The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 12, 14 February 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1878.

A dead Bet is being made *t the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament by the present Premier, Mr Berry, and his colleagues, the cj&us belli being the question of payment of members. This system was authorised by an Act passed some three or four years ago, which was only to be in existence for a limited period that has now expired, and consequently a new Act had to be passed, or, like other item 3of ordinary expenditure, the sum required would have to be placed on the Estimates. Knowing that a Bill introduced for the purpose would be rejected by the Council Mr Berry placed the sum on the Appropriation Act. This being a money Bill the Council had not the power to amend or alter it in any way, but they were compelled to pass it as sent up to them or to throw it out altogether, and so much importance did they attach to the principle involved in the payment of members that they did not hesitate to adopt the latter alternative, and the Bill was rejected without a single voice calling even for a division. The consequence is that there are no funds available for the payment of the officers of the Government and they are being dismissed in a wholesale manner, over four hundred, including Judges of the County Courts, Police Magistrates, and Civil Engineers, having been informed that their services were dispensed with, while, as our telegrams tell us, the whole of the Civil servants are living in a state of suspense, not knowing when their turn may come. Of course the object Mr Berry has in view in acting in this manner is to render the Council unpopular, but it is quite possible that he may have gone a little too far, and may yet have reason to regret having taken a step so revolutionary as th«stoppage of the machinery of Government. On the other hand it must be supposed that the Council knew full well what they were about in throwing out the Appropriation Bill, and that they are prepared to justify their resorting to so extreme a measure. So far as we can ascertain their reasou was that the payment of members was not popular with the country, and that they were anxious to bring about a dissolution, feeling sure that an appeal to the country would result in a condemnation of the system. How it is all to end it is not easy to foresee. It is not, however, so difficult to imagine the confusion, the inconvenience, and even the misery that must be occasioned in Melbourne, where there are hundreds of officers, many of them no doubt with wives and families, of a sudden, and without the slightest warning, deprived of the means of earning their daily bread. Add to this the stoppage of the wheels of Government, no Police Magistrates, no Judges of the lower Courts, no Engineers— every department indeed in the wildest confusion, and some id«a may be formed of the result of this political quarrel. [Since the above wag in type we have received a very clumsily worded telegram, the purport of which appears to be that there is to be a dissolution of the Assembly, and that a Bill for the reform of the Council is to be the first measure submitted to the Parliament. There is a confusion of dates which renders the massage almost unintelligible, and we do not profess to understand it very clearly.}