AUSTRALASIA. 



Federation. In the Australian Federal Coun- 

 cil that assembled in Melbourne in February, 

 1890, all the colonies were represented, with the 

 exception of Fiji. After a discussion that ex- 

 tended over several days, an address to the Queen 

 was adopted, on the motion of one of the repre- 

 sentatives of New Zealand, Sir John Hall, de- 

 claring that in the opinion of the conference the 

 best interests and the present and future pros- 

 perity of the Australian colonies will be pro- 

 moted by an early union under the Crown, with 

 a single legislative and executive government, on 

 principles just to the several colonies. A reso- 

 lution to the same effect had been offered in the 

 conference by Sir Henry Parkes. A national 

 Australian convention was proposed, to which 

 delegations of not more than seven members 

 from each of the self-governing colonies and of 

 not more than four members from each of the 

 Crown colonies shall be sent. The conference 

 was called at the suggestion of Sir Henry Parkes, 

 the Premier of New South Wales, who had be- 

 come the most earnest advocate of federation, 

 although his colony had stood aloof from the 

 Federal Council, the deliberative body that was 

 constituted in 1883 with a view to concerted ac- 

 tion for certain limited purposes. Nor would 

 his Government now recognize the Council as a 

 medium for the discussion of the details of the 

 contemplated union. Mr. Gillies, of Victoria, 

 and the other colonial premiers therefore pro- 

 posed, and Sir Henry Parkes accepted, a compro- 

 mise whereby the members of the Council in 

 their private capacities met at Melbourne repre- 

 sentatives sent by the Government of New South 

 Wales. Duncan Gillies presided over the meet- 

 ings, which began on Feb. 6 and closed on Feb. 

 13. The convention, which is to work out the 

 details of the federal constitution, is to be held 

 in the early part of 1891. Sir Henry Parkes 

 was in favor of a union modeled on that of the 

 Dominion of Canada, with a Governor-General 

 appointed by the Crown and upper and lower 

 houses of Parliament. A. J. Clarke, from Tas- 

 mania, thought it would be better to follow the 

 Constitution of the United States. Some mem- 

 bers of the Conference considered union to be 

 Imperative only for purposes of military and 

 naval defense, while the New Zealand delegates, 

 though approving the project of a common navy, 

 denied the benefit to their colony of a federal 

 jinny. James Service, speaking in behalf of Vic- 

 toria, declared national unity to be impossible 

 without uii i form tariffs. The difficulties in the 

 way of an early agreement, springing from in- 

 tercolonial jealousies that have no connection 

 \\iih the practical questions of fiscal rivalry and 

 tin- many divergent interests, are exemplified by 

 the course of New South Wales in refusing to 

 take part in the original Federal Council and in 

 the recent proposal of Sir Henry Parkes to ap- 

 propriate to his own colony the name of Austra- 

 lia. Still, the conference and the coming con- 

 vention give evidence of a national spirit that 

 has already gained such strength in Australia 

 that statesmen are preparing to give it form. 

 In the course of the, summer the colonial legisla- 

 tures elected the delegates who are to act for the 

 several colonies in the Federation Convention 



New South Wales. The Governor is Lord 

 Carrington. The Cabinet in January, 1890, con- 



sisted of the following members : Premier and 

 Colonial Secretary, Sir Henry Parkes ; Colonial 

 Treasurer, William McMillan ; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, George Bowen Simpson ; Secretary for 

 Lands, James N. Brunker ; Secretary for Public 

 Works, Bruce Smith ; Minister of Public In- 

 struction, Joseph H. Carruthers ; Minister of 

 Justice, Albert J. Gould ; Postmaster-General, 

 Daniel O'Connor ; Secretary for Mines, Sydney 

 Smith ; Vice-President of the Council, William 

 H. Suttor. 



The session that opened in the beginning of 

 December, 1889, was short, confined principally 

 to the passing of the estimates. The revenue 

 returns indicated the beginning of returning 

 prosperity. The year ended with a surplus of 

 70,000 in the treasury. The exports of wool 

 had amounted to 3,000,000 more than was ex- 

 pected, the lambing season had proved one of 

 the best ever known, and the wheat harvest was 

 larger than ever before, being sufficient to sup- 

 ply three fourths of the requirements of the 

 colony. The Parliament met again in April. 

 The Protectionist minority expected to defeat 

 the Government on the question of direct taxa- 

 tion. Mr. McMillan, the Colonial Treasurer, was 

 challenged to propose the removal of the remain- 

 ing duties that were inconsistent with the prin- 

 ciples of free trade, which would necessitate the 

 raising of 500,000 a year by direct taxation. 

 The Government did not shrink from proposing 

 a reform of the tariff in this sense. Other parts 

 of their programme embraced the fixing of rents 

 and license fees for Crown lands ; district self- 

 government ; regulation of coal mines ; protec- 

 tion for women and children in factories ; amend- 

 ment of the licensing law by the adoption of the 

 principle of local option ; extension of railroads 

 and public works ; improving the water supply 

 in town and country ; an amendment of the law 

 relating to public health ; water conservation 

 and irrigation ; uniform penny postage ; amend- 

 ments of the mining and criminal laws ; drain- 

 age of low-lying lands ; and the amendment of 

 the electoral law by granting the franchise to 

 both sexes, and limiting the suffrage to a single 

 vote for each elector, instead of allowing a holder 

 of real property to vote in each or any district 

 where he has property. The revenue for the year 

 ending June 30, 1890, amounted to 9,100,000, 

 an increase of 214,000 over the receipts of the 

 preceding year. 



The recovery from depression in New South 

 Wales and other Australian colonies was accom- 

 panied by a series of labor conflicts. Every 

 trade has its union, and through the Trades 

 and Labor Council of New South Wales and 

 analogous central bodies in the other colonies 

 the unions act together to aid each other in their 

 strikes. The power and influence of the laborers 

 is enhanced by the relations of a large number 

 of them to the Government, which employs 6,000 

 men on the railroads and on the tramways of 

 Sydney, who are organized in a union that is 

 affiliated to the corresponding organizations in 

 the other colonies. The Government is the owner 

 likewise of many of the wharves in Sydney. In 

 June dock laborers were forbidden by their union 

 to load wool that had been shorn by non-union 

 rnen, and in consequence the steamship was una- 

 ble to proceed till the sheep-shearers had gained 



