13 April 1910
(2) State Debts; (3) Surplus Revenue

Question 1

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled ‘Constitution Alteration (State Debts) 1909’?

The Constitution gave the Commonwealth Parliament power to take over debts of the States in existence at the establishment of the Commonwealth. Constitution Alteration (State Debts) 1909 sought to give the Commonwealth unrestricted power to take over State debts by deleting words from section 105.

Australia. Referendum, 1910

State	Number on rolls	Ballot papers issued	For (v)	For (%)	Against (v)	Against (%)	Informal
New South Wales	834 662	512 802	159 275	33.34	318 412	66.66	34 060
Victoria	703 699	468 535	279 392	64.59	153 148	35.41	33 824
Queensland	279 031	170 634	102 705	64.57	56 346	35.43	9 971
South Australia	207 655	110 503	72 985	73.18	26 742	26.82	10 252
Western Australia	134 979	83 893	57 367	72.80	21 437	27.20	4 324
Tasmania	98 456	57 609	43 329	80.97	10 186	19.03	3 778
Total	2 258 482	1 403 976	715 053	54.95	586 271	45.05	96 209

Obtained majority in five States and an overall majority of 128 782 votes. Carried

Question 2

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled ‘Constitution Alteration (Finance) 1909’?

Constitution Alteration (Finance) 1909 sought to amend section 87 (the ‘Braddon Clause’) which was due to lapse in 1910, in order to give constitutional effect to a financial agreement reached between the States and the Commonwealth to replace the section.

Australia. Referendum, 1910. Question 2

State	Number on rolls	Ballot papers issued	For (v)	For (%)	Against (v)	Against (%)	Informal
New South Wales	834 662	512 802	227 650	47.35	253 107	52.65	31 411
Victoria	703 699	468 535	200 165	45.26	242 119	54.74	24 299
Queensland	279 031	170 634	87 130	54.58	72 516	45.42	9 489
South Australia	207 655	110 503	49 352	49.06	51 250	50.94	9 679
Western Australia	134 979	83 893	49 050	61.74	30 392	38.26	3 890
Tasmania	98 456	57 609	32 167	59.99	21 454	40.01	3 669
Total	2 258 482	1 403 976	645 514	49.04	670 838	50.96	82 437

Obtained majority in three States and an overall minority of 25 324 votes.
Not carried