A History of the Colony of Victoria

Seitenzahl:

322

Gewicht:

472 g

Erschienen bei:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Kurzbeschreibung

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE TRANSITION TO RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. Sir Charles Hotham had failed to disentangle the intricate difficulties which, to use his own words, he had inherited from the weakness shown by the previous Executive. As he could not unravel the Gordian knot he cut it with the sword of authority, and found himself denounced all round for his obstinacy and impulsiveness. But it must be admitted that he showed much judgment in endeavouring to secure the best advice from those whom he fancied he could trust. He was certainly not afraid of responsibility, though he more than once honestly declared that his limited knowledge of colonial requirements debarred him from acting promptly on his own initiative. While deploring the necessity for delegating any of the functions of Government, he yet appointed Boards of Inquiry and Royal Commissions with a free hand. Besides the important ones already referred to, such as those on the financial position, the squatting tenure, and the management of the goldnelds, there were inquiries going on in connection with the police, the commissariat department, and other sources of reputed waste. Two of these at least did good work and secured substantial reform; others revealed grave irregularities, and nipped in the bud a growing tendency towards corruption and scandal. The report of the Goldfields Commission, however, probably disturbed him most. It was a tediously lengthy, and by no means conclusive deliverance, and with the voluminous evidence made about three days' solid reading. It distributed blame pretty freely all round, but it fenced its accusations with so many " ifs " and " buts " that they did not lead to action. Some of its recommendations were undoubtedly good. It decreed the abolition of the licence fee, not so much on the gr...

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Mehr von:  Henry Gyles Turner, Cambridge Scholars Publishing