The limitations upon the power of legislation possessed by the Parliament of Western Australia are similar to those imposed upon the Legislatures of other Australian Provinces, except that the protection of the aborigines has been placed in the hands of an independent Board, nominated and controlled by the Governor. It receives for the execution of its duties 1 per cent. of the annual revenue of the country, but cannot carry them out without the active support of Government officials. The existence of this Board is strongly resented by Western Australians as an unjust reflection upon them, and as an imputation that they cannot be trusted to deal in a just and humane manner towards the natives; and the Premier, voicing the unanimous opinion of both Houses, has attempted, hitherto without success, to secure the repeal of the obnoxious section of the Constitution Act. The attitude of the Government in regard to the relations between Church and State as affecting the endowment of religious bodies and the assistance {159} given to denominational schools was, until recently, that grants should annually be voted by Parliament. But the trend of public opinion has been in the direction of secular education and the termination of the payments made to the Churches. The matter was, accordingly, during the session of 1895, dealt with by the Ecclesiastical Grants Abolition Act and the Assisted Schools Abolition Act. Previously the payments to the Churches had been at the rate of about L3,500 per annum, of which the Church of England received L2,000, the Roman Catholics L1,000, and the Wesleyans and Presbyterians L360 and L160 respectively. The grants have been commuted at ten years' purchase, and the capital amount is to be paid _pro rata_ out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund in two equal instalments to the recognised heads of each religious denomination. This Bill was passed, with universal approval, through both Houses of Parliament, but a like unanimity was not manifested in regard to the Education question. In fact, early in the session, the Premier had stated that he had no immediate intention of dealing with it, but his hands were forced by popular opinion, as manifested by the result of several elections fought upon that issue. Consequently, after a resolution passed by both Houses that "It is expedient that the Assisted" (denominational) "Schools should no longer form part of the public Educational system of the Colony," and on the report of a Joint Committee, a Bill was introduced by the Premier into the {160} Assembly fixing the sum to be paid as compensation, in lieu of grants in aid, at L20,000. In 1894 one-third of the children being educated in the Colony were attending the Assisted Schools, at a cost to the country of L2,093 for the Assisted, and L11,356 for the Government Schools. The Bill was hotly discussed; the Opposition divided over the amount, and were only beaten