.AUSTRALIA 693 



Since the beginning of the Federation there have been two alterations of the Con- 

 stitution sanctioned: one, unimportant, was designed to improve the electoral; ma- 

 chinery; the other gave the Commonwealth power to take over all the states' debts. 

 Three proposed alterations have been rejected: one which proposed to make consti- 

 tutional provision for a subsidy to the states; one which proposed to give the Com- 

 monwealth Parliament control of labour legislation; and pne which proposed to give 

 the Commonwealth Parliament power to take over monopolies and conduct them 

 under state control. 



The Australian High Court was originally constituted (1903) of three Judges, Sir Samuel 

 Griffith (chief), Sir Edmund Barton and Mr. R. E. O'Connor. In 1906 two other Judges 

 were added, Mr. Henry Bournes Higgins and Mr. Isaac Isaacs. In 1912 it was proposed 

 to strengthen further the Court to seven Judges. Sir Samuel Griffith (born in Queensland 

 in 1845) had a distinguished career as a politician in his native state. He took an 

 early interest in the Federal movement, was President of the Federal Council 

 (which preceded Federation) from 1888 to 1893, and was chiefly responsible for the 

 framing of the first Federal Constitution on which the more "popular" Constitution sub- 

 sequently adopted was modelled. Sir Edmund Barton's services to Federation have been 

 already noted. Mr. Richard E. O'Connor (born in New South Wales in 1851) was also one 

 of the first advocates of Federation; he died on November 18, 1912. It was a curious circum- 

 stance that all three members of the first High Court were graduates of Sydney University. 

 Mr. Higgins (born in Ireland) was leader of the Equity Bar in Victoria and accepted office 

 as Attorney General in Mr. J. C. Watson's first Labour Ministry (1904). Mr. Isaacs (born 

 in Victoria in 1855) had a distinguished career in state politics and was Attorney General 

 in Mr. Deakin's second administration. 



Industrial Disputes. In spite of much advanced " Labour " legislation the in- 

 dustrial situation in Australia has not been altogether peaceful recently. The strike 

 on the Victorian State Railways in 1903 was followed in 1908 by a strike on the Sydney 

 State Tramways. Both of these strikes against state employment failed. New 

 South Wales in 1908 altered its Industrial Arbitration system, and, this alteration being 

 resented by the Trade Unions, various small strikes followed. The next year (1909) 

 more serious strikes broke out on the Broken Hill (N.S.W.) silver-mining and the 

 Newcastle (N.S.W.) coal-mining fields. Stern measures were taken by the New 

 South Wales Government to repress these strikes, and the leaders in the strike move- 

 ment were arrested and some of them punished with imprisonment. In 1910 there 

 were strikes of tramway employees at Perth (W.A.) and of transport workers at Ade- 

 laide (S.A.). In 1912 the tramway employees of Brisbane came out on strike because 

 of a slight grievance against their employers (a private company). The leaders fo- 

 mented a sympathetic strike on " Syndicalist " lines, calling out the workers in every 

 industry with the avowed object of preventing all business. Serious riots accom- 

 panied the strike. The state Government acted however with decision, and the 

 strike disorders were crushed and the Syndicalist movement defeated. This strike 

 had not the general sympathy of Labour leaders in Australia. Shortly after, the 

 Queensland Premier, Mr. Denham, went to the country to ask for sanction for a policy 

 of dealing sternly with labour disorder. The General Election gave him a substantial 

 majority, and he passed legislation (1912) making strikes illegal without due notice 

 and without a secret ballot of the Trade Union affected. 



The Labour Government of the Commonwealth has amended the Federal In- 

 dustrial Arbitration Act (introduced by the Deakin Government and passed by the 

 Reid-McLean Government). It originally forbade the employment of Trade Union 

 funds for political purposes. That restriction has been removed. 



The Tariff. The first Australian Tariff Act of 1901 was introduced by the late 

 Mr. Charles Kingston, then Minister for Customs, in a form very like that of the 

 later Tariff Act of 1908. In 1901 Free Trade opposition and Labour party criticism 

 cut down Mr. Kingston's proposals materially, and his Tariff did not satisfy the 

 Protectionists. But party divisions prevented reform for seven years. During 1906 

 however several small Tariff Acts were passed, the chief of which provided for a measure 

 of Preferential Trade with South Africa. The 1908 Tariff Act raised the tariff generally 

 and provided for a preferential rate on certain goods imported from Great Britain. 



