Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 160
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
In 1920 a Royal Commission was held into the question of increasing the salaries or
allowances to Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Commissioner, Mr
Justice Edmunds, recommended an increase in the allowance. The allowance fluctuated
over time, occasionally being reduced in times of financial stringency such as the
Depression but more frequently being increased. At this time Members of the Legislative
Council received no remuneration whatsoever; allowances for them were only introduced
in 1948, otherwise considerably smaller than those granted to Members of the Legislative
Assembly.
The end of the First World War brought home the many veterans, some who were
looking for work while others faced permanent disability as a result of their war injuries.
The 1920s saw the introduction of social reforms such as widow's pensions, child
endowment, shortening of the working week and workers' compensation, mostly by the
Labor governments. A massive public works program — to build the Sydney Harbour
Bridge and the underground railway system, and railway electrification — complemented
the rapid expansion of suburban Sydney. This program was largely funded through
overseas loans, which were to become part of the 1930s crisis to come.3
The 1920s and 1930s also saw increased agitation for the formation of new States and
enquiries into their establishment. The first Royal Commission, which reported in April
1925, was particularly concerned with the effect on the State of New South Wales of any
dismemberment, whether with regard to the Riverina District or to the Northern New
State, based at Armidale. It concluded unanimously that the creation of new States in
the Riverina and Monaro was neither practicable nor desirable; the majority of Members
reached the same conclusion about New England, with one member concluding that such
a State was practicable but not desirable.
In August 1933 Mr Justice Nicholas was appointed by the Government as sole
Commissioner to enquire and report as to the areas of New South Wales suitable for selfgovernment as States of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commission's report was
submitted on 2 January 1935. The findings of this Royal Commission were that two areas
were suitable for self-government: a northern region roughly taking in New England, the
North Coast, and the Hunter and Manning districts; and a central, western and southern
region covering most of the remaining area of the State, excepting the South Coast,
Cumberland and the Blue Mountains districts. Commissioner Nicholas recommended that
a referendum should be taken in each of the proposed areas found to be suitable for selfgovernment but in the northern area first, with preliminary steps to inform electors of
the questions at issue and possible advantages and disadvantages.4
Following the report of the Nicholas Royal Commission in 1935 agitation died down and
interest in new States did not revive until after the Second World War.
Attempts to reform or abolish the Legislative Council continued throughout the first half
of the twentieth century. For example, the Liberal Wade Government in 1910 put forward
a scheme for reducing the number of nominees in the Council to a fixed proportion of the
Legislative Assembly, providing that deadlocks between the two Houses be resolved
firstly by joint sitting and thereafter, if necessary, by referendum; and that these
proposals should be submitted to the people at the next General Election. 5 While
3
see 1919 to 1929 - The Twenties on
, the website of the
Parliament of New South Wales
4
Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry respecting areas in the State of New South Wales
suitable for self-government as States in the Commonwealth of Australia ..., (Government
Printer, Sydney, 1935); copy in New South Wales Parliamentary Papers, Session of 1934-35,
Vol.3 pp.1201-78
5
CURREY, C H, "The Legislative Council of New South Wales, 1843-1943 — Constitutional
Changes: Attempted and Achieved", in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian
Historical Society, (Vol. 29, Part 6, 1943), pp.392-93
158
State Records Authority of New South Wales
