Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/459

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AREA AND POPULATION S37

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. Every 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 license 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 inAVestern Australia for 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 month when making their claims. 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 sutficient qualification. Members of the Legislature are paid 300Z. a year, and travel free on all Government raihvays. The entire management and control of the waste lands of the Crown in Western Australia is vested in the Legislature of the State.

State of political ])arties : — Legislative Council, Labour, 7, Liberal, 23 ; Legislative Assembly, Labour, 34, Liberal. 16.

(^owm-'r.— Major-General Sir H. Barron, K.C.M.G. (from March, 1918).

The salary provided for the Governor is i,000l. per annum. He is assisted in his functions by a cabinet of responsible ministers, as follows (August, 1912):—

Premier and Colonial Treasurer.— Hon. J. S'caddan, M.L.A.

Minister for Lands and Agriculture. — Hon. T. H. Bath, M.L.A.

Minister for Mines and Railways. — Hon. P. Collier, M.L.A.

Minister for Justice and Education. — Hon. T. Walker, M.L.A.

Minister for Works. — Hon. W. D. Johnson, M.L.A.

Colonial Secretary. — Hon. J. M. Drew, M.L.C.

Ministers without Portfolio.— Bon. J. E. Dodd, M.L.C, and Hon. W. C. Angivin, M.Tj.A.

Agent-General in London.— L\^i\\t.-Qo\. Sir Xewton J. Moore, K.C.M.G.

Offices. — 15, Victoria Street, Westminster.

Area and Population.

As defined by Royal Commission, Western Australia includes all that por- tion of the continent situated to the Avestward of 129° E. longitude, to- gether with the adjacent islands. The greatest length of this territory from Cape Londonderry in the north to Peak Head (south of King George Sound) in the south is 1,480 miles, and its breadth from Steep Point near Dirk Hartogs Island, on the west to the 129th meridian, on the east, about 1,000