as there was no possibility of getting it through the Council; its introduction appears to have been due to the desire that it should be discussed at the pending General Elections. The principal clause provided that "any Bill which shall be passed by the House of Assembly in two consecutive sessions of Parliament, and which shall be rejected by the Legislative Council in each of {180} two such consecutive sessions, may be submitted for the approval of the people of Tasmania by means of a general poll of, or referendum to, the electors for the House of Assembly." An interval of not less than six weeks was to elapse between the two sessions, and where a Bill had been amended by the Council, the Assembly was to be vested with the final decision whether the amendments effected such substantial alterations as to be tantamount to a rejection, and might present an address to the Governor requesting that a Bill which had been rejected twice or substantially altered might be submitted to a general vote of the electors. A bare majority of the votes so recorded was to be sufficient to secure the enactment of the measure subject to the constitutional rights of the Governor. The placid progress of the Session was impaired by the introduction of a private railway Bill, which led to many nights of contentious debate and much hostility among the various sections in the Assembly. All the railways are owned by the State with the exception of a few short lines in the Northern and Western portions of the Province which have been constructed by Mining Companies without any concessions from the Government. During recent years the Western district has become an important mining centre, and should, in the opinion of most Tasmanians, be connected by railway with either Launceston or Hobart. But the condition of the {181} finances is such, as has already been seen, that the Government cannot venture to undertake the construction of further public works unless it can be shown that they will immediately give an adequate return upon the outlay. The small surplus of the last two years was obtained at the cost of rigid retrenchment and high direct taxation, an income tax of eightpence in the pound upon incomes derived from personal exertion, and a shilling upon those derived from property, and a land-tax of a halfpenny in the pound upon the capital value of land. It, therefore, became necessary, if the construction of the line or lines were not to be postponed indefinitely, that the aid of private enterprise should be invoked and that concessions should be offered which would be sufficient to attract private capitalists.