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VICTORIA.

Constitution and Government.

The constitution of Victoria was established by an Act, passed by the Legislature of the colony, in 1854, to which the assent of the Crown was given, in pursuance of the power granted by the Act of the Imperial Parliament of 18 & 19 Vict. cap. 55. This charter vests the legislative authority in a Parliament of two Chambers ; the Legislative Council, composed of thirty members, and the Legis- lative Assembly, composed of sixty members. Originally a high property qualification was required both for members and electors of the Legislative Council, but the same was reduced recently, by Colonial Statute, as regards members to the possession of an estate rated at not less than 50/. a-year, and as to electors to the possession or occupancy of property of the value of 50/., or 51. per annum. No electoral property qualification is required for graduates of British universities, matriculated students of the Melbourne university, ministers of religion of all denominations, certificated schoolmasters, lawyers, medical practitioners, and officers of the army and navy. Six members, or a fifth of the Legislative Council, must retire every two years, so that a total change is effected in ten years. The members of the Legislative Assembly are elected by universal suffrage. The duration of the Assembly was originally fixed at five years, but the term has since been reduced to three. Clergymen of any religious denomination, and persons convicted of felony, are excluded from sitting in both the Legislative Council and the Assembly. Members of the Legislature are not entitled at present to any remuneration for their services.

The executive of the colony is vested in a governor appointed by the Crown.

Governor of Victoria. — Hon. John H. T. Manners Sutton, born 1810, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated M. A., 1835 ; Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from Sept, 1841 to July 184G ; returned M.P. for the borough of Cambridge, Sept. 1839, biit unseated on petition ; sat for the borough of Cambridge from 1841 to 1847; Lieut.-governor of New Brunswick, from June 1854 to Oct. 1861 ; Governor of Trinidad from April 1864 to May 1866; appointed Governor of Victoria, May 1866, and assumed office, Aug. 26, 1866.

The Governor, who is likewise commander-in-chief of all the colonial troops, has a salary of 10,000/. a year. In the exercise of the executive he is assisted by a cabinet of ten ministers, called the Chief Secretary, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, the President of Board of Land and Survey, the Com- missioner of Public Works, the Commissioner of Railways, the Com-