elected, and when
the news went home it caused some merriment. He was jokingly asked in
the House of Lords when he would sail for Sydney. And for several weeks
he underwent so much banter on the subject that his attention was fully
aroused to the long-neglected question. He weighed the matter carefully,
and, resolving to do the people of Port Phillip full justice, sent out
word that he would at once prepare a Bill for the Imperial Parliament,
in order to obtain the necessary powers. At the same time he intimated
that Queen Victoria would be pleased if the new colony should adopt her
name. Nothing could give the colonists more satisfaction, and they
waited with patience until affairs should be properly arranged in
England.

#8. Sir Charles Fitzroy.#--All this agitation, however, had not taken
place without much irritation and contention between the people at Port
Phillip and their Governor at Sydney, from whose authority they wished
to free themselves. Sir George Gipps had much to harass him, and in 1846
he was glad to retire from his troublesome position. He was succeeded by
Sir Charles Fitzroy, a gentleman in every respect his opposite. By no
means clever, yet good-tempered and amiable, he troubled himself very
little with the affairs of the colony. The Sydney Council managed
everything just as it pleased; Sir Charles was glad to be rid of the
trouble, and the colonists were delighted to have their own way. As for
the separation question, he cared very little whether Port Phillip was
erected into a colony or not.

In 1850 the news arrived that Port Phillip was to be separated from New
South Wales, and in the middle of the next year its independence was
declared. Its Superintendent, Latrobe, was raised to the dignity of
Governor, and the new colony received its Constitution, conferring on it
all the legislative and other powers which had previously been possessed
only by New South Wales.

#9. Abolition of Transportation.#--It was during this period that the
English Government resolved on sending no more convicts to Australia. A
committee of the Imperial Parliament held an inquiry into the effects of
transportation, and reported that it would be unwise to continue the
system. From 1842, therefore, there was practically a cessation of
transportation, although the majority of the squatters were averse to
the change. They found that the convicts, when assigned to them, made
good shepherds and stockmen, and that at ch