Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/453

 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 401

WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Constitution and Government.

In 1791 Vancouver, in the Discovery, took formal possession of the country about King George Sound. In 1826 the Government of New South Wales sent 20 convicts and a detachment of soldiers to King George Sound and formed a settlement then called Fredericks Town. In 1827 Captain James (afterwards Sir James) Stirling surveyed the coast from King George Sound to the Swan River, and in May, 1829, Captain Fremantle (afterwards Sir Charles Fremantle, G.C. B.) took possession of the territory. In June, 1829, Captain Stirling founded the Swan River Settlement, now the Com- monwealth State of Western Australia, and the towns of Perth and Fre- mantle, and was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Western Australia thus became a British settlement in 1829.

Large grants of land were made to the early settlers, and agricultural and pastoral occupations were pursued by a small population with varying success, until, in 1850, the State was in a languishing condition, and the inhabitants' petition that it might be made a penal settlement was acceded to. Between 1850 and 1868, when transportation ceased, 9,718 convicts were sent out. The Imperial convict establishment was transferred to the Colonial Government on March 31, 1886.

In 1870 partially representative government was instituted, and in 1890 the administration was vested in the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council was, in the first instance, nominated by the Governor, but it was provided that in the event of the population of the Colony reaching 60,000, it should be elective. In 1893 this limit of population being reached, as set forth in a proclamation dated July 18, of that year, the Colonial Parliament passed an Act (57 Vict. No. 14) amending the constitution.

By the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1899, further amended by the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1911, it is provided that the Legis- lative Council shall consist of 30 members representing 10 electoral provinces and holding their seats for six years. Members must be 30 years of age, resident in the State for two years, and either be natural-born British subjects or naturalized for 5 years and resident in the State for 5 years. Even* elector must have resided in the State for 6 months, and must possess within the province freehold estate of the clear value of £50, or be a householder occupying a dwelling-house of the clear annual value of £17, or holder of a lease of the value of £17 per annum, or the holder of a lease or licence from the Crown of the annual rental of £10, or have his name on the electoral list of a Municipality or Roads Board in respect of property in the province of the annual rateable value of £17. The Legislative Assembly consists of 50 members, each representing one electorate, and elected for 3 years. Members must be 21 years of age, have resided in Western Australia lor twelve months, and be either natural-born subjects of the Crown or naturalized for 5 years. Electors must be 21 years of age, natural-born or naturalized subjects of the Crown, and must have resided in the State for 6 months and be on the roll, and must be resident in the district for at least one mouth when making their claims. Members of and electors for both Houses may be of either sex. No person can be registered as a voter in more than one district or more than once in each Province for which he holds a sufficient qualification. Members of the Legislature are paid 400/. a year, and travel free on all Government railways. The entire management