538 



The Review of Reviews. 



December 1, 1906. 



extra supply this year, for the New South Wales 

 Gambling Act left many of them without means of 

 subsistence. Mr. Bent was going to put through a 

 Bill all in a hurry, but something happened to it, and 

 it is not through yet. What that something is no- 

 body knows. It is probably the same thing which 

 has attacked the Gambling and the Licensing Bills, 

 but it is a pretty serious disease, and ought to be 

 diagnosed and dealt with. 



During the month a conference of 

 Meeting of the State Premiers and leaders of 

 Premiers. Opposition in the State Parlia- 

 ments was held in Melbourne, 

 chiefly to deal with the question of the financial re- 

 lations of the States of the Commorrvvealth. A point 

 which will need settlement in the very early future 

 is that of the proportion of money to be returned 

 to the States for Customs duties, and another one of 

 almost equal importance is the question of taking 

 over of State debts by the Commonwealth. The lat- 

 ter is almost inevitable in a little while, and the 

 sooner it is done the better it will be for all parties 

 concerned. The proceedings were held in private, 

 and only the decisions made known to the press, 

 which probablv had the effect of preventing a lot of 

 useless talk to the gallery. With regard to the pro- 

 vision requiring that three-fourths of the Customs 

 and Excise revenue shall be returned to the States, 

 a proposal was accepted by the State representa- 

 tives, and which the Commonwealth will be asked 

 to subscribe to, to the effect that if a fixed sum is 

 to be paid instead, it shall be equivalent to the aver- 

 age for the first lo years of the amount returned to 

 each State, and if there should still after that re- 

 main a surplus of Customs and Excise revenue, that 

 it should be distributed on a proportionate capital 

 basis. A still further very important proposal was 

 that which proposed that if the arrangement was 

 approved of it should be incorporated in the Con- 

 stitution, so that it should not be alterable at the 

 whim of anv particular party. It is just as well that 

 it should be done. It is far too important a mat- 

 ter to be lightly overturned, and is so important as 

 to warrant putting into motion the heavv and com- 

 plicated machinery necessarv to procure an altera- 

 tion of the Constitution. West Australia is not sat- 

 isfied w-ith the agreement, and it is curious to note 

 how such a thing as the gambling evil of Tatter- 

 sail's should have found a place in Inter- State dis- 

 cussion upon financial matters. But it did when 

 Mr. Evans, the Premier of Tasmania, pleaded with 

 the other Premiers that in reform legislation for the 

 good of the community thev should not go so far as 

 to cripple the interests of the great gambling con- 

 cern which brings so much gain to the Government 

 of Tasmania. What a commentary- this ! It is 

 hardly to be wondered at that the other States 

 regard the action of their " little sister " with a 

 great amount of grief for selling her birthright for a 

 mess of pottage. 



It is very regrettable that Mr. 

 Tlie New Churchill should have thrown an 



Hebrides. unwarranted insinuation at the 

 Federal Go\emment with regard to 

 the Anglo-French arrangements for the New Hebri- 

 des. Mr. Deakin contends that he has never been 

 consulted about the arrangements, and that pre- 

 vious recommendations ha\^ seemed to be igiwred. 

 Right through the whole of the arrangement there 

 has, from that side at any rate, seemed to be a de- 

 termination to settle the question without any re- 

 ference whatever to Australia. It is very' stronglv 

 telt here that a little more tactfulness is necessarv 

 on Mr. Churchill's part, where interests on this side 

 of the world are concerned. It is extremely disap- 

 pointing to those of us who are anxious that an 

 amicable settlement should be come to regarding 

 New Hebrides matters to know that some of the 

 most important recommendations, i.e., important 

 from the point of view of thos-c on the spot, have 

 seemed to be consistentlv ignored, although the 

 right thing with regard to a joint control has, with- 

 out doubt, been done. 



A very livelv diversion was occa- 

 sioned at a meeting of the Haw- 



local Politics 

 and Local 



British Interests, tnom branch of the A.N.A. the 

 other day, when one of the mem- 

 bers proposed a resolution to the feffect that the 

 Australian Parliament should not interfere with 

 matters of purely local British concern, such as 

 Home Rule. The meeting resolved itself into a 

 very stormy one, one section of the audience at- 

 tempting to block the debate by appeals on points 

 of order, etc. The debate was eventuallv ad- 

 journed, and a livelv discussion is certain to be pro- 

 voked when the matter comes up again. But it 

 raises a question of very considerable importance, 

 to which we have before directed attention. It is 

 simply useless to attempt to properly discuss hert- 

 questions which pertain peculiarly to Home politics, 

 which, by reason of our great distance, we cannot 

 rightly judge the merits and- demerits of. More- 

 over, we have quite enough to do in looking after 

 our own affairs without discussing matters in the I 

 settlement of which our opinion one wav or thr 

 other is not likely to assist. Whichever wav Britaii^ 

 elects to govern herself locally, Australasia is not 

 likely to be affected, and, moreover, it is not desir- ' 

 able that she sho-jld be affected. Imagine the re- 

 mote possibility of a civil w^ar taking place in Bri- 

 tain, and Australians hastening to the other side of 

 the world to assist either one party or the other, or ' 

 else deluging their own country w-ith blood over a 

 quarrel brought about by partisanship in a matter 

 concerning the government of another countrj-. We 

 are so completely home-ruled in Australasia, and 

 rightly so, that we can afford to allow Britons to 

 look after the ruling of their own home. 



