68 



AUSTRALASIA. 



Victoria. The members of the Legislative 

 Council, 48 in number, are elected for six years 

 by freeholders, leaseholders or occupiers of prop- 

 erty worth 25 a year, and professional men or 

 graduates. The Legislative Assembly contains 

 95 members, elected for three years by universal 

 manhood suffrage. The number of electors for 

 the Legislative Council registered in 1898 was 

 130,545; the number on the roll of the Legislative 

 Assembly was 252,500. 



The Governor is Lord Brassey, appointed in 

 1895. The Cabinet of ministers in the beginning 

 of 1899 was composed as follows: Premier and 

 Treasurer, Sir George Turner; Chief Secretary 

 and Minister of Public Instruction, A. J. Pea- 

 cock; Attorney-General, Isaac Isaacs; Solicitor- 

 General, Sir Henry Cuthbert; Commissioner of 

 Trade and Customs, President of the Board of 

 Land and Works, and Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands and Survey, R. W. Best; Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral, J. G. Duffy; Minister of Defense, W. McCul- 

 loch; Minister of Mines and Water Supply, H. 

 Foster; Minister of Agriculture and Commission- 

 er of Public Works, J. W. Taverner; Minister 

 of Railways and Minister of Health, H. R. Wil- 

 liams; without office, S. Williamson. 



The Minister of Lands, with one of the mem- 

 bers of the Assembly, went to New Zealand in 

 the spring of 1899 to study the solution of the 

 difficulty of the unemployed said to have been 

 found in the labor and social legislation of that 

 colony. Their report was on the whole favor- 

 able to arbitration in labor disputes and to old- 

 age pensions. The Government was already con- 

 templating legislation for pensioning superannu- 

 ated workingmen, and also a new factory and 

 shop act. The old-age-pension act was based 

 on the New Zealand law, the funds to be pro- 

 vided by the income tax. The eagerness for 

 Government employment and the glut in the 

 labor market of Victoria was shown by over 

 15,000 applications for less than 400 vacancies 

 in the railroad service. A rush for licenses to 

 dredge for gold in Victorian rivers met with op- 

 position from owners of riparian rights and agri- 

 culturists whose lands were endangered, and 

 when this seemed to be the case the Minister of 

 Mines postponed action for twelve months. Par- 

 liament was opened on June 27. Besides the 

 labor bills, one was brought in for continuing 

 and extending the income tax. The question of 

 plural voting was the subject of another. The 

 Government also proposed to abolish female suf- 

 frage. A commission was appointed to draw up 

 a scheme for technical education. A leader of 

 the Opposition, Mr. Deakin, after agitating the 

 subject in public meetings, offered a resolution 

 in favor of including in the state system of edu- 

 cation unsectarian religious instruction, consist- 

 ing of a short prayer and hymn and the reading 

 of selected passages of Scripture. The Govern- 

 ment offered to submit the question to a referen- 

 dum, and a motion to that effect was carried, 

 with the formidable condition that the heads of 

 the religious denominations should first meet and 

 come to an agreement among themselves as to 

 what form the religious instruction should take. 



Queensland. The Legislative Council con- 

 sists of 41 members, nominated for life. The 

 Legislative Assembly contains 72 members elected 

 by all adult males who have resided six months 

 in the colony. There were 81,892 electors in 

 1897. The Governor is Lord Lamington, who was 

 appointed in 1895. The Council of ministers in 

 the beginning of 1899 was composed as follows: 

 Premier and Chief Secretary, James Robert Dick- 

 son; Secretary for Agriculture and Minister for 



Public Lands, J. V. Chetaway; Home Secretary, 

 J. F. C. Foxton; Postmaster-General and Minis- 

 ter for Justice, W. H. Wilson; Treasurer and 

 Secretary for Mines, Robert Philp; Secretary for 

 Public Instruction, D. H. Dalrymple; Secretary 

 for Railways and Secretary for Public Works, 

 John Murray; without portfolio, A. H. Barlow 

 and George Wilkie Gray. 



The Legislative Assembly was dissolved on 

 Feb. 15, and a new Parliament was summoned 

 to meet on May 2 to consider especially the com- 

 monwealth bill subsequent to the action upon it 

 by New South Wales. The advantage to Queens- 

 land from opening the Australasian markets to 

 its raw products was considered sufficient to 

 overshadow any temporary disarrangement of 

 industrial and commercial relations, while the 

 colony, if it remained isolated, would be shut 

 off from outside financial assistance necessary 

 for the development of its vast but sparsely popu- 

 lated territory. The policy of Queensland was 

 declared by the Premier to be the exclusion of 

 all alien and colored races not already sanc- 

 tioned by law. In accordance with a treaty with 

 Japan, the immigration of Japanese laborers and 

 artisans has wholly ceased. That country has 

 furthermore given preferential treatment to 

 Queensland sugar. The general elections, which 

 took place toward the end of March, resulted in 

 the return of 43 Ministerialists, 21 Labor can- 

 didates, and 8 Opposition members. A rearrange- 

 ment of the Cabinet took place on March 29 in 

 consequence of the appointment of Mr. Rutledge 

 as Attorney-General. Mr. Wilson, while remain- 

 ing Postmaster-General, became Secretary of 

 Public Instruction, Mr. Dalrymple became Secre- 

 tary of Public Lands, and Mr. Chetaway re- 

 tained the secretaryship of agriculture only. 

 Parliament was opened for regular business on 

 May 16, and, after passing the federation bill, 

 was prorogued on July 4 until after the refer- 

 endum. 



South Australia. The Legislative Council 

 contains 24 members, elected for nine years by 

 freeholders, leaseholders, and householders. The 

 House of Assembly comprises 54 members, 2 for 

 each district, elected for three years by the vote 

 of all adult citizens, male and female, whose 

 names have been on the register six months. In 

 1897 the number of ele3tors enrolled was 134,886. 



Lord Tennyson succeeded Sir Thomas Fowell 

 Buxton as Governor on Feb. 2, 1899. The min- 

 istry in the beginning of 1899 consisted of the 

 following members: Premier and Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, C. C. Kingston; Chief Secretary, J. V. 

 O'Loghlin; Treasurer and Minister controlling 

 Northern Territory, F. W. Holder; Commission- 

 er of Crown Lands, L. O'Loughlin; Commissioner 

 of Public Works, J. G. Jenkins ; Minister of Edu- 

 cation and Agriculture, Richard Butler. 



Parliament was dissolved on April 6 and e'ec- 

 tions for the Assembly were held on April 29. 

 A referendum for household suffrage was taken 

 at the same date, as well as the referendum fo? 

 federation. For household suffrage 49,200 votes 

 were cast to 33,900 in the negative. The Roman 

 Catholics endeavored to carry the country for a 

 capitation grant to all schools and for religious 

 instruction in the public schools. The Minis- 

 terial' party won, but their majority was cut 

 down. When the new Parliament met Mr. King- 

 ston suggested that, in view of federation, the 

 number of members in the colonial Parliament 

 should be reduced to 16 in the upper and 36 in 

 the lower house, and that there should be fewer 

 ministers, and these elected by Parliament in- 

 stead of being appointed. 



