. David Syme, the father of protection in Australia. sponsible government had been grantedby Queen Victoria to the newly-made Colony ofVictoria. The Constitution opposed an almost in-surmountable barrier to the immediate realizationof Liberal hopes ; for it prescribed a property quali-fication of £300 a year from real property to makea candidate eligible for the Legislative Council,and £300 a year for the Legislative Assembly j andit furthermore required that no man should bepermitted to exercise the franchise for the UpperHouse unless possessed of an income from landamounting to £100 per annu
. David Syme, the father of protection in Australia. sponsible government had been grantedby Queen Victoria to the newly-made Colony ofVictoria. The Constitution opposed an almost in-surmountable barrier to the immediate realizationof Liberal hopes ; for it prescribed a property quali-fication of £300 a year from real property to makea candidate eligible for the Legislative Council,and £300 a year for the Legislative Assembly j andit furthermore required that no man should bepermitted to exercise the franchise for the UpperHouse unless possessed of an income from landamounting to £100 per annum. The Age vehemently attacked these undemocraticrestrictions. It announced a popular programmecomprising five cardinal points :— 1. Electoral reform on the basis of manhood suffrage and the abolition of property quali-fications. 2. The abolition of squatting and the opening of the public lands to free selection by thepeople. 3. No compensation to the squatters. 4. The abolition of State aid to religion. 5. Compulsory, free, secular UJ o THE LAND STRUGGLE 83 The masses were not slow to respond to so vigor-ous a championing of their interests. Politiciansprofessing Liberal views began to stump the elec-torate. Amongst the more prominent were OShanassy and Mr. Charles Gavan latter, who had been a prominent member ofthe Young Ireland party and a member of the Houseof Commons, had arrived in the country a fewmonths before from Great Britain. His fellow-countrymen and co-religionists were so determinedto have him in the new Parliament that they collectedsufficient funds to overcome the difficulty of theproperty qualification. On the 20th of August,1856, they presented him with the title-deeds ofa small estate they had purchased for him. promised to support The Age policy and hewas returned. Sectarian influences, however, largelyswayed him, and it was alleged that he had been nobbled by the Conservatives and that hissecret sympathies were w
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