Governor of Western Australia

“ His administration made a considerable impression in Downing Street, and in 1869 he was appointed governor of Western Australia. In his new sphere Weld continued to do well. He obtained the introduction of an elective element into the Legislative Council, and encouraged the establishment of municipal institutions; an education act passed in 1871 provided for the equality of all religious denominations. His administration coincided with a period of distinct development in the colony ”

“ Under Representative Government a community might contain men of very superior intelligence, but they could never be proved. The local administration was made up of men sent specially from England, and Mr. John Forrest may be said to have been the only Western Australian who held administrative office for any length of time. Under the old system in the Legislative Council there was no scope for great attainments, and when a politician went out of the beaten track he was apt to be brought up sharply by the Governor's power of veto. ”

“ Administration.—In 1890 Western Australia, up to that time a crown colony administered by a governor, was granted responsible government. The legislative authority is vested in a parliament composed of two Houses—a Legislative Council, whose thirty members are elected for six years, and a Legislative Assembly of fifty members, elected by adult suffrage (men and women) . As a portion of the Commonwealth, Western Australia sends six senators and five representatives to the federal parliament. In a country so sparsely settled municipal government has little scope for operation. ”

“ The total population of Western Australia in 1861 was 15,691, and in 1868, 22,733, made up of 14,539 males and 8,194 females.
The administration of Governor Hampton is significant for an important change—the inauguration of a semi-elective form of government. When it became known that the transportation of convicts was to cease, colonists considered that they were justified in asking to be allowed to elect representatives to the Legislative Council. ”

“ For instance, we may all know who are the President and Ministers of the United States, or the Governor-General and Ministers of Canada, but how few of us know anything of the local Governments of the State of California, or of the Province of British Columbia? The State and Provinces are merged in the central Government and Legislature, and it will be difficult to convince the colonies of Australia that it is desirable to sink their individual prominence, and become merely a factor in the central Government. ”

“ Colonists preferred not to be represented except through the medium of direct members elected by themselves. But it was now determined to nominate new members, and on the 5th January Governor Hutt issued a proclamation declaring William Locke Brockman, George Leake, Thomas Peel, and William Tanner non-official members of the Legislative Council of Western Australia for as long as they continued to reside in the colony. ”

“ In these despatches he discussed with Governor Broome various schemes of Responsible Government. One of his proposals was that Western Australia should adopt an experimental single chamber system of Parliament, giving his reason that as the population was so small it would be better to concentrate the best men in one House. ”

“ He was at that time, also, a member of the Perth Council. Early in 1878 his health had become so weakly as to demand his taking a sea trip. He went to England, and remained in the old world for two years. Soon after his return to Western Australia he was nominated by Governor Robinson a member of the Legislative Council, and this position he held until the new Constitution came into force. He did not engage actively in business pursuits for some years. Meanwhile the business of Randell, Knight, and Co. ”

“ Sir T.C. Campbell also asserted that Western Australia, as a whole, was in favour of the movement. There could, he said, be no federation of Australia without free government in Western Australia, and there could be no free government without full control locally of the Crown lands. The colony contained all the elements of prosperity, and the people only wanted a free hand to take advantage of them. ”

“ The United States Government, perhaps the most progressive in the world, absolutely eschews the policy which has been strangely adopted by the Government of Western Australia. The resources of the States, as extensive as they are wealthy, have been developed more rapidly than those of any country since the dawn of history. ”

“ The abstention of New Zealand is of smaller importance, from her geographical position and her intention not to identify herself at present with any scheme of Australian federation; but the hostility of New South Wales and the apathy of South Australia have placed great obstacles in the way of Queensland, {217} Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania, which, and especially Victoria, have attempted to turn the Council to the best account. Other causes have combined to minimise its utility; it has neither an Executive to carry out, nor a judiciary to enforce its decisions ”

“ Throughout his Parliamentary career he evinced laudable activity, and his several years' term of office as Commissioner of Railways and Director of Public Works will redound to the advantage cf the colony and to his own credit. He was the first to inaugurate Responsible Government in those State Departments, and is among the best pioneers of Western Australia, and being yet in the prime of life and full of mental activity he should wield a future influence over local political life. He is at all times respected for his integrity and fearless independence of thought and action. ”

“ An Australian Governor is a gentleman, usually a nobleman, who, without having any special qualifications, is sent out by the Crown to represent the interests of Great Britain and to safeguard the bond that links the Colony to its Mother Country. His position is virtually an anomaly and he himself, a mere figure-head.
[iv]
FROM A GENERAL POINT OF VIEW.
Governors may be divided into two classes, as follows:—
1.—Those who possess an income, and accept the position with the intention of living a life of pleasure. ”

“ There is no greater security that anyone can ask for—that before any part of Western Australia can be divided, if we enter the Federation, the Parliament of Western Australia shall approve of the division and, more than that, the people of Western Australia, at a referendum shall approve of it also. There is no such security as that if we remain out of Federation. We are absolutely dependent upon the Imperial Government, which can divide this colony to-morrow by an Act of its own Legislature. ”

“ The fact is we are dealing with a state of things which has not been in so many words provided for by the law; although I am myself of opinion that the Constitution Act and new Letters Patent contemplate the continuance of the present Executive Government until the elections shall be completed, the Legislative Council selected, and the Governor has something to guide him in deciding to whom he will entrust the formation of the first Parliamentary Ministry. ”

“ In many ways the constitution of the Commonwealth is like ours. Each of the states has its separate government, with great latitude in the management of its own affairs. The British Crown appoints a Governor-General for the whole Commonwealth, but his authority is merely nominal and the real executive power is in the hands of the Premier of Australia and his nine ministers. The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority of the Federal Parliament of which he and his cabinet must be members. ”

“ Therefore, colleagues with but one thought to-day, five years hence are strong opponents. The history of Australian politics brings nothing in more lurid light than this. Western Australian political institutions are yet young, but already the seeds of the same growth are generating, and the future will place men at present of similar politics in sincere opposition to each other. Our colony has enjoyed Responsible Government for some seven years, and public men of one faction at the beginning of that period are now taking their proper places in different parties. ”

“ There shall be an Executive Council for the Colony, and the said Council shall consist of such persons as are now members thereof or may at any time be members thereof in accordance with any law enacted by the Legislature of the Colony, and of such other persons as the Governor shall, from time to time, in our name and on our behalf, but subject to any law as aforesaid, appoint under the public seal of the Colony to be members of our said Executive. ”

“ The Imperial Government has its responsibilities and difficulties, the same as other people, and will be largely influenced—and is bound to be largely influenced in the future—by what Federal Australia thinks in regard to all questions affecting Australia. I do not think Western Australia will have any assistance except that which is called abstract justice, from the Imperial Government, if we stand out of the Federation, because it will say, "This small number of 180,000 persons refused to federate with nearly four millions in Eastern Australia ”

“ I do not wish to be understood to say that I look to responsible representative government as a panacea for all the evils with which Western Australia is afflicted, or that I think that a colony which would perish without that remedy would by that alone be saved from ruin. I have no such [Pg 122] belief in any form of government. It is in Western Australia, as elsewhere, by the people and their energy that the people must be made to flourish. ”

“ In Australia itself there seemed to be only one opinion. The Earl of Hopetoun was easily favourite.
It may be safely said that no Governor of any of the Australian colonies up to that time had so successfully represented the Throne. Those who were in Melbourne on his arrival when he became Governor of Victoria well remember a man of somewhat light build, middle height, pale, clean-shaven, youthful in appearance. ”

“ Earl Grey wrote prior to 1850 that Western Australians might obtain the form of government possessed by New South Wales when they were strong enough to dispense with a parliamentary vote and able to bear the whole expenses of their civil government. ”

“ To-day, to-morrow, and henceforward Western Australia is not the forgotten, the despised, and the rejected amidst the colonies of Australasia, but the one most likely to take the leading place in material wealth and prosperity. No longer the land of sand and sorrow, Western Australia has become an auriferous empire, which the British peoples may well be proud to possess for a heritage. ”

“ His political principles are of the liberal and democratic order, and he considers that Western Australia is at present passing through a transition period, in which the policy based on the old traditions of the colony will go to the wall, and a new era will be inaugurated in consonance with the advanced ideas of the population, based on the general progression. He is as eloquent a speaker as he is a writer, and he is sure to further his views in the House. ”

“ On that date His Majesty, sitting in Council, ordered and authorised the appointment of any three or more persons residents in Western Australia "to make, ordain, and establish all such laws, institutions, and ordinances, and to constitute such courts and officers as may be necessary for the peace, order, and good government of His Majesty's subjects and others within the said settlement." ”

“ Western Australia does not wish to place in situations of responsibility unpractical enthusiasts who, so to speak, "have soarings after the infinite, but who never pay cash;" she prefers to put an abiding faith in those pillars of the country who have built their own well-being upon the rock instead of the shifting sands, and in doing so have furnished evidence that they are safe and capable administrators. ”

“ A few colonists prophesied disastrous results to representative government. There were many, however, who exultantly looked to a great epoch eventuating, who announced that the colony had too long slumbered under the paternal care of an autocratic government. One newspaper wrote:—"Western Australia has, it is well known, within herself the elements of wealth, which only require developing and the action of sincere, honest, and disinterested legislators to make her second to no other colony in the Australian group." Practical people considered the measure an excellent steppingstone. ”

“ Furthermore, while I concede that the colony has reached a stage at which a claim to its birthright, if deliberately insisted upon, should not be refused, I nevertheless think that Western Australia would do well to delay its majority for a time, until its wealth and population shall have still further increased, and until the community contains within itself a good ballast weight of public opinion, and a sufficient complement of qualified public men to govern on the party system. ”

“ The other Australian colonies are governed by responsible ministers under irresponsible governors, each with two legislative chambers, of which the larger and more influential is elected, and the other is either elected, as in Victoria, or nominated by the leading colonial minister, as in New South Wales. ”

“ Can they for a moment realise what it all means? Take the case of Australia, with a kindred population, contiguous territories, and interests in common: it has, so far, been found quite beyond the skill of their most influential statesmen to federate any two of the colonies. Almost ten years ago Sir Henry Parkes proposed to establish what he called an "Australian nation," merely by federating New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia—thus simplifying the problem by entirely eliminating Queensland and Western Australia ”