GREAT BRITAIN'S BREAD UPON THE WATERS 



249 



already said, is by appointment of the 

 existing government for life, while in 

 Australia it is by election for a term, is 

 explained by the more democratic spirit 

 in Australia, and also because of the citi- 

 zenship of two races in Canada, while 

 in Australia the people are homogeneous 

 and all English. 



In Canada there was doubt as to who 

 would possess the greater voting power 

 as the country grew, the English or the 

 French. This situation was thought to 

 require a conservative Senate, which 

 would mitigate the power and possible 

 injustice and prejudice of the popular 

 majority of either race. 



The fact, too, that the constituent 

 States in the Australian Commonwealth 

 had long exercised independent and sep- 

 arate power, and naturally leaned toward 

 a retention of as much power in the sep- 

 arate States as was consistent with an 

 effective Commonwealth, reproduced the 

 situation which existed at the time of the 

 framing of our Constitution. 



On the other hand, in Canada, when 

 the Dominion was formed, the dominant 

 States or provinces of Quebec and On- 

 tario had been united under a complete 

 and all-inclusive government by a single 

 legislature since 1841. 



In the case of Australia, it should be 

 noted that the making of the Common- 

 wealth was not left only to delegates, as 

 in the Quebec Conference, but was con- 

 firmed by referendum to the people of all 

 the constituent States — a procedure indi- 

 cating the greater insistence upon the rule 

 of the people among the Australians. 



THE CONFEDERATION OE SOUTH AERICA 



Some ten years after the formation of 

 the Commonwealth of Australia the 

 South African Union was formed. In 

 creating this, the conditions calling for 

 the union were quite different from those 

 which had existed when the Dominion of 

 Canada and the Commonwealth of Aus- 

 tralia were established. 



In South Africa the British domain In- 

 cluded Cape Colony, the Orange Free 

 State, the Colony of Natal, and the Col- 

 ony of Transvaal, together with an ex- 

 tensive hinterland. The bitter and bloody 

 conflict in the Transvaal War had nat- 



urally left a condition which required 

 care in the making of the new govern- 

 ment and presented different problems 

 from those of Canada and Australia. 



It was necessary to strengthen much 

 the central government at the expense 

 of the federating States. Indeed, the 

 breadth of the powers of the central gov- 

 ernment in South Africa, as compared 

 with those of the Dominion or Common- 

 wealth, is so great that accuracy in call- 

 ing the South African Union a federa- 

 tion at all may be questioned. 



The central government has a general 

 grant of power "to make laws for the 

 peace, order, and good government of the 

 Union." No other power is conferred, 

 and this is because any subsequent enu- 

 meration of powers would have only 

 weakened the grant. 



The powers of the constituent prov- 

 inces hardly exceed those that might be 

 granted to a county council in England 

 or to a general municipal corporation in 

 this country. There is equal representa- 

 tion of the provinces in the Senate and a 

 popular district representation in propor- 

 tion to the electorate for the lower house. 



The powers of the executive are much 

 enlarged because of the presence within 

 the jurisdiction of a large number of na- 

 tive races. The Union government today 

 has under its control 5,000,000 natives 

 within the territory of the States making 

 up the Union, and outside of the States 

 2,000,000 more. 



In spite, however, of these differences 

 in favor of the power of the central gov- 

 ernment, the government is a popular 

 one, and representative directly or indi- 

 rectly of the people. 



In all these associated British govern- 

 ments of which I have been speaking — 

 in Canada, Australia, and South Africa — 

 an independent judiciary like that of the 

 mother country has been provided by ap- 

 pointment of the executive and a tenure 

 for life. In this respect the new State- 

 makers wisely followed the British and 

 our Federal Constitution. 



AEE THESE NEW ENGLANDS ORIGINATED 

 WITH THE PEOPEE 



The first fundamental fact that we 

 note in the organization of these govern- 



