The Australian 255 



out a mate is a " hatter," an eccentric person who 

 cannot be quite right in his head. 



No sketch of the Australian character could be 

 made without reference to Australian political be- 

 lief, for, as already shown, politics are a large 

 part of the everyday life of Australia. Nowhere 

 in the world is there a more thorough belief in 

 the efficacy of State intervention. The Australian 

 pays his politicians, and is accustomed to lay all 

 his misfortunes at their door. He knows no 

 foreign questions, and many matters that are else- 

 where burning questions have already been settled 

 for him. It was said that during the Common- 

 wealth elections of 1903 each state was agitated 

 by a different question, the issue in Queensland 

 being fought on lines entirely remote from those 

 affecting Tasmania. In the absence of broad 

 dividing principles, the Australian applies to his 

 politicians the test of his own convenience and 

 prosperity. A misplaced school, or a bridge un- 

 built, has cut short the career of many a promising 

 politician. Good seasons and prosperous condi- 

 tions mean long-lived administrations and political 

 indifference; but when bad times come, they bring 

 rapid changes of Government and much political 

 fervour. At such times, the Australian approaches 

 the ballot-box in a spirit of sanguine pessimism, 

 determining to give the other side a chance, in 

 the forlorn hope that his ideals of government 

 may yet be realised. This introduction of the 

 speculative spirit .into the realm of politics shows 



