The Bower-Bird. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Australian People. 



Australian Democracies — The Federal Movement — Immigration — Current Wages— Cost of Living- 

 Absence of an Established Church — Religion in the Rural Districts — A Typical Service - 

 Sunday Observance — Mission Work — Church Building. 



THE Australian colonies are, one and all, democracies of the most 

 advanced type. Annual Parliaments have been advocated, though at 

 present triennial legislatures are the rule. Payment of members, it should be 

 added, is not adopted by all the states, but the principle seems to be 

 spreading. Two Houses are established in each colony, a Legislative Assem- 

 bly and a Legislative Council. The former is always elected by manhood 

 suffrage ; the latter, as in Victoria and South Australia, may be an elected 

 body, or, as in New South Wales and Queensland, it may be composed of 

 members nominated by the Crown. How the second chamber should be 

 constituted is one of the problems of the day. Every now and then one or 

 the other of the colonies is treated to ' a deadlock ' between the two bodies ; 

 and more than once in Victoria public payments have been suspended in 

 consequence, and popular passion has run high. 



The Australian democracy has worked well upon the whole, and has 



