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 THE ALL RED SERIES 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH 
 OF AUSTRALIA
 
 THE 
 
 COMMONWEALTH 
 OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 BY 
 
 B. R. WISE 
 
 LONDON : SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD. 
 No. 1 AMEN CORNER, E.C. ^ , 1909 
 
 115939
 
 Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman 
 & Sons, Ltd., London, Bath 
 AND New York - 1909
 
 HC 
 
 TO 
 
 ALFRED DEAKIN
 
 Cv^ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 There are many histories of Australia and many descrip- 
 tions of its scenery and customs ; but no one has presented 
 a general view of the Commonwealth, both as a country 
 and a nation, as Mr. Bryce, for instance, has done for 
 the United States. 
 
 Yet Australia, from her geographical position, — if for 
 no other and more sentimental reason, — must always 
 03 be of interest to the Empire. Dominating the Pacific, 
 and placed astride of the trade-route between America 
 and China, she is not only the outlying frontier of England 
 towards the Far East — which is the Empire's most vulner- 
 able side — but she is also the ultimate heir of Java, 
 Sumatra, and the Celebes, in the event of the absorption 
 by Germany of Holland. In one set of contingencies, 
 when promptitude might make the difference between 
 salvation and destruction, she could anticipate by a 
 fortnight the landing of troops in either India or China : 
 Q in another she would be mistress of the richest tropical 
 possessions in the world, at a time when commercial 
 supremacy largely depends upon control of the tropics. 
 
 Nor is Australia less worthy of attention if we regard 
 her internal development and material wealth. She has 
 been and is a laboratory of political experiments ; and 
 is facing the problems of Democracy in a spirit and by 
 methods which are in striking contrast to the spirit and 
 the methods of the American Democracy upon the other 
 side of the Pacific. In mere wealth and productive power 
 her handful of people, — four millions scattered over a 
 country as large as the United States, if we exclude the 
 ice-bound portion of Alaska, and larger than Europe 
 without Spain, — excels every civilised community. And 
 
 o
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 yet no one, who knows the country, can doubt that 
 even Australia's immense output will be increased, as 
 more good land comes under cultivation, and engineers 
 solve the problems of water conservation and cheap 
 transport. 
 
 Thirdly, Australia is the most British country out 
 of Great Britain. Canada has its French province, the 
 Dutch are in South Africa, the United States are a 
 medley of races ; but 97 per cent, of the population of 
 Australia is of pure British descent. For the first time in 
 history, as Sir Edmund Barton pointed out with apt 
 terseness during the campaign for Federation, there is 
 " A Continent for a Nation and a Nation for a Continent." 
 Englishmen in England cannot be indifferent to the 
 destiny of such a people, so situated and with such 
 resources. 
 
 This little book is, of necessity, a sketch in outline, 
 and must conform to the series in which it appears. 
 But, although it cannot cover the ground of Mr. Bryce's 
 classic, it can at least explain some of the special 
 features of Australian policy, and the ideas, temper and 
 conduct of its people. The plentiful lack of knowledge 
 about Australia justifies such an attempt.
 
 PROEM 
 
 There is a land in distant seas, 
 Full of all contrarieties. 
 There, beasts have mallards' bills and legs 
 Have spurs like cocks, like hens lay eggs : 
 These quadrupeds go on two feet. 
 And yet few quadrupeds so fleet : 
 And birds, although they cannot fly. 
 In swiftness with the greyhound vie. 
 With equal wonder you may see 
 The foxes fly from tree to tree ; 
 And what they value most — so wary, — 
 These foxes in their pockets carry. 
 There parrots walk upon the ground ; 
 And grass upon the trees is found ; 
 On other trees, another wonder. 
 Leaves without upper side, or under. 
 There, apple trees no fruit produce, 
 But from their trunks pour cid'rous juice. 
 The pears you'll scarce with hatchet cut ; 
 Stones are outside the cherries put : 
 Swans are not white, but black as soot. 
 There the voracious ewe-sheep crams 
 Her paunch with flesh of tender lambs. 
 There, neither herb, nor root, nor fruit 
 Will any Christian palate suit ; 
 Unless, in desp'rate need, you fill ye 
 With root of fern, or stalk of lily. 
 Instead of bread, and beef, and broth. 
 Men feed on many a roasted moth ; 
 And find their most delicious food 
 In grubs picked out of rotten wood.
 
 PROEM 
 
 There, birds construct their shady bowers, 
 
 Deck'd with bright feathers, shells, and flowers : 
 
 To these the cocks and hens resort. 
 
 Run to and fro, and gaily sport. 
 
 Others a hot-bed join to make, 
 
 To hatch the eggs which they forsake. 
 
 There, missiles to far distance sent 
 
 Come whistling back with force unspent. 
 
 There courting swains their passions prove 
 
 By knocking down the girls they love : 
 
 The sun, when you to face him turn ye, 
 
 From right to left performs his journey. 
 
 The north winds scorch ; but when the breeze is 
 
 Full from the south, why then it freezes. 
 
 Now, of what place can such strange tales 
 
 Be told with truth, but New South Wales ? 
 
 Bentley's Miscellany, 1846.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PART I— A GROWING NATION 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 
 
 PACK 
 
 Area and Limits — Description — Rainfall — River Systems — 
 Artesian Water — Scenery and Climate — Fertility' — 
 Productiveness — Droughts . . . . . . . . . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PEOPLE 
 
 The Over-sea Briton — The Changed Skies — Characteristics 
 — City Life — Housing — Living — Amusements — 
 Horse-racing — Other Sports — An Easy Life .,. . . 19 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BUSH 
 
 A Country Life — Characteristics — Bush Life — Isolation — The 
 Sundowner — The Squatter — The Cattle-run — The Planter 
 — The Selector — The Country Towns . . . . . . 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 POLITICS AND THE WORKING MAN 
 
 The Aim of Australian Democracy — The Paradise of the 
 Working Man — A Contrast of Methods — Australian 
 Socialism — Social Progress v. Material Advance — A Policy 
 not a Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
 
 XU CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LABOUR PARTY 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The Opportunity — The Maritime Strike — Labour turns to 
 Politics — A Retrospect — The Caucus — The Programme — 
 What the Party stands for . . . . . . . . . . 59 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 (1) Distribution over States — New South Wales — Victoria — 
 South Australia — West Australia — Queensland — Tas- 
 mania. (2) Amount and Quality : Cost — Attendance — 
 Curricula — Private Schools — Summary — Secondary Edu- 
 cation — Technical Education — Universities. (3) Practice 
 and Ideals . . . . . . . . . . , . . . 73 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PUBLIC LANDS : A WASTED HERITAGE 
 
 Early Land Systems — The Wakefield Theory of Colonisation 
 and the Agrarian War — The Orders in Council of 1847 — 
 The Squatters and the People — The Wakefield Experiment 
 in South Australia — An Immigration Policy . . . . 92 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " BACK TO THE LAND " 
 
 The Cry for Land — Experiments in Settlement — Assistance 
 to Settlers — How the Land is Held To-day .. ..125 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MATERIAL GROWTH 
 
 Private Wealth — Diffusion of Wealth — Savings — Production 
 — The Pastoral Industry — Farming and Dairying — 
 Agriculture — Mineral Productions — The Manufacturing 
 Industr>' — Internal Trade — Oversea Commerce — The 
 Balance of Trade — Indebtedness — Banking — Summary 141
 
 CONTENTS Xlll 
 
 PART II— THE GOVERNMENT 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR UNION 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Provincial Divisions — The First Steps — The Convention of 
 1891— The Draft Bill— Note on the Contest .. ..161 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NATURE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 The Double Aspect of Federation — Distinction Between a 
 Federal and a Sovereign Government — The Sphere of 
 the Commonwealth — The National Sovereignty — Federal 
 Powers — Special Provisions — Navigation and Immigra- 
 tion — Differential Railway Rates — Railway Construction 172 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE 
 
 The Crown — The Executive Council — Responsible 
 Government — An Experiment . . . . . . . . 191 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PARLIAMENT 
 
 The Governor-General — The Senate — The House of Repre- 
 sentatives — Relations between the two Houses — ^The 
 States House — Money Bills — Deadlocks — Tacking — 
 Limitation of the Legislative Power — The Prerogative — 
 Fundamental Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE JUDICIARY 
 
 The Judiciary and the Constitution — Appellate Jurisdiction 
 —Original Jurisdiction — The Guardian of the Constitution 212
 
 XIV CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Requisites of the Cabinet System — The Party System — 
 Members — The System in Working — Elective Ministries 
 — The Referendum — Members and the Constituencies — 
 " Reckless Legislation " — Misunderstandings .. .. 219 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FINANCIAL PROBLEM 
 
 The Financial Problem — A Uniform Tariff — The Surplus and 
 its Distribution — The Transferred Expenditure — A 
 Commonwealth Budget — The Return to the States — The 
 Pubhc Debt 235 
 
 PART III— LEGISLATION 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TARIFFS AND PREFERENCE 
 
 The First Tariff — The Effect on Industry — The National 
 Policy — Imperial Preference — The Displacement of 
 British Trade — Should Trade Follow the Flag ? — The 
 Value of the Gift of Preference — Preference to British 
 Ships — Extensions of the Policy of Preference — Preference 
 and Imperial Union .. .. .. .. .. .. 247 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 " THE NEW PROTECTION " 
 
 The Problem of Commerce — The " Harvester " Case — ^The 
 Australian Industries Preservation Act — Monopolies — 
 Dumping — Tariffs and Labour — Tariffs — Corruption . . 266 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " A WHITE AUSTRALIA" 
 
 The Policy — Its Administration — Coloured Crews — Kanaka 
 Labour and the Sugar Industry — The White Man and the 
 Tropics — Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . 274
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH AND IMMIGRATION 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Contract Immigrants — Strike-breakers — Ambiguity Removed 
 — State-aided Immigration . . . . . . . . . . 281 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 INDUSTRIAL LIFE 
 Division I 
 
 The Eight Hours' Day — Early Closing — Victorian Efforts — 
 The New South Wales Act of 1900 — Legislation in other 
 States — Factory and Shop Legislation — General Industrial 
 Legislation — A Paradox Explained . . . . . . 288 
 
 Division II 
 
 Wages Boards — Industrial Courts — Collective Bargaining — 
 Industrial Unions — Industrial Agreements — The Deter- 
 mination of Disputes — Conciliation — Preference to 
 Unionists — Membership of Unions — The Court and its 
 Powers — The Common Rule — Prohibition of Strikes and 
 Lock-outs — Underlying Principles — The Act in Operation 
 — Is it one-sided ? — A New Measure — Wages Boards and 
 Courts Compared — The Scope of the Acts — Note to 
 Chapter 298 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 OLD AGE AND INVALIDITY PENSIONS 
 
 Schemes in Operation — Administration — A Federal System — 
 Invalidity Pensions . . . . . . . . . . 325 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 DEFENCE 
 
 Before Federation — After Federation — Inadequacy of the 
 System — The Enemies of Australia — Compulsory Service 
 — Naval Defence — Conclusion . . . . . . . . 329 
 
 Appendix I. Routes to Australia . . . . . . ... 344 
 
 Appendix II. Note on Loan Policies . . . . . . 348 
 
 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 SYDNEY HARBOUR ..... Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 A BORE ......... 16 
 
 AN AUSTRALIAN RACE-COURSE ..... 30 
 
 CAMEL TRANSPORT ....... 44 
 
 VIEW OF MELBOURNE 62 
 
 PITT STREET, SYDNEY, N.S.W., IN 1853 ... 94 
 
 KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE . . . .118 
 
 HARVESTING AT COLEBROOK ..... 134 
 
 TRANSPORTING TIMBER . . . . . .150 
 
 BRIDGE STREET, SYDNEY , 176 
 
 VIEW OF PERTH ....... 194 
 
 A STAGE COACH 220 
 
 A MOB OF SHEEP ....... 248 
 
 A BANANA GROVE . 278 
 
 THE queen's WHARF, LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA . . 300 
 
 A RABBIT-TRAPPER'S CAMP ..... 326 
 
 A COMPARATIVE CHART . . . . . fuge 14 
 
 MAP OF AUSTRALIA .... faciflg „ 356
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH 
 OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 PART I— A GROWING Nx\TION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PHYSICAL FEATURES 
 
 Area and Limits — Description — Rainfall — River System — 
 Artesian Water — Scenery and Climate — Fertility — 
 Productiveness — Droughts . 
 
 Australia, as a geographical expression, includes the 
 continent and islands which lie between the tenth and 
 forty-fifth degrees of south latitude and the one hundred 
 and thirteenth and one hundred and fifty-fourth degrees 
 of east longitude. As a political expression, the term 
 now includes the territory of Papua and the depen- 
 dencies of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. In general 
 parlance, the term means the six States of New South 
 Wales, Victoria, South Austraha (including the Northern 
 Territory) ; Western Australia and Queensland, which 
 are situated on the continent, and the adjacent island of 
 Tasmania. It is in this sense then, that " Australia " will 
 be used in the present volume. The term " Australasia " is 
 given to all the British possessions in the Western Pacific 
 and includes New Zealand. 
 
 Australia is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, 
 the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait ; on the east by the 
 Pacific Ocean ; on the south by the Southern Ocean ; 
 and on the west by the Indian Ocean. Its total area 
 
 1
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 is 2,974,581 square miles. The area of the mainland* 
 is 2,948,366 square miles ; that of Tasmania is 26,215 
 square miles. Its greatest breadth is 2,400 miles, between 
 Shark's Bay on the west, and Sandy Cape, the extreme 
 point of the east coast. From north to south — from 
 Cape Otway to Cape York — ^is 1,700 miles. 
 
 These figures are too large to be apprehended easily. 
 Their significance is better understood by a comparison. 
 Austraha is larger than the United States, if the Arctic 
 portion of Alaska be omitted from the calculation ; it 
 is more than three-fourths of all Europe : it is about 
 twenty-five times as large as either the United Kingdom, 
 Norway, Austria or the Transvaal. It is, in fact, more 
 than one-fourth of the whole area of the British Empire, 
 and is habitable in every part. ^ 
 
 Description 
 
 The physical features of Australia are remarkable in 
 
 several respects. In no other country in the world 
 
 does a coastal line bear so small a proportion to the area 
 
 of the continent, — the coastal perimeter being only equal 
 
 to one mile for every 333 square miles of area. ' 
 
 Australia is also peculiar among continents, in that it 
 
 ^ The area of the mainland is distributed between the States 
 as follows : — 
 
 State 
 
 Area in 
 square miles 
 
 Capital 
 
 New South Wales 
 
 310.372 
 
 Sydney 
 
 Victoria 
 
 87,884 
 
 Melbourne 
 
 Queensland 
 
 670,500 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 South AustraUa (total) 
 
 903.690 
 
 Adelaide 
 
 ,, (Northern Territory) 
 
 (523,620) 
 
 (Port Darwin) 
 
 „ (proper) 
 
 (380.070) 
 
 
 Western Australia 
 
 975,920) 
 
 Perth 
 
 * The central portion of the continent used to be regarded as 
 a desert. Later knowledge, however, has caused a considerable 
 modification of this idea ; and much of the so-called " desert " 
 is now occupied for pastoral purposes. 
 
 ' Europe has only seventy-five square miles of area to each 
 mile of coast-line. England and Wales have only twenty-five. 
 
 2
 
 AN INVERTED SAUCER 
 
 possesses neither mountains, within reach, above the 
 level of perpetual snow, nor active volcanoes. Another 
 peculiar feature is the absence of any rivers connecting 
 the coast-line with the interior. Lakes of any size 
 or permanence are also lacking. The general appearance 
 of the continent may be likened to an inverted saucer. 
 The rim of the saucer is a rich belt of alluvial soil, well 
 watered by rivers and of great fertility. Its average 
 width is, approximately, forty miles. This belt is quite 
 plainly marked along the eastern side of the continent 
 and on the southern coast-Hne of Victoria. It becomes 
 broken along Spencer's Gulf, and is replaced by sand- 
 hills on the margin of the Great Australian Bight. It 
 reappears as the western coast of the continent is 
 reached, and runs, with some interruptions, towards the 
 north. On turning towards the east and following the 
 Northern Territory, the coast-line is again fringed with 
 a level belt, which has markedly different features from 
 the plateau of the interior. Above this level rim and 
 forming (as it were), the circular ridge of the inverted 
 saucer, is the Great Dividing Range, This runs in an 
 unbroken chain from Cape York, which is the northern- 
 most point of the east coast, to the boundary of Victoria 
 and South Australia on the southern coast. The same 
 range can be traced, over Torres Strait, into the island 
 of New Guinea, and, over Bass' Strait, into Tasmania. 
 On reaching South Australia its continuity is broken ; 
 but it reappears in Western Australia. It does not 
 run along the northern coast. The greatest elevation 
 of the range, — which is at no place more than 250 miles 
 from the sea at its furthest edge, — is in the Australian 
 Alps, 1 at the confines of Victoria and New South Wales, 
 
 1 It illustrates the variety of the Australian climate that, 
 in the district of Monaro in New South Wales, where these 
 mountains are situated, the mails are delivered during six months 
 of the year by men on snow shoes. Crown Lands in that district 
 are leased on what are called " snow leases." 
 
 3
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 where Mount Kosciusko attains a height of 7,300 feet. 
 The seaward slope of the range is sharp and precipitous, 
 and often presents very bold escarpments. The chasms 
 of the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales, and the 
 falls in the Barron Ranges, in Queensland, are known 
 throughout the world for their imposing grandeur. On 
 the western side the descent is gradual, until, in the 
 country above Spencer's Gulf, the plain is not above the 
 sea level. There is another gradual rise towards the 
 coastal ranges of Western Australia. This great central 
 plain, which forms the bottom of the inverted saucer, is 
 the most distinctive feature of the Australian continent. 
 
 Rainfall 
 
 The Dividing Range and the central plain give the 
 key to the climatic peculiarities of Australia. The sea 
 breezes, which strike the eastern shore, precipitate an 
 ample rainfall on the coastal districts. In Sydney, for 
 example, the average rainfall over a period of forty- two 
 years was fifty inches, and along the coast of Queensland 
 it averages from fifty to seventy inches a year. But 
 these rain-laden winds are checked by the Dividing 
 Range ; and while Sydney has its fifty inches of rain in 
 a year, Milparinka, in the western district of the State, 
 receives only nine inches. The great central plain 
 depends for its refreshment on the monsoonal depression 
 and the western trades. When these have strength 
 enough to penetrate to the interior, the face of the land 
 becomes transformed in a single night. Plains which 
 looked as bare as a city street, become green at once 
 with a luxuriant growth of grass and herbage, and the 
 air becomes so tempered by moisture that these growths 
 remain for considerable periods. 
 
 Thus, although Australia is a " dry " country, the 
 epithet may easily mislead. There is an ample rainfall 
 in the settled districts round the coast, and, even if the 
 
 4
 
 NAVIGABLE RIVERS 
 
 settler penetrates into the interior, he will find a yearly 
 average of twenty inches, until he reaches the great 
 central depression, which forms at present the limit of 
 settlement. He must not, however, expect to find 
 running or permanent water. For one of the most 
 curious features of Australia is that, with the exception 
 of the Murray and its tributaries, all the rivers spring 
 from the seaward slopes of the Dividing Range. And 
 even the Murray system, which flows inland, although 
 on the map it appears very important, is, for the greater 
 part of every year, a series of water-holes. 
 
 River Systems 
 
 The Murray itself springs from the inland slope of the 
 
 Australian Alps, in the south-eastern corner of New 
 
 South Wales. For 1,250 miles the centre of its bed forms 
 
 a boundary between that State and Victoria; and for 
 
 510 miles further it runs through South Australia until 
 
 it enters an arm of the sea, which is known as Lake 
 
 Alexandrina. ^ At Wentworth, which is 570 miles from 
 
 the sea as the river runs, it is joined by the Darling — 
 
 having previously received the waters of the Murrum- 
 
 bidgee and the Lachlan, which drain the western part of 
 
 New South Wales. The Darling-Murray has a length 
 
 of 3,282 miles, so that, if it were a continuous course of 
 
 water it would rank among the longest rivers in the world. 
 
 It is, indeed, navigable in some seasons for stern-wheel 
 
 steamers drawing barges so far as Walgett, a distance 
 
 from the sea of 2,345 miles. But it requires exceptional 
 
 conditions to reach this point, and it is impossible to 
 
 return from it during the same season. There is regular 
 
 navigation on the Murray from the sea to Wentworth ; 
 
 and, in favourable seasons, boats ascend this river as far 
 
 as Albury or even to Wagga-Wagga on the Murrumbidgee. 
 
 ^ There are very few fresh water lakes in Austraha, and none of 
 any size. • The term is usually applied to shallow depressions of 
 mud and salt, which only fill with water after rain. 
 
 5
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 It will be one of the works of the future to make 
 this river system fit for navigation, by building dams, 
 weirs and locks, and by systematic snagging. The 
 consciousness on the part of South Australia of this 
 certain development has given rise, as will appear later, 
 to one of the most acute problems of Australian politics. 
 The work, however, will be very difficult and costly, 
 owing to the irregularity and inequality in the rainfall, 
 and the immense area of almost level lands which this 
 river system drains. ^ In ordinary times these western 
 rivers run in a sluggish and almost imperceptible stream, 
 varying in width from twenty to a hundred yards, between 
 high banks of porous red or black soil. In summer the 
 shallows are evaporated by the sun, and the river's course 
 is interrupted. A heavy rainfall then fills the distant 
 tributaries, and, if it continue, causes a connection 
 between them and the parent river, which spreads the 
 waters for hundreds of miles over the surrounding country. 
 The porous soil, however, soon gives back the water it 
 received, and the river channel, falling again to its 
 accustomed level, carries the immense volume of water, 
 which has fallen on a thirsty soil, wastefully into the sea. ^ 
 The problem for Australia is to find a method of con- 
 serving the water which falls on the dry plains, where the 
 possible evaporation is often greater than the actual 
 rainfall.' Besides the Murray and its tributaries, 
 another system of water-courses drains the western 
 
 ^ It is estimated by the officials of the New South Wales Water 
 Conservation Department that not more than ten per cent, of 
 the rainfall on the catchment area of the Darling river above 
 Bourke (N.S.W.) discharges itself past that town. 
 
 ^ " The different appearance of these rivers in a dry and wet 
 season explains the conflicting reports of early explorers, one 
 regarding the interior as an inland sea, the other as a desert." 
 Official Year Book of the Commonwealth, p. 70. 
 
 ' "At Coolgardie (W.A.) the evaporation was 85 inches in 1905. 
 And at Laverton it was 140" 8 inches or nearly 12 feet." Official 
 Year Book of the Commonwealth, p. 118. 
 
 6
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY 
 
 districts. This comprises the so-called " rivers " which 
 are absorbed by Lake Eyre in South Australia. Like the 
 rivers in the Murray system, these run in wet weather, 
 but for the greater part of the year they are only a suc- 
 cession of ponds. These soakages, however, provide 
 water for stock. 
 
 Artesian Water 
 
 Fortunately, the inhabitants of the dry districts are 
 not entirely dependent on the rivers for their water 
 supply. Much has been done by private persons by 
 sinking underground tanks, which are protected from 
 the wind and the direct rays of the sun, and by tree- 
 planting, to store and conserve water, and the State 
 Governments provide tanks at all convenient stopping 
 places on the main stock-routes. But the greatest 
 source of supply since 1879 has been artesian borings. 
 It was discovered that a water-bearing stratum under- 
 lies nearly the whole of the gentle slope which falls 
 from the inland side of the Dividing Range to the great 
 central depression, and that this can be tapped by bores 
 at varying depths from 150 to 5,000 feet. Most authori- 
 ties hold that this supply is drawn from underground 
 rivers, and is therefore inexhaustible. Professor Gregory, 
 however, takes ^ the view that the bores are only draining 
 underground chambers or caverns of limited contents. 
 Certainly, while it has not yet been shown that any two 
 bores are drawing from the same river, neither is there 
 any perceptible diminution in the supply. The worst 
 that has happened is that the water is so charged with 
 soda in various forms that it becomes useless for irriga- 
 tion purposes. When drawn at a distance from the 
 central depression of the continent it is excellent for 
 drinking, but it gets more salt as it approaches the desert 
 fringe, until it becomes unfit for domestic uses. Thus, 
 
 * See Stanford's Compendium of Geography. — " Australasia." 
 
 7
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 while we need not give up hope that these hidden springs 
 may yet make the centre of Austraha " blossom like a 
 rose," their nature is, at present, too Uttle understood 
 to justify confidence. Certainly artesian wells have not 
 made up for that which is the greatest of all Australia's 
 needs, namely, a chain of snow mountains in the interior. 
 Owing to the actual configuration of the continent, the 
 rainfall in its central basin must always be scanty and 
 uncertain. The desert of California has been redeemed 
 by water from the Rocky Mountains. Irrigation in the 
 centre of Australia would require to be fed from the 
 tropical rivers. This may not be impossible, but it is 
 not a work for this generation. All that can be done 
 at present is to store such rain as falls, and by tree- 
 planting and other methods, conserve it from evaporation. 
 The seaward side of the Dividing Range presents a 
 very different picture. Numerous rivers, — deep, wide 
 and long, — carry their fertilising waters across the sea- 
 board rim of the saucer continent. Some of these, such 
 as the Victoria in the North West Territory, are navi- 
 gable for all vessels for a considerable distance ; but most 
 of them are blocked at their entrance to the sea by bars 
 of shifting sand, which make navigation intricate and 
 difficult, and impossible for craft which draw more than 
 fifteen feet. The Swan River in Western Australia, 
 the Paramatta and Hawkesbury Rivers in New South 
 Wales, and several of the rivers of the northern coasts 
 are notable exceptions. A characteristic feature at the 
 mouth of these bar-bound rivers is a lagoon of fresh 
 water which is often only separated from the sea by a 
 few feet of sand. Large sums of money are spent by 
 the Government of each State in overcoming the diffi- 
 culties of entrance to the coastal rivers by means of 
 dredging and breakwaters, but without much success. 
 Still, in spite of all impediments, a considerable trade 
 has sprung up along the rivers, and between the rivers 
 
 8
 
 FOREST LANDS 
 
 and the high lands ; while the fertility of their banks 
 is attracting a large and concentrated population, and 
 they have already become the centre of the dairying 
 industry. 
 
 Scenery and Climate 
 
 From this description of the physical features of 
 Australia it becomes possible to form some idea of its 
 appearance. Roughly speaking, the continent is divided 
 into three distinct kinds of country — the forest lands 
 of the coastal rim, the upland plains of the descending 
 downs and the central basin of desert. The coastal 
 districts, rich in alluvial soil, well-watered by rivers, 
 and with ample rainfalls, grow a profusion of trees and 
 vegetation. As the ground rises towards the mountain 
 range, the timber becomes bigger and the forest more 
 dense. On the foot-slopes, creepers, palms and ferns 
 form a screen of luxuriant foliage, which disappears 
 on the uplands, where the eucalyptus grows in open grassy 
 glades, that give the landscape the appearance of a park. 
 Great rolling downs, with frequent clumps of timber, 
 form the beginning of the inland slope from the Dividing 
 Range. Gradually these give place to an expanse of tree- 
 less plain, which, at one time only carrying a sheep to ten 
 acres, promises now to rival the wheatfields of Canada. 
 Trees are still found by the river banks, until, as the 
 region becomes more arid, " bushes, scrubs, and dwarf 
 eucalyptus, with belts of pine at intervals, give place to 
 a scant and inferior vegetation."^ The belt of good 
 land is naturally widest towards the north, where the 
 rivers running into the Indian Ocean drain extensive 
 areas of good land, and is narrowest on the southern 
 coast. In the south-west corner of the continent are 
 extensive forests of jarrah ; and Western Australia 
 has another great forest belt, some 350 miles in length 
 
 1 Year Book of the Commonwealth, p. 110. 
 
 9
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 from 50 to 100 in breadth, which is not on the coastal 
 side of the range, but extends eastward towards the 
 interior. The north-western and northern districts of 
 the continent which are not yet much known, have the 
 characteristic scenery of the tropics, with the peculiarity 
 that behind the coast-hne, at no greater distance than 
 100 miles, runs a plateau of dry and healthy pastures, 
 which is said to be also capable of growing wheat. 
 
 It will be perceived from this rapid survey of the prin- 
 cipal physical features of an immense continent, that 
 Australia has a great variety of climate. The eastern 
 portion of Tasmania recalls England as much by its 
 seasons as by the hedgerows which divide its fields. 
 The western portion of the island, on the contrary, is a 
 land of perpetual rain, where the forest is so dense, that 
 the roads are built on a tangle of creepers and fallen 
 trees thirty feet or more above the ground. Victoria, 
 across the Straits, has less extremes of temperature than 
 any other State ; but it is much exposed to the dry winds 
 — hot in summer, raw in winter, — which, although 
 health-giving, cause much discomfort. The mean tem- 
 perature of Melbourne is 57-3°, which is 6° less than 
 that of Sydney and 7° than that of Adelaide. The 
 coast of New South Wales, along two-thirds of its length, 
 resembles the Riviera in climate and the coast of Greece 
 in colouring. The other third is sub-tropical and runs 
 into the sugar districts before the northern boundary 
 of the State is reached. The climate loses its humidity 
 upon the inland side of the Dividing Range, and the great 
 plains of the interior, though scorched by the sun for 
 four months of the year, are like Egypt in the winter, 
 for the remaining eight. They are a perfect sanatorium 
 for all pulmonary complaints. ^ The magnificent district 
 
 ^ Deaths from tubercular diseases have steadily decreased 
 in proportion to the population from 1100 per thousand in 1891 
 to -808 per thousand in 1905. Cancer, on the other hand, has 
 increased in about the same proportion. 
 
 10
 
 CLIMATE AND WEATHER 
 
 of the Darling Downs marks the beginning of Queensland, 
 and affords a welcome refuge in the summer from the 
 coastal heat. At Rockhampton the climate begins to 
 lose all European characteristics, and, long before the 
 summit of Cape York is reached, it is entirely tropical. 
 Tropical characteristics continue along the northern and 
 north-western coasts, but temperate regions begin 
 again mid- way on the descent of the western coast. 
 Perth, the capital of Western Australia, has the pleas- 
 antest climate of all the State capitals. For, although its 
 mean temperature is 63-7, yet, even in summer, it enjoys 
 cool nights and mornings. But the best climate in 
 Australia is to be found in the south-western corner 
 of Western Australia, in the forest district to which 
 reference has already been made. Very similar to the 
 climate of this district is that of Mount Gambler in the 
 eastern part of South Australia. Adelaide, the capital 
 of the last mentioned State, suffers much in summer 
 time from hot winds ; but by way of compensation it 
 has beautiful summer quarters upon a range of cool hills 
 within a distance of ten miles. On the whole the Austra- 
 han climate is not severe ; and for some unexplained 
 reason white people thrive there, even in the tropical 
 districts. 1 As Mr. Knibbs, the Statistician of the Com- 
 monwealth, points out (Year Book, p. 115) "the 
 continent is less subject to extremes of weather than are 
 regions of similar area in other parts of the globe ; and 
 latitude for latitude, Australia is, on the whole, more 
 temperate." ^ Accordingly, although about five-thirteenths 
 of its whole area lies within the Tropic of Capricorn, 
 between this portion and Tasmania there is such variety 
 
 ^ Further reference to this will be found in Chapter III, 
 p. 274, " A White Australia." 
 • ' For example, while the isotherm for 70 Fahr. extends in 
 South America and South Africa as far south as lat. 33, in Aus- 
 tralia it only reaches to lat. 30. In the Northern hemisphere 
 the same isotherm reaches as far north as 41. 
 
 11
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of climate, that an immigrant from any part of Europe 
 will find, somewhere in Australia, a district capable of 
 growing in abundance any product of the soil with 
 which he was familiar in his native land. 
 
 Fertility 
 
 Yet the development of Australia was not rapid. A 
 seaboard of precipitous cliffs and bar-bound inlets, and 
 an interior of apparently waterless desert offered little 
 attraction to the early settlers. But as the country 
 became better known, and men learnt to understand its 
 ways, it was perceived that Nature had indeed poured 
 out her gifts with lavish hand upon the island continent. 
 Limitless pastures stretched behind the coastal ranges, 
 and the bars, when dredged, gave admittance to noble 
 rivers ; so that the edges of the so-called " desert " 
 receded every year before the advance of man. Then 
 unsuspected stores of water were discovered under and 
 above the ground ; sheep were found to thrive best upon 
 the dry western plains : the highlands of the north, the 
 home of the buffalo, proved equally good for cattle : 
 minerals were discovered in the centre, until only a narrow 
 strip of spinifex country in the heart of the continent 
 remains to-day unused. Portions of the earth, as, for 
 instance, Java and Sumatra, are richer than Australia ; 
 but no area of equal dimensions contains so much 
 wealth or in greater variety. The soil produces in 
 abundance ; all animals improve there and produce a 
 better stock ; it is the greatest gold-producing country 
 in the world ; ^ silver, copper, tin, and other minerals 
 are found there ; its coal supply is inexhaustible, and 
 it has considerable deposits of iron, while its stores of 
 
 ^ The Transvaal Colony produces now a larger annual quantity ; 
 but Australia has a far larger gold-bearing area, most of which 
 is undeveloped. Up to 1906 Australia had produced /474,913,047 
 worth of gold. 
 
 12
 
 MINERAL WEALTH 
 
 platinum and many other rare minerals are almost 
 untouched. It is also rich in precious stones and promises 
 to rival Africa as a producer of diamonds. Rich indeed, 
 has been the dowry which Australia has brought to the 
 men who wooed her boldly ! 
 
 Productiveness 
 
 Yet because the coastal districts are the most fertile 
 portion of the continent, and also the most closely 
 settled, while the great interior is comparatively and 
 sparsely peopled, some very erroneous conclusions have 
 been formed as to the fertility of Australia by people 
 who do not realise the magnitude of the continent. A 
 writer in the Melbourne magazine Life ^ — Mr. T. K. Daw — 
 has done good service in exposing this fallacy. Referring 
 to a statement that " Australia can never be a great 
 country, because it is incapable of supporting a large 
 population," Mr. Daw points out that the coastal 
 fringe, alone, the fertility of which is universally admitted, 
 is " much larger than all the countries of Europe put 
 together, if we leave out Russia. There is also room," 
 he adds, " on the maritime belt for a portion of Russia, 
 while the whole of the interior does not make up an area 
 one-half the size of the Czar's European dominion. To 
 say that because some portions of the smaller interior 
 are arid, there is not room for large populations upon a 
 maritime territory, larger than Germany, France, Spain, 
 Italy, Austria and the smaller populous countries of 
 Europe, must result from something worse than ignor- 
 ance." The map which illustrates this statement is here 
 reproduced. 
 
 The detractors of Australia have urged that the whole 
 
 ^ Life, August, 1908. The author acknowledges with thanks 
 the courtesy of Fitchett Brothers Proprietary, Limited, the 
 publishers of Life, in permitting him to reproduce the map 
 which appears in this section, with Mr. Daw's explanatory 
 comments. 
 
 13
 
 14
 
 AREA FOR CULTIVATION 
 
 of the maritime area is not good. Let it be conceded that 
 a portion of it is bad ; it should also be remembered 
 that portions of the interior are good. " How much is 
 good," Mr. Daw aptly remarks, " is mainly a question 
 of meteorology. There is no continent on which rich 
 soil has been so widely and evenly distributed as on 
 Australia, and consequently in this country more than 
 any other, productiveness depends on rainfall." Aus- 
 tralian experience shows that agriculture can be success- 
 fully pursued in districts where the average annual 
 rainfall is not more than twelve inches, and that fifteen 
 inches is a sufficient fall to ensure good returns. Now, 
 in Australia there are 827,000 square miles which enjoy 
 a rainfall of more than twenty inches per annum, — that 
 is to say from five to eight inches more than experience 
 has proved to be necessary for successful agricultural 
 settlement. Mr. Daw adopts a striking method of 
 bringing home to readers the significance of these figures. 
 Canada, he remarks, has claimed that " the nineteenth 
 century was the century of the United States : the 
 twentieth will be the century of Canada," and the claim 
 rests upon the area of land within the Dominion suitable 
 for cultivation. He then compares Canada with Australia 
 in this respect. Canada, it is claimed, has 250,000,000 
 acres of agricultural land. The figures seem astounding. 
 But if Australia calculated also in acres her 827,000 square 
 miles of agricultural land, — i.e., land over which the rain- 
 fall is more than twenty inches a year, — would become 
 529,000,000 acres, an area which is more than twice as 
 large as the magnificent territory which is expected to 
 shift London to the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 It wiU be observed that their calculation does not include 
 the half-million square miles (320,000,000 acres) with a 
 probable rainfall of from twelve to twenty inches, and 
 leaves out of account the possibiUties of settling population 
 in the more arid districts by paying attention to 
 
 15
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 irrigation, water conservation, the storage of fodder and 
 " dry farming " methods. Even so it is manifest that 
 Austraha possesses to-day an area of virgin territory 
 suitable for agriculture, greater in extent than that 
 which is claimed either for the United States or for 
 the sister Dominion. Account must be taken also of the 
 fact that there are 50,000,000 acres of irrigable land 
 \\ithin the watershed of the Murray River system, which, 
 when supplied with water can support at least three 
 million people. 
 
 Droughts 
 
 In comparing Australia with Canada the freedom of 
 the former from frost must not be left out of account. 
 Work can be followed in Australia all the year round, 
 which is not the case in Canada. On the other hand, 
 Australia is liable to droughts from which Canada is 
 comparatively free. This disadvantage must not, how- 
 ever, be exaggerated. Australia has never yet suffered 
 from a general drought ; but there have always been 
 localities, even in the settled districts, where sheep and 
 cattle would have flourished had means of transport 
 been available. This climatic feature gives hope for the 
 future, and justifies the extension of railways into 
 pastoral districts without an over cautious eye to traffic 
 returns. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that the rapidity with which 
 Australia recovers from a drought is one of the most 
 remarkable features of its soil. Even animals feel the 
 impulse to renew their species. Ewes will drop two or 
 more lambs at a birth and have been known to have 
 three lambings in a year after a protracted period of 
 dry weather. 
 
 The ravages of drought and the recuperative power of 
 the continent are strikingly illustrated by the happenings 
 of the period 1903-1906. The first of these four years 
 
 16
 
 
 A BORE
 
 THE GREAT DROUGHT 
 
 marked the climax of the longest and most extensive 
 drought ever recorded, either in the annals of Austraha 
 or the traditions of the aborigines. It lasted, with short 
 breaks, for six years, and affected, in turn, all the settled 
 districts of the continent. During this period sixty 
 million sheep and four million cattle must have died 
 from starvation. Crops failed, and Austraha was obliged 
 to import food-stuffs. Mining operations languished 
 for want of water. Commerce fell off, and the spectre 
 of unemployment stalked in every capital. Yet three 
 years later, in 1906, Austraha reached the apex of her 
 prosperity. In production, commerce, industry and 
 every outward sign of material growth she excelled all 
 previous records. Figures can only give a vague idea 
 of these events, and yet they are necessary to accurate 
 statement. 
 
 In 1901 there were 72,040,211 sheep in the Common- 
 wealth, of which the natural increase should have been, 
 in an ordinary season, at least ten per cent. In the next 
 year, however, the number fell to 53,668,347. That is 
 to say, — reckoning the natural increase at seven milhons, 
 which is a low computation — there perished in one year 
 fifteen-and-a-half million sheep. The number of cattle 
 fell in the same period from 8,493,678 to 7,067,242— a 
 loss of nearly a milhon-and-a-half, N^thout allowing 
 for the natural increase. The wheat production fell in 
 the same season (1902-3) from 38,500,000 bushels to 
 12,300,000. Yet in the following season (1903-4) after 
 the drought had broken, the production of this cereal 
 rose from 12,300,000 bushels to 74,149,000, which is 
 the highest production yet recorded. The number of 
 sheep recovered more slowly, as the drought continued 
 longer in the pastoral districts. But in four years (1906) 
 the number had increased from 53,668,347 to 83,687,000. 
 Cattle, within the same period, had risen in number 
 from 7,067,242 (1902) to 9,349,000 (1906). As might 
 
 17 
 
 2— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 have been anticipated, this vast destruction of productive 
 forces seriously affected the marriage-rate and birth- 
 rate. The number of births in 1901 was 102,945. It 
 remained almost stationary in 1902 at 102,776. But in 
 1903, at the chmax of the drought, the births fell to 
 98,443. The good season of 1903-4 caused an immediate 
 increase to 104,113, which in 1906 became 107,890. The 
 number of marriages also fell from 27,926 in 1902 to 
 25,977 in 1903. During 1906 there were 30,410 mar- 
 riages. In considering these figures, it must be remembered 
 that this drought, though more extensive than any other 
 in Austrahan history, was, none the less, hke all others, 
 partial and of varying intensity. Much, also, is being done 
 to mitigate drought by the use of ensilage, as a substitute 
 for green fodder ; and the Government of the State of 
 Victoria is making liberal advances to settlers for the erec- 
 tion of silos. Since the great drought of 1903, pasturage has 
 been too abundant to make resort to ensilage necessary. 
 The conservation of water is another obvious method of 
 fighting drought, but is not always effective, because 
 grass sometimes fails before the tanks dry up. The use 
 of ensilage in combination with water conservation will 
 overcome this difficulty. Finally, squatters have at last 
 learnt the danger of over-stocking, and that a run, which 
 will carry a sheep to three acres in good seasons, will not 
 carry one to twenty acres in a drought. For all these 
 reasons there is good ground for beheving that precau- 
 tions can be taken against the worst dangers of a drought, 
 and that the suffering and loss from this cause will be less 
 in the future. 
 
 18
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PEOPLE 
 
 The Over-sea Briton — The Changed Skies — Characteristics — 
 • City Life — Housing — Living — Amusements — Horse-racing — 
 Other Sports — An Easy Life. 
 
 The Englishman who lives in England, rarely understands 
 the Englishman who Hves beneath the Southern 
 Cross ; and the latter, as a rule, is equally uncompre- 
 hending of the former. It follows that the Briton's 
 first visit to the Commonwealth is generally a series of 
 surprises and bewilderments. The people whom he 
 meets are at once the same as and different from those 
 whom he knew " at home ; " and their very likeness 
 provokes a sense of irritation at the points of difference. 
 Their best quahties are in antagonism. The Briton's 
 reserve seems arrogance to the Australian, whose hearty, 
 open manner becomes, — in excess, — perilously near to 
 youthful self-assertiveness. 
 
 But the difference between the two peoples is not only 
 one of temperament, but also of standpoint. The 
 Briton looks upon Australia as one of " the Colonies," — 
 with all the suggestion of dependence and inferiority 
 which the term " colony " implies, — while the young 
 Australian knows it to be a growing nation and boasts 
 accordingly. Their ideas, in consequence, move on 
 different planes ; and, while each uses the same words, 
 they speak in different languages. The Englishman forgets 
 that the over-sea Briton is no longer the exiled Briton of 
 romance, who pines for home and observes all British 
 customs with a gentle melancholy, but is developing an 
 entirely different type, is absorbed in new interests, and 
 rapidly becoming conscious of a changed and larger 
 destiny. The Austrahan, repelled by an unsympathetic 
 manner, never guesses that with the suspicion of patronage 
 
 19
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 which marks a Briton's attitude towards " Colonials," 
 is mingled a deep-seated pride in their achievements 
 and a genuine desire for cordial relations. There is 
 thus a shy offensiveness on either side, which might easily 
 become the precursor of family quarrels. Neither wishes 
 to harm the other ; but the one is unconscious of giving 
 offence while the other is watchful for grievances. This 
 latent antagonism is inevitable in an age of transition, 
 because the Colonial idea is too old to the Briton, and 
 the national idea too new to the Australian for either 
 easily to understand the other. For example, the ablest 
 and most influential paper in the Commonwealth — The 
 Sydney Bulletin — habitually caricatures John Bull as a 
 Jewish pawnbroker, and mocks at British ways, as though 
 they were a sign of treason towards Austraha. Yet 
 how many home-staying Britons have a juster view of the 
 Australian ? They admit his powers as a cricketer, a 
 horseman and an athlete ; but they will hardly concede 
 that he has any serious purpose in his life, save money- 
 getting, and they harp upon his want of manners and 
 his boastfulness. It is true that manners and culture 
 are not the natural product of a young country ; but 
 there is as much of either in Australia as in any English 
 provincial town, — to which, and not to a metropolis, 
 Australia ought to be compared. Nor can anyone, 
 who witnessed the great contest for Australian Union 
 between 1896 and 1900, deny that Australians can be 
 inspired by and pursue a great ideal, at least as readily 
 and tenaciously as Englishmen. " One people, one 
 destiny," " A continent for a people, a people for a 
 continent," are cries which appealed to the Australian's 
 dominant idea of Nationahsm more than to his pocket. 
 
 The Changed Skies 
 
 Perhaps the root of the latent antagonism which 
 
 20
 
 "YOUNG AUSTRALIA" 
 
 undoubtedly exists between the home and the over-sea 
 Briton, is the change which has been effected in the former 
 by his new environment. The creature of habit and 
 tradition is changed by emigration into a new being, 
 who finds nothing as it was at home and has ever to be 
 relying on his own resources in unexpected emergencies. 
 No social usages shelter him from competition, but 
 every man has an equal chance in the race of life. He 
 who in England used to run between strings, in order 
 not to jostle or be jostled, finds himself suddenly engaged 
 in contests where everyone plays to win, and not for the 
 mere pleasure of the game. The change has not been 
 for the better in all points. Something has been lost, 
 in the process, of that dignity and reserve, which comes 
 of conscious strength, and has been replaced by the 
 assertiveness of youth. The Australian boy who declared 
 in London that the Presbyterian Church at Ballarat was 
 finer than Westminster Abbey, is not entirely an imag- 
 inary type, and the same confident ignorance finds an 
 only too easy expression in the press and on the platform. 
 These, however, are the faults of self-conscious youth, 
 when shyness apes audacity, and they weigh light in 
 the balance against the manlier virtues of comradeship, 
 — which is the special virtue of Australians, — courage, 
 hopefulness and honesty. In essentials, indeed, the 
 Australian has well preserved the " ancient and inbred 
 integrity " of the race from which he sprang. What, 
 then, are the distinctive characteristics of the Australian 
 people ? 
 
 Characteristics 
 
 It is as difficult to describe, as to " draw an indictment " 
 against a whole people, because classes merge so imper- 
 ceptibly one into another, that a description of any one 
 is as far from reality as an average, and tends to carica- 
 ture. The best class, too, — that, namely, of men and 
 
 21
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 women of culture, intelligence and manners, — belongs 
 to no country, but is recognised in all, by the same 
 characteristics. To say that this class is less numerous 
 in Australia than in Europe, is merely to affirm that 
 Australia is a young country which cannot yet make 
 use of a leisured class ; while the graces of life seldom sit 
 easily upon men who are engaged in a perpetual struggle 
 with the forces of physical nature. 
 
 The same influences of youth and climate, which affect 
 the standard of manners in a new country, necessarily 
 affect also its intellectual standard. This is high in 
 Australia as a standard for the average man, — higher, 
 perhaps, in this respect than in any other country 
 except France, — but it is not in any walk of hfe the 
 highest attainable. Only great capitals, like London 
 or Paris, where criticism is impersonal, can attract the 
 really best in Art, Letters, Science, or the professions ; 
 and Australia, as has been said, is more provincial than 
 metropohtan. Thus, while Australia is a good place to 
 be young in, whilst the stimulus of struggle lasts, a man 
 who has arrived must resolutely test himself by outside 
 standards, if he would not stagnate. In Literature, 
 Art, Medicine, Law and every other pursuit, men are 
 to be found in Australia who, under the same favourable 
 conditions, would hold their own individually in any 
 country ; but they are not representative and their 
 isolation tends to make them over-confident and narrow. 
 On the other hand, intellectual isolation encourages an 
 originality of thought, and freedom of expression, which 
 " clears the mind of cant " and often directs enquiry 
 into new fields. The Brennan torpedo and the Wolseley 
 sheep-shearing machine were both Australian inventions ; 
 and the locus classicus for the treatment of plague 
 in a white community is the Report of Dr. Ashburton 
 Thompson on the outbreak at Sydney in 1901. But in 
 spite of these instances to the contrary — and many others 
 
 22
 
 THE TOWNSMAN 
 
 might be named — there is still a tendency for the brilUant 
 youth in any walk of life to seek his opening in the larger 
 world of London, and for the man who has made money, 
 to spend it in the lands where pleasure is life's business. 
 Every development of the field of Australian industry, 
 and every impulse to the spirit of Australian nationality, 
 tend to check these tendencies to absenteeism and hasten 
 the day of the Commonwealth's maturity. In the mean- 
 time she is depending for her growth and influence not 
 so much upon the " intellectuals," who are few in any 
 country, and often pedants, or on the rich, who are 
 seldom patriotic, but on the humbler folk who do their 
 duty without self-questioning, and by their efforts move 
 the world. And of these we must distinguish between 
 dwellers in cities and those who live in the bush ; for 
 nowhere is the essential difference between " urbanus " 
 and " paganus " greater than in Australia. 
 
 City Life 
 
 City life is much the same in every British community. 
 The climate may make changes in externals ; but it 
 alters national habits very slowly. Even in the matter 
 of clothing, all classes in Australian cities follow English 
 fashions. The merchant goes to business, in the heat 
 of summer, in the coat and hat which were de rigueur 
 in the City of London ; and the artisan spurns the clean 
 duck overall of the French ouvrier and sweats in cloth 
 or moleskin. Nevertheless the wide distances of the 
 Australian continent are developing different types, 
 which, although they are not yet sufficiently distinctive 
 to admit of precise description, are easily recognised. 
 Speaking very roughly, and with the qualification that 
 in every city the number of those who depart from the 
 type is probably greater than those who conform to it, 
 one would acclaim the husthng man of business, a mixture 
 of Scotch shrewdness and Yankee push, instantly as 
 
 23
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 from Melbourne. The easy-going sun-loving philosopher, 
 who does his work without fuss or show and tries to get 
 the most from hfe, would hail from Sydney, the 
 
 City of laughing loveliness. Sun-girdled Queen 
 
 Crowned with imperial morning, bejewelled with joy, 
 
 Raimented soft like a bride, in virginal sheen. 
 Veiled in luminous mist, blushing maidenly-coy 
 
 In shyly opening dawntide of youthful-sweet beauty : — 
 
 Earth, and Air, and the Heavens, and wondering Ocean salute 
 thee. 
 
 So she is described by Professor Marshall-Hall in his 
 " Hymn to Sydney." 
 
 The South Australian is of the more solid type, who 
 sits contentedly beneath his vine and fig-tree, and rears 
 children to overspread the earth. Western Australia 
 has not yet emerged into a separate individuality. Its 
 native-born population is more English in its ways and 
 thought than any in Australia, — British Columbia and 
 New Zealand testify that this is always so in the extremi- 
 ties of the Empire, — but every State and nationality 
 mix on the goldfields, and have not yet fused into a 
 distinct amalgam. The North West is the land of the 
 pearl-fisher, and the big-boned cattle-king ; it is a land 
 where adventure and romance still linger, and whose 
 secrets are unrevealed. The most independent, self- 
 reliant and courageous of Australians is the Queenslander, 
 who fights Nature jesting, because he knows that in a 
 country of such wealth the tide must one day turn. He 
 is the owner of wide areas, who faces the buffets of 
 fortune without repining, and believes in his star and in 
 his State, with a confidence which nothing shatters. 
 
 Housing 
 
 Living is extremely clean and comfortable in all the 
 Australian capitals. Even the humblest cottages contain 
 bathrooms, which are always equipped with a shower- 
 bath and generally with hot as well as cold water. All 
 
 24
 
 FOOD AND HOUSING 
 
 houses also, except those in the few slums — for over- 
 crowding and bad sanitation are evil legacies from former 
 days both in Sydney and Melbourne — have a veranda, 
 or, if of two stories, a balcony. Coppers for washing 
 clothes and a drying yard are considered essentials even 
 in the poorest homes ; while, except within the boundaries 
 of the city proper, every house has ground for a garden. 
 Owing to the cheap fares upon the State-owned tramways 
 and railways, workmen, except those who are engaged in 
 callings connected with shipping, find it easy to reside 
 in the suburbs. Tenement houses are unknown in 
 Australia, where English exclusiveness demands that 
 even the poorest family should have its separate home. 
 Rents vary from eight shillings to twelve and sixpence 
 per week, according to the distance from town and the 
 locality. For these prices three-roomed cottages, with 
 kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and yard can be had, and, 
 though they seem high by comparison with English rents, 
 they are reasonable enough in a country where seven 
 shillings a day is the minimum wage. 
 
 It is probably true that, in spite of, — or perhaps in 
 consequence of — the higher wages, the cost of living is 
 not less than in England ; but the conditions of hfe are 
 pleasanter and the number who enjoy these is greater. 
 In ordinary seasons beef costs from sixpence and mutton 
 from fourpence per lb., while those who do their own 
 marketing pay even less. Fruit, which is more largely 
 eaten in Australia, can be had for very little. Grapes, 
 peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, and pears, of the 
 best quality, do not cost more, in the season, than from 
 threepence to fourpence a pound ; while the wine- 
 flavoured passion fruit, — most luscious of all fruits, — 
 will grow without cultivation in any garden north of 
 Sydney. Fish, which ought to be a staple article of diet, 
 is plentiful but dear, owing to a bad system of distribu- 
 tion, and tinned salmon is too often used as a substitute. 
 
 25
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Vegetables, hawked by Chinamen, can be had in great 
 variety ; but the AustraHan housewife has not leamt 
 to understand their value, and knows nothing of the 
 better kinds, such as sweet capsicums, or egg-fruit 
 {aubergine). Even the tomato, which might redeem 
 any dish, is generally, as in America, made into sauce. 
 
 Living 
 
 The AustraHan " cuisine " is, indeed, the English at 
 its very worst, because the climate is entirely unsuited 
 to what Dr. Johnson called the " ill-killed, ill-kept, 
 and ill-dressed meats," which, roast, grilled or boiled, 
 are the stand-by of every meal. Poultry is served as a 
 change ; but light dishes with rice or macaroni, omelettes, 
 or curries with fresh seasoning, are rarely seen. The 
 soup (if any), will probably be tinned ; — for the economy 
 of the Frenchwoman's " stock-pot " is not yet recog- 
 nised. The heavy food is washed down with strong tea ; 
 and dyspepsia, in consequence, has made Australia the 
 happiest of hunting grounds for the medical quack. 
 Tea is the national drink throughout Australia and is 
 much cheaper than in England. The teaching of cooking 
 in the public schools has been a step in the right direction, 
 and there is no lack of good cuisines in the better hotels 
 and restaurants of Sydney and Melbourne. The working 
 man, however, in other respects so eager for equality, — 
 is still content with the unwholesome English food, 
 although children would be healthier, household labours 
 lighter and public houses emptier, if a simple system of 
 cooking suited to the conditions of the country were 
 generally adopted. Perhaps the cheap restaurants 
 stand in the way of a change by offering for sixpence 
 a substantial meal of meat, vegetables and pudding. 
 
 In his beverages, as in his food, the Australian remains 
 an Englishman — that is to say he drinks tea, beer and 
 whiskey, when he should drink coffee and wine. The use 
 
 26
 
 DRESS AND FASHION 
 
 of wine is becoming more general, now that the removal 
 of State tariffs has allowed the lighter wines of South 
 Australia and Victoria to be sent without restriction 
 throughout the Commonwealth ; but wine is not yet 
 given in at meals in restaurants or refreshment rooms, 
 as it is in the wine-producing countries of Europe. 
 Coffee, which, if European experience be a guide, is a 
 better beverage than tea for a hot climate, is seldom made 
 to perfection in Australia. 
 
 Custom demands of the Australian woman that she 
 shall dress well, and all wearing apparel is expensive. 
 Fortunately most Australian girls are clever needle- 
 women, and the light materials, which suit the climate, 
 lend themselves to simple and tasteful attire. Austra- 
 lians, accustomed to the bright colours and pretty 
 dresses of their countrywomen, are always struck by the 
 dowdiness of an English crowd. Certainly Australian 
 women have the American knack of " putting their 
 clothes on well ; " and their tendency is rather to over 
 than under-dress. On a Saturday morning in Sydney 
 or Melbourne, a smart, well-dressed crowd of both sexes, 
 may be seen strolling along the principal street. This is 
 called " doing the block," and is a regular meeting-place 
 for those who wish to meet their friends, to change their 
 library books, or to talk over the latest ball at the eleven 
 o'clock " Morning Tea," so popular in Australia. It is 
 always daintily served at any of the numerous prettily 
 decorated tea rooms, and is much appreciated by English 
 visitors. The dresses worn on these occasions may seem 
 more suited to a garden-party than to a morning saunter 
 round the shops, but even when the colours are too bright 
 and the materials too rich, much can be forgiven where 
 the effect is so good. 
 
 Amusements 
 
 One expense, which figures in every AustraUan budget, 
 
 27
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 is the item of Amusements, which form a very distinctive 
 feature of AustraUan hfe. Nothing is a surer test 
 of national character. Austrahan amusements, as 
 might have been expected, are chiefly in the open air ; 
 and the home, in consequence, plays a less part in the 
 formation of character than in a country where, owing 
 to the climate, fire-side games are the chief recreation 
 of a family. Picnics are the delight of both old and 
 young, picnics on the water, picnics by rail, picnics on 
 horseback, — it is always a picnic which celebrates a 
 festival — and festivals are numerous in Australia, where 
 Ministries are always ready to proclaim a public holiday 
 on pressure by the local Member.^ Sundays, too, are 
 fete days along the eastern coast, when the harbours 
 are white with sails and camp-fires smoke in every cove. 
 The picnickers have possibly attended an early service 
 in church or chapel, but they are not, on that account, 
 afflicted by any scruples against pleasure on Sunday. 
 In Melbourne, where the Scotch element prevails, Sunday 
 is still a day of gloom. But water — as London has 
 learnt from the Thames — is always a solvent of Sabbatar- 
 ianism, and Sydney, thanks to her harbour, has never 
 suffered from the dour Scotch Sabbath. And yet 
 it does not appear to be a less rehgious city than its 
 southern rival. 
 
 Horse Racing 
 
 But not all Australians five near the sea ; and 
 unquestionably the chief amusement of Australia is 
 horse-racing. It has been said that the first care of the 
 surveyor of an Australian town-site is to mark out the 
 cemetery ; the second to plan a race-course. Certainly 
 in no other country is racing so popular, or of such 
 absorbing interest. This is partly due to the influence of 
 
 ^ In one bush town in New South Wales a half-hohday was 
 declared to celebrate the remarkable occasion of a fall of snow. 
 
 28
 
 THE RACE COURSE 
 
 fashion, and partly to the gambhng spirit of the Austrahan 
 people. Fashion dictates that twice a year, in spring 
 and autumn, Australian women shall display their 
 dresses on a metropolitan race-course, and betting 
 draws the crowds, for whose comfort Australian courses 
 are specially prepared. Thousands, too, who never 
 attend a race-meeting, follow the doings of a horse with 
 unwholesome interest ; for the large prizes offered by 
 the " Consultation Sweeps," — which have been as high 
 as £60,000 and vary from £5,000 to £20,000,— have 
 infected all classes in Australia with the gambling disease. 
 A " Consultation " is a lottery upon the result of a horse- 
 race, which depends for its success upon the popular 
 confidence in the honesty of its promoter. The price 
 of a ticket varies from five shillings to one pound, and 
 ten per cent, of the subscriptions are retained by the 
 promoter. The balance is divided in money between 
 those who have drawn a " starter " and those who draw 
 the first three winners. Drawers of a starting horse 
 generally get a fixed sum, which may be as high as £100. 
 The winners' receipts may depend on whether the Con- 
 sultation " filled," i.e., whether the subscriptions were 
 sufficient to allow the advertised prizes to be given. It 
 is hardly possible to over-estimate the mischief of these 
 " Consultations." Viewed as a mere waste of money 
 they, and the betting system which they encourage, 
 divert a sum of at least forty milhon pounds from the 
 channels of productive industry, while the moral injury 
 which they inflict is hardly calculable. The chance of 
 making fortunes without work is an irresistible tempta- 
 tion. Clerks and shop-girls will stint themselves of food 
 and office-boys pilfer the stamps to buy a ticket or a share 
 in one of these lotteries. The writer, after an experience of 
 twenty-five years at the Bar of New South Wales, and 
 having been Attorney-General — who in that State is 
 also the Grand Jury — for six years, does not hesitate to 
 
 29
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 afiirm that nine-tenths of the embezzlements and 
 forgeries and breaches of trust, which come before the 
 Austrahan courts, are directly due to horse-racing and 
 its concomitants. ^ The Commonwealth has done its 
 best to put down the evil, by refusing to carry postal 
 matter in connection with a " sweep." Tasmania, 
 however, in the exercise of her State rights and in 
 defiance of the Commonwealth, has established the 
 head-quarters of this iniquity in Hobart under Govern- 
 ment sanction, and thus draws a considerable revenue 
 from the national vice. 
 
 The infatuation of Australians for gambling upon 
 horses is the more remarkable, because no one for a 
 moment pretends that racing in Australia is an honest 
 sport. Owners frankly declare that they run horses 
 for the money they can make, without regard to the 
 public ; and even, when an owner races out of sports- 
 manship, the trainer or the jockey may go " crooked." 
 And, as one Australian writer euphemistically puts it, 
 " incidents take place at some of the minor meetings 
 that would not for one moment be tolerated by the 
 Enghsh Jockey Club.^ 
 
 Praise, however, must be given to the arrangements 
 on the principal Australian courses, for the comfort and 
 convenience of the public. Prices of admission are low, 
 and entitle the visitor to many privileges. Terraced hills 
 give every spectator an unimpeded view, and the 
 stands contain all the conveniences of a good club. 
 Friends from all parts of Australia meet each other on 
 " the Lawn " at Flemington on the day of the Melbourne 
 Cup, — which is also the social carnival of the Australian 
 
 1 Mr. Frank Bullen, in his " Advance Australia," calls the 
 "abandonment of the Australians tosport," a " paralysing mania, 
 which pervades every class, and takes precedence of business, of 
 religion, of morality, and is responsible for a host of minor evils." 
 
 " " Australian Life in Town and Country," by E. C. Buley. 
 
 30
 
 CRICKET 
 
 world. No pains are spared to beautify the scene. The 
 gardens are gay with flowers, trelhsed arbours give a 
 welcome shade to many luncheon parties, and in the 
 stand there is even a corps of ladies' maids, engaged 
 by the Club, to provide all the smaller requisites of the 
 female toilette free of charge. Equal attention is paid 
 to the facihties for following a race. The notice boards 
 are visible from every comer, the whole course is always 
 in view, and the horses carry their respective numbers 
 in large figures on the saddle-cloth. It is not surprising 
 that as many as 120,000 persons assemble on the 
 course on Cup-Day. Indeed, many people who would 
 not attend any other race meeting find their way to 
 Flemington on that occasion. 
 
 In South Australia and Tasmania an attempt has 
 been made to stop betting by the legislation of the 
 " totahsator." This has the good effect of reducing the 
 temptation to crooked running ; but, until it is uni- 
 versally adopted and the sweeps effectually put down, 
 it will not touch the heart of the evil. 
 
 Other Sports 
 
 Cricket, of course, is, above aU others, the Australian 
 game, as every reader of an English paper knows. The 
 matches are watched with interest by crowds, and the 
 newspapers have devised the ingenious plan of recording 
 each run and incident of the game by mechanical devices 
 on notice boards outside their offices. On the occasion 
 of an international or inter-state match the streets will 
 be blocked for hours by crowds, who by these means 
 foUow and criticise every feature of the game. 
 Anything that breaks the isolation of AustraUa is 
 to her advantage, and therefore her cricketers must be 
 counted among those who have rendered her essential 
 service. 
 
 31
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 In Victoria and South Australia a peculiar game of 
 football, which is declared by its players to be superior 
 to all other forms of the game, but which an outsider 
 seldom appreciates, arouses enormous enthusiasm and is 
 extremely popular. In New South Wales and Queensland 
 the game is Rugby. 
 
 The sports of the wealthier classes are golf, yachting 
 and motoring, in the practice of which there is nothing 
 distinctively Australian. Small-boat sailing in Sydney 
 Harbour does, however, require special notice. Probably 
 nowhere in the world are little boats more skilfully 
 handled. Fourteen foot dinghies carry so big a sail, 
 that the boat capsizes from the mere weight of the mast, 
 if the crew get out. Yet these little boats, each with a 
 centre-board, and all the canvas of a racing yacht, will 
 carry a crew of six in lumpy water. The crew, of course, 
 act as live ballast, and lean out against the wind to keep 
 the boat afloat. Nothing prettier than a regatta of 
 these midgets could be imagined. As a rule they are 
 owned and raced by boys or men in partnership, and 
 this division of expense opens the sport to the poorest. 
 The larger boats on the same model, and run on the 
 same lines, go up to twenty-seven feet and are half-decked. 
 Above this size come the half-raters and others which are 
 the pastime of a wealthier class. 
 
 Game is not abundant in Australia, though the turkey 
 bustard of the plains, the wonga pigeon, and the wild 
 duck are highly prized for eating. In some seasons 
 there is an abundance of quail, and flight shooting can 
 be had in summer on the Gippsland lakes ; but, taken 
 as a whole, the continent offers Uttle attraction to the 
 sportsman. 
 
 AU classes, rich and poor, share in the amusement of 
 the theatre, to which the highest price of admission is only 
 five shillings. Australians, indeed, are insatiable theatre- 
 goers, and they have seen so many excellent visiting 
 
 32
 
 THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 
 
 companies that their taste is extremely good, and their 
 love for good music is well known. 
 
 An Easy Life 
 
 The above description of some of the more distinctive 
 features of urban life in Australia, though necessarily 
 brief and general, has been sufficient to explain and justify 
 the well-known saying that Austraha is " The Paradise 
 of the Working Man," in respect at any rate of his social 
 conditions. Certainly no man who has to work for his 
 living, whatever his position in life, works anywhere 
 under pleasanter conditions than in an Australian city ; 
 and the position of artisans in this respect is particularly 
 favourable. Of course men fail in Australia, as they 
 fail everywhere, but the failures are fewer and more 
 deserved. Work is there for every hale man, but not 
 everyone has what, in the provincial speech of England, 
 is called " gumption," which is a quality essential to 
 success in a young country. Yet immigrants who — con- 
 trary to a popular belief — are very welcome in Australia, 
 could not try their fortune in a land of better promise. 
 Their material prospects are at once improved, and, 
 what is better, they can become masters of their own 
 future. For no man is hindered from advancement in 
 Australia by barriers of class distinctions. Commerce, 
 the professions and politics are an open field to all, and 
 there is literally no position in the Commonwealth, to 
 which a man of enterprise and character may not attain. 
 It has been truly said ^ that " The Australian workman 
 fully appreciates these possibilities and the absence of 
 class distinction which they imply, and shows appre- 
 ciation by an independence of conduct which is very 
 noticeable. It cannot justly be said that this indepen- 
 dence is allied to any discourtesy of bearing, but he knows 
 
 ^ " Australian Life in Town and Country," by E, C. Buley, 
 p. 83. 
 
 33 
 
 3— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 his own value, and is also fully alive to the importance 
 of the political power he wields." ^ 
 
 The attraction of Australia is equally great in other 
 walks of life. In no other English-speaking country is 
 there less of the snobbery of dollar-worship. No one is 
 thought worse of for his want of means, provided that 
 his poverty does not affront the proprieties. Nowhere 
 else, indeed, does poverty less cut off the young people 
 of a family from social pleasures ; while economies are 
 not the dreary series of privations which they are apt 
 to be in an English town. The penny tram will take 
 a girl to Government House as safely as a hansom cab, 
 and almost as quickly. The necessaries of life may be 
 dear to buy, but so much is thrown in for nothing that 
 young couples, who are brave enough to begin life on a 
 small income, do not command pity in Australia. And 
 it must be admitted that Australians are not a saving 
 people. To put by only in a policy of insurance and 
 save a minimum of cash for an emergency would seem 
 
 ^ The omission of the formal signs of respectful greeting do 
 not imply intentional discourtesy. It is said, and possibly with 
 some degree of truth, that a young farmer, who from real soldierly 
 keenness had volunteered for the African War, passed the General 
 commanding his district without a salute, both being in uniform. 
 It happened that the officer was a household word for his use of 
 vigorous language, an accomplishment in which the Australian 
 is an expert. He was also a first-rate soldier ; and therefore 
 doubly dear to the young Australian. The General's A.D.C., 
 shocked at this breach of discipline, brought the offender to his 
 General with the following result : " Do you know who I am, 
 Sir ? " — •" No," drawled the Australian, " Who are you ? " — 
 " Why, Sir, I am General Blank, commanding this District ! " — 
 " General Blank," exclaimed the boy, putting his hand promptly 
 to the salute, " My word. Sir, I've often heard of you. My name 
 
 is Corporal S., of the Contingent. I am proud to 
 
 meet you. Sir," and he held out his hand. According to the 
 story the General took it, and made the Corporal his galloper, 
 with the happiest results. The failure of some British officers 
 to understand a bearing of this kind caused a few unpleasant- 
 nesses during the War. On the other hand, those leaders who 
 did understand these men, never had better followers. 
 
 34
 
 THE REMITTANCE MAN 
 
 to the thrifty Scotch or EngHsh housewife a threatening 
 of the workhouse. But the Austrahan hves gaily in the 
 sunshine, puts by in insurance more than he can afford, 
 spends his income and gambles his savings on the race- 
 course or a mining venture. If he loses, he has no more 
 to spend ; but if, as often happens, he " makes a bit," 
 his wife has more jewellery or he gives more dinners ; 
 while, if the " punch " be very good, he moves into a 
 larger house. It seems a careless, reckless life, but there 
 is some philosophy beneath it all, and the men who lead 
 it can face misfortune, when misfortune comes, as bravely 
 as most others. 
 
 Let no one, however, imagine that those who have 
 shown these same qualities in England are likely to 
 make good immigrants. Usually they are proof to the 
 contrary. For no place is more fatal than Australia 
 to the English ne'er-do-weel of decent birth. The very 
 virtues of the country aggravate his faults and weak- 
 nesses. He is wholly unsuited to manual work, — the 
 only kind which he might obtain easily, — and after the 
 briefest of struggles becomes a loafer in the city, where 
 he is the most despised of outcasts, living on remittances 
 from England — (hence the term " remittance man ") — 
 and useless in any capacity. The only salvation for men 
 who have " gone under " in Great Britain would be 
 the severance of all connection with their former life, 
 and the acceptance of employment in the bush, — and 
 this such men have neither the will-power to attempt 
 nor the courage to endure. Those who would see to what 
 depth of degradation English failures can reach in Aus- 
 tralia, should read the chapter in the "Wrecker " in which 
 Stevenson describes a night in the Sydney Domain. 
 
 35
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BUSH 
 
 A Country Life — Characteristics of Bush Life — Isolation — The 
 Sundowner — The Squatter — The Cattle-run — The Planter 
 — The Selector — The Country Towns. 
 
 " The experience of all mankind declares," says Froude, 
 in the opening chapter of " Oceana," " that a race of men, 
 sound in soul and limb, can be bred and reared only in the 
 exercise of plough and spade in the free air, with country 
 enjoyment and amusements,— never amidst foul drains 
 and smoke-blacks and the eternal clank of machinery." 
 Had Froude added " high skies and wide expanses" 
 to his list of beneficial forces he would have named the 
 most potent influences in the development of the Austra- 
 lian type. City life does not give to character the same 
 sharp outlines as do the direct influence of soil and climate. 
 It is, therefore, to the country that we must look for the 
 true Australian, the result of a century of growth. 
 
 Certainly there is something enveloping and formative 
 in the conditions of bush life, which tends in a very short 
 period to make a distinctly Australian type. " Whether 
 the rural resident," says Sir Gilbert Parker, ^ " is an 
 Englishman or an Australian by birth, by the time he 
 has lived ten years in the country he becomes Australian, 
 as distinct from any other nationahty. The Irishman 
 gains direction and industrial confidence ; the Scots- 
 man, adaptabiUty and warmth ; the Englishman leaves 
 off his insularity and puts on elasticity ; and the 
 Australian is slowly evolved." 2 
 
 ^ " Round the Compass in Australia," by Gilbert Parker. 
 London : Hutchinson & Co., 1892. A revised edition of this 
 book is much to be desired. 
 
 2 A jesting Australian saying is that " The Irishman owns 
 the land : the Scotchman has all the good billets : and the 
 Englishman does all the work." 
 
 36
 
 "A SPLENDID ENERGY" 
 Characteristics of Bush Life 
 
 Large-heartedness is the most marked characteristic 
 of the type. Men who watch the stars sparkhng in a 
 violet sky, and all day fight Nature face to face, are too 
 near to the essential facts of life to be mean-spirited. 
 Like the Arab or the sailor, the bushman is hospitable, 
 sincere and loyal ; but unlike these, he is also suspicious 
 and a little sceptical. Merit must be proved in his pre- 
 sence before he accepts it on anyone else's valuation ; 
 and yet he is shy rather than self-confident ; although he 
 often affects self-confidence to conceal shyness. Once, 
 however, let his trust be given and he knows no half- 
 measures in his appreciation and generosity. " Com- 
 radeship " is his characteristic virtue : Mr. Buley, indeed, 
 considers that the social code of the bush is summed up 
 in the brief sentence of Mr. Henry Lawson : — " Drunk 
 or sober, mad or sane, good or bad, it isn't bush religion 
 to desert a mate in a hole." The occasions for sharing 
 comradeship are frequent enough in the Australian bush, 
 where droughts, floods, pests and other unexpected 
 troubles call for immediate action, and good seasons and 
 social gatherings bring together a whole neighbourhood 
 to share in friendly congratulations. The hospitality 
 of the bush is, of course, proverbial. Everybody is 
 hospitable in the heart of Australia ; it is only the nature 
 of the kindness which differs, according to the means of 
 those who proffer it. Entergy is another marked feature 
 of the Australian character — " a splendid energy," Sir 
 Gilbert Parker calls it, "a faith in the possibilities of the 
 country : a persistency behind the pessimism that comes 
 with drought, flood, and mining and land booms." The 
 rest of the passage is equally happy. " Coupled with 
 this energy are self-confidence, freshness, aggressive 
 assertion, and generous warmth. Because these have 
 always been difficult questions to face : because 
 
 37 
 ^-- -i o «/ t) ,7
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 development has come by leaps and bounds : and because 
 there have been struggles between class and class, 
 there has been produced an upstanding race of men, 
 irascible yet hospitable : strenuous and stalwart 
 yet not robustious : explosive yet not troublesome : 
 uncompromising yet generous : hardy, honest and true. 
 That is the true Australian. . . A curious restlessness 
 also marks his character, due to the vicissitudes of his 
 life and to the speculative spirit of the country. . . It is 
 to this type of restlessness, energy and daring that 
 Australians, by birth and adoption, converge." 
 
 Isolation 
 
 Bush life makes a severe demand upon moral as well 
 as physical endurance. The struggle with fatigue is, 
 indeed, the least of the bushman's difficulties, the greater 
 of which comes from his isolation. The mind moves 
 slowly when speech is infrequent ; and the taciturnity 
 of bushmen is proverbial. Some develop a positive 
 incapacity to live in society, and pass their time entirely 
 alone. Such persons are called hatters in bush 
 parlance ; and the typical story of their characteristics 
 is told in many forms throughout Australia. Two 
 hatters, it is said, met on a worked out goldlield 
 where each intended to fossick. To save labour they 
 occupied the same tent, one working by day, the other 
 by night so that they might never be in company. One 
 morning hatter Bill asked hatter Jim, as he passed 
 him on his way back from work, " Who won the battle 
 of Sedan ? " and was told " The French." Leaving camp 
 next morning Bill said to Jim " 'Twasn't, 'twas the 
 Germans," and on his return found the tent empty, with 
 a note from Jim pinned to the fly, that he couldn't stay 
 in a camp " where there was so much . . . argument ! " 
 The temptation to a bushman to " break-out " becomes 
 sometimes irresistible ; and the steadiest workman, 
 
 38
 
 ON THE ROAD 
 
 maddened by his solitude, will at times ride to the nearest 
 shanty, hand his cheque to its keeper and drink himself 
 insensible. When he is permitted to recover consciousness 
 he may find himself a mile or two upon his homeward 
 track with a bottle of so-called whiskey, and a few 
 shillings of change from the cheque, which he has just 
 " knocked down." The native-born seems better able 
 to endure the sohtude of the bush than the European. 
 Drunkenness is not a vice of the Australian born. 
 
 The Sundowner 
 
 The large-hearted hospitality of the bush called into 
 existence a class of professional vagabonds, called " Sun- 
 downers," because they timed their arrival at a station 
 at sundown, when they knew it was too late to send them 
 further on the track, and that by the laws of the bush 
 they must be given " tucker " and a lodging. This class 
 is dying out before the advent of railways ; but .until 
 recently they were in certain districts a serious tax upon 
 the hospitality of station-owners. These swagmen who 
 " humped Matilda " {i.e., carried their blue blanket) 
 and went upon the wallaby {i.e., on the road), were 
 seldom unintelligent and often philosophers. They 
 accepted idleness as a divine command, and pursued their 
 object of avoiding work, if not always with success, yet 
 with imperturbable good humour. They were pro- 
 fessionals, who must not be confounded with the genuine 
 bush-worker who, on foot, bicycle or horseback, passes 
 from station to station seeking for a job, and whose needs 
 also must be supplied if he run short of food. It speaks 
 well for the good relations which exist between people 
 in the bush that this unwritten law of hospitality is 
 seldom abused. 
 
 The Squatter 
 The squatter is at the apex of the social pyramid 
 
 39
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of the Australian bush. As a rule he lives on his run in 
 all seasons with his family about him, and so becomes a 
 centre of social activities. Some squatters live in the 
 cities and work their runs through managers, whose tie 
 with the district is naturaUy less close ; while other runs 
 are in the occupation of Banks and Mortgage Companies 
 who only desire to sell at a profit and have no interest 
 in the district. The squatter who lives on his run has 
 never been better described, if allowances be made for 
 differences between the country life of to-day and that of 
 fifty years ago, than by Henry Kingsley in the fine 
 novel of "Geoffrey Hamlyn," and the novels of Mrs. 
 Campbell Praed give vivid pictures of modern life on 
 a station. The elegance and luxury of a station home- 
 stead is always a surprise to English visitors, who ought, 
 however, to remember that the English country gentle- 
 man has only changed his skies in coming to Australia. 
 Here is a vignette by Mr. Buley's pen, which no apology 
 is needed for reproducing : — 
 
 " The homestead is a substantial house of stone, 
 built after the fashion of a bungalow, with only one 
 storey, and a broad verandah running round three 
 sides of it. Grape vines and passion-flower shade the 
 verandah, and the front of the house looks over a 
 spacious garden and orchard, with a thick hedge of 
 quince trees. On the verandah are easy chairs and 
 lounges. , , . The windows run down to the floor ; 
 the doorway is wide and inviting, and opens to a 
 spacious cool-tiled hall. On one side is the drawing- 
 room ... on the other a dining-room . . . behind 
 is a cheerful morning-room. Bedrooms cool and 
 airy, open on the wide verandah ... in a group of 
 detached buildings are the bachelors' quarters and 
 the schoolroom, which also serves as a concert-hall 
 and a chapel. One side of the verandah overlooks 
 a large lake of fresh water, formed by damming the 
 
 40
 
 STATION LIFE 
 
 course of one of the boundary streams. Flocks of 
 wild swan and ducks feed in it undisturbed, and even 
 shyer water-fowl, such as the ibis and pehcan, may 
 often be observed upon it. From this lake an ingen- 
 iously contrived windmill raises water to the level 
 of an elevated platform, on which, protected by a 
 roof of thick wooden shingles, are a number of iron 
 tanks. From this reservoir pipes conduct the water 
 throughout the house and garden. From the other 
 side of the house may be seen the wool-shed, a long 
 building of wood with a galvanised iron roof. . . A 
 ride round the run reveals signs of careful manage- 
 ment. Each paddock ^ contains its flocks of carefully 
 graded sheep : in one are wethers of a certain age 
 and in another ewes. The stud flock occupies a 
 domain of its own, and there is a special paddock for 
 the horses and another for the cows. On the flats 
 near the creek a heavy crop of the forage plant Alfalfa 
 is being grown under irrigation. It will presently 
 be cut and converted into ensilage as a precaution 
 against drought. ... A day's hard work in the 
 saddle ends with a refreshing shower bath and a 
 pleasant family dinner. Sometimes a neighbour drops 
 in, and after dinner the men smoke on the cool broad 
 verandah in the pleasant dusk. The wind sighs 
 through the big she-oaks, and from the belt of tall 
 gum-trees by the creeks comes the doleful note of 
 the mopoke. Great flying foxes flap silently down 
 to the peach trees in the orchard, and tiny bats 
 wheel and turn in the clear air, hawking the plentiful 
 insects. One by one the stars come out until the 
 violet sky blazes with them. Across the lake the 
 curlews are waiting, but in the drawing-room the 
 lamps are lit." 
 Attractive and true as this picture is, it is not 
 ^ A paddock may be several square miles in area. 
 41
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 calculated to excite enthusiasm among Australians. Great 
 sheep-runs, such as the one described, abound not only 
 in the Darling district, which is appropriate to such uses, 
 but in the richer coastal and central districts, where the 
 land is suitable for cultivation. A sheep-run in such 
 places is a hindrance to national growth ; because it 
 gives employment to so little labour. It is estimated 
 that on a well-managed station only one man is employed 
 for every 7,500 sheep ; and the carrying capacity of a 
 run is from one hundred thousand to a million sheep. 
 The occasional work of a station gives irregular employ- 
 ment for fencing, damming and the construction of wells 
 and tanks ; but this is generally let to contractors. 
 Shearing also employs large numbers. In earlier days 
 this occasional and periodic work helped the smaller 
 settlers near the run to earn money ; and this is still the 
 case to some extent. The present tendency, however, 
 is to do all bush work by contract. Even shearing 
 can be let out upon this system, owing to the variations 
 in climate, which permit a gang to begin their 
 operations in Queensland and follow the season southward. 
 This weakening of the personal relations which previously 
 existed in the bush between employer and employed, 
 is partly responsible for the growth of the Bush- Workers' 
 Union and its uncompromising attitude towards the 
 pastorahsts. The remedy is to be found in closer 
 settlement and by the creation of small holdings. 
 
 The Cattle Runs 
 
 The squatter is a pastoralist who flourishes in the 
 south and west where natural grasses or salt bush are 
 favourable to sheep. Towards the north and west, and, 
 generally in the more unsettled districts " cattle is 
 king," and cattle-raising takes the place of wool-growing. 
 Gradually, however, sheep are encroaching upon cattle, 
 and cattle-stations are pushed further back towards 
 
 42
 
 THE CATTLE MUSTER 
 
 the tablelands of the North West. The conditions of 
 life become then very hard. Population is very scattered, 
 and the cost of transport is too high to permit of many 
 luxuries. Two or three stockmen, aided by a score or 
 so of blacks, will do all the work of a station under the 
 superintendence of a manager, and life is one long round 
 of hardships and danger ; for the " looniness " of bullocks 
 is proverbial, and no one can account for the lunatic 
 impulses to which a mob of them is subject. The runs 
 are often five thousand square miles in extent and, of 
 course, not fenced. Mustering the cattle is therefore 
 always an important and ever critical event upon a 
 cattle-station. Mr. Buley gives a spirited description 
 of the scene. 
 
 " First," he writes, " comes the driving of the 
 various mobs to the ' camp,' a work accomplished 
 with as little whip-cracking and flurry as possible, 
 for the object in view is to prevent the animals be- 
 coming excited or unmanageable. When the cattle are 
 all collected the work of ' cutting-out ' begins. The 
 cattle are packed together, some of them wild with 
 fear, and disturbing the others by their bellowing 
 and sidelong thrusting of the horns. Into the mob 
 rides the stockman, intent on separating from it 
 some particular animal he has picked out. The 
 well-trained horse forces his way through the cattle, 
 obedient to every touch of knee and rein. Soon he 
 has grasped the master's purpose, and begins to edge 
 the beast singled out towards the outside of the throng. 
 It is dangerous work, but man and horse have 
 confidence in each other and both are alert and 
 watchful." 
 After the cutting-out is done the mobs are sorted out 
 and counted and the " clean skins " branded. Then, 
 if the seasons hold out hope of grass and water on the 
 travelling routes, the surplus stock will be put in charge 
 
 43
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of some experienced drover for their three months' 
 journey to the seaboard market. This hfe has great 
 attractions, but demands patience and iron nerve of all 
 who follow it ; for bullocks are the most unmanageable 
 beasts and are given to stampeding at night without 
 warning, to the imminent risk of man and horse. The 
 only hope of checking a stampede is to get ahead of the 
 mob by forcing through the press and turning it by the 
 lash of the stock-whip. The perils of such an attempt 
 are obvious, but they are part of a drover's regular 
 task. 
 
 Transport in the arid interior is by camel team, which 
 has largely supplanted bullocks in the Never-Never country 
 and from mining districts of Western Australia. The 
 drivers are Afghans, and feuds between them and the 
 Australian teamster often break into open violence if they 
 venture into the outskirts of the more settled districts. 
 In the arid interior, however, they have become indis- 
 pensable, owing to the white man's inability at present 
 to understand camel nature. , It may be that these alien 
 drivers will be displaced in time, but their ship of the 
 desert has come to stay. 
 
 The Planter 
 
 Along the Queensland coast the squatter is replaced 
 by the sugar-planter, who, until the Commonwealth 
 compelled their deportation, worked his plantations by 
 indentured Polynesian labourers. The problem of his 
 economic position, which will be considered in the chapter 
 on the policy of a White Austraha, is not yet solved ; 
 but at present his traditional state is one of prosperity 
 and the realisation of his gloomy forecasts is postponed. 
 He is the aristocrat of the North as the squatter is of the 
 South : — and is probably, as Sir Gilbert Parker calls him, 
 " the most forceful " of the Austrahans. Certainly he 
 is less conventional and lives in regard to dress, food, 
 
 44
 
 ' \t 
 
 y:i^y; :
 
 THE PIONEER 
 
 and buildings, in a sensible fashion according to the 
 dictates of a semi-tropical climate. The differences 
 between North and South in Australia threaten to 
 become as marked as in the United States, and will 
 always be considerable. The deportation of the Kanakas 
 and the rigid adherence to the White Austraha pohcy, 
 while it may for a time retard the development of the 
 northern portion of the continent, has probably saved 
 Australia from a civil conflict, which, in its way, would 
 have been as destructive and perilous as the War of 
 Secession by the Confederate States. 
 
 The Selector 
 
 The term selector, which was first applied to those 
 who selected land in New South Wales under the Crown 
 Lands Act of 1861, is become a generic term for the small 
 settler, except in the State of Victoria, where the appro- 
 priate term of farmer is in general use. For the selector 
 outside of Victoria does not confine himself to farming, 
 but also keeps sheep or dairy cattle, and in the western 
 districts of New South Wales and Queensland is exclu- 
 sively a sheep-man, — proving thus the possibility of 
 making sheep pay on a small holding, which at one time 
 was denied. The selector is the classical type of Austra- 
 lian literature ; and his sohtude and disappointments 
 have been told and sung so often, that it becomes difficult 
 to realise that in most parts of the continent he is a 
 prosperous and contented man. In the West, it is true, 
 he has suffered hardships, which too often make the 
 existence of his wife and daughters a sombre tragedy. 
 For the sufferings of a pioneer's hfe fall more heavily upon 
 the women than the men. The man has the fierce joy 
 of his daily contests with Nature ; the woman, alone 
 in the make-shift home of logs and iron, strives silently, 
 but with ever lessening confidence, to maintain the 
 accustomed seemlinesses of domestic hfe. The struggle is 
 
 45
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 too often fruitless ; but the honour is to those who 
 persevere — and they are found in every district of 
 Austraha, raising up brave sons and daughters and 
 enduring patiently their share of toil. Such women are 
 the unnamed heroines of Australian history. 
 
 The selector prospers best upon the coastal districts 
 of New South Wales, which have recently become the 
 principal seat of the dairying industry. The use of 
 separators and the establishment of butter factories and 
 creameries has brought independence and even fortune 
 to many hundreds of men, who had no money fifteen years 
 ago. In the central districts of the same State will be 
 found many men who owe their position as large land- 
 owners to the selection first taken by their parent or 
 themselves under the Act of 1861. But as will be seen 
 in a later chapter, this Act did not do all that was expected 
 of it, and many selectors have been glad to sell their 
 holdings to the squatter, as soon as the legal term of 
 residence has been completed. 
 
 Selection in the western districts has not been a 
 success. It happened that the discovery that the western 
 plains were suitable for wheat-growing was made contem- 
 poraneously with the beginning of the Great Drought. 
 Many men were in consequence ruined, and much land 
 was thrown back upon the Crown. A few men with 
 capital pulled through and it now seems probable, after 
 the experience of the last few years, that men who work 
 themselves and carry on mixed farming will yet be able 
 to make a living in the West, even on so small an area 
 as 2,560 acres. Selection in Queensland is usually in 
 large areas for grazing purposes. 
 
 The Country Town 
 
 The old saying : " God made the country : man made 
 the town," has been amended by the cynical addition 
 " and the devil made the country town." It is there 
 
 46
 
 THE COUNTRY POLICEMEN 
 
 that in Australia bush and city meet. They are built 
 on the same type ; straight, unlovely streets, lined with 
 pepper trees, and fronting wooden houses with galvanised 
 iron roofs. There are always two and generally four 
 public-houses at each corner. A lock-up, two Churches, 
 a few banks and possibly a convent make up the rest of 
 the town. All who can, live a few miles out, and occupy 
 themselves with some country pursuit, visiting the 
 town as seldom as possible. The selector comes for his 
 mail on Saturday nights and the squatter drives in to 
 Petty Sessions. When the Courts come round, either the 
 District or Supreme, the little place becomes alive. At 
 other times, unless someone happens to " go on the spree," 
 the place is quiet and dull. Yet in all these towns 
 there live one or two men who freely give themselves 
 up to its advancement. Naturally this breeds local 
 jealousies and feuds ; but these are not serious, and self- 
 sacrifice and patriotism meet with their reward in public 
 esteem. Perhaps the best and most useful work in 
 Australia is now being done in these unpromising sur- 
 roundings. Where there is a Municipal or District 
 Council, opportunity is offered for exercising wider influ- 
 ence, but it is questionable if this is more serviceable or 
 better regarded than the unofficial influence of the leading 
 citizen in a country town. The temptations to youth 
 in such places are very great ; and banks and other 
 institutions seldom leave unmarried clerks exposed to 
 them for any lengthened period. 
 
 Two classes who figure largely in country life, both in 
 towns and in the bush, are the policeman and the civil 
 servant. The policeman in the back-blocks is not only 
 the emblem of law and authority, but he generally holds 
 all the Government offices of the district, except that of 
 Police Magistrate. He may be Registrar of Births, 
 Deaths and Marriages, Clerk of Petty Sessions, Crown 
 Lands Agent, Deputy Warden of the Mines Court, Inspector 
 
 47
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of Weights and Measures, Forest Ranger, and have 
 thrown upon him, in addition, every other unconsidered 
 trifle of Government service. If, as is frequently the 
 case, he is a man of good breeding, tact and education, 
 he becomes a Deus ex machina to all the neighbourhood. 
 Above him in rank, but further removed from the people 
 is the Inspector of Police, who with the Police Magistrate, 
 the Chairman of the Land Board, and the head of the 
 District Land Office, represents to the county elector the 
 majesty of the State Government. Sir Gilbert Parker 
 gives the following life-like picture of an Australian 
 country town : — ^ 
 
 " They [the country towns] are the centres of a 
 peculiar life — of the variations in the Australian 
 type. The squatter drives in from his station to 
 attend a meeting of the Local Land Board, or to 
 post the editor of the local newspaper on a new phase 
 of the land, or rabbit, question ; the homestead 
 lessee, with more modest turn-out, rattles in (all 
 people in the back-blocks drive fast) for his month's 
 stock of tea, sugar, and tobacco ; — the great neces- 
 sities of the far west ; the selector comes swinging 
 down the red-sand streets, where even the gum- 
 tree finds no home, and the imported pepper-tree 
 struggles for life, to seek some favour of the agents 
 of a far-off Government ; the shearer, on a " brombie " 
 which he has bought for a couple of pounds, shuffles 
 up to the public to knock down his cheque ; the 
 sundowner, with his swag on his back, posts through 
 to the nearest station ; the stock-rider, " sitting 
 loosely in the saddle all the while," gallops in for a 
 change as he travels his cattle to the south ; a daughter 
 of the plains rides swiftly to the post-office for the 
 weekly mail ; a mounted policeman in his blue coat 
 and grey breeches, spurred and armed, becomes a 
 * " Round the Compass in Australia," p. 94. 
 
 48
 
 CONVIVIAL CUSTOMS 
 
 welcome guest at the chief hotel ; the local justices 
 of the peace meet in conclave, full of desire for ready 
 justice, and maybe innocent of law ; the Inspector of 
 Tanks meets his enemy, the Superintendent of Roads, 
 and they " shout " for each other, while they breathe 
 out violent criticism on their separate departments ; 
 and the Mayor, who seldom fails in accepting mag- 
 nanimously the fealty parties, conspires with all as 
 to what public man shall be the victim of the next 
 banquet." 
 
 49 
 
 4— (2133)
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 POLITICS AND THE WORKING MAN 
 
 The Aim of Australian Democracy — The Paradise of the Working 
 Man — A Contrast of Method — AustraUan SociaUsm — Social 
 Progress v. Material Advance — A Policy not a Philosophy. 
 
 To understand Australia, it is necessary to remember that 
 it is the country of the man who works, and not of the 
 man of leisure. Luxury is rare, because it is difficult to 
 accumulate a large fortune and more difficult to spend it, 
 but capacity of any sort is assured of a competence. 
 There is thus a pleasant equality of condition, which 
 neither excites envy nor depresses ambition. All work, 
 too, is adjusted to the necessities of a more genial climate ; 
 so that the hours are shorter and the pressure of com- 
 petition less urgent than in older countries. At the same 
 time the wide horizons and clear skies give a larger outlook 
 upon life, and encourage the characteristic quahties of 
 freshness, sincerity, and confidence ; while nowhere in 
 the world can a man who has to work for his living, work 
 under pleasanter conditions than in Australia. 
 
 This, which is true of all classes, is so in a pre-eminent 
 degree of those who live by manual labour, who have 
 used their political power to adjust industrial conditions, 
 with more or less elaboration, by means of legislation to 
 these fortunate circumstances. This fact explains the 
 saying, to which reference has been made above, that 
 " Australia is the Paradise of the Working Man." In 
 no country in the world is political power more widely 
 diffused, or more daring use made of Government action 
 as an instrument of social development. Every man 
 and woman in Australia has a vote, and no tradition 
 limits its exercise to a selection between candidates of a 
 certain social rank. Consequently Members of Parlia- 
 ment are of the same class as the majority of voters and 
 
 50
 
 NATIVE DEMOCRACY 
 
 reflect both the opinions and the prejudices of their 
 constituents, so that their standpoint is always that of 
 the average citizen, who has no definite pohtical creed, 
 but who resents being patronised and is keenly alive to 
 any opportunity of bettering his condition by means of 
 legislation. The dominant idea of the average voter is 
 to make Austraha a better country to live in for men of 
 his own class, — for he has learnt by experience that men 
 of wealth and ability are well able to look after them- 
 selves, — and, so far from mistrusting Governmental 
 action, he draws legislation into his service as a ready 
 and effective instrument of reform. This does not imply 
 any adherence on his part to a particular theory of the 
 functions of the State ; for the Australian is a voter and 
 not a philosopher, and his democracy is not so much a 
 reasoned creed as an instinct. 
 
 A Contrast of Methods 
 
 This predilection of Austrahans for action by the 
 State, is the more noteworthy because it is in striking 
 contrast with the inclination of opinion in the other 
 democracy of British origin which margins the Pacific. 
 Contrasts between Australia and the United States will 
 be noticed frequently by an observer of the two countries. 
 This, perhaps, is one of the most intelligible, because it 
 can be traced to a difference in the early methods of 
 government. The United States sprang from the town 
 meeting : Australia from a personal government. The 
 early settlements in New England were, from the first, 
 self-governing communities : the settlement at Sydney 
 Cove was subject to the orders of a naval or military 
 officer for thirty-eight years. ^ The Governor was an 
 earthly providence to the early Australian settlers, — 
 dispensing food, controlling industry, and fixing the rate 
 
 ^ Another strange contrast between the two countries is that 
 Australia was first settled on the side most remote from England. 
 
 51
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of wages. Nor did the influx of free settlers materially 
 change the situation, because these spread themselves 
 over the vast area of waste land too quickly to acquire 
 that local sentiment which became instinctive in the 
 concentrated settlements on the Atlantic seaboard. 
 There came, indeed, to be a strong provincial jealousy 
 between the Australian Colonies, which has defied even 
 Federation ; but this was never incompatible with a 
 very wide exercise of the powers of government within 
 each Colony. Thus while the United States have de- 
 veloped an exaggerated localism and individualism ; in no 
 part of the world has the doctrine of Laissez-Faire fewer 
 adherents than in Australia. Even Freetraders reject 
 the doctrine as applied to domestic politics ; and the 
 " Administrative Nihilism " (to use Professor Huxley's 
 phrase), which would confine the action of Government 
 to preserving order, always seemed treason to busy 
 settlers, who depended upon the state to overcome many 
 of the physical obstacles to settlement, and to provide 
 by means of railways, roads, tanks, etc., those conveni- 
 ences of civilisation, which, in such a country as Australia, 
 individuals could not obtain unaided. Thus Australian 
 Governments have, for many years, constructed and 
 owned railways, tramways and ferry boats ; done their 
 own printing ; provided hospitals and parks ; subsidised 
 agricultural shows, and, generally, endeavoured to 
 improve the means of communication and transport, 
 and develop the country. 
 
 Governments now, in addition, make clothes for the 
 police and military ; maintain agricultural farms ; own 
 and let the use of batteries for crushing ore ; own and 
 let out bulls and stallions ; supply seed wheat ; sell 
 frozen meat and dairy produce ; export wdnes ; send 
 commercial agents to England and the East ; undertake 
 the storage and grading of meat and butter for export. 
 They are also expected to test new processes of 
 
 52
 
 STATE AID 
 
 production, and supply, free of charge, information as to 
 the latest agricultural and industrial experiments in other 
 countries. Indeed, a settler could hardly get greater 
 assistance than every Australian state is now expected 
 to furnish. These later extensions of State activity 
 have rather been due to the widening of the field for 
 work, than to the influence of any political party ; and 
 are acquiesced in by all parties, because Australia was 
 familiarised from its earliest days with the frequent 
 exercise by the State of its organised power, in order to 
 overcome the critical difficulties of colonisation. ^ 
 
 Australian Socialism 
 
 Yet, with all this extension of State activities, there is 
 less socialist legislation in Australia than in England. 
 Australian legislation is advanced only when the 
 small size of the community and the sparseness of its 
 population, necessitates that being done by legislation 
 which, in England, is done by economic compulsion. 
 For example, whereas in England the chief standard 
 industries are regulated by joint committees of work- 
 men and employers, who determine all disputes, and are 
 able, through the concentration of the industry, to enforce 
 their rulings by the penalty of exclusion from the trade, ^ 
 in Australia, where industries are small and scattered, 
 and men change easily from one employment to another, 
 the same result can only be achieved by the compulsion 
 
 ^ It cannot be said that Australia affords any evidence in 
 support of the view that Government action saps individual 
 vigour. Australians are certainly most serious in the pursuit of 
 their individual interests. At the worst there is a certain lack of 
 public spirit and unwillingness to give personal service to the 
 State gratuitously. But this is characteristic of any country 
 where wealth has no traditional responsibilities, and the greater 
 part of the community is necessarily occupied with its own 
 business. 
 
 ^ e.g., The cotton and iron trades. See for illustrations Mr. 
 and Mrs. Sidney Webb's " Industrial Democracy." 
 
 53
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of law through the awards of a tribunal. It is true that 
 the laws of labour in factories and shops are shorter than 
 in England, but in all other respects factory legislation is 
 less strict in Australia than in England. Again, there is no 
 poor law in Australia ; there is nothing like the advanced 
 municipal socialism of such cities as Glasgow ; the laws 
 for the protection of workmen are far less stringent than 
 in England ; there is no Workmen's Compensation Act, 
 and the doctrine of " common employment " is in full 
 force. In the supervision of food (except meat, milk 
 and butter for export), the sanitation (except quaran- 
 tine) and regulation of workmen's dwellings and new 
 streets and buildings, — Australia is decades behind the 
 legislation of Great Britain. 
 
 Yet, according to the popular view, Australia is a 
 warning to the world by reason of its socialist legislation. 
 
 The explanation of this contrast between appearance 
 and reality is due to the fact that the Australian inclina- 
 tion to invoke State aid, which has its origin in the 
 history of the country, has found support of late years, 
 in a more or less defined political creed, which has found 
 in Australia its most vigorous and clear expression, 
 although it is not distinctively Australian, nor of 
 Australian origin. 
 
 Social Progress versus Material Advance 
 
 History from one point of view is only an ever-varying 
 adjustment between the rights of the individual and the 
 claims of society. One school of thought, holding that 
 society grows through an automatic harmonising of 
 many self-interests, would extend the sphere of individual 
 action to the widest limits compatible with the security 
 of life and property. Another school insists that the 
 conflict of self-interests does not produce harmony but 
 anarchy, and it accordingly demands restrictions upon 
 competition in order to preserve society. In the economic 
 
 54
 
 A UNIVERSAL FRANCHISE 
 
 field, disciples of the former school concentrate their 
 efforts on encouraging production, because they believe 
 that unrestricted liberty to produce, secures, by some 
 decree of Providence, a just distribution of the products, ^ 
 The other school (except its socialist section) does not 
 reject competition ; but demands that this shall be, 
 in fact, that competition of equal units, which English 
 economists postulate, but which has never existed in 
 any industrial society, except, possibly between whole- 
 sale dealers during the thirty years, 1840-70, when there 
 were no Trusts, and foreign states had not begun to 
 organise national industries by means of tariffs, subsidies, 
 and railways. 
 
 These views express the divergence of opinion between 
 capital and labour which exists to-day in many parts of 
 the world. In Australia it is widened and accentuated 
 by some distinctive social and historical conditions. 
 
 Australia, as has been point&d out, is a country in which 
 every man and woman has a vote. It has also been 
 familiarised from its birth with an active and centralised 
 government. There is accordingly nothing novel or 
 repellent to an Australian in the idea that the organised 
 power of the State should be used to further his ideas of 
 social reform. On the other hand, a young country 
 offers very great opportunities to private enterprise, 
 and tends to develop self-reliance and impatience of 
 control to a high degree. These qualities do not, how- 
 ever, counteract the tendency to rely upon the interfer- 
 ence of the State, because the vicissitudes of fortune in 
 a young country, and the haphazard way in which she 
 casts her favours, make the unsuccessful envious or 
 indifferent, while the men of enterprise, who mistrust 
 governments, are too much occupied with their own 
 
 ^ See especially Bastiat : " Harmonies Economiques," in which 
 the conclusions of the English school of individualist Political 
 Economy are pressed to their logical conclusions. 
 
 55
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 affairs to take an influential part in politics. Riches, 
 which imply responsibilities and in appearance reward 
 merit, are more kindly regarded than the sudden acquisi- 
 tions of Australian speculators which give their possessor 
 very httle power over the opinions of others, A writer of 
 a most interesting series of articles on " Australian 
 Ideals," which appeared in the Times of July and August, 
 1908, ^ has very acutely pointed out that " alongside 
 the individual struggle after wealth there was growing 
 in Australia from very early times a different spirit sown 
 by men who sought not so much wealth as ease and 
 
 competence This spirit was helped in its gradual 
 
 evolution from an instinctive and unconvinced sentiment 
 to the main article in a political faith by the same circum- 
 stances, peculiar to Australia, which gave such extensive 
 play to the material ambition of the abler part of the 
 community. If cloistral isolation and peace favoured 
 the concentration of many people upon the business of 
 developing the country and growing rich, it also left 
 their poorer and less enterprising brethren free to specu- 
 late upon possibilities of moderate affluence without 
 excessive toil, and of a widespread social well-being, 
 inconceivable to countries less richly endowed, less thinly 
 peopled and less remote. Hidden in a corner of the 
 Pacific, and safeguarded by no effort of her own against 
 the interference of a jealous world, Australia has developed 
 a quality of introspection, a hermit-like pre-occupation 
 with her own dreams, which is now a leading attribute 
 of her political ideas." 
 
 A Policy not a Philosophy 
 
 It is almost needless to say that, Australia being a 
 British community, ideas are not built up into any 
 consistent theory. Thus, although the division of 
 
 1 See especially Article vi, the Times, Aug. 8, 1908. It is 
 hoped that more articles will be published in a permanent form. 
 
 56
 
 CLASS ANTAGONISM 
 
 sentiment in Australia does run parallel with the cleavage 
 in opinion which has been described above, the philosophy 
 of the matter is little considered, and the conflicts are not 
 between rival schools of thought. Yet there is an essen- 
 tial difference between the ideals of each party, however 
 little this may be generally recognised, which perhaps will 
 be made clearer by a description of the extreme views of 
 either side. Again we may quote the writer of the articles 
 in the Times : "At the extreme of one category is a 
 large number of purely selfish individuals, who, regardless 
 of any interest but their own, are merely in a hurry to 
 grow rich. At the extreme of the other is a still larger 
 number of more or less predatory socialists, who demand 
 a share of the general prosperity out of all proportion to 
 their share of effort in creating it. ' Going into one class,' 
 wrote Sir Henry Parkes in his ' Fifty Years in the Making 
 of Australian History,' ' you will find men carefully 
 dressed and sumptuously fed, who are very much dis- 
 posed to take a short cut to the object which they wish 
 to reach without reference to the feelings, or the reasonable 
 wishes, or even the lawful privileges of their fellows. 
 Going among another class, — almost the opposite — you 
 will see men savagely assail their fellows, because they 
 honestly strive in their own way, as free men, to earn the 
 means of subsistence for their families.' " 
 
 The aims of these two classes will always be essentially 
 antagonistic. The one will lay most stress on material 
 advance, the other will place social progress in the fore- 
 front of its programme. And as the political power is 
 with the advocates of social progress, we shall expect to 
 find on the Australian Statute Book many protests 
 against unrestrained individualism, which would cause 
 the same estrangement between classes in Australia as 
 in older countries. And in this respect, also, Australia 
 offers another marked contrast to the United States. 
 Indeed, the motto of the Australian supporters of reform 
 
 57
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 might almost be "To make Australia everything America 
 is not," — so strenuous is the struggle against the rule of 
 wealth, and so deep-seated are the lessons which have 
 been taught to Australians by the recent disclosures of 
 social anarchy in the United States. Australia, it is 
 claimed, should be so governed that it shall provide 
 work at fair wages to a vast industrial population, afford 
 a fair day's wage to good workers, and provide such 
 comfortable and healthy conditions, that the workers may 
 take an interest in their work and have leisure for culture 
 and recreation. It is thought better that Australia 
 should have a large, well-educated, contented working 
 population, than that it should produce immense yields 
 of wool or cotton by means of servile or low-paid labour. 
 Such views plainly involve the " swallowing of economic 
 formulae " and suggest that " freedom of contract," 
 " the law of supply and demand " and similar phrases 
 are mere capitalistic shibboleths which mark an arrogant 
 contempt for social rights. Legislation is treated as a 
 means not only of removing inequalities, but of protecting 
 the weak against the strong. 
 
 The organised political exponent of these views is 
 the Australian Labour Party, which plays so large a part 
 in Australian affairs, and is credited with playing one so 
 much larger, that an account of its formation and policy 
 cannot be omitted from an account of the Commonwealth, 
 and will form the subject of the next chapter. 
 
 58
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LABOUR PARTY 
 
 The Opportunity — The Maritime Strike — Labour Turns to 
 Politics — A Retrospect — The Caucus — The Programme — 
 WTiat the Party Stands for — Comparison with the EngUsh 
 Labour Party. 
 
 The writer in the Times, to whom reference has been 
 made above, observes truly that " Labour has won its 
 present position in Austraha not by virtue of its organisa- 
 tion, but by virtue of its aims. Other parties have not 
 failed to organise merely because they are too indolent 
 or too proud, but because they lacked the united impulse, 
 the common faith essential to give the method effect. 
 If Labour, when it first determined to organise as a 
 pohtical force had not been able to call to its support 
 a deep-rooted sentiment of the Australian people, it could 
 not have risen to anything approaching its present 
 power." The binding influence of race and the Eight 
 Hours' Day gave Australian labourers an exceptional 
 solidarity and enabled the Labour Party (as the 
 same wTiter points out) " to become the spokesman of 
 the general wish for some ideal of social progress which 
 would control and rationalise the prevailing doctrine 
 of wealth-accumulation at any price." Other causes 
 worked in the same direction. The want of sympathy 
 with the wealthy classes was changed into resentment and 
 hostility by the social war between squatter and selector, 
 which will be described in later chapters. The memories 
 of that struggle were green when Labour entered politics. 
 The time, too, was otherwise propitious. 
 
 The huge expenditure of borrowed money on public 
 works and immigration from 1877-1890 had culminated 
 in an orgie of gambling. Fortunes — on paper — were 
 immense, and wealth had never seemed more flaunting 
 
 59
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 and unscrupulous. The crash which followed swept 
 away the people's savings and awoke a blind desire for 
 vengeance, which, when wages began to fall, found 
 expression in a general strike. Beginning with the laying 
 up of the Tasmanian Steamship Company's fleet, on 
 account of the dismissal from the Corinna of a Union 
 representative without assigned cause — for so do great 
 things spring from small beginnings — this strike spread 
 sympathetically through the ranks of organised labour. 
 It was met and defeated by an equally extensive 
 organisation of employers ; and Labour sought revenge 
 in politics. 
 
 This strike is a landmark of Australian history, and its 
 issues and conduct illustrate Australian methods and 
 ideas exceedingly well. It will not, therefore, be 
 inappropriate to relate the story. ^ 
 
 The Maritime Strike 
 
 On August 12th, 1891, the President of the Shearers' 
 Union obtained a pledge from the maritime bodies of 
 workmen and the Trades and Labour Council in Sydney, 
 that they would boycott all wool which had been shorn 
 by non-unionists. The issue thus raised was described 
 differently by the two opposing forces. To the employers 
 it was " freedom of contract ; " to the workmen " the 
 right to combine." The pastoralists were alleged to be 
 ousting unionists from employment, and certainly they 
 were refusing to give any preference to unionist shearers, 
 so that all shearers were sharing in the higher wages and 
 improved conditions which the Union had obtained for 
 the class at considerable cost. At least ten per cent, of 
 the sheds in New South Wales were shearing under 
 
 ^ An account of the strike is given in the " Official Report of 
 the Labour Defence Committee," and in a supplementary 
 pamphlet by Mr. George Black, giving an account of the Labour 
 Market for 1891-1904. 
 
 60
 
 AN ORGANISED BATTLE 
 
 non-union rules, and some indiscreet employers in Mel- 
 bourne had publicly avowed their intention to break 
 Trade Unionism. The conviction was thus widespread 
 throughout Australia that action was necessary, because 
 Trade Unionism had been brought face to face with the 
 problem of existence. The affiliated societies con- 
 sequently entered upon the conflict with the object of 
 maintaining the Shearers' Union in what was believed to 
 be a fight for life. 
 
 Still the strike might have been confined within narrow 
 limits had not the Marine Officers' Association decided 
 on August 13th to take part through their Secretary in 
 the deliberations of the Trades and Labour Council. 
 " From that moment," writes Mr. Black, " the basis of 
 the impending strike was indefinitely extended, and its 
 original pretext to some extent forgotten. . . It suddenly 
 assumed the aspect of a battle involving all classes of 
 maritime labour throughout Australia. The shipowners 
 demanded that the officers should sever their connection 
 with organised labour. They refused . . . and left their 
 ships as they came into port. The Seamen's Union 
 called upon its members to support the officers and the 
 strike began in all its vastness and complexity. There 
 was a general boycott of aU non-union wool and all ships 
 manned by non-union officers. The conference which 
 had been called to discuss the strike, organised itself into 
 a Labour Defence Committee whose orders were implicitly 
 obeyed." Mr. Black gives a vivid description of the 
 Committee at work. " Up three flights of stairs, the 
 approach to the last flight guarded by toil-stained and 
 often weary outposts, in a large room at the door of 
 which stood another sentry, round a long, narrow table, 
 but half-covered by a piece of old cretonne, gathered 
 the members. For a fortnight or more the work was 
 physically as well as mentally exhausting. All day long, 
 and all night they sat : at first about a dozen, and more 
 
 61
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 as the days rolled by and other Labour bodies filed into 
 line. . . . Only the unions actually on strike were 
 represented here. Affiliated bodies sent their spokesmen 
 asking for instructions how to act. . . . Then there were 
 deputations from employers asking help to unload 
 perishable goods. . . . Intercolonial traffic had been 
 crippled but not brought to a standstill. A few ships 
 were running the blockades with provoking success ; 
 and the Defence Committees in the various Colonies 
 kept the wires busy day and night with comments on their 
 movements. ' A steamer dropping up the Yarra. Any- 
 thing known about her ? ' The Chairman would ask 
 as he read the contents of the wire just to hand. ' Yes, 
 as black as your hat,' would probably be the response. 
 ' Then tell them to block her.' And an hour later the 
 leaders in Melbourne would be acting upon the advice." 
 Money poured in freely. Australian Trade Societies 
 contributed £28,662. The London Dockers, in gratitude 
 for the assistance sent to them from Australia in their 
 " strike for the 'tanner,' " sent £2,000, and other Societies 
 in England £2,060 more. Over £36,000 was distributed 
 in relief in which 16,347 persons participated at different 
 times. The expenses of the Defence Committee 
 were £240 9s. 9d., of which the Secretary received 
 £6 6s., the twelve delegates 5s. each per day, and the 
 editor of the daily bulletin of the strike, £15. Men 
 gave themselves freely to the work, and there were no 
 scandals. 
 
 But devotion and loyalty could avail nothing against 
 popular hostility. Failure was inevitable when the 
 householder began to fear for his supplies, and the farmer 
 for his market. Special constables, aided by mounted 
 infantry from the country, forced passages for the 
 boycotted goods between the ships and the railway 
 termini ; and, as steamer after steamer loaded and dis- 
 charged, the ranks of the unionists thinned. The strike, 
 
 62
 
 A FRUITFUL DEFEAT 
 
 however, was conducted to the end without disorder ; ^ and 
 the leaders, wisely resisting tlic counsels of despair, 
 refused to order a general strike of all labour, and sur- 
 rendered unconditionally after a fortnight's struggle. 
 The shearers had already returned to their sheds, — 
 intimidated by the unequal laws which then made breach 
 of contract by a workman a criminal offence, — and the 
 claims of the officers had been conceded by the ship- 
 owners, provided they withdrew from the Trades and 
 Labour Council. Of what use, then, was it to prolong 
 the struggle ? Nothing remained but to bring its opera- 
 tions to an end. The general public was relieved. It 
 sympathised with Labour ; but had not understood the 
 turn which the dispute had taken. Yet the refusal to 
 permit the Officers' Association to affiliate with the Trades 
 and Labour Council, — however necessary in the interests 
 of discipline, — really struck at the root of Trade Unionism, 
 which is freedom to combine ; and the boycott of non- 
 union wool and ships, — however inconvenient to the 
 public, — was the mildest method of protesting against 
 " black-leg " labour. 
 
 Extravagant claims were advanced by both sides. 
 The Trade Unionists were too few to assert their claim 
 at that time to the preferential employment, which may 
 now be conceded, under statute, by Industrial Arbitra- 
 tion Courts, and which was secured many years ago by 
 the organisation of both employers and employed in the 
 larger industries of the North of England. The em- 
 ployers in their demand for " freedom of contract " forgot 
 that real freedom to contract implied a freedom to refuse 
 the contract offered, which was impossible to an individual 
 workman unsupported by a Trade Union, because, if he 
 
 1 There was some stone-throwing on one occasion at the 
 Circular Quay, which panic magnified into a riot. A Governor, 
 who was accustomed to the disorder of election nights in some 
 English towns, watched it undisturbed from the window of a 
 public office ; but it was a first experience of street turbulence 
 to Australians. 
 
 63
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 stood alone, he must find work or starve. Trade Unions 
 are to workmen, what capital is to the employer, they 
 enable him to wait until the market for his labour rises. 
 Nor was it generally perceived that "free " or "black-leg" 
 labour (whichever epithet be preferred) menaced the 
 very existence of Trade Unionism as an industrial force. 
 Cheap labour depresses the standard of wages, which 
 Trade Unions are established to maintain, as inevitably 
 and for the same reason as, under Gresham's law, bad 
 money drives good money out of circulation. It is a 
 notable example of that attardation of thought which will 
 be noticed later as characteristic of young countries, that 
 these trite considerations were hardly urged in public 
 except by men who had been trained in European ideas, 
 and that they were denounced as revolutionary by the 
 whole daily Press. ^ Barristers, whose existence as a 
 separate profession is secured by the strictest Trade 
 Union rules — who refuse to work with a " black-leg " and 
 call their overtime " refreshers, "^ — were especially antag- 
 onistic to the other Unions. Sir Alfred Stephen, an 
 ex-Chief Justice, introduced a bill into the Legislative 
 Council, making strikes illegal under almost any circum- 
 stances and threatening strike leaders with summary im- 
 prisonment at the hands of police magistrates, and other 
 members of the legal profession expressed similar opinions, ^ 
 
 ^ e.g., His Eminence, Cardinal Moran, the Cliief Justice of 
 Victoria (the Hon. George Higinbotham), the Rev. H. L. Jackson, 
 Incumbent of St. James', Sydney, the Rev. George Walters 
 (Unitarian), and the Rev. Dr. Roseby (Wcsleyan) were among 
 the few men of prominence who publicly expressed their 
 comprehension of the issues involved. 
 
 * Many employers used their victory with great harshness. 
 One of the largest Pastoral Mercantile Houses in Australia 
 required the writer to return a Brief, which he held for them in the 
 Supreme Court, on the expressed ground that he had written a 
 letter to the Press which questioned the doctrine of " Freedom of 
 Contract." If this was done to one who had already held high 
 ministerial office, tlie treatment mctcd out to defenceless workmen 
 can be imagined. 
 
 64
 
 THE NEW PARTY 
 
 Beaten in the strike, Labour, in the hour of its defeat, 
 turned to poUtics. " This then," says the Report of the 
 Labour Defence Committee, " is over and above all 
 others our greatest lesson — that an organisation must 
 become a means of education and constitutional power. 
 Already it is half learnt. We have come out of the con- 
 flict a united Labour Party. . . . The next General 
 Election must yield us the balance of power." These 
 words were prophetic. 
 
 Labour Turns to Politics 
 
 At the General Election, in June, 1891, thirty-six 
 members were returned to the Parliament of New South 
 Wales upon the Labour Ticket, out of forty-five who 
 stood as Labour candidates. They held the balance of 
 power, and at their first caucus in Parliament House, 
 decided to support Sir Henry Parkes, who had reluctantly 
 remained in office upon pressure from Lord Jersey, the 
 Governor, who, himself a partner in Child's, foresaw the 
 coming banking crisis. In the debate on the Address, in 
 reply, Mr. George Black, " sick," as he writes, " of hearing 
 Labour members alternately cajoled and bullied " by 
 speakers on both sides, made the dramatic declaration 
 that his party was attached to neither side, but that its 
 policy would be " Support in return for concessions." 
 "If," he said, " you give us our concessions, then our votes 
 shall circulate on the Treasury benches ; if you do not, 
 then we shall withdraw our support. But we have not 
 come into this House to make and unmake ministries ; 
 but to make and unmake social conditions." 
 
 A Retrospect 
 
 Looking back now over seventeen years, it must be 
 admitted that the work of the party has not equalled the 
 excessive hopes of its members and the undignified alarm 
 of its opponents. Its influence certainly quickened the 
 
 65 
 
 5— <«I33)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 passage of Electoral Reform (1892), Old Age Pensions 
 (1899), and Woman's Suffrage (1901), and prepared the 
 ground for the "Industrial Arbitration Act" (1901), 
 although its members took no part in the preparation of 
 this measure. Most of the measures, however, for which 
 the party now claims credit in the Commonwealth and 
 New South Wales, had already found places in the 
 programme of one or other of the established parties. 
 This, however, is not to detract from its merit, which lies 
 not so much in what it has accomplished, as in the spirit 
 of greater earnestness and sincerity which it has intro- 
 duced into Australian politics. The party gains support 
 not only because, as the writer in the Times points out, 
 it has annexed the policy of all Progressives, but because 
 its purposes are serious and its sympathies Australian. 
 
 The Caucus 
 
 The one just cause of complaint against the Labour 
 Party and that which has hitherto separated it from 
 other Progressives, is the dominance of the machine 
 outside Parliament and of the caucus within. The first 
 experiences of the party, when members were detached 
 from it on critical occasions, by the specious terms of 
 catch resolutions, compelled the adoption of a cast- 
 iron pledge, by which every member of- the party under- 
 took to vote on every occasion as a majority of the 
 caucus should determine. This proved impracticable 
 because the caucus could not be convened to meet 
 every Parliamentary emergency ; and the pledge has been 
 several times modified, until, in the Commonwealth Parlia- 
 ment, it only binds members to vote together on questions 
 which involve the fate of a Ministry, or concern a plank 
 in the party's platform, which is no greater obligation 
 than every member owes to the party which he is elected 
 to support. The difference is not in the object aimed at, 
 but in the method. Members of Parliament owe a duty 
 
 66
 
 THE PLEDGED DELEGATE 
 
 to their constituents to explain their votes, whether 
 these be given for or against their party. This explana- 
 tion can be given either on the floor of the House or in 
 the electorate, but no member can shirk the obligation. 
 Labour members, on the other hand, are pledged to keep 
 secret the deliberations of their caucus. They must vote, 
 when the occasion for a caucus arises, as the majority 
 determines, and can shield themselves from the censure 
 of their constituents by alleging this justification. This, 
 in effect, withdraws discussion from Parliament and 
 therefore from the public to the secrecy of the caucus, 
 so that the representative system ceases to exert an 
 educational influence, which is one of its main purposes, 
 either in the House or the electorates. Every year 
 lessens the advantages of this system, which in its present 
 form has outgrown its usefulness. It is only in its 
 early days of weakness that a party need bind all its 
 members by a pledge to obey the majority and require 
 them to accept every plank in its platform, although 
 most of these may be mere counsels of perfection, which 
 are not likely to come within the field of practical politics 
 for many years. When a party has gained strength, 
 and can express its principles in definite and practicable 
 proposals, it is surely a sign of its strength, which involves 
 no risk, to leave a certain freedom of thought and action 
 to its Parliamentary representatives. The Labour 
 Members of Parhament have already realised this need 
 for greater freedom ; but the organisations outside 
 insist upon retaining control although this has already 
 forced their leader in Queensland, Mr. Kidston, to seek 
 alliances elsewhere and compelled a ministry of their 
 own choosing in Western Australia to resign office in 
 disgust. The " solidarity pledge " is accordingly still 
 required of Labour candidates, although its stringency 
 has been relaxed, and no working arrangement has 
 yet been come to between the Labour Leagues in the 
 
 67
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 constituencies, and members of the Progressive party, 
 who are in sympathy with the immediate aims of Labour. 
 This is a source of weakness which may bring temporary 
 failure. But as the party gains in power and responsi- 
 bihty, it should be able to maintain an equally effective 
 discipline by means which are less derogatory to the 
 self-respect and independence of its members. For the 
 present, however, the caucus and the machine expose 
 the party to suspicion and attack. 
 
 The Programme 
 
 The Programme of the Commonwealth Labour Party 
 as agreed to at the Conference of Labour Leagues in 
 1908, contains the following proposals : — 
 
 AUSTRALIAN LABOUR PARTY 
 
 Fighting Platform and General Platform as adopted at Conference, 
 Brisbane, July, 1908. 
 
 OBJECTIVE 
 
 (a) The cultivation of an Australian sentiment, based upon 
 the maintenance of racial purity, and the development in 
 Australia of an enlightened and self-reliant community ; 
 
 (6) The securing of the full results of their industry to all 
 producers by the collective ownership of monopolies, and the 
 extension of the industrial and economic functions of the State 
 and Municipality. 
 
 FIGHTING PLATFORM 
 
 1. Maintenance of a White Australia. 
 
 2. The New Protection. 
 
 3. Nationalisation of Monopolies. 
 
 4. Graduated Tax on Unimproved Land Values. 
 
 5. Citizen Defence Force. 
 
 6. Commonwealth Bank. 
 
 7. Restriction of Public Borrowing. 
 
 8. Navigation Laws. 
 
 9. Arbitration Act Amendment. 
 
 GENERAL PLATFORM 
 1 . Maintenance of a White Australia. 
 
 68
 
 THE LABOUR PROGRAMME 
 
 2. New Protection — Amendment of Constitution to ensure 
 effective Federal legislation for New Protection and Arbitration. 
 
 3. Nationalisation of Monopolies — if necessary, amendment of 
 Constitution to provide for same. 
 
 4. Graduated Land Tax— Graduated tax on all estates over 
 ;^5,000 in value on an unimproved basis. 
 
 5. Citizen Defence Force, with compulsory military training, 
 and Australian-owned and controlled Navy. 
 
 6. Commonwealth Bank of Issue, Deposit, Exchange and 
 Reserve, with non-political management. 
 
 7. Restriction of Public Borrowing. 
 
 8. Navigation Laws to provide — (a) for the protection of 
 Australian shipping against unfair competition ; (b) registration 
 of all vessels engaged in the coastal trade ; (c) the ef&cient man- 
 ning of vessels ; {d) the proper supply of life-saving and other 
 equipments ; (e) the regulation of hours and conditions of work ; 
 (/) proper accommodation for passengers and seamen ; {g) proper 
 loading gear and inspection of same ; (h) compulsory insurance 
 of crews by shipowners against accident or death. 
 
 9. Arbitration Act Amendment, to provide for Preference to 
 Unionists and exclusion of the legal profession, with provision 
 for the inclusion of all State Government employees. 
 
 10. Old Age and Invalid Pensions. 
 
 1 1 . General Insurance Department, with non-political manage- 
 ment. 
 
 12. Civil Equality of Men and Women. 
 
 13. Naval and Military expenditure to be allotted from proceeds 
 ef direct taxation. 
 
 14. Initiative and Referendum. 
 
 PLEDGE 
 
 I hereby pledge myself not to oppose the candidate selected 
 by the recognised political Labour organisation, and, if elected, 
 to do my utmost to carry out the principles embodied in the 
 Australian Labour Party's Platform and on all questions affecting 
 the Platform to vote as a majority of the Parliamentary Party 
 may decide at a duly constituted caucus meeting. 
 
 In one sense this programme is Socialistic ; but 
 it will be observed that it does not adopt the collective 
 ownership of all means of production, which is the dis- 
 tinctive doctrine of European Socialism. All it urges in 
 this direction is that collective ownership should super- 
 sede or prevent monopolies, — which is the creed of the 
 London County Council and the main-spring of the 
 
 69
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Municipal activities of Birmingham and Glasgow. * 
 In practice this would mean that the Commonwealth 
 would buy out the Tobacco Trust, and thus establish a 
 monopoly in a most profitable source of revenue, similar 
 to that which the British Government now enjoys in 
 Cyprus, and to those which have existed for many 
 years in European states, whose rulers have never been 
 suspected of Socialist tendencies. 
 
 What the Party Stands for 
 
 The foregoing analysis of the Labour Party's aims 
 ought to disprove the charge, which is frequently urged 
 against it, of being essentially anti-capitalist. On the 
 contrary the party, as a whole, has never considered 
 attacks on capital as a matter of practical politics. Its 
 leaders are men of recognised probity and ability, and 
 its ranks contain a fair sprinkling of men of all social 
 grades, — farmers, professional men, shopkeepers, clergy 
 and University graduates, — although manual workers are 
 of course, in the majority. The majority of Socialists, 
 it is true, work with the Labour Party, though Socialist 
 bodies have opposed it and even run candidates against 
 its nominees. It is also true that some enthusiastic 
 supporters of the party indulge in violent language ; but 
 this is no more representative of the aims and methods of 
 Australian Labour than the speeches in Hyde Park on a 
 Sunday afternoon represent the opinion of the working 
 
 * The Bulletin has asked, in reference to the charge against the 
 Labour Party that it advocates " SociaUsm," " What is Social- 
 ism ? Is it SociaUsm to run a factory to make the postman's 
 clothes, and yet not Socialism to run a post-oftice ? Or is it 
 Socialism to light a street and yet not Socialism to light a sand- 
 bank ? Or is it Socialism to run a mine, and yet not Socialism 
 to run a mining battery ? Is it Socialism to tax land-values, 
 and yet not Socialism to tax building improvements ? Is it 
 Socialism to build mail-steamers, and yet not Socialism to build 
 a river ferry ? " 
 
 70
 
 FACTS AND PREJUDICES 
 
 classes of Great Britain. Unquestionably the Australian 
 Labour Party represents some of the best elements of 
 sane patriotism which the Commonwealth possesses, and 
 its political action has never been influenced by the 
 prospect of personal gain. 
 
 This is a different picture from that which is presented 
 to English readers by Australian party newspapers, 
 writing in the heat of an election contest. But it should 
 be remembered, in judging of Australia by the utterances 
 of its politicians or by writings in the Press, that Parlia- 
 ment and the newspapers cry every defect and error of 
 Australians through a megaphone ; and that for many 
 years the Labour Party has represented all that is most 
 disliked by a somewhat narrow capitalistic press. ^ The 
 Australian Labour Party advocates compulsory military 
 service as the first duty of citizenship, and extends 
 training to every boy at school, in the belief that a citizen 
 army is the best safeguard of democracy, and that a 
 country which is worth living in is worth fighting for. 
 It also realises that the Empire is the greatest force the 
 world has ever seen for the establishment of peace, justice 
 and freedom. Thus the party is one with a wide outlook 
 and broad sympathies and so holds a high position in the 
 public regard. ^ For the moment, however, the Labour 
 Party in Australia is an offence to persons in authority 
 who have the ear of the Press, and a stumbling-block, 
 
 ^ English observers, such as Professor Gregory, or the writer 
 of the Articles of the Times on " Australian Ideals " soon form 
 a different estimate of the Labour Party. 
 
 * The Banks' crisis of 1892 is sometimes attributed to the strike 
 of 1891. This is an eiTor. The boom broke in Adelaide in 
 1887. The Building Societies, which were a favourite investment 
 for the savings of the working classes began to fail in 1889. The 
 financial crisis was really due to an unsound system of banking. 
 Money was borrowed in London on short terms and lent on 
 mortgage to squatters on long terms. It would have happened 
 many years earlier but for the large sums expended by the several 
 State Governments out of the proceeds of public loans. 
 
 71
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 through misapprehension of its work and purpose, to 
 many well-wishers to Australia. The extent of these 
 misapprehensions, and the extent to which the principles 
 upon which many of their measures have been founded 
 are misconstrued, will be shown again and again in the 
 course of this book. 
 
 72
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 (1) Distribution over States — New South Wales — Victoria — 
 South Austraha — Western AustraUa — Queensland — Tasmania. 
 (2) Amount and Quality ; Cost — Attendance — Curricula — 
 Private Schools — Secondary Education — Technical Education 
 — Universities — Summary — Practice and Ideals. 
 
 Primary education in Australia has passed through three 
 phases. In the eariier States, the first scheme for educa- 
 tion was based on the Irish National System — State 
 provided undenominational, and subsidised denomina- 
 tional schools. Later, the dual system was abolished and 
 all primary schools brought under one control, and in the 
 third phase the system in each State has been made 
 uniform and placed under one responsible minister. 
 New South Wales, as the mother State, has priority in 
 point of date, in educational as in other matters, but each 
 State though influenced by the systems adopted by its 
 neighbours, has developed for itself a system of primary 
 and secondary education, as well as technical and uni- 
 versity training. In a brief survey it is confusing to 
 multiply dates and details. Accordingly, for the sake of 
 conciseness, the growth of education in Australia will be 
 described in respect of its distribution over different 
 States ; its amount both as regards quantity and quality ; 
 and, finally, an attempt will be made to put the systems 
 in operation, to the test of modern educational methods. 
 
 (1) Distribution OVER States 
 
 New South Wales 
 
 Prior to 1848 all education was in the hands of one or 
 other of the four Churches which received State aid — 
 Anglican, Roman Cathohc, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan. 
 The combined efforts of these bodies were only adequate 
 
 73
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 to give instruction to less than half of the children of 
 school age. They had, altogether, 12,000 in these schools ; 
 private schools, of unequal merit, taught about 6,000 
 more, and about 14,000 got no schooling. In 1848 a 
 Board of National Education was incorporated, and State 
 Schools established under its control. " From that year 
 until 1867," says Mr. Board, the Under-Secretary of 
 Public Instruction in New South Wales, in a paper 
 contributed to Mr. Knibbs's "Official Year Book," 
 " two educational bodies co-existed, created by the same 
 authority, and supplied with funds from the same source, 
 the Public Treasury. The progress of the one was 
 secured at the expense of the other ; and, instead of 
 mutual help and co-operation, jealousy of each other's 
 success and division and consequent waste of means were 
 the inevitable results." Sir Henry Parkes in 1867 placed 
 both kinds of schools under the authority of an incorpor- 
 ated Council of Education consisting of five members, 
 who were entrusted with the expenditure of all money 
 appropriated by Parliament for primary education. The 
 schools — under the title of " Public Schools " — still 
 comprised some denominational ones. Instruction was 
 divided into " Secular " and " Religious," but the word 
 " secular " was defined to include undogmatic religious 
 teaching as distinguished from polemical theology. In 
 Denominational Schools the religious teaching might be 
 given by the teachers. In the others it must be given in an 
 hour set apart for the purpose each day in school-time 
 by one of the clergy or some other accredited instructor. 
 The Council took over 259 National Schools attended by 
 19,461 pupils and 310 Denominational Schools attended 
 l?y 27,986 pupils. 
 
 Sir Henry Parkes again completely transformed the 
 system in 1880. All aid was withdrawn from Denom- 
 inational Schools, and the control of the whole educational 
 system of the colony was given to a responsible Minister. 
 
 74
 
 SECULAR EDUCATION 
 
 The teachers became civil servants and teaching uniform. 
 Attendance at school was made compulsory for all 
 between the ages of six and fourteen years for seventy 
 days in the year ; fees were low and were remitted to the 
 poorer parents ; in 1906 they were remitted altogether ; 
 instruction was " secular " in the sense explained above, 
 and the facilities for religious instruction were retained. 
 Only the Church of England avails itself of these facilities 
 to any considerable extent. The Roman Catholics prefer 
 to send their children to Catholic Schools, and other 
 denominations are content with the " secular " in- 
 struction. This measure placed the school system of the 
 colony on a permanent basis which has never since been 
 changed. At the date of the change 101,534 children 
 were receiving instruction, of whom 22,716 were in 
 Denominational Schools. 
 
 Victoria 
 
 Victoria retained the Irish National System of Educa- 
 tion with its vexatious dual control from the date of its 
 separation from New South Wales (1851) until 1862. 
 In that year " The Common Schools Act," anticipating 
 Sir Henry Parkes's Act of 1867, placed all State-aided 
 schools under the control of a single Board of Education. 
 " This Act," says Mr. Board, " was not found to work 
 with entire satisfaction, on account of its failure to provide 
 anything like an equal distribution of educational facilities 
 and it was superseded by the Education Act of 1872." 
 This measure was the highest expression of the educational 
 theories of the day. It accepted the principle of " free, 
 compulsory, and secular " instruction, without any 
 reservation and made examinations the test of the capa- 
 city of both pupils and teachers. Masterpieces of English 
 literature were bowdlerised of any word which suggested 
 the unseen or supernatural, and teachers were paid, in 
 addition to their salary, an amount not exceeding 50 per 
 
 75
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 cent, according to the percentage of marks obtained by 
 their pupils at an annual examination. " Payment by 
 results " was not abolished until 190L Thus the 
 measure which effected this belated reform increased the 
 necessary school attendance from forty days per quarter 
 to 75 per cent, of the whole number of half-days on which 
 the school was open. The school age was raised from 
 thirteen to fourteen years in 1905. The same Act 
 increased the number of necessary school attendances. 
 Religious teaching is given, out of school hours, by the 
 clergy or duly appointed religious instructors. In 
 each of the 369 school districts there is an Elective 
 of Board of Advice, which determines what facilities 
 shall be given to religious teaching and generally super- 
 intends the working of the schools, under the direction 
 of the Minister for Education. 
 
 South Australia 
 
 The educational system of South Australia passed 
 through the normal stages of Australian growth — from 
 the assisted private school (1847) to the State-aided 
 Denominational School (1851, 1875), and from the latter 
 to the full-blown State School under the control of a 
 responsible Minister (1878). Since that date instruction 
 has been compulsory. Children living near towns must 
 attend at least four-fifths of the time during which the 
 school is open. Children living within three miles of a 
 school must attend for thirty-five days in each quarter. 
 Teachers are permitted to give Bible readings during the 
 half-hour which precedes the statutory opening of the 
 school. In one respect South Australia has always 
 set a good example, namely, by endeavouring to prevent 
 instruction becoming a mechanical routine. A consider- 
 able freedom of choice in subjects is allowed to teachers 
 and the methods are elastic, while examinations have 
 never been permitted to usurp the place of education. 
 
 76
 
 OTHER SYSTEMS 
 
 The Roman Catholics as a body in this State, as elsewhere 
 in Australia, keep aloof from the public schools, holding 
 that religious instruction is a fundamental and indis- 
 pensable part of the education of the young. They 
 maintain their own schools, and permit the Government 
 to inspect the quality of their teaching, but, except for 
 this purpose, they do not submit to official interference. 
 
 Western Australia 
 
 The State assumed control of education in Western 
 Australia in 1893, and abolished aid to denominational 
 schools in 1895. Its system resembles that of New South 
 Wales, in being " free, compulsory and secular " in the 
 sense of the term adopted by that colony. School fees 
 were abolished in 1899. Except that the State in 1905 
 required the teachers and proprietors of private schools 
 to send returns of attendance every month to the Educa- 
 tion Department, there is nothing in the educational 
 system of Western Australia which distinguishes it from 
 other States. 
 
 Queensland 
 
 The Irish National System survived in Queensland 
 until 1875. In that year the State Education Act 
 abolished the Board of Education and estabhshed a 
 State system of Public Instruction on the familiar " free 
 compulsory and secular lines." " Secular " was given 
 the Victorian meaning, but religious instruction was 
 allowed to be given out of school hours by some one other 
 than the teacher. School fees were abolished in 1870. 
 The minimum statutory attendance is for sixty days 
 in each half-year. 
 
 Tasmania 
 
 Education in Tasmania was organised in 1885 upon the 
 same lines as in New South Wales, but the administration 
 lagged behind that of other States. The reform movement 
 
 77
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 in the parent colony re-acted on the Island, and in 
 1904 a complete re-organisation was decided upon. The 
 same changes were adopted which were recommended in 
 New South Wales, notably the abolition of pupil teachers. 
 Sufficient time has not elapsed to see the fruits of this 
 reform. 
 
 (2) Amount and Quality 
 
 Cost 
 
 Australians have never grudged money for educational 
 purposes, it being a tenet of their creed that every child 
 should be given an equal chance in the race of life. None, 
 therefore, must be handicapped by lack of knowledge. 
 The total cost of primary education was £2,216,920, of 
 which £,2,009,991 were spent on maintenance and instruc- 
 tion and £206,929 on buildings. In addition £78,754 
 were expended in 1906 on technical education, and every 
 State has Secondary Schools and Training Colleges, the 
 cost of which is not included in the above figures. Bur- 
 saries are given in every State to enable pupils to pass 
 through each grade of school to the University ; but these, 
 like scholarships at English Universities, tend to be 
 diverted to the boy wiiose parents can pay for good 
 teaching. They need to be larger in amount and more 
 numerous, before the University can be the goal of any 
 and every pupil in a primary school. The States also 
 contribute £45,315 as subsidies to the four Universities. 
 
 Attendance 
 
 In 1906 there were 7,308 State Schools in the Common- 
 wealth. These were under the charge of 14,908 teachers, 
 and had an average daily attendance of 442,440 children. 
 The number enrolled was 609,592. Do these figures 
 indicate success or failure ? It is not easy to reply with 
 certainty, owing to the lack of available figures as to the 
 
 78
 
 TRUANCY 
 
 number of children of school age. ^ But it would seem 
 from a rough calculation that about 40,000 children, or 
 about 16 per cent, of those who ought to be at school, are 
 growing up in ignorance. ^ This is not a large number 
 when the circumstances of Australia are taken into 
 account. 
 
 The Education Departments have to face two great 
 difficulties, namely, a scattered population, and truancy. 
 
 They have met the first by establishing " half-time " 
 schools in remote districts, which a teacher visits on 
 alternate days : by itinerant teachers in less settled 
 districts : by free conveyance of children everywhere on 
 the State railways and on mail coaches. The latter 
 expedient has the additional advantage of allowing small 
 schools to be closed and concentrating the education of 
 a district in an adequately-staffed and well-equipped 
 central school. An equal success has not been achieved 
 in coping with truancy, which is the peculiar difficulty of 
 Australian cities. This is no doubt partly due to the 
 attractiveness of out-door hfe, but, partly also (it must 
 be confessed) to parental neglect. The only remedy for 
 the latter cause is to give the State the power, under 
 
 ^ The school age in the several States is : 
 
 In New South Wales and Victoria over 6 and under 14 
 
 In Western Australia, S. Australia 
 
 and Tasmania . . ,, 7 ,, 13 
 
 In Queensland .. ,,6 ,, 12 
 
 ^ This estimate is arrived at thus : — The children of school 
 age in 1906 would consist chiefly of the 822,041 who were born 
 in the octennial period 1893-1900. Assuming that 20,000 of 
 these children died before 1906, there would be about 800,000 
 children to provide for. As we have seen, 609,592 were at the 
 State schools. Of the balance 124,510 were at private schools. 
 There are no figures as to the number taught at home, but some 
 well-to-do persons in the cities and many in the country, have 
 tutors and governesses so that 30,000 docs not seem an excessive 
 estimate. This would leave about 40,000 children unaccounted 
 for. Mr. Coghlan states (" Australia and New Zealand, 1903-4," 
 p. 872) that 46,000 children were receiving no education in 1901. 
 Since that date the attendance has undoubtedly improved. 
 
 79
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 certain circumstances, to remove a child from the custody 
 of its parents. For many years — except in South Aus- 
 traha, where, by the exertions of Miss Catherine Spence, 
 Austraha's " Grand Old Woman," neglected children 
 became the care of the State in 1887 — Australian Legisla- 
 tures have shrunk from such an interference with parental 
 rights. In 1905 New South Wales passed an Act ^ 
 empowering the State to remove children from the custody 
 of depraved parents, forbidding children of school age 
 to hawk in the street, and making provision for the care 
 and education of all neglected children, except the 
 mentally deficient, who were dealt with in another 
 measure. No other State has as yet followed the 
 example, but in the same year Victoria passed a measure 
 for punishing more severely parents who omitted to send 
 children to school. 
 
 Curricula 
 
 The curricula in all States are practically the same, 
 and have httle which is distinctively Australian. 
 
 Reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, grammar, geo- 
 graphy, history (English and Australian), singing, science, 
 manual training, gymnastics and swimming (where 
 practicable) are everywhere compulsory subjects. Lec- 
 tures, too, are given on the laws of health ; and girls are 
 taught, in addition, needlework, cookery and domestic 
 economy. Fortunately there is no reason to believe that 
 the pupils take this long list seriously. Kindergartens 
 are established for infants in most of the larger centres 
 of population, and agriculture is taught in some country 
 
 1 This measure was prepared in 1903 by the then Attorney- 
 General, with the assistance of Captain Neitenstein, D.S.O., the 
 Inspector of Prisons, and Dr. Mackellar, M.L.C. It was passed 
 twice through the Legislative Council but failed to enlist the 
 sympathy of other members of the Cabinet and was dropped in the 
 Assembly. It was passed as the first measure of the succeeding 
 Parliament by what had been His Majesty's Opposition. 
 
 80
 
 SCHOOLS AND SNOBBERY 
 
 schools. There is also military drill in Cadet Corps, 
 which will become universal, when the measure for 
 compulsory service shall have passed Parliament. Here 
 it is sufficient to remark that both parents and pupils 
 would prefer to see every other subject expunged from 
 the curriculum, than forego the necessary training in this 
 first duty of citizenship. Certain " extra " subjects for 
 which fees are charged are taught in the larger schools, 
 e.g., Latin, French, algebra, trigonometry, shorthand, etc. 
 
 Private Schools 
 
 The large number of pupils who attend private schools 
 is a remarkable feature of the education system and is 
 due to two causes, first, that the Roman Catholics and, to 
 a lesser extent, the Church of England, prefer to send their 
 children to schools which have a religious atmosphere ; 
 and, secondly, that class feeling creates, especially in the 
 cities, a certain prejudice against the Public School. 
 So far as this prejudice rests on anything but snobbishness, 
 it is due to a preference for the discipline of a boarding 
 school or for the greater individual attention which can 
 be given by a private teacher. But it is not easy to 
 understand why there is not just the same general mixing 
 of rich and poor in the Australian Public Schools 
 as in the common schools of the United States. This is 
 one of many puzzling points of difference between the two 
 democracies. 
 
 Secondary Education 
 
 New South Wales has three grades of schools : the 
 ordinary Public Schools ; the " Superior" Schools, where 
 subjects for the Senior and Junior University examination 
 are taught, numbering 1,429 in 1906 ; and five High 
 Schools, of which two are for boys and three for girls. 
 The number of pupils at these five schools was 723 in 
 1906. It is intended to reserve these schools as training 
 
 81 
 
 6— (eiSS)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 schools for teachers, and use about twenty of the larger 
 superior schools to take their place. The Hawkesbury 
 Agricultural College also trains ten teachers yearly. 
 In Victoria and South Australia what are called " Con- 
 tinuation Schools " and " Continuation Classes " have 
 been established to give preliminary training to persons 
 who propose to become teachers. Neither Queensland, 
 Tasmania nor Western Australia have established 
 Secondar}^ Schools, but in Tasmania the University 
 prepares pupils for the Junior Public Examination. 
 
 Technical Education 
 
 If one were to judge only from the number of Technical 
 Colleges, technical education in Australia would be 
 thought extremely good. But there is reason to fear 
 that most of them have aimed at teaching a variety of 
 mechanical arts and neglected the essential groundwork 
 in drawing, chemistry and mathematics, without which 
 technical education is a mere sham. At one college in 
 Sydney, for instance, anyone can get instruction — and 
 a Certificate of Competence — in more than fifty different 
 trades. His course of instruction may last a week, and 
 at the end of it he wiU be able to do, say, simple plumbing, 
 with tools and materials prepared for him in advance. 
 If, however, a Technical College were to attempt to 
 give a thorough technical education it would overlap 
 some of the functions of the University. For facilities 
 have been created of late years in the Universities of both 
 Sydney and Melbourne, for giving both technical and 
 theoretical instruction in engineering, mining, mineralogy, 
 biology, pharmacy and dentistry, in addition to the usual 
 classical, mathematical, scientific, medical and philoso- 
 phical courses. There is also a good deal of overlapping 
 between Technical Schools and Schools of Art, Working 
 Men's Colleges, and Art Classes. Indeed no branch of the 
 educational system stands in more pressing need of reform, 
 
 82
 
 INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONS 
 
 both in respect of the purpose they are intended to fulfil 
 and the methods they employ. What can be done by a 
 Technical School, which teaches one subject thoroughly 
 may be seen at " The School of Mines," which was estab- 
 lished at Ballarat (Victoria) in 1870 " to impart instruction 
 in the various branches of science connected with mining." 
 This school draws students from all the States of Australia, 
 and even from outside the Commonwealth, and its 
 diplomas command responsible positions in every mining 
 district in the world. Queensland gives subsidies to 
 Technical Colleges which are carried on in connection 
 with Schools of Art under the control of Local Councils 
 and Victoria adopts the same practice. South Australia 
 confines its efforts to instruction in mining matters, as 
 do most of the Tasmanian schools. In Hobart there is 
 one institution which almost rivals that of Sydney in the 
 universal character of its instruction. It issues diplomas 
 in twenty-nine different subjects. The Technical School 
 in Western Australia is affiliated with the University of 
 Adelaide and gives serious instruction in applied science. 
 
 The Universities 
 
 The Universities of Sydney and Melbourne completely 
 overshadow the two smaller Universities of Adelaide 
 and Tasmania. Both of them have fifteen professorial 
 chairs, and the lecturers at Sydney number sixty-one 
 and at Melbourne fifty-five. Beside these figures the 
 nine professors and twenty-three lecturers of Adelaide 
 or the three professors and six lecturers of Tasmania 
 make a poor array. Fortunately, the influence of a 
 University is not determined by its size. All the Univer- 
 sities receive subsidies from their respective States, but 
 two owe the greater part of their income and endowment 
 to private benefactions. The Challis bequest to the 
 University of Sydney was £190,000. Another bene- 
 factor, Mr. Peter Russell, gave £100,000. Sir Thomas 
 
 83
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Elder gave a like amount in various sums to the University 
 of Adelaide. Melbourne draws a smaller income from 
 this source than either of its continental sisters, but as 
 a compensation the influence of the University is greater 
 there than in any other State. It is not easy to account 
 for this ; unless the reason be that the affiliated colleges — 
 Trinity (Church of England, 1892), Ormond (Presbyterian, 
 1881), and Queen's (Wesleyan, 1888) have always at- 
 tracted students, while the three colleges of the Sydney 
 University, St. Paul's (Church of England, 1854), 
 St. John's (Roman Catholic, 1857), and St. Andrew's 
 (Presbyterian, 1868) have for some unexplained reason 
 never been popular. Undergraduates who live in colleges 
 develop a stronger corporate feeling than those who are 
 scattered in lodgings through a large city. The value 
 of the Universities to Australia is that they have 
 withstood the utilitarian ideal of education, and insisted 
 on the importance of a ground-work training in what 
 Scotsmen call the Humanities. In rendering this 
 service to the cause of education they have occasionally 
 come into conflict with the Departments of Public 
 Instruction. Better relations have now been estabhshed 
 between these two bodies. In New South Wales the 
 Training College for Teachers is to be affiliated with the 
 University. It is to be hoped that in time to come every 
 teacher will have taken a degree. In Victoria since 1902 
 teachers at the Training College in Melbourne have 
 attended University lectures and taken Diplomas in 
 Pedagogics given by the University. 
 
 Summary 
 
 It is now possible to make an intelhgible survey of the 
 progress of primary education in Australia. 
 
 All the States at first left education to their Churches ; 
 all, at various periods in their history, brought it under 
 State control : Victoria in 1872, Queensland in 1875, 
 
 84
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING 
 
 South Australia in 1878, New South Wales in 1880, 
 Tasmania in 1885, and Western Austraha in 1893. This 
 was not a contagious movement, for each State, except 
 Western Australia, which was undoubtedly influenced by 
 Eastern example, — acted independently ; but it was a 
 gradual evolution in response to the philosophy of the 
 day, which drew a line of demarcation between " secular " 
 and " religious " duties, and had a concept of " the State," 
 as an abstraction different from the living people who 
 compose it. The idea that common action might be 
 directed to the spiritualisation of national life, as well 
 as to enlarging its capacities, was wholly inconsistent 
 with the current jargon. A great opportunity was thus 
 lost, and there is now a danger lest the springs of life 
 should be choked by materialism. 
 
 There has been as much variety in the working of the 
 system as in the dates of its adoption. 
 
 Queensland was the first State to make education free 
 (1870), Victoria followed in 1873, South Australia in 1891, 
 Western Austraha in 1899, New South Wales in 1905, and 
 Tasmania 1 (partially) in 1904. There has been even 
 greater divergence in the provision of rehgious instruction. 
 
 Victoria and Queensland have made their system 
 frankly secular. Rehgious instruction may be given as 
 a " fancy extra " in the children's play-time by strange 
 teachers, but no idea must penetrate the schoolroom 
 that all things are not what they appear. In New South 
 Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia the teachers are 
 required to give a general instruction in religious matters 
 to all children, subject to a conscience clause ; and 
 facilities are given to the clergy to give dogmatic teaching 
 in school hours. In South Australia the teacher may read 
 the Bible without comment for half-an-hour before the 
 statutory hour of opening school. 
 
 ^ Children under seven are educated free. Above that age 
 a small fee may be charged. 
 
 85
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Practice and Ideals 
 
 Far more important than the subjects of instruction 
 are the efficiency and methods of the teacher. All the 
 Australian States entrust the teaching of junior classes 
 to pupil teachers, and all but South Australia have 
 become enslaved by the examination system. 
 
 A young country is exposed to two dangers in matters 
 of the mind. First, lest a system, originally in advance 
 of others, should be retained, after its day is past, from 
 mere self-complacency ; and, secondly, lest a certain 
 retardation of thought, caused by remoteness from 
 intellectual centres, should prolong the hfe of theories 
 which other nations have abandoned. In 1870 the 
 " free, compulsory, and secular " system of Australia was 
 probably the best in the world. ^ But, like all State 
 systems, it had tended to become mechanical. None the 
 less it remained " the best system in the world " to 
 veterans, who recalled what it had replaced, and was 
 accepted as such by the younger generation upon this 
 assurance. 
 
 When the control of Australian education passed 
 to the States, a belief in the value of examinations was 
 the mark of an educational reformer. Long before 1900 
 it was perceived that intellect could not be measured 
 by marks, and there was a return to the ancient view 
 that education meant not the acquisition of facts but 
 the exercise of faculties. These views, however, did not 
 prevail in Australia for many years. Like all Govern- 
 ment departments, the Education Departments resented 
 criticism and were averse to change ; while politicians 
 would not willingly raise any education question, because 
 of the religious controversies which are involved 
 in its discussion. Every year increased the number of 
 
 1 This statement, of course, depends on the assumption 
 which many people would refuse to admit, that instruction 
 without religion deserves to be called Education. 
 
 86
 
 THE PUPIL TEACHER 
 
 teachers and officers who had been trained in the system 
 and knew no other. One practice, however, was too 
 absurd to escape criticism and too illogical to withstand 
 a serious attack. The battle for educational reform 
 centred around the pupil teacher. 
 
 On this point it is difficult to write without appearing 
 to reflect unfairly on a body of devoted men and women, 
 who have given life-service to the cause of education. 
 Yet there is no subject around which the mind should play 
 more freely than the educational system of a young 
 country, and criticism is directed to the system, not to 
 individuals. Moreover, the movement in Victoria and 
 New South Wales against the pupil teacher is a turning- 
 point in the history of Australian education, and therefore 
 cannot be passed over. 
 
 The practice of employing senior pupils to teach junior 
 classes, which was a legacy from the Irish National 
 System, was adopted in the first instance from motives 
 of economy, ^ and maintained, when this plea could be no 
 longer urged, by professional esprit de corps. The practice 
 was defended by pointing to the good teachers which it 
 had produced — as if exceptional men would not show their 
 merit under any system — but no attempt was made to 
 justify it by reason. And indeed it is clear that the 
 youngest children need the most experienced teacher, 
 and require a patience and sympathy which boys and girls 
 of fifteen or sixteen cannot possibly possess. The 
 mischief only takes another form, if the " pupil teachers " 
 are assigned to the higher classes. In either situation 
 they lack the power to bring their minds to play upon the 
 pupil's mind, and follow the progress of his growing 
 intelligence. It is true that in the earlier stages of 
 education a child learns by rote, without an apprehension 
 of the meaning of the rules which he obeys. But, even 
 
 ^ In New South Wales, e.g., Pupil teachers receive : Males. 
 ^40 to /65 ; Females, £^5 to £AS a year. 
 
 87
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 in this elementary form of mental gymnastics, there is 
 large scope for the intelligence of a trained teacher. 
 Directly teaching becomes dull, the words of a teacher 
 make no more impression on a child's brain than the click 
 of a machine. 
 
 The mischief of the system was equally apparent in the 
 Department of Education as in the schools — had anyone 
 wished to perceive it. The practice of the Department 
 was always to discourage the appointment of outsiders 
 to any of its offices. The teachers were drawn from the 
 scholars, and the higher appointments in the Department 
 from the teachers. By this process the Department 
 became a close official hierarchy, all the members of which 
 had passed through the same routine and had been taught 
 on the same system. This tended to create a narrow 
 outlook. Education became a matter of departmental 
 regulation, watched at every turn by departmental 
 officers and administered by departmental teachers, who, 
 if the system had not been altered, would in a few years 
 have had neither enterprise, imagination, nor originality. 
 There was a real risk, which is still present to the majority 
 of the Australian States, lest too elaborate organisation 
 should stifle intelligence, and education come to be 
 estimated by the measurable results of an examination 
 and not by its influence in forming character. By the 
 pupil teacher system, teachers were drilled too quickly into 
 the groove of official routine, and compelled to fix their 
 minds at an age which is peculiarly susceptible to gen- 
 erous impulse, on the sordid cares and narrowing duties 
 of a professional career. Australians are often slow 
 to recognise that the too early acquisition of the " tech- 
 nique " of an art is one of those short cuts to proficiency 
 which proves the longest way round. The Department 
 itself endeavoured to avoid the danger of too early 
 specialisation, by sending pupil teachers after four years 
 to undergo a course in a training college in Sydney. 
 
 88
 
 NATURE STUDY 
 
 This, however, was optional, and most pupil teachers 
 at once passed their examinations and took charge of a 
 school. 
 
 The movement for reform in New South Wales came 
 from the teachers themselves in 1902. In that year 
 three officers of the Department were appointed as Com- 
 missioners to visit Great Britain, Europe, and the United 
 States, and report upon educational methods. They 
 recommended drastic changes, and their Report revived 
 interest in educational matters. The opportunity was 
 taken to re-model the educational system. By an Act 
 passed in 1905 no new pupil teachers are to be appointed. 
 But the chief reform is a new spirit of administration. 
 Examinations are preserved only as a qualifying test, and 
 Inspectors are no longer occupied with classifying schools 
 according to the number of their marks. They have in- 
 stead to help and advise the teacher to develop the intelli- 
 gence of his pupils, and lay more stress on teaching a child 
 to think, than on imparting knowledge. The methods of 
 teaching, too, are changed. The concrete is substituted 
 for the abstract, and the old " object " lesson is replaced 
 by courses of nature study, so that the child may learn to 
 understand the nature and significance of the things he 
 has about him in his daily life. Plainly the elasticity and 
 freedom of this system will make a larger demand upon the 
 teacher than a system of routine, and it is here that the 
 danger lies. 
 
 Fortunately this has been foreseen, and careful provision 
 made for the training of new teachers. These will be 
 taught in future by the University, under special provi- 
 sions, to ensure their training as competent teachers and 
 in a college of their own. A somewhat similar system, 
 though not so complete, had already been adopted in 
 Victoria. In time, it is to be hoped, a University degree 
 will be a requisite to entry to the teaching profession. 
 The young people who now become pupil teachers will be 
 
 89
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 admitted at the age of fifteen upon an examination to a 
 two years' course of study at a high-grade school. On 
 the completion of this course, pupils will be eligible to 
 enter for an examination for admission to the training 
 college. These reforms will take some years to mature, 
 but they proceed on right lines. Indeed, perhaps the 
 highest tribute to the old system is that it created the 
 men who are constructing the new one. 
 
 There still remains the question, are the Australians an 
 educated people ? Indignation at the doubt may pos- 
 sibly prevent an answer. Tried by the standard of the 
 average man they are ; that is to say, they read news- 
 papers, periodicals, good novels, and a percentage of 
 serious books with more avidity even than Americans. 
 But in the sense that the Greeks were an educated 
 race, that is to say, that they have a national standard 
 of culture and an instinctive dislike of what is false or 
 ugly, they are no more educated than the English. 
 They have a small number of educated men, though the 
 crowd is both articulate and powerful. Enquire of 
 painters, sculptors, writers, scientists, musicians, and even 
 skilled artisans, and they will all give the same answer, 
 that while the average standard in Australia is higher 
 than elsewhere, there is little appreciation of the very best. 
 The writer may be permitted to complete his criticism 
 by quoting from a speech which he made at the Conference 
 of School Teachers at Sydney in 190L " I believe you 
 will agree that our educational system is too exclusively 
 concerned with testing knowledge and falls short in the 
 development of the imagination. We may not be able 
 to teach the technique of any art in our public schools, 
 but teachers whose own minds have been quickened by 
 culture, can do much to waken the sense of beauty in their 
 pupils, and to save Australia from becoming a Democracy 
 without Art — which is Disorder. Certainly the future of 
 the country is in your hands. Governments have 
 
 90
 
 A HIGH IDEAL 
 
 endeavoured loyally to fling wide the portals of the temple 
 and the multitude has entered. They will next make 
 higher education, not the perquisite and prerogative of 
 the few, but the cheap possession of the many. Never- 
 theless Australia will never gather the best fruit of this 
 policy, unless the teachers form a high ideal of their own 
 calling. Money can never remunerate you, nor ought 
 money to be your object. Yours is the work of a brother- 
 hood united by the same ideals, and as the coming of the 
 Friars quickened England in the thirteenth century to 
 a new life, so may your devotion to the work of teaching 
 make our people less disinclined to thought, less dependent 
 on sensations, and able to find these satisfactions within 
 themselves. What a man is will then be of equal 
 importance with what he knows or does." 
 
 This quotation may end a critical chapter. One is 
 permitted to express views once on any question, SU Se 
 nvK ivSexerai. It had been easier to praise than to 
 criticise, for there is much indeed to praise in Austrahan 
 education. But within the narrow compass of this work 
 there is not space to do both, and it is well sometimes to 
 depart from the ruts. 
 
 91
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PUBLIC LANDS : A WASTED HERITAGE 
 
 Early Land Systems — The Wakefield Theory of Colonisation 
 and the Agrarian War — The Orders in Council of 1847 — The 
 Squatters and the People — -The Wakefield Experiment in 
 South Australia— An Immigration Policy. 
 
 Australia is no exception to the general rule that the 
 history of a young country turns on the administration 
 of her public lands. For a hundred and twenty-one years, 
 — from the date of her origin until now, — the rulers of 
 Australia have been passing land laws. All have been 
 directed to the same object, — the prevention of large 
 estates and the settlement of a yeoman population, 
 — and yet the accretion of holdings continues, and absen- 
 teeism becomes more frequent as monopoly extends. 
 It speaks little for the capacity of the human race to 
 profit by experience, that the agrarian troubles, which 
 afflict Australia to-day, should be the same as those which 
 vexed the souls of the Gracchi more than twenty centuries 
 ago. Yet, great as the failure has been, it is unfair to put 
 the whole blame upon unsuccessful legislators. Their 
 mistakes and wrongdoings have been numerous, but they 
 were often fighting against economic forces which are 
 stronger than laws. To discuss their efforts in detail 
 would be beyond this volume's scope, but some reference 
 must be made to earlier legislation, before the existing 
 system can be understood. 
 
 Early Land Systems 
 
 There was a " land question " within the first year of 
 the settlement at Sydney Cove. Governor Phillip's 
 Instructions (April 25, 1787,) authorised the grant of 
 
 92
 
 THE FIRST SETTLERS 
 
 land to convicts who had served their sentence 
 (" emancipists,") but were silent on the subject of free 
 settlers. 
 
 In this, the Instructions reflected the divided opinion 
 of the time upon the true meaning of the new colony. 
 Governor Phillip himself had never doubted but that 
 " the country will prove the most valuable acquisition 
 Great Britain ever made." Like Sir Joseph Banks — 
 the protector of the colony's infancy — Lord Auckland, and 
 Lord Sydney, he had a vision of a new Empire to replace 
 that lost by the American revolt. On the other hand, 
 according to common opinion, the new settlement was 
 only the substitution of Botany Bay for America as a 
 convict prison. Lord Granville had inclined to the 
 vulgar view. Land might be given to emancipists ; 
 but seamen, mariners and other free settlers could 
 wait until Phillip had reported on the capabilities 
 of the country, and suggested conditions of tenure. 
 The Governor reported promptly in favour of free 
 settlers. 
 
 The "Additional Instructions" (August 29, 1789) 
 accordingly directed Phillip to issue a maximum grant 
 of 150 acres to any non-commissioned officer or private 
 of the Marine Corps, who would remain in the colony at 
 the end of his three years' service. The Governor was 
 also empowered to issue similar grants " to such other 
 persons as may be disposed to become settlers ; " but 
 the value of this concession to Phillip's insistence was 
 destroyed by a prohibition to extend to the free settlers 
 the same assistance, in sustenance and labour, which 
 the State gave to the emancipists. Phillip was to 
 " encourage free settlers," but he was " not to subject 
 the public to expense." He might make his bricks, but 
 he was to use no straw ! Phillip disobeyed the pro- 
 hibition. He fed all settlers alike from the public store 
 and assigned convict servants to them without distinction, 
 
 93
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 a course which was approved by Dundas, Lord Grenville's 
 successor. ^ 
 
 Even this did not solve the earhest Austrahan land 
 question. Both sets of Instructions had been silent 
 about commissioned officers ; and these now asked for 
 land as a reward for their services. Philhp, however, 
 held strictly to the view that the title to land should 
 depend on actual occupation, and on this point he was 
 again supported by Dundas. Grants of land accordingly 
 were jiever to be given as rewards for services, but with 
 the sole object of inducing settlement. According to 
 this rule the claims of the Marine officers must be refused ; 
 because, as the War Office had already ascertained, 
 none of them intended to remain in New South Wales. 
 The case was different with the officers of the New South 
 Wales Regiment, which Major Grose had been commis- 
 sioned to raise in order to replace the Marines. Many 
 of these had accepted service with the intention of making 
 new homes and in the belief that they would be given 
 land. Captain Mc Arthur was one of them. Phillip 
 accordingly applied to the Secretary of State for Instruc- 
 tions. Mr, Secretary Dundas' reply reached Sydney a 
 fortnight after Philhp had left for England, and was 
 dealt with by Major Grose, — the Commandant, who had 
 become Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 ^ The same Secretary of State, Lord GrenviLe, recommended 
 Phillip to remove the settlement from Sydney to Norfolk Island. 
 He took no notice of the Governor's repeated warnings against 
 an influx of convicts, but went out of his way to instruct the 
 Governor upon a matter about which he could not possibly have 
 any knowledge. The selection of Sydney was due to Phillip's 
 sea-training, and that he stood by the site is one of the many 
 gains Australia owes to her sailor Governors. 
 
 Mr. Britton, editor of " The History of New South Wales from 
 the Records " (vol. ii, p. 82), states that the voluminous corre- 
 spondence of Lord Grenville contains no reference to New South 
 Wales. Lord Brougham, who in 1803 published a treatise on 
 " The Colonial Policy of European Powers," is also silent about 
 this young settlement, which had then been formed sixteen years. 
 
 94
 
 <\N 
 
 1 
 
 !■ 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 If]
 
 THE TRAFFIC IN LAND 
 
 The blame for what followed lies on the Governor and 
 his advisers, and not upon the Secretary of State. 
 Dundas, following Phillip's advice, permitted grants to 
 the officers of the New South Wales Corps, but recom- 
 mended that these should be made only for the purposes 
 of settlement. Grose obeyed the letter of these instruc- 
 tions ; he made the grants and was indifferent to the 
 purpose. Dundas' despatch lays down with wonderful 
 prevision the object at which all later administrators of 
 the public lands have fruitlessly aimed, and his language 
 is as apt to the circumstances of to-day as of his own time. 
 " The grants," he writes, " must be made not with a view 
 to a temporary but an established settlement thereon ; 
 that is, comprehending such portions of land and in such 
 situations as would be suitable for a bond fide settler, 
 should it even come into the hands of another person." * 
 In these words Dundas was but echoing Phillip, who had 
 warned him against the mischiefs which must follow, if 
 land became a merchantable commodity. " Experience," 
 he writes on October 4, 1792, " has pointed out many 
 inconveniences attending the receiving of men as settlers, 
 who only look to the convenience of the present moment. 
 With some the sole object of becoming settlers .... is 
 to raise as much money as will pay their passage to Eng- 
 land and then assign the lands to those who take them 
 with the same view." Phillip would have stopped this 
 traffic in land. Grose complained of it, but would 
 not change a state of things so profitable to his brother 
 officers. Mc Arthur had already got together 1,250 
 acres, when the maximum of any grant was 150 acres ! 
 Surely Phillip's breakdown in health was one of the 
 shrewdest blows that Fate ever struck Australia. It is one 
 
 ^ The superior wisdom of the Home Government is illustrated 
 by a clause in Phillip's first instructions forbidding any grant 
 " to extend along the banks of any river." The disregard of this 
 said rule was one of the chief irritants in the social war between 
 squatter and selector. 
 
 95
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of many sad wanderings in the land of " might-have-been," 
 to trace the different destiny of Austraha, had Philhp 
 remained Governor but six months longer and adminis- 
 tered Dundas' Despatch. Under Grose his policy was 
 thrown aside, and the idea of duty permanently divorced 
 from the o\Miership of land. Land became the chief 
 source of private wealth, and although other circum- 
 stances aided in destroying Phillip's high ideals, all, in the 
 last analysis, were connected with the tenure of land. 
 Grose was probably unconscious of the mischief he was 
 doing. His policy was more political than agrarian, and 
 his chief aim the subordination of the civil power to the 
 military. To this end he encouraged every proceeding 
 which gave wealth and influence to his regimental officers ; 
 nothing gave more of both than the ownership of land. 
 Grose, accordingly, although he could not give grants 
 beyond the limits set by his instructions, facilitated the 
 occupation of lands belonging to his officers, by an 
 extra-legal assignment to each officer of ten convicts, 
 victualled and clothed from the public stores. But the 
 most profitable favour which Grose granted to his 
 brother officers was the permission to trade on 
 their own account^ and the right to draw from the 
 Government stores as much spirits as they pleased at 
 cost price. The influence of these " commissioned 
 hucksters " on the fortunes of the colony and incidentally 
 upon the aggregation of estates is one of the most curious 
 episodes in Australian history. 
 
 The use of spirits had always been a menace to the 
 welfare of the early settlement. Phillip wrote in almost 
 his last despatch " the permission of spirits among the 
 civil and military may be necessary, but it will certainly 
 be a great evil," and had he remained longer he would 
 
 ^ Phillip had allowed the Corps to freight a vessel from Africa 
 on their own account, when famine threatened. Grose allowed 
 this exception to become a rule. 
 
 96
 
 THE RUM CURRENCY 
 
 probably have retained the whole supply in his own 
 hands. " The passion for liquor," wrote Collins, the 
 Judge-Advocate, " operated like a mania. . . . Men 
 would do anything to obtain it . . . and while spirits 
 were to be had those who did extra labour refused to be 
 paid in money." A fortnight after Phillip had left, 
 Grose purchased the cargo of an American ship and served 
 rum as a daily ration. Convicts and emancipists alike 
 became hke tigers who had tasted blood, and were insati- 
 able for more. Grose conferred the monopoly of the 
 supply upon his brother officers, who alone were allowed 
 either to import spirit or buy it at cost price from the 
 Government stores. Even distillation was forbidden, lest 
 it should trench upon these privileges. As a salve to the 
 public conscience, which even in those days could not 
 be entirely ignored, the officers were forbidden to sell 
 rum to convicts. The prohibition was futile. A Calcutta 
 merchant named Campbell, who had a wharf upon the 
 northern side of Sydney Cove, sold the liquor on the 
 officers' account, and the prohibition of sales still left the 
 officers free to use the spirit in payment of wages or as 
 purchase-money on the sale of grants. Rum, in fact, 
 became the only currency ; not only because it gratified 
 appetites, but because it was the only tangible and 
 immediate medium of exchange. There was no metal 
 money in the colony. The £1,000 of silver sent in 1792, 
 the few Spanish dollars brought by traders, and a 
 triffing copper coinage, were used for foreign purchases 
 and had by this time almost disappeared. Officers' 
 notes signed by the Paymaster, and receipts by the 
 storekeeper for goods sent into store, though of in- 
 trinsic value, lent themselves easily to forgery or fraud. 
 Rum for the time supplied a real commercial want 
 and only the officers could fill it. They used their 
 position as masters of the labour market, without 
 scruple, to develop their own grants and acquire others 
 
 97 
 
 7— (»I33)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 by purchase. The foundation of many large fortunes 
 was laid by this monopoly of what are now suburban 
 lands ; ^ and to this also must be attributed the over- 
 crowding in alleys and slums which still exist upon the 
 outskirts of the old town limits. The later history of 
 land sales within city boundaries, though it shows the 
 same incompetent neglect of public interests, lies apart 
 from the main stream of Austrahan politics, and had no 
 effect upon agrarian legislation. Governor Macquarie 
 (1811) first disposed of the town lots by leasing them for 
 terms of fourteen and twenty-one years. In 1829 grants 
 of the fee were issued subject to a quit-rent, and leasing 
 was abolished. Quit rents were then released (1846, 
 1849 and 1851) and absolute ownership became the rule. 
 The loss to the State must by this time amount to many 
 million pounds ; for the increase in the value of city 
 lands, thanks to the expenditure of public money, has 
 been almost beyond calculation. Indeed, the owner of 
 an allotment in 1851 might have gone to prison for thirty 
 years and emerged a millionaire, to be held up to the 
 young by some Australian Smiles as an instance of " Self 
 Help " and " Thrift." 
 
 But it is with the administration of country lands that 
 the history of Australia is bound up, and in this respect 
 Philhp's sound principles were longer adhered to. He had 
 shown in England the wool which had been grown on the 
 natural pasture-land of the country, and the grant was 
 promised him that he might further extend the work of 
 sheep-breeding. Until McArthur returned from England 
 in 1805, with permission to pick 5,000 acres to be held in 
 perpetuity, and also to employ thirty convict shepherds, 
 the value of country lands for sheep growing was unsus- 
 pected. Governor King, in 1804, foreseeing the possibilities 
 of this industry, endeavoured to secure a share for all 
 
 ^ Allotments within the old town boundary were not sold 
 until 1811. 
 
 98
 
 EARLY LAND SYSTEMS 
 
 citizens by establishing a common of pasturage in every 
 district, " where a number of settlements had been fixed 
 in small allotments," to be held " as common lands 
 are held and used in that portion of Great Britain, called 
 England." This device, though it proved unsuited to 
 the large and migratory industry of wool-growing, was 
 revived, perhaps unconsciously, in the South Australian 
 Village Settlements in 1893. ^ The pastoral industry, 
 indeed, rapidly overflowed the old limits of settlement, 
 after Blaxland opened up the Bathurst plains and Hume 
 the Goulburn and Shoalhaven districts. King's regula- 
 tion was a dead letter at the time, though its effects 
 have survived in the commons which still exist in such old 
 settlements as Campbelltown and Parramatta. 
 
 Governor Macquarie (1810-21) met the new situation 
 by a scheme of licenses, which authorised graziers to drive 
 their flocks to and fro, from pasture to pasture, — a system 
 suggested by Sir Joseph Banks, " upon the analogy," 
 says Mr. Rogers, ^ " of what is still done in the Sierra 
 Morena and Abruzzi under survivals of the old Roman 
 Law." Macquarie also gave free grants of land with 
 great liberality. Whereas the whole of the grants by 
 his predecessors only totalled 177,500 acres, he granted 
 400,000 acres. ^ His system of licenses had the 
 
 ^ See p. 131. 2 Historical Geography, p. 115. 
 
 ^ Even Governor Macquarie, though he put an end to the 
 career of the military rum merchant, countenanced a deal in 
 spirits in connection with the building of the hospital in Macquarie 
 Street, which is now used as Parliament House. In consideration 
 of finishing the building within three-and-a-half years the con- 
 tractors were allowed to import up to 45,000 gallons of spirits, 
 upon which their estimated profit was 27s. a gallon. Macquarie 
 erected 250 public buildings and built numerous roads and 
 bridges. He was the first to adopt a bold public works policy 
 to develop the country. He aroused strong feeling in the colony 
 by his almost extravagant attentions to convicts who had served 
 their sentences, which were much resented by the " pure merinos," 
 as the free settlers were called. " Official Year Book of New 
 South Wales," p. 27. 
 
 99
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 unexpected consequence of rendering itself unnecessary. 
 The expanses of unoccupied land were so great that 
 there was no need to move the flocks, and owners came 
 to settle themselves by long occupation in defined areas. 
 Personal licenses to graze thus became unsuited to the 
 new conditions and were abolished in 1827. Meantime 
 the seeds of a future struggle were being sown. Some 
 far-seeing men perceived the coming conflict, and would 
 have set aside defined blocks for agricultural settle- 
 ment, and given leases of the pastoral lands subject 
 to the rights of the Crown. The first step was to classify 
 the lands. The territory was divided into nineteen coun- 
 ties, covering 34,501 square miles and forming the " Old 
 Settled Districts." Their inland boundary was 
 defined by a surveyed line known as " The Limit of 
 Settlement," beyond which no colonist might lawfully 
 pass. Had suitable legislation followed, the history 
 of Australia might have been very different. As it 
 was, nothing was done to alleviate the just alarm of 
 the pastoral licensees, who already foresaw in imagina- 
 tion the resumption of their runs by the State for 
 agricultural purposes or on the pretext of non-fulfilment 
 of conditions, such as the obligation to cultivate 120 
 acres, and maintain thirty convicts for each 2,000 
 acres, which, suitable enough to the mixed farming of 
 the county of Cumberland or Camden, had become 
 ludicrously inappropriate to grazing areas. The pastoral- 
 ists accordingly demanded the right to purchase their 
 holdings. 
 
 Permission was conceded in 1825. Sales were by 
 private tender at an upset price of 5s. per acre, and of a 
 maximum area of 5,000 acres. Purchases were supple- 
 mented by free grants such as had long been made to 
 favoured individuals. Five years later (1831) free grants 
 ceased and auction sales replaced sales by tender. The 
 upset price was 5s., raised in 1839, under Wakefieldian 
 
 100
 
 THE EXPLORERS 
 
 influence to 12s. and in 1842 to £\. Unsold portions 
 might be taken at the upset price. The stimulus to 
 alienation was very great. 
 
 Still the problem was unsolved. It presented a new 
 face. The very strengthening of the position of the 
 pastoralists in the Old Settled Districts by these facilities 
 for purchase, limited the opportunities of new-comers, 
 who were driven, willy-nilly, across the Line of 
 Settlement. There was no reluctance to embark on this 
 adventurous passage. True, the pioneers went in 
 advance of law, but it was for the law to foUow them, 
 not for them to wait. The profits were great and the 
 fascination of exploring even greater. The year 1831 
 inaugurated what is, properly speaking, the first 
 " squatters' " period in Australian history. Mr. George 
 Ranken^ thus depicts the situation: "The population 
 was expanding, and the sheep and cattle were increasing 
 still faster. . . . Impelled by a common impulse the 
 pioneers headed for the boundary. . . Shortly they were 
 pouring across the frontier in scores, north, south and 
 west. In the course of a couple of years hundreds of 
 adventurous pioneers had crossed the boundary. The 
 Governor could not have prevented this, because all 
 the pohce and military in Australia could not have 
 guarded an open frontier 500 miles in length." These 
 trespassers, — " a Bedouin Commonwealth in the inland 
 grass country " — soon acquired cohesion and a name. 
 They called themselves " squatters," after the outlaws 
 who infested the inland frontiers of America. Governor 
 Bourke took alarm, and passed an Ordinance in 1833 
 " to prevent the unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands 
 being considered as giving a title thereto. Still the move- 
 ment was not stayed, and in 1837 the situation was 
 legalised by admitting the right to graze on payment of 
 
 ^ " Our Wasted Heritage," by George Ranken and quoted by 
 Epps, " Land Systems of Australia," p. 15. 
 
 101
 
 r 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 a license fee and the appointment of a body of police to 
 maintain the law in the outside districts. This measure 
 closes the first epoch of agrarian legislation, as it closes 
 the first epoch of Australian History. 
 
 For Australia was now emerging from her tutelage. 
 Her great needs then, as to-day, were capital and popula- 
 tion ; and both were on the way. Bigge's Report (1823) 
 had opened the eyes of English capitalists to the richness 
 of the pastoral industry, and capitalists brought free 
 labour into the colony, either at their own cost or aided 
 by bounties. The great Land Companies ^ ("Australian 
 Agricultural Company" (1824): "Van Diemen's Land 
 Company " (1825) : " South Australian Company " 
 (1837) led the way ; and half the proceeds of the land 
 sales were earmarked in England for the same object. 
 Australia was also being helped by a change of sentiment 
 in England. Under the influence of the economists and 
 various Poor Law reports (1817, 1822, 1824) colonisation 
 became popular. It obviously diminished over-popula- 
 tion, ergo, it was a cure for poverty. Finally, came 
 a movement against transportation, which was con- 
 demned root and branch by a Parliamentary Committee 
 
 ^ The A. A. and Van Diemen's Land Companies were formed 
 by Private Acts of Parliament to acquire, the one a million acres 
 round Newcastle and on the Liverpool plains, the other half-a- 
 million acres in the north-west corner of Tasmania. Their 
 prospectuses are a curious medley of philanthropy and business. 
 M'Arthur, who pulled the strings, knew his public. The declared 
 objects were (among others) to import " Germans, Swiss and 
 French in order to cultivate vines," Quakers and Moravians in 
 order to inculcate industrious and moral habits, and " females " 
 for purposes which were not particularised. In the final draft 
 of the A. A. Company's prospectus " useful settlers " were 
 substituted for " Quakers and Moravians," and the Company 
 proposed to " assist the immigration of useful male and female 
 settlers." The tenure of both Companies was Phillip's old 
 system of conditions and quit-rent. The former, as every- 
 one knows, were not enforced, the latter were soon released. 
 (See Rogers' "Historical Geography," p. 111.) 
 
 102
 
 A WISE DISCRETION 
 
 in 1838. 1 It was, however, the land sales which proved 
 the most effective instrument in the promotion of 
 immigration. 
 
 The waste lands of a colony have always been regarded 
 in English law as part of the Crown demesne, which could 
 only be dealt with by the local authorities by express 
 permission. Thus, although the Legislative Council of 
 New South Wales had been given control of taxation 
 in 1828, it had no voice in the disposition of the proceeds 
 of Crown Lands. These, in accordance with the pre- 
 vailing theory, were used by the Crown in trust for the 
 colony, for internal improvements and for promoting 
 immigration. Free passages were given out of this 
 fund and bounties paid to employers who imported 
 labour. There was risk that this would lead to the 
 unloading of paupers upon Australia by hard-pressed 
 Boards of Guardians in England, and that the recipients of 
 bounties would be careless of the quality of their imports. 
 Australia, however, was well served by the English 
 authorities, who exercised a wise discretion in the selection 
 of immigrants. 
 
 The increase of immigration under these combined 
 influences was striking and immediate. During the six 
 years, 1821-7, there had only been 600 free immigrants. 
 From 1828-31 there were 1,500 ; and for the five years, 
 1832-7, 3,400. In 1838, when immigration to Canada was 
 checked by the rebellion, 14,000 free immigrants entered 
 Australia. Then came 15,000 in the two years, 1839-40, 
 and 32,600 in 1841. 
 
 The pace was quick but not, at first, excessive. 
 
 ^ The assignment of convict servants ceased in 1838. There 
 was no transportation to New South Wales after 1840. Attempts 
 were subsequently made to found settlements for prisoners 
 who were pardoned on condition of perpetual exile. The best 
 known of these attempts was the disastrous expedition to Port 
 Essington, which was promoted by Mr. Gladstone during his 
 Secretaryship for the Colonies. 
 
 103
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Prosperity, however, begat over-confidence, and the colony 
 3^ielded to a frenzy of gambhng, which was stimulated 
 by the loans of English investors and by the ever-growing 
 balances of the Government account. Land being the 
 only outlet for investment, land values rose beyond all 
 reasonable discount of future requirements, until the 
 inevitable crash in the forties put an end to both land-sales 
 and immigration. 
 
 It is outside the scope of this volume to describe the 
 incidents of this commercial crisis, which are vividly 
 portrayed in Mr, Tregarther's volume on Austraha in 
 " The Story of the Nations " series. It is enough to note 
 that this era of inflation marked an increase in the number 
 of absentee owners, and introduced the new variety, 
 who live in England either on their profits as owners 
 or their interest as mortgagees. It also exposed the 
 futility of the Wakefield scheme of colonisation, 
 which must now be shortly explained, because it came 
 upon the scene during this period as a new influence 
 upon land legislation. 
 
 The Wakefield Theory of Colonisation and 
 THE Agrarian War 
 
 During the second quarter of the nineteenth century 
 England was in the grip of the pedant. The backwash 
 of the French Revolution had brought theorists into 
 favour and, for the first time since the days of the 
 Long Parliament, the policy of England was directed by 
 absolute ideas, which ignored both history and facts. 
 The special object of veneration was the pseudo-science of 
 Political Economy, which taught the gospel of regenera- 
 tion by greed. While England was in this temper 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whose name deserves to 
 be remembered by aU Imperialists with gratitude, — for 
 by his prompting Lord Durham dispatched the 
 expedition which secured New Zealand, — propounded an 
 
 104
 
 COLONISATION 
 
 elaborate theory of colonisation, which, although it bore 
 no relation to any proved facts, was accepted by other 
 theorists as a scientific truth. It is difficult now to under- 
 stand the enthusiasm which this theory created. Its 
 central point was that lands should be sold at a high 
 price and the proceeds used to bring out labourers. It 
 was said that this was the intention of the auction sales of 
 1831, which excited alarm among Australian pastoralists 
 and led them to believe that the Act of 1831 was but the 
 prelude to a future interference with their industry. 
 Indeed, one of the chief causes of the dispersion of pastor- 
 alists after 1829 beyond the " Limit of Settlement " 
 was a fear lest Wakefield's ideal of a comparatively 
 closely populated country, consisting of the three classes 
 of proprietors, yeomen and peasants, was about to be 
 established in Australia. ^ There was, indeed some 
 danger. Governor Bourke endeavoured to damp the 
 illusions of the Colonial Ofhce by a douche of cold fact, 
 and wrote to Lord Glenelg that already the fear of the 
 Wakefield system had driven settlers into the back 
 country. He thus explained why the theory would 
 never work in Australia, for "it is only by a free 
 range over the wide expanse of native herbage which 
 the colony affords that the production of wool can 
 be upheld. The colonist must otherwise restrain the 
 increase in his flocks or endeavour to raise artificial 
 food." We shall have occasion to see the Wakefield 
 theory once again exposed by facts in the case of South 
 Australia. 
 
 The twenty years which followed the great crisis of 
 1841-4 were the hey-day of the pastoral industry, and 
 saw a struggle for supremacy between the squatter and 
 the Crown, which left many traces in subsequent legisla- 
 tion. The struggle began with the crisis. The squatters 
 
 ^ A " Colonisation Society " was formed in London in 1831 
 to further the adoption of Wakefield's views. 
 
 105
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 held that it was caused by raising the minimum price 
 of land to twenty shillings. Sir George Gipps, one of 
 the few Governors of real distinction, who held office 
 before responsible government, ^ took the other view, 
 that land sales had been unduly stimulated by loans. ^ 
 " The colonists' cure was to repeal the Act of 1842 ; 
 Gipps' cure was to pay debts." ^ Lord Stanley, at the 
 Colonial Office, backed Gipps ; but the " political 
 economists " had got the ear of the permanent officials. 
 In 1842 an Act of the Imperial Parliament prohibited 
 free grants, confirmed the practice of auction sales, and 
 raised the minimum price to twenty shillings an acre. 
 The proceeds were to be used in opening up new blocks 
 of land for auction sale. This was the Wakefield 
 doctrine in excelsis. But once more the situation 
 refused to be controlled by a theory. Land-sales ceased 
 from the scarcity of ready money and the unwillingness 
 of English lenders, and the Act was repealed in 1864 
 almost before it became operative. 
 
 In the meantime, to the vexation of the Colonial 
 Office, the expansion of the pastoral industry continued 
 and proved profitable. It needed, as Gipps saw, not 
 prevention, but control. In 1843 he called for a Report 
 from the Commissioners of Lands as to the best method 
 of retaining for the Crown its title to the waste lands 
 without injury to the occupiers. The terms of this 
 reference expose the difficulties of the situation. The 
 Commissioners were to " consider maturely and report 
 
 1 " King and Gipps were the only financiers whom New South 
 Wales had seen . . . Gipps was unsympathetic towards repre- 
 sentative institutions, and those brilliant exponents of the new 
 democracy — Lowe, Wentworth and Lang — never grasped the 
 economic, agrarian or financial problems of the day with half his 
 clearness, so he was hated more than ever, because he was right 
 and they were wrong in matters requiring mind." Rogers, 
 p. 72-8. 
 
 * Rogers, p. 119. 
 
 106
 
 A STORMY PERIOD 
 
 as to assimilating licenses to leases, the quantity of land 
 which would suffice for 500 head of cattle or 5,000 sheep, 
 and the limitation of runs, for each of which a separate 
 license was to be taken, the encouragement of cultivation 
 by giving an occupier a kind of right to purchase a portion 
 of his run or otherwise, or to obtain secure possession 
 for a term of years after occupation as tenant-at-will for 
 a fixed term — say for five or seven years — and the pre- 
 vention of irregular transfers or sales which are occurring 
 frequently without the sanction or the knowledge of the 
 Government." On receipt of this Report, Gipps issued 
 a Regulation which required every pastoral licensee to 
 purchase 320 acres of his holding at twenty shillings an 
 acre, and gave in return eight years' undisturbed possession. 
 Each successive purchase of 320 acres was to act as a 
 renewal of an eight years' lease. The Reform was wisely 
 conceived, but aroused democratic .clamour, because 
 it had been promulgated without the consent of the 
 Legislative Council. The squatters formed a " Pastoral 
 Association " and expressed their views ^ by a Committee 
 of the Council (1844). This Committee modestly 
 demanded that the squatters should hold their lands 
 for ever at a nominal license fee and that quit-rents 
 should be abolished ! Gipps soon after left the colony 
 (July, 1846). He had turned the deficits into sur- 
 pluses by compelling payment of license fees and quit- 
 rents ; he had seen the exports exceed the imports as 
 the foreign loans were repaid ; and he knew that land- 
 sales would recover. Under his rule Australia was 
 precipitated into manhood. " Australian extension had 
 raised," Mr. Rogers acutely remarks, " three political 
 storms, — a storm over convicts, a land storm, and a trade 
 storm, — which Australians alone could allay, and which 
 forced Australians to think for themselves either as a 
 nation or as nations." 
 
 1 " Historical Geography," p. 120. 
 
 107
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The Orders in Council of 1847 
 
 The squatters now changed the scene of the war to 
 London, where a Liberal Secretary of State (Earl Grey) 
 had succeeded Lord Stanley and there won for themselves 
 the rights which Gipps had tried in vain to conserve for 
 the public. A new Act of Parliament allowed leases to be 
 granted, not exceeding fourteen years, under regulations 
 to be afterwards drafted. This was, indeed, a setting of the 
 cats to watch the cream, for regulations, if a Governor 
 be pliable, could be administered with elasticity. They 
 were comprised in Orders in Council, which reached the 
 colony in 1847, and are the foundation-stone upon which 
 every Australian Land Act has since been built. 
 
 They divided the lands of the colony into three divi- 
 sions, — the settled, intermediate and unsettled, — in which 
 squatters could obtain leases for one, eight, or fourteen 
 years respectively, at a rental determined in the two 
 former divisions by the carrying capacity of the land and 
 in the intermediate and unsettled districts by public 
 tender. A pre-emptive right was given to purchase 160 
 acres in the settled and 640 acres in the intermediate 
 district at £1 an acre, and it was provided that during 
 the continuance of any lease of lands occupied as a run, 
 no one but the lessee could purchase any part of it. 
 Sales by auction were continued. By this means a 
 squatter got a fixed tenure for a long term and the 
 right to purchase any part of his holding at any time 
 at twenty shillings an acre, while at the expiration of 
 his term he had a pre-emptive right over the whole or 
 any part of it. 
 
 These Orders in Council mark the supremacy of the 
 squatting interest. The system of tendering led imme- 
 diately to grave abuses. There being no limit to the 
 number of tenders which might be put in, bona fide 
 squatters were exposed to blackmail by bogus competitions, 
 
 108
 
 THE SOCIAL WAR 
 
 and to grave risks from the dishonesty of the officials who 
 were charged with examining and reporting upon tenders. 
 
 The purchase clauses of the Orders of Council gave 
 an easy means of putting together huge estates. Not 
 requiring any purchase to be in one block, they allowed 
 a squatter to "pick out the eyes of his run," and by 
 dotting it with freeholds at water-courses, on river 
 frontages or at other strategic positions, to render the 
 surrounding land useless to anybody but himself. " There 
 was then placed," says Mr. Epps^ "in the hands of a 
 comparatively few men a power fraught with incalculable 
 danger to generations yet unborn. Amongst the evils 
 brought to the boom at this time, and which have 
 since grown to the full development of maturity, was an 
 absentee landlordism ; the locking up of land in the 
 hands of a few which might have carried a population 
 a hundredfold larger than its existing occupiers, and 
 which would have doubled its productive power ; an 
 unnecessary antagonism between agriculturists and pastor- 
 alists : and, grossest of all, a highly immoral tendency 
 which has since had a most pernicious effect both on 
 the private and public life of the people." 
 
 The truth of these words will be fully illustrated in 
 the recital of the " Social War " which soon broke out 
 between the squatters and the people. 
 
 The Squatters and the People 
 
 The squatting party did not use its surprising victory 
 with moderation. The Orders in Council confirmed 
 the sheep-lords in possession of their principalities ; yet 
 they were not content. They had obtained the three 
 " F's " of the Memorial of the Pastoral Association, — 
 fair (i.e. pepper-corn) rent, free sales, and fixity of tenure, 
 — but they wanted the fee simple. They had every 
 reason to expect a satisfaction of this desire. The 
 
 1 " The Land System of Australia," p. 23. 
 
 109
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Orders gave a right, during the period of their lease, to 
 
 purchase, practically as they pleased, any portion of 
 
 their huge holdings, and a pre-emptive right to buy the 
 
 unsold portions when their term expired. But long 
 
 before their leases had run out, the antagonism of the 
 
 public to the squatting class had become as strong and 
 
 unreasonable as had been the feeling in its favour during 
 
 the contest with Gipps. All classes, — sons of settlers, 
 
 immigrants, disappointed gold-seekers, — wanted land, 
 
 and the best land was occupied by sheep. After the 
 
 grant of responsible government (1856) the battle-ground 
 
 inevitably shifted to the hustings. " Free Selection 
 
 before Survey " was an obvious political " cry," and not 
 
 so meaningless as most. After one defeat Mr, John 
 
 Robertson obtained a clear mandate from the electors 
 
 to make a trial of this means of " getting back the people's 
 
 birthright." The panacea was conditional purchase, 
 
 on credit, without competition, of limited areas of land. 
 
 But the land, which was to be thus selected by the yeomen 
 
 class, was simultaneously, but by another Act (the 
 
 Crown Lands Occupation Act, 23 Vic, No. 2), assigned 
 
 under lease to another class, — the pastoralists. The 
 
 leases were for one year in the settled, and five years 
 
 in the intermediate and unsettled districts ; but as every 
 
 leasehold was open to selection, the tenure in reality was 
 
 weekly, — that is to say, from Thursday to Thursday, — 
 
 Thursday being the day when Crown Lands Agents 
 
 received applications from selectors. " The policy," say 
 
 Messrs. Morris and Ranken in a Report of an Inquiry 
 
 into the State of the Public Lands and the Operation of 
 
 the Land Laws made by them as Royal Commissioners 
 
 in 1883,1 "offered for sale to one class of occupants the 
 
 1 Leg. Council papers. C. 66-a, 1883. This report contains 
 full information on the war which was waged for thirty years 
 between the selector and the pastoralist. It is one of the most 
 instructive and interesting documents ever published by an 
 Australian Government. 
 
 no
 
 DESPERATE REMEDIES 
 
 same land which was simultaneously assigned under 
 
 lease to another class. There was no partition of the soil 
 
 to provide for both classes. There was abundant space 
 
 to satisfy all reasonable wants then, as there is yet (1883) ; 
 
 but this self-evident method of meeting the requirement 
 
 was not adopted. Thus four separate forms of tenure 
 
 were instituted by law, each authorising the occupation 
 
 of the same ground. The avowed purpose of the Act 
 
 was to substitute a large number of yeomen farmers 
 
 for the squatter, and this was to be effected by each 
 
 individual selector appropriating such portion of the 
 
 squatting leasehold as he might choose. . . Thus, a 
 
 squattage, though a holding recognised by law, could be 
 
 obliterated at any time if a sufficient number of selectors 
 
 wanted the land.''^ The remedy was desperate, but so 
 
 was the disease. A Return obtained by Gipps in 1845 
 
 showed that four squatters then occupied between them 
 
 7,750,460 acres, and that the fifty-six largest holders 
 
 occupied 12,110 square miles, and the fifty-six smallest 
 
 677 square miles, in what is now the Central Division of 
 
 New South Wales. The tendency to concentration 
 
 had increased and not diminished since that date, and 
 
 protective purchases of picked spots had rendered huge 
 
 areas useless to any but the run holder. 
 
 1 The main provisions of the Act (Crown Lands Alienation 
 Act, 23 Vic, No. 1), continue to this day in the Land Legislation 
 of every State. It provided, that any person might select from 
 40 to 320 acres (raised to 640 acres in 1875) of any Crown lands 
 {i.e. lands not alienated in fee as town or suburban or reserved 
 lands) at a fixed price of £1 an acre, by paying a deposit, which 
 at first was 5s. per acre, but has been reduced by later Acts to Is., 
 and paying the balance by annual instalments which later legisla- 
 tion allowed to be indefinitely delayed if interest were paid. 
 The selector had to reside a fixed number of years, at first three, 
 now five, and effect improvements to the value of £1 per acre. 
 All owners of selected or purchased lands were allowed " pre- 
 leases," i.e., a pre-emptive right to lease adjoining land to the 
 extent of three times their freehold. Later Acts contain many 
 complicated provisions to enable a selector to get grazing rights 
 over a sufficient area to maintain himself and family. 
 
 in
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 In the settled districts, near the coast, the Free Selec- 
 tion Act has justified the expectations of its sponsor. 
 There the squatter had already a secured freehold and 
 only his adjacent grazing right was open to selection. 
 This, though useful to him, was not necessary ; and he 
 was thus not under the stringent influences which 
 urged the lessee outside this district to a desperate 
 defence against selection. " The latter had to face the 
 law of 1861, with his whole station liable to be confiscated, 
 excepting such pre-emptive portions as he might have 
 acquired under the Orders in Council. The two classes 
 of properties were thus under totally different conditions. 
 The owner of the first, safe in his grant, when he tried 
 to get more land, acted solely from the instinct of acquisi- 
 tion, and went to no extreme or imprudent length ; the 
 last acted under the not ill-founded conviction that he 
 ' had to fight for his Ufe.' " i The " Settled Districts " 
 too, were largely a " poor man's country," where good 
 land and proximity to markets made small farming 
 profitable. The selector seldom wanted to acquire his 
 whole square mile and squatters did not need unwieldy 
 areas. 
 
 The case was very different in the intermediate dis- 
 tricts. There all the important interests of the colony 
 were arrayed against settlement. The lands under 
 pastoral occupation were no longer primitive wastes. 
 Many of them had been held continuously for years, 
 under licenses, before the Orders in Council granted 
 fourteen years' leases ; and a steady progress had been 
 made in improving their carrying capacity by means of 
 costly improvements, effected with the money of 
 the banks or mortgage companies, which now saw 
 their security about to be destroyed. The Act of 
 1861 could not obliterate the financial and business 
 interests concerned in squattages. " Squatting as a 
 
 ^ Morris and Ranken's Report, p. 7. 
 
 112
 
 "A RIFLE AND A HARNESS CASK'' 
 
 productive enterprise," say Messrs. Morris and Ranken, 
 " had been as it were cemented with the commerce 
 and banking of the colony. In reahty, so far from 
 the squatter being a mere nomad or trespasser — 
 as pohticians sometimes urged — and his work a mere 
 abuse of the pubUc estate, he was the chief producer 
 in the community, and was carrying on the principal 
 industry of the colony in the way that the law 
 permitted. . . . These stations had a substantial value 
 in a national sense. No more destructive scheme could 
 be devised for their injury as securities, than the 
 law that gave every man the right to appropriate 
 where he chose a portion of the squatting lands ; and 
 there was no consequence more certain than that the 
 conservators of the national earnings, the banks, would 
 in their own interests, aid the lessees in defence against 
 selection." Money was poured out like water to secure 
 the runs. Auction purchase was the favourite weapon. 
 In one case, mentioned by Morris and Ranken, the pur- 
 chase of 27,000 acres, in forty-acre blocks, scattered 
 broadcast over the run, effectually secured an area of 
 258,000 acres. " It is impossible," remarked the Com- 
 missioners, " not to admire the skill displayed in letting 
 these blocks fall exactly where they were wanted. No 
 general ever posted his troops in more impregnable 
 positions." Did a selector once gain a footing he could 
 be harassed by actions of trespass, if he could not be so 
 effectively hemmed in by purchases that he would be 
 compelled to sell to the squatter upon any terms. Some 
 selectors, however, made a business of blackmail and 
 selected in order to be bought out, living meantime upon 
 the squatter's sheep. A " rifle and a harness cask," 
 said one injudicious member of the House of Assembly, 
 " is all the capital a free selector needs." Others selected 
 for the purpose of establishing sly grog shops ; or watched 
 until the lessees began to excavate tanks and then, 
 
 113 
 
 8— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 before £40 had been expended, ^ selected the ground 
 behind their back. But the number of these robbers 
 was small in comparison with the great number of honest 
 and hard-working men, who needed land, and were 
 frustrated by chicanery and fraud. Such grievances are 
 not forgotten even in a second generation, and still inspire 
 the bitter feelings against the squatter class. 
 
 One of the weapons used most freely in this social war 
 was " dummying," i.e., the selection of land by persons 
 friendly to the run, who would sell out to the squatter 
 when he had completed the conditions. The law made 
 this a criminal offence, whereas the bush code considered 
 it an act of duty towards a friend. The selector must make 
 oath on application, that he is selecting only in his own 
 interest and not for another. The oath is made without 
 compunction by men who pay the deposit with money 
 advanced by the station, knowing that the improve- 
 ments will be paid for from the same source, and that they 
 themselves will sell out for a lump sum directly the 
 law permits. Everyone in the district knows of these 
 proceedings, but condones the perjury. Dummying is 
 almost universal, but only one person has been punished 
 for the " misdemeanour," and that upon his own con- 
 fession. This is probably the worst effect of the Act of 
 1861. Besides dividing the rural population into two 
 hostile camps it has, in the words of the Royal Com- 
 mission already mentioned, " tarnished the personal 
 virtues of veracity and honourable dealing by the daily 
 habit of intrigue, by the practice of evading the law, and 
 by declarations in defiance of fact universally made. It 
 is in evidence that self-interest has created a laxity of 
 conscience in all matters connected with the Land Laws, 
 
 ' Land improved tO;^40 a section was exempted from selection. 
 Bogus improvements certified to by corrupt Inspectors was a 
 common method of securing a run. In one instance a house on 
 wheels did duty as " the improvements " on many sections. 
 
 114
 
 THE CONFLICT CONTINUED 
 
 and that the stain attaches to men of all classes and all 
 degrees." ^ 
 
 Nor was the Act a success in setthng population on the 
 land, except as has been pointed out, in the Settled 
 District. Of the 62,085 applications for residential 
 selections, which had been made under the Act of 1861 
 up to 1883, not more than 20,000 represented real settle- 
 ment. The balance had been transferred to the squatter 
 and helped to swell the eighty freehold estates of 40,000 
 to 300,000 acres which were put together between 1861- 
 1883. It will be seen that later legislation has not 
 produced a more satisfactory result. 
 
 The Act of 1884 (amended 1889) made a new division of 
 New South Wales into Eastern, Central, and Western 
 Divisions, and gave squatters in the former two divisions, 
 renewable leases of half their runs. This leasehold area was 
 closed to selection during the currency of the lease ; the 
 other half — " resumed area " — remained open. This was 
 but a patch on the old garment, though it covered half 
 of the worn-out place, for the conflict between squatter 
 and selector continued as before, over an area dimin- 
 ished by one-half. The administration of the lands was 
 decentralised by these Acts and entrusted to Local 
 Boards, presided over by a nominee of the Crown and 
 consisting of two other members, one representing the 
 squatting and the other the selector's interest. This 
 local machinery has worked well. Still the aim of all 
 this legislation was not achieved, and the large estates 
 increased quicker than settlement. From 1895 onwards 
 various tenures have been introduced, too complex for 
 description in this volume, but all directed to securing 
 a " living area " for the small settler and by strict pro- 
 visions as to residence and improvements preventing 
 alienation. There is a marked tendency to favour the 
 leasing of Crown Lands in small areas for long periods. 
 
 1 Report, p. 29. 
 
 115
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The most striking tenure is the Homestead Selection. 
 Lands are measured into blocks, each large enough for 
 one family. They must be taken as measured up to 1,280 
 acres. Additional holdings may be acquired, not neces- 
 sarily adjoining the original holding, sufficient in the 
 opinion of the Land Board for the maintenance of the 
 applicant's family in average seasons and conditions. 
 The tenure is freehold subject to a perpetual residence 
 and perpetual rent, assessed every ten years on the 
 unimproved capital value of the land. Transfer is not 
 permitted during the first five years, and each successive 
 transferee is required to live on the land while he holds it. 
 Tenant-right is given in improvements, and the holding 
 is protected against seizure under any legal process. 
 Holders of conditional purchases can convert their 
 holdings into Homestead Selections. 
 
 " Improvement Leases " also deserve notice. They 
 are granted for twenty-eight years of an area not ex- 
 ceeding 20,480 acres of "inferior land" at an annual 
 rent. During the last year of the lease the lessee may 
 convert into a Homestead Selection of 640 acres for a 
 dwelling-house. 
 
 The Western Division is administered separately by 
 a Board of three Commissioners, and is held on forty-two 
 year leases reappraisable every ten years and not less 
 than 2s. 6d. per square mile or more than 7d. a sheep on 
 the determined carrying capacity of the run. Auction 
 sales have been limited to 200,000 acres per annum. 
 
 The land legislation of Victoria, Queensland, and 
 Tasmania has followed the same lines as that of New 
 South Wales, and practically the same form of conditional 
 occupation with deferred payments is in force. The feuds 
 between selector and squatter have not, however, been so 
 bitter in any of these three States, — in Victoria, because 
 the best land had been already acquired by purchase 
 before free selection was introduced (compare the settled 
 
 116
 
 LAND SYSTEMS 
 
 districts of New South Wales, sup. p. 112) : in Queens- 
 land the area is sufhciently large for both, and their 
 interests do not clash in the pastoral country : in Tas- 
 mania, because the only land not purchased was suitable 
 for small holdings. In all these States, however, the best 
 lands are classified or surveyed before selection is allowed 
 or else limits are set beyond which selection is inadmis- 
 sible. The mischief of indiscriminate selection before 
 survey has thus been avoided. The land systems of 
 South Australia and Western Australia demand separate 
 notice. 
 
 The Wakefield Experiment ^ in South Australia 
 
 South Australia was established to carry into effect the 
 theories of colonisation which were so persistently 
 expounded by Gibbon Wakefield, of whom mention 
 has already been made. In order that the colony 
 should be self-supporting from the start, the Commis- 
 sioners entrusted with its foundation were to sell £35,000 
 worth of land and raise a guarantee fund of £20,000. 
 The land was to be sold in sections of eighty acres at 
 £1 an acre, with a town allotment added, making the 
 total cost £81. The Act authorising the venture was 
 passed on August 14th, 1834, but by December 2, 1835, 
 not more than £26,000 worth of land had been sold, 
 and, the price was reduced to twelve shillings an acre. 
 One of the Commissioners had by that date negotiated a 
 loan of £30,000 at ten per cent. The Commissioners, 
 though enthusiasts, were men of business. Two or three of 
 them, including Mr. George Fife Angas, conceived the idea 
 of financing the scheme by means of a " South Australian 
 Company." They made up the balance of the purchase- 
 money, buying from £9,000 to £10,000 worth of land at 
 
 ^ The materials for the history of the foundation of South 
 AustraUa are to be found in Mr. John Blacket's " Early History 
 of South Australia," which has been freely drawn upon. 
 
 117
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 twelve shillings an acre and sold this to the Company 
 for a pound. The required money having been thus 
 obtained, the pioneers left England, after a farewell 
 meeting in Exeter Hall to found " the Holy City " ^ in 
 the southern hemisphere. They reached land on July 27, 
 1836 ; but, as Colonel Light, who was to fix the site of 
 the capital and lay it out, did not arrive for a month later 
 or come to a decision hurriedly, the Wakefield doctrines 
 could not be put into force immediately. The theorist had 
 declared that, if the price of land was fixed sufficiently 
 high and the proceeds spent on immigration, there would 
 be a constant supply of hired labour for the cultivation of 
 the land. The colonists found that large areas of land were 
 being bought for speculative purposes ; and that the pro- 
 ceeds of the sales, instead of being employed on repro- 
 ductive public works, were spent in bringing out new 
 mouths to feed. The immigrants were not capitalists ; and 
 men and women without means could do better on their 
 own allotments than by working for others. Later, in 1840, 
 when the British Government advanced the Commis- 
 sioners £200,000, the situation became more puzzling — 
 to the theorist. It then became more profitable to work 
 for wages than to cultivate the soil ; and men, who should 
 have been growing wheat, were employed in building 
 public offtces ! " Immigrants keep pouring in," com- 
 plains " a gentleman from Adelaide," in the London 
 Times, and yet the increase of population seemed but 
 to increase the rate of wages. In truth, the colony was 
 living on its borrowed capital. The inevitable result 
 followed. The Governor's drafts on England were dis- 
 honoured and but for the fortunate discovery of copper 
 (1842) and other minerals the colony must have been 
 abandoned. The Wakefield system had proved a 
 mere delusion. If new settlers have capital they can 
 employ it most profitably on the land. In Australia the 
 ^ Adelaide is so called by reason of the number of its churches. 
 
 U8
 
 
 I >-)
 
 FAILURE OF THE EXPERIMENT 
 
 profitable uses of land required then, and in many parts 
 requires still, a large area. But, if the upset price of 
 land be fixed unduly high, either the capital of the 
 employer is diminished or his means of giving employ- 
 ment are straitened. If, on the other hand, the immi- 
 grants, as is usual, are people of little means, what becomes 
 of the nicely-graded society of landlords, yeomen, and 
 labourers, which the Wakefield scheme was guaranteed 
 to reproduce in a young country ? In South Australia 
 the people hung about the city and refused to cultivate 
 their lands, in spite of the utmost efforts at compulsion 
 of Governor Gawler (October, 1838 — May, 1841). Even 
 persons who were willing to go upon their lands were 
 delayed by the difficulties of survey. ^ 
 
 The lands at this time were disposed of by sealed 
 tender at a fixed minimum of 12s. per section, which 
 was soon raised to 20s. By 1843, 323,000 acres had 
 been sold by this method. When the colony had come 
 through the crisis, thanks to the discovery of copper, 
 the lands came under Earl Grey's Waste Lands Act of 
 1846, which brought such disaster to New South Wales. 
 The Governor was of a different stamp to Sir Charles 
 Fitzroy, who had presided in New South Wales over the 
 administration of the same Act, and his advisers were 
 not squatters. The colony was divided into districts 
 
 1 " It was innocently believed that these pioneers would at 
 once settle down into an old country groove, with distinct lines 
 of demarcation between the various professions and occupations ; 
 but the site of the capital city having been decided upon, the 
 people, instead of cultivating the available land, formed them- 
 selves into a town community and speculated in town lots 
 which rose rapidly in value. Few seemed to think of the future. 
 .... When the inevitable smash came, two years later, most 
 of those who had arrived in the colony with considerable means 
 were penniless, everything having been spent in the cost of 
 living." (Epps' " Land Systems of Australia," p. 118.) 
 
 There were not wanting critics to expose the fallacy of Wake- 
 field's proposal. The Times, for instance, from the first, attacked 
 the scheme with ridicule and argument. 
 
 119
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 as the Act required. The method of disposing of land 
 by tender was not allowed in the settled districts, which 
 already enjoyed Local Government. Outside of " the 
 hundreds," lands were leased for fourteen years at 
 rates varying from 10s. to ;^1 per square mile. Thus 
 far the administration of the Act was not different from 
 that in New South Wales. But Sir Henry Young held 
 firmly to Gipps' doctrine that the rights of the Crown in 
 the waste lands ought to be preserved. Accordingly 
 every lease in South Australia reserved " the right of 
 the Governor at any time to sell, reserve or otherwise 
 dispose of the whole or any part of the land so depastured " ; 
 no pre-emptive right was given to the lessee ; he could 
 claim neither renewal or compensation for improvements ; 
 and as the march of population brought any portion of 
 a lease within " a hundred " it automatically ceased 
 to be part of the run. The lessees were content to rely 
 on the good faith of the Crown not to exercise these 
 powers arbitrarily to their detriment. One of the first 
 Acts of the first elected Parliament (1856) was to provide 
 for the offering of land in 640-acre blocks, which could 
 not be put up to auction until after survey. The practice 
 hitherto had been to dispose of lands only by sale for 
 cash, either at auction or by tender. This, while advan- 
 tageous to the revenue, was felt to be a hindrance to small 
 settlers, and in 1869 Strangway's Act introduced sales 
 on four years' credit (extended to five in 1870), coupled 
 with a condition of residence. Purchase before survey 
 was not allowed. The Land Act of 1872 allowed selection 
 inside of an imaginary line, which was supposed to sepa- 
 rate the country of good from the country of insufficient 
 rainfall. After 1874 this limit was removed. Still no 
 selection was permitted until after survey. Yet even these 
 precautions did not stop the aggregation of large estates. 
 The absence of restriction on the number of credit pur- 
 chases which one man might make, and the allowance of 
 
 120
 
 STEADY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 such purchases in areas unsuitable for agriculture gave 
 the monied men, with the aid of the banks, the opportu- 
 nity they needed. At the same time bad seasons brought 
 failure to those whom no warning would deter from 
 credit purchases in lands which lay beyond the limit of 
 reliable rainfall. Parliament granted relief to these 
 unfortunates from time to time by remitting their pay- 
 ments, and Ministry after Ministry attempted to devise 
 a tenure which would be suitable to the hard conditions. ^ 
 The laws were consolidated in 1903. The system differs 
 from that of the eastern States in not recognising con- 
 ditional purchase. The favourite tenures are leasehold, 
 either perpetual, with periodic reappraisements, or with 
 a right to purchase. Auction sales are practically 
 confined to town and suburban lands. That the land 
 laws have worked with less friction in South Australia 
 than elsewhere is partly due to the character of the soil, 
 which, while in parts suitable for wheat-growing and 
 involving no expense in making ready for the plough, is, 
 in the greater part of the State, owing to the irregular 
 rainfall, more suited to pastoral occupation. Credit, 
 however, must not be refused to those political leaders 
 who had the good sense to avoid the mistakes of other 
 colonies and the courage to protect the public interest. 
 
 An Immigration Policy 
 
 Western Australia was " the horrible example " of the 
 Wakefield doctrinaires, who, eight years later, founded 
 South Australia, warned by these failures. Founded 
 hurriedly in 1829, in order to anticipate the French, the 
 land system of the new colony was crude and unintel- 
 ligent. Free grants of immense areas were given to the 
 founders on the understanding that they would introduce 
 
 ^ Detailed information on the early disposal of Crown Lands 
 is contained in a Report by the then Surveyor-General, Mr. G. 
 W. Goyder, which was published as Parliamentary Paper, No. 60, 
 of 1890. The writer has made free use of Mr. Epps' Summary. 
 
 121
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 immigrants at their own expense. Captain Stirling, the 
 first administrator, was given 100,000 acres, and Mr. 
 Peel, the leading spirit in the enterprise, 250,000 acres, 
 in return for which he undertook to bring out 400 settlers. 
 Others were treated with equal liberality. The whole 
 area granted was a million-and-a-half acres, and as every 
 grant was marked off at the Colonial Office from the 
 boundary of the proposed site of the capital city, the only 
 land available for new comers lay outside the boundaries 
 of an irregular parallelogram, at a great distance from the 
 city and the port. Even when they were thus planted 
 in the wilderness, settlers were so scattered that they 
 lost one another, and immigrants brought out to work 
 could not find their employers. Still hope made 
 promises. Grants of land were offered freely in 
 London to intending settlers at the rate of forty 
 acres for every £3 of capital, and 200 for every labourer 
 introduced into the colony. By 1830 nearly 1,800 
 immigrants had landed. " They camped in sight of the 
 shipping and remained there ; for they could do nothing 
 else. The farming implements lay on the beach, and the 
 famihes, who had come to form the society of the place, 
 attracted by the fictions of the pamphleteers, found that 
 they were turned adrift without the necessaries of life 
 on the edge of a wilderness. There was neither live- 
 stock nor any other means of turning the soil to imme- 
 diate use. Scenes of destitution followed. Young ladies 
 spent their time catching fish as they saw the black 
 " gins " do, to save their parents and themselves from 
 starvation. Numbers left in despair. The others 
 forged slowly ahead. At every turn, however, progress 
 was delayed by the free grants. In 1832 the Colonial 
 Office adopted the New South Wales method of selling 
 land by auction at the upset price of five shillings an 
 acre. " The immediate result," reported a Parlia- 
 mentary Committee in 1838, " was a sudden and almost 
 
 122
 
 VARYING METHODS 
 
 total stop to emigration. From that time up to the 
 present (1838) few people have arrived except those that 
 have come to join their friends or have been in some way 
 connected with the place." i Up to 1838 only 20,663 
 acres had been sold by auction. Lord Glenelg tried to 
 tempt labourers by free grants to all who would pay their 
 own passage, and a Western Australian Company formed 
 (1838) on the model of the South Australian, sold 100 
 acre lots at £1 per acre. When the purchasers reached 
 the colony they found the market price was 2s. 6d. — 
 so eager were the first grantees to sell! Nothing, how- 
 ever, convinced the theorists, and, under Wakefieldian 
 influence, the upset price was raised to 12s. in 1839 and 
 to 20s. in 1840. Naturally this put a stop to all sales 
 of land except by private owners. After the lands had 
 been divided into towns, suburban and country (1843) 
 they became subject to Lord Grey's Waste Lands Act of 
 1846. The merit of this measure was its elasticity. It 
 could be perverted, as in New South Wales, to the profit 
 of one class, but it could also, as in South Australia, 
 be used to protect the public. Everything depended 
 on the Regulations. In 1849 Lord Grey took the 
 wise step of referring these to a Committee of leading 
 men in the colony before they were promulgated. There 
 was a division of opinion. All, however, agreed in favour 
 of " tillage leases " and a division of the colony into 
 agricultural and pastoral districts. The suggestions were 
 accepted and the country divided into A lands and B lands. 
 The latter were open to lease for pastoral purposes for 
 a term of eight years at a rental of £5 per 1,000 acres and 
 10s. per 1,000 for every additional area of that size. 
 The A lands were leased in amounts not exceeding 320 
 acres at Is. an acre per annum for eight years, and subject 
 to conditions as to cultivation. The B lands were leased 
 for pasture purposes in larger areas. The tillage leases 
 1 Quoted by Epps' " Land System of Australia," p. 105. 
 
 123
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 were for many years a notable feature in the land system 
 of Western Australia. The details of this measure were 
 modified, without affecting its principles, in 1864, and 
 special inducements were offered to pastoralists to stock 
 the northern portion of the colony. In 1898, eight years 
 after the colony had been granted responsible government, 
 it adopted the principle still in force, of free selection before 
 survey, in pursuance of its policy of offering settlers greater 
 facilities than those which were offered in any other state. 
 Thus land can be acquired by conditional purchase, 
 either for agriculture or grazing, either with or without 
 residence, and either on credit or for cash. Homestead 
 farms of 160 acres are granted free to any person, who 
 does not already own 100 acres in the colony. This 
 provision is proving a great attraction to immigrants 
 both from England and the eastern States. A lease for 
 pastoral purposes does not put the land beyond the reach 
 of an intending settler, but, as in New South Wales 
 before 1884, all such leases are open to selection. The 
 mischief of this creation of conflicting interests is much 
 mitigated by a provision which gives the squatter, — as 
 against the selector but not as against the Crown, — a 
 tenant right in his improvements, the value of which, 
 as ascertained by arbitration, must be paid by the 
 selector before entry. 
 
 The dispersion of population by these wise measures, 
 and the social and industrial changes brought about by 
 the discovery of the goldfields, have considerably dimin- 
 ished the influence of the descendants of the original 
 landowners. But, until the introduction of responsible 
 government, they were supreme, and "five families" 
 controlled the State. Land gives a greater political 
 influence in a growing country even than in England. 
 The original free grants were an obstacle to progress, 
 which Western Australia did not overcome for sixty 
 years. 
 
 124
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " BACK TO THE LAND " 
 
 The Cry for Land — Experiments in Settlement — Assistance to 
 Settlers — How the Land is Held To-day. 
 
 The Cry for Land 
 
 The common objective of all Australian land systems was, 
 as has been said, Settlement. In the late 'eighties, and 
 more deliberately throughout the 'nineties, a new 
 impulse stirred all Parliaments. The land was to be the 
 great instrument of social amelioration ; and Mother 
 Earth the refuge from all social tyranny. " Back to the 
 land " was a cry in every mean street ; and city dwellers, 
 indifferent to the secular struggle between squatter and 
 selector, demanded land for themselves on suitable 
 conditions. The public lands were not to be dealt with 
 commercially and for a profit, but as the birthright of 
 all, so that every man might have a chance to earn 
 his living and none be unemployed. And if Parliaments 
 responded too slowly to these demands, there was 
 always Lane's " New Australia " in Paraguay, ^ where 
 Socialism was to make a new heaven. The new move- 
 ment was not a selfish one. It was a time of dreams and 
 enthusiasms. The Labour Movement, which has given 
 Australia its distinctive place among the nations, was 
 born in those days of illusions and still owes its force to 
 the faith of those who believed their dreams to be true, 
 and the self-sacrifice with which they tried to make 
 them so. 
 
 Experiments in Settlement 
 The agrarian-social legislation, of which we must now 
 
 ^ In 1893 William Lane left Queensland with some 300 
 followers to found a Socialistic Community in Paraguay. The 
 movement had been incubating since 1889. 
 
 125
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 speak, synchronised in every state with the collapse of 
 credit which obtained between 1890 and 1893. 
 
 The pace throughout the 'eighties had been too quick, 
 and railways and other public works had been constructed 
 out of the proceeds of land sales and loans, beyond the 
 requirements even of the influx of assisted immigrants. 
 The land laws also played a part, by compelling the 
 financial institutions, for the reasons which have been 
 already mentioned, to make large advances to squatters 
 for the protection of their securities. To meet this 
 demand for cash they took money on deposit from English 
 and Australian investors. These being for short terms 
 and the advances being necessary for long periods, a crisis 
 was inevitable, whenever the depositors might demand 
 their cash. For the time, however, the discovery of new 
 mines {e.g., Broken Hill and Mount Morgan), the conquest 
 by the pastoral industry of the illimitable west, and the 
 general increase in production during a series of good 
 seasons, justified confidence. Australia had again 
 become popular ; and foreign capital filled its channels of 
 investment. All might have gone well if the people could 
 have resisted the temptation to speculate in land. Profits, 
 however, seemed so certain — from the rise in value, which 
 was inevitable if population had continued to increase at 
 the same rate — that this was not to be expected of human 
 nature. Unhappily the banks fostered, instead of 
 discouraging, this form of gambling. At first they 
 financed companies, which, calling themselves " Building 
 Societies," bought city and suburban land in blocks and 
 sold it in allotments on credit. The profits, on paper, 
 were enormous, and at last the banks advanced money 
 directly to their customers to be used in the same way. 
 A warning came from Adelaide in 1887 but was ignored 
 by the Melbourne speculators. Then the building socie- 
 ties went down (1891) and in 1893 seven banks suspended 
 payment in Victoria, two in New South Wales, and three 
 
 126
 
 RESULT OF THE LABOUR CRISIS 
 
 in Queensland. The future had been so freely discounted 
 that Melbourne did not for a dozen years grow into the 
 buildings which were erected in these years of " boom." 
 
 With the financial crisis came a labour crisis. The 
 public works policy of the preceding decade had raised 
 the wage-earning class to the zenith of their prosperity. 
 The inevitable retrenchment brought them to the " nadir 
 of their discontent." ^ A general strike of seamen in 
 1890 and another of shearers in 1891 were defeated after 
 a long and bitter struggle. The workmen, beaten in the 
 use of this weapon, sought victory by political action, and 
 the Labour Party suddenly became a power in every state. 
 
 Its influence was at once felt in agrarian legislation, 
 and Socialist experiments in land-holding date from this 
 period. 
 
 The first step was made, on individualistic lines, by 
 South Australia in 1888, in the passage, at the suggestion 
 of Mr. Cotton, of an Act to leave Crown Lands with the 
 right of purchase, in blocks not exceeding 20 acres, to 
 " men who gained their livelihood by their own hands." 
 The idea of these " Workmen's Blocks " was to provide 
 artisans with an alternative means of livelihood and give 
 them an opportunity of making homes for themselves in 
 their spare hours. The experiment has achieved consider- 
 able success. In six years 1,544 of these blocks had been 
 leased, representing an area of 24,731 acres and returning 
 a rental of £2,208, or nearly Is. lOd. per acre. There 
 has, of course, been some " dummying," but the majority 
 of the block-holders are bond-fide occupiers. 
 
 When the crisis occurred in the other States the day for 
 individualistic measures had gone by and therefore the 
 South Australian example was not followed until a full 
 trial had been given to Socialist remedies. Western 
 Austraha (1898), Victoria (1900), and New South Wales 
 (1902) have now all passed similar enactments. The 
 
 1 Rogers, p. 169. 
 
 127
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 measure has not yet succeeded in Western Australia 
 and New South Wales as it has in Victoria, where 
 population is more concentrated and good land adjoins 
 the towns. Three areas there have been set apart for 
 Workmen's Blocks since 1900. That at Brunswick, a 
 suburb of Melbourne, has abundantly justified the scheme. 
 Fifty-six holders have been settled on 91 acres ; none are 
 in arrears, and the value of their improvements exceeds 
 the cost of the land. Other settlements further from the 
 capital (Warnambool and Leongatha) have not been so 
 successful. The Leongatha settlement was only kept open 
 for five months (April to Sept., 1903). It is now used 
 as a place of relief for casual destitutes, who are allowed 
 to earn a few days' livelihood by light field work. No 
 one may remain after he has earned £1. In this way 
 the colony has been of service to the deserving destitute, 
 and a deterrent to the professional " unemployed." The 
 Closer Settlement Acts (1904, 1906) also make provision 
 for establishing Workmen's Blocks on portions of resumed 
 estates. 
 
 It has been observed that the other States did not 
 follow the example set by South Australia until the Labour 
 movement had spent its first force. Until that time their 
 remedial measures were drawn on Socialist lines. Yet, 
 even during this period, the " Socialism " of the Austra- 
 lian Labour Party, as manifested in its agrarian legislation, 
 was different in principle and practice from the Socialism 
 of Europe. It was a Socialism more of instinct than of 
 reason. " Mateship " was its dominant idea, not 
 spoliation ; and the belief was strong that the " New 
 Australia," from which self-interest should be exorcised, 
 need not be sought so far as Paraguay. 
 
 In one and the same year Queensland, New 
 South Wales, Victoria, and South Austraha — Tas- 
 mania lay outside of the industrial crisis — sanctioned 
 sales or leases of land to " village communities." 
 
 128
 
 LABOUR SETTLEMENTS 
 
 "co-operative communities," "homestead associations," 
 and " labour settlements." Their object was expressed, 
 perhaps a little crudely, by the Minister for Lands for New 
 South Wales, as being, " to allow people of, say one 
 religious persuasion or one nationality, or any other 
 particular fad, to go together, frame their own social 
 laws, and have their own community." ^ 
 
 Expression was given to this desire in New South Wales 
 by the establishment of " Labour Settlements." These 
 communities were to consist of selected persons, who were 
 to merge all their individual rights in the common welfare. 
 Although each settler had his own allotment and received 
 a maxim.um advance of £25 from the State to enable 
 him to work it, his profits were to be pooled and he 
 received no more than one man's share of the total profits 
 made by the community. The distribution of the profits 
 was regulated by a Board of Trustees, who chose the 
 settlers, prescribed the work which each one was to do, 
 and generally made regulations in the common interest. 
 Every member of the community was jointly liable to 
 the Government for the repayment of all the capital 
 advanced after the lapse of four years by yearly 
 instalments. 
 
 On June 30, 1906, only two of these settlements had 
 survived : one at Bega in the Illawarra district, the other 
 at Wilberforce in the county of Cumberland. At Bega 
 thirty-one settlers occupied an area of 1,360 acres and 
 supported 171 dependents and labourers. A sum of 
 £2,421 had been advanced by the State, and the value of 
 the improvements exclusive of crops was £2,296. At 
 Wilberforce eleven members occupied 409 acres and 
 supported forty-one dependents. The State had advanced 
 £2,495 and the improvements exclusive of crops were 
 £2,360. In both settlements the communistic regulations 
 
 ^ This speech did not escape Mr. J. D. Rogers. " Historical 
 Geography," p. 198. 
 
 129 
 
 9— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 had been relaxed ; and, except that there was a joint 
 liabihty for the sums advanced by the State, every settler 
 worked independently and for his own profit. 
 
 Victoria in the same year (1893) provided for three 
 kinds of rural settlement : " homestead associations," 
 " labour colonies," and " village communities." The 
 " homestead association " was a modification of the 
 Wakefield idea of concentrated settlement. Blocks of 
 land not exceeding 2,000 acres were subdivided into 
 allotments of fifty acres and set apart to be let on improve- 
 ment leases, at a nominal rent, to associations of not less 
 than six persons, who might wish to settle near each other. 
 The number of persons to be located on each block could 
 not be less than one to every 50 acres of its area. Except 
 for this restraint upon the choice of his neighbours, the 
 settler was in the same position as any other landed 
 proprietor. The scheme proved a failure and the part 
 of the Act allowing Homestead Associations was repealed 
 in 1904. 
 
 " Village Settlements " were also framed upon an indi- 
 vidualist basis. Indeed they amounted to nothing more 
 than the cutting up of suitable land into small holdings, 
 at first of 20 acres each, and increased in 1901 to an area 
 which, with the original holding, should not exceed £200 
 in value. This tenure is the country form of the suburban 
 Workmen's Blocks. It has been a great success in 
 Victoria, where it has settled 1,752 holders on a total 
 area of 54,404 acres, giving an average of 30 acres for each 
 holding. The Closer Settlement Acts of 1904 and 1906 
 have effected a large increase in the number of small 
 holdings, for which Victoria is specially adapted in 
 consequence of the proximity of its good land to the 
 markets of the sea-board. As might be guessed from the 
 individualist character of these two measures, the Labour 
 Party was at that time weaker in Victoria than in any 
 other State. Only one of the new forms of rural 
 
 130
 
 CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 settlement passed in 1893 had a socialist basis. This was 
 the Labour Colonies Act which was framed upon the 
 New South Wales model and proved no more successful. 
 South Australia, under the impulse of the prevailing 
 public sentiment, devised a more ambitious scheme of 
 co-operative association. Areas of land suitable for 
 orchards or farms, or capable of being irrigated, were set 
 apart in thirteen districts for settlement by associations. 
 The land in each district was divided into 10-acre blocks, 
 of which no person could hold more than two. Every 
 person by leasing such a block became a member of the 
 association of the district in which it was situate. This 
 imposed a joint liability with the other members to pay 
 interest to the State upon the agreed value of any irriga- 
 tion works or other improvements of public utility. In 
 return each member acquired a commoner's right in a 
 considerable area which was set apart as commonage in 
 each district. The debt to the Crown was a first charge on 
 all the lands in the district and repayable at 4| per cent. 
 by instalments spread over 42 years. In the event of an 
 association defaulting, the members were to be liable for 
 their proportion of the unpaid balance. The commonage 
 lands were under the control of trustees elected by the 
 members, subject to the direction of the Commissioner for 
 lands, and were to be worked for the common good and 
 benefit of the members upon the principles of co-operation 
 and equitable division. Each member of the association 
 was required to contribute labour or a cash equivalent to 
 the cultivation of the commonage, and the upkeep of the 
 irrigation plant or other works of public utility. ^ Accounts 
 were to be kept of the expense and profits of such work, 
 and after a provision had been made for a sinking fund 
 to cover depreciation, etc., the balance, if any, was to be 
 divided among the members. Regulations for the good 
 
 ^ This re-appearance of the " corvee " in the most democratic 
 of Australian States is very noteworthy. 
 
 131
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 conduct of the members and the profitable working of the 
 common properties and for the general purposes of the 
 association were made by the Commissioner for Lands. 
 Each association is a legal corporation with perpetual 
 succession. 
 
 This ingenious combination of individualist and 
 coUectivist ideas has only been successful in so far as the 
 latter has been subordinated in practice to the former. 
 Between 1896 and 1903 seven of the settlements were 
 abandoned, and only six are in existence at the present 
 time. 1 On these there are 84 settlers and 306 dependents 
 and employees. A sum of ;ri02,116 has been advanced 
 to the settlers, while the value of improvements effected 
 up to 1904 was only £41,869. 
 
 These figures, however, are not conclusive against the 
 experiment. Mistakes were made at first in the selection 
 of suitable land, the cost of which ought not to be put 
 to the debit of the associations in suitable districts. 
 Probably the true verdict on the South Australian Village 
 Settlements is, that they have succeeded where private 
 owners would have succeeded, and failed where these 
 would have failed, and that their success is more due 
 to the assistance given by the Government in irrigation 
 plants and other public works than to their co-operative 
 character. Any settlement of private owners having the 
 advantage of the same assistance would perhaps have 
 done better. 
 
 The efforts of Queensland to satisfy the new demand 
 for land were represented by an Act setting apart 10,000 
 acres for a Labour Colony, upon the New South Wales 
 lines, and the " Co-operative Communities Land Settle- 
 ment Act of 1893." This is not a distinctly socialist 
 measure. Like the South Austrahan Act, it provided for 
 the transfer of the individual right of a citizen to take up 
 land to an association which was empowered to do so on 
 
 ^ At Kingston, Lyrup, Moorok, Pyap, Rameo and Waikere. 
 
 132
 
 HOMESTEAD ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 his account. The association must consist of not less 
 than thirty members, and the area taken up cannot 
 exceed 160 acres for each member. The association may 
 register under the Friendly Societies Act of 1876, and its 
 rules must be deposited with the Minister for Lands. The 
 area required will be set apart by proclamation, and the 
 conditions of the tenure— except that the statutory require- 
 ment of the expenditure of 2s. 6d. per acre during each of 
 the first four years cannot be dispensed with— are to be 
 then determined. When once the association has entered 
 upon its area, it is free to manage the property as it pleases, 
 subject to the terms of its lease and its own rules. The 
 special feature of the South Australian Legislation — 
 Government control — is not found in the Queensland Act. 
 These group settlements have been as great a success in 
 Queensland as the similar Homestead Associations were a 
 failure in Victoria. While the Victorian measure was 
 repealed in 1904, in Queensland, in 1906, no less than 
 228,654 acres were settled in this way by 260 persons 
 owning 278 farms. Each member of the group is given 
 an allotment in the township in addition to his farm, and 
 residence there is taken as equivalent to residence upon the 
 latter. By this means a settler escapes the inconveniences 
 of isolation. His children can get good schooling and him- 
 self the social comforts of intercourse with friends. It is 
 the most interesting as well as the most successful method 
 of settlement which Australia has yet contrived. 
 
 Neither the philanthropic nor the commercial devices 
 for settling people on the land would avail to attract the 
 poorer class of settler, unless some provision were made to 
 assist him with capital. If this, as the Credit Foncier 
 and similar institutions everywhere testify, has been 
 found desirable in Europe, it becomes a necessity in a 
 young country. Accordingly every State, as it began to 
 pass from the pastoral into the agricultural epoch, has 
 devised some means for giving pecuniar}^ assistance to 
 
 133
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 cultivators of the soil, both to enable them to purchase 
 holdings and to make improvements. 
 
 Victoria, being the principal agricultural State, led 
 the way in this direction. The Savings Bank of 1890 
 authorised loans upon mortgages of farm lands. The 
 amending Act of 1896 gave express power to lend to 
 " farmers, graziers, market gardeners, or persons employed 
 in agricultural, horticultural, and viticultural pursuits," 
 upon the security of any land held under the Crown, 
 whether conditionally or in fee. Western Australia 
 followed this example in 1894 and South Australia later. 
 New South Wales passed an " Advances to Settlers Act " 
 in 1899 — hoping by this terminology to avoid controversy 
 with experts in currency. Queensland came into line in 
 1901 ; Tasmania is about to do so. 
 
 In all the States the capital is provided by the sale 
 to the general public of mortgage-bonds or deben- 
 tures, carrying a less interest than the rates which 
 are charged for advances. Each of these distributions 
 should, therefore, show a profit. The amounts beyond 
 which advances may not be made vary in different States. 
 Victoria and South Australia authorise the lending 
 authorities to raise £3,000,000 for this purpose by the 
 issue of mortgage bonds, which the Savings Bank is per- 
 mitted to purchase. New South Wales and Queensland 
 put the backing of the State most directly in evidence 
 by authorising the Commissioners or Trustees to raise by 
 the issue of Government debentures — the Commissioners 
 ;^2,000,000, and the Trustees (as the directors of the 
 lending body are called in Queensland), ;^250,000. 
 
 The terms of the advances also vary. The rate of 
 interest is now everywhere five per cent., but the terms 
 of repayment are not the same. In Western Australia 
 and Queensland no repayment of the principal is required 
 during the first five years. After that date it must be 
 repaid in twenty years b}' half-yearly instalments of 
 
 134
 
 STATE LOANS 
 
 principal and interest. In Victoria, South Australia, 
 and New South Wales the usual term of repayment is 
 thirty-one years, but by agreement it may be shortened. 
 
 The purposes for which loans may be made vary 
 slightly according to the conditions of the several States 
 and the forms of tenure in vogue. Generally speaking, a 
 settler can obtain an advance : (a) to pay off existing 
 encumbrance on his land ; {b) to pay the instalments due 
 to the Crown in respect of his holding ; (c) to make im- 
 provements or develop the resources of the land ; {d) to 
 build homes on his land ; (e) to purchase land from the 
 Crown. The amount advanced to enable persons to 
 purchase land must not exceed 80 per cent, of the 
 official valuation. Advances on land and buildings 
 may be made up to two-thirds of the value of the 
 borrower's interest in them. The utmost amount which 
 may be advanced to one borrower is in New South Wales 
 and Victoria, £2,000 ; in Queensland, £800 ; in South 
 Australia, £5,000 ; in Western Austraha, £500. No 
 apprehension is felt lest the repayments should not be 
 duly made. The experience of every State is that these 
 are very regular and arrears few. Thus of the total 
 amount of outstanding advances in Victoria on June 30th, 
 1907, of £2,111,308, only £46 of principal and £69 of 
 interest was in arrears, and that was divided between 
 nine borrowers. 
 
 The States in Australia do not confine their assistance 
 to settlers with loans of money and easy conditions of 
 tenure. There is probably no other country in which 
 more attention is paid to the education of the farmer, or a 
 more careful study made of the resources of the soil and 
 the best methods of cultivation. Every State has its 
 agricultural colleges and model farms, to which admission 
 may be had on terms within the reach of any settler. 
 The agricultural departments distribute gratuitously 
 any information likely to be useful. Careful inspection 
 
 135
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 is made of orchards and stock farms, and assist- 
 ance given to destroy pests. Commercial agents are 
 appointed in London and in the East to push the sale of 
 Australian products. Meat, milk, butter, and cheese 
 are inspected by Government officers before they are 
 exported. The mail contracts require the provision of 
 cold storage on the mail steamers and the carriage of 
 produce at reasonable freights, and generally, shipments 
 are supervised to ensure them being placed on the market 
 in the best possible condition. The seed of new plants 
 is distributed gratuitously, and South Australia also dis- 
 tributes without charge the seeds of those varieties of 
 wheat, barley, oats, and grass which are most likely to suit 
 the various soils and climates of the State. The carriage of 
 agricultural produce by the Government railways is at 
 low rates, and practical lectures are given in farming 
 districts on matters of interest to agriculturalists. Prizes, 
 too, are given for model farms. In short, the State 
 endeavours to supply to the farmers of a young country 
 the knowledge which experience and research have made 
 available to those in an older land. The result is seen 
 in the recent development of agriculture to which reference 
 has already been made. 
 
 How Land is Held To-day 
 
 We are now in a position to summarise the results of 
 these multifarious devices for procuring settlement. For, 
 as the preceding chapters will have shown, there are 
 as many varieties of land-tenure in Australia as there are 
 States, and although the object of all is the same — to 
 promote settlement, to decentrahse, and to substitute 
 agriculture for pasture — the principles which underlie 
 them have varied at different periods. 
 
 In the first epoch of Australian history,when the Crown's 
 title to waste lands was more than a constitutional 
 fiction, the tenure of land was a privilege which imposed 
 duties towards the public. The grantee was obliged to 
 
 136
 
 LEASEHOLD TENURES 
 
 render services to the Crown and recognised the per- 
 manence of his obhgation by payment of a fixed irredeem- 
 able rent. In the second epoch, which begins (as to 
 country lands) with auction sales in 1831, all sense of duty 
 attaching to ownership disappeared. In the prevalent 
 philosophy of the economist an individual only had 
 " rights." Accordingly the Crown lost all control over 
 alienated land. The quit-rents were commuted, and 
 all grants were of the fee. The hands of the clock are 
 coming now full round. Perpetual leases, or leases-in- 
 perpetuity, which are perpetual leases without periodic 
 re-appraisements of rent, are to-day the most favourite 
 tenure. They are " only Phillip's tenure by rent-service 
 under another name." ^ They achieve the same 
 object if the conditions are enforced of conserving the 
 public interest by enforcing the good uses of the land 
 and preventing it from being sold to swell a large estate. 
 A lease can always be forfeited for breach of a condition 
 and the Crown is under no obligation to accept a trans- 
 feree as tenant. South Australia has already adopted 
 perpetual leases as its normal tenure. Conditional 
 purchases are no longer permitted and auction sales are 
 confined in practice to town or suburban lands. Even 
 the grants which issue under a form of deferred payment, 
 known as " agreement to purchase," contain the same 
 reservations of Crown rights and the same restrictions 
 on sub-letting or assignment as perpetual leases. Everj^ 
 other State is feeling its way in the same direction ; 
 although only Victoria has as yet definitely adopted the 
 " perpetual lease." In other States the tendency is shown 
 by the multiplication of leasehold tenures and the facilities 
 for acquiring them. Yet even perpetual leases will fail 
 to check the accumulation of large estates, unless they are 
 accompanied by other measures. In New Zealand no 
 person in the future will be allowed to acquire more than 
 1 See Rogers' " Historical Geography," p. 200. 
 
 137
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 2,000 acres of Crown lands, and several proposals are being 
 discussed there, and in the Commonwealth, for making use 
 of taxation to compel the sub-division of unwieldy holdings. 
 
 The results so far may now be described. The total 
 disposition of the public estate of the Commonwealth 
 at the end of 1906 was 87 milHon acres. Of this amount 
 35 millions were in process of alienation. This gives 
 an average of 30|- acres per head of the population. 
 The area held under lease or license at the same date 
 was 746 milhon acres, and 1,034 millions were un- 
 occupied. These figures make it easy to realise the 
 sparseness of Australian population. The total private 
 holdings represent a country nearly twice as large as 
 Great Britain, and Great Britain supports a population 
 ten times as numerous. Or if the comparison be made 
 with Spain, France, and Germany, which have populations 
 of 17|, 38, and 60 millions respectively, the immense 
 disproportion between the number of the people and the 
 extent of the alienated land becomes even more striking. 
 
 Its distribution suggests equally disturbing thoughts. 
 In New South Wales there are 18 freeholds above 
 40,000 acres each. Of the whole area alienated in 
 that State nearly one-half — 46-65 per cent. — is held 
 by 720 persons, whose total holding aggregates 22,734,915 
 acres or an average of 31,576 acres. Treating the land 
 devoted to agriculture as being held in holdings of from 
 31 to 40 acres in extent, only one-ninth of the alienated 
 land, 11- 13 per cent, comes under this category. 
 
 It has been estimated that less than 2,000 persons own 
 an area of land equal to that of Great Britain. Such a 
 result cannot be quoted as a proof of the success of the 
 Land Acts in settling on the land a yeoman class. The 
 object has, however, been achieved in respect of pastoral 
 settlement. " Large areas, pronounced even by exper- 
 ienced men to be uninhabitable wilds, have since been 
 occupied b}- thriving flocks, and every j^ear sees the great 
 
 138
 
 STATE PURCHASE 
 
 Australian desert of the early explorers receding step by 
 step." 1 Of late years, too, there has been a substantial 
 advance in agriculture, and, although much of this is 
 due to the cultivation of large areas by squatters, yet it 
 marks a stage in the development of the country and 
 extends employment. According to the figures collected 
 in the " Year Book of the Commonwealth," the extent of 
 land under cultivation was nearly nine times as large in 
 1906-7 as it was in 1861. The figures are : 1860-1, 
 1,188,282 acres; 1906-7, 9,545,856 acres. This is a rate 
 of increase more than double that of the population. 
 The chief progress has been made since 1891. From 1881 
 to 1891 the population increased nearly twice as fast as 
 the agricultural industry. Since that date every year 
 has seen a larger area under crop. The assistance given 
 by the State in various ways to agriculturists must 
 be credited with some of this advance. 
 
 The favourite device of the day for overcoming the 
 mischief of " latifundia," is the compulsory purchase by 
 the State of large holdings — whose owners in their day did 
 good service in developing the country — at a fair price 
 fixed by a tribunal, for purposes of subdivision among 
 lessees or purchasers. The State having in the first 
 place alienated the pick of its land for not more than 
 £1 an acre, has by means of roads, bridges, and railways, 
 and other improvements at the expense of all taxpayers, 
 increased the value of these lands to £4 or £5 an acre. Tlie 
 exact amount of this increase is estimated by a Court, 
 and the State buys back for (say) £5 what it sold at £1. 
 The proceedings have another element of comedy. The 
 State, at the hearing before the Court, cheapens the land 
 as much as possible. " It is naught, naught, saith the 
 buyer." Having paid a sum in excess of what its experts 
 thought the land to be worth, the State then extols its 
 excellence and cheapness to the purchasers from whom 
 
 1 Coghlan's " Australia and New Zealand, 1903-4," p. 3-12. 
 
 139
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 it makes its profit. No wonder that the scheme is 
 breaking down, because, as the county councils are finding 
 in England, the State is raising the price of land against 
 itself by every purchase that it makes. It would be more 
 logical and simple and more just to the taxpayer to impose 
 a heavy land-tax on every area of uncultivated land 
 beyond a certain value, which was situated within the 
 agricultural districts. Every settler should be allowed, 
 free of tax, enough land to make him a living, and any 
 area above the determined value, which was kept unlet 
 and unused, should be taxed into the market. And all 
 leases should be for not less than seven years and 
 twice renewable on terms to be approved or settled by 
 the Local Land Board. Only by some such measure as 
 this will the people of Australia recover the use of their 
 wasted lands. ^ 
 
 ^ At present Land Taxes are levied in every State except 
 Queensland. In New South Wales, South Australia and West 
 Australia the basis of the tax is the unimproved capital value. 
 In Victoria and Tasmania the tax is levied on the capital value 
 of the land as improved. New South Wales imposed one penny 
 in the £, with an exemption of lands the unimproved value of 
 which is under £2A0. In Western Australia the rate is the same, 
 but the exemption is only of ^^50. In South Australia the tax 
 is progressive and no exemptions are allowed. The rate is — 
 On land the unimproved value of which does not 
 
 exceed ;^5, 000 Id. in the £ 
 
 On land the unimproved value of which does not 
 
 exceed ^5,000 Ifd. ,, 
 
 On land owned by absentees a surtax is imposed 
 of 20 per cent. 
 In Victoria all lands belonging to the same owner of which the 
 capital improved value is under ;^2,500 are exempt. The lands 
 are classified according to their sheep-carrying capacity into four 
 divisions valued respectively at £A, £3, £2 and £\ per acre. The 
 tax is l;f per cent, of this valuation. City lands are not taxed. 
 In Tasmania the tax is progressive at the following rates : — 
 Where the total capital value is under /5,000 . . \d. in the £ 
 do. do. ;^5,000 and under ^15,000 fd. 
 
 do. do. /15,000 „ /40,000 Jd. 
 
 do. do. 240,000 „ ^80,000 l± 
 
 do. do. /80,000 and over .. Id. 
 
 140
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MATERIAL GROWTH 
 
 Private Wealth — Diffusion of Wealth — Savings — Production — 
 The Pastoral Industry — Farming and Dairying — Agriculture 
 — Mineral Production — The Manufacturing Industry — 
 Internal Trade — Over-sea Commerce — The Balance of Trade 
 — Indebtedness — Banking — Summary. 
 
 Private Wealth 
 
 In material wealth Australia stands high among the 
 world's communities and her advance since Federation 
 has been remarkable. According to an estimate, which 
 is necessarily approximate, but which is accepted among 
 statisticians, Australia stands second in respect to 
 the private wealth of its citizens, with a total of 
 ;^1, 043,840,0001 and an average of ;^260 per head. Only 
 the United Kingdom stands above her, with an average 
 per head which exceeds £300. The United States and 
 Canada come far behind. 
 
 Diffusion of Wealth 
 
 Of greater importance than the aggregation of wealth 
 is its diffusion among all classes of the community. 
 Figures on this point must be necessarily estimates, 
 but a fair idea may be obtained of the distribution of 
 property by comparing the number of persons who leave 
 property at death with the number of adults dying. 
 Mr. Coghlan,^ working on these lines, finds that 28-5 per 
 cent, of the adult males and females, who died in the 
 Commonwealth during the period 1895-1900, left property 
 behind them . That is to say, seven out of every twenty-five 
 grown-up people own property. Their ratio to the total 
 
 ^ About two-thirds of this is represented by Land, House and 
 Improvements. 
 
 2 " Australasia and New Zealand," 1903-4, p. 518. 
 
 141
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 population was 17" 23, which is nearly one in six, and it 
 has been increasing steadily in every State. Figures are 
 not available which will determine exactly the average 
 amount owned by each person, but an estimate made 
 by Mr. Coghlan for New South Wales is probably correct 
 for the whole Commonwealth. This states that 987 
 persons 1 in that State had properties of over £50,000 
 in value. These fortunate ones owned among them 
 ;^130,521,000, or 35-4 per cent, of the whole property 
 of the State, themselves being only 0" 13 of the population. 
 A further 2,086 persons held £168,782,800, or 45-8 of the 
 total. Mr. Coghlan adds that " probably " half the 
 State is owned by 3,000 persons. Only 544,972 persons 
 had less than £200. These figures, it must be remem- 
 bered, include children. Moreover, 120,798 persons 
 owned between £200 and £500. There is no reason to 
 think that the circumstances of New South Wales differ 
 greatly as regards the distribution of its wealth from other 
 States, so that these figures may be taken as showing the 
 diffusion of property throughout the Commonwealth. 
 
 Savings 
 
 The figures as to savings tell the same story. In the 
 year 1907-8 there were 1,258,689 depositors in savings 
 banks, being in the ratio of 304 to each thousand of the 
 population. Their total deposits amounted to £42,098,289, 
 being an average for each depositor of £33 8s. lid., or 
 £10 3s. 8d. per head of the population. ^ Thus, while, 
 as we have seen, one person in six in Australia owns 
 property, one person in three has a savings bank account. 
 
 Australia also holds the world's record for life insurance, 
 which is another form of saving. In 1906-7 there were 
 
 ^ The population of New South Wales at that time was 
 1,354,846. 
 
 * Interest-bearing deposits are restricted to £200. This 
 rule is usually relaxed in favour of Friendly Societies. 
 
 142
 
 WEALTH AND SAVINGS 
 
 in force with the eighteen companies doing business in 
 the Commonwealth, 446,894 hfe pohcies, insuring a total 
 amount, without bonus additions (which have amounted 
 to about £13,000,000), of £107,809,911, and carrying a 
 total annual income for premiums of £3,648,914. In 
 addition there were in force during the same year 346,283 
 industrial policies, covering a total amount of £7,301,581, 
 and requiring £389,451 a year in premiums. 
 
 Friendly Societies are another important factor in 
 inducing thrift. They flourish in Australia almost as 
 well as life insurance companies, having a total member- 
 ship of about 340,000 distributed among 3,948 lodges. 
 The revenue of these societies is £1,105,279, and they have 
 £4,093,581 of accumulated funds. 
 
 The figures given above as to the savings of the people 
 give convincing evidence of the stability of Australian 
 society. If Australians have an inclination to improvi- 
 dence and gambling, it is because they have money to 
 spare for extravagances, and not that they neglect to 
 make provision for the future. 
 
 Production 
 
 The wealth and income of Australia come from the 
 production, ^ handling, carriage and shipment of articles 
 grown or made within the Commonweath. Her produc- 
 tion, her industry, and her commerce should accordingly 
 be dealt with separately in order to ascertain and measure 
 the sources of Australian wealth. 
 
 Australian production may be conveniently classified, 
 in order of importance, into pastoral, mineral, and 
 agricultural. The figures which express the results in 
 each of these directions are bewildering by their magni- 
 tude. There is, however, no other way by which the 
 material importance of Australia to the Empire can be 
 adequately indicated. 
 
 ^ In the text the term Production refers only to Primary 
 Products of the soil. 
 
 143
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The Pastoral Industry 
 Australia is pre-eminently " the Land of the Golden 
 Fleece." The amount of wool, which she produced in 
 1906 amounted to the gigantic total of 552,156,737 lbs., 
 which had a value of £22,600,000. The number of sheep 
 increased that year from 83-6 to 87-7 millions, and the 
 receipts from her wool, owing to high prices, were 
 £7,000,000 more than in any other year. ^ Only one-and- 
 a-half per cent, of the clip is retained within the Common- 
 wealth. The rest is exported and swells the figures of 
 Australian commerce. Large as this output is, there is 
 no reason to anticipate that it will not increase. The 
 supremacy of Austraha in wool-growing is unassailable 
 because she can have no serious rival in the production 
 of the finest merino wool. ^ There seems to be a quality 
 in her wide,- dry pastures, which is as suitable to wool 
 and as local, as the waters of the Trent to Bass' Ales. 
 Mr. Coghlan estimates that, under existing conditions, 
 with allowance for the extension of agriculture, the 
 country could carry 300,000,000 more sheep. 
 ; •, The magnitude of the wool industry has many indirect 
 results. Although it gives employment directly to very 
 few, ^ nearly half Australia lives on wool ; and wool is 
 the chief cause of that concentration of the people in the 
 seaboard cities which is so remarkable a feature of 
 Australian life. Trace a bale of wool from the run to the 
 hold of the ship, and the mystery becomes apparent. 
 Except the trunk lines and a few cock-spurs in Victoria, 
 
 ^ It is estimated that the fall of Id. a lb. in wool means the 
 loss of a million sterling to Australia. Owing to the break in 
 prices Australia will receive about ^/^S, 000, 000 less for the 1908 
 clip than for that of 1907. 
 
 2 Since 1851 the export of wool from Australia has reached 
 ^669,500,000. 
 
 ^ The average is one man to 2,500 sheep. Probably not 
 100,000 persons of both sexes find regular employment at runs. 
 This, of course, does not include shearers or other nomadic bush 
 labour. 
 
 144
 
 DAIRY EXPORTS 
 
 the railways were built for wool. The Lands Department 
 and other branches of the public service owe their present 
 numbers to the same cause. Wool must be shipped ; 
 therefore 'the cities must be at the ports and all who 
 handle or dispose of wool must be there too. 
 
 Meat production is the second branch of the pastoral 
 industry. Besides sheep (87,780,819), there were 
 10,112,262 cattle, 1,869,674 horses, and 748,000 pigs in 
 the Commonwealth in 1907. The export of frozen beef 
 and mutton returned £1,667,000, and the total exports 
 of all pastoral products was £27,001,877. 
 
 Farming and Dairying Industries 
 
 Between pastoral and agricultural production come 
 dairying and farming. Butter-making is the chief 
 industry in this group. In 1906, Australia produced 
 159,870,662 lbs. of butter and 14,778,658 lbs. of cheese. 
 She exported, chiefly to the United Kingdom, 
 75,732,713 lbs. of butter of a value of £3,236,930. Her 
 cheese was nearly all consumed at home. She also 
 exported, principally as ship's stores, £182,941 of milk 
 concentrated and preserved. Pigs are fed on the bye- 
 products of the farm and dairy, and in 1906 41,165,914 lbs. 
 of bacon and ham were cured in the Commonwealth. 
 The total export value of all farm and dairy products was 
 £3,357,069. 
 
 The dairying industry has grown up under State-aid. 
 Experts are employed to give instruction in approved 
 methods of production, to examine animals, to inspect 
 the buildings used for milking and separating, and to 
 examine the marketable produce. Cream separating 
 and butter-making are generally carried on under a 
 co-operative system in large central factories. The 
 Governments also import stud bulls and their officers 
 inspect the quality and grading of butter before it is 
 exported. The Commonwealth has also made provision 
 
 145 
 
 10— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 in its mail contract for its carriage in refrigerating cham- 
 bers at a freight of not more than l^d. a pound. In 
 consequence, the butter industry is making great advances, 
 and it is certain that the United Kingdom will draw more 
 and more of her supplies of this commodity from the 
 Australian continent. 
 
 Of the minor farming industries, bee-keeping and 
 poultry-farming show promise of expansion. London 
 is a market for Australian honey and there is a large 
 demand there for frozen poultry, which will be supplied 
 by Australia, when local prices fall. The States have 
 therefore begun to extend their assistance to that industry. 
 Agriculture 
 
 The most remarkable progress is in Agriculture. The 
 total area under crops has increased from 8,414,054 acres 
 in 1901-2 to 9,339,566 acres in 1907-8. The principal 
 crops were wheat, oats, maize, barley, potatoes and sugar. 
 The areas under cultivation in each case, with the total 
 products, its value and the average per acre are given in 
 the following table : 
 
 Principal Australian Crops, 
 
 1906.1 
 
 
 
 
 Area under 
 
 
 Average 
 
 Crop 
 
 Total Yield 
 
 Crop in 
 Acres 
 
 Cash Value 
 
 Yield per 
 Acre 
 
 
 Bushels 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 Wheat 
 
 66,100,654 
 
 5,997,794 
 
 9,777,629 
 
 1106 
 
 Oats 
 
 13,611,987 
 
 581,843 
 
 1,366.815 
 
 21-22 
 
 Barley 
 
 2,248,432 
 
 106,436 
 
 343.535 
 
 20-40 
 
 Maize 
 
 10.172,154 
 
 305,857 
 
 1.326.071 
 
 23-86 
 
 Beans, Peas 
 
 655,167 
 
 30,824 
 
 — 
 
 21-26 
 
 Rye 
 
 137,471 
 Tons 
 
 9,738 
 
 — 
 
 14-12 
 Tons 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 507,153 
 
 146,681 
 
 1.502.779 
 
 3-46 
 
 Onions 
 
 31,756 
 
 5,378 
 
 — 
 
 5-9 
 
 Other Root Crops 
 
 122,659 
 
 12,146 
 
 — 
 
 10-10 
 
 Sugar Cane 
 
 1,950,340 
 
 153,885 
 
 — 
 
 17-96 
 
 Hay 
 
 2,256,140 
 Gallons 
 
 1.654,399 
 
 5,916,980 
 
 13-6 
 
 Wine 
 
 5,891,945 
 
 62,546 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 See " Year Book," pp. 
 
 300-1. 
 146
 
 WHEAT PRODUCTION 
 
 The figures which are of greatest significance in the 
 above table are those relating to wheat. ^ It will be 
 seen that the production of this crop was 66,100,654 
 bushels, and that its cash value was nearly ten million 
 pounds. Nor is this the fortunate result of one good 
 season. The production for 1905-6 was larger by two 
 million and a half bushels, and in 1903-4 it totalled 
 74,149,634 bushels. It is true that in 1902-3 the pro- 
 duction was only 12,378,068 bushels, and that Australia 
 then imported wheat. But it would be a mistake to 
 conclude from this that the seasons are too irregular for 
 wheat-growing in Australia. There has been no year 
 like 1902-3 since 1860. After that date the production 
 was fairly stationary for twenty years. From 1880 
 onwards, except in 1895-6 and the 3^ear already mentioned 
 there was a steady increase. When Federation broke 
 down the inter-colonial tariffs, wheat production jumped 
 ahead (1900-1), and the increase has continued ever 
 since. 
 
 Production of Wheat, 1860-1 — 1906-7. 
 (See " Commonwealth Year Book," p. 302.) 
 
 Before Federation. 
 
 1,000 Bushels 
 
 1860-1 
 
 
 10,245 
 
 1865-6 
 
 
 9,654 
 
 1870-1 
 
 
 12,084 
 
 1885-6 
 
 
 18,712 
 
 1890-1 
 
 
 23,356 
 
 1895-6 
 
 
 27,431 
 
 After Federation. 
 
 1900-1 
 
 
 48,353 
 
 1901-2 
 
 
 38,561 
 
 1902-3 
 
 
 12,378 
 
 1903-4 
 
 
 74,149 
 
 1904-5 
 
 
 54,535 
 
 1905-6 
 
 
 68,520 
 
 1906-7 
 
 
 66,100 
 
 1907-8 
 
 
 44,588 
 
 1 There was a decline in these figures for the year 1907-8. 
 The statistics, however, are not yet complete for this period. 
 
 147
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The quality of Australian wheat is excellent. Mr. Jago, in 
 " The Science and Art of Bread-making," states that it is " of a 
 choice colour and sweet flavour," that it grows well and yields 
 from 72 to 76 per cent, of flour as against 70 to 73 per cent, for 
 Canadian wheat. Its grain is of a bright clear texture, rich in 
 gluten and of a fine milling quality. Its average price in the 
 London market is 6d. a quarter higher than Canadian and Is. 3d. 
 higher than Argentine. 
 
 Apart from the importance of agricultural develop- 
 ment to Australia itself, it has an Imperial significance. 
 Australia has been always known to clothe the Empire ; 
 the part she plays in feeding it is often ignored. Yet no 
 other portion of the Empire produces the necessaries of 
 life in greater abundance. Butter and meat, as was seen 
 in the preceding section, go to the United Kingdom in large 
 quantities. Canada is known to be a supplier of bread, 
 but it is not generally recognised that Australia runs 
 Canada close. In 1906 Australia exported 20,138,149 
 bushels of wheat and 26,796 tons of flour to the United 
 Kingdom. She also supplied other parts of the Empire 
 with 4,930,094 bushels of wheat and 76,144 tons of flour. 
 Unlike Canada she has also foreign markets for her flour. 
 She sent Chile 2,212,410 bushels, and Peru, Italy, Spain, 
 the Manillas and Portuguese East Africa all draw supplies 
 from this granary. Her total exports are, wheat, 
 30,262,335 bushels ; flour, 166,881 tons. The export 
 value of all Australian agricultural produce was 
 £7,707,281, and this included such diverse articles as 
 coffee, cotton, flax, ginger, sugar, tobacco and wine in 
 addition to cereals, pulses and roots. 
 
 Mineral Productions 
 
 The mineral production of Australia received a tem- 
 porary set-back through a fall in the price of metals due to 
 the American financial crisis. But this soon passed, 
 and except gold there was an increased output of all the 
 leading minerals in 1906. The figures are subjoined : 
 
 148
 
 MINERAL WEALTH 
 
 Minerals 
 
 Gold 
 
 Silver and Lead 
 
 Tin . . 
 
 Coal . . 
 
 1903 
 
 In £000's. 
 1904 1905 
 
 16-294 
 
 2112 
 
 •770 
 
 2-616 
 
 15-297 
 
 2-599 
 
 -804 
 
 2-323 
 
 15-550 
 3-093 
 1014 
 2-314 
 
 1906 
 
 14-631 
 3-344 
 1-509 
 2-669 
 
 1907 
 
 13-511 
 4-719 
 1-502 
 3-302 
 
 Australia produces 13 per cent, of the world's silver, 
 17- 61 of the gold, 5 per cent, of the copper, and 6-9 of 
 the tin. Until the production of the Transvaal jumped 
 from £7,000,000 in 1902 to £25,000,000 in 1906, Austraha's 
 share in the world's production of gold was much greater, 
 being 26-56 per cent, in 1901. The following figures 
 relating to gold production explain the change : 
 
 
 Australian Gold Pro- 
 
 Percentage of World 
 
 Year 
 
 duction in £000's 
 
 Supply 
 % 
 
 1901 
 
 15-759 
 
 26-56 
 
 1902 
 
 16-763 
 
 24-61 
 
 1903 
 
 18-322 
 
 24-35 
 
 1904 
 
 17-884 
 
 22-32 
 
 1905 
 
 17-644 
 
 20-13 
 
 1906 
 
 16-902 
 
 17-61 
 
 The variety of minerals in Australia is very great. 
 Among the more valuable, which are at present hardly 
 worked, are platinum, osmicum, iridium, and iridos- 
 mine. Cobalt, nickel, manganese, chromium, tungsten, 
 molybdenum, mercury, antimony, bismuth and zinc have 
 aU been found, some in considerable quantities. Valu- 
 able opals are found in the west of New South Wales and 
 in Queensland. Diamonds of good quality have been 
 discovered in New England (New South Wales), and, it 
 is believed, are in considerable quantities ; but the 
 fields have not been explored owing, it is said, to the 
 action of agents of competing groups, who fear an increase 
 in the supply. Rubies and other precious stones exist 
 in the Macdonell ranges and elsewhere. This long 
 
 149
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 list might lead to the belief that Austraha had been 
 thoroughly prospected, which would be altogether erro- 
 neous. The greater part of the continent — even of the 
 settled districts — is almost virgin soil for the prospector 
 of rare minerals and very little of Central Australia 
 has been prospected even for gold. It is probable that 
 the proposed Trans-Continental railway, connecting Cool- 
 gardie with the eastern seaboard, . will open access to 
 several unsuspected fields of mineral wealth. In the 
 meantime only two quartz reefs ^ are being worked in New 
 South Wales, in spite of the certainty that where there 
 has been alluvial gold there must be gold-bearing reefs. 
 If the people of New South Wales took to mining 
 ventures, like the Victorians, the deep mines of Ballarat 
 would be copied in several districts. 
 
 The total production of minerals in 1907 was valued 
 at £28,367,202. 
 
 The Manufacturing Industry 
 
 Manufacturing is still in its infancy. Prior to 1900, 
 the tariffs of each State fostered a few industries for 
 the supply of a local market ; others sprang up to meet 
 immediate necessities, such as iron-working, brick- 
 making, or quarrying ; there were others, such as furni- 
 ture-making, which had always the protection of high 
 ocean freights ; but in the main, manufactured articles 
 were imported. The Commonwealth tariff, which came 
 into force on November 4, 1901, gave some protection, 
 which was increased by the tariff of 1907, '^ but it is 
 not possible yet to speak of Australia as a manufac- 
 turing country. She has only captured a foreign market 
 in the two lines of agricultural implements^ and mining 
 
 ^ Cobar and Wyalong. "^ As to Tariffs see Part III, Chap. I. 
 
 3 In 1907 /228,000 worth of working agricultural machinery was 
 exported. ;^29,652 worth of " Stripper Harvesters " was ex- 
 ported to the Argentine. This is an Australian invention, which 
 combines a stripper with a mechanism for winnowing and bagging 
 grain. Mowing machinery is sent to the Straits Settlements. 
 
 150
 
 aii^^ --L^ji. _A^
 
 FACTORY LABOUR 
 
 machinery. Most of the so-called " factories " are very 
 small, since the term, as used in the statistical records, 
 includes " any factory, workshop or mill where four or 
 more persons are employed or power is used." A dress- 
 maker who employs three hands becomes under this 
 definition a "factory owner." Indeed, there are 1,759 
 " factories " which employ less than four people, and 
 1,290 which employ only four. At the other end of 
 the scale are 392 factories employing altogether 81,230 
 persons, and 479 employing 43,996. This classification 
 makes it difficult to estimate the growth and importance 
 of the manufacturing industry. 
 
 The power employed furnishes some guide. In 1903 
 this was 180,296 horse power ; in 1906 it was 212,000. 
 The value of the plant and machinery increased during 
 the same period from £18,639,000 to £21,731,000. It 
 is noticeable that there is an increasing ratio of female 
 employment in the two principal manufacturing states, — 
 Victoria and New South Wales. The figures, as given 
 in the Year Book, show that the number of females 
 per 100 males in Australian factories has increased 
 steadily from 32-65 in 1903 to 35-58 in 1906. This is 
 due to a large increase since the tariff in clothing and 
 tailoring establishments and factories. " Certain trades, 
 too," sa3'S I\Ir. Knibbs, " are specially known as women's 
 trades, such for example as clothing and textile trades, 
 preparation of food, printing and book-binding and lighter 
 work connected with the drug trade, such as wrapping. 
 Large numbers of women are also employed as clerks and 
 typewriters." 
 
 The industries which are concerned with metals are 
 a good index of manufacturing development. In Aus- 
 tralia these employ 18-99 per cent, of the factory hands 
 and occupy 12-04 per cent, of the " factories." They 
 comprise the manufacture of agricultural implements, 
 brass and copper, cutlery, engineering, gcilvanised iron 
 
 151
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 works, iron works and foundries, lead mills, railway 
 carriage and locomotive making, smelting and chlori- 
 nating, the making of stoves, wire-working and other 
 metal works. This is a longer list of high-class industries 
 than many persons will be prepared for and it indicates 
 great possibilities. The value of the machinery and 
 plant used in this group was £3,354,007, of which 
 £1,403,312 was used in engineering works. Woollen and 
 tweed mills have plant and machinery valued at £340,008 
 and pay £102,458 a year in wages. There is also a 
 considerable industry of ship-building and repairing and 
 the furniture trade has an annual wage bill of £351,580. 
 With these exceptions, Australian industries are those 
 which are immediately concerned with the primary 
 products of agriculture and w^ool-growing — such as 
 tanning, wool-scouring, soap-making, brick-making, saw- 
 milling, cooperage, brewing, butter and cheese, meat 
 chilling and preserving, biscuit and jam making, sugar 
 refining, confectionery and tobacco making, etc., etc. 
 The Austrahans, however, realise that no nation can be 
 great which does not contain within itself an outlet for 
 every activity, and are, therefore, giving great attention 
 to enlarging and diversifying its manufacturing industry. 
 The value of the output of manufactures for 1906 was 
 estimated at £31,172,000. 
 
 Internal Trade 
 
 Figures of exchange and distribution must always bear 
 a close relation to those of production. Consequently 
 Australia, as she produces much, does a large trade. 
 That between the States themselves amounted in 1907 to 
 £42,280,980 — a convincing proof of the wisdom of abohsh- 
 ing State tariffs. ^ The average of this internal trade 
 during the five years preceding federation (1896-1901) 
 was only £26,381,000. The wine industry is among those 
 
 ^ The uniform tariff came into force Oct. 4, 1901. 
 
 152
 
 EXTERNAL TRADE 
 
 which have benefited most by the removal of internal 
 Customs barriers. 
 
 Over-sea Commerce 
 
 " The over-sea trade of the Commonwealth," writes 
 Mr. Knibbs (Year Book, p. 497), "during 1906, both 
 as regards imports and exports, is by far the greatest 
 yet recorded. From a total of £56,000,000 in 1886, 
 equal to £20 7s. 8d. per inhabitant, the trade grew by 
 somewhat irregular movements, until in 1891 it amounted 
 to £73,753,000 or £23 Is. 6d. per head. The year 1892 
 marked the beginning of a period of acute financial 
 stress culminating in the commercial crisis of 1893. The 
 collapse of these years, confined by no means to Australia, 
 but affecting in varying degree many countries, is plainly 
 reflected in the records of the trade of that period ; for 
 the trade in 1894 had fallen to £54,028,227, a decline of 
 no less than 26*75 per cent, in three years. In 1895 there 
 was slight recovery, and a continuous upward movement 
 until 1901, when the trade reached £92,130,000 or 
 £24 5s. lOd. per head. A dechne, due to drought, in the 
 exports of agricultural, pastoral, and dairy produce, 
 reduced the trade of 1902 to £84,591,000 ; but, although 
 in the next year there was a further shrinkage in the 
 exports of agricultural produce, the increase in the value 
 of the exports of metals, specie, butter and wool was so 
 large as to effect an increase in the total trade. From 
 1902 the increase has been continuous, reaching in 1906 
 the amount of £144,482,000 ^ equal to £28 Os. 5d. per 
 inhabitant." 
 
 No apology is needed for this long quotation, because, 
 in the present stage of Australian development, the 
 figures of the over-sea trade are the best index of her 
 material position. They are not, however, easy to 
 interpret. 
 
 1 Imports, ;^44,737,763. Exports, £QQ,131,ie3. 
 
 153
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 TABLE 
 
 Balance of Trade of Australia 
 
 and 
 Percentage of Exports and Imports 
 
 and 
 Annual Loan Expenditure, 1886-1906, 
 
 . IN ;^000'S. 
 
 
 Balance of 
 Trade 
 
 Percentage 
 
 Loan 
 Expenditure 
 
 Loan Expenditure 
 
 Year 
 
 of Exports 
 to Imports 
 
 per head of 
 Population 
 
 1886 
 
 1-12-478 
 
 63-9 
 
 
 
 1887 
 
 -6-151 
 
 79-2 
 
 
 
 1888 
 
 -7-980 
 
 78-4 
 
 
 
 1889 
 
 -8-024 
 
 78-6 
 
 
 
 1890 
 
 -5-846 
 
 83-4 
 
 
 
 1891 
 
 -1-668 
 
 95-6 
 
 
 
 1892 
 
 3-262 
 
 110-8 
 
 
 
 1893 
 
 9-460 
 
 139-8 
 
 
 
 1894 
 
 10-233 
 
 146-7 
 
 
 
 1895 
 
 10-449 
 
 145-0 
 
 
 
 1896 
 
 3-305 
 
 nil 
 
 
 
 1897 
 
 5-824 
 
 118-2 
 
 
 
 1898 
 
 8-683 
 
 127-6 
 
 
 
 1899 
 
 14-269 
 
 141-6 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 4-568 
 
 111-0 
 
 
 i s- d- 
 
 1901 
 
 7-262 
 
 117-1 
 
 9-465 
 
 2 9 6 
 
 1902 
 
 3-239 
 
 1080 
 
 8-862 
 
 2 5 8 
 
 1903 
 
 10-438 
 
 127-6 
 
 4-633 
 
 1 3 7 
 
 1904 
 
 20-465 
 
 155-2 
 
 3-424 
 
 17 2 
 
 1905 
 
 18-494 
 
 148-2 
 
 3-556 
 
 17 7 
 
 1906 
 
 24-992 
 
 155-9 
 
 3-882 
 
 18 10 
 
 1907 
 
 21014 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 The Balance of Trade 
 
 The first noticeable feature of these figures is the rapid 
 increase in the value of exports as compared with imports. 
 In the earlier periods the balance of trade was in favour 
 of imports ; but from 1892 onwards the reverse has been 
 the case. To quote from Mr. Knibbs once more, " The 
 increase in the value of imports from 1886 to 1906 is 
 
 1 Note. — The minus sign (-) denotes excess of Imports. 
 
 154
 
 ORGANISATION OF TRADE 
 
 equivalent to an annual rate of 1'36 per cent., whereas 
 the exports during the same period show an increased 
 value equal to 6"01 per cent, per annum, the annual rate 
 of increase of the total trade being 3" 65 per cent." 
 
 The explanation is that Australia was increasing her 
 indebtedness in the earlier years and reducing it in the 
 later. Excess of imports meant an influx of new capital. 
 Excess of exports represents interest and profits on the 
 investment of outside capital, payment of freights, both 
 inwards and outwards, and the repayment of debts. 
 
 To make this point clear it must be possible to com- 
 pare the values of imports and exports on the same basis. 
 This cannot be done without correcting the official figures. 
 In all returns exports are entered at their cost f.o.b. ; 
 while the value of imports includes freight and all other 
 charges, together with the profits of the manufacturer 
 and every intermediate distributor. Probably not less 
 than ten per cent, should be deducted from the declared 
 value of imports upon this account. Both exports and 
 imports can then be compared at their cost value f.o.b. 
 
 Under normal conditions of profitable trade imports 
 ought to exceed exports by the amount of the exporters' 
 profit ; because no country sends away £100 without 
 expecting to receive back more. Ten per cent, is a fair 
 allowance upon this account, and equilibrium would be 
 maintained if imports exceeded exports only by that 
 amount. This amount should be deducted from the 
 declared value of imports in addition to the fifteen per 
 cent, for costs, charges and profits, in order to arrive at 
 the balance, which is available on either side for the 
 adjustment of financial relations between the exporting 
 and importing country. An allowance of not less than 
 five per cent, must also be made upon the other side for 
 the cost of freights. Australia does not do her own carrying 
 trade, and therefore a portion of her exports represent 
 payments for freight. Accordingly, in order to ascertain 
 
 155
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the amount which Austraha pays each year in repay- 
 ment of principal and interest, or receives in the form of 
 pubhc or private loans, the declared value of the exports 
 should be reduced by five per cent, for freights, and the 
 declared value of the imports by twenty-five per cent., 
 being fifteen per cent, for costs, charges and profits, and 
 ten per cent, for the exporters' profit. 
 
 If, then, the balance is in favour of exports, whatever 
 remains after payment of all interest charges will be a 
 repayment of principal. Or if the balance is less than 
 sufficient to pay interest, then the difference, together 
 with the excess (if any) of imports, will represent an 
 addition to Australia's indebtedness. 
 
 This explains the paradox that both in England, the 
 creditor country, and Australia, the debtor country, 
 imports were at one time in excess of exports. England's 
 excess represents payments for services rendered, and 
 interest on foreign investments ; Australia's excess 
 represented advances of the capital she needed for the 
 development of her resources. 
 
 Indebtedness 
 
 The balances in the foregoing table are gross. To 
 ascertain the exact position of Australia in regard to her 
 over-sea trade it would be necessary to reduce them to 
 net, by deducting all interest charges from the export 
 side of the account and loan monies from the imports. 
 This is easy up to a point — that is to say, the interest 
 charge on all public loans, state or municipal, can be 
 exactly ascertained ; but there is another large source of 
 indebtedness which is in a different category. Australia 
 has no hoards. She has to look abroad for capital ; 
 and her private indebtedness, in consequence, is very 
 large. Mr. Coghlan estimated it at £147,000,000 as at 
 June 30, 1904. Certainly most Australian enterprises 
 are financed from England, and the Income Tax returns 
 
 156
 
 PAYMENT OF INTEREST 
 
 will show what profits they make. There must also be 
 much money borrowed for investments which make no 
 return, or not sufficient to pay interest. This part of the 
 interest charge, like that which is payable in respect 
 of public loans, is payable irrespective of production 
 and is a dead charge upon it. 
 
 The aggregate indebtedness of the Australian States 
 on June 30, 1907, was £240,149,000, or £^1 15s. 2d. per 
 head. The annual charge for interest was £8,654,299. 
 But £54,570,338, or 22-7 per cent, of the total indebted- 
 ness was owing in Australia, and therefore the interest 
 charge on this portion would not be paid by exports. 
 Allowing £2,000,000 on this account, the yearly liability 
 of Australia to the creditors of the States who live outside 
 the Commonwealth for interest is £6,700,000. Borrow- 
 ings by municipalities and others of the total sum of 
 £10,000,000 constitute another form of public indebted- 
 ness. But as two-thirds of this sum have been taken up 
 in Austraha, not more than £200,000 a year need be 
 remitted abroad as interest upon that account. 
 
 To arrive at the yearly sum which is required as interest 
 upon the private indebtedness of Australia is much more 
 difficult. Imports, even after the allowances referred to 
 have been made, are an unsafe guide, because in the 
 pre-Federation days, the State records made no distinction 
 between goods arriving over-sea from another State or 
 by the same entrance from an outside country. There 
 was also an analogous defect in the record of exports. 
 Goods despatched from one State to another State for 
 transhipment to an over-sea country, were simply recorded 
 in the former as an export to the trans-shipping State ; 
 and thus no proper record was made of the export as 
 over-sea. 
 
 Melbourne, for instance, financed all the other States 
 for many years, by importing foreign capital into Victoria. 
 This would appear again as an over-sea import in the Official 
 
 157
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Returns of any State to which it might be transferred. 
 Thus the same import might figure in the records 
 of every one of the six States. Analogously, New South 
 Wales shipped large quantities of wool to Melbourne, 
 which were entered only as an export to Victoria. By 
 these errors the import figures prior to 1903 are 
 largely over-stated, while those relating to exports are 
 understated — both errors increasing the apparent 
 indebtedness of Australia^. 
 
 It would seem, therefore, impossible to accept Mr. 
 Coghlan's high estimate of £147,372,000. Judging from 
 the capital of the Banks and Finance Companies, which 
 has been subscribed in England, and the deposits which 
 these hold from persons outside the Commonwealth, 
 and making allowance for the investments of private 
 persons in stations and city lands, £100,000,000 would 
 appear a high estimate of the total private indebtedness 
 of Australia. The annual interest charge on this at five 
 per cent, would be £500,000. 
 
 Thus on the three sources of indebtedness — State, 
 local and private — Australia has to pay annual charges 
 for interest of about £6,700,000, £200,000 and £500,000, 
 making a total of £7,400,000. ^ 
 
 It will be seen from the table on p. 154 that in the 
 four years, 1903-6, the declared balances of exports over 
 imports have totalled £74,389,000. From the import 
 side ten per cent, must be deducted to equalise the basis 
 of comparison between the two sets of figures. This 
 would increase the actual balance to £78,389,000. Another 
 ten per cent, of the imports represent exporters' profits, 
 which must also be added to the balance of exports, if we 
 wish to ascertain the amounts available for liquidating 
 debts. This gives a sum of £82,389,000, from which 
 
 ^ See " Year Book of the Commonwealth," p. 497. 
 2 The incomes remitted to AustraUans visiting Europe may 
 be set off against the monies spent by over-sea visitors in AustraUa. 
 
 158
 
 BANKING 
 
 must be deducted the £7,400,000 payable as interest. 
 This leaves about £75,000,000, which represent the reduc- 
 tion of Australia's outside indebtedness during the four 
 years 1903-6. To put the matter in another way. Under 
 normal conditions of trade, and when there is an equili- 
 brium between the introduction and withdrawal of capital, 
 Australia ought to show an excess of exports of £7,400,000, 
 representing interest on her total outside indebtedness. 
 This excess should be diminished and perhaps turned 
 into a deficiency by whatever is the value of ten per cent. 
 of the total imports, representing the exporters' profits. 
 If this profit exactly equalled the charge for interest — 
 exports and imports would balance. 
 
 Banking 
 
 A great volume of trade requires corresponding banking 
 facilities, so that banking statistics furnish a reliable 
 index of the commercial situation. The distinctive!}^ 
 Australian banks have a paid-up capital of £16,616,827 
 and a reserve fund of £7,332,593. Their total liabilities 
 on June 30, 1907, both to the public and their share- 
 holders were £117,507,488, and their assets were 
 £125,740,000, or £8,000,000 more than at the same date 
 in 1906. The total of the deposits and advances since 
 1904 are shown in the following table : 
 
 Total ] 
 
 Deposits^ ) 
 Total ) 
 
 Advances I 
 
 1904 
 
 i 
 
 91,548,103 
 
 87,705,227 
 
 1905 
 
 i 
 
 98,143,385 
 
 85,768,259 
 
 1906 
 
 i 
 
 106,515,266 
 
 87,889,121 
 
 1907 
 
 I 
 
 113,743.059 
 
 94,990,435 
 
 Warned by the crisis of 1893, 47*10 per cent, of the 
 total liabilities are represented by coin and bullion, a 
 ratio which indicates an almost excessive caution. 
 
 ^ The deposits per head of population were ;/^27 2s. Id. in 1907. 
 
 159
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 These figures show that Austrahan material interests 
 are really in the sound and healthy condition which 
 was suggested by the figures of production and trade. 
 For the last complete year the increase in the advances 
 exceeded the increase in deposits by nearly one million 
 sterling ; and it is beheved ^ that the next returns will 
 show even a more pronounced tendency in the same 
 direction. No better evidence could be afforded of the 
 industrial expansion which is taking place than this 
 demand of money for new enterprises. There is more- 
 over no sign of unsound commitment ; and there is 
 no boom. 
 
 Summary 
 
 Figures must of necessity be dull reading, but by no 
 other means was it possible to express the wonder of 
 Australia's wealth. Judged by any standard, whether 
 natural resources, climate, individual prosperity, pro- 
 duction, trade, or commerce, a comparison with other 
 parts of the Empire is in favour of Australia. She has 
 only 4,119,000 people. Yet the produce in agricultural 
 and pastoral industries is £84,349,000 : in forestry and 
 fisheries, £4,879,000 ; in minerals, £26,643,000 ; and in 
 manufactures, £31,172,000 ; making a total production 
 of £147,043,000, or £35 19s. lOd. per head. At the same 
 time her internal trade is £76,428,000, and her over-sea 
 commerce £114,482,675, making a total per head of 
 £46 14s. 7d., or of £28 Os. 5d. per head for over-sea com- 
 merce alone. No one who grasps these figures will 
 question Mr. Frank Bullen's statement that " Australia 
 is by far the richest of all the colonies." 
 
 ^ From the Times, Aug. 1, 1908. Report from the London 
 office of the Commonwealth. 
 
 160
 
 PART II. THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR UNION 
 
 Provincial Divisions — The First Steps — The Convention of 1891 
 —The Draft Bill— The Convention of 1897-8— Note on the 
 Contest. 
 
 No people in the world would seem to be more plainly 
 marked out by Nature to be under one government than 
 the homogeneous British inhabitants of the isolated 
 island of Australia. " A continent for a people, a people 
 for a continent." ^ Yet, — such is the perversity of fate 
 and prejudice, — Australia, until the first day of the 
 twentieth century, was divided into six self-governing 
 communities, each separate from the others and seeking 
 its own advantage without regard to the common interest. 
 New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South 
 Australia and Queensland each had its ^ " own legislature, 
 its local corporate life, with no small local pride in its 
 own history and institutions, super-added to the pride 
 of forming part of the English race and the great free 
 British realm. ^ Between the various colonies there was 
 no other political connection than that which arose from 
 their all belonging to this race and realm, so that the 
 inhabitants of each enjoyed in every one of the others 
 the rights and privileges of British subjects." This 
 
 ^ This fine phrase of Sir Edmund Barton's — to whose faithful 
 hands Sir Henry Parkes committed the leadership of the Federal 
 movement — will live with his leader's " Crimson thread of 
 kinship," among the literary mementoes of the struggle. 
 
 2 These words are used by Professor Bryce, " American 
 Commonwealth," p. 22, of the American Colonies before 1765. 
 
 3 Froude found, in 1887, that Mr. W. B. Dalley— a true 
 Imperialist — was opposed to Australian Union, because of this 
 feeling. (See " Oceana " passim.) 
 
 161 
 
 1 1— (3133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 however did not prevent each State from imposing tariffs 
 against its neighbours' products, ^ or trying to divert 
 their trade to its own ports by means of differential railway 
 rates. There was, too, such a sullen and deep-seated 
 hostility between New South Wales and Victoria, that 
 at times it seemed as if the history of the South American 
 republics might repeat itself. The waste, confusion 
 and irritation became at last insupportable. There was 
 fear, too, of foreign complications, owing to the entry of 
 Germany into the Pacific. 
 
 The First Steps 
 
 An opportune report by Major-General Edwards 
 insisted upon the necessity, both on the ground of 
 economy and efficiency, of combined military action for 
 defensive purposes. ^ Sir Henry Parkes, who had 
 brooded for many years upon the larger questions of 
 Australian politics, saw that his long-watched-for time 
 had come. In October, 1889, he chose a moment of 
 political calm to make a speech at Tenterfield, on the 
 borders of Queensland and New South Wales, which 
 stirred Austrahan feeling to its depths, demanding " a 
 Dominion Parliament in the Dominion of Australia — 
 that the colonies should be erected into a Dominion, and 
 that an elective Parliament should govern them." The 
 
 ^ Even the so-called " Free Trade " tariffs of New South Wales 
 put duties on the agricultural produce and wines of the other 
 colonies. 
 
 2 In 1878 there was a Russian scare, followed by a Royal 
 Commission on Defence (1879) and a Conference of Premiers 
 (1880). Queensland seized New Guinea in 1883. In 1885 Lord 
 Derby, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, put forward a 
 scheme of Naval Defence (1885). Admiral Tryon, as Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Australian Station, negotiated Naval Subsidies 
 with the Premiers of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria 
 (1886). The first Colonial Conference was held in London in 
 1887. The Organisations of the Protestant Churches became 
 inter-colonial during the Nineties. Labour Unions were federated 
 in 1890 and PastoraUsts' Unions in 1891. 
 
 162
 
 THE FEDERAL COUNCIL 
 
 reception of this speech showed with what unerring 
 instinct Sir Henry Parkes had chosen his occasion. 
 The movement passed at once from the politicians to 
 the people. An effort was made, which was partly sincere 
 and partly prompted by Victorian mistrust of Sir Henry 
 Parkes, to turn the current of public feeling towards a 
 strengthening of the moribund Federal Council, ^ which 
 
 * The Federal Council was established in 1885 by an Act of the 
 Imperial Parliament. It consisted of two representatives from 
 each participating State, appointed by the Ministry of the day 
 It met biennially at Hobart and was charged with legislative 
 powers over (1) The relations of Australia with the Islands of the 
 Pacific ; (2) Prevention of the influx of criminals ; (3) Fisheries 
 in Australian waters beyond territorial limits ; (4) The service 
 of Process ; (5) The enforcement of Judgments beyond the 
 limits of a colony. It had also derivative power over (1) Defence ; 
 (2) Quarantine ; (3) Patent Law ; (4) Copyright ; (5) Bills of 
 Exchange ; (6) Marriage and Divorce ; (7) Nationalisation, and 
 (8) other matters which any four or more States might agree 
 to refer to it. The original legislative powers affected all the 
 participating States ; those which were conferred by reference, 
 only the reforming States. Sir Henry Parkes, who had supported 
 the formation of this Council in 1880 soon perceived that it might 
 be an obstacle to closer union. New South Wales, consequently, 
 always held aloof from it. " I am convinced," said the states- 
 man, " that the whole matter is wrongly based. It is impossible 
 for any body constitutionally feebler than the Colonial Parlia- 
 ments to stand any strain in legislation against any strong public 
 feeling in any one of them. . . . The Federal Council is based on 
 the idea of initiating Federation, . . . but as it stands, it wants the 
 elemental strength of election. It wants the highest authority, 
 which is the authority of the people of the several colonies. No 
 Federal Council is capable of putting out strength unless it 
 is a Convention elected by the representatives of the people." 
 The writer, in an article which appeared in Alacmillan's Magazine 
 in 1885, described the Federal Council in these terms : — " It 
 originated in no Colonial Parliament and was suggested by no 
 popular movement. It is inferior in all the attributes of a gov- 
 erning body. It makes no provision for an executive ; it has 
 no power of taxation ; it cannot appropriate a penny of the 
 Federal revenue ; it contains no provision for an appellate 
 judiciary to decide conflicts between federal and local authority. 
 It is thus a Cabinet without responsibility ; a Government 
 without authority ; an Executive without a revenue. . . It 
 must give rise to numberless occasions for dispute." 
 
 163
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 might have been successful, if Lord Carrington, the 
 Governor of New South Wales, had not himself supported 
 and encouraged Sir Henry Parkes to persevere with the 
 larger scheme of Union, against strong pressure by his 
 brother Governors. ^ In 1890 a Convention was held in 
 Melbourne, chosen, according to the suggestion of Sir 
 Henry Parkes, out of the Parliaments of each colony, half 
 representing the Ministeriahsts and half the Opposition, 
 for the purpose of devising and reporting upon an adequate 
 scheme of government. The proceedings were entirely 
 deliberative, and were directed to obtaining expressions 
 of opinion on the policy of Federation and what should 
 be the leading features of a Federal Constitution. The 
 eloquence and personality of Sir Henry Parkes domin- 
 ated this assemblage, which was at first suspicious and 
 half-hearted. After a full and useful discussion, it 
 adjourned to Sydney, where it met in 1891 for the 
 purpose of framing a Constitution. 
 
 The Convention of 1891 
 
 Sir Henry Parkes presided there, and a series of resolu- 
 tions were submitted to the Convention as the basis of a 
 Draft Bill. The discussion upon these revealed an over- 
 whelming provincial feeling in favour of a Union after the 
 model of the United States. Sir Henry Parkes urged in 
 vain that the Canadian type was preferable, in which 
 the Central Government delegated limited powers to the 
 States, and exercised the residue itself. The Convention, 
 however, determined that the Commonwealth should be 
 carried out of the States, the latter retaining all powers 
 which they had not expressly parted with. The personal 
 
 ^ Earl Carrington has preserved the correspondence of this 
 period between himself. Sir Henry Parkes, Sir Henry Loch, Gov- 
 ernor of Victoria, and others at this period. This will be of great 
 value in helping historians to understand the cross-current of the 
 early Federal movement. More of its success is due to Lord 
 Carrington than the public guesses. 
 
 164
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF FEDERATION 
 
 element played a large part in this decision. Mr. A. 
 Inglis Clark, the most learned constitutionalist in the 
 Convention, and Sir Samuel Griffith, the keenest lawyer, 
 were both admirers of the United States, which the former 
 knew by observation as well as by books. Both of these 
 leaders too came from small States, where the fear that 
 the Central Government would be dominated by the 
 cities of Sydney and Melbourne was very real. Most of 
 the members, unfamiliar with constitutional problems and 
 regarding with traditional reverence the Constitution of 
 the United States, which was then only known to English- 
 men by Mr. Bryce's book, ^ were content to follow these 
 leaders and vote for the less centralised form of Union. 
 No other decision was possible at the time on account of 
 local fears and jealousies, which the advocates of a more 
 powerful central government were not able to allay by 
 any appeal to experience, because no other people had 
 tried to create a National Government out of such unequal 
 units as the six Australian States, and neither in Canada 
 nor the United States had the several interests been 
 apparently so irreconcilable. It was as if two New 
 Yorks and four Delawares or Marylands had tried to 
 make the United States, and, although Canada had to 
 face a rivalry between Ontario and Quebec neither of 
 these provinces menaced the independence of any other. 
 Nevertheless, the mistake thus made in 1891 will have 
 to be corrected, when the growing sense of Nationality 
 demands fuller expression, by re-modelling the Federation 
 on Canadian lines. 
 
 The Draft Bill 
 
 When the Convention separated it was intended to 
 
 submit a Draft Bill, which had been prepared by Sir 
 
 Samuel Griffith, Mr. A. Inglis Clark, Sir John Downer 
 
 and Mr. Barton, ^ to the Parliaments of all the States, 
 
 ^ " The American Commonwealth," pubhshed 1883. 
 2 Afterwards Sir Edmund Barton. 
 
 165
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 which were to suggest amendments for consideration at 
 another meeting. But these anticipations were not 
 reahsed, because this Convention never re-assembled. ^ 
 After 1891 the pubhc mind was too much occupied with 
 the problems of the commercial and industrial crises, to 
 give consideration to constitutional changes. The Labour 
 Party too was at that time indifferent to union and a 
 section of it was hostile. Nevertheless the seed which 
 had been sown was bearing fruit. Sir Henry Parkes 
 and Mr. Barton never lost hope. Small groups of men, 
 unconnected with party politics, formed Federal Leagues 
 in every city constituency ^ ; and Mr. Barton owes his 
 succession to the Federal leadership to the persistency 
 with which, undismayed by small attendances and popular 
 indifference, he instructed the people in Federal matters 
 during the four dark years which followed 1891. Not- 
 withstanding that he was then Attorney-General and 
 the real leader of the Assembly, he found time, during 
 
 ^ Even while the Convention was sitting Mr. Reid had denounced 
 Federation, comparing, in a parable. Free Trade New South Wales, 
 preparing to unite with five Protectionist colonies, to a teetotaller 
 proposing to keep house with five drunkards ! He was defeated 
 in an amendment to the Address on Reply, proposing that 
 the Draft Bill should not be considered, by 67 to 35 votes ; but 
 next week, with another Free Trader, the late Mr. J. H. Want, 
 joined the Protectionist Opposition in a Vote of want of confidence 
 which resulted in a defeat of the Government by four votes and 
 a consequent Dissolution. The Labour Party appeared for the 
 first time in the New Parliament, demanding priority for local 
 measures of reform. Sir George Dibbs, a consistent opponent 
 of any form of Federal union, succeeded Sir Henry Parkes, who 
 never again held office. 
 
 * Most of the workers for union at this time were in humble 
 circumstances, and very few had previously taken part in politics. 
 The late Mr. S. A. Byrne, a sign-painter by trade and an inde- 
 fatigable organiser and speaker, and Mr Thompson, of Paramatta, 
 a printer, who ran at his own cost for three issues a weekly paper 
 called The Australian Federalist, are two of many who rendered 
 yeoman service in those days, without any reward or recognition. 
 It was, indeed, a time of stirring of hearts, when it was good to 
 be alive. 
 
 166
 
 FEDERATION AND TARIFFS 
 
 this period, to deliver nearly two hundred scholarly 
 addresses on constitutional points to audiences which 
 often numbered less than fifty. Gradually public opinion 
 crystallised in favour of some form of union. But there 
 was still to be another period of delay. Since the Con- 
 vention had dispersed, local questions had come to the 
 front. Chief among these was a tax upon land values, 
 which was supported, both as a measure of finance which 
 might save the Free Trade policy of New South Wales, 
 and as a powerful instrument of social and economic 
 reform. Sir Henry Parkes, with ampler vision, refused 
 to divide parties upon the lines of local politics, insisting 
 that no true friend of Federation would choose such a 
 time to alter the local tariff or make other fiscal changes, 
 which would further comphcate the problem of Federal 
 finance by widening the difference between the financial 
 system of New South Wales and that of the other colonies. 
 Everyone now admits that these were the words of 
 wisdom, but unhappily they fell at the time upon deaf 
 ears. Many of his supporters deliberately chose to put 
 the policy of land value taxation even before Federation, 
 and most of them have now realised that they grasped at 
 the shadows and lost the substance. The effect of this 
 action was to shelve the question of Federation for three 
 years. 
 
 The Convention of 1897-8 
 
 The movement was re-started from the beginning upon 
 lines originally suggested by Sir Henry Parkes in 1885, 
 and earnestly advocated in 1894 by Sir John Quick at a 
 meeting at Bendigo (Victoria) of the " AustraHan Natives' 
 Association " — a body of young men to whose loyalty and 
 devotion to the cause of Union its ultimate success may be 
 due. Ten representatives of each State, elected by popular 
 vote, met at Adelaide in March, 1897 — after the death of 
 Sir Henry Parkes — to frame a Federal Constitution. 
 
 167
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The session was interrupted by the departure of the 
 Prime Minister for London to attend the Jubilee, 
 and was resumed in August at Sydney. In the interval 
 each House of Parliament in the several colonies had 
 suggested amendments in the Draft Bill that had been 
 prepared at Adelaide, upon the lines of that of 189L 
 Another adjournment took place in September on account 
 of the imminence of a General Election in Victoria, and 
 the final sitting took place in Melbourne between January 
 20th and March 12th of the following year (1898). 
 Altogether the Convention was engaged for four-and- 
 a-half months in the work of framing a Federal Con- 
 stitution. Its proceedings were marked by a dignity, 
 eloquence, and knowledge which deeply impressed 
 Australian opinion and have won the admiration of all 
 foreign critics. According to the original agreement 
 come to between the Premiers at Hobart in 1895, the Bill, 
 as finally approved by the Convention, was to be sub- 
 mitted to a popular vote and to be considered carried 
 if a majority of electors voted in its favour. Every 
 colony passed the Act which authorised this Referendum 
 upon the faith of this understanding ; but the Parliament 
 of New South Wales, with the acquiescence of Mr. Reid, 
 carried a measure while the Convention was still sitting, 
 repealing that part of the Enabling Act which provided 
 that a majority of votes should carry the Bill, and sub- 
 stituted a provision that the Bill should be considered 
 lost in New South Wales if at least 80,000 votes were not 
 recorded in its favour. As the rolls then stood, a poll of 
 150,000 was as large as could be expected ; so that by 
 this breach of faith the wishes of the majority were 
 thwarted and provincialism gained a new lease of life. 
 None the less, at the first Referendum, June 18, 1898, 
 71,595 votes were cast in New South Wales for the Bill 
 and 66,228 against. In every other colony the Bill was 
 carried by overwhelming majorities, except in Western 
 
 168
 
 THE FIRST GOVERNMENT 
 
 Australia, where, by agreement between the Premiers, 
 the poll was to be taken a year later. The majority in 
 New South Wales, though ineffective to carry the Bill, 
 took the sting out of the opposition to it, and when after 
 Mr. Reid had met the other Premiers in Conference, and 
 a slightly amended^ Bill had been re-submitted to the 
 popular vote in 1899, it was carried in New South Wales 
 by a large majority. The spade-work of the Federalists 
 had told. The movement itself had taken charge and 
 the people had become Federalists without knowing why. 
 The final stage was the submission of the Bill to the 
 Imperial Parliament, which passed it without further 
 amendment than that affecting the clause which pro- 
 hibited appeals to the King in Council. This was 
 modified by giving the High Court the final word in 
 the interpretation of the Constitution and giving suitors 
 the option of appealing from a State Court either to 
 the High Court or the Privy Council. The first Govern- 
 ment was formed at the end of 1899 and Ministers were 
 sworn in on January 1, 1900, in the Centennial Park 
 at Sydney. The Prince of Wales opened the first Parlia- 
 ment in Melbourne under the King's Commission in 
 May of the same year. The ten years' fight was ended, 
 a fight of which the published and secret details — the 
 characteristics of the leaders on either side, the varying 
 phases of the contest, the nature of the obstacles to 
 
 ^ The Bill as submitted contained the following alterations : — 
 " The Braddon Clause " was retained for a definite period of 
 ten years ; the capital was not to be in Sydney ; nor anywhere 
 within a radius of 100 miles, but it was to be in New South Wales ; 
 at the joint sitting of both Houses, in the event of a deadlock, 
 a bare majority was substituted for a three-fifths majority, with 
 the addition that it must be an absolute majority. None of these 
 alterations, except the first, affected the provisions which had 
 been the special object of attack before the first Referendum. 
 They were together less than the alterations which Mr. Barton 
 and the Federalists offered to obtain at the General Election of 
 1898, but which the " Antis " then rejected as inadequate. 
 
 169
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 be overcome, — will be investigated in years to come 
 with the same reverential curiosity which is now directed 
 towards the details of the struggle for American Union, 
 which is the only political movement of modern times 
 among English-speaking people equal to this in permanent 
 importance. When history is fully written, the names 
 which will be held in remembrance are Parkes, Carrington, 
 Barton, Deakin, O'Connor — and the writer hopes — his 
 own. Many others lived before Agamemnon ; and others 
 would have striven as hard, had there been any serious 
 contest in their own State. 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER 
 
 " The Struggle for Union " 
 
 Some account ^ may be given of this memorable struggle 
 without interrupting the narrative. In each colony an import- 
 ant section of the Press was oddly critical, the politicians were 
 indifferent, a Labour Party was suspiciovis, and powerful 
 provincial interests formed active centres of hostility. In each 
 colony also the statisticians and financiers condemned the finan- 
 cial proposals of the Bill, but this unanimity was the less terrifying, 
 because these critics in each province foretold the exaltation 
 of the other provinces upon the ruin of their own and no two of 
 these agreed upon the causes of the coming disaster or the methods 
 of escape. The Australian Natives' Association of Victoria struck 
 the key-note of the contest in that State in a demonstration at 
 Ballarat, March, 1898, which Mr. Deakin attended, of such 
 importance that it forced the Age (the leading Protectionist news- 
 paper) from an attitude of open hostility into a sulky acquiescence. 
 From that moment the success of the Bill in Victoria was assured. 
 Mr. Higgins, now a Judge of the High Court, led the Opposition 
 with good temper and ability ; but only succeeded in securing 
 22,099 negative votes against 100,520 ayes. Tasmania, where 
 the leading newspaper (Hobart Mercury) opposed the Bill, and 
 whose interests were undoubtedly exposed to risk by the financial 
 clauses, was captured by her young men, who, fired by the 
 enthusiasm of Victoria and helped from New South Wales, con- 
 ducted a spirited campaign in every part of that reputedly sleepy 
 island. The votes were : Ayes, 11,706 ; Noes, 2,716. In South 
 
 * See for a further account of the struggle for Australian union 
 an article by the writer on " The Commonwealth of Australia " 
 in The National Review, July, 1899. 
 
 170
 
 OPPOSITION TO FEDERATION 
 
 Australia the Ayes were 35,800, the Noes, 17,320. The interest 
 and risks of the struggle centred in New South Wales. Of all 
 the colonies she (like New York), from the extent and variety of 
 her resources, could best afford to stand alone. She was proud 
 of her comparative fiscal freedom, and Federation meant a 
 certain raising of the tariff. She had smarted for many years 
 under the unneighbourly taxes imposed upon her trade by hostile 
 tariffs and was inclined to look upon Victorian overtures for 
 Union as a wish to enlarge her glutted market. The magnitude 
 of her income from the public lands and the pernicious practices 
 of supplementing deficiencies in revenue by paying items of 
 ordinary expenditure out of Loan Funds made it easy for pro- 
 vincialists to draw misleading comparisons between her financial 
 condition and that of other colonies. Thus nowhere in Australia 
 was it easier for ignorance to appeal to local patriotism or for 
 malice to excite provincial jealousies. Speakers and writers, 
 who were conveniently blind to the daily loss which she was 
 suffering from disunion, exhausted themselves in lamentations 
 over the sacrifices which were demanded of the Mother Colony 
 and in denunciation of her avaricious neighbours. Mr. Reid, 
 saying that he would vote for the Bill, led the campaign against 
 it and gave a new term to Australian political slang. It was 
 called the "Yes-No" attitude. "His Aye shall be Aye, and his 
 Nay, Nay ; and his Yes-No shall he Yes-No." The Press organ 
 of the Government — The Sydney Daily Telegraph — exhausted the 
 resources of the printer's art in pictorial and literary scare-lines 
 on the unsuspected risks of union. On the eve of the poll it 
 dispatched a terrifying supplement to every elector in the colony 
 containing a collection of these awful prognostications. 
 
 The most serious — but possibly a less effective — opposition 
 came from a curious alliance between the Labour Party and the 
 wealthier classes. The Labour Party objected to the constitu- 
 tional clauses and the " classes " took alarm at the financial. 
 The cry was raised against the Bill that the equal representation 
 of the States in the Senate destroyed majority rule, although 
 without this provision there would have been a Unification not 
 a Federation. These advocates of " majority rule " were the 
 first to insist that the wishes of the majority as declared by the 
 first Referendum should be disregarded. The wealthier classes, 
 on the other hand, denounced the Bill as ultra-democratic and 
 some of them particularly objected to the clauses which would 
 prevent the centralising railway policy, by which trade was forced 
 from its natural channels into Sydney ; the majority were afraid 
 of increased taxation. 
 
 171
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NATURE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 The double aspect of Federation — Distinction between a Federal 
 and a Sovereign Government — The Sphere of the Common- 
 wealth — The National Sovereignty — Federal Powers — Special 
 Provisions — Navigation and Irrigation — Differential Railway 
 Rates — Railway Construction. 
 
 The Proclamation of the Commonwealth on January 1, 
 1900, gave AustraUa for the first time a National Govern- 
 ment which could act directly for every citizen. Until 
 then the legislative power of a separate State had ceased 
 at its borders and matters of common concern, such as a 
 tariff or a system of defence, could only be dealt with 
 by agreements, for breach of which there could be no 
 penalty, between governments whose personnel and policy 
 was constantly changing. This was an intolerable 
 inconvenience. A Federal Government however could 
 exercise by its own inherent authority, all those powers 
 which no single State was able to possess or discharge, 
 and this was the primary purpose of the Australian 
 Commonwealth. There were also other matters, such as 
 the administration of Post and Telegraphs, which could 
 be undertaken more satisfactorily by a central authority, 
 and which the States surrendered to the Commonwealth 
 for reasons of convenience. The discharge of these 
 functions was a subsidiary purpose of the Union. 
 
 Thus the problem of Australia, as of every other form 
 of Federal union, was twofold : — to create a Central 
 Government, which should have all the powers of an 
 independent government, so long as it acted within the 
 scope of its inherent authority, and secondly, so to fix 
 the relations of this Government to the separate States, 
 that it might exercise, within the fixed limits of the 
 
 172
 
 STATE AND FEDERAL POWERS 
 
 bargain, the powers which they have surrendered to it. 
 In neither case is it a complete scheme of government, 
 exercising all the functions and duties undertaken by a 
 civilised community, because it is always itself subject 
 to the Constitution, and because the Constitution pre- 
 supposes the existence of the States and assumes their 
 wide and constant activity. Nor are the State Govern- 
 ments less bound than the Federal by the Constitution. 
 In all matters within its inherent powers or assigned to 
 it, the Federal Government is supreme ; in other matters 
 a State retains its former legislative power which is 
 of course still united by its territorial bounds ^ and by the 
 terms of its own Constitution. Even so there is a resi- 
 duum of power which cannot be exercised either by the 
 Commonwealth or by the States. 
 
 Distinction Between a Federal and a Sovereign 
 
 Government 
 
 This great distinction between the Commonwealth 
 and a State Parliament, — which within the very wide 
 limits set by its physical boundaries and its Constitution, 
 is a sovereign body, exercising not a delegated but an 
 inherent power, — has not yet been fully grasped in 
 Australia. The public mind has been so familiarised 
 with a parliament, which, in Coke's quaint phrase, 
 " can do everything but make a man a woman," that it 
 received a rude surprise when, on two recent occasions, 
 the High Court held that legislation to extend the 
 advantages of a protective tariff directly to the workmen 
 in a protected industry ^ was beyond the powers of the 
 
 ^ It was at one time thought that the State ParUaments 
 exercised a delegated authority from the Imperial Parliament. 
 The Privy Council in Powell v. Apollo Candle Company (1885) 
 held that within the limits of its Constitution a State Parliament 
 was supreme. This must be read now subject to the Federal 
 Constitution. 
 
 2 See infra, p. 272. 
 
 173
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Commonwealth. Indeed, the hmited range of the 
 Commonwealth's legislative power is so little understood 
 that the Prohibition question and other local issues, in 
 respect of which the Commonwealth has no powers, 
 frequently figure in Federal elections. This essential 
 distinction between the Commonwealth and a sovereign 
 legislature must be constantly kept in mind during the 
 following discussion of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 The Sphere of the Commonwealth 
 
 The Constitution was based on resolutions, passed at 
 the opening session of the Convention, held at Adelaide 
 in 1897. The terms of these ore emphatic in recognition 
 of the higher purposes of Australian union. A Federal 
 Government was not desiderated merely as an amalgama- 
 tion of business interests, but, in the stately language of 
 the preamble to the resolutions, " in order to enlarge 
 the powers of self-government of the people of Australia." 
 For this purpose it was declared " desirable to create 
 a Federal Government, which shall exercise authority 
 throughout the Federated Colonies subject to the following 
 principal conditions." The preamble to the Constitu- 
 tion Act strikes an equally high note " Whereas the 
 people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, 
 Queensland and Tasmania, ^ humbly relying on the 
 blessings of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one 
 indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 and under the Constitution hereby established." 
 
 The conditions of union referred to in the preamble 
 to the Adelaide resolutions, reflect the temper of the day. 
 The first two, placed out of logical order in deference to 
 susceptibilities, declare " that the powers, privileges and 
 territories of the several existing colonies shall remain 
 
 ^ Western Australia came in as an " original State " at a later 
 date. 
 
 174
 
 FEDERAL MACHINERY 
 
 intact, except in respect of such surrenders as may be 
 agreed upon to secure uniformity of law and administration 
 in matters of common concern " and " that after the 
 estabhshment of the Federal Government there shall 
 be no alteration of the territorial possessions " [e.g., Lord 
 Howe and Norfolk Islands, which were dependencies of 
 New South Wales] " or boundaries of any colony without 
 the consent of the colony or colonies concerned." Then 
 followed a declaration of those larger purposes of govern- 
 ment for the sake of which the union was about to be 
 formed : — " (3) That the exclusive power to impose and 
 collect duties of Customs and Excise and give bounties, 
 shall be vested in the Federal Parliament. (4) That the 
 exclusive control of the military and naval defences of 
 the Federated Colonies shaU be vested in the Federal Parlia- 
 ment. (5) That the trade and intercourse between the 
 Federated Colonies, whether by land or sea, shall become 
 and remain absolutely free." The machinery by means 
 of which these objects were to be achieved was thus 
 described — " (a) A Parhament to consist of two Houses, 
 namely, a States Assembly or Senate, and a National 
 Assembly, or House of Representatives : the State 
 Assembly to consist of representatives of each Colony, 
 to hold office for such periods and to be chosen in such 
 manner as will best secure to that Chamber a perpetual 
 existence combined with definite responsibility to the 
 people of the State which shall have chosen them. The 
 National Assembly to be elected by districts formed on 
 a population basis, and to possess the sole power of 
 originating all bills, appropriating revenue or imposing 
 taxation, {b) An Executive, consisting of a Governor- 
 General, to be appointed by the Queen, and of such 
 persons as from time to time may be appointed her 
 advisers, (c) A Supreme Federal Court, which shall 
 also be the High Court of Appeal for each Colony in 
 the Federation." 
 
 175
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The National Sovereignty 
 
 The framers of the Constitution gave effect to these 
 instructions in a manner which makes the double purpose 
 of a Federal Union sufficiently clear. They wisely left 
 uncatalogued the larger and inherent powers which 
 belong to the Commonwealth as a National Govern- 
 ment, in reliance upon the doctrine laid down by Chief 
 Justice Marshall, and ever since acted upon in the United 
 States, that " the creation of a National Government 
 implies the grant of all such subsidiary powers as are 
 requisite to the effectuation of its main powers and 
 purposes." * This doctrine equally applies to the exer- 
 cise of those powers which have been conferred upon the 
 Commonwealth by the States. " When once the grant 
 of a power by the people to the National Government 
 has been established — (and the search for the power 
 must be conducted in a spirit of strict exactitude) — that 
 power will be construed broadly. The people, — so 
 Marshall and his successors have argued, — when they 
 confer a power, must be deemed to confer a wide discre- 
 tion as to the means whereby it is to be used in their 
 service. For their main object is that it should be used 
 vigorously and wisely, which it cannot be if the choice of 
 methods is narrowly restricted ; and while the people 
 may well be chary in delegating power to their agents, 
 they must be presumed, when they do grant these powers, 
 to grant them with confidence in the agent's judgment, 
 
 * This confidence received a rude shock from the decision of 
 the Privy Council in the case of V^ebb v. Outtrim (the Income 
 Tax cases), which denied the apphcabiUty of Marshall's doctrine 
 of " implied powers " to the Australian Constitution. The High 
 Court of Australia has refused to adopt this view ; and, as appeals 
 from State Courts to the Privy Council on questions which involve 
 the interpretation of the Constitution are now forbidden, the 
 American rules of interpretation will in future prevail. Mr. 
 Bryce calls attention to the rigidity with which the Privy Council 
 has interpreted the Dominion Act, in contrast to the flexibility 
 of American construction. 
 
 176
 
 1^ 
 
 CD 
 
 ?: .2 

 
 INHERENT POWERS 
 
 allowing all that freedom in using one means or another 
 to attain the desired end which is needed to ensure 
 success." 1 This, which would in any case be the com- 
 mon-sense \dew, is fortified by the governing words of 
 Sect. 51, which enumerates the legislative powers of the 
 Commonwealth Parliament : — " The Parhament shall, 
 subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws 
 for the peace, order, and good government of the Common- 
 wealth with respect to," etc. . . . And by the last sub- 
 division of the same Section " (xxxix) Matters incidental 
 to the execution of any power vested by this Constitution 
 in the Parhament or in either House thereof, or in the 
 Government of the Commonwealth, or in the Federal 
 Judicature, or in any department or offices of the Com- 
 monwealth." This sub-section is the nearest approach 
 in the Constitution to an enumeration of the inherent 
 powers, which vest in the Commonwealth by the mere 
 fact of its existence, but it does not include all. These are 
 rather to be gathered from the whole Constitution than 
 from any single clause. Thus, in addition to the inherent 
 powers of the Commonwealth to legislate in respect of 
 its Parhament, ^ Government, ^ or Judiciary, ^ referred 
 to in Sect. 51 (xxxix), similar power is somewhat illogi- 
 cally conferred upon it, by Sect. 52 and 122, in respect of 
 Federal Territory b}' Sect. 52 in respect of the Federal 
 Civil Ser\dce, and by Sect. 90 in respect of duties of 
 customs and excise and bounties. Sect. 119, which 
 imposes upon the Commonwealth the duty of protecting 
 any State against invasion — a duty which existed without 
 any statutor\^ imposition — also gives scope for the exercise 
 of the inherent power of legislation. As, however, no 
 one can foresee the future, or foretell the circumstances 
 
 ^ The above is Mr. Bnxe's summary- of the doctrines which 
 were just explained in McCullock v. Maryland. 
 - Sections 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 30, 49, 50. 
 3 Sections 3, 4. 61, 70. 
 * Sections 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 80. 
 
 177 
 
 • rs— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 which may require the exercise of its powers by a 
 National Government, the Constitution, in this par- 
 ticular as in others, is purposely a skeleton, which time will 
 cover with flesh and blood. No one can yet say what 
 powers of development lie within its pregnant phrases. ^ 
 
 Federal Powers 
 
 A list of matters which come within the purview of 
 the Federal Parliament is contained in Sect. 51 of the 
 Constitution, which is in these terms : — 
 
 5L The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, 
 
 have power to make laws for the peace, order, 
 
 and good government of the Commonwealth with 
 
 respect to : — 
 
 (i) Trade and Commerce with other countries and among 
 
 the States { 2 ) 
 
 1 The American doctrine of development, which shocks Eng- 
 hsh lawyers, must be recognised by the Judges of a Federal 
 Court, if the Constitution is not to lie, like a dead hand, upon 
 the people and prevent progress. " The cases which arise as 
 to the construction of these general words " {i.e., the Constitu- 
 tion) cannot be foreseen until they arise. When they do arise 
 the generality of the words leaves open to the interpreting Judges 
 a far wider field than is afforded by ordinary statistics which, 
 since they treat of one particular subject, contain enactments 
 comparatively minute and precise. Hence although the duty 
 of the Court is onl}^ to interpret, the considerations affecting 
 interpretation are more numerous than in the case of ordinary 
 Statutes, more delicate, larger in their reach and scope. They 
 sometimes need the exercise not merely of legal acumen and 
 judicial fairness, but of a comprehension of the nature and 
 methods of government which one does not demand from the 
 European Judge who walks in the narrow path traced for him 
 by ordinary Statutes." Bryce, "American Commonwealth," 
 i, p. 339. Ed. 1882. > 
 
 ( 2 ) A similar clause in the United States Constitution has been 
 held to include legislation regarding every kind of transportation 
 of goods and passengers, whether from abroad or from one State to 
 another ; regarding navigation, maritime and internal pilotage, 
 maritime contracts, etc., together with the control of all navigable 
 waters which lie in more than one State, the construction of all 
 public works helpful to commerce, etc., etc. See Baker's 
 " Annotated Constitution of the United States " and Bryce's 
 " American Commonwealth," vol. i, p. 504. (Ed. 1883.) 
 
 178
 
 FEDERAL POWERS 
 
 (ii) Taxation, but not so as to discriminate between States 
 
 or parts of States. ( ^ ) 
 (iii) Bounties in the production or export of goods, but so 
 that such bounties shall be uniform throughout the 
 Commonwealth, 
 (iv) Borrowing money on the public credit of the Common- 
 wealth. ( 2 ) 
 (v) Postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services, 
 (vi) The naval and military defence of the Commonwealth 
 and of the several States, and the control of 
 the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the 
 Commonwealth, 
 (vii) Lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys, 
 (viii) Astronomical and meteorological observations, 
 (ix) Quarantine. 
 
 (x) Fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits, 
 (xi) Census and statistics, 
 (xii) Currency, coinage, and legal tender, 
 (xiii) Banking, other than State banking ; also State banking 
 extending beyond the limits of the States concerned, 
 the incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper 
 money, 
 (xiv) Insurance, other than State insurance ; also State 
 insurance extending beyond the limits of the State 
 concerned, 
 (xv) Weights and measures, 
 (xvi) Bills of exchange and promissory notes. 
 (xvii) Bankruptcy and insolvency. 
 
 (xviii) Copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and 
 trade-marks, 
 (xix) Naturalisation and aliens. 
 
 (xx) Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corpora- 
 tions formed within the limits of the Commonwealth, 
 (xxi) Marriage. 
 
 (xxii) Divorce and matrimonial causes ; and in relation thereto, 
 parental rights, and the custody and guardianship 
 of infants, 
 (xxiii) Invalid and old-age pensions. 
 
 (xxiv) The service and execution throughout the Commonwealth 
 of the civil and criminal process and the judgments 
 of the Courts of the States. 
 
 ( ^ ) The American Constitution adds the further limitation 
 that taxation must be equal. This renders an Income Tax 
 unconstitutional . 
 
 (2 ) No money has yet (1908) been borrowed by the Common- 
 wealth. The Labour Party has steadily resisted any such proposal. 
 
 179
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 (xxv) The recognition throughout the Comnaonwealth of the 
 laws, the pubUc Acts and records, and the judicial 
 proceedings of the States. 
 
 •'(xxvi) The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race 
 in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make 
 special laws, 
 (xxvii) Immigration and emigration. 
 
 (xxviii) The influx of criminals, 
 (xxix) External affairs, 
 (xxx) The relations of the Commonwealth with the islands 
 
 of the Pacific, 
 (xxxi) The acquisition of property on just terms from any 
 State or person for any purpose in respect of which 
 the Parliament has power to make laws, 
 (xxxii) The control of railways Avith respect to transport for 
 the naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth. 
 
 (xxxiii) The acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any 
 railways of the State on terms arranged between the 
 Commonwealth and the State. 
 
 (xxxiv) Railway construction and extension in any State with 
 the consent of that State. 
 
 ■ (xxxv) Conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and 
 settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond 
 the limits of any one State. 
 
 (xxxvi) Matters in respect of which this Constitution makes 
 provision until the Parliament otherwise provides. 
 
 (xxxvii) Matters referred to the Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth by the Parliament or Parliaments of any 
 State or States, but so that the law shall extend only 
 to States by whose Parliaments the matter is referred, 
 or which afterwards adopt the law. 
 
 (xxxviii) The exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request 
 or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the 
 States directly concerned, of any power which can 
 at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised 
 only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by 
 The Federal Council of Australia. 
 
 (xxxix) Matters incidental to the execution of any power vested 
 by this Constitution in the Parliament or in either 
 House thereof, or in the Government of the Com- 
 monwealth, or in the Federal Judicature, or in any 
 department or office of the Commonwealth. 
 
 This Section does not as might be imagined withdraw 
 from the control of the States the matters which are 
 mentioned in it. The mere grant of a power to the 
 Commonwealth does not of itself, unless it is conferred 
 
 180
 
 STATE LEGISLATION 
 
 as an " exclusive " power, imply a prohibition upon the 
 States to exercise the like power. It is not the existence 
 in the National Government of the power to legislate 
 upon any of the matters mentioned in the Thirty-Nine 
 Articles of Sect. 52, but the exercise of any of them, 
 which is incompatible with the exercise of the same power 
 by a State. This is made clear by the provisions of 
 Sects. 107, 108 and 109, ^ which expressly preserve all 
 the legislative powers of a " colony which becomes a 
 State," except in so far as this " may be vested exclu- 
 sively in the Commonwealth Parliament or withdrawn 
 from the Parliament of the State" (Sect. 107), and con- 
 tinues all laws of the colony, which were in force at the 
 date of its becoming a State {i.e. a member of the Com- 
 monwealth), with permission to alter or repeal any 
 which has not formed the subject of Commonwealth 
 legislation (sect. 108). In the event of any inconsis- 
 tency between the law of a State and that of the Common- 
 wealth, the law of the former to the extent of the incon- 
 sistency is invalid (sect. 109). This latter provision 
 effectually establishes the supremacy of the Common- 
 wealth over the States in respect of every matter which 
 is legally within its purview. 
 
 In addition to the subjects of legislation mentioned 
 in Section 52, over all of which, except (iii) and (xxxix) 
 
 ^ Sect. 107. Every power of the Parliament of a colony 
 which has become or becomes a State, shall, unless it is by their 
 Constitution exclusively vested in the Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth or withdrawn from the Parliament of the State, continue 
 as at the establishment of the Commonwealth, or as at the 
 admission or establishment of the State as the case may be. 
 
 Sect. 108. Every law in force in a colony, which has become 
 or becomes a State, and relating to any matter within the powers 
 of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, shall, subject to this 
 Constitution, continue in force in the State ; and until provision 
 is made in that behalf by the Parliament of the Commonwealth, 
 the Parliament of the State shall have such powers of alteration 
 and of repeal in respect of any such law as the Parliament of the 
 colony had until the colony became a State. 
 
 181
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the States have a concurrent legislative power until 
 this is withdrawn in respect of any of them by the 
 exercise of the Commonwealth of its legislative power 
 in that behalf, the Commonwealth has a power of legisla- 
 tion which is exclusive of that possessed by the States 
 in certain matters which have been already mentioned 
 in the discussion of the Commonwealth's inherent 
 powers. 1 
 
 The powers, which are mentioned in Sections 51 and 
 52 and implied in other portions of the Constitution, 
 are the only ones which justify the Parliament in making, 
 or the Executive in enforcing, a law of the Commonwealth. 
 All other legislation and administration is left to the 
 States without power of interference by the Federal 
 Legislature or Federal Executive. The subjects com- 
 prised in these powers, — either because all parts of the 
 nation are alike interested in them or because it is only 
 by the nation, as a whole, that they can be satisfactorily 
 undertaken, — correspond with the powers of Congress 
 as they are thus summarised by Mr. Bryce : - — " (1) Army 
 and Navy ; (2) Federal Courts of Justice ; (3) Commerce, 
 foreign and domestic ; (3) Currency ; (4) Copyright and 
 patents ; (5) Postal communication ; (5) Taxation for 
 the foregoing purposes and for the general support of 
 the Government ; (6) The protection of citizens against 
 unjust or discriminating legislation by any State." 
 
 Yet, although the Constitution of the Commonwealth 
 follows in its main lines that of the United States, its 
 framers have avoided some of the latter's narrowness. 
 Parhament, for instance, unlike Congress, can deal with 
 marriage and divorce. It may pass an Income Tax and 
 ex post facto legislation, and is not haunted by the dread 
 lest any of its measures should " impair the obligation 
 
 ^ See supra, p. 175. 
 
 * "American Commonwealth" (i, p. 41. Ed. 1883.) In 
 addition the United States have the power of war and peace. 
 
 182
 
 DIVISION OF POWERS 
 
 of a contract." ^ Indeed, two of the matters within 
 its jurisdiction, — Old Age and Invahd Pensions, and 
 Concihation and Arbitration in Industrial Disputes which 
 extend beyond the State — are clear departures from the 
 eighteenth century doctrine of Freedom of Contract. 
 On the other hand, the powers of Parliament are very 
 inconveniently restricted in some directions. Thus, 
 although the Central Government controls immigration, 
 the States own the land, which is a chief inducement to 
 settlement in a new country, and up to the present the 
 States have refused to consider any scheme of co-operation 
 with the Commonwealth for the purpose of attracting 
 population. Industrial matters are another subject of 
 legislation which should properly belong to a National 
 Government, in order that the conditions of competitive 
 production should be the same, with the necessary allow- 
 ance for climatic variations throughout the continent. ^ 
 Equalisation of the industrial standard throughout the 
 continent would seem to be a corollary of that free 
 commercial intercourse without discrimination which is 
 an underlying principle of the Constitution, and an amend- 
 ment of the Constitution in this direction is now con- 
 templated. The most important power retained by the 
 States is the control of the policej'iwhich, if American 
 experience be a guide, may prove a useful instrument for 
 encroaching upon Federal authority.^ 
 
 ^ Much of the social and industrial legislation of England and 
 Australia could not be passed in America either by the States 
 or Congress in consequence of the constitutional prohibition 
 against laws " which impair the obligation of a contract." 
 
 2 The High Court has declared (1907) that the Commonwealth 
 has no power to make it a condition of a protective tax that the 
 protected industry shall pay fair wages. The States have no 
 effective machinery for enforcing such a condition, even if they 
 all desired it. 
 
 * Many Acts which seem to impinge upon Federal authority 
 have been justified in the United States by involving the doctrine 
 of " Police power," i.e., that a State should preserve order within 
 
 183
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Education is another large subject which hes outside 
 the scope of Federal action, and the Commonwealth 
 could not even establish an Australian University. 
 Obviously it could not have the Canadian power of 
 legislation upon all matters not coming within the 
 classes of subjects assigned exclusively to the legislature of 
 the provinces, for that would change the basis of the 
 Union and deprive the States of the residuum of power — 
 but it cannot even, like the German Bundesrath, pass 
 factory legislation, or a press-law, or a law controlling the 
 right of association, nor unify legal procedure nor con- 
 solidate the civil and criminal law, — unless, indeed, it be 
 held that some of these powers are implied in those which 
 have been expressly granted. 
 
 The functions of the Commonwealth may be enlarged 
 at some future date, if any State surrender any portion 
 of its legislative power (Sect. 108) or of its territory 
 (Sect. Ill), or if it prefer a request to the Commonwealth 
 to exercise " any power which can at the establishment 
 of their Constitution be exercised only by the Parliament 
 of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of 
 Australia." ^ Any two or more States may refer any 
 matter to the Commonwealth and give it legislative power 
 over that matter within their own boundaries (Sect. 52, 
 xxxvii). The laws of the Parliament have force within 
 the Commonwealth and " on all British ships, the Queen's 
 ships of war excepted, whose first port of clearance and 
 whose port of destination are in the Commonwealth." 
 
 The principal expressed restrictions on the Common- 
 wealth power are those which forbid any interference 
 
 its own limits. To English lawyers this doctrine seems to have 
 been stretched very far. 
 
 1 New South Wales Courts, by the Charter of Justice (1826) 
 have jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Pacific Ocean. 
 This is a larger jurisdiction than that of the Federal Judiciary. 
 Courts of Vice-Admiralty also exist in the separate States. These 
 are left unchanged by the Constitution. 
 
 184
 
 OTHER PROVISIONS 
 
 with freedom of trade and intercourse within the States > 
 and those which are intended to prevent any alteration 
 in the position of the States to their prejudice ; e.g., 
 Parhament cannot alter the equality of State representa- 
 tion in the Senate or reduce the number of representatives 
 below six for each State (Sect. 7), nor can it allot to any 
 State less than five members' in the Representative 
 Assembly (Sect. 24). In a Constitution framed on the 
 principle of specifying the powers of the Federal Govern- 
 ment such expressed restrictions are illogical, but they 
 serve as reminders that it originated from a compact 
 between independent States. 
 
 Special Provisions 
 
 The inclusion of some powers among those belonging 
 to the Commonwealth is as noticeable as the omissions 
 of others to which attention was called in an earlier page. 
 Their presence is explained by historical causes, which 
 require elucidation. 
 
 The subject, " Influx of Criminals " (xxviii of Sect. 52), 
 and ''non-aboriginal" races for whom it may be deemed 
 necessary to make special laws (xxvi of Sect. 52) are notes 
 of local and transitory difficulties, the former in respect 
 of escapees from New Caledonia, the French penal settle- 
 ment, the latter in respect of the Kanakas in Queensland. 
 Others reflect more serious controversies. 
 
 Navigation and Irrigation 
 
 Section 100, for instance, which limits the power of the 
 Commonwealth to deal with navigation (Sect. 98) by 
 conserving the right of riparian owners to use river water 
 for irrigation, was the outcome of a serious struggle in 
 the Convention between South Australia on the one 
 side, and New South Wales and Victoria upon the 
 other, as to the rights of each in the waters of the Darling 
 and the Murray. By grant of the Imperial Parliament, 
 
 185
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 New South Wales owns all the waters of the Murray 
 up to the Victorian border, and this river rises in her 
 territory, through which also the Darling runs for the 
 greater portion of its course. By Common Law, New 
 South Wales has the right of a riparian ow^ner to an 
 undiminished flow of the Murray through her territory. 
 South Australia has the same right in respect of her 
 territory. But Victoria owns the largest feeders of the 
 Murray and diverts their waters for irrigation. New 
 South Wales threatens to do the same with the northern 
 tributaries, the Darling and the Murrumbidgee. This 
 would mean that South Australia could not receive enough 
 water to maintain the fleet of steamers which now bring 
 trade to Adelaide from half-way up the river courses. 
 To such a country as Australia, navigation upon a bar- 
 bound river would seem a trifling importance in com- 
 parison with the development of agriculture by the use 
 of its waters. But the South Australian delegation was 
 the ablest in the Convention, and by persistency and 
 skilful bargaining it procured the subordination of the 
 larger interest to the smaller by forbidding the Common- 
 wealth to impair the navigability of any river. It is 
 hoped that the three States concerned will jointly construct 
 works by means of which the levels of the Murray and 
 the Darling will be maintained, while at the same time 
 the waters can be freely used for irrigation. 
 
 Differential Railway Rates 
 
 An even more serious conflict is reflected in the several 
 clauses which forbid the discrimination between States 
 and require any preferential rates to be approved by an 
 Inter-State Commission, constituted ad hoc (Sections 92, 
 99, 101, 102 and 103.) This is an historical echo of a 
 long struggle between the four eastern States to divert 
 trade, each to its own capital, without regard to 
 geographical position. The railways were the instruments 
 
 186
 
 A WASTEFUL POLICY 
 
 in this provincial game of " beggar-my-neighbour," and 
 the States of New South Wales and Victoria the worst 
 offenders. Each made free use of differential rates, 
 Victoria to secure and New South Wales to keep, the trade 
 of the Riverina district. The Victorian railways would 
 carry goods to the border, if these were consigned to places 
 on the other side, for merely nominal rates, and New 
 South Wales would charge excessive rates from its border 
 station to the places in question, and low rates for the 
 longer distance between these and Sydney. South 
 Australia took a hand by quoting a still lower combined 
 steamer and railway rate and Queensland cut her rates 
 to Brisbane to get the trade of the North Western district 
 of New South Wales. The beneficiaries were the residents 
 within the zone of this competition, but the rest of the 
 inhabitants paid heavily to further the business interests 
 of a small class in every capital. Unfortunate as such a 
 struggle was from many points of view, it was not wholly 
 indefensible. Although the natural outlet of most of the 
 trade in question was to Adelaide, Brisbane, or Melbourne, 
 it came from territory in regard to which New South 
 Wales bore all the cost of Government and which had 
 been developed by New South Wales Railways, which 
 made Sydney for practical purposes their nearest market. 
 In one instance a Victorian Government quoted so low a 
 rate from its border station to Melbourne, that practically 
 this paid the whole of the difference in cost of the land 
 and river transport of a clip to the border station, a 
 distance of about 100 miles and its transport to Sydney by 
 the New South Wales Railway, although the loading 
 station on this latter line was only four miles from the 
 wool-shed. ^ Instances of preferential and differential 
 rates of the New South Wales and South Australian 
 railways could be given which are equally scandalous. 
 
 ^ Uardry, on the line from Sydney to Hay. This was in 
 1885-6. 
 
 187
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Yet, anxious as the Convention was to end this fooUsh 
 struggle, the halting language of the Constitution reflects 
 the difficulties of the task. Although " preference and 
 discrimination by any State " is forbidden, this is only 
 if it is " undue or unreasonable or unjust to any State," 
 and of this the Inter-State Commission is the final judge 
 (Sect. 102). Even Parhament may not declare any rate 
 unlawful for carriage of goods on a Government railway, 
 if the rate is deemed by the Inter-State Commission, " to 
 be necessary for the development of the territory of the 
 State, and if it applies equally to goods within the State 
 and the goods passing into the State from other States " 
 (Sect. 104). 1 
 
 Contrast these hesitating and involved provisions with 
 the direct prohibition to the Commonwealth. " The 
 Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of 
 trade, or commerce, or revenue, give preference to one 
 State or any part thereof over another State or any part 
 thereof " (Sect. 99). The provincialists were ready 
 enough to condemn their own practices, when it became 
 a question of permitting them to the Commonwealth. 
 
 Preferential and differential rates were not the only 
 matter in connection with the railways, with regard to 
 which provincialists preferred the interest of the States 
 to the common welfare. The harmless looking provision 
 in number xxxiv of Sect. 52 empowering Parliament to 
 make laws in respect of " Railway construction and 
 extension in any State with the consent of that State,^^ 
 enshrines the memory of another bitter controversy within 
 its last six words. 
 
 Railway Construction 
 
 In pursuance of her centrahsing policy, New South 
 
 * Working agreements as to traffic have now been made 
 between the competing States. Probably however " cutting " 
 of rates continues, though not to the same extent. 
 
 188
 
 RAILWAY DIFFICULTIES 
 
 Wales refused to carry any railway but her portion of the 
 trunk line between Brisbane and Adelaide, to the north 
 bank of the Murray ; she preferred instead to build rail- 
 ways from east to west ending nowhere, in order to divert 
 to Sydney the trade which in a natural order of things 
 would go to Melbourne or Adelaide. The Riverina 
 furnishes two conspicuous examples of this " dog-in-the- 
 manger " policy. A long spear from the trunk line runs 
 along the Riverina, in a parallel course to the Murray 
 and ends at a town called Hay. Ninety miles further on 
 the Victorian railways, by means of a private line from 
 the border, connect the town of Deniliquin with Melbourne. 
 Hitherto no representations have been able to induce the 
 New South Wales Government to permit of a connection 
 being made between Deniliquin and Hay. The same 
 Government has run another spur from the trunk line 
 into the southern portion of the same district. It stops 
 at Jerilderie, thirty miles from a port on the southern 
 bank of the Murray to which a railway runs from Mel- 
 bourne. Another spur runs from Albury to Germanton. 
 The rate to Sydney from these places is made low enough 
 to counteract the advantage of proximity possessed by 
 Victoria. In the same spirit. New South Wales has 
 stopped the railway which connects her northern rivers 
 a quarter of a mile from the Queensland border, to which 
 a railway runs from Brisbane. At the Convention it was 
 proposed to settle all these difficulties and at the same 
 time the problem of finance by federalising the railways. 
 For this, public opinion was not yet ripe. The proposal 
 however put the provincialists on guard ; and the words 
 " with the consent of the State " were added to Sub- 
 section xxxiv to prevent the linking up of the New 
 South Wales with other systems. The proposal received 
 the silent vote of the South Australian delegation, for 
 reasons which have become apparent since the scheme 
 of a trans-continental railway from east to west has 
 
 189
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 been before Parliament. South Australia is now in a 
 position to block the scheme by refusing a passage for 
 the line, unless she can get her own terms. 
 
 Having thus dealt with the nature, sphere, and special 
 provisions of the National Government, it remains to 
 consider in what manner it is constituted and of what 
 departments it consists. 
 
 190
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE 
 
 The Crown — The Executive Council — Responsible Government. 
 
 The Australian Constitution follows the American, in 
 dividing the system of government into three depart- 
 ments — Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, but unlike 
 its model, it maintains no clear line of demarcation 
 between Executive and Legislative. 
 
 The Crown 
 
 The people of the Australian States having united 
 " in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under 
 the Crown " (Preamble), the King, whose office is the 
 symbol of Imperial Unity, is their natural head. But 
 every Constitution, which is granted to a colony, is pro 
 tanto an abandonment, by the Crown and other Estates 
 of the Realm, of a portion of their sovereignty. In this 
 case, by the Australian Constitution Act, the Crown has 
 abandoned all its rights and powers, as regards the 
 Commonwealth, except the supreme power of Peace and 
 War and the right to refuse assent to or annul certain 
 Acts of the Australian Parliament. Those which must be 
 reserved for the Royal Assent used to be specified in the 
 Instructions to the State Governor, but the Instructions 
 to the Governor-General are silent on the point. ^ The 
 power to annul is, in the interests of the Empire, left 
 general and unspecified. In all other matters the Crown 
 acts in Australia through the Governor-General : — " The 
 executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the 
 Queen and is exercisable by the Governor-General, as 
 
 1 Probably the Governor-General in the exercise of his dis- 
 cretion would be guided by the rules laid down for the State 
 Government. See below, p. 198. 
 
 191
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the Queen's representative, and extends to the execution 
 and maintenance of this Constitution and of the laws 
 of the Parhament" (Sect. 61). 
 
 As such Representative, the Governor-General has the 
 command in chief of the naval and military forces of the 
 Commonwealth (Sect. 68), and, in the same capacity 
 he chooses, summons and dismisses Federal Executive 
 Councillors, who hold office during his pleasure (Sect. 62). 
 He also exercises all the powers and functions in regard 
 to the Commonwealth, which were possessed by any 
 State Governor in regard to his State, at the establishment 
 of the Commonwealth 1 (Sect. 70); and the King can 
 further confer upon him the right to exercise, subject 
 to the Constitution, any powers or functions of the 
 Crown (Sect. 2). He is appointed by the King for a fixed 
 term, which has been hitherto five years, but may be 
 recalled at any time. A salary of £10,000 is attached 
 to the office (Sect. 3). This may be reduced or increased 
 by Parliament ; but may not be altered during any 
 term of ofiice, lest the independence of the holder might 
 be brought into question. In the exercise of the powers 
 which have been already mentioned, the Governor-General 
 acts upon his own responsibility as representative of the 
 King. In other matters he acts with the advice of the 
 Federal Executive Council ; — that is, he is the constitu- 
 tional head of a responsible government on the English 
 model. 
 
 The Executive Council 
 
 The Constitution places no limit to the Federal Execu- 
 tive Council, which might legally be increased to any 
 number which the Governor-General deemed necessary. 
 In practice, however, it is limited to the seven " King's 
 Ministers of State," who administer the seven departments, 
 
 ^ e.g., The Prerogative of Mercy incasesofofiences against the 
 Laws of the Commonwealth. 
 
 192
 
 THE MINISTRY 
 
 which the Governor in Council has estabhshed^ (Sect. 
 63) and must be members of the Council, and also 
 be, or become within three months of appointment 
 as Ministers, members of one or other House of Parlia- 
 ment (Sect. 64). Parliament may increase the number 
 of Ministers and prescribe their offices (Sect. 65). The 
 total of the ministerial salaries may not exceed /1 2,000 
 per annum, until Parliament makes other provision 
 (Sect. 27). Ministers on quitting office cease to be 
 Executive Councillors, according to present practice ; 
 but this is not a constitutional requirement. ^ 
 
 These few provisions contain the key to the Australian 
 Constitution, for which however an American or foreigner 
 would search the text in vain, unless he were acquainted 
 with the practical working of British Government. For 
 they presuppose a familiarity with the methods of 
 government, which then existed in every Australian 
 State, and the continuance of responsible government 
 is assumed without being specially enacted. At the same 
 time, the provisions which enable its continuance are 
 sufficiently wide to allow of other systems, should this one 
 prove unsuited to a Federation. Except that Ministers 
 
 ^ The Departments already established are those of External 
 Affairs, the Treasury, the Attorney-General, Home Affairs, 
 Trades and Customs, Defence and the Postmaster-General. The 
 seven Ministers of State preside over these departments with 
 the Vice-President of the Executive Council and, sometimes, 
 an Honorary Minister from the Cabinet. 
 
 2 No Australian or English reader will need to be told 
 that the Governor-General's apparent liberty in choosing his 
 Executive Council is virtually restricted by the constitutional 
 usage, which requires that the Ministry shall have the confidence 
 of the House of Representatives. The practice is for the Governor- 
 General to send for some prominent member to form a 
 Ministry. He arranges the distribution of portfolios and submits 
 these to the Governor-General for approval. Theoretically the 
 Governor can disapprove of any name, and doubtless a tactful 
 Governor can often influence a Premier in the formation of his 
 Ministry ; but he is by usage required to accept the whole list 
 when it is formally presented for his approval. 
 
 193 
 
 13— (2135)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 must sit in Parliament, there seems no limit to the changes 
 which might be made with the acquiescence of the 
 Governor-General, in the method of appointment, tenure 
 of office, or function. No part of the Constitution evinces 
 greater sagacity and foresight. Consider for a moment 
 the nature of the problem which the framers of the 
 Constitution had to solve. 
 
 Responsible Government 
 
 Most of these men had been Ministers of the Crown in 
 their respective colonies, and all were so familiar with 
 the practice of responsible government that they would 
 not willingly have established any other. Yet many 
 doubted whether it would be possible to preserve 
 responsible government in a federal system. ^ One of the 
 ablest representatives of the smaller States, Sir Richard 
 Baker 2 (South Australia), was a convinced disbeliever in 
 the compatibility of the two systems. " Either federa- 
 tion," he wrote, " will destroy responsible government, 
 or responsible government will destroy federation ! . , . 
 There cannot be a responsible government which is 
 responsible to two Houses." There seemed no logical 
 outlet from this dilemma. 
 
 Driven to make a choice, the Convention, as we shall 
 see in the next chapter, preferred rather to preserve the 
 practice of responsible government, than the logical 
 cohesion of the Federal idea. The future however was 
 by no means clear. The Senate, although it might be 
 ultimately driven to admit the supremacy of the House of 
 
 ^ Responsible government requires (1) the collective responsi- 
 bility of the Cabinet ; (2) that Ministers should have a majority 
 in the House which controls supplies ; (3) that they should have 
 a common and concerted policy ; (4) that they should recognise 
 the Leadership of the Prime Minister ; (5) that the resignation of 
 the Prime Minister should carry with it the resignation of the 
 whole Cabinet. 
 
 * Afterwards the first President of the Senate. 
 
 194
 
 THE CABINET 
 
 Representatives, yet retained so much more power than 
 the Upper Chamber of any colony, except Victoria, that 
 its obedience to a majority in the House of Representa- 
 tives appeared problematical. Drawing their power from 
 the same source as the House of Representatives, namely 
 adult suffrage, but drawing it in the concentrated form 
 of support from large constituencies, ^ and holding office 
 for six years instead of three, might not Senators develop 
 an unmanageable corporate pride ? And as a State House 
 were they not bound to place State interests before every- 
 thing ? No Cabinet can live in perpetual constitutional 
 conflict. Therefore, while retaining responsible govern- 
 ment, it seemed wise to leave the way open for its modifi- 
 cation or abolition, should new conditions make either 
 necessary. 
 
 Responsible government, then, with the collective 
 Cabinet responsibility which it implies, is the cardinal and 
 distinctive feature of the Australian Constitution. ^ Will 
 the experiment succeed ? Even such enthusiastic federal- 
 ists as the late Mr. David Syme and Mr. Inglis Clark often 
 felt doubts on the subject. 
 
 The discussion of such a question involves a discussion 
 of the character of Parhament, because, as Mr. Bryce has 
 
 ^ Senators are returned by the vote of each colony voting as 
 one constituency, except in Queensland, where there are three 
 electoral divisions for the Senate. 
 
 ^ In the United States the Executive is completely separated 
 from the Legislature to the harm of both. No 5linister can hold 
 a seat in Congress. The Cabinet is responsible individually to 
 the President, and collectively neither leads a party nor frames 
 a policy. Congress thus deprived of leaders, flounders in a chaos 
 of business, which covers up much incompetence and corruption. 
 Its members, as Mr. Bryce puts it, are " architects without 
 science, critics without experience, censors without responsi- 
 biUty." In Canada, which also has responsible government, 
 the difficulties caused by the composition of the Australian 
 Senate are absent. Canada is an example rather of a Umited 
 unification than a Federation ; and its Senators are appointed 
 by Ministerial nomination. 
 
 195
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 pointed out, one consequence of the system is the merging 
 in Parhament of the legislative and executive powers. 
 The right of the majority of the House of Commons to 
 displace a Ministry, whose actions it disapproves, in- 
 directly makes the House a dictator of Ministerial pohcy. 
 Parliament is the real government of the country, only 
 it acts through Ministers whom it has itself chosen. 
 It is forced by its unwieldy size to leave so large a measure 
 of its discretion to its trusted agents that they appear 
 distinct from it, but the real Executive is the majority 
 which keeps him in ofhce. And as the legislature is in a 
 sense executive, so the Executive, or Cabinet, has legisla- 
 tive power, because the initiation and passing of measures 
 rests mainly with them. They are legislative leaders as 
 well as executive agents. Accordingly the enquiry into 
 the working of responsible government wdll be properly 
 postponed until the nature of the Commonwealth 
 Parliament has been explained. 
 
 196
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PARLIAMENT 
 
 The Governor-General — The Senate — The House of Representa- 
 tives — Relations between the two Houses — -The States 
 House — Money Bills — Deadlocks — Tacking — Limitation of 
 the Legislative Power — The Prerogative — Fundamental Laws. 
 
 The first section of the Constitution provides that " The 
 legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in 
 a Federal Parliament which shall consist of the Queen, ^ 
 a Senate, and a House of Representatives." 
 
 The Governor-General 
 
 ( 
 
 The King by English law is part of Parliament, as well 
 as head of the Executive. All laws are made in his name ^ 
 and must receive his assent. 
 
 The legislative functions which the King still exercises 
 in the Commonwealth are limited, as has been already 
 explained, to giving or withholding assent to reserved 
 Bills, or annulling within one year of its passage any Act 
 which might be prejudicial to the larger interests of the 
 Empire. In all other respects the Governor-General 
 performs the legislative as well as the executive functions 
 of the Crown as representative of the King. 
 
 Thus all Bills are presented to the Governor-General 
 
 ^ This Act was passed in 1900, before the death of Queen 
 Victoria. 
 
 2 "Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by 
 and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
 poral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled 
 at. . . . " 
 
 The corresponding enacting clause of the Commonwealth 
 Acts is as follows : — 
 
 " Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the 
 Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth 
 of Australia, as follows. . . ." 
 
 197
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 for his assent in the King's name and do not become Acts 
 of Parliament until this has been given. His Instructions 
 do not require him to reserve for His Majesty's consent 
 any Bill. But probably he would be guided in the 
 exercise of this discretion, to assent to or reserve for His 
 Majesty's pleasure, any Bill which came within the class 
 of measures to which a State Governor is prohibited from 
 assenting b}' his Instructions, namely, (1) any Bill dealing 
 with divorce ; (2) any Bill whereby any donation or grant 
 of money or gratuity may be made to himself ; (3) any 
 Bill affecting currency [the power to legislate about 
 currency is, however, expressly granted to the Common- 
 wealth Parliament] ; (4) any Bill which is inconsistent 
 with the obligation of a Treaty ; (5) any Bill of an 
 extraordinary nature and importance whereby the Royal 
 Prerogative or the rights and property of residents in the 
 State, or the trade and shipping of the United Kingdom 
 and its Dependencies may be prejudiced ; (6) any Bill 
 containing provisions to which the Royal Assent has been 
 once refused or which has been disallowed by His 
 Majesty. ^ 
 
 Further, as stated above, any Act, although it has been 
 assented to in the King's name by the Governor-General, 
 may be annulled by the King, within one year from the 
 date of such assent (Sect. 59). The Governor-General 
 also, as representative of the King, summons, prorogues, 
 dissolves Parliament, subject to an obligation to hold a 
 session onc(^ in each year, and not to allow twelve months 
 to intervene between two sessions (Sect. 6). Writs for 
 the election of members of the House of Representatives 
 run in the name of the Governor-General, since it is fitting 
 that the representative of the National Government 
 should summon the National House. ^ Writs for the 
 
 ' These Instructions are dated Oct. 18, 1900. They permit the 
 
 Governor to assent to any of these measures in case of urgency. 
 
 * So-called in the Convention Resolutions. See infra, p. 175. 
 
 198
 
 THE SENATE 
 
 Senate, which is the State House, are appropriately issued 
 by the respective State Governors, at the request of the 
 Governor-General (Sect. 12). A power is also given to 
 the Governor-General, which is unknown to the British 
 Constitution, of taking a direct part in legislation by 
 returning any proposed law to the House in which it 
 originated, and ' ' transmitting therewith any amendments 
 which he may recommend. And the House may deal 
 with the recommendation " (Sect. 58). This power would 
 doubtless only be exercised under exceptional circum- 
 stances ; but its existence in the Constitution indicates 
 the confidence of the Australian democracy that the Crown 
 will always select a fit representative. 
 
 The Senate 
 
 The two Houses in which, with the King, the legislative 
 power of the Commonwealth is vested, bear a superficial 
 resemblance, in their respective functions, to the Senate 
 and House of Representatives of the United States, or 
 the House of Lords and House of Commons in Great 
 Britain. But the differences between the Australian 
 Parliament and Congress or the British Parliament are 
 so considerable, that readers should be cautioned 
 against applying American or English standards to the 
 examination of the Australian system. 
 
 The Senate consists of six senators from each State,* 
 directly chosen by the people of the State, voting, until 
 the Parliament otherwise provides, as one electorate 
 (Sect. 7), 2 and must be at least twenty-one years of 
 age, electors of a State, for three years at least resident 
 in the Commonwealth, and subjects of the King, either 
 
 ^ Senators in the United States are elected by the State 
 Legislatures : in Canada they are nominated for life by the 
 Ministry of the day. 
 
 2 The same section allows the Queensland Parliaments to 
 divide the State into three electoral districts for the election of 
 Senators. 
 
 199
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 natural born or for five years naturalised (Sect. 34). A 
 candidate must not be under certain disqualifications, 
 viz., a subject or citizen, or under any acknowledgment 
 or allegiance to, a foreign power ; attainted of treason or 
 under sentence to a term of imprisonment for longer than 
 one year ; an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent ; the 
 holder of any ofiice under the Crown or a pensioner of the 
 Crown out of the revenues of the Commonwealth, except 
 Ministers of the Commonwealth or of a State, or naval 
 and military officers in receipt of pay or pension, whose 
 services are not wholly employed by the Commonwealth ; 
 any person contracting directly or indirectly for the public 
 services of the Commonwealth, except as a member of an 
 incorporated company of more than twenty-five persons. 
 The seat becomes forfeited if a senator comes under any 
 of the above disqualifications ; becomes bankrupt or 
 insolvent : directly or indirectly takes or agrees to take 
 any fee or honorarium for services rendered to the 
 Commonwealth, or for services rendered in the Parliament 
 to any person or State (Sects. 44 and 45). A senator 
 sitting after his seat has become forfeited incurs a penalty 
 of £100 a day, which may be recovered by a com.mon 
 informer (Sect. 46). Senators are elected for six years 
 and are eligible for re-election. One-half retire every 
 three years, so that the body has a perpetual existence, 
 and the whole of it is never renewed at the same time 
 (Sect. 13). In the event of a vacancy occurring during 
 the currency of a triennial period, it is filled by the 
 Houses of both branches of the Legislature of the State, 
 for which the vacancy has occurred, sitting and voting 
 together. If this legislature is not in session the Governor 
 of the State, in Council, nominates a person to hold 
 the place until the expiration of fourteen days from the 
 next session of the State Parliament. At the next general 
 election of Members of the House of Representatives, 
 or at the next election of senators for the State, 
 
 200
 
 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 whichever first happens, a successor shall, if the term 
 be not then expired, be chosen and fill the vacancy until 
 the expiration of the term (Sect. 13). Questions arising 
 in the Senate are determined by a majority of individual 
 votes, and the President has in all cases one vote (Sect. 23). 
 One-third of the Senate constitutes a quorum, but 
 Parliament may reduce or enlarge this (Sect, 22). 
 
 The Senate, unlike the Senate of the United States, 
 only possesses legislative functions. It has to concur in 
 all measures before they can become law, and their 
 powers except as to certain bills are the same as those of 
 the House of Representatives. The significance of this 
 restriction will be considered in the discussion of the 
 relations between the two Houses. 
 
 House of Representatives 
 
 The House of Representatives is chosen directly by the 
 people of the Commonwealth (Sect. 24), voting on a popu- 
 lation basis in electorates defined by the respective 
 State Parliaments (Sect. 29) ^ on a uniform adult suffrage. 
 Five members at least must be chosen from each original 
 State, and the total number of representatives is as nearly 
 as practicable seventy-two, or twice the number of the 
 Senators (Sect. 24). The quota for each constituent 
 State is determined by dividing the number of the people 
 of the Commonwealth by twice the number of Senators. 
 This works out at about 50,000 voters to each representa- 
 tive. The present apportionment of members to each 
 State is, — New South Wales, 27 ; Victoria, 22 ; Queens- 
 land, 9 ; South Australia, 7 ; Western Australia, 5 ; 
 Tasmania, 5 : — Total, 75 members. The qualifications 
 and disqualifications of representatives are the same as 
 those of senators (Sects. 34, 43,45,46). Writs are issued 
 
 1 If the States did not define electoral districts, the Common- 
 wealth Parliament could do so. Failing this the State would 
 form one electorate ; and Senators and Representatives would 
 be elected by the same constituency. 
 
 201
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 in the name of the Governor-General (Sect. 32), and the 
 duration of the House is three years from its first meeting, 
 but it may be dissolved sooner by the Governor-General 
 (Sect. 28). The Speaker, unhke the President of the 
 Senate, has no vote (Sect. 40). The powers, privileges and 
 immunities of both Houses and of the members and 
 committees of each, are such as shall be declared by 
 Parliament and until declared shall be those of the House 
 of Commons and its members and committees at the 
 establishment of the Commonwealth (Sect. 49). Each 
 House has power to make Standing Orders (Sect. 50). 
 
 Relations Between the Two Houses 
 
 A correct understanding of the relations between the 
 Senate and the House of Representatives requires some 
 familiarity with a long-standing constitutional struggle 
 which was transferred from the political arena of the 
 States to the floor of the Federal Convention. 
 
 Every colony, following English example, had two 
 Houses of Parliament, the one — the Legislative Council, 
 usually representative of the mercantile and landed 
 interests — the other — the Legislative Assembly — elected 
 on a wide suffrage and democratic in opinion. The 
 struggles between these two Chambers had been frequent 
 and bitter, and many devices had been tried to overcome 
 the opposition of the Council to the more radical measures 
 of the Lower Houses. The most effective was un- 
 doubtedly the constitution of the Upper House by 
 nominees of the Governor-in-Council. This plan gave the 
 Second Chamber something of the influence and attributes 
 of the House of Lords. It was constrained by its own 
 traditions to yield before any clear manifestation of the 
 popular will, and could at any time be coerced by the 
 appointment of new members. On the other hand, the 
 apparently more democratic device of elective Upper 
 Chambers, as in Victoria and South Australia, had proved 
 
 202
 
 THE MONEY PAWN 
 
 a constant source of political trouble. On whatever 
 suffrage or by whatever electorate a Legislative Council 
 was elected, it could resist any measure of the Assembly, 
 so long as it retained the support of its own constituents, 
 and this could only be ascertained by a General Election, 
 which would be punitive to the Assembly also. Dead- 
 locks between the two Houses were consequently frequent. 
 One in particular in Victoria, between 1868 and 1873, 
 had brought the colony to the verge of revolution. The 
 last weapon in the armour}'^ of the Assembly was the 
 power of refusing supplies or imposing taxation. Con- 
 sequently any attempt by a Council to interfere with a 
 money bill was jealously watched and invariably 
 resisted. The possession of the " money pawn " became 
 at last the deciding factor in these constitutional struggles. 
 In spite of these difficulties in the way of harmonious 
 working between the two Houses, no proposal for a single 
 chamber had found favour. It became, consequently, 
 from the first, a matter of general agreement that there 
 must be two Houses in any form of Federal union. There 
 was not, however, the same unanimity as to their relative 
 powers. 
 
 The States House 
 
 From the beginning of the Federal movement a party 
 had advocated what was called to the end of the con- 
 troversy " majority rule," which meant that a majority 
 of voters on a population basis should be able, through 
 their representatives, to enforce their wishes upon all 
 occasions. Queensland, Tasmania, and South Australia 
 were inexorable against this or any other form of limited 
 unification, which they feared would mean, in practice, 
 the supremacy of the two large cities, Sydney and Mel- 
 bourne, whose inhabitants, out of touch with their own 
 country districts, knew nothing of the many difficulties 
 of the remote States. They insisted, too, that on historic 
 
 203
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 as well as theoretic grounds, the union must be Federal, 
 and made it plain that they would prefer to continue 
 separate, unless their identity as States was preserved in 
 the union. It is evident now, after eight years' trial of 
 union, that these demands undervalued the national 
 sentiment and were based on the delusion that parties 
 would di\'ide upon the issue of Commonwealth versus 
 States. In fact, party divisions have never been upon 
 State lines and are not likely to become so, while nothing 
 indicates that the States will ever group themselves, as a 
 body, in opposition to the Commonwealth. In 1891, 
 however, and onwards, the apprehensions of the smaller 
 States seemed less unreasonable, and at any rate it 
 was plain to all that without the required concession, 
 there could be no union. Thus, from the outset of its 
 deliberations, the Convention of 1897 was pledged to a 
 system of Federal union, which meant in practical working 
 that before any measure became law, it should be 
 approved by a majority of federating States, as well as 
 by a majority of the people of Australia. 
 
 Accordingly the most conspicuous and what was at 
 the time deemed the most important function of the 
 Senate was that it should be, in the language of the 
 Adelaide Resolutions, a " States House," which should 
 represent the several States, as States, in the Federal union. 
 It logically followed from the conception of a national 
 union which was based upon the consent, not of the 
 people as a whole, but of the States, that each State — the 
 smallest with the biggest — should be on equality with the 
 others in the States House. The equal representation of 
 States in the Senate is thus a fundamental principle of 
 tlie Australian union. No law of Parliament can ever 
 alter it — although Parliament may increase the number 
 of Senators — and no State can be deprived of its equality 
 of representation wthout its own consent (Sect. 7). Not 
 reassured by these provisions, the delegates from the 
 
 204
 
 MONEY BILLS 
 
 smaller States carried the doctrine of State equality in a 
 States House to the extreme of an insistence that the 
 power of each House of Parliament should be identical. 
 
 Money Bills 
 
 The first struggle raged at Adelaide over the question 
 of Money Bills and the fate of the Constitution hung in 
 the balance for many days. At one time the hope of 
 settlement had been almost abandoned and had a division 
 been taken at the anticipated hour, a majority would have 
 been recorded in favour of the States Right doctrine that 
 the Senate should have an equal power with the House 
 of Representatives in respect of taxation. Calmer heads 
 suggested an adjournment until next day, when three 
 representatives from Tasmania^ and one from South 
 Australia, ^ whose names deserve grateful remembrance, 
 rejected the urgent representations of the delegates 
 from Victoria and New South Wales, and voted, for the 
 sake of union, ^ in favour of the supremacy of the House 
 of Representatives in money matters. 
 
 As might have been anticipated in a British assembly, 
 the final result was a compromise. The House of Repre- 
 sentatives retains the power of the purse, as an essential 
 instrument of national sovereignty. Consequently all 
 Appropriation and Taxing Bills ^ must originate in that 
 Chamber, and cannot be amended by the Senate, although 
 they may be rejected. The Senate however may return 
 any such Bill with suggestions^ — a distinction which is 
 not, as some critics have thought, without meaning, but 
 
 ^ Messrs. Henry, Lewis, and Brown. 
 
 « Mr. Glynn. 
 
 ^ The late Sir Joseph Abbott, then Speaker of the New South 
 Wales Assembly negotiated the concession. 
 
 * " Proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys, or 
 imposing taxation, shall not originate in the Senate." (Sect 53.) 
 
 5 This provision was copied from the South Australian 
 Constitution. 
 
 205
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 one which retains to the House of Representatives full 
 responsibility for the final shape of the measure. The 
 Senate moreover cannot amend any Bill so as to increase 
 any charge or burden upon the people. In all other 
 respects it has equal legislative power. 
 
 The same struggle was renewed over the provisions 
 which dealt with cases of conflict between the two Houses, 
 and was not decided until the final session of the 
 Convention in Sydney. 
 
 Deadlocks 
 
 On the one side it was urged that to deprive the Senate 
 of a power of veto rendered the equal representation of 
 the States an illusory safeguard and was taking away 
 with the one hand what had been given with the other ; 
 that conflicts were not likely to arise over any of the 
 thirty-nine subjects within the legislative power of Parlia- 
 ment, and that if they did occur, a majority of Senators, 
 who it was assumed would represent a majority of 
 States, ought not to be coerced by the representatives 
 of larger populations. " Deadlocks," it was argued in 
 words borrowed from Mr. Bryce, ^ " are not always 
 disadvantageous ; they are also the price that must be 
 paid for Constitutional freedom, and can only be avoided 
 in a Despotism." True, however, to its belief in the 
 necessity of maintaining the supremacy of one House, 
 as an essential condition of national sovereignty, the 
 Convention, on the motion of the writer at Adelaide, made 
 both Houses hable to simultaneous dissolution if the 
 Houses of Representatives twice passed a Bill to which 
 the Senate declined to agree. This, it was argued, was a 
 sufficient safeguard against factious opposition to minis- 
 terial proposals, or imperviousness to popular ideas from 
 excess of senatorial dignity. It was not, however, 
 sufficient to satisfy Victoria and New South Wales. In 
 
 ^ " American Commonwealth," Vol. 1, Ch. IX. 
 
 206
 
 MAJORITY RULE 
 
 both these colonies the equal representation in the Senate 
 had met with strong opposition. The anti-Federalists, 
 fixing attention only on the Senate, and conveniently 
 ignoring the fact that representation in the House of 
 Representatives was on a population basis, artfully 
 declared that Tasmania had six times the voting power of 
 New South Wales, although their respective populations 
 were as 200,000 to 1 ,200,000. In both colonies the ghosts 
 of dead controversies between the two Houses of the local 
 legislature still walked the political field, and Liberals 
 and Conservatives alike discussed the functions of a 
 Federal Senate as though it were a local Upper House. 
 Memories of traditional conflicts so overpowered the 
 popular judgment, that a Senate to be elected by aU the 
 people of every State on the widest possible suffrage, was 
 pictured as a body of Conservatives, the limitation of 
 whose power became a democratic cry. The thought 
 may have been confused, but the aim was direct enough. 
 On the question of the final supremacy of the national 
 will there could be no concession. To allow even the 
 people of a majority of States to thwart the wish of a 
 majority of the Australian people would ensure the 
 rejection of the Bill by Victoria and New South Wales, 
 the two States whose adhesion was essential to any union. 
 Accordingly it was agreed that if after the dissolution of 
 both Houses, which had been already agreed to, the 
 difference between them was still unsettled, a joint sitting 
 should be held, at which a majority of three-fifths of the 
 members present and voting could pass the Bill in dispute. 
 This provision was accepted the more readily by the dele- 
 gates from the smaller colonies, because they believed 
 that no difficulty would be likely to arise between the 
 two Houses, which would not be settled by the joint 
 dissolution. The majority of three-fifths was changed 
 after the first Referendum into an absolute majority. 
 This had been proposed at the Convention by Sir George 
 
 207
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Turner (Victoria), but was opposed at that time by Mr. 
 Reid (New South Wales). 
 
 Tacking 
 
 The delegates of the smaller States secured some 
 important provisions for the protection of the Senate 
 against a wanton exercise by the House of Representatives 
 of its superior power. Section 54 of the Constitution is 
 an example. It provides that " the proposed law which 
 appropriates revenue as moneys for the ordinary annual 
 services of the Government shall deal only with such 
 appropriations." Again Section 55 provides that, " Laws 
 imposing taxation shall deal only with the imposition of 
 taxation, and any provision therein dealing with any other 
 matter shall be of no effect. Laws imposing taxation, 
 except laws imposing duties of customs or of excise, shall 
 deal with one subject of taxation only ; but laws imposing 
 duties of customs shall deal with duties of customs only, 
 and laws imposing duties of excise shall deal with duties 
 of excise only." These provisions are of historic interest, 
 because they recall the great contest in Victoria between 
 the two Houses, in which the final victory rested with the 
 Assembly by the use of the device of tacking, which 
 these provisions have forbidden in the Commonwealth. 
 The Senate can never, like a Legislative Council, be 
 placed in the invidious position of either rejecting the 
 Appropriation Bill and thus leaving the pubhc service 
 unprovided for, or accepting some obnoxious measure, 
 which has been tacked to it. Nor can it be forced to 
 accept a tax, which it dislikes by inserting this in a 
 measure of taxation which in other respects it favours. 
 The combined effect of the provisions of the Constitution 
 which affect the relations of the two Houses is to secure 
 the ultimate supremacy of the House of Representatives 
 in all matters in dispute between them, and to keep the 
 power of taxation with the direct representatives of the 
 
 208
 
 LIMITS OF POWER 
 
 people, while giving every fair opportunity of criticism 
 to the States House, and even permitting it as a revising 
 Chamber to give the people, who are the final arbiters, 
 an opportunity of re-consideration. Up to the present 
 time there have been no conflicts between the two 
 Chambers. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Federalists favoured 
 equality of State representation in the Senate from 
 conviction of its soundness as a principle. No alternative 
 was left them, if they wished for union because without 
 equal representation in that House the smaller States 
 would never have entered into a Federal system. That 
 the device has produced none of the anticipated conse- 
 quences, is due to the fact that the apprehensions which 
 caused its adoption had no substantial basis. The useful- 
 ness of the Senate as a revising and legislative Chamber 
 has been due to the obliteration of its original function 
 as a States House. And in this sense responsible 
 government is " killing Federation." The loss is not 
 mourned. 
 
 Limitations of the Legislative Power 
 
 The Commonwealth Parliament, being in a Federal 
 system, is not, as has been explained, ^ sovereign like the 
 British. It remains to state its limitations. 
 [ In the first place, the Prerogative of the Crown, except 
 in so far as this has been abandoned by assent to Acts of 
 Parliament limiting its exercise or delegated to the 
 Governor-General, remains in full force in Australia as 
 in England. Neither Commonwealth nor State could 
 declare war, and members of the Australian military 
 forces — as has been decided by the Privy Council in a 
 recent case, ^ which, although it has not yet attracted 
 much attention, is a constitutional landmark — are none 
 
 1 Supra, p. 197. 
 
 ^ Howarth v. Walker, 1905, Appeal Cases. 
 
 209 
 
 • 14— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the less " soldiers of the King," because they serve the 
 Commonwealth. The Constitution itself recognises the 
 Prerogative in the sections which refer to the power of the 
 King to annul Acts, although these may have been 
 assented to in his name by the Governor-General, within 
 one year from the date of such assent. Probably this 
 power would only be exercised to protect the larger 
 interests of the Empire, but, in its terms, it is unrestricted. 
 The King also assents or refuses assent to all Bills which 
 the Governor-General by his instructions is required to 
 reserve for the Royal pleasure. All these measures are 
 reserved and dealt with by virtue of the Prerogative, 
 which may be found in practice to limit the powers of the 
 Commonwealth in unexpected ways. 
 
 Secondly, restrictions are placed upon the legislative 
 power by the terms of the Constitution. 
 
 Fundamental Laws 
 
 No Act of Parliament can alter the fundamental 
 basis of the union — the equal representation of States in 
 the Senate — by six senators to each State — although it 
 may increase the number of Senators (Sect. 7). Nor can 
 it reduce below live the number of Representatives to 
 be apportioned to each State on a population basis (Sect. 
 24). Nor could it abolish the office of Governor-General or 
 the Judiciary, because these are as much a part of the 
 Constitution as Parliament itself. Nor can any Act of 
 Parliament amend the Constitution, without concurrence 
 of a majority of both people and States (Sect. 128). Nor 
 can it alter the salary of a Governor-General during his 
 term of office (Sect. 3), nor construct a railway in a State 
 (Sect. 52, xxxiv), nor deprive it of territory (Sects. 123 and 
 124), except for the purpose of forming a Federal capital 
 (Sect. 125), or with its consent. Nor can it impose 
 any kind of tax upon the property of a State (Sect. 
 114); or establish or prohibit any rehgion or establish 
 
 210
 
 FURTHER LIMITATIONS 
 
 a religious test (Sect. 115). Another group of limitations 
 on the legislative power is directed to the preserva- 
 tion of freedom of intercourse of trade and persons 
 between the States and the prevention of invidious 
 discrimination between States or their citizens (Sects. 92, 
 99, 117). All the limitations in this group are equally 
 binding on the States, who are further expressly forbidden 
 to maintain a military force without permission from the 
 Commonwealth (Sect. 114), or to coin money or make 
 anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment 
 of debts (Sect. 115). They are also under a prohibition 
 to tax Commonwealth property (Sect. 114), and have no 
 jurisdiction over any of the matters which, by the Consti- 
 tution, belong exclusively to the Commonwealth or are 
 withdrawn from the State Parliament (Sects. 107, 108). 
 Any law of a State which is inconsistent with a law of 
 the Commonwealth is invahd to the extent of the 
 inconsistency. 
 
 211
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE JUDICIARY 
 
 The Judiciary and the Constitution — Appellate Jurisdiction — 
 Original Jurisdiction — The Guardian of the Constitution. 
 
 By Sect. 71 of the Constitution " the judicial power of the 
 Commonwealth is vested in a Federal Supreme Court, to 
 be called the High Court of Australia, and in such other 
 federal courts as the Parliament creates, and in such other 
 courts as it invests with federal jurisdiction. The High 
 Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, and so many other 
 Justices, not less than two, as the Parhament prescribes." 
 These words make the High Court as much an essential 
 part of the Commonwealth as the Governor-General or 
 the Parhament. The judicial functions of the Court can 
 never therefore be encroached upon or interfered with 
 either by the Legislature or the Executive, nor can any 
 duties be assigned to it which are not properly judicial 
 and to be performed in a judicial manner. In this respect 
 the High Court differs from the Supreme Court either of the 
 Dominion of Canada or of any Australian State, because 
 all of these are created by legislative enactment and 
 can therefore have their powers amended or defined by the 
 same power. 
 
 It would seem to foUow from the nature of the High 
 Court, that any law which purported to reverse one of its 
 decisions would be unconstitutional and inoperative, 
 since the rights of citizens can only be determined by the 
 authority which possesses the judicial power. Parlia- 
 ment could no doubt enact the law for future cases, but 
 it could not deprive a litigant of rights which he had 
 acquired by a decision of the High Court. ^ That is to 
 
 ^ See on this point " Annotated Constitution of the Common- 
 wealth," by Quick and Garran, p. 722. 
 
 212
 
 THE COURTS 
 
 say, the Legislature may over-rule a decision but may 
 not reverse it. 
 
 The distinction between Executive, Legislative and 
 Judicial powers which runs through the Commonwealth 
 Constitution would seem to deprive the High Court of 
 all right to interfere with the exercise of the political 
 discretion of the Executive. Thus, it could not grant 
 an injunction to restrain a Minister of State from taking 
 any action which did not interfere with the personal or 
 civil rights of a citizen. 
 
 The Federal Courts, other than the High Court, are 
 created by Parliament and are not, hke the former, an 
 essential part of the Constitution. They can therefore 
 be called into existence or abolished at the will of Parlia- 
 ment but in other respects they will have the purely 
 judicial functions of the High Court. 
 
 Appellate Jurisdiction 
 
 The High Court of Australia differs from the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, in being a Court of Appeal 
 from the Supreme Courts of the several States. Its 
 decisions are final except in so far as they are liable to be 
 reversed by the Privy Council. Every citizen of the 
 Empire has a right, of which he cannot be deprived by any 
 legislature, of submitting his case to the final adjudication 
 of the|'King in Council. It does not however follow that 
 the King, as the fountain of Justice, will exercise his 
 prerogative right to review the decision of any of his 
 Courts in every case in which it is involved. The Common- 
 wealth Constitution for instance requires that a litigant 
 must obtain special leave from the Privy Council, before 
 the Judicial Committee will entertain an appeal from a 
 judgment of the High Court, and it empowers Parliament 
 to limit the matters upon which such leave may be asked. 
 But every proposed law containing such limitation must 
 be reserved for the Royal Assent. The Constitution 
 
 213
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 further limits the right of appeal to the Privy Council by 
 prohibiting all such appeals " from a decision of the High 
 Court upon any question, howsoever arising, as to the 
 limits inter se of the Constitutional powers of the Com- 
 monwealth and more of any State or States, or as to the 
 limits inter se of the Constitutional powers of two or more 
 States, unless the High Court shall certify that the 
 question is one which ought to be determined by Her 
 Majesty in Council " (Sect. 74). 
 
 Original Jurisdiction 
 
 The original jurisdiction of the High Court is either 
 conferred by the Constitution or derived from Pariiament. 
 The Court has original jurisdiction by the Constitution 
 " in all matters, (i) Arising under any Treaty : (ii) Affect- 
 ing consuls or other representatives of other countries : 
 (iii) In which the Commonwealth, or a person suing or 
 being sued on behalf of the Commonwealth, is a party : 
 (iv) Between States, or between residents of different 
 States, or between a State and the resident of another 
 State : (v) In which a writ of mandamus or prohibition or 
 an injunction is sought against an officer of the Common- 
 wealth " (Sect. 75). ^ Parliament may also confer original 
 jurisdiction upon the High Court " In any matter 
 (i) Arising under this Constitution or involving its inter- 
 pretation : (ii) Arising under any laws made by the Parlia- 
 ment : (iii) Of Admiralty, and maritime jurisdiction : 
 (iv) Relating to the same subject-matter claimed under the 
 laws of different States." (Sect. 76). Parhament has as 
 yet only exercised this power in respect of the first class 
 of matters in this group. The others remain within the 
 jurisdiction of the State Courts. Parliament can also, 
 under Sect. 71, invest the State Courts with Federal 
 
 ^ The reader is referred for a detailed explanation of these 
 matters to Bryce : " American Commonwealth," Pt. I, Chapter 
 XXII. 
 
 214
 
 THE HIGH COURT 
 
 jurisdiction. Congress in the United States has no such 
 power. 
 
 The procedure of the High Court has been prescribed 
 by Parhament but no other Federal Court has as yet been 
 created. The Court sits periodically at the capital cities 
 of the several States, and up to the present time the bulk 
 of its business has been the hearing of appeals from the 
 State Courts. The Judges (five in number) are appointed 
 for life and can only be removed upon an address of both 
 Houses of Parliament. Their salaries are : the Chief 
 Justice, £3,000 ; the Justices, £2,500 each. By an 
 ill-judged economy no pensions attach to the offices, and 
 the salaries are less than those paid to the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court in New South Wales and Victoria. This 
 inferiority in the emoluments has fortunately not yet 
 affected the standing of those accepting the offices, but 
 it cannot be considered desirable that the less important 
 judicial post should be better paid. 
 
 The Guardian of the Constitution 
 
 The High Court is at once the guardian and the inter- 
 preter of the Constitution. Its function is to restrain 
 the operations of each organ of the Constitution and of 
 each constituent part of the Commonwealth within their 
 proper ambits, and to refuse to give effect to any direction 
 of a Minister of the Commonwealth, or of the Parliament 
 itself, or of the Parliament or Minister of a State, which 
 goes beyond the powers of the directing authority. This 
 is the inevitable function of a Court which is called upon to 
 interpret a written Constitution — just as it is the function 
 of a Court in England to decide whether a public body 
 exceeds its statutory authority or a Limited Liability Com- 
 pany acts beyond the power conferred upon it by its 
 Articles of Association. Simple and obvious as this func- 
 tion is, when it is exercised in regard to subordinate authori- 
 ties, it seems novel and surprising to most Englishmen 
 
 215
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 when it is exercised in regard to an Act of Parliament. 
 Yet a legislative body, which owes its existence to a statute, 
 — as both the Parliaments of each State and that of the 
 Commonwealth owe their existence to Acts of the British 
 Parliament — can no more go beyond the powers which the 
 statute confers upon it, than a municipality in England 
 can pass bye-laws upon matters which are outside the 
 scope of its authority. English people are so accustomed 
 to the supremacy and unrestrained powers of the British 
 Parliament that it shocks their sense of fitness when the 
 Court declares an Act of Parliament unconstitutional, 
 because this seems to fetter liberty of action and transfer 
 the legislative authority from the elected representatives 
 in Parliament to the Judges. Yet, as Mr. Bryce points 
 out in explaining the similar functions of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, " There is really no mystery 
 about the matter. It is not a novel device. It is not a 
 complicated device. It is the simplest thing in the world 
 if approached from the right side." The appearance of 
 novelty and complication is caused by the fact that the 
 Constitution has assigned certain powers of legislation to 
 the Commonwealth Parliament and certain others to the 
 State Legislature. Consequently, the Court in applying 
 any statute is compelled to enquire whether it is within 
 the powers of the Parliament by which it was enacted. 
 If it is a statute of a State Parliament, which is incon- 
 sistent with a statute of the Commonwealth Parliament, 
 then, as the nation takes precedence of the State, the 
 statute of the Commonwealth is preferred to that of 
 the State. Or again, if the statute of the Common- 
 wealth exceeds the power which the Constitution has 
 conferred upon the Commonwealth Parliament, it is 
 of no more effect than the unauthorised act of any 
 other body of hmited authority. " In all this," as 
 Mr. Bryce points out, " there is no conflict between 
 the law courts and any legislative body. The conflict is 
 
 216
 
 FUNDAMENTAL LAWS 
 
 between different kinds of laws." And the State Courts 
 are equally bound with the Federal Courts to exercise 
 their judicial determination as to the vahdity of the laws 
 which they are called upon to administer. The questions 
 are always the same, viz., Whether an Act of the Common- 
 wealth Parliament is compatible with the Constitution 
 and whether an Act of the State Parhament is compatible 
 with an Act of the Commonwealth Parhament and 
 whether it deals with a subject matter within the legisla- 
 tive authority of the State Parliament. The following 
 passage from Mr. Bryce's book elucidates this important 
 matter : — 
 
 " The so-called ' power of annulling an unconstitutional 
 statute ' is a duty rather than a power, and a duty 
 incumbent on the humblest State Court when a case 
 raising the point comes before it no less than on the 
 Supreme Federal Court at Washington. When therefore 
 people talk, as they sometimes do, even in the United 
 States, of the Supreme Court as ' the guardian of the 
 Constitution,' they mean nothing more than that it is the 
 final court of appeal, before which suits involving con- 
 stitutional questions may be brought up by the parties 
 for decision. In so far the phrase is legitimate. But the 
 functions of the Supreme Court are the same in kind as 
 all other courts, State as well as Federal. Its duty and 
 theirs is simply to declare and apply the law ; and where 
 any court, be it a State Court of first instance, or the 
 Federal Court of last instance, finds a law of lower 
 authority clashing with a law of higher authority, it 
 must reject the former, as being really no law, and 
 enforce the latter. 
 
 "It is therefore no mere technicality to point out that 
 the American Judges do not, as Europeans are apt to say, 
 ' control the legislature,' but simply interpret the law. 
 The word ' control ' is misleading, because it implies that 
 the person or body of whom it is used possesses and 
 
 217
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 exerts discretionary will. Now the American Judges 
 have no will in the matter any more than has an English 
 court when it interprets an Act of Parliament. The will 
 that prevails is the will of the people, expressed in the 
 Constitution which they have enacted. All that the 
 Judges have to do is to discover from the enactments 
 before them what the will of the people is, and apply that 
 will to the facts of a given case. The more general or 
 ambiguous the language which the people have used, so 
 much the more difficult is the task of interpretation, so 
 much greater the need for ability and integrity in the 
 Judges. But the task is always the same in its nature. 
 The Judges have no concern with the motives or the 
 results of an enactment, otherwise than as these may 
 throw light on the sense in which the enacting authority 
 intended it. It would be a breach of duty for them to 
 express, I might almost say a breach of duty to entertain, 
 an opinion on its policy except so far as its policy explains 
 its meaning. They may think a statute excellent in 
 purpose and working, but if they cannot find in the 
 Constitution a power for Congress to pass it, they must 
 brush it aside as invalid. They may deem another statute 
 pernicious, but if it is within the power of Congress, they 
 must enforce it. To construe the law, that is, to elucidate 
 the -udll of the people as supreme law-giver, is the 
 beginning and end of their duty." 
 
 218
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM 
 
 Requisites of the Cabinet System — The Party System — ^Members 
 — The System in Working — Elective Ministries — The Refer- 
 endum — Members and the Constituencies — "Reckless 
 Legislation " — Misunderstandings. 
 
 The ground is now cleared for the postponed discussion 
 on the working of responsible government in the 
 Australian Commonwealth. 
 
 As has been already shown, the difficulties which were 
 anticipated from a Federal system have never affected 
 responsible government, because the Senate has never 
 performed its original function as a States House. It 
 has always been divided by the same party lines as the 
 House of Representatives, so that each year establishes 
 more firmly the supremacy of the National Chamber, and 
 strengthens any Ministry which commands its confidence. 
 
 But the working of the system is beset with other 
 difficulties of a more subtle kind, which according to 
 some critics, can never be overcome in any Parliament, 
 except the British. 
 
 Requisites of the Cabinet System 
 
 Responsible government, it is said, depends for its 
 success upon a nice balance between what is lawful and 
 what is expedient, which is only maintained in England, 
 because government is in the hands of a ruling class, 
 who have been trained at the great Public Schools in 
 reticence and magnanimity and are controlled by the 
 unwritten law of an inherited tradition. Next they urge 
 that even if Australia has the leaders, she has not the clear- 
 cut party-system without which responsible government 
 cannot work. There is truth in both these criticisms, 
 but they do not conclude the matter. Let us deal \vith 
 
 219
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 each in turn. First as to the quahfication of Australian 
 pohtical leaders. 
 
 It has been said that Australian politics are the politics 
 of great questions and little men. Like most generalisa- 
 tions this is far from accurate. Sir Henry Parkes and 
 Mr. Kingston, — both now dead, — and Sir Edmund Barton 
 and Mr. Deakin would have taken a prominent place in 
 any deliberative assembly. In Parliamentary skill the 
 late Mr. Gilhes, of Victoria, had possibly no rival in the 
 Empire ; while Sir Samuel Griffith has a genius for prac- 
 tical legislation, which has made the Queensland statute 
 book a model. Indeed, if the names of Australian public 
 men were known in England, as they will be when a real 
 unity of sentiment exists between the countries, no ques- 
 tion could be raised of their ability to handle with success 
 any political question. These men and their fellow- 
 workers have had a long training in the practice of 
 responsible government. 
 
 This is largely due to the dominating influence over all 
 Australian Parliaments, during their formative period, 
 of one of the greatest Parliamentarians who ever lived 
 and worthy to be ranked with Peel, Gladstone, and 
 Macdonald^ — Sir Henry Parkes. A master of con- 
 stitutional lore by study and instinct, he, more than 
 any single individual, estabhshed the practice of respon- 
 sible government in Australia and maintained it 
 at a high pitch for forty years (1856-1896). From New 
 South Wales his influence passed to Victoria, where Sir 
 Graham Berry showed a similar mastership of the art. 
 In Queensland the same tradition was maintained by 
 Sir Thomas McKurack, a man of commanding power, 
 and the lawyer-statesman Sir Samuel Griffith, now Chief 
 Justice of the Commonwealth. 
 
 In Tasmania and South Australia, Mr. Inglis Clark and 
 Mr. C. C. Kingston were of the same school ; but their 
 
 ' The vrell-known Canadian statesman. 
 
 220
 
 
 ^Ml
 
 THE PARTY SYSTEM 
 
 influence as Constitutionalists was less, because the 
 conventions of responsible government are not easily 
 observed in small colonies, where judgments are more 
 swayed by personal feelings, and two distinct Ministries 
 of equal efficiency are not easily found. That there is risk 
 in transplanting from its native soil an exotic so delicate 
 as the Cabinet no observer of Australian Parliaments could 
 deny, but he would also admit that the Cabinet system 
 has been worked hitherto by honourable men, whose 
 perception of its claims and limits has been as delicate 
 as that of English leaders, and who have reflected, in 
 the observance of its self-imposed restrictions, the 
 self-restraint and good feeling of Australian Parliaments. 
 
 The Party System 
 
 In every representative system it is difficult to reconcile 
 the duty of a member towards his party or constituents, 
 with that independence of judgment and discretionary 
 action, without which responsible government is a sham 
 and parliaments are no parliaments at all. But this 
 difficulty is no greater in Australia than in England. 
 The solution of it, which has been adopted in the United 
 States, namely, that members should be mere delegates, 
 so that one man is as good as another for a parliamentary 
 representative, has never found favour with an Australian 
 electorate, which, like the British, believes that the 
 business of legislation requires both independence and 
 ability. When the American view prevails in Australia 
 it will be time to close the Parliaments. For the public 
 can never be well served if it degrades its public men, 
 and no democracy will long retain its own liberty, unless 
 its leaders are permitted to claim theirs. It is true that 
 no high degree of mental power or insight is needed for 
 three-fourths of the concerns of government, but there 
 is a residue, as Australians have always seen, which 
 demands the exercise of the highest faculties, and which 
 
 221
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 it is the test of statesmanship to handle properly. Thus, 
 in the absence of some disturbing local feeling, constitu- 
 encies, as a rule, choose the best man that offers ; and they 
 prefer an educated man to an uneducated. They are there- 
 fore vexatiously exacting about their members' votes. 
 Being in closer touch with them than an English member 
 is with his constituents, he can more easily avoid mis- 
 understanding ; and independence, provided it is not 
 self-seeking, is not less popular in the one country than the 
 other. Australian Parliaments, indeed, are a fair reflex 
 of Australian life, and if they are not better the fault 
 does not lie with the constituencies. Are they, then, 
 competent to work the delicate machinery of responsible 
 government ? The casual reader of a newspaper, or the 
 visitor to one debate, would answer without hesitation 
 in the negative. Yet such an answer would be 
 exceedingly erroneous. 
 
 Members 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was wont to say that Cabinet govern- 
 ment could not exist in England for a week, if every 
 Member of Parliament " played the game to win," that 
 is to say, if he used every pawn, which the Constitution 
 gave, to embarrass and impede it. The safeguard in 
 England is the party system, which gives control of Par- 
 liament to a few picked men on either side, on whom 
 responsibility imposes caution, mutual sympathy, and 
 forbearance. This safeguard is not wanting in Australia ; 
 the Opposition has been itself in office and hopes to be 
 again, and Ministers know that, in their due time, they 
 too will sit in the cold shades. The daily business of 
 Parliament can therefore be carried on by arrangement 
 between the two leaders and honourable understandings 
 between the Whips of either party. Yet these are more 
 difficult to arrange in Austraha, where every Member is 
 a politician and potential Minister, than in the House of 
 
 222
 
 THE NEW MEMBER 
 
 Commons, where a silent flock obeys the bidding of each 
 Whip. 
 
 The Austrahan Member, before he enters Parhament, 
 has been absorbed in some occupation or has fought his 
 way through Municipal or Labour Councils by the free use 
 of every lawful weapon. At first the collective respon- 
 sibility of a Cabinet seems to him an empty fiction and 
 restraint on speech hypocrisy. The new Member gener- 
 ally begins as a free lance. His fault is inexperience. 
 He is anxious to do well, but he will begin before he has 
 learnt the business of legislation. Payment of Members 
 is remedying this defect by creating a class of professional 
 politicians, who, like professionals in any other walk of 
 life, do their work better than amateurs ; but an Austra- 
 lian Parliament still lacks that knowledge of public affairs 
 and instinct for government, which has become the 
 heritage, by tradition, of the English leisured class. 
 Partly as a result of this inexperience, and partly owing to 
 the small number of Members, there is considerable waste 
 of time in aimless motions and long speeches. There is 
 none of that intolerance towards bores, which is a feature 
 of the House of Commons, so that every Member can 
 rely upon being permitted to hear himself talk for any 
 number of hours. The Chambers are too small and the 
 number of Members too few to admit of drowning a 
 Member's voice by noise. In the House of Commons, 
 where several hundred men can gather under dark 
 galleries, organised expressions of the general disinclina- 
 tion to listen to a tiresome speech can easily be made, 
 which would be impossible among the smaller numbers 
 scattered sparsely on the benches of a Colonial Assembly. 
 Thus the public opinion of the House is not quite the 
 restraining force that it is in England. Disorderly scenes 
 however are not frequent and when they occur are made 
 the most of by the Press. Some things it is true are 
 permitted to pass unnoticed, but others are brought into 
 
 223
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 undue and unnecessary prominence. Nevertheless it 
 must be admitted that, when disorder does occur, it goes 
 further than would be permitted in the House of Commons. 
 One Parliament, too, has an evil notoriety for the un- 
 restrained license of its language. Personal corruption 
 is almost unknown. Such improper influencing of votes 
 as does occur takes the form (not altogether unknown in 
 England, of spending public money in the Member's 
 constituency. On the whole, the standard of Australian 
 Parliaments is high. 
 
 In one respect they have an advantage over the House 
 of Commons. The saying that, " No man is a hero to 
 his own valet," strictly applies to Australian politics. 
 A man cannot pose in Australian public life. Owing to 
 the smallness of the community and the narrow circle in 
 which he lives, he is speedily found out. ^ A man cannot 
 get into office upon the credit of qualities which he does 
 not possess ; for his strength and weakness are known to 
 everyone. It may be questioned if this be always the 
 case in England. Judicious mediocrity loves a crowd. 
 
 This may not seem such a picture of the average 
 Member of Parliament as would justify much confidence 
 in his capacity to work responsible government. But 
 it must be remembered that, just as the House of 
 Commons is better than any individual in it, so even the 
 smallest of Australian Parliaments establishes a higher 
 standard for every member. And although no Australian 
 Parliament can have the weight and dignity of the House 
 of Commons, yet, being smaller, they perhaps educate 
 their Members more rapidly, because each individual is 
 of more consequence in a small body and feels a livelier 
 
 ^ Also, and for the same reason, a public man in Australia 
 (although he is not subject to the open and envenomed falsehood 
 which seems to pursue a public man in the United States), — is 
 much exposed to malicious gossip. Lying tongues, although 
 not more busy in a small community, are more audible and 
 troublesome, than in a larger one. 
 
 224
 
 THE SYSTEM IN WORKING 
 
 sense of the significance of his own action in bringing about 
 the action of the whole. 
 
 The System in Working 
 
 Australian Parliaments may be turbulent because 
 passions run high and the facilities for disorder are great, 
 but they have a corporate pride which insensibly lifts 
 their Members to a higher perception of their duties. 
 They respond readily to good leadership and have the 
 respect of the public because they believe in themselves. 
 No Australian Parliament at its worst has ever sunk to 
 the level of the Legislature of an American State. Austra- 
 lians have shown an almost instinctive capacity for 
 working the British Parliamentary system. 
 
 Certainly the idea of the collective responsibility of the 
 Cabinet shows no sign of waning. In 1903 when a vote 
 of censure seemed likely to be carried against the Ministry 
 of Sir John See, in New South Wales, because the writer, 
 as Minister of Justice, had recommended the remission 
 of a sentence on a prisoner, of whom the Judge who tried 
 the case had reported that he was innocent and wrongly 
 convicted, the Premier refused his colleague's proffered 
 resignation and accepted responsibility for the whole 
 Cabinet. Yet by the Instructions to the Governor the 
 duty of advising remission in such a case was imposed 
 upon the Minister of Justice individually and he had 
 acted without the knowledge of his colleagues. The 
 party system, on which responsible government depends, 
 shows the same vitality. Indeed its excesses in the 
 Commonwealth Parliament have created a new difficulty, 
 because there are now three parties instead of the historic 
 two, viz., the Free Trade Provincialist, the Protection 
 Federalist, and the Labour Party. Fortunately the 
 Federal sympathies of the Labour Party have enabled it, 
 except for a short period, to work with Mr. Deakin, who 
 leads the Federal Protectionists. But, as he has himself 
 
 225 
 
 15— (3I3B)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 said, " You cannot play cricket with three elevens in the 
 field." Probably the line between the two last-named 
 of the three parties will tend to disappear, and Federation 
 versus Provincialism become the dividing issue. But no 
 wise man attempts to calculate the future of Australian 
 politics. It is sufficient to note that men still vote 
 together as a party in support of or in opposition to a 
 Ministry, on account of a general agreement about certain 
 large issues, and not because loyalty to party gives a title 
 to the spoils of patronage. 
 
 Elective Ministries 
 
 Nevertheless at times in every Parliament the party 
 system falls into discredit because, in the absence of vital 
 issues, it lacks reality. This happens frequently in Aus- 
 tralia, where the political pulse is never steady, and cold 
 fits follow times of turmoil with remarkable rapidity. 
 In prosperous times, for instance, when voters are making 
 money, politics are usually dull. A season of depression 
 follows and parties form themselves about another 
 Ministry. Immense activity ensues — to the profit of the 
 other side when good times return. During every lull, 
 party ties relax and strange alliances are formed, which 
 inspire plain people with disgust at what appears to be the 
 insincerity of politicians. At such times, especially if the 
 fusion of parties has produced, as it usually does, an 
 amalgam of mediocrities — men regard favourably any 
 device which promises a more rational and honest system. 
 Two alternatives to responsible government are most 
 frequently discussed — the one, election of ministers by 
 Parliament, the other, the Referendum. 
 
 The advocates of the election of ministers look upon 
 the collective responsibility of a Cabinet as a mischievous 
 absurdity. " Why," they ask, " should a Member not 
 be able to vote against one incompetent Minister, without 
 displacing others who may be the best men for their 
 
 226
 
 PARTY DISCIPLINE 
 
 respective posts ? " Or, why cannot he oppose one 
 measure of the Government without imperilling the success 
 of other measures in which he beheves ? The questions 
 are speciously framed to appeal both to the member 
 who hopes to be elected as a Minister, and to the elector 
 who is ignorant of Parhamentary ways. In practice 
 members are not often called upon to swallow their 
 convictions in order to maintain a Government in office, 
 because every Bill passes through many stages in which 
 amendments can be moved to meet their wishes. No 
 Government would proceed with a Bill of minor import- 
 ance to which any number of their followers objected. 
 Only a Bill which gives effect to the declared policy of the 
 party could justify such conduct, and in that case members 
 of the party would have no complaint. It is true that 
 these considerations do not affect the case of a vote of 
 censure on a particular Minister for an administrative act. 
 In such a case the Cabinet system demands a collective 
 responsibility, and party discipline, a solid vote. " I will 
 always support you, when you are right," said a conscien- 
 tious new Member to a whilom Premier of New South 
 Wales. " D— n it, sir," was the reply, " any fool does 
 that. I want you to support me when I'm wrong ! " 
 
 The truth is that in politics there is no best course. 
 The right way is always a choice between two evils, so 
 that a system must be judged not only by its openness 
 to criticism but by its superiority in this respect to any 
 alternative. Turn the guns, accordingly, upon the elective 
 system. 
 
 All who have experience of a Cabinet know that 
 administration is not conducted in water-tight compart- 
 ments, but the functions of Ministers overlap and cannot 
 be satisfactorily performed without mutual aid and a 
 common policy. The difficulties in the way of this 
 co-operation are great as it is. They would be insuper- 
 able, if every Minister was playing for his own hand. 
 
 227
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 How — to give a simple illustration — is money to be found 
 for each department ? " By the vote of Parliament," 
 replies the innovator. But supposing that the revenue 
 fails to come in or that unexpected emergencies, such as 
 a flood, or an outbreak of plague, or a strike, require that 
 the expenditure should be reduced below the estimates, 
 — who, under the new system, is to apportion the reduc- 
 tions between the spending departments ? Under the 
 Cabinet system, the Treasurer holds the purse for all the 
 Government, and the Prime Minister in the last resort 
 adjusts differences between his colleagues. It is not 
 therefore surprising, but very significant, that the election 
 of Ministers by Parliament has not received the support 
 of any ex-Minister who has learnt by experience the 
 difficulties of government. Nor ought it to be favoured 
 by anyone who wishes to preserve the dignity of Parlia- 
 ment. In some States five Members have to be elected 
 in each Parliament to fill salaried offices upon the Public 
 Works Committee. The result is that these offices tend 
 to pass in rotation among those who give their votes 
 upon an understanding that the recipients will return 
 the favour on the next occasion. In the same way 
 the election of Ministers by Parliament would probably 
 result, after a few years, in a scramble for the emolu- 
 ments of office without any consideration of fitness for 
 administrative posts. 
 
 The Referendum 
 
 The mischief of the Referendum is of a different kind 
 and lies below the surface. 
 
 It is recommended in Australia, as an exit from dead- 
 locks, when the two Houses of Parliament cannot agree, — 
 that the measure in dispute between them shall be 
 submitted to the direct vote of the whole electorate, 
 which shall say Aye or No in favour of or against its 
 passage. This, it is said, is not likely to be used often, as 
 
 228
 
 THE REFERENDUM 
 
 deadlocks are infrequent. It will be " the medicine of 
 the Constitution, not its daily food." 
 
 This phrase conceals the fact that when this device 
 is once adopted, neither House will be constrained by fear 
 of consequences, to compromise its opposition, but, by 
 persisting in it to the end, will shelve its own responsibility 
 upon the shoulders of the people. When parliaments 
 prove failures, the Referendum may be necessary, but it 
 is well to realise that every argument in favour of its use 
 rests upon mistrust of Parliament. Direct legislation by 
 the people overrides legislation by their representatives 
 and is a substitute for their corruption or incompetence. 
 This is the justification of its use in the United States, 
 where it is advocated for the avowed purpose of controlling 
 State legislatures. ^ Such arguments have no validity 
 in Australia, where the people hold their Representative 
 Assemblies in well-founded respect. 
 
 Suppose however that the Referendum has become 
 a part of the constitutional machinery and that every- 
 thing is ready for setting it to work. A controversy has 
 arisen between the two Houses, the Upper House having 
 added amendments to a Bill which the Lower House will 
 not accept. In what form is this measure to be presented 
 to the country ? In the form in which it left the Assembly, 
 or in the form in which it left the Senate ? If in the latter, 
 the Senate has the power to dictate the particular question 
 to be asked ; if, in the former this power is given to the 
 House of Representatives. In either case the question 
 may be so framed that no body of voters will be able to 
 obtain the law which they desire by a simple answer 
 in the affirmative or negative. Again, what course is a 
 Ministry to take when the popular vote has been given 
 in favour of a Bill which it opposed as against one which it 
 favoured ? Presumably it would resign. Suppose then 
 that the Bill, accepted by the Referendum, had been 
 
 ' e.g., " The Referendum in America," by Prof Oberhaltzer. 
 
 229
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 supported by the Senate and opposed by the House of 
 Representatives, the result of the vote would be to shift 
 political power from the House of Representatives to the 
 Senate. Nor would a Ministry be any longer under any 
 obligation to accept responsibihty for any of their 
 measures. These might be introduced merely to find 
 favour with a section of supporters, in confidence that 
 they would be rejected by the people. It is clear 
 that Parliamentary government and Ministerial respon- 
 sibility, as these are understood to-day, cannot con- 
 tinue if the final voice in legislation is transferred from 
 Parliament to the direct decision of a popular vote. 
 Such an extreme expression of the doctrine of the sover- 
 eignty of the people sweeps away the safeguards of 
 liberty, and is an appropriate instrument of despotic 
 power. A Referendum properly defines the limits of 
 a constitution, but has no place within it if the 
 constitution is framed upon a British model. 
 
 Now Parliaments in Australia have not failed. They 
 reflect public opinion with fidelity and have always 
 proved themselves its worthy and effective instrument. 
 If they have not proved brilliantly successful upon all 
 occasions, they have at least shown high spirit and in- 
 tegrity. The defects of Parliamentary government (and 
 there are defects in every system) have not yet bred evils 
 in Austraha which justify the substitution for it of 
 another system. They are doing good work and their 
 faults have received a disproportionate attention. 
 
 Members and the Constituencies 
 
 The preceding pages will have drawn an imperfect 
 picture of Australian parliaments, if they have not created 
 the impression that public life in the Commonwealth has 
 great attractions. Not only are the questions of policy 
 large and far-reaching, but the influence of the individual 
 Member in their decision is very great. Nowhere, whether 
 
 230
 
 THE POLITICIAN 
 
 in public or private affairs, does the individual count for 
 so much as in Australia. There is no helpless fluttering 
 against the iron bars of class or tradition. Every stroke 
 of work tells. A man can use his strength in Australia, 
 whether it be strength of muscle or of brain. The daily 
 victory over the forces of Nature in the material world 
 gives confidence in other directions. This feeling of 
 energy and hope is strengthened by an experience of 
 office. So much in a new country depends on good 
 administration, and so little of administration is 
 as yet, settled into a routine, that more responsibility and 
 power attaches to a Minister of the Crown in an Australian 
 State, than is the case in England, except in such positions 
 as Foreign Secretary or Premier. There are few 
 official traditions handed down from one Permanent 
 Secretary to another ; there are seldom precedents in 
 important matters ; whatever is done must be done upon 
 the direct responsibility of the Minister. Fortunately, 
 considering that most Australian Ministries are short- 
 lived, the Civil Service is singularly efficient, and no 
 Minister need go wrong for want of competent advice. 
 It is indeed a matter for constant wonder that the State 
 should be able to secure so many able and educated men 
 at the low salaries which are paid to Australian civil 
 servants. The chief drawback to public life is the 
 exigent demand it makes upon a member's time. Sittings 
 are late and sessions prolonged, perhaps because the 
 Chamber is to many of the members a social club and its 
 sittings their only hours of business. They feel bound 
 to work in return for their salaries, which, in the State 
 Parliaments, are £300 a year, and £600 in the Federal 
 Parliament — a competence to many members, but less 
 than a living wage to those who have an office to maintain. 
 Lawyers, as in America, are the class which most affect 
 politics, because the prizes of the profession may be won 
 through its pursuit, which is not incompatible with 
 
 231
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 practice in the Courts. The Labour Party has introduced 
 the new element of Labour Members, but it would be 
 erroneous to assume that these are necessarily what, for 
 want of a more intelligible term, must be called "working- 
 men." 1 Payment of members has certainly brought 
 politics within the reach of those who were excluded in 
 earlier days. It has also been of service in increasing the 
 stability of Ministries. Paid ParHaments, although they 
 have shown no unwillingness to face the country when a 
 question of principle is involved, are less likely than those 
 which are unpaid to risk a dissolution by turning out a 
 Ministry for frivolous causes. 
 
 The relations between a member of parliament and 
 his constituents are sometimes inconveniently close. The 
 Member for a country district finds his time fully occupied 
 in attending to the wants of his electorate. ^ Local 
 government does much to reduce this sort of labour, 
 but so long as the central Government disposes of loan 
 funds there will always be work for a true " Roads and 
 Bridges " Member, whose political capacity is measured 
 by the amount of pubhc money which is spent in his 
 constituency. 
 
 To save themselves as much as possible from this 
 annoyance, and to protect the public interest, most 
 Australian Parliaments refer the construction of public 
 works, involving more than a certain sum (generally 
 ;^20,000) to a committee of members or independent board, 
 who must recommend the expenditure before it can be 
 submitted to Parhament. The Departments of Lands and 
 Public Works are, however, in constant relations with 
 country districts in many matters of smaller importance, 
 to which the member is expected by his constituents^to 
 
 ^ See Chapter above. " The Labour Party." 
 ' A member in New South Wales who had been too obliging, 
 received a letter one day from a constituent written in all serious- 
 ness, asking him to order some fish for the writer's household 
 dinner. 
 
 232
 
 EXPERIMENTS 
 
 attend. One advantage of a practice, which is otherwise 
 troublesome, is that it keeps members in touch with their 
 constituents, and often creates close ties of personal 
 friendship. 
 
 The most serious defect of Australian Parliaments is the 
 readiness of Members to take up trifling grievances and 
 insist on legislation to meet special cases. This, however, 
 is a manifestation of the confidence in the power of 
 legislation, which is general in Australia, and which 
 has made its Statute Books laboratories of political 
 experiment. 
 
 " Reckless Legislation " 
 
 This is often made the basis of a charge of recklessness 
 against Australian legislators, and there is much which 
 seems disturbing in their temper. But it must be remem- 
 bered, in weighing the justice of this charge, that Australia 
 is the Cinderella of modern nations, whom Democracy has 
 just claimed for his bride. It is a land of political faith 
 and ideals, of democratic principles which are a matter 
 of habit and instinct, and not adopted by intellectual 
 conviction or in a spirit of philanthropic benevolence. 
 Every adult has a vote, ^ and nowhere is there such unity 
 of purpose or greater freedom from distracting cares. Thus 
 the dreams of the study are soon translated into Acts of 
 Parliament, and whatever Democracy can accomplish will 
 be accomplished in Australia, for good or ill. To-day 
 national prosperity, the buoyancy of youth, the novelty 
 of political power, combine to dissipate misgivings, and 
 the day of disillusionment — if it should ever come — is still 
 far distant. 
 
 Misunderstandings 
 
 At present other countries hardly understand Australia, 
 and even in England there is jealousy and some suspicion 
 * In Victoria not for the State Parliament. 
 
 233
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of the bold, new ways. The capitahst class is timid and 
 others are doubtful. Australia, too, has enemies within 
 her own household, and no story circulates in England to 
 her discredit, which has not originated in some article in an 
 Australian newspaper or some speech by an Australian 
 politician. ^ In Australia, Parliament and the Press cry 
 every error of Australians through a megaphone. 
 Australian politicians are accustomed to use language 
 towards one another which is startling to a stranger. 
 And the Press, too, while it loyally avoids mere person- 
 alities or the imputation of motives, is free to the verge 
 of license in its criticisms of public men and events. 
 Nevertheless alarmists and critics may possess their souls. 
 Australians have not lost their heads. They have neither 
 forgotten their responsibilities towards the Empire, nor 
 passed any law which threatens property or countenances 
 attacks upon capital. They are sober, level-headed men, 
 with a reserve of sagacious patriotism, which can always 
 be relied upon to take the side of order. 
 
 ^ During the electoral campaign of 1906, when " anti- 
 Socialism " was made a party-cry, speeches were made and 
 articles uTitten by men, who were at heart quite loyal Australians, 
 which did infinite mischief to Australian credit by the lurid 
 colours in which they painted the condition of the country, and 
 their dismal forecasts of the consequences of Mr. Deakin's 
 victory at the polls. Canada is said to have a law which punishes 
 libels on Canada ; and, according to the newspapers, a speaker 
 who declared that Manitoba was no place for immigrants was 
 fined forty dollars in 1907, at the suit of the Attorney-General 
 of the Province. Such a law would have augmented the 
 Australian Revenue. 
 
 234
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FINANCIAL PROBLEM 
 
 The Financial Problem — A Uniform Tariff — The Surplus and its 
 Distribution — The Transferred Expenditure — A Common- 
 wealth Budget — The Return to the States — The Public 
 Debt. 
 
 One of the greatest obstacles to Federation was the 
 difficulty of adjusting the finance of the Commonwealth 
 to meet the necessities of the several States. The uniform 
 tariff, which was a sine qua non of union, meant in practice 
 the abandonment of revenue by the States in unequal 
 proportions, on account of the varying degrees of their 
 dependence upon Customs and Excise. Tasmania, for 
 instance, derived nearly half her total revenue from this 
 source, while New South Wales only derived one-sixth. 
 The proportion of this to the total in the case of Queens- 
 land, Victoria, and Western Australia was about one-third, 
 and of South Australia one-fifth. A further difficulty 
 arose from the varying proportions of Customs revenues 
 which each State derived from duties upon the produce 
 of other States. This was largest in Tasmania and 
 Western Australia. Two things were therefore plain — 
 one, that no State could surrender its tariff without an 
 equivalent and the other that a per capita distribution 
 of the proceeds of a common tariff would not meet the 
 case. The subjoined table expresses in figures the 
 position of each State in regard to these matters during 
 1899, the year preceding Federation. 
 
 Table I 
 
 Table showing (a) The total revenues ; (6) The revenues 
 from Customs and Excise ; (c) The amount raised by 
 
 235
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Customs and Excise per head of the population of each 
 colony in the year 1899 immediately preceding Federation. 
 
 
 
 Revenue from 
 
 Amount per 
 
 Colony 
 
 Total Revenue 
 
 Custom and 
 
 head of 
 
 
 
 Excise 
 
 Population 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 New South Wales 
 
 9,973,736 
 
 1.650,333 
 
 1 4 9 
 
 Victoria 
 
 7,378,842 
 
 2,224,811 
 
 1 17 6 
 
 Queensland 
 
 4,174,086 
 
 1,568,744 
 
 3 5 10 
 
 South Australia 
 
 2,731,208 
 
 641,181 
 
 1 15 11 
 
 West Australia 
 
 2,478,811 
 
 859,915 
 
 5 1 5 
 
 Tasmania 
 
 908,273 
 
 447,036 
 
 2 12 6 
 
 Commonwealth 
 
 ;^27,244,585 
 
 /7, 392,020 
 
 ;^2 
 
 The differences between the States, shown in this 
 table, are due to several causes. In the first place, the 
 influence of good or bad seasons on the producing power 
 of the people is felt directly in the returns from Customs. 
 This has specially affected Queensland during the first 
 three years of Federation. Secondly, the influx of 
 capital, whether in consequence of public or private 
 borrowings, is reflected in the Customs revenue, because 
 loans reach the colony in the form of goods. Thirdly, the 
 States draw unequal proportions of their revenues from 
 the public lands. New South Wales draws most from 
 this source and Victoria least. Lastly, the preponderance 
 of males in a State, over females, and the habits of the 
 people, cause variations in the consumption of the 
 highly-taxed narcotics and stimulants, which, as is very 
 noticeable, in the case of Western Australia, greatly affects 
 the per capita returns of the Customs Revenue. 
 
 A Uniform Tariff 
 
 In addition to these financial considerations, the fiscal 
 policies of the several States had also to be taken into 
 account. Victoria had developed manufactures under a 
 protective tariff, and in a greater or less degree other 
 
 236
 
 REVENUE 
 
 colonies had done the same, but New South Wales, owing 
 to her large revenue from public lands, was, in the main, 
 a Free Trade country, and her average rate of duties was 
 very low. These two colonies were at the extreme of 
 the fiscal scale ; but it was, obviously, a less drastic change 
 to raise the rate of duties in New South Wales, than to 
 lower the rates of the other States to her level, because 
 the latter operation would have endangered many 
 industries, which had come into existence under the direct 
 or incidental protection of the higher tariffs. It was 
 therefore evident, from the first, that the uniform tariff 
 of the Commonwealth could not be lower than the average 
 of the six States, that is to say, that it must return at 
 least £2 per head of the population of Australia. And, 
 since a portion of the Customs revenues of each colony 
 was derived from duties on the products of other Austra- 
 lian States, the Commonwealth tariffs had to be large 
 enough to replace the loss occasioned to each State by 
 inter-colonial free trade. It must, therefore, be more 
 than £2 per head. It was certainly this which prompted 
 most of the opposition to Federation in New South Wales. 
 
 The Surplus and its Distribution* 
 
 Yet another complication was introduced into the 
 problem by the smallness of the Commonwealth's finan- 
 cial needs. The office of the Governor-General, the 
 administration of the Ministerial departments, the cost 
 of the Commonwealth Parliament, with the few other 
 items, which made up the whole of the new charges 
 imposed by Federation, could not exceed £400,000 for 
 some years. But the uniform tariff, for the reason stated, 
 had to produce at least seven million pounds, which 
 would leave an enormous balance every year at the 
 disposal of the Commonwealth. The distribution of this 
 surplus was the crux of the financial problem. It is still 
 one of the most difficult questions in Federal politics. 
 
 237
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Provincial prejudices prevented the adoption of the 
 obvious method of applying the surplus towards payment 
 of interest on the State debts, because this involved the 
 exercise by the Commonwealth of some control over State 
 borrowings. The same reason prevented the Common- 
 wealth from taking over the State railways, which would 
 have consolidated the union more effectually than any 
 other measure, and provided a use for the surplus in 
 improving communications throughout the continent. A 
 combination of these methods — that is, taking over both 
 debts and railways — was strongly advocated even by some 
 who opposed union ; but the state of public feeling made 
 this impossible. Some means had therefore to be devised 
 for utilising the surplus for the benefit of the States 
 without relieving them of equivalent obligations. 
 
 It would be tedious to enumerate all the schemes which 
 were proposed. That which was ultimately adopted is 
 contained in Sections 87, 89 and 93 of the Constitution. 
 
 First, in order to ensure some revenue to the States, an 
 obligation was imposed upon the Commonwealth not to 
 expend more than one-fourth of the net revenue of 
 Customs and Excise, the balance to be returned to the 
 States or applied towards payment of interest on these 
 debts. This clause which was proposed by the late Sir 
 Edward Braddon, was perversely misrepresented during 
 the Federal campaign. Dubbed " the Braddon blot " — 
 and indeed it is a " blot," although the wTiting underneath 
 was always legible ! — it was declared to impose upon the 
 Commonwealth the obligation to raise 20s. for every 5s. 
 that is required. Mr. Reid, therefore, after the first 
 Referendum, obtained the consent of the Premiers to 
 amend the Bill by limiting the operation of this clause 
 to ten years. Provision was then made for the period 
 prior to, and for live years after, the imposition of uniform 
 duties of Customs. The principle of this arrangement, 
 which is complicated in its operation, was that each State 
 
 238
 
 EXPENDITURE 
 
 should be credited with the revenue it contributed to the 
 Commonwealth and debited with the expenditure which 
 the Commonwealth incurred upon its behalf. This 
 system of debit and credit which is known as " the book- 
 keeping" system expired, by effluxion of time, on October 
 8th, 1906, but Parliament has not yet established a 
 substitute. 
 
 With one further explanation, the ground will be clear 
 for the comprehension of a Commonwealth Budget. 
 
 The Transferred Expenditure 
 
 It will be remembered that the Commonwealth, besides 
 being an organ of national sovereignty, provides a uniform 
 administration in certain matters of common interest 
 which can be administered more conveniently by a central 
 authority. To this end the Constitution provided that 
 the departments of Customs and Excise, which had been 
 administered previously by the colonies, should pass to 
 the Commonwealth upon its establishment (Sect. 69), 
 and the Departments of Naval and Military Defence, of 
 Post, Telegraphs and Telephones, of Lighthouses, Light- 
 ships, and Beacons and of Quarantine, on a Proclamation 
 by the Governor-General in that behalf (Sect. 69). 
 In the exercise of this power the Departments of Defence 
 and Post Offices were transferred to the Commonwealth 
 on March 1st, 1901. No Proclamation has yet been 
 issued in respect of Lighthouses or Quarantine. In 
 addition to these departments of the public service, 
 which pass automatically or by proclamation from 
 the States to the Commonwealth, there are others, of 
 which the Commonwealth is empowered to undertake the 
 duties after Parliament has legislated in that behalf. 
 This power has already been exercised in respect of 
 patents, trade-marks, copyright and designs (1903), so 
 that one registration now gives protection to a patent, etc., 
 in all the States, and in respect of the Naturalisation of 
 
 239
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Aliens, (Jan. 1st, 1904), and of the creation of a Bureau of 
 Census and Statistics ^ (Dec. 1905), and of Meteorology 
 (1907). Parliament is on the point of legislating for a 
 uniform system of invalid and old-age pensions. Mr. 
 Deakin has attempted also, but in vain, to induce the 
 States to enter into an arrangement with the 
 Commonwealth for a general scheme of immigration. 
 
 The total cost of these transferred departments largely 
 exceeds their revenues, ^ and this balance to the debit of 
 the Commonwealth will be increased considerably when 
 old-age pensions become a Federal charge. The best 
 method of meeting these charges is now exercising both 
 State and Federal financiers. The tariff which, with 
 Excise, returned in 1907-8 £1 15s. 6d. per head of the 
 population, cannot be relied upon for great expansion, 
 and direct taxation, which is erroneously claimed to be 
 the exclusive right of the States, would be exceedingly 
 unpopular. 
 
 There are two conflicting currents of opinion. The 
 treasurers of the States, unwilling either to retrench 
 their own expenditure or transfer to the Commonwealth 
 any of their obligations, demand that the principle of the 
 Braddon clause shall be embodied permanently in the 
 Constitution, and that they shall receive a larger and 
 fixed contribution from the Commonwealth Treasury. 
 The strong Federalists on the contrary, who have always 
 
 ^ The publication of the admirable Year Book of the 
 Commonwealth is an ample justification of this measure. The 
 writer desires here, once for all, to acknowledge his indebtedness 
 to this excellent work. Together with Mr. Coghlan's " Australia 
 and New Zealand," to which also the writer owes much, it is an 
 indispensable text-book for all who take an interest in Australia, 
 and the recognition of its merits will become more hearty as 
 acquaintance with the politics and life of Australia deepens. If 
 Federation had done nothing else than produce this record of 
 Australian life and progress it would have been justified. 
 
 * The expenditure of which the States have been relieved by 
 the Commonwealth amounted to /5, 045,171 for the financial 
 year 1908-9. • (See Hansard, p. 1337, Oct. 20th, 1908.) 
 
 240
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH BUDGET 
 
 regarded the attempt to adjust the distribution of the 
 Federal surplus to the respective needs or contributions of 
 the States as a weak concession to provincial feeling, 
 object to any entanglement of Federal and State finances, 
 and demand that the Commonwealth shall be the head of 
 her own household. They point out that the difficulty is 
 caused by the refusal of the States to federalise the 
 railways and the public debts. 
 
 The decision of the controversy rests with the Federal 
 Parhament, which will probably determine to gain 
 financial independence. It is enough in this brief survey 
 to note the imminence of this change, which hangs over 
 all Australian politics. 
 
 The Commonwealth Budget 
 
 These preliminary observations will serve as a guide 
 through the intricacies of Federal finance. 
 
 The Commonwealth revenue for 1907-8 amounted to 
 £15,015,798, of which £11,645,409 was derived from 
 Customs and Excise. This represented a sum of 
 £3 lis. 6-j^d. per head of the population, of which 
 Customs and Excise returned £1 15s. 6d. per head. 
 
 The expenditure amounted to a total of £6,158,893, or 
 £1 9s. 4|^d. per head of the population, leaving a surplus 
 of £8,859,596. 
 
 Before dealing with the distribution of this large surplus 
 it will be necessary to explain the principal items of 
 expenditure. These are classified under three heads : 
 " new," " other," and " transferred." 
 
 The " new " expenditure, as the name imports, is that 
 which is immediately and directly caused by the establish- 
 ment of a Federal Government, e.g., the Governor- 
 General's establishment, the cost of Parliament, and the 
 Ministerial Departments.^ This amounted in 1907-8 to 
 £410,127, and represents the whole of the new charge 
 
 1 These are seven in number. See above, p. 192. 
 
 241 
 
 l6— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 imposed upon the taxpayer by the estabhshment of 
 the Commonwealth ; and it represents less than 2s. per 
 head of the population, which is indeed an insignificant 
 amount to pay for the advantages of union — being (as 
 was said by a Federal speaker during the New South 
 Wales campaign), " just sixpence less than it would cost 
 to register a dog ! " This expenditure for the direct 
 purposes of the Commonwealth is likely to increase, but 
 up to the present it has been kept down in a spirit^of 
 almost penurious economy. 
 
 The second heading is " other expenditure." Unlike 
 the " new " expenditure, the " other " expenditure 
 is not caused immediately and directly by the estab- 
 lishment of the Commonwealth, and unlike the " trans- 
 ferred " expenditure it does not represent charges which 
 were borne by the several colonies before union. It 
 represents the outlay upon services of the Commonwealth 
 which are necessitated by the expansion of Australia 
 and the proper exercise of the functions of a National 
 Government. For instance, the expenditure on Papua, 
 the vote for the sugar bounties, the cost of re-arming the 
 military forces, all come under this heading. All these 
 items must have been borne by one or more of the separate 
 colonies without Federation, unless, indeed, the separated 
 colonies had been unwilling to incur any expenditure 
 for common purposes. In 1907-8 the " other " expen- 
 diture amounted to £1,705,077, of which no less a sum 
 than £876,366 was provided for defence purposes, 
 which in pre-Federal days were always charged to loans, 
 and £584,630 for sugar bounties, in execution of the 
 White Australia policy. 
 
 " Transferred " expenditure speaks for itself. It 
 represents that outlay upon the departments of Govern- 
 ment which the Commonwealth has taken over from the 
 States ; and manifestly represents no new charge upon 
 the taxpayer. This amounted in 1907-8 to £4,043,689. 
 
 242
 
 THE SURPLUS 
 
 The total of the year's expenditure was thus : — 
 
 " New " Expenditure .. 410,127 
 
 "Other" ,, .. 1,705,077 
 
 "Transferred",, .. 4,043,689 
 
 Total .. ;^6. 158,893 
 
 The Return to the States 
 
 It will be remembered that, by the Constitution, the 
 Commonwealth is prohibited during the first ten years 
 from spending more than one-fourth of the net revenue 
 from Customs and Excise, and is required to return the 
 balance to the several States, in proportion to their 
 contributions. 
 
 In 1907-8 one-fourth of the net revenue from Customs 
 and Excise was £2,842,097 ; so that the Commonwealth 
 was obliged by the constitution to return to the States 
 £8,526,292. Deducting this sum from the surplus for the 
 year of £8,859,596, there was a balance of £333,304, which 
 the Commonwealth might have retained legally for its 
 own purposes. Instead of doing this, it returned to the 
 States a further sum of £330,613. This action was strictly 
 in accordance with the practice of previous years. The 
 Commonwealth has always treated the States with great 
 liberality — having returned to them since its establish- 
 ment no less a sum than £6,058,637, over and above the 
 amount legally due under the Constitution. 
 
 The Public Debt 
 
 The Constitution empowers the Commonwealth to 
 assume responsibility for the public indebtedness of the 
 States as it stood at the date of the establishment of the 
 Commonwealth ; but it gave no right of control over the 
 borrowings of the State. Up to the present time no debts 
 have been taken over, and the assumption of some 
 responsibility will probably form a term in the new 
 
 243
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 financial arrangements, which the Commonwealth must 
 make with the States when the term of the Braddon 
 clause expires in 1910. 
 
 The total public debt of the Australian States on 
 June 30th, 1907, was ^^240, 149,727, or £57 15s. Id. per 
 head of the population. On this sum the annual charge 
 for interest was £8,654,299, or £1 Is. 7d. per head. Sinking 
 Funds had been provided amounting to £3,731,275. Of 
 the total of the loans, 22*72 or £54,570,338 have been 
 floated in Australia ; the balance is due in London at 
 various dates. 
 
 Of the monies thus raised £231,108,346 have been 
 spent for public purposes ; viz., on railways and tram- 
 ways, 61- 13 % of the total ; on water supply and sewerage, 
 13-02 % ; on telegraphs and telephones, 1-62 % ; on 
 harbour rivers, roads, and bridges, 10-99 % ; on defence, 
 1-04 %, and the rest on other more or less reproductive 
 items. ^ 
 
 It is claimed with truth that the character of this 
 expenditure differentiates Australian indebtedness from 
 that of a European State, whose public debt has been 
 principally incurred for war purposes. But when this 
 contention is pushed further and it is asserted that the 
 public debt is no burden, because it is represented by 
 tangible assets, it becomes both an exaggeration in point 
 of fact — because at least ten per cent, of the totalis repre- 
 sented by no visible assets — and a misunderstanding of 
 the nature of credit. Even granted that the railways and 
 other public works are to-day worth the whole of the 
 pubhc debt, there is no means of testing their saleable 
 value, because there is no market in which they could be 
 sold. No private company, for instance, would care to 
 work the Australian railways unless the Parliaments were 
 first deprived of all power over railway matters. The 
 
 1 The difference between the amount of the total debt and 
 the amount of the monies spent represents the cost of flotation. 
 
 244
 
 LOANS AND CREDIT 
 
 real security for the public creditors is not the assets, in 
 which his money is invested, but the character of the 
 people to whom he lends. Australian credit stands high 
 because the world knows that Australians respect obliga- 
 tions and so will never repudiate their debts. For the 
 sam.e reason it is a needless exercise of ingenuity to dis- 
 tinguish between the credits of the several States. One 
 may have borrowed too rapidly, so that the underwriters 
 of the loans have not been able to unload, and the price 
 of its stock will in consequence be low ; another may have 
 borrowed more than a legitimate anticipation of the 
 future justified ; but ultimately, the credit of each State 
 rests upon the credit of them all. No State could permit 
 — much less could the Commonwealth permit — that any 
 State should fall behind in payment of interest as it 
 fell due. ^ Nevertheless, it is an important proof of the 
 wisdom with which loans have upon the whole been 
 spent, that the railways, ^ after paying working expenses 
 and all other charges, should have returned for 
 1905-6 and 1906-7 respectively £383,625 and £992,947, 
 or plus 0'28 % and plus 0-72 % over and above the 
 interest on the £141,271,521 spent upon them out of loan 
 monies. Nor must it be forgotten that the chief reason 
 for borrowing has been that Australian Governments 
 
 ^ During the years of financial stress, 1899-1903, arrangements 
 were more than once made between New South Wales and other 
 States for the temporary use of each other's credit balances in 
 London. 
 
 2 The mileage of the Australian railways open for traffic is 
 15,238, and 732 miles are in course of construction. It is charac- 
 teristic of the jealousies which Federation has to overcome that 
 there should be five different gauges in use. The New South 
 Wales is the standard 4 ft. 8 in. gauge ; the Victorian is 5 ft. 3 in. ; 
 the Queensland, South Australian and West Australian is 3 ft. 6 in. ; 
 and Queensland has a short line on the 2 ft. 6 in. gauge and 
 Tasmania another of 2 ft. The gross revenue per train mile 
 was 86-37 pence, and the gross cost per train mile 49-50 pence, 
 and the net return on the capital invested, after payment of all 
 expenses was 435 per cent, or 3707 pence per train mile. 
 
 245
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 undertake many functions which, in England or 
 America, are left to private persons or local authorities. 
 This fact explains the large figures of the State Budgets, 
 which make no separation between receipts for services 
 rendered and receipts from taxation, and thus swell both 
 sides of the accounts. One of the reforms advocated by 
 the Sydney Bulletin is a change in this system of keeping 
 the accounts, in order to bring home to the people a 
 lesson much needed, namely, that they are living to a 
 considerable extent upon their national capital, by 
 bringing the receipts from the sale and occupation of 
 the public lands into the ordinary Revenue Account. 
 The Bulletin urges that all public borrowing should 
 cease and the revenue from the land should be spent in 
 the construction of public works. Such a change would 
 have many beneficial consequences outside the region of 
 finance. 
 
 246
 
 PART III— LEGISLATION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TARIFFS AND PREFERENCE 
 
 The First Tariff — The Effect on Industry — The National PoHcy — 
 Imperial Preference — The Displacement of British Trade — 
 Should Trade Follow the Flag ? — The Value of the Gift of 
 Preference — Preference to British Ships — Extensions of the 
 Policy of Preference — Preference and Imperial Union. 
 
 The fiscal policy of the Commonwealth has been deter- 
 mined from the beginning by the conditions of union. 
 Before 1900 every colony had its own tariff, and each was 
 financially dependent, athough in varying degrees, upon 
 its Customs receipts. One of the chief impulses towards 
 union was the desire for a common tariff. No colony, 
 however, had been willing to surrender its revenues from 
 Customs without a guarantee that it would receive at 
 least an equal amount from the Commonwealth. A 
 calculation of the total receipts of the six States from 
 Customs duties on over-sea goods, showed that after 
 deducting the new charges in respect of the Common- 
 wealth, there would remain a balance, on the assumption 
 that the Commonwealth tariff would return a corresponding 
 amount sufficient to insure each State against serious 
 loss. Accordingly the Constitution contained the pro- 
 visions which have been already referred to in the chapter 
 dealing with finance, directing the Commonwealth to 
 return to the States three-quarters of whatever sums they 
 received from Customs duties, in certain prescribed 
 proportions. 
 
 The financial obligations towards the States, which the 
 
 247
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Constitution imposed upon the Commonwealth, explain 
 its first tariff (Nov. 4th, 1901). Roughly speaking, these 
 required a revenue of six million pounds. Out of this 
 the new charges in respect of the Commonwealth were 
 not expected to exceed £300,000 — a sum of Is. 6d. per head 
 of the population. The balance, after discharging the 
 expenses of the services which the Commonwealth took 
 over from the States {e.g., Post Office and Customs), was 
 to be returned to the'States according to the provisions of 
 the Constitution. The situation was further complicated 
 by the existence in every State of industries which owed 
 their existence to protective duties, and had to be pre- 
 served. To this extent the new tariff was intentionally 
 protective, but in other respects it was a compromise 
 between the high duties of Victoria and the lower duties of 
 New South Wales. The range, however, was still suffi- 
 ciently high to be incidentally protective to many indus- 
 tries, and a great expansion of manufactures followed. 
 Several new industries were also started by American and 
 English firms, which had hitherto consigned their products 
 to agents. ^ New channels were opened by these means 
 in many directions for the investment of capital and the 
 employment of labour. 
 
 The Effect on Industry 
 
 The increase in manufactures since the tariff is shown 
 in the table on the next page, which is compiled from the 
 " Year Book of the Commonwealth." 
 
 Reference to the figures given above in the chapter on 
 " Material Progress " will show that this great develop- 
 ment of manufacturing industry synchronized with an 
 immense increase in over-sea trade, thus illustrating afresh 
 
 ^ The tariff had the same effect in estabhshing industries in 
 the Commonwealth which had previously been conducted abroad 
 as Mr. Lloyd George's Patent Act has had in attracting industries 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 248
 
 MANUFACTURES 
 
 Table Showing Increase in Manufactures since the 
 Tariff of Nov. 4th, 1901, and Percentages of Increase^. 
 
 
 Value Plant of and 
 
 Number of 
 
 Salaries and 
 
 Year 
 
 Machines,^ with Percentage 
 
 Operatives in 
 
 Wages 
 
 
 of increase 
 
 Factories 
 
 paid 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 i 
 
 1903 
 
 18,639,778 
 
 126,137 
 
 10,829,026 
 
 
 8-88% (1) 
 
 
 10-50 % 
 
 1904 
 
 20,294,788 
 
 131,491 
 
 11,966,135 
 
 
 1-92 % 
 
 
 3-24 % 
 
 1905 
 
 20,683,945 
 
 139,959 
 
 12,353,840 
 
 
 5-07 % 
 
 
 6-96 % 
 
 1906 
 
 21,731,554 
 
 150,168 
 
 13,213,467 
 
 1907 
 
 
 
 
 the experience of the United States and Germany, that 
 protective duties do not necessarily reduce imports.* 
 Such an object lesson was not lost, even upon many who 
 had hitherto opposed protection. In the meantime, 
 Australians were watching closely the movement started 
 by Mr. Chamberlain towards Imperial Preference, upon 
 which most of them believe that the consolidation of the 
 Empire depends. 
 
 The National Policy 
 
 Consequently the tariff was re-modelled in 1907 with 
 the double object of protecting Australian industries and 
 granting a Preference to British goods — a combination 
 
 ^ Mr. Knibbs thus sums up the manufacturing position. 
 " There is evidence of general prosperity and rapid development. 
 Australian manufacturing is now upon a firm basis with respect 
 to many articles, and there is an increasing export business in 
 many commodities." (Year Book, p. 483.) 
 
 2 Excluding South Australia, from which the figures are not 
 available. 
 
 ' This is because a scientific tariff has an extensive free list, or 
 because prosperity increases the demand for foreign as well as 
 home-made goods. Tariffs only " restrict " trade in the same sense 
 that the Assouan dam " restricts " the life-giving waters of the 
 Nile, namely, in order to divert them into new channels. The 
 experience of the United States and Germany is conclusive on 
 this point. 
 
 249
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 of National and Imperial aims which, although very 
 characteristic of Australia has been much misunderstood. 
 The new nations which have grown up beyond the seas 
 no longer live in the ideas of tutelage, but are building for 
 themselves a new fabric of thought and habit, and claim 
 to be uncontrolled masters in their own household. Each 
 is developing its resources in its own way, and all, to 
 this end, make use of tariffs to obtain revenue and 
 diversify industry. Let it be assumed that Australia 
 would have done better to adopt Free Trade — an assump- 
 tion which is warranted neither by the experience of 
 Canada nor by the teaching of John Stuart Mill, — it has 
 still to be proved that it was possible for her to do so. 
 If Professor Rabbeno^ be correct in his theory that 
 Protection is forced upon a young country by the exhaus- 
 tion or appropriation of its superior lands, then the 
 protective system of Victoria, which determined the fiscal 
 colour of the first Commonwealth tariff, was a necessity 
 of economic law. ^ Certainly most politicians believed 
 that it was a necessity of politics, because no Free 
 Trader was able to suggest any other means by which 
 the colony could raise suihcient revenue. ^ However 
 
 ^ See " The Commercial Policy of the United States," by 
 Professor Rabbeno. 
 
 2 The introduction of protection into Victoria (in 1864) was due 
 to the same interaction of political and economic forces, which 
 Professor Rabbeno traces in his " Commercial Policy of the 
 United States." The available land had become insufficient to 
 maintain the increasing number of those who, since 1 85 1 , had found 
 employment on the gold-fields, most of whom had been trained 
 in England to some mechanical pursuit. Very interesting figures 
 are given in the earliest Victorian Statistical Register, edited 
 by Mr. Archer, and published in 1854, on the distribution of popu- 
 lation in that colony from 1841 to 1851. This work of authority 
 is now rare. 
 
 ' Direct taxation is seldom possible in an undeveloped colony. 
 Victoria, it must be remembered, is the smallest State in the 
 Commonwealth except Tasmania, and in 1864 the Legislature 
 was under the control of the great landowners and their allies. 
 
 New South Wales used to be quoted against Victoria as the 
 
 250
 
 PREFERENCE 
 
 this may be, the time is now arrived when all who 
 wish to understand Australians, and do justice to 
 their actions, must accept the fact that Protection 
 is the fixed policy of the Commonwealth, as it is of 
 Canada or the United States. ^ When once this fact 
 is grasped, the idea that an Australian tariff is framed in 
 any spirit of hostility to British traders will find no 
 credence.^ Nor need the determination of Australia to 
 develop her potential capacity as a manufacturing 
 country cause the Imperialists any alarm. The best 
 support to the Empire is the strengthening of its com- 
 ponent parts, and Australia will be a more valuable 
 Imperial asset, when the tariff has made her self-contained, 
 than if, under Free Trade, she produced only raw 
 materials. The interests of the Empire may best be 
 served by decentralising its manufacturing power. 
 
 Imperial Preference 
 
 In this view Mr. Deakin and his party in 1907 deli- 
 berately re-adjusted the tariff for the preservation and 
 encouragement of Australian industries, even against 
 British competition ; but, at the same time, Preferential 
 treatment was accorded to several important lines of 
 British goods, in order to give an advantage over 
 
 classic example of the superiority of Free Trade ; but the remark- 
 able development of that State in manufactures since the uniform 
 tariff has convinced many that her previous position was due to 
 natural causes, and to the large revenues which she received 
 from loans and from the sale or use of public lands. 
 
 ^ Party cries survive long after they have lost their meaning ; 
 so that in New South Wales there is still a " Free Trade " party. 
 But as leader, Mr. Reid has professed his readiness to accept 
 Protection. 
 
 * In July, 1907, a number of merchants in the City of London 
 addressed a protest to the Colonial Office against the proposed 
 increase of duties. This was an echo of similar protests which 
 were raised until 1884 against every increase of the Canadian 
 tariff. (See Porritt's " Sixty Years of Protection in Canada," 
 pp. 196-8.) 
 
 251
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 competing foreign goods. ^ This, which is the Imperial 
 aspect of the tariff, must be now discussed. ^ 
 
 Austraha stands to gain so much from favoured treat- 
 ment in the market of Great Britain, that the pohcy of 
 Imperial Preference is hardly a party question. Indeed, 
 the unanimity upon this point has brought upon Australia 
 the reproach of selfishness. Justice accordingly demands 
 that her actions and motives shall not be misunderstood. 
 
 There was certainly nothing selfish in the first grant 
 of Preference, for it was made immediately upon the 
 refusal of the British Government to accord reciprocal 
 treatment. 'But," the critics of Australia say, "the 
 gift was small, and the method of making it shows 
 that the motive was higher protection and not regard for 
 England." Both these statements have found credence 
 in England and need careful examination. 
 
 First as to the money value of the Preference accorded. 
 
 This must be to some extent an estimate, because no 
 one can foretell how prices will be adjusted to the new 
 system. But the presumption is that a Preference of 
 from 8 to 15 per cent, should exercise an effective influence 
 in diverting trade. The Australian tariff gives a 
 Preference of that amount on goods which, according to 
 
 ^ Preference to the products of the South African Colonies had 
 been given in 1906. Negotiations for reciprocal preference with 
 Canada are in progress. 
 
 2 At least /1 50,000,000 a year is spent by Great Britain in 
 the purchase from foreigners of products which Australia could 
 supply. A mere fraction of this enormous trade would establish 
 her industrial position. Under a system of Preferential trade 
 her exports of butter, cheese, flour, cereals, meat, sugar and fruit 
 would largely increase, and many thousands of acres would 
 come under cultivation, to the advantage of all her other indus- 
 tries. It is true that she must share these advantages with 
 Canada, South Africa and the British farmer. It is true also 
 that Canada from her proximity to the market, might profit 
 most. But the very magnitude of the market is a sufficient 
 guarantee that all can share it, and as the Empire is one, it is 
 immaterial that its parts benefit unequally. 
 
 252
 
 BRITISH TRADE 
 
 last year's figures, should give England new trade, at the 
 expense of foreigners, to the amount of about £1,500,000, 
 and should retain this for her in the future with all its 
 natural increase. The amount is no doubt small in 
 comparison with the total volume of British trade, but 
 its magnitude is to be measured by the future growth 
 of Australia, and it is only intended as a beginning. 
 The attitude of the British Government made a larger 
 gift impracticable. That any gift was made at all, under 
 the circumstances, was somewhat magnanimous ; but 
 when it was made, as this was, avowedly as a mere inti- 
 mation of the willingness of Australia to negotiate with 
 Great Britain for other and larger Preferences, on reci- 
 procal terms, ungracious criticisms of this nature miss 
 the mark. They are also based on ignorance of the 
 position of English trade with Australia, which is more 
 easily perceived by the public in a small community living on 
 the seaboard, than among a population with the complex 
 and varied interests of the inland cities of Great Britain. 
 During the last twenty years Australia has been witness of 
 a steady increase in her trade with foreign countries at the 
 expense of Great Britain, a reversal of the proper order 
 of things, which is brought home to every voter in the 
 capital cities by the visible displacement of the red ensign 
 by foreign flags. If Preference were only to succeed in 
 arresting the decline it would be a real advantage to 
 British trade. This cannot be fully appreciated until some 
 features of Australian trade, during the last twenty years, 
 have been explained by figures. 
 
 The Displacement of British Trade 
 
 Since 1886 the volume of imports from the United 
 Kingdom, including the produce of other countries 
 re-exported into Australia, has remained almost stationary, 
 while the imports of British produce have steadily de- 
 creased. During the same period the imports of foreign 
 
 253
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 goods into Australia have steadily increased in volume. 
 As a result, the proportion of the total trade, imports 
 and exports, done by the Commonwealth with the 
 United Kingdom, is yearly lessening, and the propor- 
 tion of it which is done with foreigners is yearly grow- 
 ing. • AustraUa buys every year less British goods 
 and more foreign goods, and sends every year less raw 
 materials to Great Britain and more raw materials to 
 foreign countries. In other words, while British trade is 
 decreasing, foreign trade is increasing. Presumably this 
 increase in the foreign trade is at the expense of the British. 
 The first illustrative table in this connection is taken 
 from the " Commonwealth Year Book," and shows the 
 decline in the exports of British produce. 
 
 Table I 
 
 The value of United Kingdom produce, exported from 
 
 the United Kingdom to Australia from 1887-1906 
 
 (quinquennial averages). 
 
 Year Value 
 
 1887-1891 /20, 119,000 
 
 1892-1896 ^14,533,000 
 
 1897-1901 ;^19,045,000 
 
 1901-1906 ^18,046,000 
 
 During the same period the value of produce of other 
 countries which was re-exported from the United King- 
 dom, remained almost stationary at about £3,300,000. 
 During the first quinquennial this was 14-52 per cent, of 
 the total exports from the United Kingdom to Australia, 
 during the last (1901-6) it was 15-06 per cent. It is, 
 therefore, apparent that the decline in the value of the 
 total exports from Great Britain to Australia has not 
 been due, as has been sometimes suggested, to the increase 
 of direct shipments from foreign countries, but to a falling 
 off in the sale of articles of British production. 
 
 This decline in the export of British goods might be 
 attributed to the development of Australian industries, 
 
 254
 
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 255
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 were it not that during the same period the export of 
 foreign goods has increased. The following table, wliich 
 gives the values as entered in Austrahan ports, shows the 
 relative growth of British and foreign trade since 1S91, 
 and the percentage of each for each year to the total 
 value of imports into Australia. The same information 
 is given as to imports from British possessions, which show 
 a very satisfactory growth. 
 
 These figures cannot be regarded as satisfactory- from 
 any point of \-iew. They show that, whatever year be 
 taken as a starting point and whether the enquiry be 
 limited to the fluctuations in the imports of L'nited 
 Kingdom produce, or extended, as in the last table, to 
 include all produce sliipped from the L'nited Kingdom, 
 there has been a steady expansion of foreign trade at the 
 expense of British, wliich has been especially marked 
 since 1S97. England, which in 1S91 did 70' 1 per cent, of 
 the Australian trade, did only 59' 5 in 1906, wliile foreigners 
 have increased their percentage since 1S91 from IS' 3 
 per cent, to 25' 5 per cent. The percentages during the 
 quinquennial periods and for 1906, of the import trade into 
 Australia done by the L'nited Kingdom. British Posses- 
 sions and foreign comitries. are given in the next table, 
 "wbich is taken from the " Commonwealth Year Book." 
 
 Table III 
 Average Percentages of the Imports into Austraha from 
 (iZ) The L'nited Kingdom, [b) British Possessions, (c) 
 Foreign coimtries, during quinquennial periods. 1SS6-1906. 
 
 1S$9-91 1S92-9S 1S97-01 1901-06 1906 
 
 per cent, per cent, per cent, per cent, per cent. 
 The United [ 
 
 Kinsrdom 70U 70 92 6277 5S-30 59-39 
 
 British 
 
 Possessions 12-41 11 -45 lllS 1360 15-00 
 
 Foreign 
 
 Countries 
 
 17-45 . 
 
 17-60 
 
 2605 
 
 2S-10 
 
 25-52 
 
 Total 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 256
 
 EXPORTS 
 
 It will be observed that the year 1906 shows a recovery 
 in favour of England. 
 
 Mr. Knibbs, the statistician of the Commonwealth, gives 
 another striking illustration of the displacement of British 
 trade. Grouping together leading lines of articles which 
 represented 66" 50 per cent, of the total imports for 1906, 
 and the import of which has increased since 1886 by 
 £7,250,000, he enquires into the share in this increase of, 
 respectively, Great Britain, the United States, and 
 Germany. The result is that 18"034 per cent, of the increase 
 was from the United States, 25*54 per cent, from Germany, 
 and only 22-82 per cent, from the United Kingdom. 
 
 During the same period Australian exports have in 
 increasing quantities been diverted from the United 
 Kingdom to foreign countries. The figures for quin- 
 quennial periods are given in the enclosed table, compiled 
 from the " Year Book " — 
 
 Table IV 
 
 Table showing the relative quantities and percentage of 
 
 the total of exports (including butter and specie) from 
 
 Australia to (a) The United Kingdom ; (b) British 
 
 possessions ; (c) Foreign countries. 
 
 Country 
 
 Yearly average of Quinquennial Periods 
 
 Year 
 
 (a) The United 
 
 1886-91 
 
 1892-96 1 1896-01 
 
 1902-06 
 
 1906 
 
 Kingdom 
 Total in 
 
 £ 
 
 £ £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 ;^000,000 
 
 22-60 
 
 23-03 
 
 25-33 26-46 
 
 32-85 
 
 Percentage 
 (6) British 
 
 74-74% 
 
 69-65% 
 
 57-01% 46-09% 
 
 47-12% 
 
 Possessions 
 Total in 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ £ 
 
 1 
 
 £ 
 
 /OOO.OOO 
 
 2-49 
 
 2-82 
 
 6-89 ' 13-87 
 
 13-85 
 
 Percentage 
 (c) Foreign 
 Countries 
 Total in 
 
 8-46«^ 
 
 £ 
 
 8-53% 
 
 £ 
 
 15-52% 
 £ 
 
 25-11% 
 
 £ 
 
 19-86% 
 £ 
 
 ;^000,000 
 
 4-95 
 
 I'll 
 
 12-20 
 
 15-90 
 
 23-03 
 
 Percentage 
 
 16-80% 
 
 21-82% 
 
 27-47% 
 
 28-80% 
 
 33-02% 
 
 257 
 
 ir— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Some part of the deviation of Australian exports is due 
 to direct shipment of wool purchased in Australia by 
 foreign buyers to France and Germany which at one time 
 was shipped via London. But not enough allowance can 
 be made upon this score to explain the change in the 
 destination of such large quantities of Australian exports. 
 
 Should Trade Follow the Flag ? 
 
 The bearing of the facts, which these figures illustrate, 
 is plain and direct upon the attitude of Australians 
 towards the policy of Preference. Rightly or wrongly — 
 and these pages are an explanation, not a justification — 
 Australians believe that it is better to do business with 
 kinsmen than with strangers ; and, convinced of their 
 present importance and future greatness, they cannot 
 agree that it makes no material difference to England 
 whether she or Germany does the Australian trade. ^ 
 Accordingly they desire by means of Preferential duties 
 to restore to England the trade which she has lost, owing 
 to the action of her trade rivals in using the organised 
 power of the State to facilitate the operations of private 
 persons, through cheap railway rates and subsidised lines 
 of steamers. The effort may not succeed, but the 
 making of it should not be censured or derided in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 * England's chief competitors are Germany and the United 
 States. Each of these countries places serious impediments in 
 the way of Australian commerce. The United States forbid 
 an Australian steamer from carrying any cargo between the 
 Philippines or the Sandwich Islands and the United States. The 
 German Government has inserted a clause in the contract with 
 the North German Lloyd, — whose heavily subsidised vessels are 
 doing most damage to British shipping — prohibiting any steamer 
 of the Company from bringing an ounce of Australian meat or 
 pound of Australian flour, or indeed any food or primary pro- 
 ducts of the country except wool and minerals, into Germany, 
 on pain of forfeiting the subsidy. These examples offer a fair 
 measure of the desire of these countries to trade with Australia- 
 
 258
 
 AUSTRALIAN PREFERENCE 
 
 The Value of the Gift of Preference 
 
 The complaint that the method and motive of Austrahan 
 Preference were unworthy needs to be examined next. 
 
 This rests upon the fact that Preference was given by 
 a surtax on the new duties which the tariff proposed, in 
 respect of foreign goods, and not by a rebate of the old 
 duties in favour of British goods, and is the old misunder- 
 standing of Australian fiscal policy in a new form. Under 
 a protective system, duties cannot be reduced below the 
 level at which they are effective. Accordingly rebates can 
 only be granted by a country which has adopted Pro- 
 tection, when the duties are already higher than are 
 necessary for protective purposes. " Give me," said Mr. 
 Deakin, " a tariff at the Canadian rates, and I can intro- 
 duce Preference by the Canadian method of reducing 
 duties." As things were, it was not possible to reduce 
 rates in favour of British goods without abandonment of 
 the protective principle, because the Australian tariff 
 already pressed less heavily upon British goods than any 
 tariff in the world. According to the estimate of the 
 Board of Trade the average duty levied by the 1901 tariff 
 upon the principal articles of British export was only 6 
 per cent. This table brings other rates under comparison. 
 
 Table V 
 
 Table showing the estimated average ad valorem equiva- 
 lent of the Import Duties levied by the undermentioned 
 countries on the principal articles of British export from 
 the United Kingdom : — 
 
 Country Per Cent 
 
 Canada . . 160 
 
 Belgium . . 130 
 
 New Zealand . . 9'0 
 The Commonwealth 6'0 
 South African Colonies 6-0 
 
 Another consideration precluded any lowering of the 
 
 tariff, namely, the shortage in Queensland and Tasmania 
 
 259 
 
 Country 
 Russia 
 
 Per Cent 
 .. 1310 
 
 United States 
 
 . . 730 
 
 Austria Hungary- 
 France 
 
 .,. 350 
 -. 34-0 
 
 Italy 
 
 .. 25-0
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 between the sum received back from the Commonwealth 
 under the Br addon clause of the Constitution, and the 
 sum which they had formerly raised by their own tariffs. 
 Any reduction in the Commonwealth revenue by rebates 
 on the excise duties would have still further increased 
 the financial difficulties of both the States and the 
 Commonwealth. The provisions of the Constitution thus 
 placed great and probably insuperable difficulties in the 
 way of Preference by means of rebates. The only alter- 
 native was a surtax on foreign goods above the rate at 
 which British goods were admitted. It may happen that 
 in some instances the duties were raised so high that 
 they will prove prohibitive of all imports, so that the 
 Preference in such cases will be operative. But the belief 
 and intention is and was that the normal rate should not 
 be too high to admit British goods while the surtax should 
 be sufficient to exclude foreign goods. As has been 
 said, time alone can test the experiment ; but it is right 
 even now to appreciate its nature. 
 
 Preference to British Ships 
 
 The method of Preference which would be most effective 
 and which, it is greatly to be regretted, was not adopted 
 in 1907, would be a reduction of the surtax on foreign 
 goods provided they were carried in British ships. 
 One of the planks in the platform of the " Australian 
 Preferential League," which was founded in Sydney in 
 1903, was to confer some direct advantage upon British 
 ships by the policy of Preference. This, indeed, should be 
 the essence of any Preferential scheme. The Empire 
 depends upon commerce ; commerce depends upon the 
 Empire : but the effective instrument for the security of 
 both is British shipping. Consequently whether the 
 method of Preference be by rebate or surtax, goods which 
 are carried in British bottoms should receive some 
 favouring treatment. Either the rebate should be 
 
 260
 
 SHIPPING 
 
 increased ; or if the method is by surtax, an additional 
 charge should be levied on goods, which have been carried 
 in foreign ships. Probably an additional surtax of 10 per 
 cent, on such goods would entirely check the displacement 
 of British by foreign produce, and would give an imme- 
 diate and much-needed stimulus to the mercantile 
 marine, which is the nursery of the Navy. Foreign 
 vessels are already securing an increasing proportion 
 of Australian trade, although the greater part, 72-84 
 per cent., is still done by vessels of British nationality. 
 The respective tonnages and percentages are given 
 below. 
 
 Table VI 
 
 Nationality of vessels entering and clearing from the 
 Commonwealth over-sea. 
 
 
 Year 1904 
 
 Year 1905 
 
 Year 1906 
 
 British. 
 
 
 
 
 Tonnage in 000 tons 
 
 5035 
 
 5-545 
 
 5-802 
 
 Percentage 
 
 75-35 % 
 
 74-49 % 
 
 72-84 
 
 Foreign 
 
 
 
 
 Tonnage in 000 tons 
 
 1-646 
 
 1-899 
 
 2163 
 
 Percentage 
 
 24-65 % 
 
 25-51 % 
 
 27-16 
 
 Mr. Knibbs remarks upon these figures : ^ "Of the 
 increase in tonnage in 1906 as compared with 1904, viz., 
 1,284,647 tons, 767,930 tons {i.e., 59*78 per cent.), was 
 British and 516,717 tons {i.e., 40*22 per cent.) was foreign, 
 and the increase of 1906 over 1905 was only 49-32 for 
 British ships. But to sustain the proportion of British 
 tonnage as in 1904 it was necessary that 75-35 per cent, 
 should have been British." ^ 
 
 ^ " Commonwealth Year Book," p. 533. 
 
 2 The shipping business of Sydney and Melbourne is only 
 exceeded by four ports in the United Kingdom, namely, London, 
 Liverpool, Cardiff and Newcastle. 
 
 261
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Extensions of the Policy of Preference 
 The policy of Imperial Preference is not, however, 
 exhausted by encouraging British goods and British 
 shipping in Australia, Canada, and South Africa. It 
 could be applied with equal advantage to the Empire in 
 the Crown Colonies of Hong Kong and the Straits 
 Settlements, which are the two distributing ports for the 
 great markets of the Far East. A preference to Imperial 
 fiour in either of these would win back the Eastern 
 trade in that commodity, which is now monopolised by 
 an American Trust, financed by the magnates of " Standard 
 Oil." English merchants would benefit also in their 
 competition with Germany for the Chinese trade, since 
 no other port along the coast of China can offer the 
 advantages of Hong Kong. When the Empire becomes 
 conscious of itself, or men of business seriously attempt 
 to organise its powers. Preference will be found a useful 
 instrument for many unsuspected purposes. In the 
 meantime all portions of the Empire owe gratitude to 
 Canada, South Africa, and Australia for maintaining 
 preferential treatment for British goods in the face of 
 neglect and discouragement. It is early yet to judge 
 of the effect of Preference in Australia ; but it would 
 seem from the figures of the past ten months that, as 
 in Canada, the decline in British trade is being arrested, 
 and that England will, before long, regain the ground 
 which she has lost to foreign rivals. 
 
 Preference and Imperial Union 
 
 The policy of Preference, as understood in Australia, 
 is only one part of a large policy of constructive Impe- 
 rialism. It is the first step towards that "free union of free 
 commonwealths," which is the ideal of the new Impe- 
 rialism and includes every means by which the parts of 
 the Empire may be brought into closer relations. Not 
 the least important of these is the diffusion of knowledge 
 
 262
 
 CABLE SERVICE 
 
 about each part, so that all may be united by a common 
 sympathy. No single means would more effectually 
 remove many causes of friction and misunderstanding^ 
 than improved cable communications. The day is long 
 passed since intercourse by post was sufficient for ordinary 
 requirements. Events now move so quickly that States 
 and individuals need to be in constant touch, and affairs 
 can only be followed with a common interest, when the 
 facilities for observation are the same. People will not 
 read intelligently about events which are six weeks old, 
 but need to follow them in detail, as they develop from 
 day to day. The ablest pressmen — and the Australian 
 cable service is well served — cannot condense the affairs 
 of twenty-four hours into a few hundred cabled words. 
 Such condensations must be, at best, conclusions from 
 data which the reader should himself see and judge, and 
 cannot give (to take only one illustration) even the spirit 
 of a great speech. Yet, if the Empire is to remain one, 
 the doings and sayings of its leaders in every part of it 
 are of interest to all its members, and should be brought 
 within their knowledge. An American newspaper 
 catering for a public of sixty millions, can give in the same 
 issue verbatim reports of speeches by an English, French, 
 or German Minister ; an Australian paper has perforce 
 to summarise the three in half a column. No one can 
 forecast the difference in habit, thought and policy, which 
 might be effected throughout the Empire by a state- 
 owned cable service, at an Imperial rate of one penny 
 a word. This would be a greater, because a more 
 
 ^ The causes of difference or misunderstanding are innumerable 
 between remote countries with diverse, and at times, conflicting 
 interests ; and each successive AustraUan generation is further 
 removed in sympathy from England and more inclined to concen- 
 trate its interest upon local affairs. True, the old ties remain of 
 race and language ; but time and distance are disintegrating 
 influences, which " the crimson thread of kinship " by itself 
 cannot hold back. The most bitter quarrels are, proverbially, 
 those of kinsmen. 
 
 263
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 far-reaching reform than penny postage. The present 
 cable rates, 2s. 6d. a word, are prohibitive of social 
 messages and very hampering to the Press, which, owing 
 to the cost of cables, has in Austraha syndicated its 
 foreign despatches. In plain Enghsh, this means that 
 the four millions of Australians only read such Enghsh 
 and foreign news as one gentleman in Fleet Street chooses 
 to put before them — " and what he knows not is not 
 knowledge ! " However well the work is done, the 
 task would be too great for human ability. Australia 
 will never be in the main stream of civilisation until a 
 cheap cable service informs and stimulates the national 
 mind and quickens the national sympathies. 
 
 Other facilities for intercourse and the spread of 
 knowledge need improvement ; and this, too, is part of the 
 policy of Preference. " Every time," said Mr. Deakin in 
 introducing into Parliament the proposal to grant Prefer- 
 ence to Great Britain, " I have touched upon this subject. 
 I have, from the first, included improved cable com- 
 munication, mail communcation, and the diffusion of 
 commercial intelligence, the multiplying of commercial 
 agencies in the country — all as parts of one system. I 
 have never severed them. Preferential trade, with me, 
 means all these things, as well as promoting our dealing 
 with each others' commodities. But of course the centre 
 and pivot is tariff Preferences." 
 
 Perhaps the time will come when knowledge of the 
 Empire shall be deemed so indispensable to a legislator 
 that the House of Commons and the Parliaments of 
 Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, will 
 vote monies to provide every Member with the opportunity 
 of visiting all parts of the Empire at least once in his 
 public life. The ideal of Imperial unity cannot be 
 appreciated without knowledge ; nor the amplitude 
 of the resources of the Empire, nor the part it plays in 
 civihsation as representing the ideas of order, liberty, 
 
 264
 
 "LITTLE AUSTRALIANS" 
 
 and progress. There is danger too in the isolation of 
 any part of this great whole. For it must be remembered 
 that, as there are " Little Englanders," who believe that 
 a small community like Holland is most conducive to the 
 welfare of a people, so there are " Little Australians," 
 whose vision is not lifted beyond the horizon of their own 
 Commonwealth. To break down barriers by connecting 
 self-governing communities by the tie of commercial 
 interest is the first work of a tariff Preference, 
 
 This is no place to state the case for Preference — which 
 will prove as advantageous to Great Britain as to the 
 dominions over-sea — but two considerations from an 
 Australian standpoint may fittingly be pressed in a book 
 about Australia. 
 
 In the first place, did not the last Imperial Conference 
 show the lesson, that every scheme for closer union hinged 
 upon tariff Preference, because there is no inducement to 
 concerted action without a common interest. Lacking 
 this, the Conference wholly failed to obtain any outward 
 sign of the existence of the Empire. Mr. Deakin tried 
 in vain to get a formal recognition of the equality of 
 its component nations, by the establishment of a Secre- 
 tariat for Imperial purposes, which should be responsible 
 to the Conference, as representing the Empire, and not 
 merely to Great Britain. Nor was it possible to obtain 
 agreement on any other definite proposal for securing 
 union. Even such an important question as that of 
 Imperial communications roused slight interest. 
 
 Tariff Preference, then, in Mr. Gladstone's phrase, 
 " holds the field," for there is no other proposal by which 
 the same end can be effected. 
 
 265
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 " THE NEW PROTECTION " 
 
 The Problem of Commerce — The " Harvester " Case — The 
 AustraUan Industries Preservation Act — Tariffs and Labour — 
 Tariffs and Corruption. 
 
 The preceding chapters will have made clear the intense 
 conviction of Austrahans that Parliament ought to secure 
 to manual workers a high standard of wages and living. 
 Obviously, however, this would not be possible, if Austra- 
 lian workmen had to compete against the low-grade or 
 sweated labour of foreign countries. Tariffs are one 
 obvious method of securing protection against this 
 danger. But experience shows that tariffs may become 
 a shield for trusts and combines, which may reap the 
 benefit of monopoly prices, while keeping the wages of 
 workmen at a low level. Is it, then, impossible to encou- 
 rage native industries by Customs duties, and yet at the 
 same time secure a share in the advantages of higher prices 
 to the workmen in the protected industries ? This is 
 one of those problems in the discussion of which the 
 Australian Parliament is at its best, for Australian 
 methods are generally as ingenious and original, as they 
 are simple and direct. 
 
 The " Harvester " Case 
 
 The problem in this particular case was presented to 
 Parliament in the concrete form of an attempt by an 
 American Trust to destroy an Austrahan industry, by 
 selling imported agricultural machines at cut rates, and 
 the handling of it by Parliament presents a typical 
 example of Australian methods and policy. The matter 
 arose in this way. 
 
 After thirteen years of arduous and rather disappointing 
 
 266
 
 THE HARVESTER TRUST 
 
 work an Australian manufacturer had devised a combined 
 " stripper harvester," which is so pecuharly adapted to 
 the agricultural conditions of Australia and America, 
 that it not only commanded a large sale in the Common- 
 wealth, but in 1905 was being exported to the Argentine 
 Republic. The making of these machines gave employ- 
 ment in that year to 2,500 men, and one firm in the trade 
 paid £45,000 a year in wages. Before the local manufac- 
 ture took firm root — it was planted in Victoria under the 
 encouragement of a tariff,— the sale of agricultural 
 machinery was controlled by a ring of importers. The 
 result was that, before Federation, agricultural machinery 
 was dearer in the Free Trade colony of New South Wales, 
 where there was no local competition, than in Victoria, 
 where the local manufacturer competed with the importer. 
 After Federation, when the interstate tariffs disappeared, 
 prices fell in New South Wales to the Victorian level. 
 
 In America the manufacture of agricultural implements 
 is in the hands of a combine known as " The International 
 Harvester Trust," of which Mr. Rockefeller, of Standard 
 Oil notoriety, is reputed to be the controlling spirit. 
 According to sworn testimony before the Tariff Commis- 
 sion, on April 26th, 1905, this Trust copied (" pirated " 
 was the word used in evidence) the Australian machine, 
 and men set to work to oust the Australian manufacturer 
 from his own home market. The Trust, according to a 
 representative in Australia, does 90 per cent, of the 
 world's trade in harvesting machinery, and is " after the 
 other ten." " We are determined," one of their agents 
 is sworn to have said, " to get hold of the trade in har- 
 vesting machinery, and it is only a matter of a little time 
 until we knock out all the local men. We have unlimited 
 money behind us, and even if we work at a loss for three 
 years we are bound to win. . . . We don't care what 
 money it costs ; we will secure the trade. McKay " (the 
 leading Australian manufacturer in this line) " had an 
 
 267
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 offer from us to buy him out, and he will live to regret the 
 day that he refused the offer. We are going to close him 
 up." 
 
 In pursuance of this policy machines were imported 
 from America and sold in Australia below cost. What 
 was the Australian to do ? Was he to stand by while 
 the American Trust destroyed this peculiarly Australian 
 industry by unfair means, and rejoice that the farmer 
 was getting a cheap machine ? If he followed this 
 advice, what was the " something else " which the 
 2,500 workmen in his trade could find to do ? Ought 
 he not, rather — recognising that the first need of Aus- 
 tralia is population and that employment is the magnet 
 to population — to have determined to preserve this 
 industry, even if, in order to do so, he must infringe 
 the " Laws of Political Economy " ? If he took the 
 view that the home industry might perish rather than 
 deprive the farmers of cheap machines, was it so certain 
 that the American Trust would not raise its prices directly 
 it controlled the market ? According to a witness before 
 the Commission, the price the Trust charged for a stripper 
 harvester in America was £140. The same machine was 
 sold in the Argentine for £60. Would the Trust have sold 
 in Australia at £140 or at £60 if local competition were 
 destroyed ? But tariffs, we are told, must raise prices. 
 No doubt they would do so in Dr. Pangloss' economic 
 world, but in Australia, as a matter of fact, they lowered 
 them. Before the tariff, the importers' ring charged £50 
 for a binder ; when the tariff came they dropped the 
 price to £25. Yet, theoretically, an Australian Trust 
 might be formed, behind the tariff wall, to exploit the 
 farmers in the same way as the International Harvester 
 Trust, so that Parhament had to guard against creating 
 one evil by remedying another. 
 
 Parliament accordingly in 1906 set itself to the double 
 object of combating the National Harvester Trust, and 
 
 268
 
 INDUSTRIES PRESERVATION ACT 
 
 safeguarding the interest of the consumers of agricultural 
 machinery against monopoly and dumping. 
 
 The Australian Industries Preservation Act 
 
 The Act by which this double object is attempted is 
 one of the most original and interesting of Australian 
 experiments. Known under the title of the " Australian 
 Industries Preservation Act " (1906, No. 9), it is divided 
 into two parts, the first of which is intended to " repress 
 monopolies," the second " to prevent dumping." ^ 
 
 The clauses of the first part of the Act contain very 
 stringent provisions against " combinations to restrain 
 trade or commerce to the detriment of the public or with 
 intent to destroy or injure by means of unfair competition 
 any Australian industry the preservation of which is 
 advantageous to the Commonwealth," and makes the 
 participation in such a combination, whether as principal 
 or agent, an offence punishable by a fine of £500. The 
 definition of " unfair competition " is exceedingly inge- 
 nious. Competition is deemed to be " unfair," unless the 
 contrary is proved, whenever the competitor is a " Com- 
 mercial Trust " {i.e., a combination of persons whether 
 wholly or partly within or beyond Australia for commer- 
 cial purposes), or whenever the competition results in an 
 unfair reduction of Australian wages, or displaces work- 
 men, or whenever the competitor gives rebates or other 
 inducements to encourage exclusive dealing. Another 
 clause forbids any combination with intent to monopolise 
 an}^ trade to the detriment of the public under a penalty 
 of £500. Stringent provisions are added to ensure the 
 detection and punishment of offenders against these 
 clauses. 
 
 The second part of the Act empowers the Comptroller 
 General of Customs to prohibit or impose conditions upon 
 
 ^ " Dumping " is the term used in the Australian Act of 
 Parliament. 
 
 269
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the entry of dumped goods into the Commonwealth. 
 Dumped goods are goods which are imported with intent 
 to injure an Austrahan industry by means of unfair 
 competition, and " unfair competition " is defined in the 
 following words — 
 
 Sect. 18 (1). " Competition shall be deemed unfair, 
 unless the contrary is proved, if — 
 
 " (a) under ordinary circumstances of trade it would 
 probably lead to the Australian goods being no 
 longer produced or being withdrawn from the 
 market or being sold at a loss unless produced 
 at an inadequate remuneration for labour or 
 " (b) the means adopted by the person importing or 
 selling the imported goods are, in the opinion 
 of the Comptroller-General, or a Justice as the 
 case may be, unfair in the circumstances ; or 
 " (c) the competition would probably or does in fact 
 result in an inadequate remuneration for labour 
 in the Australian industry ; or 
 " (d) the competition would probably or does in fact 
 result in creating any substantial disorganization 
 in Australian industry or throwing workers out of 
 employment ; or 
 " (e) the imported goods have been purchased abroad 
 by or for the importer, from the manufacturer 
 or some person acting for or in combination with 
 him or accounting to him, at prices greatly below 
 their ordinary cost of production where produced 
 or market price where purchased ; or 
 " (/) the imported goods are imported by or for the 
 manufacturer, or some person acting for or in 
 combination with him or accounting to him, 
 and are being sold in Australia at a price which 
 is less than gives the person importing or selling 
 them a fair profit upon their fair foreign market 
 270
 
 CONTROL OF TRUSTS 
 
 value, or their fair selling value if sold in the 
 
 country of production, together with all charges 
 
 after shipment from the place whence the goods 
 
 are exported directly to Australia (including 
 
 Customs duty). 
 
 " (2) In determining whether the competition is unfair, 
 
 regard shall be had to the management, the processes, 
 
 the plant and the machinery employed or adopted in the 
 
 Australian industry affected by the competition being 
 
 reasonably efficient, effective, and up-to-date." 
 
 In addition to this Act, which was of general applica- 
 tion, a special duty was imposed on harvesters for the 
 protection of that threatened industry. These measures 
 have achieved considerable success, and the Standard Oil 
 interests have received an important check, although they 
 have not yet been defeated. 
 
 The value of these measures is, however, to be estimated 
 almost as much by their intention as by their achievement. 
 Australia has been the first country to face the most 
 difficult problem of modern industry in endeavouring 
 to secure society against the danger to which it is exposed 
 by the concentration of commercial power in a few hands. 
 In fighting for her own " harvester " industry, she has 
 been fighting for true liberty of trade throughout the 
 world. Mr. Rockefeller already controls the lighting of 
 the world ; were he to succeed in the avowed object of the 
 " International Harvester Trust " he would also control 
 the world's food supply by controlling the essential means 
 of agricultural production. Such a situation would be 
 charged with incalculable danger to society. 
 
 Tariffs and Labour 
 
 It will have been observed that the Australian Industries 
 Preservation Act, although its primary object was the 
 restraint of foreign Trusts, applies equally to Trusts within 
 the Commonwealth, For Australia would have gained 
 
 271
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 little by escaping from the American Trust if she fell at 
 once into the grip of an Australian one. 
 
 Consequently, in order to ensure that a protected 
 manufacturer should charge a reasonable price for the 
 products which the tariff enables him to make, and also 
 that the benefits of a Protective duty should not be 
 monopolised by an employer but shared with his workmen, 
 it was provided, in the Act which raised the duties 
 upon harvesters, that machines made in Australia should 
 not be sold at a higher price than the Act fixed, and that 
 if this price should be exceeded the Executive might 
 reduce the rate of duties, even to the extent of withdrawing 
 the tariff protection. By another Act of the same year 
 (No. 16 of 1906) an excise duty of one-half the duty 
 payable upon imported agricultural machinery was im- 
 posed upon similar machinery manufactured in Australlia. 
 But it was provided at the same time that the latter 
 duty should be remitted, if the manufacturer paid such 
 wages and manufactured his goods under such conditions 
 as might be approved by the President of the Industrial 
 Arbitration Court. Another Act carried into effect similar 
 provisions in regard to distilleries, and it was proposed 
 to apply the system of removable excise duties to aU 
 industries which received Protection under the Common- 
 wealth tariff. The Act relating to agricultural machinery 
 (No. 16 of 1906) was, however, declared unconstitutional 
 by the High Court in July, 1908, and a new method must 
 now be sought for giving effect to the desires of Parliament. 
 The Legislation, however, although now ineffective, 
 remains on the Statute Book as the pioneer effort of any 
 Parhament to apportion the benefits of a protective 
 system fairly between employers and emplo^^cd, and pre- 
 vent advantage being taken of the tariff to raise prices 
 unduly. Even a failure is creditable in such a cause. ^ 
 
 * It is now proposed to amend the Constitution to bring such 
 legislation within the powers of the Commonwealth Parliament. 
 
 272
 
 THE HONOUR OF THE HOUSE 
 
 Tariffs and Corruption 
 
 Such legislation as that which has just been described 
 shows an Australian legislature at its best. There is an 
 air of business about the discussion of such measures and 
 a refreshing directness of aim, which justifies and enlivens 
 even the long wrangle over the items of a proposed tariff. 
 Obviously the opportunities, which such a measure as the 
 Excise Tariff Act offers for corrupt trafficking in votes are 
 numerous and the temptation is great. The Members of 
 the Australian Parliament are mostly poor in this world's 
 riches, and collective business interests are not more 
 scrupulous in Australia than elsewhere. Yet such is the 
 restraining force of a high Parliamentary tradition, that 
 votes directed by improper influences are as rare in Aus- 
 tralia as they are frequent in America. Indeed, the 
 House is so sensitive of its honour that it resents even 
 legitimate attempts of manufacturers to bring their 
 interests under notice. A duty on pianos was almost 
 rejected, because a manufacturer — to confute a public 
 statement by a member that no good piano could be 
 made in Australia, — sent one for inspection and use to 
 Parliament House. The belief, indeed, in the close 
 connection between tariffs and corruption, is a hazy 
 generalisation from the experience of the United States 
 and of Canada influenced by American example. It 
 is the more necessary to emphasize the contrast in 
 this, as in other respects, between Australia and the 
 United States, because Mr. Bryce in his apologetic 
 account 1 of the dishonesty and corruption of American 
 politics, suggests that this is a necessary feature of 
 democracy. " Democracies will be democratic. Equality 
 will have its perfect work." The experience of Australia 
 furnishes no ground for such a gloomy view of popular 
 government. 
 
 ^ " The American Commonwealth," Vol. II, p. 439. 
 
 273 
 
 i8— (aiji)
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " A WHITE AUSTRALIA " 
 
 The Policy — Its Administration — The Language Test — Coloured 
 Crews — Kanaka Labour and the Sugar Industry — The White 
 Man and the Tropics — Conclusion. 
 
 Nothing has more perplexed foreign observers or been 
 the object of more ill-natured criticism than the deter- 
 mination of Australians to clear their country of the taint 
 of coloured labour, which has been represented as a 
 selfish attempt to close the labour market against 
 dangerous competitors and as exhibiting a reckless dis- 
 regard of Imperial interests. In truth it is a policy of 
 high patriotism, conceived and executed in loyalty to 
 the Empire and calculated to conserve its strength, which 
 is supported with passionate conviction by the majority 
 of native-born Australians, from a belief that they owe 
 it as a duty to civilisation to preserve their land for the 
 white races. It is well that Englishmen who wish to 
 understand Australia should realise this, because upon 
 this part of Australian policy there can be no compromise. 
 Again, however, it is probably the point of view, and not 
 any want of sympathy which causes misgiving and differ- 
 ence. Let us, therefore, examine the question as it 
 presents itself to an Australian, 
 
 Australia, it will be remembered, has an almost homo- 
 geneous people of British origin. " It is the one continent 
 of great natural wealth, most of which has a healthy, 
 temperate climate, which can be occupied by white men 
 without any serious change in their habit of life and which 
 was found practically unoccupied. Except in the water- 
 less waste of the interior and the narrow belt of low 
 coast lands on the north, all the work necessary to 
 develop the continent could be done by white labour. 
 Australia offers a unique opportunity for the development 
 
 274
 
 COLOURED LABOUR 
 
 of a prosperous industrial community ; for it is a rich 
 field only partially occupied : it is sheltered by its 
 distance, but easily accessible to trade : while it is un- 
 hampered by hereditary interests or servile conditions." ^ 
 So writes Professor Gregory — who, like every observer 
 on the spot, believes in a " White Australia " — in words 
 which contain the key to the whole problem. Australia 
 has an opportunity of developing a white continent for 
 the British race, if she only has the courage to make a 
 temporary sacrifice. Let black labour gain any footing 
 and either a low standard of living will replace a higher, 
 or a section of the continent will be peopled by white 
 masters and black slaves, whose instincts and interests 
 will always be anatagonistic to those of the rest of the 
 Commonwealth. It is true that the tropical portions of 
 Australia may, in consequence, remain undeveloped for 
 many years, although this is not certain ; but Australians 
 are prepared to make this sacrifice, rather than endure 
 the evils of a mixed race, or create a repetition of those 
 difficulties which nearly severed the United States. 
 
 Its Administration 
 
 At the same time, the policy is administered with a 
 due regard to the susceptibilities of Asiatic States. No 
 respectable traveller is excluded or in any way incon- 
 venienced on account of his colour ; and during the four 
 months of the Labour Ministry, under Mr. Watson, 
 arrangements were made with the Japanese Empire to 
 admit Japanese merchants, students or visitors, who did 
 not contemplate settlement, provided they were furnished 
 with the credentials from the Foreign Ofhce of the 
 Mikado's Government. 
 
 Nor have Australians, in their zeal for their national 
 ideal, been oblivious of the higher duty which they owe 
 
 * Introduction to Vol. II of " The Historical Geography of 
 Australasia," in the " Compendium of Geography," Stanford. 
 
 275
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the Empire. Parliament at first proposed to enact the 
 direct exclusion of all coloured aliens and restrict the 
 entry even of coloured British subjects. At the request 
 of the Colonial Office the law was modified to achieve the 
 desired result in an indirect fashion, by the use of a 
 language test, namely, the writing from dictation of fifty 
 words in any European language which the Immigration 
 Officer may select. This device, which has been the 
 object of much cheap derision, already existed in the law 
 of Natal and was only adopted by Australians in 
 deference to the wish of the British Government. 
 
 Coloured Crews 
 
 The prohibition of coloured labour upon ships engaged 
 in the coastal trade was a logical extension of the " White 
 Australia " doctrine. This was effected by the indirect 
 means — direct compulsion was impossible,— of requiring 
 that Australian rates of wages should be paid on all ships 
 which carry cargo between Australian ports in competi- 
 tion with Australian vessels. The carriage of passengers by 
 these steamers is not forbidden. A clause has been inserted 
 also in the mail contract, prohibiting the employment 
 of black labour on board the mail steamers. It happened 
 that, at the time when this condition was proposed, 
 there was a dispute between the Commonwealth and the 
 Orient Steamship Company, which then held the Austra- 
 lian mail contract. This was made the ground of many 
 hardy fictions to the discredit of the Australian Govern- 
 ment, which kept in circulation even after the secretary 
 of the Company had written to the Tunes on March 30, 
 1905, explaining that the question of black labour had not 
 entered into the dispute. The door is always open how- 
 ever for negotiations by the Government of India ; and 
 the object of Australians would be achieved with less 
 friction, by insisting that the equipment of all subsidised 
 steamers should be up to a prescribed standard, which 
 
 276
 
 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 
 
 would make the employment of Lascars too costly and 
 ensure the proper treatment of efficient British sailors. 
 
 Kanaka Labour and the Sugar Industry 
 
 The policy of a White Australia was exposed to a 
 severe strain when the Commonwealth Parliament 
 passed the Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1901 (amended 
 1906), prohibiting the further importation of Kanaka 
 labour for the sugar plantations, and providing for 
 the gradual deportation of those already in Australia, 
 To soften this blow to the sugar industry, the Excise 
 Tariff Act of 1902, for which the Sugar Bounty Act was 
 substituted in 1903, gave bounties on sugar grown by 
 white labour, equal to four shillings per ton on cane giving 
 10 per cent, of sugar. In 1905 the rate was increased to 
 six shillings per ton, and the payment of bounties continued 
 until the end of 1912, with a progressive reduction in the 
 rate during the last two years. ^ The cost of this experi- 
 ment to the people of Australia has been over a million 
 pounds during the last five years ; but the prophecies 
 of ruin to the sugar industry have not been fulfilled. In 
 the first year of the new system the yield fell from 1 ,367,000 
 tons to 825,000 tons, but after the first apprehensions 
 had been dispersed, it increased yearly, until in 1906-7 
 the yield was 1,950,340 tons, which is the largest recorded. 
 This increase is mainly due to improvements in the 
 methods of production, which the greater cost of labour 
 has made necessary. ^ The question in the future seems 
 to be one of wages. It has been proved that — contrary 
 to a widespread expectation — white men can work in 
 
 ^ There was an Excise duty on manufactured sugar from 
 March, 1902, until Dec, 1905, of three shillings per cwt. Until 
 the introduction of the direct Bounty in 1903, a rebate of 4s. per 
 ton was allowed on white-grown sugar. From Jan. 1, 1907, the 
 duty has been 4s. per cwt. 
 
 ' The acreage under cultivation for sugar has remained 
 practically stationary since 1902-3 at about 150,000 acres. 
 
 277
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the cane fields : it has yet to be seen whether the industry 
 can support the cost of their labour without bounties. 
 The same considerations apply to the cultivation ot rice 
 and cotton, for which the climate and physical features 
 of Northern Queensland are very suitable. In other 
 words, can white men colonise the tropical portions of 
 Australia — that is to say, can they hve and make their 
 homes there ? This is, at the present time, the most 
 important problem in the political geography of Australia. 
 
 The White Man and the Tropics 
 
 Professor Gregory, in discussing this question, cites 
 many examples and authorities, which tend to show that 
 the idea that a tropical climate is, per se, inimical to the 
 health of Europeans, is a popular prejudice, which rests 
 upon no adequate foundation. Dr. J. C. Elkington, of 
 Hobart, in a paper entitled " Tropical Australia : Is it 
 Suitable for a Working White Race ? " read before the 
 Ro3''al Society of Tasmania and published by the Common- 
 wealth as a Parliamentary Paper, ^ concludes that this 
 is certainly true of the inhabited districts of Northern 
 Queensland ; and agrees with the view expressed by Dr. 
 Sambon in a paper contributed to the British Medical 
 Journal for January 9th, 1907, ^ that " acclimatisation is 
 a mere question of sanitation and of protection against 
 diseases which are due not to climate but to parasites." 
 " The human race," he says, " was probably originally 
 evolved in the tropics, and there seems no reason why 
 the residence of the white races in temperate regions 
 should have so altered them constitutionally, that they 
 cannot again live and work, under favourable conditions, 
 in their original home." It was at one time believed 
 
 1 1905. No. 59. 
 
 * " Remarks on the Possibility of the Acclimatisation of 
 Europeans in Tropical Regions." Quoted by Professor Gregory. 
 Introduction to Vol. II Australasia in Stanford's " Compendium 
 of Geography." 
 
 278
 
 •^^~ist4lS2J(£
 
 LIFE IN THE TROPICS 
 
 that Algeria could never be colonised by the French. 
 Sambon quotes General Duvinier : " Que les cimetieres 
 sont les seules colonies toujour s croissant en Algerie^ And 
 in another place the same writer says : " The high death- 
 rate of the tropics can be reduced greatly by care and 
 sanitation. It has been due not to heat or climate, but 
 to the prevalence of parasites and germs, such as those 
 of malaria, yellow fever, dysentery, beri-beri, elephantia- 
 sis, etc. And when these parasites are discovered and 
 their life histories known, there is no more reason why 
 these tropical diseases should not be easily cured, and 
 even wholly destroyed, just as leprosy has been driven 
 from England, as trichinosis has been eliminated by 
 meat inspection, hydrophobia by control of dogs, malaria 
 has been driven from Essex by drainage, and the scourge 
 of small-pox removed by vaccination. Current research 
 on tropical diseases tends to remove climate as a factor 
 limiting the occupation of the tropics to white races." 
 That the moist atmosphere of the tropics causes some 
 muscular relaxation is true ; but this can be met, in 
 the case of women, by a longer rest after child-birth, 
 and in the case of men by strict attention to diet and 
 exercise. Men do not need to work at manual labour 
 in the tropics so hard as in a temperate climate. " A 
 man in the tropics," to quote Professor Gregory again, 
 " would no doubt plough a shorter furrow or shovel a 
 smaller load of earth than the same man would with an 
 equal amount of exertion in a cold country. But the same 
 amount of labour put into a tropical soil would produce a 
 more valuable crop." Tropical cultivation needs assiduous 
 attention, but does not require great muscular exertions, 
 except for trashing sugar-cane. Dr. Sambon further 
 points out that the idea that European children cannot 
 be successfully reared in the tropics is also out of date. 
 Children are sent to England from India more to escape 
 the associations of native life than because the climate 
 
 279
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 injures them. " The infant mortahty among the 
 European children in Calcutta is lower than that of many 
 English towns, and seven times less than that of Hindoo 
 or Mohammedan children in the same city." 
 
 The foregoing observations and opinions, although they 
 justify hope, offer no immediate solution of the problem 
 of tropical development. The tropics have not yet been 
 purified by sanitation ; and much research has still 
 to be made into the causes of disease in these regions, 
 before the white man can permanently make his home 
 there. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 The error of those who condemn the White Australia 
 policy, is in treating it as an economic question, whereas 
 it is essentially a political one. No one denies that the 
 north of Australia could be developed much more rapidly 
 by coloured labour, or that some crops, of which cotton is 
 one, can never be profitably produced there without an 
 abundance of cheap labour ; but such considerations are 
 beside the question. Australians keep out coloured labour 
 for political and not for economic reasons. They intend at 
 all costs to preserve the purity of the white race. Nor 
 is the economic loss as great as it might seem. Australians 
 have already more work than they can do in the more 
 temperate portions of the country. The development 
 of the tropical North can well wait. In time a denser 
 population will diminish the danger of miscegenation. 
 Then, when the idea of a white race has grown into a 
 traditional faith — but not until then, — it may be possible 
 to make some arrangements for the leasing of coloured 
 labour for spells of work in fields of rice or cotton. 
 At present, Australians are quite content that the 
 development of tropical productions should be delayed. 
 
 280
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH AND IMMIGRATION 
 
 The Dictation Test — Contract Immigrants — Strike-breakers — 
 Ambiguity Removed — State-aided Immigration. 
 
 The White Australia policy found its first expression 
 under the Commonwealth ^ in 1901 in the unhappily 
 entitled " Immigration Restriction Act." The original 
 intention of the Government which introduced this 
 measure was to legislate directly for the exclusion of 
 coloured aliens, but in deference to the wish of the 
 Colonial Office, as has been already mentioned, ^ the 
 indirect method of a language test applicable to all races 
 was substituted for this. The Act accordingly contained 
 no reference either to the colour or nationality of any 
 immigrant, but by its terms, empowered a Customs Officer 
 to exclude any immigrant who could not write from 
 dictation fifty words in any European language which he 
 chose to select. A person unable to comply with this 
 test was hable to be excluded as a " Prohibited Immi- 
 grant " ; and no exception to this rule was made by the 
 Act which might be applied to every person coming to the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 The Government, however, on the introduction of the 
 bill, which was passed hurriedly towards the end of a 
 Session, had given an assurance which had been accepted 
 by Parliament, that the language test would only be 
 applied to coloured persons or other obviously un- 
 desirable immigrants who were not covered by the 
 clauses which prohibited the landing of persons, who by 
 reason of poverty or physical or mental incapacity were 
 
 ^ The States had passed Chinese Restriction Acts so far back 
 as 1887. 
 
 2 Above p. 134. 
 
 281
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 likel}' to become a charge upon the State. Thus it was 
 common knowledge that the Act would not be used to 
 exclude any respectable white person of whatever nation- 
 ahty. None the less, and in spite of this assurance and 
 general understanding, the opponents of the Government 
 persisted in the assertion that white immigrants would be 
 excluded, and succeeded in giving a widespread currency 
 to this mischievous falsehood. In fact, however, the 
 promise given by the Government to Parliament was 
 faithfully observed ; and from the day of the passing of 
 the Act until the present time (1908) no white person has 
 ever been submitted to the language test, nor has any white 
 person been refused admittance to the Commonwealth. 
 
 Contract-Immigrants 
 
 The possibility of abusing the language test was not 
 the only stone flung by Australian provincialism against 
 the unlucky Immigration Restriction Act. 
 
 The section of this Act which defined " prohibited 
 immigrants," very awkwardly included criminals, lunatics, 
 paupers and other classes of undesirables, with manual 
 labourers coming to Australia under contract. It was 
 idle to point out to opponents of the Bill that the next 
 section empowered the Minister to grant a permit of 
 exemption to any prohibited immigrant, and that in this 
 respect also, a pledge had been given to Parliament that 
 the permit would never be unreasonably withheld. As 
 already stated, it has not been withheld on one occasion. 
 
 " Why, then," it may be asked, " insert such a clause 
 in the Act ? " For many years before the Commonwealth 
 came into existence the States had been compelled to 
 legislate against indentured English labour, and had 
 declared that contracts made in England for service in 
 Austraha should be either void or voidable. Such 
 measures were necessary in the interest of the immigrants 
 themselves, who, from ignorance of local conditions would 
 
 282
 
 STRIKE-BREAKERS 
 
 have been trapped into engagements which were unfair 
 according to Austrahan standards. The Commonwealth 
 reached the same object by less drastic means. Instead 
 of annulling contracts of service made abroad, it required 
 that these should be submitted to the Minister before the 
 workman landed,^ in order that it might be amended 
 if necessary. Obviously such a provision would, in prac- 
 tice, exclude no one, because if an employer refused to 
 amend the contract, the workman would be released from 
 it, and therefore be no longer within the category of a 
 " prohibited immigrant," So far, then, the Common- 
 wealth was establishing no new principle, but only 
 following a beaten track. In another direction, however, 
 the Immigration Act did impose a new restriction by 
 forbidding the landing of workmen who were under 
 contracts made abroad in view of an industrial dispute in 
 Australia. 
 
 Strike-Breakers 
 
 This was a logical extension of the Australian doctrine 
 that fair wages should, if necessary, be compelled by a 
 legal tribunal, on account of the national importance of 
 a high standard of living. Such a doctrine, when it is 
 confirmed by a legal tribunal, almost involves the prohibi- 
 tion of the right of workmen to strike, and, in any case, 
 demands in justice that contests between workmen and 
 employers should be fought to the end without extraneous 
 aid to either side. Consequently there has been a con- 
 sensus of opinion in Australia, that to permit employers 
 to import labour under contract, when an industrial 
 dispute was in progress or contemplation, with a view to 
 coercing their Australian workmen, was contrary to 
 Australian ideas and interests. Pinkerton's " strike 
 
 ^ These provisions only applied to manual labourers. Skilled 
 workmen or domestic servants were always outside the Act, 
 and required no permit. 
 
 283
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 breakers " have achieved too evil a notoriety in the 
 United States to justify Austrahans in opening the gates 
 of the Commonwealth to such a class. The Minister 
 therefore has always assumed the right to refuse a permit 
 to any contract immigrant whose presence was required 
 to assist employers in a dispute with their workmen. In 
 this case and when the conditions of the contract are 
 unfair according to the Australian standard, — and in no 
 other, — it was intended that the Minister should have the 
 power to refuse a permit for the immigration of manual 
 labourers under contract. 
 
 Neither assurances nor practice satisfied Australian 
 anti-nationalists. There stood the letter of the law to 
 be cited to Australia's prejudice by every ill-wisher. 
 " It was plain," they said, " that the measure was designed 
 to protect Australian workmen against the competition of 
 new-comers." And thus arose one of the many praradoxes 
 of the Antipodes, viz., that British sentiment was 
 aggrieved by what in its essence was an attempt on the 
 part of Australia to prevent British workmen being made 
 the victims of an unfair bargain, through ignorance of 
 Australian conditions. This misunderstanding was in- 
 flamed by a ridiculous story of " six hatters " — (why is 
 something of the ludicrous associated with the occupation 
 of a hatter ?) — who " were not allowed to land in 
 Australia," which has made the tour of the world ^ and 
 cost Australia an incalculable loss in the weakening of 
 her credit and the discouragement of settlers. It is 
 enough to say that the story, in so far as it had any 
 meaning, was a partisan invention for election purposes, 
 and that no " six hatters," nor any white persons what- 
 soever have ever been prevented from landing in Australia 
 
 * The writer heard the story in Athens in Jul}', 1908, when it 
 was advanced by a member of the Greek Parliament as a reason 
 why the stream of Greek Emigration could not be diverted 
 from America to Australia. 
 
 284
 
 THE SIX HATTERS 
 
 and making their home there since the Commonwealth has 
 been estabhshed. ^ Yet the " six hatters " incident and 
 the mythical accretions to it have probably done Australia 
 as much injury as the drought itself. To this day the 
 belief is widespread that British subjects were not allowed 
 to land in Australia ; and only last year an Australian 
 Senator wrote to the Times that the law of the Common- 
 wealth forbade the entry of contract labour and cited in 
 proof these famous " six hatters." 
 
 Ambiguity Removed 
 
 In 1905 Parliament removed the last pretext for 
 misrepresenting the Australian Immigration policy by 
 passing an Act which expressed in plain words what had 
 previously rested on an understanding. The new Act 
 provides in plain terms (No. 199, 1905, sect. 4) : " Every 
 contract immigrant {^i.e., immigrant under contract to 
 perform manual labour], may land in the Commonwealth 
 if the terms of the contract are approved by the Minister." 
 And the Minister can only refuse his approval, if the 
 
 ^ Six hatters left England under a contract to a Sydney 
 manufacturer, before the Immigration Restriction Act became 
 law. The Royal Assent was given to this measure while they 
 were on the water, and on their arrival at Sydney their " per- 
 mit " was demanded. The manufacturer at once, with his solici- 
 tor, visited the Attorney-General of New South Wales, and was 
 officially informed that the men being skilled workmen did not 
 come within the Act. Two courses were open : — either to apply 
 to a State Judge for a Habeas Corpus, or to telegraph to Mel- 
 bourne to the Minister for a permit. Possibly, because it was 
 Saturday, nothing was done. The newspapers, who were looking 
 for a stick with which to beat the Barton Government, took the 
 matter up next day ; and then the whole world rang with the 
 woes of the " six hatters who were not allowed to land " ; and 
 the new hat factory monopolised Australian attention. A permit 
 could have been obtained from Melbourne in a few hours. But 
 no business man could be expected to put a premature end to 
 so good ah advertisement, and the permit was not presented 
 to the Custom Officer until the following Wednesday. In the 
 meantime the six men had been walking about Sydney without 
 restriction, but sleeping on board. 
 
 285
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 contract is made " in contemplation of or with a view 
 of affecting an industrial dispute," or if " the remunera- 
 tion and other terms and conditions of employment are 
 as advantageous to the contract immigrant as those 
 current for workers of the same class at the place where 
 the contract is to be performed." If the contract immi- 
 grant is not a British subject, the Minister must also be 
 satisfied that " there is difficulty in the employer's 
 obtaining within the Commonwealth a worker of at least 
 equal skill and ability." This last provision is designed 
 to keep in check the influx of those European races whose 
 standard of living is below the average, and whose invasion 
 of the United States has been a cause of many industrial 
 evils. In practice, Europeans are freely admitted. 
 Spaniards, Austrians, and Italians have entered under 
 contract to work in the Queensland sugar-cane fields. 
 The total number of contract immigrants who entered 
 Australia in 1907 was 972. During the five years, 1902-7, 
 267,159 persons of aU nationalities entered Australia 
 without being subjected to any test. Fifty persons during 
 the same period were admitted after having passed the 
 dictation test and 1,143 (aU persons of colour) were 
 excluded. Among those who were admitted were 6,250 
 Chinese, who were supposed to have previously acquired 
 an Australian domicile, and about 2,500 Japanese, 
 Malays, Philippinos, and other Asiatics either return- 
 ing to Australia or paying it a visit. For by an 
 arrangement made during the tenure of office of the 
 Labour Party visitors or students from Japan or China 
 are freely admitted to the Commonwealth upon the 
 production of proper credentials from their respective 
 Governments. 
 
 These figures should dispose once for all of the idea 
 that the Australian law discourages immigration. Such 
 a statement never was true, and since 1905 it has been 
 demonstrably false. 
 
 286
 
 V ENTENTE CORD I ALE 
 
 State-aided Immigration 
 
 One difficulty in the way of Immigration on a large 
 scale is the unwillingness of the States to co-operate with 
 the Commonwealth. By the Constitution the National 
 Government is given the control of Immigration, but the 
 States retain the ownership and control of the lands, so 
 that unless the two authorities arrive at an understanding, 
 it would be impossible to settle the immigrants as they 
 arrived. Three States, Queensland, Western Australia, 
 and New South Wales give assisted passages from London 
 or Liverpool to selected emigrants, and Western Australia 
 also offers free grants of 160 acres. Assisted immigrants 
 are met upon arrival by Government officers, who make 
 every effort to secure them employment. The cost of a 
 passage is about £3, but the conditions of assistance vary. 
 Information can be obtained from the Agents-General 
 whose addresses are given in the Appendix. 
 
 287
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 INDUSTRIAL LIFE. DIVISION I 
 
 The Eight Hours' Day — Early Closing — Victorian Efforts — 
 The New South Wales Act of 1900 — Legislation in other 
 States — Factory and Shop Legislation — General Industrial 
 Legislation — A Paradox explained. 
 
 The impulse to legislative efforts on behalf of the poorer 
 or weaker sections of society, having been considered in 
 the earlier chapters, and the misapprehension of the 
 Australian attitude ha\4ng, it is hoped, been removed, 
 the more distinctive features of industrial and social life 
 within the Commonwealth must now be explained. There 
 is no standard by which Australia would rather be judged, 
 nor any which would place her on a higher level. 
 
 The first requisites to any amelioration in the condition 
 of a class, are money for the means of self -improvement, 
 and leisure to make use of it. Consequently, Austra- 
 lian efforts have been directed from the first to main- 
 taining a higher wage-rate and shortening the hours of 
 labour — 
 
 Eight Hours' Work, Eight Hours' Play, 
 Eight Hours for Rest and Eight " bob " a Day, 
 
 which was the motto of the Eight Hour movement, 
 condenses many sound arguments in its doggerel anti- 
 theses. The limitation of the hours of labour, which 
 was in point of time the first achievement of organised 
 Labour is the cardinal point of Australian industrialism. 
 
 The Eight Hours' Day 
 
 The demand for an Eight Hours' Day, which was first 
 put forward at Sydney in 1855 by the operatives in the 
 building trade, was soon conceded by the force of popular 
 opinion, which recognised that the climatic conditions 
 justified a shorter day. This idea, indeed, became so 
 firmly fixed and the hmitation of the hours of labour 
 
 288
 
 LABOUR CONDITIONS 
 
 was so fully justified by its practical results, that eight 
 hours came to be gradually established as the standard 
 day in all the organised trades, without being affirmed 
 by legislation. Legislation was, however, required in 
 order to extend this boon to the unorganised trades. 
 Even in Australia the individual workman proved unable 
 to protect himself under a system of free contract ; 
 and operatives who belonged to no Trade Union were 
 unable, for nearly thirty years, to participate in the 
 benefit of shorter hours which public opinion had already 
 recognised as the Australian standard. A Royal Com- 
 mission, appointed by the Government of Victoria, in 
 consequence of an exposure of the conditions of factory 
 life by the Melbourne Age, reported that some men worked 
 for eighteen hours a day. Other evils of the old world 
 had been reproduced, such as bad sanitation, filthy 
 surroundings, low wages, and sweating. The reason for 
 this state of things was the inability of the workmen to 
 combine, owing to the small numbers in each industry 
 and the scattered buildings in which they worked. It is 
 very noticeable that even under these circumstances 
 the Victorian Parliament, while it legislated against the 
 other abuses, made no attempt to shorten the hours for 
 male operatives, though the hours for women and children 
 had been fixed at forty-eight per week in 1873, and in 1874 
 the hours of miners had been reduced to the same number. 
 The confidence in pubhc opinion was not completely 
 justified, although the graver scandals of previous years 
 were not repeated. In 1893 the age limit for children was 
 raised to thirteen and women and boys under sixteen were 
 forbidden to work for more than ten hours in any one day 
 or after nine o'clock at night. Still no mention was made 
 of the hours of men's labour. 
 
 All legislative recognition of Eight Hours as a general 
 standard day has been indirect. Both the Wages Boards 
 in Victoria (1896) and South Austraha (1900) and the 
 
 289 
 
 19— (ai3J)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Industrial Arbitration Courts in New South Wales (1901) 
 and Western Australia (1900) have assumed the existence 
 of this standard in fixing the wages of labour, and have 
 applied it in all their awards, except where it was mani- 
 festly unsuitable. By means of these agencies almost all 
 manual workers in Australia who are engaged in the 
 manufacture, transport, or handling of goods ; all 
 maritime labour ; all operatives in the building trades 
 and all miners, are now paid overtime for any work 
 bej^ond eight hours, just as a barrister is paid a 
 " Refresher " under similar circumstances. 
 
 Early Closing 
 
 The good results which followed from the adoption of 
 Eight Hours as the standard day for manual workers 
 prompted many attempts to extend the boon to the 
 unorganised, and therefore ill-paid, class of shop assist- 
 ants. None of these attempts achieved more than a 
 partial success until the Government of New South Wales, 
 in 1900, boldly enacted the closing of all shops of certain 
 specified classes at a fixed hour without permitting any 
 exceptions, and refused to give power to any authority 
 to suspend the operation of the Act. Probably no 
 political experiment which Australia has made deserves 
 more careful study or contains more instructive lessons 
 to other countries. 
 
 Victorian Efforts 
 
 The earliest attempt at Early Closing was made by 
 Victoria in 1885, by an Act which directed the closing 
 of sliops in towns — except those which dealt in food and 
 perishable products — at seven o'clock on five evenings 
 a week and at ten p.m. on Saturdays. This well-inten- 
 tioned measure was left, however, to be administered by 
 the Municipal Councils, who applied it with varying 
 degrees of laxity. In border streets which separated two 
 
 290 
 
 I
 
 EARLY CLOSING 
 
 municipalities, shops on the one side might be closed and 
 those upon the other open. The Act accordingly fell 
 into disrepute, and few municipalities applied it. In 
 1900 a new attempt was made upon different lines. 
 Instead of closing the shops, Parliament enacted that the 
 hours of male employees should not exceed fifty-two per 
 week— carters, porters, and night-watchmen being ex- 
 cepted. This measure was supplementary to, and not 
 in substitution for the previous Act. But the shop 
 assistants benefited very little, because the Municipalities 
 were still entitled to refuse to put in force the Early 
 Closing Act, and, no effective means existing of com- 
 pelling obedience to the limitation of the hours of labour, 
 New South Wales solved the problem by a bolder measure. 
 
 The New South Wales Act of 1900 
 
 The New South Wales Early Closing Act of 1900 
 avoided both the errors of the Victorian legislation. It 
 laid down a general rule, which no local authority could 
 evade, and it provided for the closing of every shop 
 within the specified classes. Evasion thus became 
 extremely difficult. Shops were compelled to close at 
 six p.m. on four days in the week, at one p.m. on one day, 
 and at ten p.m. on another day. The particular days 
 could be selected by a vote of the trades concerned. No 
 exception was made, as in Victoria, in favour of the 
 small shopkeeper, although his cause was pleaded very 
 eloquently by the Free Trade opposition. Experience 
 had proved that the drastic inclusion of all shops in 
 the trade without exception is the only effective method 
 of securing early closing. Cases of hardship, which are 
 easy to imagine, have proved few in practice ; but even 
 were they more numerous, private interests must give 
 way. To allow even " the poor widow," who always 
 figures on these occasions, to keep her small shop open 
 after hours, would be unfair to the other shops in the 
 
 291
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 neighbourhood. Nor must it be forgotten that many 
 of these small shops, either already are or might easily 
 become maintained by wholesale houses or large retailers 
 as an outlet for their surplus stock. Austrahan experience 
 is a warning also against an attempt to secure Early 
 Closing by an Act which confines itself to limiting the 
 hours of labour. This might be effective if extraordinary 
 efforts were made to prevent evasions ; but it is certain 
 that no defenceless shop-assistant would complain against 
 over- work, unless he is in a position to enforce obedience 
 to the law, without fear of dismissal. Even an Early 
 Closing Act, which aims directly at its object, is difficult 
 to enforce, when shop assistants are unorganised and 
 inspection is almost impossible. Who can give evidence 
 in any prosecution of what goes on behind the shutters 
 of a " closed " shop, unless he is himelf a witness ? The 
 difficulty has been met in New South Wales by the Indus- 
 trial Arbitration Court, whose awards have greatly im- 
 proved the industrial status of shop assistants. Besides 
 providing for a minimum wage, — which is the only 
 effective instrument against sweating — the Court has so 
 regulated the practice of apprenticeship as to destroy the 
 great abuse of engaging so-called " learners," or " im- 
 provers " who, after working for two or three years on a 
 nominal salary, would be dismissed on any pretext to 
 make room for other " learners," who were dismissed in 
 their turn, so soon as they became entitled to receive 
 wages. By these protective provisions, shop assistants 
 have gained a new economic strength, which they are not 
 likely to neglect. Certainly no Act of Parliament of 
 recent years has been productive of greater and more 
 direct advantages than that which has given the shop 
 assistants of New South Wales a weekly half-holiday and 
 their evenings to themselves. ^ 
 
 ^ The five years, 1899-1904, when the Progressive Party 
 was in power in New South Wales, is one of the most memorable 
 
 292
 
 AN EIGHT HOURS' DAY 
 
 Legislation in Other States 
 
 Queensland and South Australia passed Early Closing 
 Acts upon the New South Wales model in 1900. A 
 measure on the Victorian lines has been in force in Western 
 Austraha since 1897 and its provisions were reinforced 
 in 1902 by the creation of an Industrial Arbitration Court. 
 Tasmania is the only State in which the hours of labour 
 in shops are not regulated by some legislative method. 
 The evils of over- work are not, however, very pronounced 
 in the island State. 
 
 From the foregoing account, it will be seen that the 
 hours of all urban labour have been limited throughout 
 Australia, either by custom or enactment, eight hours 
 "having been accepted as the standard day of manual work, 
 and all occupations approximating to this. No one in 
 consequence need lack leisure for enjoyment or self- 
 improvement ; and all, thanks to the climate, can take 
 their recreation by daylight for nine months in the year. 
 
 periods of legislative achievement in the history of Australia. 
 The following are among the principal measures : — The Advances 
 to Settlers ; Early Closing ; Limitation of Attachment of Wages ; 
 Regulation of the rise of Coal Lumpers' Baskets ; Old Age Pensions ; 
 Provision of Accommodation for Shearers ; Industrial Arbitra- 
 tion ; Woman's Suffrage ; Coal Mines' Regulation ; Mining on 
 Private Property ; Prevention of the Influx of Criminals. During 
 the same period important measures of legal reform were passed 
 and the Acts relating to Prisons and Neglected Children were 
 beneficially amended. Sir William Lyne led the party until he 
 resigned to become a Minister of the Commonwealth (Mar. 28, 
 1901), when he was succeeded by the late Sir John See, who 
 resigned from ill-health on June 14, 1904, when the Ministry was 
 broken up. During this quinquennium the wharves water 
 frontages of the City of Sydney were resumed, and the Ministry 
 had to face the difficulties of the drought, which contracted all 
 sources of public revenue, and of the Boer War which imposed 
 upon unpractised men the duty of providing and transporting 
 6,000 soldiers and an equal number of horses. 
 
 This record, — which will give the reader some idea of the 
 nature of the duties cast upon an Australian Ministry, — is the 
 more remarkable because the Progressives had antagonised both 
 the powerful Sydney newspapers. 
 
 293
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The universal acquiescence in limitation of the hours 
 of labour as well as the reasons which induce it are a 
 marked characteristic of Australia. 
 
 Factory and Shop Legislation 
 
 The Factories Acts of the Australian States do not 
 differ in principle from those which are in force in jEngland, 
 but they are more limited in their scope, and much more 
 tender of the rights of property. Only South Australia 
 has had the courage to define a factory as any room where 
 anyone is working in an owner's employ ; and no State 
 has ventured to insist upon the strict provisions to secure 
 the health and safety of the workmen, which are required 
 by the English Code. General provisions as to ventilation ; 
 sanitation ; the safe-guarding of dangerous machinery, 
 etc., certainly exist, but they are less detailed and 
 consequently more easily evaded than in Great Britain. 
 Nor do they extend, as in England, to the processes of 
 manufacture, but are confined to the building in which 
 the factory is situated, except that they require that 
 out-workers shall be registered and a record of 
 outwork kept. The timidity which all Australian 
 Parliaments have shown in dealing with factories is 
 probably due to the rudimentary development of Austra- 
 lian manufactures and the inexperience of Members of 
 the industrial conditions to which factories give rise. The 
 difference between the legislation of Australia and Great 
 Britain on this subject is at present very noticeable. 
 One of the most important functions of the Industrial 
 Arbitration Courts and in a less degree of the Wages 
 Board has been to supply the deficiencies of factory 
 legislation by the terms of their awards. In this way 
 a Court frames regulations analogous to those of the 
 Board of Trade, and by use of the common rule makes 
 them applicable throughout the industry in question. 
 
 294
 
 INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION 
 
 Industrial Arbitration Acts are, then, elastic Factory 
 Acts, whose clauses can be limited or extended to meet 
 the conditions of every industry. 
 
 Austrahan Factories Acts generally comprise retail shops. 
 In all the States shopkeepers are required to provide 
 proper seating accommodation for their female employees, 
 and public opinion would not allow this Act to be made 
 a dead letter by any private recommendation to the shop- 
 women to avoid using the seats. In Victoria provision 
 is made for the stamping of furniture, in order to disclose 
 the manufacturer's name, and whether it has been made 
 by European or Chinese labour. The Commonwealth 
 Parliament in 1905 gave an extension to the principle of 
 this enactment by authorising the use of a " Union 
 Label," i.e., a trade-mark, peculiar to the manufac- 
 turer who chose to affix it to his goods, to indicate 
 that they have been made by Trade Unionists working 
 under Union conditions. This Act has been declared 
 unconstitutional . 
 
 General Industrial Legislation 
 
 Except the tribunals for regulating wages, which will 
 form the subject of a separate section, the hmitation of 
 the hours of labour, with the Early Closing Acts which 
 follow from it, is the only distinctive feature of Austra- 
 lian legislation upon industrial matters, which demands 
 attention. There is evidence, indeed, of great readiness 
 to meet the wishes of any particular class, such as 
 shearers or miners, but there is a noticeable lack of 
 many measures for the protection of the public interest, 
 with which the British Parliament has been long familiar. 
 The shearers, for instance, obtained an Act from the 
 Parliament of New South Wales in 1901, requiring 
 squatters to provide them with proper accommodation 
 during the shearing season, but no State has 
 
 295
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 followed the example of England in regulating, 
 generally, the construction of cottages in the country or 
 workmen's dwellings in towns. Again, certain classes of 
 purchasers of small areas of Crown Lands, have their 
 homesteads protected against seizure under any legal 
 process ; but no such exemption is conferred upon the 
 property of any other person. Wage-earners are a speci- 
 ally favoured class ; they have a right — which is denied 
 to any other class of creditors — to attach monies due to 
 a contractor who employs them, to satisfy a claim for 
 wages, without resort to the expensive process of an 
 action at law. They have also, in some states, a 
 lien for their wages over the material upon which they 
 were working, even although this has ceased to be in 
 their possession and has been sold to a customer. The 
 mere painter or sculptor would try in vain to assert such 
 a lien over the picture or the statue which he has sold on 
 credit. At the same time the wages of workmen are 
 themselves protected against attachment by any process 
 of law. Many other instances could be given of the 
 class or sectional character of much Australian legisla- 
 tion. And yet in the two large States of New South 
 Wales and Victoria, where such laws as those just men- 
 tioned hardly excite comment, it has been found impos- 
 sible to pass a Workmen's Compensation Act, ^ such as has 
 been the law of England since 1897. The reason is that 
 a large measure, which affects the interest of all workmen 
 has not the earnest backing of any particular class, while 
 it arouses the unanimous opposition of employers. Aus- 
 tralian Parliaments, it must be remembered, are more 
 easily moved than the British by the cry of confiscation 
 or oppression. 
 
 ' This measure has been three times introduced into the 
 ParUament of New South Wales, once by Mr. Heydon, M.L.C., 
 in 1900, and twice by the writer. Each time it had to be aban- 
 doned. The measure is, in principle, the law of Queensland, 
 South Australia, and Western Australia. 
 
 296
 
 SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS 
 
 A Paradox Explained 
 There is, however, one group of Austrahan Acts, — 
 namely, those which attempt to fix wages and prevent 
 strikes, — which are not only general in their scope, but 
 of great interest as social experiments. ^ The paradox 
 that a country, which boggles over a Workmen's Com- 
 pensation Act should be ready to submit the conduct of 
 every industry to the control of the State, is explic- 
 able by its economic conditions. Neither employers nor 
 employed can organise in Australia as effectively as in 
 England, where the leading industries are confined to 
 particular districts, and the processes of each are many 
 and complex. Australia is still in the rudimentary stage 
 of manufacturing development, in which there is little 
 demand for specialised skill, and machinery and buildings 
 can be adapted to a new use with comparative ease. It 
 is impossible, under such conditions, to establish any of 
 those Joint Boards of Control, consisting of representa- 
 tives of workmen and employers, which direct the textile 
 trades and other standard industries in the North of 
 England. ^ The directions of these Boards have all the 
 effect of a legal decree, because every employer in the 
 trade belongs to the Employers' Federation and every 
 workman in it is a Unionist. " Freedom of Contract " 
 in these industries is unknown ; and membership of a 
 Union or Federation is an essential condition to the 
 right of either workman or employer to engage in any of 
 them. But that which in England can be effected by 
 
 ^ The French, Swiss, United States and British Governments 
 have each sent representatives to Austraha to study these 
 measures. Switzerland and Austria have adopted them in a 
 modified form. 
 
 ^ Many instances are given of the methods of these Joint 
 Boards in Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb's " History of Trade 
 Unionism." Sometimes they sit in daily session adjusting every 
 difiEculty as it arises and regulating the conduct of the industry 
 in detail. In other cases they settle v a "log" at weekly or 
 fortnightly meetings. 
 
 297
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 economic compulsion, can only be effected in Australia 
 by legal compulsion. The object in both countries is the 
 same, — namely to secure the stability of every industry 
 by perfecting the organisation of both employers and 
 employed ; but the methods are necessarily different. 
 Austraha must resort to legal tribunals, while England 
 can rely on voluntary combination. The next division, 
 which discusses the Wages Boards of Victoria and South 
 Australia, and the Industrial Arbitration Courts of New 
 South Wales and Western Australia, will illustrate this 
 difference. 
 
 Division II 
 
 Wages Boards — Industrial Courts — Collective Bargaining — 
 Industrial Unions — Industrial Agreements — The Determina- 
 tion of Disputes — Conciliation — Preference to Unionists — 
 Membership of Unions — The Court and its Powers — The 
 Common Rule — Prohibiting of Strikes and Lock-outs — 
 Underlying Principles — The Act in Operation — Is it One- 
 sided ? — A New Measure — Wages Boards and Courts Com- 
 pared — Effect on Trade Unionism — The Scope of the Acts — 
 Note to Chapter. 
 
 Australia has adopted two distinct methods of regulating 
 industry, with a view to securing a high rate of wages 
 and preventing strikes and lock-outs — the indirect 
 method of Wages Boards, which is in force in Victoria 
 and South Australia, and the direct method of Industrial 
 Arbitration Courts ,which was adopted later by New 
 South Wales and Western Austraha. Each rests upon a 
 different principle and must be discussed apart. 
 
 Wages Boards 
 
 The Maritime Strike of 1890, ^ although it failed of its 
 immediate purpose, stirred the dry bones of many indus- 
 trial problems. And when it was followed three years 
 later by a strike of shearers, which brought Queensland 
 
 1 See above, p. 60. 
 
 298
 
 WAGES BOARDS 
 
 to the verge of civil war and was only suppressed by 
 military force, many minds were directed towards the 
 discovery of some less barbarous method of settling 
 industrial disputes. The outlook was particularly dis- 
 quieting in Victoria, on account of her dependence upon 
 manufactures. That colony accordingly took the first 
 step. 
 
 Wages Boards 
 
 The storm-centres were the four industries of clothing, 
 furniture-making, bread-making, and butchering, in 
 which the conditions of labour were notoriously bad 
 and sweating was prevalent. Parliament accordingly, 
 in 1896, empowered the Governor in Council to appoint 
 four Boards, one for each of these industries, to consist 
 of from four to ten members, half elected by the employers 
 and half by the employees, and also a chairman, in the 
 event of any Board not agreeing upon the nomination 
 of some outside person. Except the Chairman, who must 
 not be connected with the industry, all the members 
 must have practical experience. Each Board was 
 empowered to fix the minimum daily wage, the rates for 
 piecework, and the number of " improvers " ^ in the 
 particular industry for which it was appointed. The 
 determination of the Board took legal effect as the rule 
 of the industry, and was enforced by the Inspector of 
 Factories who was given all necessary power for this pur- 
 pose. The effect of these Boards in improving the con- 
 dition of labour was immediately apparent. Wages in 
 1896 had reached their lowest point and men worked in 
 many trades, notably in the clothing factories and bakeries, 
 under conditions which shocked the public when they 
 became known. Bakers' wages were at once raised from 
 
 ^ The Victorian Wages Boards have no power to determine 
 the number of apprentices. Apprentices for less than three 
 years are reckoned as " Improvers." 
 
 299
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 32s. 6d. to 41s. 3d. per week ; wages in the clothing 
 trade from 20s. to 26s. 6d. ; and in the furniture trade, 
 which had been depressed by Chinese competition, from 
 29s. Id. to 45s. lOd. per week. The declaration of a 
 minimum wage had also a most beneficial consequence 
 in that it put an end immediately to sweating. Employers 
 found it unprofitable to employ out-workers and took 
 them instead into factories where they were paid piece- 
 rates. The effect on women's wages in this industry 
 was extraordinary. In 1896, according to Mr. Knibbs, 
 4,164 females received less than 20s. a week, the average 
 being 8s. 8d., and worked more than twelve hours a day. 
 The Board for the clothing trade fixed a minimum wage 
 of 16s. a week, and limited the hours to forty-eight. 
 " It was," says the same authority, " almost a revolution." 
 
 Such results justified an extension of the Wages Board 
 principle. Consequently the scope of the original Act 
 was extended in 1900 and again in 1907 and at the pre- 
 sent time a Wages Board can be appointed for almost 
 every trade, process and business. Members of the Board 
 are no longer elected, but appointed by the Governor. ^ 
 In 1907 a Court of Appeal, consisting of a Supreme Court 
 Judge, who has power to call in two assessors, was estab- 
 lished in order to review the determinations of the Wages 
 Boards. Four appeals have been heard, in three of which 
 the decision of the Board was varied. On June 30, 
 1908, there were in existence fifty-five special Wages 
 Boards, whose determinations affected over 51,500 
 persons. 
 
 South Australia adopted the Wages Board system in 
 1900, but it did not become operative until 1904. Since 
 
 ^ This change was made on account of the difficulty of com- 
 piUng an electoral roll of persons entitled to vote. One-fifth of 
 either employers or employees may still demand the election of 
 a substitute for any nominee of the Governor, except in the 
 furniture trade, where elections arc entirely forbidden on account 
 of the preponderance of Chinese. 
 
 300
 
 1 
 
 w 
 ■A
 
 INDUSTRIAL COURTS 
 
 1906 it has been worked upon practically the same lines 
 as in Victoria. Eight Boards are now in existence. 
 New South Wales and Western Australia, following the 
 example of New Zealand, have preferred the system of 
 Industrial Arbitration Courts. 
 
 Industrial Courts 
 
 The first Act of Parliament which brought the parties 
 to an industrial dispute before a Court of Law, and 
 made them subject to its Order as in any other legal 
 process, was passed in New Zealand on August 31, 1894, 
 at the instance of Mr. Pember Reeves. 
 
 This date marks the beginning of a new era in 
 civilisation. 
 
 In 1899 the Attorney-General of New South Wales in 
 the " Progressive " Ministry ^ introduced into the Assembly 
 a measure upon the same lines, ^ but of wider scope 
 and more drastic. It would be to no purpose to examine 
 in detail the differences between this measure, of which 
 many provisions were adopted by the New Zealand Parlia- 
 ment in 1900, and the original or existing New Zealand 
 Acts. The credit for the original idea is with Mr. Reeves. ^ 
 Its extension to the more complex conditions of New 
 South Wales necessarily required some new methods 
 and machinery. The objects aimed at were the same 
 in both countries, namely the encouragement of collective 
 bargaining, and the compulsory reference of industrial 
 
 ^ See above, p. 292. 
 
 2 A similar measure was introduced later into the West 
 Australian Parliament which became law in 1900. The N.S.W. 
 Bill was rejected once by the Legislative Council. The Attorney- 
 General then resigned his seat in the Assembly, and was appointed 
 to the Council to pilot through the measure which became law 
 in 1901. 
 
 ^ Mr. C. C. Kingston proposed a somewhat similar measure 
 in the South Australian Parliament in 1890, but did not proceed 
 with it until 1894. This, however, was so limited in scope and 
 carried out the main idea so imperfectly that it cannot deprive 
 Mr. Reeves of the title to originahty. 
 
 301
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 disputes to the adjudication of a legal tribunal. In New 
 South Wales, where the Act excited very bitter party 
 feeling, public attention has been persistently directed 
 to the second of these objects, almost to the exclusion 
 of the first. ^ It will be desirable, therefore, to begin the 
 enquiry into the New South Wales Act by an explana- 
 tion of its provisions for the encouragement of collective 
 bargaining. 
 
 Collective Bargaining 
 
 While the Act was under discussion, the decision of the 
 House of Lords had not been given in the Taff Vale case ; 
 and it was generally believed that Trade Unions were in 
 the anomalous position of exercising collective action 
 without legal collective responsibility. In order to 
 appreciate this properly and to understand the object 
 of the Industrial Arbitration Acts it must be remembered 
 that, at Common Law, Trade Unions were illegal and 
 their members liable to be indicted for conspiracy, as 
 being combinations in restraint of trade. The full right 
 to combine for trade purposes has been gradually conferred 
 by statute both in England and Australia ; but a Trade 
 Union has, in all probability, ^ still no power to enter 
 
 ^ e.g., Mr. Aves, who was sent by the Board of Trade to 
 AustraUa in 1907-8 to report upon the AustraUan Labour Legisla- 
 tion, has ignored this portion of the Industrial Arbitration Act. 
 The preamble of the New Zealand Act thus expresses its objects : 
 " to encourage the formation of industrial unions and associations 
 and to facilitate the settlement of industrial disputes by concilia- 
 tion and arbitration." That of the N.S.W. Act is in these 
 terms : " to provide for the registration and incorporation of 
 industrial unions and the making and enforcing of industrial 
 agreements ; to constitute a court of arbitration for the hearing 
 and determination of industrial disputes, or matters referred to 
 it ; to define the jurisdiction, powers, and procedure of such 
 court ; to provide for the enforcement of its awards and orders ; 
 and for purposes consequent on or incidental to those objects," 
 
 ^ Recent decisions have left the law so unsettled that no 
 lawyer would venture to describe the "status of a Trade Union" 
 with any certainty. • ■ 
 
 302
 
 THE TAFF VALE CASE 
 
 into contracts and it cannot sue its members for arrears 
 of subscriptions. Trade Unions, indeed, have always 
 objected to full legal incorporation, in the belief, which 
 was general before the decision of the Taff Vale case, 
 that, as the law stood, their funds could not be seized 
 in execution, or the Union be held liable for the Tort of 
 any of its servants or directors. ^ Out of regard to these 
 considerations the Industrial Arbitration Act only gave 
 Trades Unions a limited incorporation. They were required 
 to register as " Industrial Unions," under rules which 
 prescribed certain conditions of management and pro- 
 vided for the accumulation of corporate funds. But the 
 funds of a Trade Union might be kept distinct from those 
 of an Industrial Union, and only the latter were liable 
 to legal process, and even that liability could only attach 
 under the Arbitration Act. ^ These were accepted by 
 the Trade Union leaders as sufficient safeguards against 
 the risks of contractual powers. 
 
 Industrial Unions 
 
 The Act accordingly provided, in its first part, that 
 Trade Unions, when registered as Industrial Unions, 
 should be able to enter into contracts upon the security 
 of the corporate funds of the Industrial Union. This 
 necessarily involved the further grant of power to an 
 Industrial Union, to sue its members for arrears of sub- 
 scriptions, as a Joint Stock Company can sue its 
 shareholders for calls. Further, it was provided that 
 employees could only set the Court in motion by the 
 
 ^ By recent legislation (1906) Trade Unions in England are 
 expressly placed above the law in this respect ; and no pecuniary 
 responsibility can attach to them for any injury which they may 
 do to any person, either as a body or through their servants. 
 This is not the law in any Australian State. 
 
 2 Section 7 of the Act provided that nothing in the Act should 
 render an Industrial Union liable to be sued, except in respect of 
 the obligations which the Act itself imposed. 
 
 303
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 deliberate act of an Industrial Union, and through this 
 body as party. ^ 
 
 The Act also provided for the establishment of Indus- 
 trial Unions of employers, which were also subject to 
 regulations intended to secure their responsibility and 
 continuous existence. These Industrial Unions, whether 
 of employers or of employees were the units of the Act, 
 which only recognised individuals for the purpose of 
 enforcing penalties. The essential purpose of the measure 
 was the organisation of industry into two efficient, power- 
 ful, and responsible bodies of employers on the one side, 
 and employees upon the other. This, it was thought, 
 would give a new stability to industrial operations, 
 while it was also in harmony with the tendency to associate 
 in some form of corporate union, which, in the belief of 
 the framer of the measure, is the true law of human 
 progress. 
 
 Industrial Agreements 
 
 The Industrial Unions so formed were empowered to 
 enter into " industrial agreements." These might relate 
 to any " industrial matter," ^ and might be operative 
 
 ^ A single employer, on the other hand, if he employed a suffi- 
 cient number of men (fifty) to entitle him to registration as an 
 Industrial Union of Employers, was at liberty to move the Court. 
 
 2 The definition of " industrial matters " gives the key to the 
 operations of the Act. " Industrial dispute " means dispute 
 in relation to industrial matters arising between an employer or 
 industrial union of employers on the one part, and an industrial 
 union of employees, or trade union, or branch on the other part, 
 and includes any dispute arising out of an industrial agreement. 
 
 ■' Industrial matters " means matters or things affecting or 
 relating to work done, or to be done, or the privileges, rights, 
 or duties of employers or employees in any industry, not involving 
 questions which are or may be the subject of proceedings for 
 an indictable offence ; and, without limiting the general nature 
 of the above definition, includes all or any matters relating to : 
 
 (a) the wages, allowances, or remuneration of any persons 
 employed, or to be employed in any industry, or the prices 
 paid, or to be paid therein, in respect of such employment ; 
 
 304
 
 INDUSTRIAL AGREEMENTS 
 
 for two years with the option of renewal for the same or 
 a less period. It was believed that these provisions 
 would enable employers to make exact calculations of 
 the cost of new undertakings, and secure industries 
 against disturbance for a fixed period. By this means 
 many occasions for dispute would be removed and the 
 work of the Court appreciably lightened. 
 
 It was accordingly provided that " an industrial 
 agreement," when registered, could be enforced by the 
 Court as if it were an award, and for some time, under 
 this provision, the terms of an agreement arrived at 
 between the representatives of employers and employees, 
 were declared by the Court to be the " common rule " 
 of the industry, and enforced upon all who were engaged 
 in it. The High Court of Australia has, however, held 
 (1906) that the words of the Act do not carry out this 
 intention and that an industrial agreement cannot be 
 enforced by the Court, unless it has been arrived at after 
 the parties have initiated a dispute. Before this decision 
 had been given, sixty-five industrial agreements had been 
 made and registered, representing more than 1,100 
 employers and 28,700 employees, or nearly one-third of 
 the total of 85,000 employees who are members of Indus- 
 trial Unions. Many of these agreements had been 
 renewed or varied by subsequent agreements and notice 
 to terminate had been given in ten cases only. The funds 
 of the contracting Unions were security for the obser- 
 vance of these agreements by both parties and gave a 
 
 (b) the hours of employment, sex, age, qualification, or status 
 
 of employees, and the mode, terms, and conditions of 
 employment ; 
 
 (c) the employment of children or young persons, or of any 
 
 person or persons, or class of persons, in any industry, or 
 
 the dismissal of or refusal to employ any particular person 
 
 or persons, or class of persons therein ; 
 {d) any established custom or usage of any industry, either 
 
 generally or in any particular locality ; 
 {e) the interpretation of an industrial agreement." 
 
 305 
 
 30-r(2I33)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 valuable assurance of industrial stability during their 
 currency. 
 
 Except that Industrial Unions are not formed on the 
 same basis in the two measures, the parts of the New 
 Zealand and New South Wales Acts, which deal with 
 collective bargaining, are essentially similar. 
 The Determination of Disputes 
 
 In dealing with industrial disputes the New South 
 Wales Act differs from the New Zealand in two important 
 points : — It makes no provision for a preliminary hearing 
 before a Board of Conciliation, but requires the dispute 
 to be taken at once before the Court ; and, secondly, it 
 adopts the Trade Union as the industrial unit. 
 Voluntary Conciliation 
 
 Provisions for voluntary conciliation in industrial 
 disputes have never proved successful in New South 
 Wales. A temporary Act passed in 1892 by Sir George 
 Dibbs for establishing a Council of Arbitration and Con- 
 ciliation under the direction of the State, expired in 1896 
 without having been put into force, despite the exertions 
 of the officials who were charged with its administration. 
 An Act passed in 1899 by Mr. Reid gave a Minister the 
 powers of the Board of Trade to make enquiries and 
 appoint arbitrators, but conferred no power of com- 
 pelling the attendance of parties or enforcing awards. 
 This Act was, however, left unrepealed, and is still in 
 existence. Another reason for the omission of the Con- 
 ciliation Boards was the conflicting evidence as to their 
 value in New Zealand, where the losing party invariably 
 appealed to the Court. ^ 
 
 1 It was also alleged that the Boards encouraged and pro- 
 tracted litigation in order to draw fees. On the other hand, there 
 was evidence that in some cases the Boards effected friendly com- 
 promise, and it was claimed that in every case they straightened 
 out the issues. Under the present law, a party has the option 
 of beginning proceedings before a Conciliation Board or going 
 direct to the Court. 
 
 306
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL UNIT 
 
 The rejection by New Zealand of the Trade Union as 
 an industrial unit^ and its selection by New South Wales 
 were due to the different economic conditions of the two 
 countries. Trade Unionism in New Zealand had not 
 acquired sufficient strength to be relied upon as the 
 unit of organisation. Labour interests in that colony 
 were dispersed among several small towns, separated 
 by the sea and often in rivalry. In New South Wales, 
 upon the other hand, industries were on a larger scale, 
 and those engaged in them had greater cohesion. There 
 was also risk, if any other unit had been adopted, of 
 exposing employers to being harassed by litigation with 
 persons without means and having no responsibility 
 towards others. The selection of Trade Unions had the 
 further advantage that these bodies were already in 
 existence and possessed large funds. It gave rise, however, 
 to a new difficulty. 
 
 Preference to Unionists 
 
 Plainly Trades Unions would decline a new responsi- 
 bility for costs, damages and penalties, unless they 
 received some compensating advantages. It was neces- 
 sary, too, that these should be the privileges of Unionists, 
 and not shared by men who would not submit themselves 
 to the restraints and incur the cost of organisation. The 
 difficulty was intended to be met by empowering the 
 Court to direct employers to employ Trade Unionists 
 in preference to non-unionists. It was hoped that this 
 Preference Clause would stimulate the organisation of 
 industries by offering a new inducement to become a 
 member of the Trade Union. At first these expectations 
 were fully realised. The Court made free use of its powers 
 to order preference, notably in the case of the Broken 
 Hill miners, and the number of Trade Unionists increased 
 
 ^ Under the New Zealand Act any association of more than 
 seven persons can form an Industrial Union. 
 
 307
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 from 59,500 in 1902 to 85,000 at the end of 1905. The 
 increase was then checked by legal decisions, which so 
 hampered the Court in the exercise of its powers, that the 
 preference clause became inoperative, and is now only- 
 applied when both parties would have consented to it. 
 " The only principle which I can discover (governing 
 the discretion of the Court to grant preference,)" said the 
 Judge of the Court in a recent case, " is that as far as 
 possible the same results must be given in the award 
 as would have been arrived at by the parties themselves." 
 
 Membership of Unions 
 
 The privileges, which it was intended to confer by the 
 Act upon Trade Unionists, made it necessary to devise 
 precautions against their societies becoming close corpora- 
 tions or unduly restricting the supply of labour. It was 
 accordingly provided that every Trade Union, before 
 registration as an Industrial Union, should submit its rules 
 to the Registrar, who was required to see that they 
 contained the provisions prescribed by the Act for its 
 proper administration and for making membership reason- 
 ably open. The Registrar is empowered to cancel the 
 registration. 
 
 The machinery of the measure may now be described. 
 
 The Court and its Powers 
 
 The Court consists of a President and two Members, 
 appointed by the Governor for a term of three years, 
 and irremovable except upon an address by both Houses. 
 The President must be a Judge of the Supreme Court, 
 although a Judge of the District Court may be appointed 
 temporarily. The Members are appointed on the 
 recommendations respectively of Industrial Unions of 
 Employers, and Industrial Unions of Employees. In 
 the first draft of the measure it was proposed that the 
 two members of the Court should be appointed for each 
 
 308
 
 PROCEDURE 
 
 dispute as having technical or practical knowledge, 
 but it was thought better, after taking the opinions of 
 leading men among employers and Unionists, to constitute 
 a permanent Court, and empower it to call in aid assessors 
 when required. The Court has jurisdiction to hear and 
 determine industrial disputes, which are defined to be 
 disputes in relation to industrial matters (see p. 304 note) 
 and to make orders and awards in pursuance of such 
 hearing and determination. An industrial dispute can 
 be referred by (1) An Industrial Union of Employers ; 
 (2) An Industrial Union of Employees ; (3) An individual 
 employer who employs not less than fifty men ; (4) By 
 the Registrar, if any of the parties to it is not an Industrial 
 Union. The cases are heard orally in open Court, and the 
 President has power to send for and examine the books 
 of any party under oath of secrecy. The Court has the 
 usual powers of a Court as to compelling the attendance 
 and enforcing the testimony of witnesses. If the case is 
 trivial the Court may dismiss it, but in other cases it 
 must come to a determination or give an award. In order 
 to enforce its awards the Court may fix penalties for 
 breaches, which can be recovered in a Court of Summary 
 Jurisdiction, grant injunctions, or order cancellation of 
 registration. The award may also fix a minimum rate 
 of wages, and a provision may be made for a tribunal 
 appointed by the Court to fix a lower rate in the case of 
 persons unable to earn the prescribed minimum. It 
 may also, as we have seen, contain a provision for granting 
 preference to Unionists. The penalties may be imposed 
 either upon an individual or an Industrial Union. Other 
 provisions, which it would be tedious to enumerate, give 
 the Court full power over its procedure, which is made 
 as elastic as is consistent with regularity, and confer upon 
 it every necessary power to ascertain the facts in dispute 
 and to enforce its order. One provision, however, requires 
 special notice, — viz., the device of " The Common Rule." 
 
 309
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The Common Rule 
 
 The Common Rule was first used in the New South 
 Wales Act for extending an award of the Court, with a 
 view to ensuring uniformity of conditions in the industry 
 affected. Without some such device the Act would 
 work injustice to the employer, who, in obedience to an 
 award, gave better conditions of labour than his com- 
 petitors. In New Zealand, the Court, before making 
 its award, summons before it all persons who are likely 
 to be affected, — an impossible proceeding in a more 
 populous community. The New South Wales Act pro- 
 ceeds upon another principle. Assuming that any 
 determination of the Court is prima facie just, it puts the 
 burden of impugning it upon the persons affected by it, 
 who must inform themselves of its terms at their own 
 risk, and be assumed to accept them, if they raise no 
 objections. The Act accordingly empowers the Court 
 to declare in an award that " any practice, regulation, 
 rule, custom, term of employment, condition of employ- 
 ment or dealing whatsoever in relation to an industrial 
 matter shall be a ' Common Rule ' of an industry 
 affected by the proceedings," and the Court may give 
 directions within what limits of area and subject to what 
 conditions and exceptions the Common Rule shall be 
 applied. The Common Rule is binding upon all persons 
 in the industry as if they had been parties to the suit in 
 which it was awarded. Any person is at liberty at any 
 time to show cause why he should be exempted, and this 
 exemption will be granted if it is justified by the 
 applicant's exceptional circumstances. 
 
 Prohibition of Strikes and Lock-outs 
 
 The reference of industrial disputes to a legal tribunal 
 necessarily involves the prohibition of any other mode of 
 settlement. Consequently the Act provides that it shall 
 
 310
 
 STRIKES 
 
 be a misdemeanour to strike or to lock out, or aid in or 
 instigate to a strike or lock-out. 
 
 (a) Before a reasonable time has elapsed for a reference 
 to the Court of the matters in dispute, or 
 
 {&) Pending the proceedings in the Court in relation 
 to an individual dispute. 
 
 A strike is defined as " the cessation of work by a 
 body of employees, acting in combination, done as a 
 means of enforcing compliance with demands made by 
 them and other employees or employers." 
 
 The penalty under this section is a fine not exceeding 
 £1,000 or imprisonment for not more than two months. 
 Every case under it comes before a jury. Only two 
 prosecutions have occurred. In one the defendant was 
 fined. The other resulted in an acquittal. 
 
 There is risk lest further details should extend this 
 chapter to disproportionate length. The working of the 
 Act has still to be considered and its methods and principle 
 compared with those of the Victorian Wage Boards. 
 To this end the preceding pages may be briefly summarised. 
 
 Principles of the Act 
 
 The Arbitration Act has a double aim : — (1) To en- 
 courage collective bargaining ; (2) To determine industrial 
 disputes. It rests upon Trade Unionism and works 
 through it in seeking both these aims. It is compulsory 
 in two senses : — (1) In that it compels the parties to an 
 industrial dispute to submit their differences to a hearing 
 in open Court, and therefore makes it a misdemeanour 
 to seek redress through a strike. (2) In that it enforces 
 the observance of certain industrial rules, and makes 
 this a condition of engaging in an industry. It does not 
 however (nor was it ever so intended), either compel an 
 employer to keep his business running or a workman 
 to go to work. It can compel the observance of the 
 terms of an award but it cannot force the acceptance of 
 
 311
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 the award on either side. This is no disparagement of 
 the utihty of an Industrial Court. The mere enquiry 
 before it gives time for reflection, and informs public 
 opinion, which is the final arbiter in these matters ; 
 while the knowledge that the conditions of an employ- 
 ment have been settled by an impartial Court pre- 
 disposes both parties to the acceptance of an award. 
 Diplomacy is not to be blamed because it does not 
 prevent war. And, just as differences arise betweeii 
 nations, which can only be determined by the arbitra- 
 ment of the sword, so there will be disputes between 
 employers and employed which no Court can settle. 
 
 The Act in Operation 
 
 Professor Bryce has observed that the questions 
 which come before the Supreme Court of the United 
 States are often of mixed law and politics, on which 
 Judges of different bents of mind can quite conscientiously 
 arrive at opposite conclusions. This is likely to be true 
 in a special degree of the interpretation of an Act, which 
 impinges at many points on the Common Law rights of 
 individuals. Speaking generally, while the Supreme 
 Court of New Zealand has been sympathetic towards the 
 Industrial Arbitration Act of that colony, the Supreme 
 Court of New South Wales, and, in a less degree, the High 
 Court of Australia, have defeated the intentions of the 
 New South Wales Parliament on several important points 
 and rendered portions of the Act unworkable. No 
 lawyer would quarrel with these decisions. It was 
 the duty of the Courts to interpret the Act : it is for 
 Parliament to see to its amendment. 
 
 It is inevitable that the working of any novel measure 
 should disclose mistakes and flaws. Mr. Reeves' first 
 measure was amended five times during the first seven 
 years of its existence, namely in 1895, 1896, 1898, 1900, 
 and 1901. The New South Wales measure, which was 
 
 312
 
 IMPORTANT DECISIONS 
 
 avowedly experimental and therefore limited in its 
 operation to seven years, was left unamended by the 
 Ministers ^ who in Opposition had fought against its 
 enactment. Yet the legal decisions, which defeated its 
 purpose, were plainly such as required to be corrected by 
 amending legislation. 
 
 The most important of these decisions were the 
 following — 
 
 (1) That no part of an industrial agreement could be 
 
 made a " Common Rule," unless the parties had 
 arrived at the agreement in the course of litigation. 
 (High Court of Australia.) 
 
 (2) That the Court has no power to embody in the order 
 
 for preference to Unionists a direction that an 
 employer requiring labour should, whenever 
 reasonably practicable, notify the Secretary of 
 the Employees' Union of the labour required. 
 (Supreme Court and High Court.) 
 
 (3) That the Court has no jurisdiction to determine 
 
 a friendly application by an industrial union of 
 employees to have the conditions of employment 
 in an industry regulated, unless these have pre- 
 viously been made the subject of a demand on the 
 employers and an industrial dispute has arisen. 
 (High Court of Australia.) 
 
 The case as to preference (number two of the above) 
 would almost certainly have been decided the other 
 way by the Supreme Court of New Zealand, which, by 
 a decision given in 1898, had held that it was part of 
 the inherent power of a Court, established to determine 
 disputes about " industrial matters," to grant preference 
 to Unionists, since the refusal to work with non-unionists 
 
 ^ The " Progressives " who passed the Act had been succeeded 
 by the " Liberals " in 1904, before final decisions had been given 
 on the most material points. 
 
 313
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 was a principal cause of these disputes. " Not to have 
 given this impKed power to the Court," said one of the 
 New Zealand Judges, " would be to play the play of 
 ' Hamlet ' leaving out the part of Hamlet.'''' ^ 
 
 It requires no legal training to perceive that the com- 
 bined effect of these decisions was a serious departure 
 from the original purposes of the Act. Yet even under 
 this severe handicap the measure has worked. 
 
 The clause permitting preference to Unionists has been 
 the chief object of attack. Yet no instance has been 
 cited of its causing hardship, and it has been the means 
 of securing an adjustment of industrial conditions, which 
 was satisfactory to both sides, in a number of important 
 industries and notably in the large silver mining industry 
 at Broken Hill. It is a striking proof of the exaggerated 
 character of the alarm which this clause has given, that 
 Preference was already conceded by employers several 
 years before the Act was passed in the important trades 
 of building, printing and engineering, and that in thirty- 
 three out of the sixty-five industrial agreements registered 
 under the Act preference has been granted by mutual 
 consent, while it has been denied in only three. In 
 twenty-nine it was not mentioned. 
 
 The success of the Act in encouraging collective 
 bargaining and strengthening Trade Unionism has been 
 already mentioned. Has it been equally successful in 
 preventing strikes ? 
 
 Certainly there have been no " strikes " within the 
 meaning of the definition of that term in the Act,' 
 although two prosecutions have taken place for instiga- 
 tion to such strikes. There have however been occa- 
 sional cessations of work by small bodies of men which in 
 
 ^ The New Zealand decisions were familiar to the framers of 
 the Act, and it was expected that they would be followed, just 
 as the framers of the Australian Constitution expected that, in 
 interpreting it, the Privy Council would follow American decisions. 
 
 ^ See above, p. 311. 
 
 314
 
 AWARDS OF THE COURT 
 
 popular parlance are called strikes, and during the 
 last year of its existence, when the utility of the Act had 
 been diminished in the ways already mentioned, these 
 cessations of work extended to the two large bodies of 
 Newcastle coal miners and Sydney wharf labourers. In 
 the former case the breach of the law was almost justified 
 by its result. The Newcastle miners had been waiting 
 for six years for the hearing of their case, which, owing 
 to its complexity and magnitude, was continually post- 
 poned. During all that time they submitted to con- 
 ditions which they believed unfair, and — having been 
 previously the most unruly body of men — set an example 
 to the whole colony of patience and forbearance. When 
 at last they struck, the Ministry, which had done its best 
 to hamper the organisation of the Industrial Court, 
 immediately passed an Act of Parliament to constitute 
 a special Court for the Newcastle district, which had 
 been promised four years previously by their prede- 
 cessors in office. The strike of the wharf labourers was 
 wholly inexcusable. It was settled, after lasting a fortnight, 
 by the efforts of the leaders of the Labour Party. The 
 shearers also on one occasion refused to leave their 
 homes to go shearing, but as they were under no engage- 
 ment and broke no contract, no stretch of language could 
 call such action a strike. In one other case, some 
 coal-miners refused to accept an award, and laid down 
 their tools at the expiry of the current fortnight of their 
 employment. In this they were as plainly within their 
 right, — since theirs was a fortnightly engagement, — 
 as the colliery proprietor would have been in closing his 
 mine at the expiration of the same period, if the terms of 
 the award had seemed to him unjust. The only strikes 
 or lock-outs which the Act declares illegal are those which 
 occur before or during the hearing of a dispute by the 
 Court. Indeed the Act expressly provides that nothing 
 in it " shall prohibit the suspension or discontinuance of 
 
 315
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 any industry or the working of any person therein for 
 any other good cause." 
 
 Is IT One-sided ? 
 
 It would be erroneous to conclude from these cases of 
 disobedience that the award of the Court " cannot be 
 enforced against the workmen, while it can against the 
 employer." Both in New Zealand and New South Wales 
 the orders of the Arbitration Court are obeyed as fre- 
 quently, and from the same law-abiding sense, as the 
 orders of any other Court. ^ There is however this much 
 justification for the error : — that from the nature of the 
 case the employer has generally more at stake than the 
 employees. This is not always the case. In a highly- 
 skiUed trade, for instance, such as engineering, the em- 
 ployees might be even less willing than the employer 
 to reject an award. The difficulty of obtaining other 
 employment might be as potent a restraining force as 
 the fear of losing capital, but it must be admitted that, 
 in the majority of cases, there is an inequality of risk. 
 In fact, except in the few cases mentioned, no Trades 
 Union has refused obedience to an award ; and though 
 capitalists have grumbled, as Englishmen always will, the 
 industries of New South Wales and Western Australia 
 have shown a steady growth both in output and the 
 amount of capital invested, which furnishes at least a 
 negative proof that employers are not unfairly treated 
 and that capital is not being " driven from the country." 
 Even during the depression caused in New South Wales by 
 the unprecedented drought (1901-4), the industries 
 affected by the Arbitration Act showed a steady expan- 
 sion ; while no manufacturer or other person has ever 
 adduced any evidence to the Court that an award has 
 
 ^ This was so in New Zealand, even when an award not only- 
 rejected the men's demand for an increase but reduced wages by 
 Is. a week. There was much grumbling, but no strike. 
 
 316
 
 SUCCESSFUL RESULTS 
 
 worked harshly, although the request for complaints of 
 this nature has been repeatedly and publicly made with 
 the promise of redress. Certainly during no other seven 
 years' period has the progress of New South Wales been 
 greater or the industrial conditions more stable. In 
 previous years the little splutterings of disorder, chiefly 
 by boys and unorganised workmen, which have been 
 magnified into strikes by opponents of arbitration, would 
 have passed unnoticed. They at no time were other than 
 local and temporary disturbances, and in every instance 
 were condemned and restrained by the responsible repre- 
 sentatives of labour. Indeed the indirect influence of the 
 Act in creating a public opinion opposed to strikes is not 
 the least of the advantages it has conferred upon Australia. 
 In previous days the solidarity of Trade Unionists 
 extended and intensified many strikes which would have 
 been comparatively innocuous if left to themselves. Since 
 the Act the whole influence of Trade Unionism is thrown 
 into the balance against a strike — a spectacle never before 
 witnessed in any State of the Commonwealth. This, 
 as the Sydney correspondent of the Morning Post''- has 
 observed, " has been a most potent element in the pres- 
 sure placed upon the men to obey the Act. . . . The Act 
 and the Court taken together must be credited with 
 exercising a new and effective control over public opinion 
 at large, which has paralysed the active assistance of all 
 other Unions in the State and throughout Australia. Not 
 a finger is being lifted on behalf of the strikers, ^ not a 
 penny is being voted for their sustenance, not a single 
 speech has been made in their behalf by any Labour leader 
 in or out of politics." In other words, the Trade Unions, 
 by accepting the Arbitration Act, voluntarily abandoned 
 
 1 Morning Post, Mar. 17, 1905. 
 
 * This referred to the strike of some " wheelers " — boys in a 
 coal mine, — which threw the whole mine out of work. These 
 boys belonged to no Union. 
 
 317
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 their most effective weapon, the sympathetic strike. 
 This fact ought never to be forgotten in considering 
 proposals to amend or repeal the measure. 
 
 A New Measure 
 
 As has been stated, the original Act expired in June, 
 1908. The party then in power had always opposed 
 compulsory arbitration, and declared an intention at 
 the General Election (1907) of abolishing the Court and 
 substituting Wages Boards. It is a noteworthy tribute 
 to the success of the Act, under all difficulties, that the 
 Ministry, in spite of powerful support from the Press, 
 was prevented by public opinion from carrying this 
 proposal into execution. " Those who had come to 
 curse, remained to pray." The new Act accepted the 
 principle of compulsory arbitration to its fullest extent, 
 but divided the powers of the Court between two tribu- 
 nals. Boards corresponding to the Wages Boards of 
 Victoria or the Conciliation Boards of New Zealand, 
 may be established for each trade, wdth power to make 
 a determination which regulates the conduct of the industry 
 affected ; but an appeal is allowed to the Court as to 
 rates of wages and hours of labour. The enforcement 
 of the awards of these Boards is also entrusted to the 
 Court. Neither Court nor Board can order that prefer- 
 ence be given to Unionists, and the Trade Union is no 
 longer the industrial unit. Sufficient time has not 
 elapsed to judge of this curious measure. At present 
 Trade Unions are declining to accept responsibilities 
 without privileges and are not registering under the Act. 
 One serious strike (of tramway employees) has already 
 occurred (August, 1908). Something however has been 
 gained by the general recognition that the pubhc has an 
 interest in industrial disputes as well as the parties con- 
 cerned, and that these should be, therefore, controlled 
 
 318
 
 WAGES BOARDS AND COURTS 
 
 by law. Two individuals may fight to a finish in a 
 back-yard, but the law should prohibit brawling in the 
 street. 
 
 Wages Boards and Courts Compared 
 
 The essential difference between the Victorian and New 
 South Wales systems for regulating industry is that, 
 while the former recognises individuals, the latter depends 
 upon and works through Trade Unions. All workers 
 share alike in the advantages of Wages Boards, and no 
 special inducements are offered to Trade Unionists to 
 submit to the restraints and bear the cost of organisation. 
 Victorian Trade Unions are in consequence compara- 
 tively few and weak. The contrast in this respect with 
 New South Wales is very significant. In 1902 there 
 were 59,500 Trade Unionists in New South Wales. 
 Four years later these had increased to 87,000. In 
 Victoria in the same year (1906) only 8,820 of the working 
 class were members of a Trade Union, which is a smaller 
 number than in Queensland, and less by 4,000 than the 
 number in Western Australia, although this State is still 
 in the pastoral farming and mining stage, while Victoria 
 is the most highly developed manufacturing State in the 
 Commonwealth. There can be only one explanation. 
 Both New South Wales and Western Australia have 
 Arbitration Acts, which offer their greatest benefits to 
 Trade Unionists in order to encourage organisation. In 
 South Australia, which has also adopted Wages Boards, 
 the number of Unionists was only 5,106 in 1906, while 
 the number in West Australia was 12,031. The tables on 
 p. 320 are from the " Year Book of the Commonwealth." 
 
 The continuous increase in the number of Trade 
 Unionists in New South Wales and Western Australia, 
 offers further evidence of the effect of the Industrial 
 Arbitration Acts, as will be seen from the second table 
 on p. 320. 
 
 319
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 Registered Trade Unions of Employees in Australia 
 IN 1906 
 
 
 No. 
 
 No. 
 
 
 
 
 State 
 
 of 
 
 of 
 
 Receipts 
 
 T- J- 
 
 Expendi- 
 
 Funds 
 
 
 Unions 
 
 Members 
 
 
 ture 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 New South Wales 
 
 134 
 
 87,435 
 
 70,731 
 
 63,426 
 
 81,122 
 
 Victoria 
 
 7 
 
 8,820 
 
 6,750 
 
 6,486 
 
 5,418 
 
 Queensland 
 
 19 
 
 8,332 
 
 7,159 
 
 7,195 
 
 5,208 
 
 S. Australia 
 
 23 
 
 5,106 
 
 6,809 
 
 5,347 
 
 12,926 
 
 W. Australia 
 
 82 
 
 12,031 
 
 31,018 
 
 25,948 
 
 21,506 
 
 Tasmania 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 200 
 
 220 
 
 343 
 
 Commonwealth 
 
 266 
 
 121.777 
 
 122,667 
 
 108,622 
 
 126,523 
 
 This table understates the financial resources of the Unions. 
 Several of the wealthiest, such as the Boiler Makers and Engineers, 
 are branches of Unions whose head quarters are in England. 
 
 New South Wales 
 
 Western Australia 
 
 Trade Unions 
 
 Trade Unions 
 
 Year 
 
 Members 
 
 Fimds 
 
 Year 
 
 Members 
 
 Funds 
 
 1903 
 1904 
 1905 
 1906 
 
 73,312 
 79,815 
 84,893 
 87,435 
 
 £ 
 
 63,540 
 69,409 
 73,324 
 81,122 
 
 1903 
 1904 
 1905 
 1906 
 
 6,999 
 11,025 
 11,235 
 12,031 
 
 £ 
 
 19,250 
 22,421 
 25,225 
 26,000 
 
 The comparisons are not carried beyond 1906, because 
 after that year the effect of the legal decisions upon the 
 New South Wales Act, to which reference has been made, 
 became generally appreciated. 
 
 Judgment on the merits of the two systems as they 
 affect Trade Unionism, will depend upon the view 
 which is taken of the value of industrial organisation and 
 of encouraging the sohdarity of labour. The attempt 
 which has been made in New South Wales (1908) to 
 graft Wages Boards upon the system of Industrial 
 
 320
 
 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 
 
 Courts is regarded as a direct attack upon Trade 
 Unionism, although it was probably not so intended. 
 
 The growth of collective bargaining in New South 
 Wales has been already^ mentioned and probably will 
 be regarded as the most beneficial effect of the Arbitra- 
 tion Act. Wages Boards not only do not lend themselves 
 to similar agreements, but by weakening Trade Unions, 
 render them less easy to make. 
 
 Both systems, by the use of the minimum wage, have 
 put an end to sweating. 
 
 Each system tends, too, to preserve industrial peace 
 by offering an alternative remedy to industrial war. 
 But Industrial Courts, ^ owing to the greater thoroughness 
 of their investigations, have probably a greater educational 
 influence upon public opinion, which is the final arbiter 
 in industrial conflicts. The procedure of a Court is also 
 better adapted to elicit evidence. 
 
 On the other hand, a Wages Board may have some 
 superiority over an Industrial Court in that its members 
 have a practical knowledge of the matters involved. 
 But against this must be set the very real advantage of 
 a judicial training. No Judge of the Supreme Court 
 would find much difficulty in understanding the technical 
 processes of any trade which seem to the untrained 
 mind greater mysteries than they are, and at least he 
 starts on the enquiry accustomed to weigh evidence and 
 having in his favour the presumption of impartiality. 
 Whereas the Chairman of the Board is too often inclined, 
 
 * See above, p. 302. 
 
 ' According to a decision of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, 
 the wage awarded by the Court becomes payable as a statutory 
 debt, so that an employee who receives less than the prescribed 
 amount can sue for the balance at any time within the Statute 
 of Limitations. It was then held that a workman could not divest 
 himself by any conduct or agreement, of his statutory right to be 
 paid the whole amount awarded by the Court. Such a decision 
 manifestly makes it useless for an employer to attempt any 
 evasion of the minimum wage direction. 
 
 321 
 
 2t— (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 layman fashion, to cut knots by " splitting the difference." 
 The constitution of a Wages Board is, indeed, its weakest 
 point. Two members on each side are appointed to be 
 advocates, so that the final decision rests usually with 
 the Chairman. In some cases, when the Chairman has 
 been a man of exceptional judgment, the decisions of 
 Boards have given satisfaction to all parties ; but, in 
 others, they have been manifestly compromises. In 
 fact, the success of a Wages Board in Victoria depends 
 entirely on the Chairman. And on this account, in com- 
 paring a Board with the Court, it must not be forgotten 
 that the President of the Court can at any time call in 
 assessors and that the members' three years' tenure of 
 office is likely to develop judicial faculties. 
 
 The Scope of the Act 
 
 It is urged against the Arbitration Court that, instead 
 of confining itself to the determination of disputes, it has 
 become a general regulator of industry. Wages Boards 
 are open to the same charge. Indeed it is impossible 
 either to settle a dispute or to fix wages without taking 
 into consideration every condition of employment. Thus 
 in spite of themselves both the Courts and the Boards are 
 forced to extend their enquiries, and to provide m their 
 awards for the conduct in detail of the industry affected. 
 Only those can think it could be otherwise, who cannot 
 in imagination picture either Court or Board at work. 
 There is however this difference between the two 
 methods, — that while a Wages Board only deals with 
 one industry, the Court, in making an award, can take 
 into account all industries which are related to each 
 other. This not only allows the same grades of labour 
 in various industries to be co-ordinated, but it prevents 
 injustice to any one of a group of allied industries. The 
 lack of uniformity in the decisions of the Wages Board 
 is another weakness of the system. 
 
 322
 
 REGULATION OF WAGES 
 
 It is said that no system for regulating wages will be 
 successful in a falling market. That during the period 
 of the Australasian experiments wages have been upon 
 the up-grade is certainly true, and must be allowed for 
 in judging their value ; but those who have had experi- 
 ence in administering the Wages Boards and Arbitration 
 Courts, are not prepared to accept the statement that 
 either system will break down, when economic conditions 
 change. Certainly the longer either continues in exist- 
 ence, the less likely is failure. At present, in the writer's 
 belief, the system would break down in New South Wales, 
 if bad times recurred, but not in Victoria. This is because 
 in the former State the Arbitration Act has been made the 
 object of such bitter party attack and so much misrepre- 
 sented that the Court does not command the same 
 public confidence as is felt in Victoria in the Wages 
 Boards. In New Zealand, on the contrary, the Court 
 is firmly established and would probably be equally 
 effectual, in bad, as in good times to secure industrial 
 peace. So it is in Western Australia and so, some day, 
 it will be in New South Wales. 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER 
 
 Even as these pages are going through the press, the authors 
 of Wages Boards in New South Wales are abandoning their 
 offspring. An amending measure has been introduced into 
 Parhament, which enacts that if the President of a Board be a 
 Supreme or District Court Judge, the decision of that Board 
 shall be final. In all other cases an appeal lies to the Industrial 
 Court. The effect will be that every Board will have a lawyer 
 as Chairman. The members of a Board are not to be more than 
 three or four, representing employers and employed. This Board 
 is empowered to " regulate all the conditions of any industry," 
 and its determinations are enforced by penalties. The term 
 Common Rule is not used, but a determination which affects a 
 whole industry has the same effect. The Board may also order 
 that preference be given to Unionists. Other clauses provide 
 against the consequences of those judicial decisions by which the 
 operation of the Industrial Arbitration Act was crippled, and 
 which have already been mentioned. These Courts although 
 
 323
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 they are called Wages Boards, do not really differ either in 
 procedure or jurisdiction from the Industrial Court which they 
 are intended to replace. Their members are, it is true, appointed 
 ad hoc for each dispute from among persons acquainted with the 
 industry in question. This was the provision of the first Indus- 
 trial Arbitration Bill which was rejected by the Legislative 
 Council. The present writer, who was responsible for that Bill, 
 altered it and established instead a permanent Court, in deference 
 to the expressed wishes of a deputation representing the em- 
 ployers. The establishment of several Courts is another testi- 
 mony to the efficiency of the principle of Industrial Arbitration. 
 In one respect only does the present law differ from the old Arbi- 
 tration Act. The latter accepted the fact of unionism, and made 
 a Trade Union the industrial limit. No individual workman 
 could set the Act in motion. The new measure allows any twenty 
 workmen to apply for a Wages Board. In practice, all such 
 applications up to the present time have been made by Trade 
 Unions, but the clause stands as a distinct challenge to Trade 
 Unionism which the socialist section of the employees are not 
 slow to take up. If this defiance of the amour propre of organised 
 labour — (which is also a menace to its Power that may at any time 
 become real) — were struck out of the Act, there would be no 
 essential difference between the existing law and the older Act. 
 The truth is that Wages Boards tend inevitably to become courts, 
 and are efficacious in proportion as recognition is given to their 
 judicial attributes. 
 
 324
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 OLD AGE AND INVALIDITY PENSIONS ^ 
 
 Schemes in Operation — Administration — A Federal System — 
 Invalidity Pensions. 
 
 It is in harmony with the general characteristics of 
 AustraHan legislation, and particularly with the tenets 
 of the Labour Party, that the State should pay special 
 attention to the care of the aged and invalid. Thus, 
 although no State has accepted the principle of the 
 English Poor Law, all provide asylums for the aged and 
 destitute. The care of the insane is also a function of the 
 States which, under the direction and example of the 
 late Dr. Norton Manning, of New South Wales, has 
 been admirably performed. It is, however, in making 
 provision for the aged that Australia has led the way. ^ 
 
 Schemes in Operation 
 
 Old Age Pension schemes are now in force in New 
 South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand, the root prin- 
 ciple of each of these schemes being the supplementation 
 of income up to a standard which is taken to represent 
 the actual pecuniary requirements of old age. This 
 standard is practically the same in New South Wales 
 and New Zealand, but in Victoria it is considerably below 
 that in the others. 
 
 The New Zealand Act dates from 1898, the Victorian 
 and the New South Wales Acts from 1901. 
 
 ^ The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness for 
 great assistance in the preparation of this Chapter to Mr. T. B. 
 Clegg. 
 
 2 The Old Age Pension System of New Zealand is only referred 
 to here by way of comparison. It will be dealt with more fully 
 in the volume of this series dealing with New Zealand. 
 
 325
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The New Zealand measure, which led the way in legis- 
 lation of this class, has been greatly modified since the 
 date of its initiation. The original Act provided for the 
 payment out of Consolidated Revenue of a pension of £18 
 per annum or 6s. lid. per week. This has now been 
 brought abreast of the New South Wales allowance of 
 £26 per annum, or 10s. per week. The Act has also been 
 amended in other important respects especially with 
 regard to administration and machinery for ascertaining 
 the merits of the cases submitted. The Victorian Act 
 has also been subjected to very considerable amendment 
 since it was originally passed. Originally the maximum 
 rate of pension in that State was fixed at 10s., but by a 
 subsequent Act this amount was reduced to 8s., and all 
 claims granted were re-heard and pensions fixed on the 
 lower basis. Also in that State the children of pensioners 
 when proved to be able to contribute towards the pension 
 are compelled to do so. This is an important principle 
 which distinguishes the Victorian measure from those 
 in operation in New South Wales and New Zealand. 
 Finally the Act passed in Victoria in 1903 restricted the 
 total sum to be paid in pensions annuall}^ The pro- 
 vision made in this latter respect is to the effect that 
 unless the total sum payable for pensions will not, during 
 any financial year, amount to more than £150,000, the 
 Treasurer shall not without further special appropriation 
 by Parliament, authorise the issue of pension certificates 
 covering new pensions. Neither in New .South Wales 
 nor in New Zealand is any similar restriction made as to 
 the amount of public money that shall be expended in 
 this direction. Broadly it may be said that, allowing for 
 differences in details of administrations and modifications 
 with regard to the amounts of income and accumulated 
 property that may be held by pensioners, the legislation 
 in New South Wales and New Zealand is similar in 
 all essentials, whereas the legislation in Victoria is 
 
 326
 
 ADMINISTRATION 
 
 differentiated by a limitation of the total sum to be 
 expended in pensions, a lower rate, and the recognition of a 
 principle that children who are in a position to do so shall 
 be called upon to maintain or partially maintain their 
 parents. 
 
 Administration 
 
 With regard to administration there are some 
 essential differences. 
 
 In New Zealand and in Victoria pension claims are 
 settled by Stipendiary Magistrates in open Court : in 
 New South Wales by a system of District Boards under 
 the control of a central Board. Pensions are granted in 
 New South Wales and New Zealand for a period of 
 twelve months only, and must then be renewed, whereas 
 in Victoria the pension is granted once for all, though 
 subject to withdrawal under certain circumstances. Both 
 in New Zealand and Victoria provision is made for the 
 State to be recouped out of any estate that may be left 
 by the deceased pensioner. At present no such provision 
 is made in New South Wales. 
 
 A Federal System 
 A Federal ^ system of Old Age Pensions will come into 
 operation in July, 1909. It is proposed that the maxi- 
 mum rate shall be 10s. per week ; the qualifying age, 
 sixty-five years, and the residential qualification, twenty- 
 five years ; that the Victorian system of investigation 
 in open court shall be adopted ; that provision shall be 
 made to compel the husband, wife or children, as the case 
 may be, if in a position to do so, to contribute to the 
 amount of the pension ; that the property of a pensioner 
 at his death should rest in the State, and that the State 
 
 ^ The law of each State requires the quahfying term of resi- 
 dence to have been spent entirely within its own boundaries, 
 so that a man who had lived twenty-four years and eleven months 
 in N.S.W. would have no right to a pension if he changed his 
 residence to Victoria. 
 
 327
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 should have a preferential claim to recoup itself for 
 pension payments. The estimated cost of the Federal 
 system is £1,500,000, which it is proposed to provide by 
 retaining for the use of the Commonwealth all the Customs 
 and Excise revenue over the net three-fourths, which, 
 by the Constitution, must be paid to the States. ^ Possi- 
 bly this source of supply will need to be supplemented 
 by direct taxation. 
 
 Invalidity Pensions 
 
 In New South Wales the law with regard to old age 
 pensions is at present in need of amendment. It was 
 based on the original New Zealand measure, which has 
 since been repeatedly amended in order to check abuses 
 and strengthen the hands of the administrative power. 
 In New South Wales the measure so far as the grant of 
 old age pensions is concerned, remains unchanged. It 
 has, however, been recently amended to extend the 
 principle of granting State pensions to the aged poor, so 
 that it may include their grant to all persons over the 
 age of sixteen years permanently incapacitated by 
 invalidity or accident for any work. 
 
 This Act is essentially a charitable one, and does not, 
 as in the case of the Old Age Pensions Act, require the 
 possession by the applicant of certain qualifications of 
 conduct, and good citizenship, that are necessary in order 
 to establish the right to a pension under that Act. 
 
 The essential factors considered in granting these 
 pensions are the physical disability of the applicant, 
 his compliance with the residential qualifications imposed 
 by the Act, and finally the adequacy of his existing means 
 of subsistence, whether derived from relatives, or from 
 his personal resources of income or property. 
 
 This amendment is without any precedent in the other 
 Austrahan States, and is looked upon as an interesting 
 experiment in the domain of charity. 
 
 ^ See abo\'e, p. 243. 
 
 328
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 DEFENCE 
 
 Before Federation — After Federation — Inadequacy of the 
 System — The Enemies of Austraha — Compulsory Service — 
 Naval Defence — Conclusion. 
 
 The over-sea Australian never shared the behef that 
 the Exhibition of 1851 had sealed the brotherhood of 
 nations. Nor could he be convinced that the superiority of 
 Manchester goods and Birmingham hardwares could be 
 accepted as a guarantee of perpetual peace under condi- 
 tions of general disarmament. He had formed a different 
 view of his own future. 
 
 Until 1870 the land defence of Australia was undertaken 
 by the English Army, but even before the recall of British 
 troops a volunteer force had been enrolled and a beginning 
 made with elaborate fortifications. Regular forces of 
 artillery were raised in 1870, and the forces of every State 
 were gradually augmented and improved until the defence 
 of Australia passed to the Commonwealth in 1901. At 
 that time the permanent forces consisted of 115 officers 
 and 1,323 of other ranks, and comprised also a Staff, 
 Artillery both field and garrison. Engineers and Signallers, 
 Army Service and Medical Corps, and other units. In 
 addition there were 1,365 officers of Militia and Volunteers, 
 and 24,550 of other ranks. Each State had also the 
 nucleus of a Naval Force, and torpedo or gun-boats for 
 naval defence, with an equipment of submarine mines. 
 The fortifications of Sydney and Melbourne, on which 
 large sums had been spent, were well-designed, but lacked 
 a sufficiency of modern guns. In March, 1901, the Defence 
 departments of the several States were transferred to the 
 Commonwealth, and in 1903 and 1904 Parhament passed 
 the Acts which now regulate its naval and military forces. 
 
 329
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 After Federation 
 
 The first organiser of the Commonwealth's military 
 forces was Major-General Sir Edward Hutton, K.C.M.G., 
 who has described his system in an interesting contribu- 
 tion to " The Empire and the Century." ^ Its chief 
 features were — 
 
 (1) A Permanent (or Cadre) Force of Regulars, 
 
 consisting of the General or Instructional Staff, 
 a regiment of Artillery, small detachments of 
 Engineers, Army Service Corps, Ordnance Corps, 
 and Army Medical Corps, for partially gar- 
 risoning the naval strategical bases, for main- 
 tenance of valuable stores and equipment, and 
 above all, for the instruction of the Militia and 
 Volunteer Forces during peace and for stiffening 
 them in times of war. 
 
 (2) A Field Force, e.g., Mihtia troops for the purpose 
 
 of carrying out active operations in the field 
 in defence of the Commonwealth as a whole. 
 This force consists of six light-horse brigades 
 and three brigades of infantry. 
 
 (3) A Garrison Force of Volunteers combined with 
 
 Militia for the local defence of each State. 
 
 The Permanent Force consisted in 1907-8 of 1,329 of all 
 ranks. There was in addition a small permanent General 
 and Instructional Staff, consisting of both commissioned 
 and non-commissioned officers. 
 
 The Field Force consists of six brigades of hght horse 
 and three brigades of infantry — an insufficient number, 
 but all that could be provided by the money voted. Each 
 brigade is complete in itself, with the proportion of all 
 arms and of most administrative departments which are 
 essential for a mobile force in the field. The number in 
 
 ^ " The Bond of Military Unity " in " The Empire and the 
 Century," John Murray, London, 1905. 
 
 330
 
 A CITIZEN FORCE 
 
 1907-8 was 15,445 officers and men. The members of 
 this force are Mihtia, paid for their attendance at drills 
 at rates which give £12 a year to each member of the 
 infantry and £14 to each horseman. Each unit of the 
 Field Force has a peace as well as a war establishment. 
 The peace establishments provide for nearly a full comple- 
 ment of officers and non-commissioned officers, with 
 approximately one-half of the rank and file required for 
 the war establishment. The peace cadres by this plan 
 can be completed upon mobilisation to the requirements 
 of war without serious difficulty. 
 
 The scientific corps, such as Engineers and Medical 
 Service, are recruited from the classes who discharge 
 in civil life the functions which they are required to 
 discharge in war. A Chair of Military Instruction 
 has been established and endowed in the University 
 of Sydney. 
 
 The Garrison Force consists almost entirely of Volun- 
 teers. Arms and accoutrements are supplied by the 
 State, but no pay is given. The present number of the 
 Volunteers is about 5,500. 
 
 The military forces can also be increased in time of 
 national emergency by drawing upon the members of 
 Rifle Clubs, who have learnt the rudiments of driU and 
 proved themselves efficient shots. Their number in the 
 year 1907-8 was 42,899. There would be a further 
 reserve of men who have been efficient members of 
 Cadet Corps during their school da3;-s. Physical drill 
 and a system of military training, in uniform and with 
 miniature rifles, is a distinctive feature of all the larger 
 State schools in Australia. Boys are thus early taught 
 discipline and the simple obligation of a citizen to defend 
 his country. 
 
 The system to be complete, requires training schools 
 for officers like West Point (U.S.A.) or Kingston (Canada). 
 This defect will be remedied before long. Three officers 
 
 331
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 annually are permitted to serve with a regiment or on the 
 staff either in India or Great Britain. 
 
 The total expenditure on military and naval forces for 
 the year 1907-8 was £1,297,012, or 6s. 2d. per head of the 
 population. This represents Is. lOd. per head more than 
 the expenditure for the same purpose in Canada but is 
 far below the 27s. a head spent for the same purpose 
 in Great Britain. The following table from Mr. Knibbs's 
 " Commonwealth Year Book " shows the military 
 expenditure of various countries — 
 
 
 
 In £00,000 
 
 
 
 Country 
 
 
 
 
 Per Inhabitant 
 
 
 Army 
 
 Navy 
 
 Total 
 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 27-7 
 
 31-4 
 
 59- 1 
 
 s. d. 
 27 - 
 
 German}'' 
 
 37 
 
 3 
 
 11-6 
 
 49 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 Italy 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 4-9 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 Switzerland . . 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 7 2 
 
 Denmark 
 
 
 6 
 
 •4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 8 3 
 
 Sweden 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 •8 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 12 1 
 
 United States 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 19-7 
 
 41 
 
 
 
 9 9 
 
 Canada 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 Australia 
 
 10 
 
 •2 
 
 1-2 
 
 6 2 
 
 On the expiry of Sir Edward Hutton's engagement the 
 post of Commandant was left vacant and the control of 
 the Forces placed under a Council of Defence to deal with 
 questions of policy and a Military Board to deal with 
 administration. An officer was appointed under the title 
 of " Inspector-General of the Forces " to report to and 
 advise the Military Board. The objects aimed at by this 
 change were declared to be " (1) To establish continuity 
 in defence policy ; (2) To maintain a continuous connec- 
 tion between parhamentary responsibility and the control 
 and development of the Defence Forces ; (3) To establish 
 continuity of Administration ; (4) To separate administra- 
 tion from executive command so as to develop the 
 independence of district commands, and by giving scope 
 
 332
 
 AN INADEQUATE SYSTEM 
 
 to independent thought and initiative, make practicable 
 a larger measure of decentralisation and more particularly 
 to make possible the ultimate development of a citizen 
 force ; (5) To maintain a continuous state of efficiency 
 on a uniform basis by the supervision of the Inspector- 
 General of the Forces, who has to report to the Military 
 Board and Council of Defence upon the efficiency, system, 
 training, and equipment of the troops, their preparedness 
 for war, and the state and condition of the defence works." 
 
 Inadequacy of the System 
 
 The system above described, while it makes the most 
 of the existing forces, is plainly inadequate, either to the 
 immediate requirements of Australian Defence or to the 
 due performance of her obligations as a portion of the 
 British Empire. Nor can Australia hope for many years 
 to be able to resist unaided any determined attempt by 
 a Western or Eastern power, either singly or in combina- 
 tion, to obtain a footing on the continent. If she is to 
 keep for future generations the heritage which she now 
 possesses, either from the Teuton or the Oriental, she must 
 not only organise her own latent military powers, but she 
 must do so in alliance with her other partners in the 
 Empire. " That union is strength is more true now 
 than ever before. Under modern conditions war assumes 
 gigantic proportions ; hundreds of thousands are and will 
 be necessary where thousands or even hundreds have in 
 past times decided the fate of Empires," writes Sir 
 Edward Hutton as a warning to the forces he commanded 
 in South Africa. He at least is under no illusions as 
 to the lessons of the Boer War. Sixty thousand men can 
 defend an open country like the Transvaal, which has 
 neither capital nor seaports, while twenty times that 
 number could not win back Sydney or Melbourne from 
 the Germans if once these ports were opened to them 
 by a victory in the British Channel. 
 
 333
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The Enemies of Australia 
 
 Australia seems at present to mistake her destiny. 
 The Sydney Bulletin, which voices her national aspira- 
 tions, is accustoming the pubhc to anticipate a conflict 
 for Austrahan territory with China and Japan, forgetful 
 that China is a jelly-bag and has no sea-power, while 
 the Japanese are a race of islanders, accustomed to a 
 seaboard life and spade culture of hillsides, to whom 
 the flat expanses of the Australian Bush would offer no 
 attraction. They could not safely hold Australia in 
 tribute ; and Formosa and other islands nearer home — 
 to make no mention of Hawaii and the Philippines, 
 whose owner could not be neutral in an aggressive 
 war — offer a sufficient outlet for her surplus energies. 
 There is some want of dignity in this constant appre- 
 hension of Japan, whose temper is not aggressive and 
 whose greatest interest is Peace. Her ancient civilisa- 
 tion is not necessarily inferior to our own, because it is 
 different ; and Japan would put this, and more, to 
 risk, by an attack upon Australia, whose real danger 
 threatens from another quarter. Australia will be 
 the prize of victory in a war between Germany and 
 England. 
 
 Some deny the imminence of this fratricidal struggle. 
 How then explain the German Fleet ? That it is needed 
 to protect her growing commerce ? Then surely her 
 battleships would be capable of carrying more than a ten 
 days' supply of coal. Vessels of that limited range, built 
 by a nation which owns no coaling stations abroad, must 
 have some objective near their base, and by a process of 
 exhaustion it can be made plain that only England can be 
 aimed at. France can be restrained on land. The 
 Russian Navy is a negligible quantity, and no German 
 apologist could contend that the German Fleet is intended 
 to protect Kiel against Sweden or Denmark ! England 
 
 334
 
 THE INVASION OF ENGLAND 
 
 alone is left, and it is to her existence that the formidable 
 German armament is a standing menace. 
 
 Nor is it in the power, even of the Kaiser, to check this 
 belligerent movement. Germany is being impelled to 
 over-sea expansion by circumstances which are stronger 
 than any ruler. Not only does her commerce require 
 foreign markets, but she also needs an outlet for her 
 surplus population. Every year the hive swarms, and 
 Germans leave the Fatherland to become in one genera- 
 tion subjects of a foreign power. At one time a dream 
 was indulged in that Germans might gain a foothold in 
 Southern Brazil, where there are already many German 
 settlers. The United States, however, took alarm, and 
 through the mouth of Mr. Hay, Secretary of State in the 
 Cabinet of President McKinley, announced the extension 
 of the Monroe doctrine to the southern portion of the 
 American continent. There remains South Africa and 
 Australia. If England's Fleet be destroyed, or even if it 
 be turned away so that the German Fleet may have com- 
 mand of the Channel for forty-eight hours, a German force 
 could land in England, in sufficient strength to paralyse 
 her energies, if indeed it could not capture London. If 
 this be the language of an alarmist it is that of most 
 soldiers who have made a study of the possibility of an 
 invasion. Every great military leader, from Julius 
 Caesar to Moltke, has believed that England can be 
 invaded. And even the most credulous pacifier would 
 hardly question this possibility, if the British Fleet were 
 out of action ! It is possible that the invaders might 
 never return, but they could strike a fatal blow at the 
 heart of the Empire. England is too dependent on other 
 countries for her food supplies to contemplate with 
 equanimity a bread riot in London. If the cession of 
 Australia is not to be demanded as a term of peace, the 
 duty of Australians is plain, namely, that in the first place 
 they add to the efficient forces of the Empire and, 
 
 335
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 secondly, that they so organise their people that Germany 
 will sit upon a wasp's nest, if she occupies the country. 
 To the one end, she should be prepared to land one or 
 more fully equipped and self-contained military units, at 
 whatever point the Empire may be threatened, and, to the 
 other, she must train all her citizens to military service. 
 
 Compulsory Service 
 
 Fortunately the conscience of the country is thoroughly 
 aroused. The Australian Defence League, under the 
 guidance of the Hon. W. M. Hughes, who was Minister for 
 External Affairs in the Labour Ministry of Mr. Watson, 
 and Colonel Campbell of the Rifles Section, and through 
 its organ The Call, has successfully taught the lesson that 
 Defence is the business not of a government or of a class, 
 but of the people and of all the people. Only the remnant 
 of Free Traders is unconvinced. " There will always 
 be," as Mr. Roosevelt has observed, " men of a certain 
 kind to whom trade and property are more sacred than 
 life and honour." ^ Some military critics would prefer, 
 on purely military grounds, a better-trained force of more 
 moderate dimensions, but this is to ignore the political 
 value of universal training and implies an organisation 
 which is unsuited to Austraha. Mr. Deakin, backed by 
 the majority of Labour Members, has correctly voiced 
 public sentiment in formulating a scheme of a National 
 
 ' " To men of a certain kind, trade and property are more 
 sacred than life or honour ; of far more consequence than great 
 thoughts and lofty emotions, which alone make a nation mighty. 
 They believe, with a faith almost touching in its utter feebleness, 
 that the Angel of Peace, draped in a garment of untaxed calico, 
 has given her final message to men when she has implored them 
 to devote all their energies to producing oleomargarine at a 
 quarter of a cent, less per firkin, or to importing woollens for a 
 fraction less than they can be made at home. These solemn 
 prattlers strive after an ideal in which they shall happily unite 
 the imagination of a greengrocer with the heart of a Bengali 
 Babu ! " 
 
 336
 
 A COMPULSORY SYSTEM 
 
 Citizen Army as an integral part of Australian policy, 
 " in the acceptance of which," writes Colonel Repington, 
 the military correspondent of the Times,^ "Englishmen 
 place their hopes not only for the military redemption of 
 Australia, but for that of the British Empire as a whole." 
 The scheme which was outlined by Mr. Deakin in the 
 House of Representatives on December 13th, 1907, has 
 now (Oct., 1908) been formulated in a Bill by Mr. Ewing, 
 the Commonwealth Minister of Defence. The cardinal 
 provision of this far-reaching measure is that " all male 
 inhabitants of Australia (except those who are exempted 
 by reason of physical incapacity) who have resided there 
 for six months and are British subjects, shall be liable 
 to be trained to military service, as follows : {a) From 
 12 to 18 years of age in cadet corps ; {h) from 18 to 26 
 years of age in the National Guard. Cadets are required 
 to give a minimum service of fifty-two drills of one hour 
 each, and four whole days, or their equivalent. On 
 entering the National Guard a cadet must give at least 
 eighteen days' service during the year for three years and 
 at least seven days for five years. The eighteen days' 
 training is to be in camp. Citizens who are allotted to the 
 specialist arms are to be trained for twenty-eight whole 
 days during each of the first five years in their service 
 with the National Guard. If at the end of the eight years' 
 period throughout which service in the National Guard 
 
 ^ In a letter to The Call, re-published in The Times of July 4, 
 1908. " All honour to Mr. Deakin," the letter continues, " for 
 his great initiative ; and all honour to Australia if she leads the 
 British world, and takes a step which will not only — as nothing 
 else can — make a White Australia practical politics, but will 
 also stir the pulse and prompt the imagination of Anglo-Saxons 
 far and near. It is my firm belief that we shall all eventually 
 follow, if you will lead, and that the general adoption of citizen 
 training will give lasting peace and security to the Empire, will 
 cause credit to revive and trade to flourish, and will endow the 
 names of your leaders in this movement with great and 
 imperishable fame." 
 
 337 
 
 22 — (2133)
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 is compulsory, a citizen is not " efficient," he will be called 
 upon to do service during another year. Employers who 
 place obstacles in the way of their men performing the 
 required service can be heavily punished, and anyone 
 who evades service is ineligible for any public appoint- 
 ment, deprived of his electoral franchise, and disqualified 
 from receiving an old age pension. The Governor has, in 
 addition, the right to call upon all male inhabitants to 
 serve in time of war. A force of field artillery. Instruction 
 and Administration Staffs, Army Service, Medical and 
 Ordnance Staffs, a force of Garrison Artillery, Fortress 
 Engineers, and Submarine Miners can also be raised, 
 maintained and organised in permanence. An allowance 
 based on a guinea a week for a private soldier will be 
 given to the force during the instructional camps. Other- 
 wise the service must be rendered gratuitously by every 
 citizen. Long service undertaken voluntarily will receive 
 special recognition. Each of the present Militia units 
 will expand to three National Guard units, and the whole of 
 their number will be absorbed in supplying commissioned 
 and non-commissioned officers to train the new levies. 
 
 Under this scheme Mr. Deakin calculated that 83,000 
 men would always be in training, who would be supple- 
 mented every year by 30,000 ; and that the same number 
 would pass annually into the Reserve and be organised 
 into Rifle Clubs. In the eighth year, he estimated that 
 200,000 men would be available, fully armed, equipped 
 and organised for the defence of the Commonwealth. 
 
 These proposals have not gone far enough to satisfy the 
 Australian Defence League. They recognise that the 
 proposed camp life and healthy rivalry in outdoor military 
 occupations will improve the physique of the people, and 
 foster the best national spirit, but they criticise the 
 adequacy of the means proposed. They urge that the 
 age limits should be from 22 to 26, in order that everyone 
 may have an opportunity to get his preliminary training 
 
 338
 
 NATIONAL TRAINING 
 
 in a Senior Cadet Corps. Otherwise, they say, the period 
 in camp is too short. They also wish that some payment 
 should be made, however small, during the service in 
 camp. To provide the necessary money, they propose 
 that short-dated Treasury Bills should be issued to meet 
 the non-recurrent charges. And they call attention to a 
 necessary strengthening of the Junior regiments by a 
 stiffening of trained men. These and other amendments 
 may be made when Mr. Deakin's proposals are embodied 
 in a Bill, but it is certain that Australian defence will rest 
 for the future upon the broad basis which he has proposed. 
 As Colonel Repington writes in The Call, " the system 
 can be improved and perfected as time and means allow, 
 when it once rests securely on the sound principle of 
 National Training. ... If you find the standard too 
 low, you can raise it when you please. We can always 
 lend you an Inspector of the best modern stamp, who 
 will come and go ; who will not be mixed up with your 
 politics and local affairs, but who will give you an unbiassed 
 military opinion for what it is worth and for what you 
 please to do with it." 
 
 Naval Defence 
 
 Mr. Deakin's proposals for the Naval Defence of 
 Australia have been received with more hostility, although 
 these also are supported by so competent an authority 
 as Colonel Repington. Their central idea is the gradual 
 creation of an Australian Navy, closely linked to that of 
 the Mother Country in sympathy, tradition and training, 
 but paid for and controlled by the Austrahan Government. 
 
 Mr. Deakin proposes to make a beginning with nine 
 submarines and six sea-going torpedo boat destroyers — 
 three of the former and two of the latter to be acquired 
 each year over a period of three years — and gradually to 
 increase this flotilla until Australia has created for herself 
 such a defensive power that she will hardly invite 
 
 339
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 attack. If, when that time arrives, Austraha is playing 
 her expected part in world-poUtics, her force will be 
 increased, until she can assume the offensive which 
 is the best defence. " But to ensure liberty to such 
 attack and render the home territory secure, whether 
 now or eventually, the Australian people must be aroused." 
 And thus Mr. Deakin's military and naval proposals 
 stand or fall together. " It is not," writes Colonel 
 Repington, " until the defensive armour of a people is 
 forged and riveted on at home that they can pass to the 
 attack and safely transfer the operations of war, and 
 consequently its terrors and its evils to an enemy's waters 
 and territory. ... It will be only when her Navy exists 
 that Australia can pass to the attack in war without help 
 from home. ... It is by creating this Navy that 
 Australia will best serve herself and the Empire." 
 
 Yet it is a perverted sense of loyalty to the Empire 
 which prompts the chief opposition to the Australian 
 Navy. The habit of colonial dependence on the Mother 
 Country has become so ingrained that a section of the 
 people feels no sense of shame that a country so rich as 
 Australia should " cadge " for its defence upon the 
 over-burdened taxpayer of Great Britain. Nor do these 
 people realise that, even if Australia paid a larger contri- 
 bution in money to the British Navy, the time is coming 
 when it will be no longer possible for England to maintain 
 an armoured fleet in the Pacific. Colonel Repington 
 again does well to remind Australians through The Call 
 that " the pressure of foreign naval competition has 
 compelled England to concentrate her fleets at home. 
 This enforced concentration of British battle-fleets has 
 radically altered the situation of Australia in war and has 
 seriously altered it for the worse." Australia is now 
 within striking distance of sixteen possible naval bases 
 belonging to foreign Powers, from any one of which she 
 might have an enemy at her doors before the British Navy 
 
 340
 
 A NAVAL DEFENCE 
 
 could arrive to her assistance. " When, therefore," says 
 Colonel Repington again, " Australians are asked, as 
 I judge from a speech by Mr. Reid that they are asked, 
 to be confident that their greatest danger is a raiding 
 attack by a few unarmed cruisers and a landing by 1,000 
 men, I think that the enemy is credited with a degree of 
 forbearance and a capacity for sauntering, on which it 
 is not safe to count. If I were an Australian I should ask 
 for the evidence upon which this opinion was founded, 
 and until I had seen that evidence and tested it I should, 
 no matter how high the authority from whom it emanated, 
 regard it as an opinion and nothing more. I should prefer 
 that the Australian Intelligence Department should study 
 the question. . . . There is only one measure by which 
 Australia can remain secure and that is by making herself 
 so strong that the temptation to attack her may be 
 removed. The best defence of a nation is its power to 
 attack, and an insular nation cannot attack without a 
 Naval Force. Consequently it is the duty, as it appears to 
 be the work, of Australia to create this force, if the naval 
 power of the Mother Country does not, or may not in the 
 future, completely cover Australia as with a shield. The 
 idea that in an Empire of 400 millions of people, occupying 
 eleven million square miles of territory, the cradle of 
 sea-power rests exclusively on certain islands, containing 
 forty-four million people and measuring 122,000 square 
 miles is not a proposition which can easily be demon- 
 strated. I should rather say that fifty years hence the 
 predominance of the British flag in distant seas is not 
 conceivable unless the self-governing colonies begin at 
 once to lay the foundations of their future navies." 
 Australia, under Mr. Deakin, is working for futurity in 
 this high spirit. 
 
 The officers and men of the proposed new force would be 
 engaged in Australia under the same conditions as in the 
 Royal Navy, except that when in Australia the}* would be 
 
 341
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 paid Australian rates of pay. It is hoped that men would 
 pass from the Royal Navy to serve a term in the Austra- 
 lian Fleet and that members of this fleet would pass into 
 other ships of the Navy to complete their training. The 
 ships would fly the White Ensign and the Commonwealth 
 flag, and would be part of the Royal Navy in every sense, 
 except that they would be maintained at the cost of 
 Australia, and be under the political control of the 
 Commonwealth Ministry. The Admiralty has raised an 
 objection to the latter condition, and would place the 
 fleet under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Austrahan Station. This is an impossible demand. 
 " A self-governing community cannot," as Colonel 
 Repington says, " be asked to abandon in advance control 
 of its own funds, or of forces created by such funds." 
 Mr. Deakin cannot say more than that " in time of war 
 Australian ships would almost certainly be placed by 
 the Commonwealth Government under the Admiral 
 commanding the Eastern squadron." 
 
 Lastly there is the question of cost. This is put, 
 including capital expenditure, at £1,419,000, £1,714,000 
 and £1,605,000 for each of the next three years, and an 
 annual charge of £1,300,000, which is a small premium 
 of insurance on the 1,200 million pounds which constitute 
 the wealth of Austraha. It only involves an expenditure 
 on defence of l-15th of the Austrahan revenue and 1-lOOth 
 of the income of Australians, as against the l-25th of 
 revenue and 1-3 1st part of income spent by Great Britain 
 in the same object. Japan with a revenue of forty-nine 
 millions spends one-sixth of it or eight millions on defence. 
 Australia would have to spend five millions out of income 
 to equal the expenditure of Japan, and twelve millions 
 if she would emulate the Mother Country in the drain 
 upon her revenue. Mr. Deakin's proposals do not, 
 therefore, make an undue strain upon Austrahan finance. 
 
 Nor must the floating trade of the Commonwealth be 
 
 342
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 overlooked. This amounts to £170,000,000 per annum, 
 and is now protected by the British Navy. Should this 
 protection be withdrawn, the necessity for a sea-going 
 fleet will be at once apparent. In the meantime Australia 
 is meeting the need of the day, if she takes full responsi- 
 bility for the defence of her ports and dockyards and the 
 protection of her coastal trade. 
 
 The Naval Agreement, which was negotiated in 1887 
 with the Colonies of Queensland, New South Wales and 
 Victoria, has outlived its usefulness. The squadron, 
 towards the up-keep of which the Commonwealth con- 
 tributes a not larger sum than £200,000 per annum, is not 
 composed of powerful or modern ships, and the payment 
 is a derogation from the duty which Australia owes to 
 herself. It will cease when Mr. Deakin's proposals come 
 into effect. 
 
 343
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 Routes to Australia 
 Via the Suez Canal — 
 
 The weekly English mail service to Australia is main- 
 tained by the P. & O. and Orient Lines alternately ; and 
 by travelling overland to Brindisi or Naples, it is possible 
 to reduce the voyage from London to Freemantle (the 
 first Australian port of call) by several days. 
 
 Both Lines also embark passengers at Marseilles. 
 
 Head Offices — 
 
 The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., 
 122 Leadenhall Street, 
 London, E.C. 
 
 The Orient-Royal Mail Line, 
 
 (Managers) Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co., 
 5 Fenchurch Avenue, 
 London, E.C. 
 Fares — 
 
 London to- 
 
 1st Saloon 
 
 2nd Saloon 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 (Orient only) 
 
 Freemantle 
 Adelaide . . 
 Melbourne 
 Sydney . . . 
 Tasmania . 
 (by connection) 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 (by connection) 
 
 From ;^65 ; 
 
 single 
 ;£112 ; return 
 
 From /38 ; 
 
 single 
 £Q3 ; return 
 
 From £&! ; From £AQ ; 
 
 single single 
 
 ;^115; return | £&Q \ return 
 
 From £\1 
 single 
 
 From ;^18 
 single 
 
 A somewhat longer route is that lately reorganised by 
 the B.LS.N. Co., which, after following the ordinary 
 course as far as Aden, runs direct to Thursday Island, 
 from there coasting down to Brisbane under the shelter 
 of the Great Barrier Reef. 
 
 344
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The whole voyage occupies about 42 days. This hne 
 is under contract with the Queensland Government for 
 the carriage of emigrants. 
 
 Head Office — 
 
 British India Steam Navigation Co., 
 9 Throgmorton Avenue, 
 London, E.C. 
 Fares — 
 
 London to Brisbane — 
 
 1st, ;^48 ; single. 3rd. from l\Q to /■19 ; single. 
 
 Via the Cape of Good Hope — 
 
 This route has of late years seen great developments 
 
 and is popular with others than those who merely wish to 
 
 avoid the heat of the Red Sea from June to September. 
 
 Many of the steamers are unsurpassed for comfort 
 
 and the standard throughout is high. 
 
 The third-class accommodation is especially worthy 
 of mention. 
 
 Steatnship Lines. 
 New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd., 
 159 Hereford Street, 
 Christchurch, N.Z. 
 
 [^London Office — 
 
 Messrs. J. B. Westray & Co., 
 
 138 Leadenhall Street, E.C] 
 
 Shaw Savill & Albion Co., Ltd., 
 34 Leadenhall Street, 
 
 London, E.C. 
 
 Each Line sails monthly from London to Hobart (where 
 passengers for the Australian ports are transhipped), the 
 voyage occupying about forty days. 
 
 Fares — 
 
 1st Saloon 
 
 2nd Saloon 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 London to 
 Hobart . 
 
 22A— (2133) 
 
 From £&A ; 
 
 single 
 ;^115 ; return 
 
 From £3S ; 
 
 single 
 /66 ; return 
 
 From £\1 
 single 
 
 345
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 The Aberdeen Line — 
 
 Messrs. Geo. Thomson & Co., 
 
 7 Billiter Square, London, E.C. 
 
 LuNDS Blue Anchor Line — 
 3 East India Avenue, 
 London, E.C. 
 
 Monthly saiUngs from London to Brisbane by each hne. No 
 2nd Saloon passengers taken. 
 
 Fares — 
 
 London to- 
 
 1st Saloon 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 Melbourne . . ['■ From /52 ; single 
 
 Sydney .... I | ,, /90 ; return 
 
 Brisbane From ;^54 ; single 
 
 j ,, £94 ; return 
 
 From ;^16 ; single 
 From /17 ; single 
 
 Federal Houlder Shire Lines — 
 
 Messrs. Houlder Bros. & Co., Ltd., 
 
 146 Leadenhall Street, London, E.C. 
 
 Monthly sailings from Liverpool to Brisbane. Occasional 
 sailings from London. No 2nd Class passengers carried. 
 
 Fares — 
 
 London to- 
 
 1st Saloon 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 Adelaide . 
 Melbourne 
 Sydney . . 
 Brisbane 
 
 /45 ; single 
 
 £48 ; single 
 
 From £\6 ; single 
 
 From ;^18 ; single 
 
 White Star Line, 
 Head Office — 
 
 Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co., 
 Liverpool. 
 
 Monthly sailings from Liverpool to Sydney. Only third-class 
 passengers carried. 
 
 Fares — 
 
 Liverpool to — 
 
 Adelaide ^ 
 
 Melbourne > From ;^1 9 — £30; single. 
 
 Sydney ) 
 
 346
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Note. — Assisted passages are granted to approved emigrants 
 from Great Britain and Europe by the States of New South Wales, 
 Queensland, and Western Australia. Particulars will be sent on 
 application to the respective Agents-General of these States. 
 
 London Representation of the Australian States 
 
 The Commonwealth of Australia (a High Commissioner has not 
 yet been appointed ; in the meantime Captain Muirhed Collins, 
 R.N., C.M.G., acts as Representative of the Commonwealth). 
 
 Offices of the Agents-General — 
 
 New South Wales : 123 Cannon Street, E.C. 
 
 Victoria: 142 Queen Victoria Street, E.C. 
 
 Queensland : 1 Victoria Street, S.W. 
 
 South Australia : 28 Bishopsgate Street Within, E.C. 
 
 Western Australia : 15 Victoria Street, S.W. 
 
 Tasmania : 5 Victoria Street, S.W. 
 
 347
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 Note on Loan Policies 
 
 Mr. R. M. Johnston, Government Statistician of Tasmania, 
 has termed the Loan pohcy of AustraUa as " a taking of foreign 
 capitaUsts into partnership in Australian development." He 
 claims that this has been a striking success from the point of view 
 of all concerned in the joint venture, and points out that, although 
 English capitalists have provided capital to the amount of 
 ;^240,000,000 for the construction of public works in Australia 
 between the years 1870 and 1906-7, the net interest burden was 
 five pence less per head of the population in the latter than in the 
 former year. He summarises the results of the public borrowings 
 within the period 1870-1906-7 as follows :— 
 
 Population has increased from ]-65 millions to 4' 19 millions, 
 or 2-54 fold. 
 
 Total external trade has increased from 36' 09 million £ to 
 114-52 million £. or 3- 17 fold. 
 
 The miles of railway line have increased from 994 miles to 
 14,067 miles, or 14- 15 fold. 
 
 The capital invested in the construction and equipment of 
 railways has increased from 982 million £ to 140" 20 
 million £. or 14-31 fold. 
 
 The profit on working the railways has increased from 5s. 7d. 
 per head of the population to 30s. 8d. per head, or 5-44 fold. 
 
 And, finally, while the gross interest burden per head of the 
 population has nominally increased by 28s. 4d. per head, 
 the increase in the profit returned by the railways has been 
 25s. Id. per head, so that the net burden of interest was 
 5d. per head less in 1906-7 than it was in 1870. 
 
 348
 
 INDEX 
 
 Absentees, 104. 
 
 Agriculture, Progress in, 146. 
 
 Agricultural Company, Australian 
 102. 
 
 Alien Immigration, 275 ; Afghans, 
 44 ; Asiatics, 286 ; British 
 Subjects, 276 ; Europeans, 286; 
 Japanese, 275 ; Kanakas, 44, 
 45, 185, 277 ; Polynesians, 44. 
 
 Alien Immigration Laws, Act of 
 1901, 277, 281 ; Chine.se Restric- 
 tion Act, 281 note ; In Natal, 
 276; In U.S.A., 275. 
 
 Aliens, Dictation Test for, 276. 
 
 Angas, G. F., 117. 
 
 Area, 2; Agricultural, 15, 16; 
 Compared with other Countries, 
 12, 13, 15, 16; Fertile, 13, 
 Habitable, 2 ; Maritime, 13, 
 15 ; States, 2. 
 
 Australasia, Meaning of name, 1. 
 
 Australian Federalist, the, 166 nnie. 
 
 Australia, Story of the Nations 
 Series, 104 
 
 Australian Industries Preserva- 
 tion Act, 269, 270, 271. 
 
 Australian Natives Association, 
 167, 170 note. 
 
 AustralianPreferentialLeague,260. 
 
 Baker, Sir Richard, 194 
 Banks, Capital of, 158, 159. 
 Bank Crisis, 159 ; Date and Cause 
 
 of, 71 note ; Foreseen by Lord 
 
 Jersey, 65. 
 Banks, Sir Joseph, 99. 
 Barton, Sir E., 161 note, 165, 166, 
 
 169 note, 170. 
 Bee-keeping, 146. 
 Berry, Sir Graham, 220. 
 Bigge. Report on New South 
 
 Wales, 102. 
 Black, George, Leader of Labour 
 
 Party, 65 ; Official Report of 
 
 Labour Defence Committee, 60, 
 
 61. 
 
 Blacket, J., 117. 
 
 Blaxland, 99. 
 
 Board of Trade, 259, 294, 302. 
 
 Boundaries, 1. 
 
 Bourke, Governor, 101, 105. 
 
 Braddon Clause, 169, 238, 260. 
 
 Braddon, Sir E., 238; Britton, 
 Mr., 99 note ; Brougham, Lord, 
 94 note 
 
 Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, " Ameri- 
 can Commonwealth," 165, 176, 
 177, 178 note. 182, 195 note, 206, 
 216, 217, 218, 273, 312. 
 
 Buley, E. C, 33, 37, 40, 41, 43. 
 
 Cable Service, 263, 267. 
 Campbell, Colonel, 336. 
 Campbelltown, Old Settlements 
 
 in, 99 
 Canada, Military Expenditure in, 
 
 332 ; and the Empire, 264 ; 
 
 and Preference, 252 note, 262 ; 
 
 Trade in, 259. 
 Capital, need for, 102 ; Subscribed 
 
 in England, 158. 
 Carrington, Earl, 164 note, 170. 
 Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J., 249. 
 Children, Neglected, 80, 289, 293 
 
 note. 
 Churches, Protestant Union of, 
 
 162 note. 
 Clark, A. Inglis, 165, 195, 220. 
 Clegg, T. B., 325 note. 
 Climate, 10, 11; In Queensland, 
 
 278, 279. 
 Coghlan, T. A., " Australia and 
 
 New Zealand," 139, 141, 142, 
 
 144, 156, 158, 240 note. 
 Collins, Judge Advocate, 97. 
 Colonial Office, 105, 106, 251 
 
 note, 281. 
 Coloured Labour, Chine-e, 280, 
 
 295, 300 ; on Ships, 276. See 
 
 also Alien Immigration. 
 Commerce, Oversea, 160. Seeai.so 
 
 Shipping and Trade. 
 
 349
 
 INDEX 
 
 Commonwealth, London office of, 
 160 note, and Appendix. See 
 also Constitution and Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 " Commonwealth Year Book." 
 See Knibbs, G. H. 
 
 Conference, First Colonial, 162. 
 Imperial, 265. 
 
 Constitution Act, Commonwealth, 
 174, 175, 177, 181, 183, 184, 
 185, 186, 189, 191, 192, 193, 
 
 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 
 211, 212, 213, 214. 215, 287. 
 
 Constitution, Commonwealth, 
 
 compared with that of U.S.A., 
 179 7iote, 181, 182, 183 note. 
 
 Constitution, Amendment of, 210 ; 
 Executive Powers yiven by, 
 191, 192, 193, 197, 209 ; Funda- 
 mental Laws of, 210, 211 ; 
 Judicial Powers given by, 212, 
 213, 214, 215; Legislative 
 Powers given by, 181, 183, 
 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 209, 
 210, 211, 248, 260; Powers in 
 regard to Money Bills, 205 ; 
 Powers in regard to Deadlocks, 
 
 206, 207 ; Powers in regard to 
 Tacking, 208. 209. See also 
 Parliament, Senate, House of 
 Representatives, Governor 
 General, Crown, Court, Federal 
 High. 
 
 Contract, Immigrants, 286. 
 
 Convention, Federal, 164. 165. 
 167, 168, 174, 204, 205, 206. 
 
 Council, Federal, 163 note. 
 Municipal, 47. 
 Trades and Labour, 60, 
 63. 
 
 Court, Federal High, 175, 212. 213; 
 as Court of Appeal, 213; com- 
 pared to Courts of Canada, 212 ; 
 compared to Courts of the State, 
 212 ; compared with Courts of 
 U.S.A., 213, 215, 216; Impor- 
 tant Decisions of, 176 note, 183 
 note. 305, 312, 313; Original 
 Jurisdiction of, 214, 215; Pro- 
 cedure of, 215; Relations to 
 Parliament of, 216; Relation 
 to State Courts, 217. 
 
 Court, Supreme of New South 
 Wales, 312, :il3. 
 
 Crown, Confidence in, 199 ; Influ- 
 ence of, 197. See also Constitu- 
 tion, Executive Powers. 
 
 Customs. See Tariff. 
 
 Dairying Industry-, 145 ; Extent 
 of, 136. 
 
 Dallev, W. B., 161 note. 
 
 Daw , T. K., 13, 14. 
 
 Deadlocks, methods of dealing 
 with, 206. 207. 228. 229. 230. 
 
 Deakin, Hon. Alfred. 170. 240, 
 251, 259, 264, 265, 336, 337, 
 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343. 
 
 Debt, Public, 156, 243; of the 
 States, 244 ; Purposes of, 244. 
 245 ; compared with those of 
 European States, 244. 
 
 Defence, against Asiatic and Euro- 
 pean Nations, 334, 335 ; Com- 
 pulsory Service for, 336, 337, 
 338, 339; Council of, 332; 
 Cost of, 342, 343; Cost com- 
 pared with that of Great Britain 
 332, 342 ; Cost compared with 
 that of Japan, 342 ; Necessary 
 Extension of, 333 ; of Empire, 
 335, 336 ; Organisation of, 330, 
 331, 332, 333 ; Naval, 339, 340, 
 341, 342 ; Naval agreement of, 
 1887, 343 ; Royal Commissions 
 on, 162 note. 
 
 Democracy, character of Austra- 
 lian. 51. 
 
 Dependencies. 1 . 
 
 Derby. Lord. 162 note. 
 
 Dibbs. Sir George. 166, 306. 
 
 Downer, Sir John, 165. 
 
 Drought, Great (1903), 16, 17, 18; 
 Precautions against, 18, 316; 
 Recovery from, 16. 
 
 Durham, Lord, 104. 
 
 Early Closing Act, 290, 291, 292, 
 293, 295. 
 
 Education, Elementary. Attend- 
 ance, 78, 79 ; Cost, 78 ; Curri- 
 cula, 80, 81 ; Extra Subjects, 
 81 ; History in each State, 73, 
 74, 75, 76, 77, 78; Irish 
 National System, 73 ; Pay- 
 ment by Results, 75, 76, 86 ; 
 Pupil Teachers, 87, 88, 89; 
 Religion, 85 ; Summary, 84, 85. 
 
 350
 
 INDEX 
 
 Education, Ideals of, 90, 91, 184. 
 ,, no powers of Common- 
 
 wealth in regard to, 184. 
 Education, Secondary — Condi- 
 tions in each State, 81, 82; 
 Agricultural Colleges, 82. 
 Education, Technical, 82, 83. 
 ,, Training of Teachers, 
 
 84. 
 Education, University, 82, 83, 84, 
 Edwards, Major-General, 162 note. 
 Eight Hours' Day, 59, 288, 289, 
 
 290. 
 Elkington, Dr. J. C. 278. 
 England, Board of Guardians in, 
 
 103 ; Common lands in, 99. 
 Epps, W., " Land Systems of 
 Australia," 109, 119, 121, 123. 
 Ewing. Hon. E., 337. 
 Excise Duties, 272. 
 
 Tariff Act, 273, 277. 
 Executive Council, Constitution 
 of, 192, 193 ; Powers of, 193, 
 194. See also Constitution. 
 
 Finance in New South Wales, 167. 
 Financial Crisis in America, 148. 
 Fitzroy, Sir Charles, 119. 
 Franchise, 50, 55, 233 ; Women's 
 
 Suffrage, 66. 
 Free Trade, 250, 162 ; In New 
 
 South Wales, 167, 291. 
 Friendly Societies Act, 133. 
 Froudc, J. A., 36, 161 note. 
 
 Gawler, Governor, 119. 
 
 Gipps, Sir George, 106, 107, 108, 
 110, 111, 120. 
 
 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., 103, 
 220, 222, 265. 
 
 Glenelg, Lord, 105, 123. 
 
 Gold. See Mineral Production 
 and Mines. 
 
 Governor-General, 212; Instruc- 
 tions of, 191, 198; Powers of, 
 191, 192, 193 note. 197, 198, 
 199, 209 ; Salary of, 192. See 
 also Constitution. 
 
 Expenditure, Commonwealth, 237 I Government, National, 176, 183. 
 
 239, 240, 241, 242, 243. 
 Expenditure, Railway, 245. 
 Exports, 148, 153, 155 ; Export 
 
 of Harvesters, 150 note, 267 ; 
 
 Exports of Wool, 158, 258; 
 
 Exports to United Kingdom 
 
 and other Countries, 257, 258. 
 
 Factories, 151, 152. 
 
 Factory Legislation, 294, 295. 
 
 Farmers, Education of, 135 ; 
 Yeoman, 111. 
 
 Farming, 45, 46, 145, 146; Lec- 
 tures on, 136. 
 
 Farms, German, 138; Inspection 
 of, 136; Model, 135; Spanish, 
 138. 
 
 Federal Capital, 169. 
 
 Federal Conventions. See Con- 
 ventions. 
 
 Federation, Accomplishment of, 
 169, 174 ; Functions of Govern- 
 ment in a, 173, 174, 175 ; 
 Principles of , 164, 165, 167. 203, 
 204, 205, 206, 207, 209. 210; 
 Trade before, 152, 157; Trade 
 under, 141, 147. 
 
 Fertility, 12, 13. 
 
 of Country Districts, 
 47, 48. 
 Goyder, Mr. G. W., 121. 
 Gregory, Professor J. W., 275, 
 
 278, 279. 
 Grey, Lord, 108; Land Acts of, 
 
 119, 123. 
 Griffith, Sir Samuel, 165, 220. 
 Grose, Major, 94, 95, 96, 97. 
 
 Harvesters, American, 268 ; 
 Australian, 22, 267 ; Duty on, 
 271 ; Export of, 267. 
 
 Heydon, Mr. M. L. C, 296 note. 
 
 Higgins, Mr. Justice, 170. 
 
 Hobart Mercury, 170. 
 
 House of Representatives, 195, 
 198, 202, 219. See also Con- 
 stitution and Parliament. 
 
 Housing, 24, 25. 
 
 Hughes, Hon. W. M., 336. 
 
 Hutton, Major-General Sir Edward 
 K.C.M.G., 330, 332, 333. 
 
 Immigrants, Contract, 282, 286 ; 
 " Prohibited," 281 ; Selection 
 of, 103. 
 
 351
 
 INDEX 
 
 Immigration, Alien, 286 ; Difti- 
 culties of, 289 ; Increase of 
 103; Policy of, 285, 286 
 Restriction Act, 281, 282 
 State-aided, 287 ; Stoppage of, 
 104. See also Aliens, Coloured 
 Labour. 
 
 Imports, 153, 155, 156, 157, 159, 
 253, 254, 255, 256, 257. 
 
 Income Tax, 179 note, 181. 
 
 Individualism, Australian, 57. 
 
 Industrial Arbitration Act, 66, 
 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 
 312, 315, 317, 31 , 323, 324. 
 
 Industrial Arbitration Courts, 290, 
 292, 294. 
 
 Industrial Unions, 303, 304, 306. 
 
 Insurance Companies, Life, 142. 
 
 Invalidity Pensions, 325, 228. 
 
 Invasion of England, 335. 
 
 Inventions, Australian, 22, 267. 
 
 Iron Works, 151. See also Min- 
 erals. 
 
 Irrigation. See Rainfall and 
 
 Water. 
 
 Italy, 148. 
 
 Jubilee of 1897, 168. 
 Judges, number of, 212, 215; 
 Salaries of, 215 ; in States, 215. 
 Justice, Chief, 212. 
 
 King, Governor, 98, 99, 106. 
 
 Kingsley, Henry, 40. 
 
 Kingston, C. C, 220, 301 tiote. 
 
 Knibbs, G. H., " Commonwealtli 
 Year Book." 139, 146, 147, 151, 
 153. 154, 158, 240, 249, 254, 255, 
 256, 257, 261, 300, 320, 332. 
 
 Labour Party, 58, 59 ; Begin- 
 nings of, 65, 127; on Borrow- 
 ing, 179 note, 128; General 
 Election, 1891, 65 ; Caucus of, 
 66 ; Effect on Legislation, 65, 
 66; and Federation, 166 note ; 
 171 note; and Compulsory 
 Military Service, 71, 336, 337"; 
 Machine of, 66 ; in Office, 275, 
 286 ; in Parliament, 166 note : 
 Pledge of, 67 ; Programme of, 
 68, 179; Socialists in, 70, 71 ; 
 Strikes and, 315, 325 ; Victorian. 
 130. 
 
 Labour Colonies, 131, 132 ; Defence 
 Committee, 61, 65; Female. 
 151 ; Indentured English. 282 ; 
 Organised, 288 ; in New Zeal- 
 and, 307 ; on Sheep runs, 42 ; 
 in New South Wales, 307; 
 Settlements, 129 ; Unions Feder- 
 ated, 162 yiote ; White, in 
 Northern Queensland, 278. 279. 
 
 Land Acts, 126, 138; Advances 
 to Settlers Acts, 134 ; Amend- 
 ing Act, 1896, 134 ; Australian 
 Land Act, 148; Closer Settle- 
 ment Acts, 128. 130; Crown 
 Land Acts. 45, 46, 127, 130; 
 Crown Land Alienation Act. 
 HI, 114. 115; Crown Lands 
 Occupation Act. 110; Free 
 Selection Act, 112. 115; New 
 South Wales Acts, 116; Land 
 Act in New Zealand, 137 ; 
 Queensland, 116; Land Sales 
 Act, 106 ; Land Settlement 
 Act. 132. 133; South Austra- 
 lian Acts, 117, 120, 121. 137; 
 Strangway's Act. 120 ; Tas- 
 manian Acts, 116; Victorian 
 Acts, 116, 130, 137; Waste 
 Lands Act, 119, 120. 123, 136. 
 137 ; Acts in Western Austra- 
 lia, 117, 124. 
 
 Land, Advances to Settlers of, 
 134, 135 ; Alienated, 138 ; Allot- 
 ments of, 98 ; Auction Sales of, 
 100, 105, 116, 137; Boards, 
 116; City, 140; Crown, 101, 
 103, 105, 296; Crown title to 
 Waste Lands, 136; Companies, 
 102 ; Co-operative Associations 
 on, 131 ; Departments, 232, 
 233 ; Dundas' proposals as to, 
 95 ; Locking up the, 104 ; 
 Leases of, 3 note, 137 ; Military 
 Settlers on, 94 ; Orders in 
 Council, 1847, 108, 109, 112; 
 Political Influences in regard to. 
 124; Price of, 140; Purchase 
 of. 107, 113, 139; Report from 
 Commissioners of, 106; Phil- 
 lip's Instructions, 92, 93 ; Phil- 
 lip's additional Instructions, 
 93 ; Division of, in South 
 Australia, 123; Settlement of, 
 125; Selection in different 
 
 352
 
 INDEX 
 
 Land — contd. 
 
 States, 45, 46 ; System of Lord 
 Grey, 119, 120; Taxes in the 
 States, 140 note ; System of 
 Wakefield for dealing with, 117, 
 119; Waste, 106. 
 
 Lane, W., 125. 
 
 Lang, Governor, 106. 
 
 Lawson, Henry, 37. [338. 
 
 League, Australian Defence, 336, 
 
 Legislation, Character of Austra- 
 han, 233 ; General Powers of 
 Commonwealth in regard to, 
 183, 184 ; Industrial, 183 and 
 note ; 293 note, 295 ; Limita- 
 tions on, 211. See also Con- 
 stitution, Parliament. 
 
 Light, Colonel, 118. 
 
 Living, cost of, 25, 26. 
 
 Loans, Public. See Debt, Public. 
 
 Loch, Sir Henry (afterwards Lord), 
 164. 
 
 London Dockers, 62. 
 
 Lord Howe Island, 1, 174. 
 
 Lowe, Robert (Viscount Sher- 
 brooke), 106. 
 
 Lyne, Sir WUliam, K.C.M.G., 293 
 note. 
 
 Macdonald, Sir John, 220. 
 
 Macmillan's Magazine, article in, 
 163 note. 
 
 Macquarrie, Governor, 98, 99. 
 
 Mail Contracts, 136, 276. 
 
 Manillas, the, 148. 
 
 Manning, Dr. Norton, 325. 
 
 Marine Officers* Association, 61. 
 
 Marshall, Chief Justice, 176. 
 
 McArthur, Captain, 94. 95, 98, 
 111. 
 
 McKay, J., 267. 
 
 McKerrack, Sir T., 220. 
 
 Meeting of Premiers at Hobart, 
 168. 
 
 Melbourne Age, the, 289. 
 
 Melbourne, Land Speculation in, 
 126, 127. 
 
 Members of Parliament as Dele- 
 gates, 221 ; compared with 
 those of U.S.A., 221 ; and their 
 Constituents, 222, 230, 231, 
 232; Professions of, 231. 232; 
 Salaries of, 223, 231. 
 
 Military Board, 332. 
 
 Mill, John Stuart, 250. 
 
 Mineral Productions. 12, 13. 149, 
 
 160; Gold, 12, 148, 149, 150. 
 Mines, 126. 150. 
 
 Ministries. Elective, 226. 227, 228. 
 Morning Post, the, 317 note. 
 Morris and Ranken, Report on 
 
 Lands, 110, 112. 113. 
 Mountains. 3. 4. 
 
 Nationalism in Australia, 20. 
 
 National Review, Article on Aus- 
 tralia in, 170. 
 
 Navigation, 185. See also Rivers. 
 
 Navy, Royal, Service in, 341, 342. 
 
 Navy, Protection of Commerce by, 
 343. 
 
 New Caledonia. 184. 185. 
 
 New Guinea. 162 note. 
 
 New South Wales. See under 
 subject heading. 
 
 New Zealand, 1, 24, 104, 137. 264. 
 301, 302. 306. 307, 310, 312, 
 313, 314, 316, 318, 321, 323, 
 325, 328. 
 
 Norfolk Island, 1, 174. 
 
 Northern Territory, 1. 
 
 O'Connor, Mr. Justice, 170. 
 Old Age Pensions, 66, 325, 326, 
 327, 328. 
 
 Papua, 1. 242. 
 
 Paraguay. New Australia in, 125. 
 
 Paramatta, Old Settlements at, 99. 
 
 Parker, Sir Gilbert, on Australia, 
 36, 37, 44, 48. 
 
 Parkes, Sir Henry, 57, 65, 74, 75, 
 162, 163, 164, 166, 167. 170, 220. 
 
 Parliament, Commonwealth, the 
 First, 169 ; Dealings with 
 American Trusts, 295 ; Rela- 
 tions between the Houses of, 
 203, 208; Functions of, 184; 
 Place in Constitution of, 212; 
 Powers of, 183 ; Powers of 
 each House of, 205, 206; 
 Powers with regard to Money 
 Bills, 205, 206, 208; Parties 
 in. 225, 226 ; compared with 
 State Parliaments, 173 ; Enact- 
 ment as to Union Labels, 295. 
 
 353
 
 INDEX 
 
 Parliament, Imperial, 163, 185. 
 
 Parliaments, Australian, character 
 of, 223, 224 ; compared with 
 United Kingdoms and U.S.A., 
 223, 224, 225. 
 
 Parties, names of, 225. 
 
 Party Government, 221, 222, 223. 
 
 Pastoral Association, 107, 109. 
 
 Pastoral Industry, 102, 106, 138, 
 144. 
 
 Pastoralists' Unions, 162 note. 
 
 Pastures, 12. 
 
 Peel, Mr., 122. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 220. 
 
 Peru, P., 148. 
 
 Petty Sessions, 47. 
 
 Phillip, Governor, 92, 93, 94, 95, 
 96, 97, 98, 137. 
 
 Physical Features, 2. 
 
 Plague, Report by Dr. Ashburton 
 Thompson on, 22. 
 
 Police, 47, 48 ; in U.S.A., 183 KOi!e. 
 
 Population, 102, 138, 139, 142 
 and note. 
 
 Poor Law Reports, 102. 
 
 Portuguese East Africa, 148. 
 
 Post and Telegraphs, 172. 
 
 Praed, Mrs. Campbell, 40. 
 
 Preference to Unionists, 307, 313, 
 314, 318. 
 
 Preference, Imperial, 249, 251, 
 252, 253, 258 ; meaning of, 258, 
 262, 263, 264, 265; value of, 
 259 ; Canadian System of, 259 ; 
 for British Ships, 260 ; Exten- 
 sions of, 262. 
 
 Prison Reform Act, 293 note. 
 
 Privy Council, Appeal to, 213 ; 
 Important Decisions of, 172 
 note, 173 note, 176 note, 314 
 note ; Limits of Right to 
 Appeal, 214. 
 
 Production, 143 note, 145, 146, 
 148, 152, 153, 160, 277, 278. 
 
 Prohibition, 174. 
 
 Property, Distribution of, 142. 
 
 Protection for Agricultural 
 Machinery, 272. See also Tariff. 
 
 Public Works, Departments of, 
 232, 233. 
 
 Queensland. See under subject 
 
 titles. 
 Quick, Sir John, 167. 
 
 Rabbeno, Professor, " The Com- 
 mercial Policy of the United 
 States," 250 note. 
 
 Racing, Horse, 28, 29, 30, 31. 
 
 Railways, Construction of, 188, 
 189 ; cost of, 244, 245 ; Rates, 
 186. 187, 188; Trans-contin- 
 ental, 150. 
 
 Rainfall, 4, 5, 15, 16. See 
 Drought, Water. 
 
 Ranken, G., 101. See also Morris 
 and Ranken. 
 
 Reeves. Hon. W. P., 301, 312. 
 
 Referendum, 168, 171, 226, 228. 
 229 230. 
 
 Reid.'Rt. Hon. G. H., 166, 168. 
 171, 208, 238, 251 note, 306. 
 
 Remittance Men. 35. 
 
 Repington, Colonel, 337, 339, 340, 
 341, 342. 
 
 Responsible Government, charac- 
 teristics of, 194, 195, 196, 219. 
 
 Responsibility of Cabinet, Col- 
 lective, 225. 
 
 Revenue, 235, 236, 237, 238, 241. 
 243 
 
 Rivers, 5, 6, 8, 9, 185, 186. 
 
 Robertson, Sir John, 110. 
 
 Rockefeller, J., 267, 271. 
 
 Rogers, J. D. (Historical Geo- 
 graphy), 99, 106, 107, 111, 129, 
 137. 
 
 Roman Law, 99. 
 
 Roosevelt, T.. 336. 
 
 Royal Assent to Acts of Parlia- 
 ment. 213. 
 
 Rum Trade, 96, 97. 
 
 Sambon, Dr., in British Medical 
 Journal, 278, 279. 
 
 Savings Banks, 134, 142. 
 
 Schools, Private, 81. 
 
 Seamen's Union, 61. 
 
 Secretariat Imperial, 265. 
 
 See, Sir John, 225, 293 note. 
 
 Senate, 194, 195, 198, 199, 200. 
 201, 204, 219. See also Con- 
 stitution Parliament. 
 
 Settlement, Limits of, 5. See 
 also Land. 
 
 Shearers' Union, 60, 144 note. 295. 
 
 Ship-building, 152. 
 
 Shipping, 261 and note, 243. See 
 also Trade. 
 
 354
 
 INDEX 
 
 Socialism in Australia, 53, 69, 70. 
 
 Social Legislation in Australia 
 and United Kingdom, 53, 54, 
 
 South Australia. See under sub- 
 ject titles. 
 
 Spain, 148. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 106. 
 
 State Enterprise, 52, 53. 
 
 States, Characteristics of Inhabi- 
 tants of the, 23, 24. 
 
 States, Voting Power of the, 207. 
 
 Stirling, Captain, 122. 
 
 Straits Settlements, 150 note. 
 
 Strike, Maritime. 60, 61, 62, 63, 
 64, 65, 127, 298; Shearers', 
 298. 
 
 Strikes, Breakers of, 283; Pre- 
 vention of, 315; Prohibition 
 of, 310; Public Opinion on, 318. 
 
 Sugar Bounty Act, 277 ; Pro- 
 duction of Sugar, 277. 
 
 Sydney Bulletin, 70, 246, 334. 
 
 Sydney Daily Telegraph, 170 note. 
 
 Syme, David, 195. 
 
 Taff Vale Case, 302, 303. 
 
 Tarifi Commission, 267. 
 
 Tariffs. 150, 152, 174, 235, 236, 
 
 240, 248, 249, 251, 252, 266, 
 
 269, 272. See also Preference. 
 Tasmania. See under subject 
 
 titles. 
 Taxation of Land Values in 
 
 N.S.W., 169. 
 The Call, 336, 337 note. 339, 340. 
 Thompson, Dr. Ashburton, 22. 
 Times, The, 56, 57, 59. 66, 71, 
 
 118, 119, 160, 276, 285, 337. 
 Trade. 153, 154. 155. 156, 258 
 
 and note. 
 " Trade Unionism, History of," 
 
 Sidney and Beatrice Webb, 297 
 
 note. 
 Trade Unions, 289. 295. 302, 303. 
 
 306, 307, 308. 311. 316. 317, 
 
 319. 320. 321. 324. 
 Transport by Camels, 44. 
 Transportation. 103. 
 
 Transvaal, 2. 
 
 Trusts, American, 266 ; Austra- 
 lian manufacture destroyed by, 
 268 ; The International Harves- 
 ter, 267, 271. 
 
 Tryon, Admiral, 162 note. 
 
 Turner Sir G., 208. 
 
 Union, Australian, 20. 
 
 United Kingdom. See under sub- 
 ject titles. 
 
 United States of America. See 
 under subject titles. 
 
 Van Diemen's Land Company, 
 
 102. 
 Vegetation. 9. 10. 
 Victoria. See under subject titles. 
 Village Communities. 128. 
 Village Settlements. 99. 130, 132. 
 
 Wage, Minimum. 25. 
 
 Wages Boards. 289. 294, 298. 299, 
 
 300. 311. 318. 319. 320. 321, 
 
 322, 323, 324. 
 Wages, Regulation of. 290. 
 Wakefield, E. G., 100. 104, 105, 
 
 106, 117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 130. 
 Water, Artesian, 7. 8 ; Conserva- 
 tion. 6, 7 ; Irrigation, 8, 16, 
 
 186; Supply of. 186. See also 
 
 Rainfall. Rivers. 
 Watson. Hon. J. C, 275. 336. 
 Wealth, 141, 143, 160. 
 Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. 53, 
 
 297 note. 
 Wentworth, W. C, 106. 
 Western Australia. See under 
 
 subject titles. 
 Western Pacific, 1. 
 White Australian Policy, 275, 
 
 280, 281, 286. 
 Wine, 134, 148, 152. 
 Wool, 99. 144, 152, 153, 158. 258. 
 Workmen's Compensation .\ct. 
 
 296. 297. 
 
 Young, Sir Henry, 120. 
 
 Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman &■ Sotis, Ltd., Bath. 
 K (2133)
 
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 [Catalogue 0] 
 
 A CATALOGUE 
 
 OF 
 
 GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD. 
 
 {Incorporating Ishister & Co.) 
 
 ANTHOLOGY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ART, BELLES LETTRES, BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 ECCLESIOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, FICTION, HISTORY, METALLURGY, 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, POETRY, SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY, 
 
 TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 Other Catalogues may be 
 obtained by applying to 
 Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 
 1 Amen Corner, London, E.C. 
 (See abridged List at end of this 
 Catalogue.) 
 
 " The Bookshelf," a periodical published about six times a year, 
 
 will be sent on application to any address post free. In each 
 
 issue will be found particulars of all the new books published 
 
 by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. 
 
 SIR ISAAC PITMAN AND SONS, LTD. 
 LONDON • BATH • AND NEW YORK 
 
 K-3
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ANTHOLOGY 
 
 . 3 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON LIBRARY . 
 
 3 
 
 ART .... 
 
 . 4 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 4 
 
 BELLES LETTRES 
 
 . 5 
 
 BIOGRAPHY .... 
 
 5 
 
 COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 . 9 
 
 DAINTY VOLUME LIBRARY 
 
 9 
 
 ECCLESIOLOGY 
 
 . 10 
 
 ETHNOLOGY .... 
 
 10 
 
 FICTION .... 
 
 . 10 
 
 HISTORY .... 
 
 11 
 
 JEUX D'ESPRIT 
 
 . 12 
 
 METALLURGY .... 
 
 13 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY . 
 
 . 13 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 14 
 
 POETRY, AND CRITICISM 
 
 . 17 
 
 POLITICS .... 
 
 18 
 
 SCIENCE .... 
 
 . 19 
 
 SOCIOLOGY .... 
 
 19 
 
 TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT 
 
 20 & 21 
 
 CATALOGUES .... 
 
 22
 
 ANTHOLOGY, ETC. 
 
 ANTHOLOGY 
 
 ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS— An Anthology of Anthologies. By W. 
 Garrett Horder. In fcap. 8vo, leather gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 also in cloth 2s. net. 
 
 " ' These pages present . . . not the personal judgments of its 
 editor, but the combined judgments of the most competent antholo- 
 gists.' In other words, it is an anthology composed from anthologies. 
 Therefore, all it contains is pure gold." — Evening Standard. 
 
 THE SUNLIT ROAD : Readings in Verse and Prose for Every Day 
 in the Year. By the Rev. W. Garrett Horder. In demy 16mo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt corners, 3s. net ; leather gilt, gilt corners, 4s. net. 
 
 " A dainty and delightful little ' day book ' for quiet moments. 
 It is the most charming book of its kind we have seen for a very 
 long time, for Mr. Horder has given no day without a thought to 
 crown it, a thought pure and sweet and true, to brighten the hours 
 of workaday life." — Lady. 
 
 A BOOK OF THE LOVE OF JESUS. By Robert Hugh Benson. 
 In foolscap 8vo, leather gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net ; cloth 2s. net. 
 
 " An anthology of some old Catholic devotions, slightly modern- 
 ized, which will appeal to many by reason of its simplicity and 
 beauty." — To-Day. 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON LIBRARY 
 
 THE ANGLO-SAXON LIBRARY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN 
 
 CLASSICS. In fcap 8vo, limp lambskin gilt, gilt top. With 
 frontispieces. 2b. 6d. net each volume. Also in cloth Is. 6d. per 
 volume net. 
 
 DREAM LIFE. A Fable of the Seasons. By the late Ik Marvbl. 
 With an Introduction by Arlo Bates. 
 
 THE REVERIES OF A BACHELOR : Or. A Book of the Heart. 
 
 By the late Ik Marvel. With an Introduction by Arlo 
 Bates. 
 
 ESSAYS BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON. First Series. (In 
 cloth only. Is. 6d. net.) 
 
 ESSAYS BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON. Second Series. 
 
 NATURE AND OTHER ADDRESSES AND LECTURES. By 
 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
 THE CONDUCT OF LIFE. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. With 
 an Introduction by Andrew J. George, M.A. 
 
 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE. By Oliver 
 
 Wendell Holmes. With an Introduction by Richard 
 Burton. 
 
 3
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 THE PROFESSOR AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE. By Oliver 
 
 Wendell Holmes. With an Introduction by Richard 
 Burton. 
 
 SOME LITERARY ESSAYS OF THOMAS BABINGTON 
 
 MACAULAY. Selected and edited by George A. Watrous. 
 
 SOME HISTORICAL ESSAYS OF THOMAS BABINGTON 
 MACAULAY. Selected and edited by George A. Watrous. 
 
 NO CROSS NO CROWN. By William Penn. With an Intro- 
 duction by J. Deane Hilton. (In cloth only, Is. 6d. net.) 
 
 ART 
 
 LONDON : PASSED AND PASSING. A Pictorial Record of Destroyed 
 and Threatened Buildings. With 70 illustrations, by Hanslip 
 Fletcher. With Notes by Various Authors. In demy 4to, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 21s. net. 
 
 " Mr. Hanslip Fletcher has done excellent service by the pictorial 
 record he here provides of the principal buildings which have been, 
 or are, in danger of being destroyed. Mr. Fletcher's drawings have 
 always caught with wonderful success what we may term the special 
 spirit or sentiment of the scenes he delineates, and the old-world 
 atmosphere which lingered around them has been admirably and 
 accurately reproduced. To the present generation this volume 
 must needs be interesting, but to future generations it will become 
 invaluable as a permanent witness of what London was like at the 
 end of the nineteenth century." — Bookseller. 
 
 SEVEN ANGELS OF THE RENASCENCE : The Story of Art from 
 Cimabue to Claude. By the late Sir Wyke Bayliss, F.S.A. {some- 
 time President of the Royal Society of British Artists), author of 
 The Likeness of Christ Rex Regum, etc., with 40 plate illustrations. 
 In demy 8vo, buckram gilt, gilt top, bevelled boards, 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 " A book to be read by all whose interest it concerns if only for 
 its independence, at times even originality of view, and for its 
 suggestive method of bringing apparently divergent influences upon 
 Art into, at any rate, poetic harmony." — Graphic. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 MY RECOLLECTIONS. By Princess Catherine Radziwill. Cheap 
 Fourth Edition. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top. 6s. net. 
 With photogravure portrait of the author. 
 
 " The Princess Radziwill's Recollections is one of the most charm- 
 ing and fascinating volumes of the kind ever written in the English 
 language. She has the wit and style of the French and the romantic 
 imagination of the Slav. All the pages of this book are interesting. 
 — Review of Reviews. 
 
 4
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BELLES LETTRES, ETC. 
 
 THE SALT OF MY LIFE. By F. G. Aflalo, F.Z.S. With 50 illus- 
 trations from photographs. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 
 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 " There is the breeziness of the ocean about much of his narrative, 
 and he expatiates upon his subject with the evident zest of a man 
 to whom sea-tishing has been indeed the salt of life." — Scotsman. 
 
 THE RECOLLECTIONS OF A HUMOURIST. Grave and Gay. By 
 the late Arthur a Becket {late Assistant Editor of " Punch.") With 
 Photogravure Portrait. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top. I2s. 6d. net. 
 " The great interest of the book lies in its pictures of certain 
 aspects of social life (and especially of cultured Bohemian club life), 
 which have now passed almost entirely away, and which reproduce 
 in real life many of the scenes over which everybody has laughed 
 in the pages of Dickens, Sala, and Thackeray." — Daily News. 
 
 NEW ZEALAND REVISITED. Recollections of the Days of My 
 Youth. By The Right Hon. Sir John Eldon Gorst. With 
 sixteen illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 " Mature and mellow with the judgment of a wise and far-reaching 
 career. . . . Full of the fruits of keen observation and mature 
 judgment, . . . The author's descriptions are bright and stimulat- 
 ing to the fancy. . . . The volume is charmingly illustrated by 
 a series of capital photographs and is in every way equipped in a 
 fashion worthy of its literary and historical importance." — Daily 
 Telegraph. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE. By Sir Charles Santley. In 
 demy Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with 15 illustrations. 16s. net. 
 
 " The happy and humorous note largely predominates in a book 
 which will deUght the countless admirers of our first vocaUst-knight 
 . . . cheery and vivacious . . . entertaining volume." — World. 
 
 BELLES LETTRES 
 
 *THE LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. Containing over 
 450 letters. Edited with Explanatory Notes by Roger Ingpen. 
 With 42 illustrations including two photogravures. In two 
 volumes, large crown Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 21s. net. 
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 A HERO OF DONEGAL. A Memoir of Dr. William Smyth, of 
 Burtonport. By Frederick Douglas How. With portraits and 
 illustrations. In crown Svo, cloth 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 SHIRLEY BROOKS. (See "A Great 'Punch' Editor.") 
 
 BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. (See "Life of Samuel Johnson.") 
 * Ready shortly.
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE. By Charles and Frances 
 Brookfield. With 4 photogravure plates. Third (and cheaper) 
 Edition. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 " A work which opens for us the inner doors of the circle of literary 
 giants whose works illumined the mid-nineteenth century. 
 Portraits given of some of them add to the irterest and value of a 
 couple of delightful volumes." — Punch. 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN : His Life, Times and Work. By the Rev. John 
 Brown. B.A., D.D. With portrait and illustrations by Whymper, 
 Cheap edition. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " The best life of John Bunyan." — Literary World. 
 
 THE CAMBRIDGE APOSTLES. By Mrs. Charles Brookfield. With 
 twelve full-page illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 
 21s. net. 
 
 " This book — not one for the casual reader but one to be loved and 
 remembered by serious men — conveys without effort a wonderful 
 impression of the commanding ability, the sincere and noble ideals, 
 the loftiness of purpose of the Apostles." — Morning Leader. 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON AND HER CIRCLE. By Sarah 
 Tytler. With photogravure portrait and eight other illustrations. 
 In demy Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 " In this account of the 'Countess of Huntingdon' and some of 
 her distinguished friends and contemporaries, Miss Tytler has 
 produced a thoroughly readable book. . . . Its chief value lies 
 perhaps in the picture it gives of Ufe in certain aristocratic circles 
 in the time of \\1iitefield and the Wesleys." — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 THE LIFE OF DANTE. By the late E. H. Plumptre, D.D., Dean of 
 Wells. Edited by Arthur John Butler. In fcap. Svo, lambskin 
 gilt, 2s. 6d. net. Also in cloth. Is. 6d. net, and paper, Is. net. 
 
 FARMER GEORGE. By Lewis Melville. With fifty-three illustra 
 tions — including two coloured frontispieces — containing portraits, 
 caricatures and views. In two vols., demy 8vo., cloth gilt, gilt top, 
 24s. net. 
 
 " Mr. Lewis Melville's two portly volumes, abundantly illustrated, 
 are so agreeably written that they can be cordially recommended. 
 ... Of its kind nothing could be better done than his ' Farmer 
 George.' " — Daily Mail. 
 
 6
 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 THE FIRST GEORGE IN HANOVER AND ENGLAND. By the same 
 Author. In two vols., demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with 18 
 illustrations, including two in photogravure, 24s. net. 
 
 " Mr. Melville makes history at once true and entertaining. 
 It is a piece of real history, and yet as fascinating as any novel. 
 Mr. Melville brings to his work some of the best powers of a novelist, 
 the easy narrative, the large sympathy, and dramatic touch — but 
 he also exercises an industry which brings before us the past as it 
 really happened." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 GEORGE FOX'S JOURNAL. {See Dainty Volume Library, page 9.) 
 
 THE LIFE OF FROUDE. By Herbert Paul, M.P. With two photo- 
 gravure portraits. Second Edition. Revised. In demy 8vo, cloth 
 gilt, gilt top, 16s. net. 
 
 " A brilliant piece of .biography and vindication by one of the 
 most accomplished of contemporary men of letters." — Daily News. 
 
 BISHOP WALSHAM HOW. A Memoir. By his Son, Frederick 
 Douglas How. Cheap edition. In crown Svo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 " Extremely well done . . . altogether a book which cannot be 
 read without profit and encouragement." — Guardian. 
 
 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. By James Boswell. 
 Newly edited with notes by Roger Ingpen. With 568 illustrations, 
 including 12 photogravure plates fully indexed. In two vols., 
 crown 4to, half morocco, 21s. net. (Also in two vols., handsome 
 cloth gilt, 18s. net.) 
 
 " A singularly complete and attractive edition. The greatest 
 judgment has been shown in selecting pictures which should illus- 
 trate Johnson's period, and bring before the reader's eye the actual 
 features of the men and women among whom he moved. Altogether 
 the New ' Boswell ' is one which will be certain to secure a fresh 
 band of admirers for a work which will ever remain one of the 
 treasures of our literature." — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THOMAS KEN, Bishop of Bath and Wells. By the late 
 Very Rev. E. H. Plumptre, D.D., Dean of Wells. With illustra- 
 tions. Two vols. In demy Svo, cloth gilt, 12s. Second Edition 
 revised. 
 
 GEORGE MACDONALD. A Biographical and Critical Appreciation. 
 By Joseph Johnson. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 FRIDTJOF NANSEN. By Jacob B. Bull. A book for the young. 
 Translated from the Norwegian by the Rev. Mordaunt R. 
 Barnard, one of the translators of Farthest North. Illustrated. In 
 crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. 
 
 THE LIFE OF NELSON. By Robert Southey. In fcap. Svo, leather 
 gilt, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 7
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL : HIS EARLY LIFE AND JOURNAL, 1795- 
 1802. Edited with an introduction and explanatory notes by 
 Arthur Houston, LL.D., K.C. With three full-page plate 
 illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 " The book seems to me full of charm, alike for readers well 
 acquainted with the story of O'Cormell's career, and for those to 
 whom he is only a more or less vague figure at a period of history 
 already fading from the common memory. I have read the book 
 with great pleasure." — Mr. Justin McCarthy in the Daily Graphic. 
 
 THE LIFE OF SIR ISAAC PITMAN (Inventor of Phonography). By 
 Alfred Baker. In demy Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with about 
 50 illustrations, including photogravure and steel plates, 7s. 6d, 
 
 " The book is very well done. It gives a life-like picture of a 
 strenuous reformer, an original personality, an inventor to whom 
 every newspaper, every public body, and every great business house 
 owes an incalculable debt." — Christian World. 
 
 " Good reading for all who have studied Phonography, and the 
 general reader will find plenty to interest him in this study of Sir 
 Isaac Pitman." — Daily News. 
 
 WILLIAM CONYNGHAM PLUNKET. By F. D. How. Fourth Baron 
 Plunket, and sixty-first Archbishop of Dublin. A Memoir. With 
 two portraits. In demy Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 16s. 
 
 A GREAT " PUNCH ' ' EDITOR. Being the Life, Letters, and Diaries 
 of Shirley Brooks. By George Somes Layard. With 8 illustra- 
 tions and 22 initial letters from Punch. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 gilt top, 18s. net. 
 
 " It is singularly accurate, very full, put together in a most 
 workmanlike way, and full of things which to persons of taste are 
 delightful and precious. Those who wish to understand the literary 
 period of which it treats must read it." — British Weekly. 
 
 THE LIFE AND WORK OF BISHOP THOROLD. Rochester, 1877-91 ; 
 Winchester, 1891-95. Prelate of the most noble Order of the 
 Garter. New and cheap edition. By C. H. Simpkinson, M.A. In 
 crown Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 6s. 
 
 JOHN WESLEY. {See Dainty Volume Library.) 
 
 WHISTLER AND OTHERS. By Frederick Wedmore. In demy Svo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 6s. net. 
 
 " Nothing that has been written about Whistler hits the golden 
 mean more perfectly than this subtle and discriminating estimate. 
 . . .The appeal of the book is wide, and from the first page to the 
 last, offers an invitation to think." — Standard. 
 
 8
 
 COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 
 
 COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 GREAT ASTRONOMERS. By Sir Robert Ball. Illustrated. In 
 demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 THE HEROIC IN MISSIONS. Pioneers in six fields. By the Rev. 
 A. K. Buckland, M.A. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, Is. 6d. 
 
 MODERN PAINTERS AND THEIR PAINTINGS. By Sarah Tytler. 
 For the use ot Schools and Learners in Art. Seventh edition. In 
 crown 8vo, quarter cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 " An excellent introduction to the History of Art." — Daily News. 
 
 MUSICAL COMPOSERS AND THEIR WORKS. By the same Author. 
 For the use of Schools and Students in Music. Eighth edition, 
 revised. In crown Svo, quarter cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 " The best simple handbook on the subject that has yet appeared 
 in England." — Academy. 
 
 THE OLD MASTERS AND THEIR PICTURES. By the same Author. 
 For the use of Schools and Learners in Art. New and enlarged 
 edition. In crown Svo, quarter cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 " Really supplies what has long been a felt want." — British 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 NOBLE WOMEN OF OUR TIME. With Portraits. By F. D. How. 
 In crown Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 5s. 
 
 PITMAN'S 
 DAINTY VOLUME LIBRARY 
 
 Each in fcap. Svo, limp lambskin gilt, gilt top, with Photogravure 
 Frontispiece, 2s. 6^. per volume net. 
 
 DANTE. THE DIVINA COMMEDIA AND CANZONIERE. Trans- 
 lated by the late Dean Plumptre. With Notes, Studies, 
 
 Estimates, and Life. In five volumes. 
 THE LIFE OF DANTE. By the same author. In one volume. 
 THE TRAGEDIES OF ^ESCHYLOS. Translated by Dean Plumptre. 
 
 In two volumes. 
 THE TRAGEDIES OF SOPHOCLES. Translated by Dean Plumptre. 
 
 In two volumes. 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. (Abridged.) With an Introduction 
 
 by G. K. Chesterton. In two volumes. 
 THE POETRY OF ROBERT BROWNING. By Stopkord A. Brooke, 
 M.A., LL.D. In two volumes. 
 
 TENNYSON : HIS ART AND RELATION TO MODERN LIFE. By 
 
 Stopford A. Brooke, M.A., LL.D. In two volumes. 
 
 JOHN BUNYAN : HIS LIFE, TIMES AND WORK. By John Brown, 
 D.D. In two volumes.
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. By John Bunyan. In one volume. 
 JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL. (Abridged.) With Appreciation by the 
 
 Rt. Hon. Augustine Birreli,, M.P. In two volumes. 
 GEORGE FOX'S JOURNAL. (Abridged.) With Introduction by W. 
 
 Robertson Nicoll, M.A., LL.D. In two volumes. 
 NO CROSS, NO CROWN. By Willi.\m Penn. With an Introduction 
 
 by J. Deane Hilton. In one vol. 
 
 ECCLESIOLOGY 
 
 * ROODSCREENS AND ROODLOFTS. By F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I. B.A., 
 
 and The Rev. Do.m Bede Camm, O.S.B. With 100 full page 
 collotype reproductions, and upwards of 300 other beautiful 
 illustrations. In demy 4to, handsome cloth gilt, gilt top, 32s. net. 
 
 ETHNOLOGY 
 
 * NATIVE LIFE IN EAST AFRICA. By Professor Karl Weule. Trans- 
 
 lated from the German with Introduction and Notes by Alice 
 Werner. With 4 maps and 196 illustrations. In royal 8vo, cloth 
 gilt, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 This important work is a record of travel in East Africa by an 
 accomplished German ethnologist, and this, with the splendid maps 
 and copious illustrations, will furnish the means of obtaining a very 
 clear idea of the country described. 
 
 SERVIA AND THE SERVIANS. By M. Chedo Mijatovich. Late 
 Servian Minister at the Court of St. James' s. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 gilt top, 16s. net. With sixteen illustrations. ' 
 
 " The subject is a fascinating one, and the material here brought, 
 together is fresh and interesting. . . . M. Mijatovich gives us a 
 charming picture of his own people with some gentle criticism. . . . 
 It is full of interest, it makes its effect by sheer simplicity of 
 narration. It should be read by all." — Morning Post. 
 
 FICTION 
 
 THE SEPARATIST. By Anon. 6s. 
 
 OVER THE BORDER. By Robert Barr. 6s. 
 
 THE HILL OF TROUBLE. By A. C. Benson. Stories medicxval, 
 mystical, and supernatural. 6s. 
 
 THE ISLES OF SUNSET. By A. C. Benson. 6s. 
 
 BY WHAT AUTHORITY ? By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s. 
 
 THE LIGHT INVISIBLE. By Robert Hugh Benson. 3s. 6d. 
 
 RICHARD RAYNAL, SOLITARY. By Robert Hugh Benson. 3s. 6d. 
 
 THE KING'S ACHIEVEMENT. By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s. 
 
 ♦ Ready shortly, 
 
 10
 
 FICTION AND HISTORY 
 
 THE QUEEN'S TRAGEDY. By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s. 
 
 THE SENTIMENTALISTS. By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s. 
 
 A MIRROR OF SHALOTT. By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s. 
 
 LORD OF THE WORLD. By Robert Hugh Benson. 6s, 
 
 MY LORD OF ESSEX. By Frances M. Brookfield. The romantic 
 episode of Cadiz. With photogravure frontispiece. 6s. 
 
 tA FRIAR OBSERVANT. By Frances M. Brookfield. 6s. 
 
 " An excellent study of the state of affairs in England, and 
 especially on the Continent, at the time of the Dissolution of the 
 Monasteries and Religious Orders by Henry VIII, and the Protest- 
 ant Revolution headed by Martin Luther. ... A more than worthy 
 companion to My Lord of Essex." — Bristol Times and Mirror." 
 
 MEN OF THE MOSS-HAGS. By S. R. Crockett. Illustrated. 6s. 
 
 WOLFVILLE. By Alfred Henry Lewis. Illustrated. 6s. 
 
 WOLFVILLE DAYS. By Alfred Lewis. Tales of life in a Western 
 cattle town. With Introduction by Robert Barr. 3s. 6d. 
 
 THE GOD OF HIS FATHERS. By Jack London. Tales of the 
 Klondyke. 6s. 
 
 THE SON OF THE WOLF. By Jack London. Tales of the Far North. 
 6s. 
 
 A DAUGHTER OF THE SNOWS. By Jack London. Es. 
 
 t ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. By L. M. Montgomery. 6s. Second 
 impression. 
 
 " We feel we have added another real friend to those we have 
 made in fiction. ... A piece of work which is quite uncommonly 
 good, as well as thoroughly interesting from the first page to the 
 last." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 PRINCESS JOYCE. By Keighley Snowden. 6s. 
 
 HURRICANE ISLAND. By H. B. Marriott Watson. Illustrated. 
 Cheap Edition. 3s. 6d. 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF IRISH HISTORY. By R. Barry O'Brien. 
 With an Introduction by John E. Redmond, M.P. In crown Svo, 
 cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 *THE ENGLISH IN CHINA. By J. Bromley Eames, B.C.L.,M.A. In 
 
 demy Svo, cloth gilt, with maps and illustrations. 20s. net. 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND. A Study 
 in Social Development.', By H. O. Meredith, M.A., M.Com. 
 Lecturer in Economics at Victoria University, Manchester. In 
 demy Svo, cloth gilt, 5s. net. 
 
 " An able, instructive, and impartial work." — Times. 
 
 * Ready shortly. f Just published. 
 
 II
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 MAKERS OF NATIONAL HISTORY. Editedby w. H. Hutton, 
 
 B.D. Each volume in this series — the aim of which is to do fuller 
 justice to men whose lives have not hitherto been adequately 
 dealt with— is in crown 8vo, cloth gilt, with a frontispiece, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 CARDINAL BEAUFORT. By the Rev. L. B. Radford, D.D. 
 
 VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH. By Arthur Hassall, M.A. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP PARKER. By W. M. Kennedy, B.A. 
 
 *FRANCIS ATTERBURY, Bishop of Rochester (1662-1732). By the 
 
 Rev. H. C. Beeching, M.A., Litt.D., Canon of Westminster. 
 
 " The new series ought to make a place for itself in school and 
 
 public libraries, whilst individual volumes will of course be bought 
 
 by the general reader." — Saturday Review. 
 
 JEUX D' ESPRIT 
 
 HUSTLED HISTORY, Or THE SPRINTER'S GUIDE TO KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 By the Authors of Wisdom While You Wait. Illustrated by 
 George Morrow. In crown 8vo, paper covers. Is. net. 
 
 " Hustled History is really a scathing satire on the sacrifice to 
 sensationalism of the higher qualities of journalism. But there is 
 rollicking fun all through the book for those who know enough of 
 cheap newspapers and popular writers. The humour is light and 
 fresh all through, i^nd there are illustrations and advertisements 
 equally characteristic and equally amusing." — Times. 
 
 IF, A Nightmare in the Conditional Mood. By the same Authors. In 
 crown 8vo, paper covers, Is. net. 
 
 " The ingenious work called IF, so admirably adorned with the 
 designs of Mr. George Morrow, consists of a series of airy fancies, 
 to which a reviewer can do but scant justice. . . . Mr. George 
 Morrow, as usual, shows a pleasant dexterity in humorous pictures 
 that tell their own tale. Authors and draughtsman are remarkably 
 up to date ... as merry as ever, and they take liberties with the 
 famous or notorious with that air of innocence which are the marks 
 of good fooling. Their knocks are often wise as well as shrewd, 
 and they have an admirable scent for boomsters and impostors. 
 We can honestly say that we have laughed over this little book 
 as heartily as over its predecessors." — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 * STUDIES IN MUSICAL CRIME. By C. L. Graves. Illustrated by 
 
 George Morrow. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 * Ready shortly. 
 
 12
 
 METALLURGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 METALLURGY 
 
 AUSTRALIAN MINING AND METALLURGY. By Donald Clark, 
 B.C.E., M.M.E. A detailed description of the Metallurgic Methods 
 employed in the process of Ore Treatment and Gold Recovery at 
 the principal mines and metallurgic works operating in Western 
 Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. 
 With numerous illustrations and diagrams. Royal octavo, cloth 
 gilt, 21s. net. 
 
 ♦REFINING OF GOLD. By Donald Clark, B.C.E. In demy 8vo, 
 cloth gilt, with illustrations, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 THE METALLURGY OF TIN. By P. J. Thibault, F.C.S. (Lond.). 
 With numerous illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 MY BACKYARD ZOO. A Course of Natural History. By the late 
 Rev. J. C. Wood. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 
 
 " Really a complete course of natural history." — Times. 
 
 THE A B C OF POULTRY. By E. B. Johnstone. In crown Svo, 
 cloth 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 " A capital addition to the many books devoted to the outdoor 
 life, and its practical utility is increased by the careful classification 
 of the numerous points in connection with poultry keeping and the 
 diseases to which the fowl is heir." — World. 
 
 CATS FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. By Miss Frances Simpson. 
 Third Edition. In crown Svo, with 25 beautifully reproduced photo- 
 graphs of famous prize winning cats. 2s. net. 
 
 " The author explains that her object ha^ been ' to help those 
 who desire to combine pleasure with profit, and at the same time to 
 interest and instruct my readers in the best and most practical way 
 of rearing lovely home pets, handsome show cats, and healthy, 
 saleable kittens.' This aim is very successfully achieved." — Pall 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
 MINUTE MARVELS OF NATURE. By John J. Ward. Being some 
 revelations of the microscope. Illustrated by Photo-micrographs 
 taken by the Author. Cheaper Edition. In demy Svo, cloth 
 gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 PEEPS INTO NATURE 'S WAYS. By the same Author. Being chapters 
 on insect, plant and minute life. Illustrated from photographs and 
 photo-micrographs taken by the Author. Cheaper Edition. In 
 demy Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 * Ready shortly. 
 
 13
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 * BODY AND SOUL. By Percy Dearmer, M.A. In demy 8vo, cloth 
 Silt, 6s. net. 
 
 The advance of Christian Science has, at least, had one good 
 result in calling attention to the ancient Christian doctrine much 
 obscured in recent times, of the relation of faith to the healing of 
 bodily sickness. The subject is rapidly coming to the front among 
 Christian believers, and Mr. Dearmer's book is a history and an 
 exposition of the doctrine. 
 
 CHILDREN'S SAYINGS. Edited, with a digression on the Small 
 People, by William Canton, author of The Child's Book of 
 Saints, etc. In fcap. 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with a frontispiece, 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 CLERICAL HUMOUR OF OLDEN TIME. By F. D. How. Being 
 Sketches of some clerical humorists between the Twelfth and the 
 Eighteenth Centuries. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with 
 frontispiece. 6s. net. 
 
 " Six centuries of leisure and laughter are represented in this 
 amusing book. Altogether, Mr. How is to be congratulated on a 
 lively and diverting book, which throws many sidelights on clerical 
 life in vanished centuries." — Standard. 
 
 DICTIONARY OF THE WORLD'S COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. With 
 equivalents in French, German, and Spanish. By J. A. Slater, 
 B.A., LL.B. (Second Edition, Revised.) In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 163 pp., 2s. 6d. 
 
 " It is a very useful book and will be valued in particular by 
 students of commercial geography. The list of products is very 
 complete ... a third edition is pretty sure to be called for." — Pall 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
 DREAM OF PROVENCE. (Orgeas and Miradou.) By Frederick 
 Wedmore. Post 8vo, fancy boards, Is. net. 
 
 TO NANCY. By the same Author. Post 8vo, fancy boards, Is. net. 
 
 EDUCATION AND SOCIAL LIFE. By tlie Rev. J. Wilson Harper. 
 D.D. In crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. not. An attempt to show that the 
 goal of education is social service. 
 
 HOME GYMNASTICS FOR OLD AND YOUNG. By T. J. Hartelius, 
 M.D. Translated and adopted from the Swedish by C. Lofvinc. 
 With thirty-one illustrations. Fifth Edition, revised. With a 
 prefatory note by Arthur A. Beale, M.B. In stiff boards. Is. 6d. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD LAW. A Practical Handbook for the Householder. By 
 
 J. A. Slatkk, B. a., LL.B. (Lond.). In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 5s. net. 
 HOW TO CHOOSE A HOUSE. How to Take it and Keep it By 
 
 Charles Emanuel and E. M. Joseth. In crown 8vo, cloth, with 
 
 illustrations, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " This book seems to us to contain well nigh all the information 
 
 that a person desiring to acquire a property could desire." — Record* 
 
 * Ready shortly. 
 
 14
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 LIGHTER MOMENTS. From the note-book of Bishop Walsham How. 
 Edited by his son, Frederick Douglas How. In small crown 8vo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 2s. 6d. 
 
 MODERNISM. A Record and Review. By the Rev. A. Leslie 
 LiLLEY, M.A. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net. 
 
 " For those who have only lately begun to take an interest in 
 the liberal movement in the Roman Church, and who are 
 ignorant of its previous literature, this book will be invaluable. . . . 
 Mr. Lilley is admirably suited, both by knowledge and sympathy 
 to be the medium through which the modernist position may be 
 made known to the English public." — Church Times. 
 
 MY KEY OF LIFE— OPTIMISM : An Essay. By Helen Keller. 
 In foolscap 8vo, cloth gilt, Is. 6d. net. With photogravure portrait. 
 New Edition. 
 
 " This remarkable little work is a glorification of optimism written 
 in no maudlin strain, but filled with a sincerity which cannot but 
 appeal straight to the heart of the reader." — Evening News. 
 
 ON LIFE'S THRESHOLD : Talks to Young People on Character and 
 Conduct. By Pastor Charles Wagner. Translated by Edna St. 
 John. In crown Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. ; also in paper 
 Is. net. 
 
 ON THE QUEEN'S ERRANDS. By Captain Philip Wynter. In demy 
 Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 " His varied experiences as a Queen's messenger on foreign 
 service are recounted with an unfailing vivacity, and with a liberal 
 infusion of good stories." — World. 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF BISHOP THOROLD. With a 
 Portrait. Preface by the Most Hon. and Most Rev. Randall 
 Davidson, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. In crown Svo, cloth 
 gilt, gilt top, 5s. 
 
 THE BOOK OF THE CHILD. An Attempt to ?,et Down what is in the 
 Mind of Children. By Frederick Dougla a How. In foolscap Svo, 
 leather, with dainty cover design, gilt corners, Ss. 6d. net ; cloth 
 2s. net. 
 
 " A subtle analysis of the child-mind enlivened with pleasing 
 stories. Parents will do well to consult these entertaining pages." 
 — Madame. 
 
 THE INNER LIFE OF THE NAVY. Being an Account of the Social Life 
 of the Navy as seen below deck. By Lionel Yexley (Editor of 
 The Fleet.) With sixteen illustrations. In demy Svo, cloth gilt, 
 gilt top, 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 " Mr. Yexley writes with an easy straightforward style. We 
 read him as we listen to a good after-dinner speaker, with delightful 
 and eager attention. It is comforting to read a book by one who 
 Ifpows something about it." — Morning Leader,
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 THE LITERARY STUDY OF THE BIBLE. An account of the leading 
 forms of literature in the Sacred Writings. Third Edition, revised. 
 By R. G. MouLTON, M.A., Ph.D. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top 
 10s. 6d. 
 
 " A valuable help to the study of the Sacred Writings. . . 
 We heartily recommend this book." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL WISDOM OF THE BIBLE. Edited with an intro- 
 duction by J. St. Loe Strachey (Editor of The Spectator). In 
 demy 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net ; leather 3s. 6d. net. 
 "No one after reading this elegant and carefully produced volume 
 can doubt that Mr. Strachey has done a good work in a thoroughly 
 good manner." — Standard. 
 
 THE PERSIAN PROBLEM. By H. J. Whigham. With maps and 
 illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 12s. 6d. 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE. By Pastor Charles Wagner. Translated from 
 the French by Mary Louise Hendee. With an Introduction and 
 Biographical sketch by Grace King. In foolscap 8vo, cloth gilt. 
 Is. 6d. net. New Edition. Also in paper covers at 6d. net. 
 
 THE SPRING OF THE DAY. Spiritual Analogies from the Things 
 OF Nature. By the late Hugh Macmillan, D.D., LL.D. In 
 crown Svo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " Luminous in a high degree, filled with matter for children's 
 addresses, and equally sure to prove instructive to persons of 
 mature years." — Christian. 
 
 THE CLOCK OF NATURE. By the late Hugh Macmillan, D.D., 
 LL.D. In crown Svo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 An attempt to bring out the wise lessons which the objects of 
 Nature teach, and to illustrate the spiritual revelation of God in 
 Christ by the revelation of God in Nature. 
 
 THE POETRY OF PLANTS. By the late Hugh Macmillan, D.D., 
 LL.D. In crown Svo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 A collection of popular studies, showing the many points of 
 beauty and interest about some of the commonest of our trees and 
 wild flowers. 
 
 " A delightful book . . . the clergy will gather from it many 
 an illustration or parable." — Church Times. 
 
 THE SOCIAL RESULTS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY. By C. Schmidt. 
 Translated by Mrs. Thorpe. With Preliminary Essay by R.W. 
 Dale, LL.D. In crown Svo, cloth gilt. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " An easy book to read, and the educated layman will find it 
 full of vital interest, while the more exacting student will have the 
 further satisfaction of being provided with full and precise references 
 to the original^ authorities, in which many startling assertions 
 are made." — Nottingham Daily Express. 
 
 16
 
 MISCELLANEOUS AND POETRY 
 
 PITMAN'S WHERE TO LOOK. An Easy Guide to Books of reference. 
 In crown 8vo, cloth, Is. net. Second Edition, Revised. 
 
 " Very much what the Review of Reviews is to other journals is 
 Pitman's Where to Look to other books of reference. This handy 
 little volume will tell you at a glance which is the best book of 
 reference dealing with almost any subject under the sun. The 
 volume in no way supersedes any existing reference book, but is an 
 invaluable addition to one's library, as it intimates at once the 
 best source of information not only on general subjects to be found 
 in the familiar Whitaker or Hazell, but also on little-known matters, 
 as to which the plain man is often at a loss where to turn for 
 reference." — Bystander. 
 
 THE WORLD'S COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. A Descriptive Account 
 of the Economic Plants of the World and of their Commercial Uses. 
 By W. G. Freeman, B.Sc, F.L.S., and S. E. Chandler, D.Sc, 
 F.L.S. With contributions by T. A. Henry, D.Sc, F.C.S., C. E. 
 Jones, B.Sc, F.L.S., and E. H. Wilson. With 420 illustrations 
 from photographs and 12 coloured plates and maps. In demy 4to, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 " The new production deals in an interesting and exhaustive 
 fashion with the various economic plants of the world, and their 
 commercial uses, and is profusely illustrated. Whether cocoa 
 cultivation or wheat, Siamese rice-fields or Russian tea-gardens, 
 Borneo tobacco, Assam rubber, or turpentine in North Carolina — 
 whatever the product, in fact, the reader is told of its production 
 and treatment in most interesting fashion, and the profuse illustra- 
 tions are of great assistance. We imagine that the book will find 
 a warm welcome." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 * THE BEGINNINGS IN THE TEACHING OF MODERN SUBJECTS 
 IN ENGLAND. By Foster Watson, M.A. (Professor of Education 
 in University College, Aberystwyth). In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 572 pp., 6s. net. 
 
 POETRY, AND CRITICISM 
 
 THE POETRY OF ROBERT BROWNING. By Stopford A. Brooke. 
 Original issue. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 10s. 6d. 
 
 " The most satisfactory and stimulating criticism of the poet yet 
 published." — Times. 
 
 (See also Dainty Volume Library, page 9.) 
 
 TENNYSON : HIS ART AND RELATION TO MODERN LIFE. By 
 
 the same Author. Original issue. In demy Svo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 " Will make a strong appeal to all lovers of our great Laureate." — 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 (See also Dainty Volume Library, page 9.) 
 
 * Ready shortly. 
 
 17
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 A STUDY OF CLOUGH, ARNOLD, ROSSETTI, AND MORRIS. With 
 an Introduction on the Course of Poetry from 1822 to 1852. By 
 the same Author. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net. 
 
 " The book is a brilliant and remarkable study. The present 
 volume by virtue of its moral insight, the range and depth of its 
 appreciation, its noble and eloquent candour, and, above all, its 
 swift and exact insight into the distinctive qualities of four poets 
 of real significance, is worthy — and we can give it no higher praise — 
 to stand side by side with the aids to interpretation from the same 
 vivid and picturesque pens of the vanished masters who gave us, 
 in the one case, In Memoriam and Idylls of the King, and, in the 
 other. The Ring and the Book and Dramatic Lyrics.' " — Standard. 
 
 THE POEMS OF JAMES HOGG. The Ettrick Shepherd. Selected 
 and edited, with an Introduction, by William Wallace, LL.D. 
 With photogravure portrait frontispiece. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 gilt top, 5s. 
 
 " This admirable new edition may lead to a revival of interest 
 in ' the Shepherd.' " — Glasgow Evening News. 
 
 WITH THE WILD GEESE. Songs of Irish Exile and Lament. By 
 Emily Lawless. With an Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke. 
 In sq. 8vo, cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. net. 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 OLD-AGE PENSIONS : Are they Desirable and Practicable ? By 
 Frederick Rogers and Frederick Millar. In crown Svo, cloth 
 2s. 6d. n.et. 
 
 ALIEN IMMIGRATION : Should Restrictions be Imposed ? By 
 
 Frederick Bradshaw, M.A., and Charles Emanuel, M.A. In 
 crown Svo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. A Scheme for Providing 
 AND Securing Religious Liberty in England and Wales. By 
 J. Fovargue Bradley. With Introductions by the Rev. Dugald 
 Macfadyen, M.A., and the Rev. T. A. Lacey. In demy Svo, 
 Is. net. 
 
 " The book is obviously one which no one who cares for the 
 well-being of his country can ignore, and it should receive the 
 warmest welcome. Certainly a book to be read and studied." — 
 Public Opinion. 
 
 NONCONFORMITY AND POLITICS. By A Nonconformist Minister. 
 In crown Svo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " We have here a powerful, earnest, eloquent appeal, written 
 under the evident conviction of a great cause ; a reasoned, lucid 
 argument set forth with masterly skill, and in the presence of a sort 
 of mystical fire which makes the language glow. ... It is in 
 every way a serious and notable work." — Daily News. 
 
 18
 
 SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY 
 
 SCIENCE 
 
 GREAT ASTRONOMERS. By Sir Robert Ball, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. 
 
 With numerous full-page and other illustrations. In demy 8vo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " Sir Robert Ball's gifts as a narrator are very great. He is, of 
 course, a master of his subject. . . . The most earth-bound mortal 
 who opens this book must go on with it." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 IN STARRY REALMS. By the same Author. The Wonders of the 
 Heavens. With numerous full-page and other illustrations. In 
 demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " The style of popular exposition adopted throughout is indeed 
 admirable, the illustrations are excellent, the binding is tasteful, 
 and the print good." — Saturday Review. 
 
 IN THE HIGH HEAVENS, By the same Author. A popular account 
 of recent interesting astronomical events and phenomena, with 
 numerous full-page and other illustrations. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 
 gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 " It has," says The Scotsman, " the freshest knowledge and the 
 best scientific thought." 
 
 ASTRONOMY FOR EVERYBODY. By Professor Simon Newcombe. 
 LL.D. With an Introduction by Sir Robert Ball. Illustrated. 
 A popular exposition of the Wonders of the Heavens. In demy 8vo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 BY LAND AND SKY. By the Rev. John M. Bacon, M.A., F.R.A.S. 
 The Record of a Balloonist. With four Illustrations. In demy 
 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 SOCIOLOGY 
 
 SOCIALISM. By Professor Robert Flint, LL.D. New, Revised and 
 Cheaper Edition. In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net. 
 
 " A new, revised and cheaper edition of Professor Flint's masterly 
 study will be generally welcomed. The revision has been carefully 
 carried out, but the original text has been as far as possible pre- 
 served. References show that the additional notes are well up 
 to date." — Daily Mail. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS. By Jack London. A study of the 
 social and economic conditions of life in the East End of London. 
 By the author of The Call of the Wild. With 24 illustrations from 
 actual photographs. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 "... Mr. Jack London, who is already known to the British 
 public as a line descriptive writer, has done for the East End of 
 London, what he did for the Klondyke — has described it fully and 
 faithfully, looking at it as intimately as dispassionately." — Daily 
 Chronicle, 
 
 19
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 WHAT IS SOCIALISM ? By " Scotsburn." An attempt to examine 
 the principles and policy propounded by the advocates of Socialism. 
 In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Contents — Preliminary — Socialism (Part I) — Socialism (Part II) 
 — Justice — Class — Equality — Private Property (Land) — Private 
 Property (Wealth) — Marx — Machinery — Monopoly — Liberty 
 — Religion. 
 
 TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT 
 
 THE ADVENTURER IN SPAIN. By S. R. Crockett. With 162 
 illustrations by Gordon Browne and from photographs taken by 
 the Author. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 AROUND AFGHANISTAN. By Major de BouiUane de Lacoste. 
 Translated from the French by J. G. Anderson. With five maps 
 and 113 illustrations. In super royal 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 
 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 CASTLES AND CHATEAUX OF OLD TOURAINE. and the Loire 
 Country. By Francis Miltoun and Blanche McManus. With 
 seventy illustrations reproduced from paintings made on the spot, 
 and maps, plans, etc. In large crown Svo, cloth richly gilt, gilt top, 
 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 " One of the most delightful travel books that we have come across 
 for some time. The author is well informed, has an eye for the 
 picturesque, and wields a lively pen ; while Miss Blanche McManus 
 has admirably caught the spirit of the country and its inhabitants 
 in her sketches. Many of these latter are really beautiful, and are 
 full of those touches of actuality which bring the real thing back in 
 a flash to the mind of anyone who knows the district." — Country 
 Life. 
 
 CASTLES AND CHATEAUX OF OLD NAVARRE and the Basque 
 Provinces. By the same Authors. With sixty-three illustrations 
 (some in colour), maps, plans, etc. In large crown Svo, cloth richlv 
 gilt, gilt top, 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 " The book is well worth reading, not merely as a travel handbook, 
 but for its sympathetic, social and historical review of a very 
 interesting section of the French people." — Irish Times. 
 
 IN THE LAND OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS. By the same Authors. 
 With seventy-five illustrations, in colour and black and white, 
 maps, plans, etc. In large crown Svo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with 
 cover of charming design, 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 " A comprehensive account of Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, and 
 of Mussulman government, religion, art, culture, and French 
 influence. Picturesquely illustrated." — Times. 
 
 20
 
 TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT 
 
 ITALY OF THE ITALIANS. By Helen Zimmern. In imperial 16mo, 
 cloth gilt, gilt top, with 31 full page illustrations, 6s. net. 
 
 " The reading public owe a debt of gratitude to Miss Helen 
 Zimmern for this truly admirable book. . . . The knowledge and 
 judgment displayed in the volume are truly astounding, and the 
 labour the author has expended on it has made it as indispensable as 
 Baedeker to the traveller, as well as invaluable to the student of 
 modern times. It is just what it should be, and what books with 
 similar objects so seldom are, and it will long remain a monument 
 to the author's talents. Miss Zimmern leaves us no excuse for not 
 understanding the Italy of to-day." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 FRANCE OF THE FRENCH. By E. Harrison Barker. In imperial 
 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with 32 full-page illustrations, 6s. net. 
 
 " A book of general information concerning the life and genius 
 of the French people, with especial reference to contemporary 
 France. Covers every phase of French intellectual life — architecture, 
 players, science, and invention, etc. — Times. 
 
 " It is altogether an exceedingly informative book and should 
 be very useful in promoting a reasonable understanding of the 
 French people. There are numerous illustrations, and these are 
 excellently reproduced and printed." — Livetpool Courier. 
 
 ♦SWITZERLAND OF THE SWISS. By Frank Webb. With 32 
 full-page plate illustrations. In imperial 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 
 6s. net. 
 
 * SPAIN OF THE SPANISH. By J. Villiers-Wardell. In imperial 
 16mo., cloth gilt, gilt top, with 32 illustrations, 6s. net. 
 
 THE ** ALL RED ' ' SERIES. A new series of books bearing on 
 the expansion of England as a world-wide power. 
 
 * THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. By the Hon. Bern- 
 
 hard Ringrose Wise (formerlv Attorney-General of New South 
 Wales). 
 
 Mr. Wise has a most intimate knowledge of Australian affairs, 
 and possesses the art of imparting what he knows. 
 
 * THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND. By Sir Arthur P. Douglas. 
 
 Bt., formerly Under-Secretary for Defence, New Zealand, and 
 previously a Lieutenant, R.N. 
 
 Sir Arthur's long residence in New Zealand, and his varied 
 experience of official life, especially qualify him for the task under- 
 taken by him of writing a book based upon the most reliable 
 information brought up to the present date. 
 
 * Ready shortly. 
 
 21
 
 PITMAN'S CATALOGUE OF GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 THREE YEARS' SPORT ON THE MOZAMBIQUE. By G. Vasse. 
 Translated from the French by R. Lyiiekker, F.R.S. In super 
 royal 8vo, cloth gilt, with 78 illustrations, 8s. 6d. net. (Ready 
 shortly.) 
 
 CATALOGUES, ETC. 
 
 Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., have pleasure in calling attention to 
 
 the following Catalogues of Books published by them. They will be 
 
 pleased to send on application any of these Catalogues, all of which 
 
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 [B] PITMAN'S COMMERCIAL SERIES. A List of Books suitable for 
 
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 Houses. 32 pp. 
 
 [C] PITMAN'S EDUCATIONAL BOOKS (Primary). Illustrated. 56 pp. 
 
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 Any who may happen to be in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's 
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 22
 
 MODERN TEXT-BOOKS FOR BUSINESS MEN 
 AND STUDENTS 
 
 Send a Post Card at once for Catalogue B (post free) 
 containing details of Text-hooks on the following subjects — 
 
 Accountancy .. The pitman firm has made 
 
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 Bills, Cheques, & Notes 
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 ^ _ Business Man's Guide 
 
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