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The scheme for the supply of Victoria with water was under consideration. It was thought better that the whole project should be considered comprehensively, and if approved, an appropriation made at once for the entire sum required to complete this undertaking, instead of leaving the execution of it dependent from year to year on annual votes.
If, however, expenditure is to be covered by annual votes, no object would appear to be gained by what are termed permanent appropriations. A vote in the Appropriation Ordinance may be rejected by the Council, and the intention of the original Ordinance might thereby be defeated.
Besides, it would give the Council practically the power, by simply abstaining from re-voting an instalment of a salary related to an undertaking for which an Ordinance had waived the assent of the Crown, and which ought only to be repealed by an Ordinance passed and assented to in a similar manner.