50 



AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH OF. 



in every district in which they have lands. 

 There were 97,739 electors on the registers in 

 1901. The Governor is Major-Gen. Sir Herbert 

 Charles Chermside, appointed in 1902. The Cabi- 

 net at the beginning of 1902 consisted of the fol- 

 lowing members: Prime Minister, Secretary for 

 Mines, Chief Secretary, and Vice-President of 

 the Executive Council, Robert Philp; Attorney- 

 General, A. Rutledge; Secretary for Agriculture, 

 D. H. Dalrymple; Home Secretary, J. F. C. Fox- 

 ton; Secretary for Public Instruction, John Mur- 

 ray; Secretary for Public Lands, W. B. O'Con- 

 nell; Secretary for Railways and Secretary for 

 Public Works, John Leahy; Treasurer, Robert 

 Cribb; without portfolio, George Wilkie Gray. 



The revenue of the Government during the year 

 ending June 30, 1901, was 4,327,345; expendi- 

 tures, 4,855,533. Of the revenue 1,3(53,844 

 were derived from customs duties on imports, 

 201,160 from stamp-duties, 141,108 from ex- 

 cise and export duties, 66,814 from a duty 

 on dividends, 52,525 from licenses, 321,- 

 927 from rent of pastoral lands, 263,303 

 from other rents and sales of land, 1,246,764 

 from railroads, 310,355 from posts and tele- 

 graphs. Of the expenditures 1,415,180 were 

 for interest on the public debt, 310,511 for pub- 

 lic instruction, 1,056,132 for operating rail- 

 roads, 376,191 for post and telegraphs, 116,- 

 312 for public land administration, 53,141 for 

 the Department of Agriculture, 194,894 for the 

 Colonial Treasurer's Department, 88,792 for 

 endowments to municipalities and divisions. 

 The expenditure from loans during the year was 

 1,212,020, for railroads, rivers and harbors, 

 telegraphs, water-supply, defense, etc. The rev- 

 enue for 1902 was estimated at 3,908,500, exclu- 

 sive of 325,734 retained by the Commonwealth, 

 and expenditure at 3,887,899. The public debt 

 on Jan. 1, 1901, amounted to 35,898,414. 



The Queensland Government announced the 

 intention of reducing the number of ministers 

 and of members of the Legislature. An act en- 

 abling the Government to repurchase estates 

 suitable for dairying for the purpose of cutting 

 them up into small holdings for close settlement 

 supplements a previous measure dealing with 

 agricultural lands. Another act enables the 

 state to grant special homestead areas adjoin- 

 ing each other to groups of settlers. According 

 to another bill, pastoral holdings are to be re- 

 classified in connection with an extension of the 

 leases. Provision is made in Queensland, as in 

 other states, for advances to be made to farmers, 

 the loans to be expended only on improvements 

 under official supervision. When the Kanaka 

 exclusion bill was passed by the Commonwealth 

 Parliament Premier Philp, in the interest of the 

 sugar-planters, made an appeal that it should be 

 reserved for the approval of the Imperial Govern- 

 ment, but the Governor-General, on the advice of 

 the Commonwealth ministry, signed it neverthe- 

 less. The planters of Queensland in their effort 

 to defeat the purpose of the Labor party to ex- 

 clude alien races so angered their opponents that 

 they nearly lost the protective duty on sugar 

 that was given in compensation for the cessa- 

 tion of Kanaka labor. The Commonwealth Par- 

 liament decided that no white laborers can be 

 employed in the tropical lands if colored labor- 

 ers are employed on the same plantations. The 

 general election in Queensland took place in 

 March. The Government party elected 38 mem- 

 .bers and the Opposition 30, of whom 24 are 

 representatives of the Labor party. The sugar- 

 planters are determined not to employ white 

 labor so long as they can retain their blacks. 



In five years the federal law requires Queens- 

 land to deport all Polynesians to the places from 

 which they originally came. The state Govern- 

 ment decided that when conditions on shore ren- 

 der it unsafe for islanders to land at their old 

 homes they shall be brought back to Queens- 

 land, although from the beginning of 1902 the 

 Federal Government ceased to issue licenses au- 

 thorizing the employment of additional Kanakas. 

 Farmers who employ white labor in growing 

 sugar are entitled to a bonus of 2 a ton from 

 the Federal Government. The planters have re- 

 ceived the protective duty of 3 a ton, the prom- 

 ise of which made them eager to enter the fed- 

 ration, yet they are willing to see the union dis- 

 solved if they can not obtain the repeal of the ex- 

 clusion act, which the Labor party of southern 

 Queensland was most influential in carrying 

 through with the support of labor politicians of 

 other colonies, but against the wishes of the 

 Queensland Government. The state Government 

 is involved in the financial success of the sugar 

 industry, having advanced 500,000 under the 

 sugar-works guarantee act of 1893 to farmers 

 for the erection of mills, most of which are in 

 arrears and have been kept going by further sub- 

 sidies. Other undertakings for which the great 

 debt of Queensland was incurred have proved un- 

 remunerative, so much so that 1,000,000 of the 

 1,500,000 interest due on such debts had to be 

 made good in 1901 out of the general revenue. 

 With the protective duty and the bounty the 

 prospect of raising sugar-cane w r ith white labor 

 is promising, but the high prices at which unoc- 

 cupied land suitable for sugar is held by the own- 

 ers deters small farmers from entering the field. 

 The smaller industry of pearl-shell fishing can 

 probably be carried on by white fishermen, as it 

 was once. Neither the officials nor the people 

 consider it a benefit to Queensland now, because 

 the capitalists engaged in it are absentees and 

 the Japanese divers take their wages back with 

 them to their own country. 



South. Australia. The Legislative Council 

 consists of 24 members, one-third of whom are 

 replaced every three years by the votes of free- 

 holders, leaseholders, and householders occupy- 

 ing premises rated at 25 a year. The House 

 of Assembly contains 54 members, which number 

 will be reduced to 41. They are elected by uni- 

 versal suffrage. The franchise was extended to 

 women in 1894. The number of registered voters 

 in 1900 was 153,268. The Governor is Lord Ten- 

 nyson, appointed in 1899. The ministry in office 

 at the opening of 1902 was composed as follows: 

 Premier and Chief Secretary, J. G. Jenkins; At- 

 torney-General, J. H. Gordon; Treasurer. R. But- 

 ler; Commissioner of Crown Lands, L. O'Lough- 

 lin; Commissioner of Public Works. R. W. Fos- 

 ter; Minister of Education and Industry, T. H. 

 Brooker. 



The state revenue for the year ending June 

 30, 1901, was 2.824.212, and the expenditure 

 2,846,577. For 1902 the revenue was estimated 

 at 2,585,758. of which customs produce 612,- 

 000; estimated expenditure, 2,562,701. Besides 

 customs, railroad receipts, internal revenue, 

 posts and telegraphs, and lands furnish the main 

 part of the public receipts, and the chief items 

 of expenditure are interest on the debt and the 

 operating expenses of railroads and other serv- 

 ices, only 10 per cent, being devoted to admin- 

 istration, courts, police, and defense. The public 

 debt on June 30, 1901, amounted to 26.131,780, 

 more than half of which was borrowed to build 

 railroads, telegraphs, and water-works. The rail- 

 roads yield a net profit of 3 per cent. 



