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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



STATES RIGHTS IN AUSTRALIA 



But the Commonwealth government of 

 Australia has a much narrower scope 

 than the Federal Government of the 

 United States. Its chief function is to 

 organize defense, regulate overseas and 

 interstate commerce, establish and collect 

 customs duties (of which three- fourths 

 must be returned to the States), coin 

 money, and operate post-offices, tele- 

 phones, and telegraphs. The States retain 

 all forms of taxation, control the public 

 lands and rivers, and operate railways. 

 The meteorological service is a Common- 

 wealth department, but geological sur- 

 veys, mine investigations, irrigation, etc., 

 are State functions. Interstate commis- 

 sions replace Federal bureaus in dealing 

 with many internal problems. 



There is even a greater difference be- 

 tween Australia and America in the scope 

 of governmental action. To an Austra- 

 lian, the Federal, State, and city govern- 

 ments are not organizations designed 

 primarily to preserve order and protect 

 property and maintain civic rights ; they 

 exist in order to do the people's business, 

 and have no apparent limitations. 



Action by Parliament is the cure-all 

 for public and private ills. The State 

 operates railroads, street cars, ferry- 

 boats, water works, electric light plants ; 

 fixes prices and hours of labor and 

 wages ; makes clothes and machinery ; 

 sells fish, meat, dairy produce ; exports 

 wines ; runs warehouses ; supplies seed 

 wheat ; builds fences and roads ; digs 

 wells ; provides insurance ; pays hospital 

 bills ; loans money to individuals ; buys 

 and sells land ; runs mining plants. 



A GENUINE! AUTONOMY MAINTAINED 



Not only have the States refused to be 

 submerged in the Commonwealth, but the 

 Commonwealth maintains its independ- 

 ence of the British Government to an un- 

 usual degree. Politically and economic- 

 ally, Australia and England are far apart. 

 Appeals to the Privy Council at London 

 are strictly limited, and tariff regulations 

 restricting the trade with the mother 

 country are in force. To the Australian 

 the Commonwealth is a growing nation, 

 which owes its origin, but not its develop- 

 ment, to England. 



The leaders recognize the fact, obvious 

 to the foreigner, that Australia has its 

 own problems, in the solution of which 

 little is gained by following traditions and 

 customs applicable to a thickly settled 

 manufacturing country with well-defined 

 social strata. 



If one were to take at their face value 

 a selection of caricatures and humorous 

 writings, as well as editorials, letters, and 

 pamphlets, printed in Australia during 

 the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 

 he might well reach the conclusion, ap- 

 parently arrived at by certain of Eng- 

 land's enemies, that self-centered and 

 ambitious Australia was little removed 

 from an unfriendly Australia. The fal- 

 lacy of confusing independence with 

 disloyalty is amply demonstrated by the 

 Boer War and by the Great War. 



When by Germany's action Great Brit- 

 ain was placed in a perilous position, the 

 response of Australia was vigorous and 

 immediate. A nation of peace-loving 

 people, intent on their own affairs, was 

 transformed into a group of warring 

 Britons, as it were, over night. It ap- 

 peared as if the very weakness of the 

 political tie strengthened the bond of 

 allegiance. 



PROMPT TO ANSWER THE EMPIRE'S CAEE 



Within two months after war was de- 

 clared the little Australian fleet of five 

 cruisers, three torpedo-boat destroyers, 

 and three light gunboats, built and man- 

 ned at the nation's expense, had occupied 

 the German Pacific islands — Samoa, Mar- 

 shall, Carolines, Pelew, Ladrones, New 

 Guinea. New Britain — broken up the Ger- 

 man wireless system, captured eleven 

 enemy's vessels, forced twenty-five others 

 to intern, and prevented the destruction 

 of a single British ship in Australian 

 waters. In the third month of the war 

 the Bmden, lying in wait for Australian 

 transports, met its fate before the guns 

 of the cruiser Sydney. Later on the 

 watchful Australian fleet played its part 

 in driving von Spree's squadron from the 

 Pacific into the trap set by Admiral 

 Sturdee at the Falkland Islands. 



The response of the military forces 

 was likewise quick and effective. Al- 

 though fighting at a distance involved 

 unusual effort and expense, the task was 



