AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH OF. 



cable, the branching off at Norfolk island, was 

 laid before the end of March, 1902, and a few 

 days later the section from Norfolk island to Fiji 

 was in place. From Fiji it was carried to Fanning 

 island, near Hawaii, and there joined to the cable 

 laid from West Coast inlet, British Columbia. 



Defense. The military forces of the 6 states 

 forming the Commonwealth had a total strength 

 on June 30, 1900, of 23,553 men, of whom 1,592 

 were paid, 14,291 partly paid, and 7,670 unpaid. 

 New South Wales had in 1900 a regular force of 

 720 men, volunteer forces numbering 8,505, of 

 whom 5,336 received some payment, and reserv- 

 ists and rifle clubs numbering 3,004 men. Vic- 

 toria had a permanent force of 396 men, 3,404 

 militia, and 3,085 volunteers. In Queensland 

 every able-bodied man is by law liable to mili- 

 tary duty, and besides a regular force of 300 men 

 there are about 2,500 militia who receive pay 

 while undergoing drill, 1,200 volunteers to whom 

 uniforms and arms are furnished, and 4,000 citi- 

 zens organized in rifle clubs and provided with 

 arms and ammunition by the state. South Aus- 

 tralia has a defense force of 195 officers and 

 2.826 men, including reserves, besides which 

 there are 1,017 members of rifle clubs and 353 

 armed police who may be called out for military 

 service in an emergency. Western Australia has 

 5 battalions of rifles and 3 batteries of volunteer 

 artillery, and 1 battery of permanent artillery 

 stationed at Albany, the total force numbering 

 135 officers and 2,561 men. Tasmania has a vol- 

 unteer defense force of 2,726 officers and men. 

 Major-Gen. E. T. H. Hutton, commander of the 

 military forces of the Commonwealth, reported 

 to Sir John Forrest, Minister of Defense, that 

 the total number of troops available was 29,571, 

 consisting of 15,470 men in the garrison corps 

 and a field force of 14,101 men with 60 guns. It 

 was proposed to increase the latter to 28,748 

 men on the war footing, giving a total of 44,218, 

 the field force to consist of 6 brigades of light 

 horse and 3 brigades of infantry, with field-artil- 

 lery and engineers in the latest approved propor- 

 tion. The geographical position of Australia ren- 

 ders it less liable to attack than most parts of 

 the British Empire, but Australian interests out- 

 side of Australia are peculiarly open to foreign 

 interference. 



It is impossible for an expedition from an 

 enemy's base in Asia, Africa, or Europe to land 

 in Australia unless the British navy has first 

 been defeated. Nevertheless, it is important to 

 guard against raids made for the purpose of ex- 

 torting an indemnity, destroying commerce, or 

 obtaining coal. Therefore the security of the 

 naval bases must be insured, and arrangements 

 are necessary to concentrate the available troops 

 at any threatened point. Hence the early exten- 

 sion of the railroad into Western Australia is de- 

 sirable. A military college for the training of 

 officers, the development of rifle clubs, and the 

 establishment of arsenals for the manufacture of 

 arms and ammunition are recommended, and 

 the sum of 500,000 is required to provide arms 

 and complete the equipment of the field and gar- 

 rison 'troops. The abolition of some of the 

 militia and volunteer regiments and the absorp- 

 tion of their members into other corps, in con- 

 junction with a heavy curtailment of the naval 

 force, provided a way for a reduction in the 

 military expenditure, as was promised to Parlia- 

 ment by the ministry. Proposals for military 

 contributions toward the cost of imperial defense 

 have not been well received in Australia. The 

 suggestion that the states should contribute ac- 

 cording to tlieir population is regarded as a 



species of taxation without representation. The 

 financial limitations imposed by the Constitution 

 preclude the Commonwealth from undertaking its 

 full share of the defense of the Empire, but the 

 Australians will equip themselves to defend their 

 own shores. 



The chief ports of Australia are fortified, and 

 fortresses have been built at Thursday island 

 and King George's Sound at the joint expense of 

 the imperial and colonial governments. In the 

 beginning of 1902 there were 12 vessels of the 

 British royal navy stationed in Australasia, with 

 headquarters at Sydney. Besides these there are 

 the vessels built for Australasia under the Aus- 

 tralasian naval force act of 1887, 5 cruisers of 

 2.575 tons and 2 torpedo gunboats of 735 tons, for 

 which the Australasian colonies pay 35,000 a 

 year as interest on the cost of construction and 

 91,000 for maintenance on condition that these 

 vessels be not withdrawn in war time. But they 

 have become obsolete, and other schemes are 

 under discussion. The British Admiralty pro- 

 pose the abolition of the entire Australian fleet 

 and the payment of an increased cash subsidy by 

 Australia toward the cost of the imperial navy. 

 In Australia opinion favors the formation of an 

 Australian fleet that shall form part of the im- 

 perial navy and be under the comnmnder-in-chief 

 on the Australian station, a scheme recommended 

 to the Commonwealth Parliament by Capt. 

 Crosswell, naval commandant in Queensland. 



The Commonwealth Parliament. The Fed- 

 eral Parliament, as well as the parliaments of 

 the principal states, was dominated to a great 

 extent by the Labor party, which was represented 

 by some of the ablest politicians and could con- 

 trol legislation, although it has not an actual 

 majority. 



The approval of Parliament was obtained for 

 the principle of a fair day's wages for a fair day's 

 work, a day of eight hours and a minimum wage, 

 which was already fixed at 7s. a day in New 

 South Wales, where the state Government under- 

 took to give public employment to all laborers 

 who could not obtain that rate from private em- 

 ployers. That Australia must be a white man's 

 country was one 1 of the prime demands upon the 

 Commonwealth Parliament, because if Asiatics 

 and other colored laborers are allowed to enter 

 Australia in numbers they will soon demoralize 

 the labor market. The Chinese were already 

 effectually excluded by the enormous head-tax 

 imposed by the state governments. Parliament 

 was asked to exclude and expel Kanakas, Hin- 

 dus, Japanese, and all others of alien race. The 

 sugar growers of Queensland declared that their 

 industry would perish if they were not allowed 

 to employ Kanakas, who performed labor that 

 white men could not be called upon to do, and 

 who were kindly treated and able to save con- 

 siderable sums out of their wages. The exclusion 

 law against the Kanakas ordered the deportation 

 of those already in Australia, disregarding the 

 guarantees given to them and making no provi- 

 sion for getting them a living on their return to 

 the islands from which they came. A law ex- 

 cluding Japanese was passed, although the con- 

 ductors of the pearl-shell fisheries in Torres Straits 

 threatened to remove their fleets to Dutch New 

 Guinea and continue pearlin<r with Japanese 

 divers outside of the 3-mile limit. The Premier 

 -u-|><nded the operation of the act, so far as it 

 affects the pearl-shell fisheries, pending an in- 

 quiry. The earliest law against colored labor 

 \vas one insisting that in carrying out contracts 

 with the Government only white workers should 

 be employed. This roused a protest from steam- 



