Yet the catastrophe was not wholly the fault of the Government. It was the consequence of the monetary and commercial crisis in the mother country in 1866. The Sydney branch of the Agra and Masterman's Bank had engaged to furnish L50,000 monthly to the Queensland Government for the prosecution of railways and other reproductive works pending the negotiation of the loan authorised by Parliament. The bank was of good standing, and under ordinary conditions its contract would have amply secured the position of the Treasury. Its failure could not have been foreseen; but the incident proves the unwisdom of a Government leaning upon any banking institution for heavy advances which can only be made on the assumption that normal deposits are maintained. In Queensland the position was intensified by the proposal of the Macalister Government to issue inconvertible legal tender notes, because it gave countenance to the economic fallacy that any Government can make money to an indefinable amount with the aid of the printing press. The resignation of Ministers because their advice had been refused by the Governor shook for the moment the very foundations of authority; and had not Mr. Herbert's services been available on the eve of his departure for England the consequences might have been grave indeed. But he consented to take office without portfolio for a few days with several other members, and, by getting authority from Parliament to issue Treasury bills, he saved the country from financial chaos. As it was, the ordeal proved a severe test of the loyalty of the people of the colony. On the establishment of Queensland a Customs tariff imposing light revenue duties was inherited from New South Wales. Under it spirits bore a duty of only 7s. per gallon. In 1865 the Treasurer, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Joshua Peter Bell, introduced a bill to raise the spirit duties by 3s. per gallon, and the duty on other intoxicants in proportion. The bill passed the second reading without debate, for it must have been felt that with the rapidly increasing interest charge further taxation ought years before to have been imposed. After the crisis of 1866 had subsided, further increased duties for temporary purposes were passed, as were also stamp duties, so that the revenue for the following year, despite the depression, showed the important increment of about L120,000. Happily the Crocodile goldfield, near Rockhampton, was discovered towards the close of 1866, and the Gympie goldfield during the next succeeding year. Hence for the remainder of the decade revenue, despite prolonged stagnation in business, steadily, if not rapidly, increased.