40 



AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



The day was observed in Melbourne as a 

 public holiday. A dispatch from Sir Herbert 

 Sandford, the official representative of the 

 Royal Commission for the Australian Exhibi- 

 tion, stated that the exhibition had opened 

 most successfully, nearly all the courts being 

 very complete, especially the British court, 

 thanks to the exertions of the exhibitors and 

 of the Great Britain committee, who respect- 

 fully desire to congratulate his Royal Highness 

 the Prince of Wales and her Majesty's com- 

 missioners on the splendid display of British 

 fine arts and manufactures. 



New South Wales. The Governor's speech, 

 in proroguing Parliament in August, 1880, re- 

 fers to some signs of progress. Among the 

 most important acts passed by the Legislature 

 is the act to amend the Land Acts of 1861 and 

 1875, the aim of which is to afford additional 

 facilities and securities for industrial settlement 

 upon the soil ; the Public Instruction Act, for 

 carrying out a system of primary instruction, 

 open alike to all classes and all creeds, and which 

 provides the means for improving the methods 

 of teaching to the highest degree, and places the 

 teacher within reach of the remotest child in 

 the land ; the Electoral Act, which reduces the 

 anomalies in the representation to a principle 

 of virtual equality, and enlarges the representa- 

 tive branch of the Legislature. As regards the 

 material progress of the colony, it is stated that 

 during the current year two hundred and twen- 

 ty-three miles of new railway lines will be 

 opened to the public, while provision is made 

 for new extensions, which will when completed 

 add more than a thousand miles to the railway 

 system of the colony. The revenue from the 

 working railways is steadily increasing, and at 

 the present time is fifty thousand pounds in 

 advance of that for the corresponding period 

 of 1879. Other large public works have been 

 completed or are in course of construction, 

 including the fortification of the harbors of 

 Sydney and Newcastle, lighthouses on various 

 parts of the coast, Government offices and pub- 

 lic buildings. It is confidently expected that 

 the International Exhibition of Art and Indus- 

 trial skill recently closed at Sydney will have 

 given a stimulus to enterprise and invention, 

 and amply justify the grants for its inaugura- 

 tion. 



The International Exhibition at Sydney was 

 closed in April. At the closing ceremonial 

 the Governor, Ministers, Judges, both Houses 

 of Parliament, and a vast concourse of the 

 public attended. Seven thousand awards were 

 declared officially, and an address and gold 

 medal were presented to the Governor. The 

 whole ceremony was very successful. Three 

 cheers were given for the Queen, Governor, 

 Lady Augustus Loftus, and the Executive Com- 

 mission. 



Queensland. Parliament was opened in July. 

 The Governor, in his speech on the occasion, 

 referred to the return of the Premier, Mr. 

 Mcll wraith, from England, and the proposals 



which he had submitted to the Home Govern- 

 ment for the establishment of an improved 

 mail service and the transport of immigrants 

 ma Suez and Torres Straits. The Governor 

 proceeded to state that the last Queensland 

 loan issued had been completely successful. 

 The settlement of land, and especially for the 

 cultivation of sugar, was increasing. The dis- 

 covery of tin in the northern rivers showed 

 that the settlement of the country was pro- 

 gressing very favorably. The revenue of the 

 colony for the year "showed an increase of 

 20,000. The financial statement of the Treas- 

 urer, which was submitted on the 18th of Au- 

 gust, estimates the revenue at 1,700,000 and 

 the expenditure at 1,670,000. The debit 

 balance on June 30th was 190,000. The 

 deficit is to be covered by transferring under 

 the new statute to the consolidated revenue 

 the receipts of the land department previous- 

 ly applied to railway construction. There is 

 to be no increase of taxation except in the 

 excise duties upon colonial spirits. The Treas- 

 urer considered that it would be unjust to 

 augment the public burdens in order to push 

 forward the construction of railways in the in- 

 terior, when the sale of a portion of the land 

 made accessible would suffice to pay interest 

 on the capital required. British capitalists were 

 offering to complete the railway system in con- 

 sideration of a Government grant of land, and 

 a bill to sanction that course would be intro- 

 duced. The depressed state of trade was pass- 

 ing away, and there was a gradual increase of 

 the revenue. Nothing was wanting for the 

 restoration of the full prosperity of the colony 

 but means for placing its surplus food and prod- 

 ucts within the reach of the British consumer. 

 In the sitting on the 19th a vote of want of 

 confidence in the Government on account of 

 the budget was moved by the leader of the 

 opposition, but was rejected by twenty-seven 

 votes to eighteen. 



New Zealand. In July, Sir Hercules Robin- 

 son, the Governor of New Zealand, delivered a 

 speech, in which he condemned the New Zea- 

 land educational system as too expensive, too 

 secular in character, and in advance of the re- 

 quirements of the colony ; also deprecated the 

 absence of religious teaching in the public 

 schools. 



III. FRENCH POSSESSIONS. Tahiti, or Otahei- 

 ti, with its adjacent islands, which hitherto had 

 been under French protectorate, was on June 

 29, 1880, formally annexed to France. It is re- 

 ported that the King, Pomare V, accomplished 

 the act of his own free will, that it was ac- 

 cepted by the commissary of the French Gov- 

 ernment, and hailed with enthusiasm by the 

 Tahiti an population. Pomare V will retain 

 the honorary title of King. He had been the 

 nominal ruler of the islands since 1877, when 

 he succeeded, as the nearest relation of royal 

 blood, Queen Pomar6, who in 1842 signed the 

 convention with the French Admiral Dupetit 

 Thouars about the establishment of a French 



