AUSTRALASIA. 



their point. In South Australia the railway 

 commissioners were compelled to yield when for- 

 bidden by the unions to transport boycotted 

 goods. A general wharf laborers' strike in Syd- 

 ney for the dismissal of non-union men, higher 

 wages, and an intermission of half an hour in 

 the eight hours to smoke tobacco was settled at 

 the outset by a compromise, being supported by 

 not fewer than 500 unions. In Victoria occurred 

 strikes of the bakers against long hours and 

 night work ; of the bootmakers ; of brickmakers 

 against the employment of boys to displace men ; 

 and in the building trades, in which wages have 

 been reduced in consequence of the late crisis in 

 the real-estate market and the stoppage of specu- 

 lative building. The 21st of April is celebrated 

 as a general holiday in Melbourne in commemora- 

 tion of the achievement of the eight hours' day. 

 All business and traffic is stopped, and even the 

 Governor contributes to the celebration by re- 

 viewing the procession of the trade bodies. 



Victoria. The Governor of the colony is the 

 Earl of Hopetown, who assumed the government 

 in November, 1889. The Cabinet at the begin- 

 ning of 1890 consisted of the following minis- 

 ters : Premier, Treasurer, Minister of Mines, 

 And Minister of Railways, Duncan Gillies ; Chief 

 Secretary and Commissioner of Water Supply, 

 Alfred Deakin ; Attorney-General, H. J. Wrix- 

 on ; Commissioner of Public Works, D. M. Da- 

 vies ; Minister of Justice, Henry Cuthbert ; Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands, J. L. Dow ; Commis- 

 sioner of Trade and Customs, J. B. Patterson ; 

 Minister of Instruction, C. II. Pearson; Minis- 

 ter of Defense, James Bell ; Postmaster-General, 

 F. T. Derham. 



In the parliamentary session that was closed 

 on Nov. 25, 1889, an altercation arose between 

 the Assembly and the Council over a bill regu- 

 lating the administration of the customs, which 

 contained a clause giving the Commissioner of 

 Customs certain discretionary powers to fix the 

 rate of duty in doubtful cases, a provision that 

 should have been embodied in a separate bill 

 that the Council could accept or reject, but 

 could not, under the Constitution, amend. The 

 indignation of the Lower House was aroused 

 in the last hours of the session against the Coun- 

 cil on account of the excision of a clause in an 

 amending education bill permitting members of 

 Parliament to act as commissioners in the edu- 

 cation department, although by a general act 

 passed several years before they are incapacitated 

 for any paid office under the Government. A 

 bill was passed introducing the penny post 

 throughout the colony. Other enactments re- 

 late to irrigation, water conservation, medical 

 practitioners, the public health, suppression of 

 rabbits, and the Federal Council. An amend- 

 ment to the divorce law, introduced by Mr. 

 Shiels, was almost identical with that which 

 Sir Alfred Stephen had a year or two before suc- 

 ceeded in passing through the New South Wales 

 Parliament, but which was disallowed by the 

 Crown. The Victoria bill, which authorizes 

 divorce for various causes not recognized in 

 England, among them three years' desertion, was 

 likewise reserved for the consideration of the 

 home authorities. It had been modified in 

 some particulars suggested when the Sydney bill 

 was under consideration, and was confirmed by 



the Secretary of State, notwithstanding the pro- 

 tests of the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Wesley- 

 an clergy of Victoria. The Anglican bishops 

 directed the clergy of their dioceses to refuse to 

 officiate at the marriages of persons divorced 

 under the act, or to issue marriage licenses to 

 such persons. The Government had obtained 

 authority to raise a new loan of 5,600,000 for 

 railroad construction. Promises had been given 

 for 6,000 miles ; yet in the session that began on 

 May 21, 1890, Mr. Gillies could only ask for leave 

 to build 1,077 miles, to cost 12,500,000, includ- 

 ing equipment, besides 2,000,000 to be spent in 

 equipping and improving existing lines. The 

 Opposition accused the Government of extrava- 

 gance and of laying out new lines for political 

 objects, and declined to allow the Premier, who 

 is the responsible Minister of Railways, to screen 

 himself by pleading the recommendations of the 

 railway commissioners. The last year's treas- 

 ury accounts were closed with a nominal sur- 

 plus of 1,704,000, but this vanished, as usual, 

 when the expenditures already incurred were 

 charged to the next year's account, being reduced 

 to 142,497 at the end of the first quarter. The 

 revenue for the year ending June 30, 1890, was 

 8,511,000, being 342,000 above the budget es- 

 timate. The income from railroads was 3,- 

 134,000, or 29,000 more than in the preceding 

 year. The revenue for the ensuing year was es- 

 timated at 9,718,000, and the expenditure at 

 9,651,000. Advancement has been made in the 

 defenses, which have been pronounced by Gen. 

 Edwards among the best in the empire since the 

 rearmament of the forts with the new type of 

 breech-loading guns. The militia and volunteer 

 forces are being augmented. - A Minister of 

 Health has been appointed. A reform in educa- 

 tion involving the abolition of payment by re- 

 sults, as determined by the examination of the 

 school inspectors, and the endowment of a na- 

 tional system is in contemplation. The irrigation 

 works are already available for farmers in some 

 districts. It has been supposed that Victoria is all 

 but destitute of coal ; but recently extensive de- 

 posits of both the black and brown varieties have 

 been discovered in Gippsland, and companies have 

 been formed to bring the product of these fields 

 into the market to compete with New South 

 Wales coal. Many farmers are discontented with 

 the Protectionist party since the rejection of the 

 proposals to impose a duty of 3s. per cental on 

 grain and pulse and increase the duties on live 

 stock and meat. Recent changes in the tariff 

 increase the drawbacks and place a few addi- 

 tional unimportant articles on the free list. 



Queensland. The present Governor, Sir 

 Henry Wylie Norman, received his appointment 

 in December, 1888. The following ministers 

 were in office at the beginning of 1890 : Premier, 

 Chief Secretary, and Vice-President of the Ex- 

 ecutive Council, B. D. Morehead; Minister for 

 Lands, M. Hume Black ; Minister for Railways 

 and for Public Works, H. M. Nelson; Post- 

 master-General and Minister for Public Instruc- 

 tion, Charles Powers; -Colonial Secretary and 

 Secretary for Mines, J. M. Macrossan ; Minister 

 of Justice, A. J. Thynne ; Colonial Treasurer, 

 J. Donaldson. Queensland has suffered more 

 than other colonies from drought and other de- 

 pressing causes. Two or three years of deficient 



