AUSTRALASIA. 



000, to which it was proposed Queensland, New 

 South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand should 

 each contribute one ninth and the United King- 

 dom and Canada the remaining five ninths in 

 equal shares. With a cable rate of 3s. a word, 

 taking operating expenses at Is. a word, and the 

 first year's traffic at 1,800,000 words, the traffic 

 by the eastern line having been 2,350,000 words 

 in 1897, with a rate of 4s. 9(Z. a word, the new 

 line would more than pay its way from the be- 

 ginning, the utmost estimate of the fixed charges, 

 including sinking fund and maintenance, being 

 160,000. The Canadian Government agreed to 

 pay its allotted share of the cost and the Aus- 

 tralasian governments their respective shares, but 

 the British Government at the last moment re- 

 ceded from the plan of joint ownership, the East- 

 ern Extension Telegraph Company having pro- 

 tested against Government competition and the 

 reduction of cable charges. The Colonial Secre- 

 tary, Joseph Chamberlain, proposed instead to 

 subsidize the all-British line by extending im- 

 perial credit to raise part of the capital. Though 

 deeply disappointed, the Canadian and Austra- 

 lian governments entered into negotiations with 

 the home authorities on the new basis. The 

 Government of British Columbia offered to con- 

 tribute two eighteenths of the cost in addition to 

 Canada's five eighteenths. The proposal of the 

 Imperial Government was to grant a subsidy to 

 meet five eighteenths of the net loss of any year, 

 but not to exceed 20,000 annually, in considera- 

 tion of which the cable must be made in accord- 

 ance with imperial specifications, the rates sub- 

 jected to the approval of the Imperial Govern- 

 ment, and imperial messages have priority over 

 all others and be transmitted at half rates. The 

 subsidy would begin from the time when the 

 cable is opened for traffic, and would not run 

 longer than twenty years. The protests of the 

 colonies induced the British Government in June 

 to reconsider the offer it made in April, and to 

 express willingness to modify its proposals on 

 the basis of utilizing the public credit of the 

 United Kingdom so as to raise the necessary 

 capital on more advantageous terms than could 

 be obtained for loans guaranteed only by the 

 colonial governments. The Eastern Extension 

 Company, in the hope of defeating the Pacific 

 cable, offered to lay one from South Africa to 

 Australia, and to reduce the charges to or from 

 Europe to 4s. a word. This proposal was favor- 

 ably received in Victoria and Tasmania, and was 

 welcome to Western Australia, where the cable 

 would land, but New South Wales, New Zealand, 

 and the other colonies clung to the project of 

 all-British cables encircling the globe and con- 

 necting the chief self-governing colonies. 



New South Wales. Every male British sub- 

 ject who has resided a year in the colony has 

 the right to vote for members of Parliament. 

 There were 324,338 electors, 24.28 per cent, of the 

 total population,, enrolled in July, 1898, and 

 178,717 voted. The duration of Parliament is 

 three years. The upper house is the Legislative 

 Council, consisting of 58 members appointed by 

 the Crown for life. The Legislative Assembly 

 has 125 members, elected in separate districts. 



William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, succeeded 

 Viscount Hampden as Governor in January, 1899. 

 The Cabinet in the beginning of 1899 consisted 

 of the following members: Premier, Treasurer, 

 and Minister for Railways, George Houstoun 

 Reid; Chief Secretary, James Nixon Brunker; 

 Attorney-General, John Henry Want; Secretary 

 for Lands, Joseph Hector Carruthers; Secretary 

 for Public Works, James Henry Young; Minis- 



ter of Public Instruction and Industry and Labor, 

 James Alexander Hogue; Minister of Justice, 

 Charles Alfred Lee; Postmaster-General, Varney 

 Parkes; Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, 

 Joseph Cook. 



The government of G. H. Reid has depended 

 for its continuance on the vote of the Labor 

 party, which is always cast solidly either for 

 measures which it advocates or for indifferent 

 measures in return for concessions on other 

 points. The paternal methods of government 

 now followed in this colony are illustrated by 

 the agreement of the Premier to distribute 500,- 

 000 as advances to the farmers, who have suf- 

 fered from drought for four seasons, the maxi- 

 mum relief in each case being limited to 200. 

 He also promised a remission of rents on Crown 

 leases and an extension of time for payments on 

 conditional purchases. After a special session 

 for the passage of the federation bill, which was 

 marked by a conflict between the Premier, sup- 

 ported by the Legislative Assembly, and the 

 upper house, Parliament was prorogued on April 

 21 till the summer session, for which important 

 measures were being prepared. The deadlock was 

 ended by the nomination of twelve new members 

 to the Legislative Council, of whom four were 

 working-class representatives. This infusion of 

 the Labor element into the upper house was a 

 significant innovation. The acceptance by the 

 colony of federation takes away the great ground 

 of division between the two main parties. The 

 free traders, who have been in the ascendant, 

 must now countenance a protective tariff for 

 Australia against the outside world, which for 

 fiscal reasons may not be less than 25 per cent., 

 while sharing with the other colonies inter- 

 colonial free trade. New combinations of parties 

 are therefore likely to result. Among the new 

 measures brought before Parliament were sev- 

 eral of an advanced character, which the Labor 

 party considered important. On the retirement 

 of Mr. Want, on April 18, Mr. Reid assumed the 

 duties of Attorney-General temporarily. Before 

 the opening of the regular session a rearrange- 

 ment of the Cabinet officers was effected on June 

 27. The Premier retained the post of Attorney- 

 General permanently, handing over the office of 

 Treasurer to Mr. Carruthers, who was succeeded 

 as Minister of Lands by Mr. Young, the latter 

 being replaced by Mr. Lee as Secretary for Pub- 

 lic Works, and he in turn as Minister of Justice 

 by John Hughes, the Vice-President of the Ex- 

 ecutive Council and representative of the Gov- 

 ernment in the upper house. Parliament was 

 opened on July 18. Changes in procedure were 

 declared necessary, and grand committees were 

 suggested. Bills were presented for the establish- 

 ment of a state bank, for old-age pensions, for the 

 amendment and consolidation of the mining 

 laws, and for the construction of narrow-gauge 

 railroads through fertile districts. The state 

 bank was to be established by consolidating two 

 existing savings banks, and empowered to loan 

 money to settlers at 4 per cent. The Govern- 

 ment promised also to introduce technical edu- 

 cation in the state schools and to establish more 

 experimental farms. Farmers would be assisted 

 by the Government to obtain the best American 

 agricultural machinery. In the beginning of 

 September Mr. Lyne, who had succeeded Mr. Bar- 

 ton as leader of the Opposition, moved a vote 

 of censure, to which a Labor member, Mr. Fegan, 

 added another on the payment of a member of 

 Parliament for a report on old-age pensions. 

 After a week's debate the Government was de- 

 feated by a vote of 78 to 40. 



