The ninth Parliament opened on 7th November, 1883, and the Government resigned after being thrice defeated. Mr. Griffith became Premier, and he at once set to work to reverse the policy of his rival in several respects. The Assembly passed a bill to repeal the Labourers from British India Acts of 1862 and 1882, but the Council rejected it. The passage of the Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act (introduced by Mr. Macrossan as a private Opposition member), which restricted the number of Chinese passengers arriving by any vessel to one to every fifty tons register, and imposed a landing fee of L30 per head on such passengers, had a salutary effect in limiting this form of Asiatic immigration. The Pacific Island Labourers Act Amendment Act further safeguarded the interests of white workers in Queensland. The Railway Companies Preliminary Act was repealed, and its repeal put a stop to the negotiations which had been going on in connection with the Transcontinental Railway under the previous Government. The chief measure passed in the regular session of 1884 was the Crown Lands Act, which has been dealt with elsewhere. A comprehensive Defence Act established the principle of compulsory service in time of war. Among other measures passed were a comprehensive Health Act, a Bills of Exchange Act, a Wages Act, a Pharmacy Act, and the Native Birds Protection Act; also the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act. Many of the other Acts were legal measures, but one may be mentioned as of interest--the New Guinea and Pacific Jurisdiction Contribution Act, which provided for the amount of annual contribution by Queensland in the event of a British Protectorate being established over Eastern New Guinea and other islands in the Western Pacific. An Act of interest to civil servants was that which required all fees thereafter received by them to be paid into the Treasury. The Acts of this single session--the first of Mr. Griffith's Premiership--extended over 405 pages of the then quarto Statute-book.