;\LASIA. 



at first abstained, it was agreed that writs for the 



:..:-.-. -:. lit] I- 



. Ucoed oo Jan. -". that nominations should be rc- 

 oritod until Felt. 11. il.nl Hi.- elections thoul.l be 

 belli oo Mnu 4. ml that the convention should 

 -,; .: . ;,. MTaal rn \ istralia al dm re- 

 toed to join, but at the Ia>t moment decided i-- 

 take |rt and to hold it- .i<-ni. it \->. 



tv-rd in cuch colony in |rndi- 

 all* identical t-rm- t*k the matter henceforth out 

 of thr hand* of the |wtriiam<-t i that 



Contention nh ihe ta-k .f framing 



the falrr-al ronniui ion should consist of in 

 -* from each colony elected by i he -. 

 for the Legislative Assembly. Whenthi 

 colonies abould have elected their members to the. 



Convention, it devolved u,.n the go. 



those colonies to summon ih.- ..mention. 

 framing n on-titu!ion I he convention Wit to ftd- 



forat lea*l thirl y.luit not more than si \i> 



criticised. Alter the 



.-ion l.y lli.- convention, it 



wa t ' ..'.. of Hi.- ah 



for acceptance or rejection. If three colonies ac- 

 constitulion.it should In- pre-ented for 

 rial enactment by the Hrilish Parliament. 

 The convention nomomoil a groundwork for its la- 

 bors in the compreheii-ive commonwealth bill 

 framed by tin- Sydney .-,.n\ .-ntion of 1891 after six 

 week" :iti..n'. In that convention l^u 



land took part, and the scheme of fe<lcrati<iii drawn 

 up there was in great part the work of the Chief 



' that colony, Sir flannel Griffith. 

 Zealand was also represented at Sydney, but even 

 >ng bent tor uniting with the 



ilmn colonies separated from it by 1,800 mile! 

 of we, The elections of new fed- 



eral convent inn were governed in Victoria and 

 iles largely by the consideration of 

 rtate rights. The commonwealth bill of 1891 pro- 

 posed that the r-Yderal Parliament should con-i-t 



houses, of which the lower was to represent 

 the jNipu:.. ilia, and the upper was to 



represent the states. illy guar- 



anteed by the provision that each state was to be 

 represented by 8 sen a- senator to have one 



vote. Thus every state, small or mat, was to have 

 equal power in the Senate, while for the lower 

 house the representation was to be proportioned to 

 population, each state having a representative for 

 every 90,000 inhabitants. The smaller colonies in- 

 sist strongly on equal state rights, which th< 

 ganl as the onlv guarantee that they will not be 

 swamped in the Federal Parliament by the greater 

 representation in the lower house of the more popu- 



s. The great colonies of New South \\ 

 and Victoria, on the other hand, demur to an 

 arrangement that will enable Western Australia, 

 South Australia., and Tasmania in combination to 

 outvote them in the Senate. A federal council 

 met at Hobart on Jan. .'? to con-ider joint ad ion 

 by the colonies to celebrate the sixty years' i 



iK-t'ween <. 



Britain at. - <)iie-tion. 



federal quarantine stations, ami uniform bank 

 laws. The Victoria delegates deprecated proceed- 

 ing with business of importance in view of the 



meeting of the federal convention. The 

 Queensland and Western Australia delegates 

 Wrongly opposed inaction, predicting that P 



would prove abortive. 



Finally it was decided to proceed with the i.u.j. 

 ness. The conference discu5ed Mr. Ohamberiain'i 

 suggestion of a Zollven-in. but were unable to de- 

 termine whether it involvrsl free trade within the 

 empire or lower duties on British as comparer! with 

 foreign goods. The Australian premiers here, and 



later : ;. -rally in favor of 



nlial du; : dl on i-ondition 



of a b IM of Australian products in the 



British market. The delegates to tne federal .m- 



ected in the live colon:- 

 South Wale-. Victoria. South 

 Australia, and Tasmania. In New South \\ 

 and Victoria several delegates were elected on a 

 platform < u'rttes 



held a meeting with a \ i--\\ of e..inin.u r to an agree- 

 ment on debatable ijnesti..n-. luil tl ! to 



Me c..n\i-ntion .. ir individual 



The r.,|ive||lion lllet oil \dclaide. 



ntral capital brt \\een S\din-y and I'erlh. An 

 amendment to allow women to vote f..r men i 



of the Hi.. '.-. lltatives Wa- I'ejeeled 



vote of 'Ji! to TJ. ( in t he <|ii. 

 and federal finance widely diver-en! opinion- 

 lie debate did Mot lead to a - 

 \ agreement, the convention adjourn.-d till 

 September, when it was hoped that Queensland 

 would also be ivpre-eiited. The (jin-.-n-laiid min- 

 i-try |.r..|M.-rd to Ihe Parliament t., aiitlmri/e tin- 

 elect ion of delegates to the Beptember convention, 



but the bill was defeated. 



The second federal convention assembled at 

 Sydney early in September. 



In the interval all the colonial parliament- had 

 di-cii-sed amending bills to the commonwealth act, 

 and the results of their deliberation- \\ere laid be- 

 fore the Sydney convention to serve as a guide to 

 the framing of the final federal constitution. In 

 the spring convention it was proposed that Ihe 

 Senate should control money bills, and this was 

 carried by the votes of South Australian, Western 

 Australian, and Ta-manian delegates against those 

 of New South Wales and Victoria. It was decided 

 that amendments to the federal const it ut ion. after 

 passing both hou-e-. -hould be submitted to a 

 referendum. Si: Turner proposed thai 



deadlocks in the Legislature should also be settled 

 by the popular referendum, but this was negatived. 

 The New South Wale- A embly pro|...-.-d rai 

 amendments of a democrat i<- nature to the c<,n-ti- 

 tution which the convention had framed on con- 

 :\e lines iii clo-e i in it at ion of coiist.it ut ional 

 precedents. The Senate, instead of being a 

 manent body, re-elected at interval- in segment-. 

 it was proposed to make dis-ol\able at any time by 

 vernor at the advice of the ministers that 

 i-. at the dictation of the Hou-e of Kepre-enta: 

 Kfjtial representation in the Senate of each 

 was pronounced unacceptable to New South Wales, 

 and a plan of proportional repre-entat i<n on tin- 

 basis of population was proposed, with popular 

 election of the -eiiat-r- ill -e|arate election 



All money bills, including tho-e tha 1 

 fees or i as taxation and appro; 



tion bills, mii-t originate in the Hou-e of |{epn- 

 -entative-. In ca-e a difference should 

 tween the two chamber-, the referendum would 

 settle it. .Indirc- wen to !, removable by address 

 from both house-. Constitutional amendment- 

 would require only a majority vote of the people 

 of the whole commonwealth, not -ate. 



The parliaments of the smaller colonies South 



Au-tralia. Tasmania, and We-tern An-tralia in- 



-i-ted on equal repre-etit at ion in the Senate of all 



the st.-r Victorian Assembly 



The Adelaide convention gave the 



Senate power to reject bills imposing taxation, but 



the que-tion "f the ritrht of amending such bills 



was compromi-ed. a small majority deciding that 



should only have power to suggest 



amendments to the Hou-e of LYp'v-cntative- by 

 message. This compromise the parliaments of the 



