The fourth Parliament opened in November, 1868, and the first session lasted till April, 1869. Only nineteen Acts were passed in the two sessions of 1868 and 1869. In the latter year two measures were passed 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 principal work of the session, however, was the passage 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. [Illustration: IN THE SCRUB COUNTRY, KIN KIN, NORTH COAST RAILWAY] [Illustration: ON THE BLACKALL RANGE, NORTH COAST RAILWAY] THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT: 16th November, 1870-21st June, 1871. The fifth Parliament lived only seven months. It met in November, 1870, and passed twenty-two Acts, among them being the University Act of 1870, giving the Governor in Council power to establish local examinations for degrees in connection with universities in Great Britain and Ireland. In this year an Act legalising the collection of border duties was passed. An Act providing for a pension of L400 a year to the Assembly's first Speaker also became law, but has not since been used as a precedent. By the Country Publicans Act a license for a house not within five miles of any town in which the Towns Police Act was in force was reduced to L15. The Gold Fields Homestead Act authorised the granting of agricultural leaseholds not exceeding forty acres on any proclaimed goldfield. A Wages Act enabled an employee to claim six months' pay from a mortgagee on taking over a property. In the session of 1871 only six Acts were passed, one repealing the proviso to section 10 of the Constitution Act of 1867 which required a two-thirds majority of both Houses to a bill altering the number or apportionment of members of the Assembly. The other measures of this session demand no notice here. THE SIXTH PARLIAMENT: 8th November, 1871-1st September, 1873.