AUSTRALASIA. 



abling bill on March 3 without a division. The 

 enabling acts of the various colonies stipulated 

 that three of them could go on and form a con- 

 federation, to which other colonies might be ad- 

 mitted later. The Western Australian act con- 

 tained the proviso that New South Wales must 

 be one of the three. 



The referendum in South Australia, taken on 

 April 29, resulted in a vote of 65,990 votes for the 

 commonwealth bill to 17,000 against the measure. 

 In New South Wales the popular vote was cast 

 on June 20. Both parties put forth their utmost 

 strength, and the federationists won by a vote 

 of 101,000 to less that 80,000. The parliaments 

 of the other colonies thereupon passed the new 

 enabling bills without opposition. The referen- 

 dum in Victoria, taken toward the end of July, 

 resulted in a vote of 140,000 in favor of federa- 

 tion to 9,000 negative votes. In Tasmania about 

 the same time 10,000 voted for and 700 against 

 the bill. The vote in Queensland was taken on 

 Sept. 2, and resulted in about 10,000 votes being 

 cast in favor of the bill and 5,000 against it. 

 Western Australia was riot yet willing to. accept 

 the federal bill as it was. The Government of 

 this colony claimed the right to have amend- 

 ments introduced in its favor, as had been done 

 to meet the objections of New South Wales. The 

 West Australians considered that the bill placed 

 them in a worse position financially than the 

 inhabitants of any other colony, as they would 

 have to surrender 1,250,000 of their revenue, 

 and would only be relieved of 370,000 of ex- 

 penditure. When Sir John Forrest proposed to 

 submit the commonwealth bill to a joint com- 

 mittee of the West Australian Parliament the 

 other Premiers protested that alterations in the 

 bill were absolutely impossible, and warned him 

 that delay or isolation would not tend to the 

 advantage of Western Australia. 



The scheme of federation which five of the six 

 Australian colonies have accepted, and which 

 awaits the approval of the British Parliament, 

 resembles the Constitution of the American 

 Union, and differs from that of the Canadian 

 Dominion in that all powers not expressly con- 

 ferred on the Federal Government are reserved 

 to the individual states. The Federal Parliament 

 will consist, after the model of all parliaments 

 in British self-governing communities, of two 

 houses, called in this instance the Senate and 

 the House of Representatives, both elective by 

 popular ballot, Senators for six years, subject to 

 dissolution, members of the lower house for 

 three, the latter about in the proportion of 1 to 

 50,000 of the present population. The franchise 

 will be identical for both houses, and for the 

 present will be the existing parliamentary fran- 

 chise of the several colonies. The right is re- 

 served, however, to the Federal Parliament to 

 determine its own franchise when desirable. The 

 powers delegated by the colonies to the Federal 

 Government are in some cases concurrent with 

 those of the states, in others exclusive. The 

 Federal Parliament will have the right of regu- 

 lating trade with foreign countries and between 

 the states. After a certain period it will have 

 exclusive powers over customs, excise, and boun- 

 ties. Its powers of taxation are not confined to 

 customs and excise. Direct taxes may be 

 levied, as well as indirect, but all taxation must 

 be uniform throughout the commonwealth. It 

 will have power to legislate with regard to all 

 the services committed to its care, the most im- 

 portant of which are the national defense and 

 the posts and telegraphs. The Federal Govern- 

 ment will have the right to borrow on the public 



credit, and may, if desired, assume and consoli- 

 date the debts of all the federated colonies. 

 Though the Senate may not originate nor amend 

 any financial measure, it may suggest amend- 

 ments, and has power to reject money bills as 

 well as all other legislation. The powers of the 

 Crown will be exercised in the usual way by a 

 governor general, assisted by an executive coun- 

 cil, which will be composed of not less than seven 

 members, responsible, individually and collective- 

 ly, to Parliament. All the revenues of the com- 

 monwealth will be paid into a consolidated rev- 

 enue fund, which can only be drawn upon by 

 parliamentary appropriations. An elaborate 

 system of bookkeeping and control has been de- 

 vised to insure the collection of the customs 

 revenue and the return of tue surplus in due pro- 

 portion to the contributing colonies. The ad- 

 ministrative expenses of the commonwealth, in 

 addition to the services taken over from the colo- 

 nies, are not expected to exceed 200,000 or 

 300,000, against which should be set the sav- 

 ings to be effected by the concentration of those 

 services under a single management. The officers 

 employed in these branches of the civil service 

 become federal officers, to be paid out of the 

 federal treasury. The contemplated conversion 

 of the public debt is estimated to promise a sav- 

 ing of 1,000,000 a year, and the possible con- 

 solidation of the railroads nearly 500,000 more. 

 The commonwealth administration itself is not 

 expected to add anything to the total expenses 

 of government, but financial difficulties and in- 

 equalities will be felt in some of the individual 

 colonies, which w r ill settle themselves in time or 

 can be adjusted as experience dictates. An im- 

 portant section of the Federal Constitution is de- 

 voted to the creation of a High Court of Aus- 

 tralia, to consist of a chief justice and at least 

 two associate judges. The Federal Parliament 

 will also have power to create other federal 

 courts. The High Court w r ill be a court of ap- 

 peal from the supreme courts of the states, and, 

 although the right of appeal to the Privy Coun- 

 cil is not abolished, appeal to the High Court will 

 in most instances be substituted. In regard to 

 the interpretation of the commonwealth Consti- 

 tution, no appeal to the supreme imperial tri- 

 bunal is allowed, a provision differing from the 

 law of Canada, and one likely to occasion some 

 demur in Great Britain. The amendment of the 

 Constitution is provided for by means of a ma- 

 jority vote of both houses of Parliament, fol- 

 lowed by a referendum to the people of the fed- 

 erated colonies, the votes of colonies having fe- 

 male .suffrage being counted at half the total 

 number. 



The Pacific Cable Scheme. The question of 

 laying a submarine cable to connect Canada with 

 the Australian colonies has been discussed in its 

 political, strategic, and commercial aspects since 

 the land telegraph system of Canada was ex- 

 tended to the Pacific coast, more than twenty 

 years ago. In 1887 proposals were laid before 

 the colonial conference, and in 1894 the inter- 

 colonial conference at Ottawa approved the 

 project, and requested the Canadian Government 

 to take steps to promote its fulfillment. Esti- 

 mates, surveys, and tenders obtained by the Ca- 

 nadian authorities were submitted in 1897 to a 

 Pacific cable committee in London, which recom- 

 mended the route from Vancouver by way of 

 Fanning island and Fiji to Norfolk island, 

 branching thence to New Zealand and Queens- 

 land. The total length to the Queensland termi- 

 nus would be 7,986 nautical miles. The esti- 

 mated cost from the best materials was 1,800,- 



