AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



Cabinet but of the Legislative Assembly was 

 obtained on the subject, which was brought 

 under the notice of the House in a resolution 

 submitted by Mr. Buchanan, who asked the 

 House to express its regret at the disallowance 

 of the Queensland measure. It was felt on 

 both sides of the House that, while the resolu- 

 tion could not be assented to, a mere negative 



GREAT KANGAROO. 



would be uncivil to the sister colony. The 

 Premier and the leader of the Opposition each 

 submitted an amendment. That of the former 

 was based on the letter he had already written 

 to the Queensland Government. That of the 

 latter recommended the Government to urge 

 the Earl of Carnarvon to obtain such a mod- 

 ification of the treaty with China as would 

 allow the Australian colonies to protect them- 

 selves against any undesirable influx of Chinese 

 population. The latter amendment was with- 

 drawn by the mover, on the ground that, as 

 he wished for as nearly unanimous a vote as 

 possible, he would not divide the House or give 

 the debate a party aspect. But as the House 

 obviously gave the preference to his amend- 

 ment, the substance of it was, with the assent 

 of the Government, substituted for the latter 

 portion of the Premier's amendment, and in 

 that form was agreed to without a division, the 

 original resolution having been negatived by 

 the large majority of 26 to 6. 



In New Zealand, the Legislative Assembly 

 passed a vote of want of confidence in the min- 

 istry, in the beginning of October, and the min- 

 isters, in consequence, resigned. A new min- 

 istry was then formed by Sir George Grey, who 

 had formerly been a Governor, and who was 

 an opponent of the abolition of provincialism. 



Governor Gordon of Feejee, in July, pro- 

 claimed Suva the capital of that colony. Ac- 

 cordiogjx) a report of the Colonial Secretary of 

 Feejee, tlie total exports in 1876 amounted to 

 107,464, and the imports to 112,806. The 

 principal articles of export were as follows : 



Copra and cocoanut-oil 1.436 



Cotton 11,922 



Sugar 9,086 



Maize 8,464 



Beche-de-mer 2,491 



Next to Hamburg, to which port produce to 

 the value of 36,774 was sent, the bulk of the 

 exports found their way to Sydney. The total 

 white population at the close of 1876 was es- 

 timated at 1,569 persons. 



The northwestern portions of New South 

 Wales suffered severely from drought during 

 the summer months. The loss of stock in con- 

 sequence was serious, and it was expected that 

 the export of wool would show a falling off. 

 In Victoria, also, a severe drought was experi- 

 enced, but, fortunately, without any serious re- 

 sults. 



An exhibition was opened in Sydney on 

 April 10th, which, by the cooperation of Amer- 

 ican and Canadian manufacturers, assumed the 

 dignity of an international exhibition. It was 

 held under the direction of the Agricultural 

 Society of New South Wales a body which 

 devotes itself to the promotion of agriculture 

 and stock-raising. As soon, however, as the 

 society ascertained that it could count on sup- 

 port from the United States and Canada, the 

 scope of the undertaking was enlarged, and 

 exhibits of all sorts invited from all the colo- 

 nies, in order that the manufactures of Amer- 

 ica might appear in appropriate company. 

 Canada seemed to have been better canvassed 

 than the United States, or to have responded 

 more readily to the appeal made by the repre- 

 sentatives of New South Wales, for her wares , 

 took up more space than the goods from the 

 States. They had been sent to Sydney under 



LYRE BIKD. 



the care of special commissioners, directed to 

 make inquiry into the resources as well as the 

 requirements of the colonies, and to report on 

 the best means to open up communication 

 between the two countries. Unfortunately, 



