AUSTRALASIA. 



63 



i,ief Secretary, Attorney-General, and 

 :.-nt of llir Executive Council, Sir 

 Samtirl \V. (irillilh ; Minister for Lands and 

 .iltuiv. S. Cowley ; Minuter f<ir Railways 

 .-iiiiasi, r-(!encral, T. Unmack; Secretary 

 ami Minister for Public Instruction, 

 \\'. o. Modgkinsoii; Colonial Secretary and Sec- 

 . for Public Works, II. Tozer; Solicitor- 

 .1!, T. .1. Byrnes; Colonial Treasurer, Sir 

 Thorna* Mdlwraith : without portfolio, II. Wil- 

 The ([notion of the division of North and 

 S..tith Queensland, which has agitated the colony 

 for a do/en years, lias become more pressing 

 since mining enterprise has developed the north- 

 ern and (fiitral districts. The' inhabitants of 

 this northern section have urged the home Gov- 

 ernment to make an independent colony, on the 

 ground t hat they are taxed for the benefit of the 

 south. The el fief objection advanced by the 

 southerners wa* that the sugar planters and 

 mine operators of the north, if they were allowed 

 a fret-, hand, would defy Australian opinion in 

 r e-pcct to the importation of black and coolie 

 labor. In 1887 Lord Knutsford replied to a 

 deputation of North Queenslanders, that it would 

 be difficult and undesirable to divide a colony 

 having the privileges of responsible government 

 unless the colonial Legislature requested it. 

 That body had recently signified its sense of the 

 proposition by a vote of 86 to 9 against separa- 

 tion, corresponding to the representation of the 

 two sections in the Legislative Assembly. The 

 movement in favor of separation had made such 

 progress in October, 1890, that the vote had 

 changed to 20 for separation to 32 against. A 

 petition in favor of immediate separation had 

 been forwarded to the Colonial Office in London, 

 signed by 31 members of the Legislature. The 

 home Government still held that it was a mat- 

 ter to be decided by the colony or reserved for 

 the action of the future Parliament of the 

 Australian States. A proposition to divide the 

 colony into Northern, Central, and Southern 

 Queensland received fewe? votes than that for 

 division into two colonies by a line running from 

 Cape Palmerston. The evils complained of 

 formerly by the North Queenslanders have not 

 been remedied, for decentralization bills that 

 have been proposed have not been carried, and 

 local revenues and customs on goods consumed 

 in the north are not applied for the benefit of 

 that section. Sir Samuel Griffiths proposed an 

 alternative scheme, that would reconcile the re- 

 quirements of the different sections while pre- 

 serving the integrity of the colony. This was 

 subdivision, for Administrative purposes and 

 local self-government, into three provinces, each 

 having its Parliament with control of certain 

 specified funds, while the central Parliament 

 would decide on matters of common and general 

 Australasian interest. This proposal failed to 

 obtain the approval of parliament in 1890, and 

 was submitted again in the session that opened 

 on June 80, 1891, when the draft of the Federal 

 Constitution would also have to be discussed, 

 the ratification of which would make division 

 into autonomous provinces more advantageous. 

 The Federal Union was approved in the Gov- 

 ernor's speech, with a reservation as to amend- 

 ments that might be necessary to give encourage- 

 ment and enlightened sense to local patriotism 



and advance material well-being. A naval de- 

 fense bill for the establishment and nminU-nuiK e 

 of an additional squadron, in accordance with 

 the agreement of 1887 that had been ratified IA- 

 the parliaments of (Jrt-at Britain and the other 

 colonies, was passed without opposition. New 

 land legislation was proposed to facilitate settle- 

 ment. The budget statement showed an clastic 

 revenue, the yield for 1891-'92 from taxation 

 being estimated at 1,642,000, an increase of 7^ 

 per cent, on the previous year. The gross reve- 

 nue was estimated at 8,675,200, and the ex- 

 penditure at 3,647,693. The ministry was cha- 

 grined at not being able to raise a fresh loan in 

 London, in consequence of which all new public 

 works, except such as will be immediately pro- 

 ductive, have been discontinued. The labor dis- 

 turbances that convulsed Australia in 1890 and 

 1891 began with a strike of the sheep-shearers of 

 Queensland. The labor leaders assert that the 

 employers began the struggle, and that their 

 object was to crush unionism ; and, further, that 

 the governments, under the pretense of preserv- 

 ing order, aided the capitalists and enabled them 

 to secure the victory. The Queensland Shearers' 

 Union was at first successful in compelling the 

 British India Shipping Company to accept only 

 union wool. The Amalgamated Shearers' Union, 

 covering New South Wales. Victoria, and South 

 Australia, were unable to block the shipment of 

 non-union wool from the southern Australian 

 ports. The Trades and Labor Council, which 

 took up the contest, was confronted by an asso- 

 ciation of employers. Attempts at mediation 

 failed, and a temper was provoked on both sides 

 that led in Queensland to violence. In and 

 around Rockhampton bloody collisions occurred, 

 and the Governor called out the troops to put an 

 end to the disturbances. Leaders of the strike 

 were prosecuted, and were sentenced to two or 

 three years' imprisonment. The struggle be- 

 tween the unions of shearers and pastoralists in 

 Queensland was ended in June, 1891, when 

 unionists returned to work, signing the agree- 

 ments exacted by the squatters, the whole point 

 at issue being whether men should be free to 

 contract for work on terms prescribed by the 

 masters, or should conform to the rules laid down 

 by the union. In drawing up the contracts that 

 they required the men to sign, the employers 

 intentionally made them very liberal, differing 

 only in insignificant details* from the union 

 regulations. 



South Australia. The Governor is the Earl 

 of Kintore. who assumed the government on 

 April 11, 1889. The ministry consisted in 1891 

 of the following members : Premier and Treas- 

 urer, T. Playford : Chief Secretary, Sir J. C. 

 Bray ;' Attorney-General, R. Homburg; Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands, W. Copley ; Com- 

 missioner of Public Works, W. B. Rounsevell; 

 Minister of Education, D. Bews. At the meet- 

 ing of Parliament on June 4, 1891, the Govern- 

 ment was sustained on a motion of want of con- 

 fidence by a majority of 7. The revenue for the 

 year ending June 30 exceeded the expenditure 

 by over 50,000. Important coal fields have 

 been discovered recently. The settlers of north- 

 ern Australia, like those in the tropical parts of 

 Queensland, complain of the general Australian 

 sentiment in regard to colored and Chinese 



