AUSTRALASIA. 



exigencies of colonial finance, to advise a reduction 

 in the rates of postage to Groat Britain in con- 

 formity with the recent action of the British Gov- 

 ernment. A uniform customs tariff is to be adopted 

 within two years from the establishment of the 

 commonwealth, with intercolonial free trade im- 

 mediately thereafter, exception being made of 

 goods imported into a free-trade colony before the 

 imposition of the federal tariff, which must pay the 

 federal duties if re-exported within two years to 

 other colonies. 



The Victorian delegates desired to preserve to the 

 states the right to grant bonuses for the encourage- 

 ment of tht-ir industries, but the convention con- 

 fined such power to the commonwealth. Preferen- 

 tial treatment of the produce and manufactures of 

 the I'nited Kingdom was promised in a resolution 

 and. in default of a federal tariff, recommended to 

 the individual states. An interstate commission 

 will be constituted to execute the provisions of the 

 Constitution relating to trade and commerce. From 

 New South Wales came a vigorous protest against 

 empowering the Federal Parliament to prohibit 

 differential railway rates, in consequence of which 

 . it was decided to give to an interstate railway 

 commission the power to sanction special rates that 

 may be deemed necessary for the development of 

 territory. The powers of the Federal High Court 

 include the decision of disputes between indi- 

 vidual states and between a state and the com- 

 monwealth. It will also decide appeals from 

 the state courts. It was at first decided that the 

 Federal Parliament should alone have power to 

 make exceptions and to allow appeals to the Privy 

 Council in England, which should be sanctioned in 

 cases where the interests of the commonwealth, or 

 of one of the states, or of other parts of the Queen's 

 dominions are concerned. The abolition of the 

 private right to appeal to the highest imperial 

 tribunal roused such opposition that the clause wa's 

 amended so as to permit such appeal from the Su- 

 preme Court conditionally on obtaining the consent 

 of the Privy Council itself. From the Federal High 

 Court no appeal would be conceded. To enact an 

 amendment to the Constitution an absolute majority 

 of both houses of Parliament is requisite, and in 

 addition to that a majority vote of the people of 

 each state. It was resolved that all the colonies 

 except South Australia should continue their con- 

 tributions to the auxiliary squadron. Joint action 

 of the colonies in supporting antarctic exploration 

 was disapproved, also a joint exhibit at the Paris 

 Exhibition. France was urged to prohibit the sale 

 of arms in the New Hebrides ; if this were not done, 

 Great Britain ought to remove her prohibition. 

 The last resolution adopted presented a request for 

 permission to mint silver. 



An exciting campaign for and against the bill was 

 carried on in all the colonies. The referendum was 

 taken on June 3 in three colonies. In Victoria there 

 were 100,520 votes for and 22,099 against the bill ; 

 in Tasmania, 18,496 to 2,900. In New South Wales, 

 where the contest was heated, 70.990 voters favored 

 federation, while 65.619 opposed the scheme em- 

 bodied in the bill. The majority thus fell short of 

 the statutory minimum, and left the question to be 

 decided by another election. In Western Australia 

 a popular vote could not be taken until the colonial 

 Parliament first voted to approve the bill as finally 

 adopted in the convention. South Australia held 

 its election on June 4. and decided in favor of the 

 bill by 25.659 votes to 15,121. 



G. H. Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, 

 proposed a conference of Australian Premiers to 

 consider a modification* of the commonwealth bill. 

 with a view of making it acceptable to New South 

 Wales. Sir George Turner, of Victoria, agreed on 



the understanding that the bill as amended must be 

 accepted by the electors of New South Wales before 

 being submitted to the people of the other colonies. 

 Charles C. Kingston, in behalf of South Australia. 

 and Sir E. Braddon, speaking for Tasmania, declined 

 to go behind the backs of the people to alter the 

 work which their vote had approved. The Queens- 

 land Premier accepted the invitation to a confer- 

 ence ; Sir John Forrest, the Premier of Western 

 Australia, declined. The New South Wales Gov- 

 ernment proposed to solve deadlocks by making a 

 majority instead of three fifths effective in joint 

 sessions of the Federal Parliament ; to recast the. 

 financial proposals; to take from the Senate the 

 power to amend money bills ; to remodel appellate 

 jurisdiction ; to adopt the Canadian plan for the 

 seat of government; and to establish safeguards for 

 the territorial rights of the states, including definite 

 provisions regarding internal waters. 



New South Wales. The Parliament consists of 

 a Legislative Council of 65 members, who are ap- 

 pointed for life, and a Legislative Assembly of 125 

 members elected by universal male suffrage. The 

 duration of Parliament is not more than three 

 years. The Governor is Viscount Hampden. The 

 Cabinet in the beginning of 1898 was as follows : 

 Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Railways, 

 George Houston Reid; Chief Secretary, James Nixon 

 Brunker ; Attorney-General, John Henry Want : 

 Secretary for Lands, Joseph Hector Carruthers ; 

 Secretary for Public Works, James Henry Young ; 

 Minister of Public Instruction and of Industry and 

 Labor, Jacob Garrard ; Minister of Justice, Albert 

 John Gould ; Postmaster-General, Joseph Cook ; 

 Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, Sydney Smith ; 

 Vice- President of the Executive Council and Rep- 

 resentative of the Government in the Legislative 

 Council, Andrew Garran. 



The democratic Premier announced in January, 

 1898, a plan for reforming the Legislative Council 

 by requiring a fifth of its members to retire every 

 five years. Large areas have been withdrawn from 

 pastoral lessees to make additional lands available 

 for occupation by farmers. The early expiration of 

 Parliament caused the ministry to limit its legisla- 

 tive programme to measures already in an advanced 

 stage. Such were a bill for restricting immigration 

 and one dealing with the value of improvements on 

 Crown lands. Agricultural returns showed an in- 

 crease in two years of 85 per cent, in the area under 

 cultivation ; in the wheat area, 66 per cent. In dairy 

 farming the progress was not less astonishing, while 

 in mining and manufacturing there was a marked 

 expansion. 



Parliament was prorogued on July 9 and new 

 elections were held on July 27. The principal 

 question was that of federation, which the leader of 

 the Opposition, Mr. Barton, believed would be de- 

 feated by Mr. Reid's proposal of amendments to the 

 federation bill that the other colonies were unlikely 

 to accept, such as a simple majority decision in 

 joint session or a national referendum in case of a 

 deadlock between the houses, and a stipulation that 

 the federal capital be located in New bouth Wales. 

 The Protectionists joined the Barton party, while 

 the Labor men coalesced with the Ministerialists. 

 The elections gave 63 seats to the Ministerialists, 57 

 to the Federalists, and 5 to the Independents, who 

 were allies of the Federalists. In the last Parliament 

 the Government party numbered 81 and the Opposi- 

 tion 44. The Labor wing of the Ministerial party, 

 which advocates the popular referendum and initia- 

 tive, old-age pensions, a state bank, and local gov- 

 ernment on a residential instead of on a rate-paying 

 basis, returned 30 members, the same as in the last 

 house. Parliament was opened on Aug. 16. The 

 defeat of Ministers Gould, Garrard, and Smith in 



