. The first of the above-mentioned bills received the Governor's assent forthwith, but as to the second such assent was reserved, and the bill transmitted to England. On 19th August, however, the King's assent was proclaimed, and the incompatibilities between the two Houses were thus satisfactorily adjusted by a comparatively simple process. A measure which aroused strong party feeling was a bill to amend the Elections Act by repealing the postal voting sections, substituting provisions to enable absent voters to vote at any polling place in the State, and also ensuring greater secrecy by having the ballot papers from places where a small number of votes are recorded counted in some larger centre. A useful Land Surveyors Act was passed, requiring registration after approval of candidates by a board to be constituted under the Act, and prescribing a variety of other regulations for the purposes of securing the competence and protecting the interests of surveyors generally. Other measures placed on the Statute-book included an Old Age Pensions Act, which has now lapsed in consequence of the passing of a Commonwealth pensions law; an Act for the Inspection of Machinery and Scaffolding; an amending Factories and Shops Act containing many democratic provisions; a Wages Boards Act, which has been kindly taken to by both employers and employed, and promises to adjust most of the differences between masters and men; a Religious Instruction in State Schools Referendum Act, the poll to be taken on the same day as the polling for the first Federal election after the passing of the Act; and an amending Technical College Act dissolving the councils of both metropolitan technical colleges, and vesting the property and future management in the Government. Two bills were also passed authorising the construction of railways to the Mount Elliott and Lawn Hills mineral fields. These bills directly led to the Labour party assuming an attitude of open hostility to the Government, and brought the latter and the Opposition, led by Mr. Philp, together, as the policy put before the electors by these two parties was identical in almost every respect.