AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



43 



metres; 1 square kilometre = 0'386 English 

 square mile) and population of the principal 

 divisions of Australia and Polynesia are given 

 as follows in the new volume of the " Bevolker- 

 ung der Erde " (sixth volume, Gotha, 1880) : 



II. BRITISH POSSESSIONS. The following ta- 

 ble exhibits the area (in English square miles) 

 and population on December 31, 1879, of the 

 Australasian colonies of Great Britain, accord- 

 ing to a statistical abstract prepared by the 

 Registrar-General of New South Wales : 



The movement of population in the several 

 colonies was as follows in 1878 : 



The financial condition of the colonies in 

 1879 was as follows: 



The commercial statistics for 1879 were as 

 follows : 



An intercolonial conference of statesmen 

 convened in Sydney, in January, to consider in 

 what particulars and by what methods federal 

 action would at the present time be desirable. 

 It was the continuation of a conference which 

 was held in Melbourne in the latter part of 

 1880, which discussed an arrangement regard- 

 ing the border customs between New South 

 "Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Those 

 three colonies alone participated in the former 

 conference. In the present one all the colonies 

 were represented, informally, by prominent ad- 

 ministrative officials. It was composed of the 

 following members: Henry Parks, Colonial 

 Secretary of New South Wales, chairman of 

 Conference ; Graham Berry, Chief Secretary, 

 and William M. K. Vale, Attorney-General, 

 Victoria; James Watson, Colonial Treasurer, 

 New South Wales ; Thomas Dick, Colonial 

 Secretary, New Zealand ; William Morgan, 

 Chief Secretary, and 0. Mann, Treasurer, 

 South Australia ; A. H. Palmer, Colonial Sec- 

 retary, and Boyd D. Morehead, Postmaster- 

 General, Queensland ; W. R. Giblin, Colonial 

 Treasurer, and W. Moore, Colonial Secretary, 

 Tasmania; Chief -Justice Wrenfordsley, West- 

 ern Australia. 



The final federal union of the Australasian 

 colonies has been looked forward to since the 

 release of the principal colonies from crown 

 administration alike by British and colonial 

 statesmen. Confederation might have been ac- 

 complished with less difficulty at the time when 

 the right of self-government was first con- 

 ferred, and before the development of diver- 

 gent policies. The conflict of policies and 

 diversity of laws since the growth of popula- 

 tion and material prosperity has brought the 

 colonies into closer contact afford the real in- 

 centive, while constituting a serious practical 

 difficulty, to the movement, which has been 

 begun, toward conformity and federation. 



The greatest actual obstacle hi the way of a 

 federal union is the opposite commercial poli- 

 cies pursued by the two leading and contiguous 

 colonies, Victoria and New South Wales. Vic- 

 toria has lived ten years under a tariff framed 

 for the encouragement of domestic industries, 

 and her people tenaciously adhere to the pro- 

 tective idea. Her neighbor and rival, New 

 South Wales, is equally attached to her revenue 

 tariff, and the people are thoroughly devoted 

 to free-trade principles. The less populous 

 colonies incline to the British doctrine, and 

 have constructed tariffs which do not differ 

 greatly from that of New South W r ales, and 

 can, without friction, be brought into exact 

 conformity. The Intercolonial Conference did 

 not hesitate to attack the vital subject of a cus- 

 toms union, although an immediate agreement 

 is out of the question. Amid the protests of 

 Mr. Berry at the proposed " insulation " of 

 Victoria, the conference voted that a joint 

 commission be appointed by the autonomous 

 colonies to construct a common tariff.* Vic- 



* West Australia is the only Australasian colony which 



