Our First Half-Century Part 21

Coyne, John Harry (_Warrego_).

Crawford, James (_Fitzroy_).

Cribb, James Clarke (_Bundanba_).

Denham, Hon. Digby Frank (_Oxley_).

Douglas, Henry Alexander Cecil (_Cook_).

Ferricks, Miles Aloysius (_Bowen_).

Foley, Thomas (_Townsville_).

Forrest, Hon. Edward Barrow (_Brisbane North_).

Forsyth, James (_Moreton_).

Fox, George (_Normanby_).

Grant, Kenneth McDonald (_Rockhampton_).

Grayson, Francis (_Cunningham_).

Gunn, Donald (_Carnarvon_).

Hamilton, William (_Gregory_).

Hardacre, Herbert Freemont (_Leichhardt_).

Hawthorn, Hon. Arthur George Clarence (_Enoggera_).

Hodge, Robert Samuel (_Burnett_).

Hunter, David (_Woolloongabba_).

Hunter, John McEwan (_Maranoa_).

Keogh, Denis Thomas (_Rosewood_).

Kidston, Hon. William (_Rockhampton_).

Land, Edward Martin (_Balonne_).

Lennon, William (_Herbert_).

Lesina, Vincent Bernard Joseph (_Clermont_).

Macartney, Edward Henry (_Brisbane North_).

Mackintosh, Donald (_Cambooya_).

McLachlan, Peter Alfred (_Fort.i.tude Valley_).

Mann, John (_Cairns_).

Maughan, William John Ryott (_Ipswich_).

May, John (_Flinders_).

Morgan, G.o.dfrey (_Murilla_).

Mulcahy, Daniel (_Gympie_).

Mullan, John (_Charters Towers_).

Murphy, William Sidney (_Croydon_).

Nevitt, Thomas (_Carpentaria_).

O'Sullivan, James (_Kennedy_).

Paget, Hon. Walter Trueman (_Mackay_).

Payne, John (_Mitch.e.l.l_).

Petrie, Andrew Lang (_Toombul_).

Philp, Hon. Robert (_Townsville_).

Rankin, Colin Dunlop Wilson (_Burrum_).

Roberts, Thomas Robert (_Drayton and Toowoomba_).

Ryan, Thomas Joseph (_Barcoo_).

Ryland, George (_Gympie_).

Somerset, Henry Plantagenet (_Stanley_).

Stodart, James (_Logan_).

Swayne, Edward Bowd.i.c.k (_Mackay_).

Theodore, Edward (_Woothakata_).

Thorn, William (_Aubigny_).

Tolmie, James (_Drayton and Toowoomba_).

Walker, Harry Frederick (_Wide Bay_).

White, John (_Musgrave_).

Wienholt, Arnold (_Fa.s.sifern_).

Winstanley, Vernon (_Charters Towers_).

[Footnote a: Acting Chairman of Committees.]

APPENDIX D.

FIFTY YEARS OF LEGISLATION.

In the following epitome of Queensland legislation during the last half-century no mention is made of Land Acts, Local Government Acts, Revenue or Loan Acts, or Education Acts, those subjects being dealt with in the text of the book. The rule has been to notice in this appendix the first legislation of the Parliament on each subject exclusive of those above mentioned, and only to refer to amending Acts of a consolidating and extending character. Nor is any attempt made to furnish a digest of the Acts mentioned, but only to direct attention to what are deemed the salient points of each.

The first session of the first Parliament has been specially dealt with in "Our Natal Year."

THE FIRST PARLIAMENT: 29th May, 1860-22nd May, 1863.

It may not be generally known that in 1861, before Government railways were authorised in Queensland, an Act was pa.s.sed incorporating the Moreton Bay Tramway Company, formed to construct a railway "from Ipswich to the interior of the colony." The company failed to raise the capital required, however, and the project fell through. In the same year a Loan Act was pa.s.sed, but it made no provision for railway construction. In 1861 an Act was pa.s.sed giving facilities for the naturalisation of aliens. A Fencing Act, a Carriers Act, and a Masters and Servants Act also found a place on the Statute-book. There were also pa.s.sed a Savings Bank Act, a Supreme Court Act, and, among several others, twenty-two in all, the Real Property Act of 1861, which adopted the Torrens system of registration of t.i.tles, and may be regarded as one of the most useful reforms of the fifty-year period.

An Act to facilitate the incorporation of religious and charitable inst.i.tutions also became law. In 1862 an Act to provide for the appointment of a second Supreme Court Judge, at a salary of 1,500 a year, was pa.s.sed, the result being the introduction of the late Chief Justice c.o.c.kle, much to the dissatisfaction of the late Mr. Justice Lutwyche, who, having been sole Judge before separation, preferred a prior claim to the appointment. Interference with political and party affairs was the alleged cause of this non-recognition of seniority; and the charge had some justification, as his Honour once issued an address to the electors through the Press urging them to vote for a Liberal candidate. Another noticeable measure was an Act to provide for the introduction of labourers from British India. In all thirteen measures were pa.s.sed in this session, the last of the first Parliament.

THE SECOND PARLIAMENT: 22nd July, 1863-29th May, 1867.

In 1863 the second Parliament pa.s.sed twenty-seven Acts, among them one empowering the Government to construct a railway from Ipswich to Toowoomba, "and such other lines as may hereafter be specified," and providing generally for the management of railways. The Inquests on Fires Act, the Liens on Crops Act, the Trading Companies Act, the Queensland Bank Act, the Civil Service Act--providing liberal allowances for retiring public officers--Police, Publicans, and Quarantine Acts, and other measures, made this a very fertile session.

In 1864 no less than thirty Acts became law, including the Gold Export Duty Act, imposing a duty of 1s. 6d. per ounce on the precious metal.

The Immigration Act of 1864, providing for the issue of land-order warrants by the Agent-General, instead of land orders, and generally restricting the traffic in these instruments, was pa.s.sed. The Marriage Laws Act, the Military Contribution Act, appropriating 3,640 towards the cost of Her Majesty's troops in the colony, the Volunteer Corps Act, the Small Debts Act, the Roads Closing Act, the Bank of New South Wales Act, and the Brisbane Gas Company Act, with several others, became law. The publication of "Hansard" was begun in this year.

Twenty-two Acts were pa.s.sed in 1865, among them one for the Prevention of the Careless Use of Fire, a Selectors Relief Act, the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act, and eight measures amending the Criminal law. In 1866 twenty-six measures were pa.s.sed, including the Friendly Societies Enabling Act, the Inquests of Deaths Act, abolis.h.i.+ng coroners' juries and providing for magisterial inquiries at a cost of two guineas each as a fee to the presiding justice. The Standard Weight for Agricultural Produce Act and an Act declaring Port Albany, Cape York, a free port also became law, as well as a number of legal statutes.

THE THIRD PARLIAMENT: 6th August, 1867-27th August, 1868.

The third Parliament commenced its career in 1867 with a list of forty-eight Acts. The Const.i.tution Act of 1867 and the Legislative a.s.sembly Act of the same year laid the foundation of the Queensland Legislature, while the basis of our judiciary is the Supreme Court Act, the District Court Act, the Small Debts Act, and the Jury Act, all pa.s.sed in the same session. Other important measures which were pa.s.sed were Probate Act, Succession Act, Statute of Frauds and Limitations, Equity Act, Trustees and Incapacitated Persons Act, and the Polynesian Labourers Act, the latter the first of a long series of statutes legalising and regulating Polynesian labour. Most of the others were amendments of Acts pa.s.sed in previous sessions. In August, 1868, the Parliament was prematurely dissolved.

THE FOURTH PARLIAMENT: 18th November, 1868-13th July, 1870.

The fourth Parliament opened in November, 1868, and the first session lasted till April, 1869. Only nineteen Acts were pa.s.sed in the two sessions of 1868 and 1869. In the latter year two measures were pa.s.sed to encourage the establishment of industries, one by means of grants of land, while the other authorised bonuses for the manufacture of woollen and cotton goods--the growth of cotton having attained some prominence during the American Civil War in the early sixties.

The princ.i.p.al work of the session, however, was the pa.s.sage of the Pastoral Leases Act, and an Act to repeal the Civil Service Act of 1863, on the ground that it was imposing undue liabilities on the Treasury. The session of 1870 only lasted for a week, and was consequently barren.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE SCRUB COUNTRY, KIN KIN, NORTH COAST RAILWAY]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ON THE BLACKALL RANGE, NORTH COAST RAILWAY]