64 



AUSTRALIA. 



ure in the New South Wales Parliament, and 

 passed .the House of Assembly at once. It was 

 made operative from the beginning of that 

 month, and contained no exception in favor of 

 immigrants who were then on the seas or in 

 Australian ports. The act was virtually pro- 

 hibitive, restricting the number of passengers 

 to one for every 300 tons of the vessel carry- 

 ing them, and raising the poll-tax to 100. 

 Chinese were allowed to trade only in certain 

 districts, and only five in each district. Natu- 

 ralization of Chinese was forbidden. No Chi- 

 namen could mine without authority, and all 

 must take out licenses annually to be allowed 

 to reside in the colony. The Legislative Coun- 

 cil refused to suspend the rules to hurry the 

 passing of the bill, and meanwhile the supreme 

 court granted writs of habeas corpus for the 

 release of fifty Chinamen who were detained 

 in Sydney Harbor, declaring their detention 

 illegal. Two amendments of the Legislative 

 Council, one keeping open the Supreme Court 

 to persons who have claims for indemnity, and 

 the other striking out the clause limiting the 

 Chinese to certain areas and occupations, 

 which latter was drawn in imitation of the ex- 

 isting regulations for foreigners in China, were 

 accepted by the Assembly ; and, when the Coun- 

 cil stood firm, others were adopted by the Gov- 

 ernment, and finally accepted by the house, 

 removing the features of the bill that were 

 most flagrantly in contravention of the trea- 

 ties, but not mitigating its severity as a restrict- 

 ive measure. An intercolonial conference on 

 the subject of restriction was held at Sydney. 

 Its conclusions were embodied in the bill that 

 was introduced in the Victorian Parliament, 

 which opened its sessions on June 21. 



The right of domicile of Chinamen in Brit- 

 ish dominions rests not merely on international 

 law and the comity of nations, but on the first 

 article of the treaty of Nankin, signed Aug. 29, 

 1842, which provides that there shall be peace 

 and friendship between the sovereigns of Great 

 Britain and China and between their respect- 

 ive subjects, " who shall enjoy full security and 

 protection for their persons and property with- 

 in the dominions of the other." This treaty 

 was renewed by the one signed at Tientsin on 

 June 26, 1858. The Pekin Convention of 1860 

 provides that Chinese in choosing to take serv- 

 ice in British colonies are at liberty to enter 

 into engagements and take passage in British 

 vessels at the open ports, and that the Chinese 

 authorities shall, in concert with the diplomat- 

 ic representative of Great Britain, frame regu- 

 lations for the protection of emigrants sailing 

 from the open ports. 



Traffic in Arms with the Pacific Islanders. Great 

 Britain has for three or four years been attempt- 

 ing to induce other nations to enter into an 

 agreement prohibiting the sale of fire-arms and 

 powder and of alcoholic liquors in the western 

 Pacific. The consequences of supplying the 

 natives with arms of precision are described 

 in a blue-book on the subject. In some of the 



islands the people kill each other in family and 

 tribal feuds. The effect on the relations of the 

 natives with whites is pointed out by Bishop 

 Selwyn, of Melanesia, in a letter to the Colo- 

 nial Office. Any outrage committed by a white 

 man is sure to be avenged by a volley fired at 

 the next boat's crew, and then a man-of-war is 

 sent to punish the islanders, and a party land- 

 ed, often in the face of a heavy fire, thus ' ex- 

 posing valuable lives for the most trivial of 

 causes." Recently the boats of the "Eliza 

 Mary " were fired on from the New Hebrides, 

 the natives mistaking the English vessel for 

 the " Tongatabu," a labor vessel flying the Ger- 

 man flag, which had recruited laborers for Sa- 

 moa under the pretense that they were for 

 Queensland. 



Without waiting for a convention, the gov- 

 ernments of Queensland and Fiji in 1884 pro- 

 hibited the sale of fire-arms to natives. But 

 these regulations are evaded by the labor 

 agents who find that guns and powder are the 

 only price that will gain laborers for the sugar- 

 plantations. When an international agreement 

 was proposed, France at once signified her wil- 

 lingness to enter into the compact if the other 

 powers should do likewise. Germany returned 

 no answer to the proposal. The United States 

 declined to accede to the proposed regulations. 

 Mr. Bayard in his reply recognized their gen- 

 eral propriety and the responsibility of con- 

 ducting such traffic under proper and careful 

 restrictions, while signifying the intention of 

 the Government of the United States for the 

 present " to restrain its action to the employ- 

 ment, in the direction of the suggested arrange- 

 ment, of a sound discretion in permitting traffic 

 between its own citizens in the articles referred 

 to and the natives of the western Pacific isl- 

 ands." 



New Sonth Wales. The oldest of the Aus- 

 tralian colonies has been self-governing since 

 1855. The present Governor is Lord Carring- 

 ton,who entered on the office in December, 1885. 

 The present ministry, which was constituted 

 on Jan. 19, 1887, is composed of the following 

 members : Premier and Colonial Secretary, Sir 

 Henry Parkes; Colonial Treasurer, John Fitz- 

 gerald Burns ; Minister for Lands, Thomas 

 Garrett; Minister for Works, John Sutherland ; 

 Attorney-General, Bernhard Ringrose Wise, 

 who received his appointment on May 27, 1887; 

 Minister for Public Instruction, James Inerlis ; 

 Minister for Justice, William Clarke ; Post- 

 master-Genern], C. J. Roberts; Minister for 

 Mines, Francis Abigail; President of the Exec- 

 utive Council, Julian Emmanuel Salomons, who 

 represents the Government in the Legislative 

 Council, but holds no portfolio. 



The revenue in 1886 amounted to 7,594,300, 

 of which 2,389,138 were derived from the 

 state railways, 2,068,571 from customs, and 

 1,643,955 from the public lands, the sales 

 amounting to 1,206,438. The revenue has 

 increased from 22 per head of population in 

 1871 to 39 in 1886. The total expenditure in 



