344 ^^^^^^ SOUTH WALES. 



Legislature. The form of Executive proposed is, as in Canada, tlie 

 Bi'itisli system of a ministry nominally appointed by tlio Crown (that 

 is the Governor-General) but in reality responsible to and dependent 

 on the confidence of the House of Representatives. A Federal Supreme 

 Court is also provided as a general court of appeal for all Australia, and 

 with an original jurisdiction in intercolonial matters. With regard to 

 the relation of the Federal Parliament to the State Parliaments, the 

 Inll adopts the principle established in the United States, where the 

 federal powers conferred by the Constitution are strictly delegated 

 powers, and the states retain all rights not expressly and exclusively 

 conferred on the Union. 



It was intended at the time that this draft bill should be discussed 

 in detail in all the Australian Legislatures, then referred to a second 

 convention to harmonise such amendments as might have been 

 suggested, and finally submitted in some way for the acceptance or 

 rejection of the people of each Colony. This process, however, broke 

 down. The different Parliaments could not spare time in the pressure 

 of provincial and party politics to discuss the Federad Constitution in 

 detail, and for a time the question of federal union dropped into 

 neglect, and the impetus of the Sydney Convention seemed lost. At 

 this stage the movement assumed a new phase by spreading from the 

 parliament to the people. The Commomvealth Bill had been an 

 immense educational influence, had given definite shape to the national 

 aspirations, and aroused the interest and the criticism of a large 

 proportion of the general public. At the same time a financial 

 jDanic and severe commercial depression made prominent the weakness 

 of isolation, and suggested practical arguments in favour of a speedy 

 national union. The movement neglected by the politicians began to 

 be taken up by the citizens. Foremost in this new movement was the 

 Australian Natives' Association, who, taking advantage of their estab- 

 lished organisation had already held a conference of delegates from 

 all its branches in the five Colonies on the continent at the Melbourne 

 Town Hall, on the 25th and 26th January, 1890, under the presidency 

 of the late Sir John Bray, when resolutions were passed containing a 

 j^roposed basis for a federal constitution. 



Moreover, federation leagues to assist in the movement were 

 formed in metropolitan, suburban, and country centres, especially 

 along the Victorian border. It has been the policy of the various 

 branches of the Australasian Federation League to assist every 

 Government in power in its endeavours to carry measures for securing 

 the union of the Colonies at the earliest possible date. Central feder- 

 ation leagues were also inaugurated in Melbourne in July, 1804 (under 

 the Presidency of Sir John Madden, Chief Justice), and in Adelaide, 

 in August, 1895 (under the Presidency of Mr. J. H. Simon, Q.C.). 



A motion in favour of Australian federation, proposed by Sir Henry 

 Parkes, in the Legislative Assembly, on 30th November, 1894, was 

 supported by the Reid Government, and carried by fifty-five votes to 

 ten. A federal party was subsequently formed under the presidency 

 of Sir Henry l^arkes, which at the time of the last general election, 

 and for some time afterwards, carried on its operations and held 

 public meetings in the city, suburbs, and country towns. 



