It htotia u. ^m(gMtt .'Hi c'^ (;^^ 01 t ^^ \ ■-> 1 ^^^ ^^ifSTRALIA IN 1897 ^'^ The Country and its Resources, Population, *'*"' Public Works, and P^inances With Remarks on the Manufacture of Wool in THE Colonies, Emigration, Federation, the Funding OF AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC DEBTS, &C. Bv Edward A. Petherick A Colonist of Forty-four Years We have skex the country, and behold it is very cood I ONDON: EFEINGHAAI WILSON, ii. Royal Exchanc^e, E.C ^ (/xLASGOW: JOHN SMITH & SON, 19, Renfikld Street Second Edition With Two Maps June, 1S97 Tj RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO The Right Honourable SAMUEL JAMES WAY HOX. n.C.L. OXON., HO\. D.C.L. CAMB., I.I..D. (^UEEN'S UNIV., KINGSTON, CANADA, LL.D. ADELAIDE CHANCELLOR OK THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE HEUr.-GOVERNOR AND CHIEF JUSTICE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND THE FIRST REPRESENTATIVE OF AUSTRALASIA UPON THE JUDICIAL COMMITl'EE OF HER majesty's PRIVY COUNCIL ETC., ETC. 810801 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. A FEW corrections and additions [within brackets] have been made to this issue, to include latest available statistics. My thanks are due to several private correspondents and to the critics of the Anglo-Australian newspapers, for their kindly notice of the little brochure upon its first appearance. Some have discovered in the letters more than the writer himself had seen. Commenting upon the rough Balance Sheet (page 38), one critic says: "Mr. Petherick considers that Australia could pay fifty-three shillings and fourpence in the ^." This may be a just and reasonable inference to be drawn from the figures, but my critic should have noticed, at the same time, a matter of more serious import, namely, that these small communities, aggregating three and a-half million souls only, are, for public and private borrowings, directly and indirectly burdened with interest, amounting to not less than ten millions annually ; that expenses of civil government amount to another eight and a-half millions, and that ten millions more is required for municipal purposes. These are burdens far too heavy to be borne by so small a population. The remedy, as I have pointed out, will only be found in a large influx of population ; in other words, the systematic introduction of an industrial population selected from the manufacturing classes of the mother country, to work up the natural pro- ductions of these Colonies. This must be reiterated and repeated over and over, again and again, until action is taken by our responsible statesmen. (See paragraphs 36,60.) Will Great Britain allow Australia — with New Zealand, the most characteristically British of her possessions beyond sea — to be dependent upon promiscuous immigration ; and, by the introduction of foreign elements, to become as cosnio- politan as the United States is, and as Canada and South Africa are fast becoming ? Or, will the Home Government, through their Emigration Office, take the initiative, and prudently and methodically transfer from the redundant population of this country to the southern colonies eligible and suitable artizans, and thus render the British charac- teristics of the present colonists permanent? The colonial governments can, for their part, find workmen's homes and offer facilities for the introduction of manufacturing plant and machinery. Fifty thousand people — ten thousand families — could be sliipped off and planted in these colonies for less than the cost of a first-class iron-clad ! Could not some of H.M. troop- ships be utilised for the purpose ? Nay, are there not at this moment a dozen large steamers on the route, carrying less than a half of their complement of passengers ? Since the first edition was issued, a Federal Convention has been elected, and has held its first Session in Adelaide. A scheme for a Federal Parliament which shall consist of two Chambers has been formulated. One Chamber is sufficient in a Colonial Federation where every interest and all interests are represented. With the three estates of the realm in Great Britain — Queen, Lords, Commons, there has grown up what we call the " Fourth Estate " — public opinion as expressed in the newspapers and journals. That we have in Australia, a Press second to none in the world. A free and independent Press constitutes to-day, the best safeguard against class legislation, or against hasty legislation, the only reasonable excuse for a Second Chamber. Or, how much more wisdom dwells, to-day, in Upper Houses than in Lower ? No more, and no less. In these Colonies, an Upper Chamber is an expensive and useless luxury, for, over the public purse it has no control ! and the labours and wisdom of some of our best statesmen are also rendered of no effect, because that Chamber alone can have the benefit of their arguments and votes. As the Minister of a Department can only speak in one House, he must be represented in the other by an irre- sponsible substitute. Such are some of the anomalies of a Second Chamber. Because, under Constitutional Govern- ment, two Houses have been evolved in Europe and America, that is no reason for bi-cameral government in a Democratic community. If Australians want a Peerage, they may have one of merit — a Life Peerage in which should be enrolled all such as render honourable service to their country, — a Grand Council, to meet in conference with the Federal Parliament, in time of war or of national commemoration, or for revision of the Constitution. E. A. P. 3, York Gate, Regent's Park, London, N.W., May 24, 1897. SYNOPSIS OP^ CONTENTS. The figures in parentheses denote the numbers of the paragraphs. PAGK Preface to Second Edition ... ... ... ... ... ... i Introductory Letter from [An Investor in Australian .Securities] criticising the present state of affairs in Australia 5 Acknowledgment of his letter ... ... ... ... ... 8 Letter I. — The Six Colonies, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tas- mania 9 Geographical Description (i)— Communications : telegraphs (2) — Railways (3) — Roads, bridges, lighthouses, harbours, docks, &c. (4) — Towns and cities, their healthy situation, parks, public edifices, &c. (5) — Adelaide and surroundings (6)— Melbourne and suburbs (7) — Health resorts near Melbourne, and general character of Australian scenery (8) — Tasmania (9) — Brisbane, Perth, Goulburn, Bathurst, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo (10) [see also par. 55, p. 43] — Sydney, Port Jackson, Parramatta river, &c. (11) — New South Wales National Park (12) — Ceme- teries (13) — The Settled Country: agriculture, farming and live stock (14) — Total Exports (15) — Imports (16) — Aggregate trade (17) Letter II. — The Population of Australi.\ 18 General circumstances of the people, savings banks, life assur- ance (iS) — Friendly societies (19) — Religious denominations and organizations (20) — Primary, secondary, and technical educa- tion (21) — Public order. Courts of Law and Justice (22) — Public Charities and the boarding-out system (23)^Outdoor pastimes, cricket, football, yachting, society functions (24) — Horse racing, Randwick, Flemington, and the ' Melbourne Cup ' (25) — The 'rough' element (26) — The Drama and Music (27) — Public libraries, museums, learned societies, newspaj^ers and reading (28) — Colonial authors (29) — The ' breadwinners ' (30) 4 AGE Letter III.— Australian Finances and Puhlic Works ... 27 Financial troubles of 1826, 1842, 1866 (31) — Australian hank- ing operations (32) — The late ' Land Boom ' and bank failures (33) — Conseciuent decline in volume of imports (34) — Fall in prices, wages, rent and necessaries (35) — Colonial Manufactures and Industries (36) — Public Works : Convict Labour (37) — Gold discoveries of 1851, influx of population (38) — Rise in prices, the unemployed, the lands thrown open, necessity for Railways, Water works, and Loans (39) — Present annual Expenditure (40) — General Revenue (41) — Cost of Administration (42)— Total receipts from sale and lease of Lands (43) — Protection to Native Industry and indirect taxation (44) — Resulting deficiencies (45) — Summary: approximate Liabilities and Assets, public and private, of the Six Colonies, with rough Balance Sheet (46) Australian Federation and Future Policy 39 Present Constitutions of the Six Colonies (47) — Area of present Colonies (48) — Necessary modifications of present Assemblies, Legislative Councils and Government Departments (49) — Scope of Federal Government (50) — The proposed Convention (51) — The new Senate or Federal Parliament (52) — Grand Council (53) — Future Capital (54) — Some of the Cities proposed (55) [see also paragraphs 6 to il, pp. 11 to 15] — Suggested Movable Senate or Federal Parliament, for ten years (56) — Federal Policy (57)— Consolidation and Conversion of Debts (58) — Municipal Loans (^9) — Necessity for Systematic Emigration and Coolie Labour (60) — Defences (61) — Birthplaces and Loyalty of Colonists, native, English, Irish, Scotch, and foreign (62) — Authorities quoted (63) Postscript 48 APPENDICES. A. Railway to India and the East ... ... ... ... ... 50 B. and C. Letters on Emigration to Australia ... ... 52. 54 D. An Australian Navy 55 MAPS, AT END. '' Oceania," showing European protectorates, &c. "Australia," showing political divisions, railways, telegraphs, &c. London, ist September, 1896. To E. A, Petherick, Esq. My Dear Sir, I was very much impressed with what you said the other evening about the present financial troubles in the Australian Colonies, and although your fuller knowledge and closer acquaintance with the state of affairs may warrant your belief that things will become more satisfactory and right themselves in a few years, I still think your views are too sanguine. My memory goes back between fifty and sixty years to the period anterior to the gold discoveries of 1851, and I have good reason to remember that there was then a state of general bankruptcy in New South Wales and Port Phillip, and these colonies have passed through several financial crises since that time, though none have been so serious, I think, as the present one. I remember also that during the earlier period, there was as much agitation for Separation among tiiese colonies as there now is for Federation. " Let us have the management of our own affairs," said the Colonists ; " our troubles are caused by the present system of mis-government ; " " our circumstances are misrepresented and not understood ; " " w^e have been too long under the direction of irresponsible officials at the Colonial Office in Downing Street ; " " give us responsible government and we shall prosper." We gave you responsible government. With one exception the Australian colonies have been freed from the control of Downing Street, for more than forty years. "■' During that time you have enjoyed the privileges of local government to the fullest extent : you have had absolute control of the public lands and your fiscal operations have been managed regardless of external interests — even those of the Mother Country or other British possessions ha\e not been considered. * New South Wales, foundetl 178S, Tasmania (\'an Uiemen's Land) 1804, South AusiraUa, 1S36; Victoria (I'ort PhiUip District) 1835, and (Queensland (Morelon Bay District) 1824, were sejiarateei from New South Wales in 1851 and 1859 respectively. Respunsible goveriniient was given to these Colonies in 1855. Western Australia (Swan River Settlement) Ibunded in 1829, received her constitution in 1890. — E. A. P. I would remind you also that before responsible govern- ment was granted, part of the proceeds of land sales was set aside for emigration purposes. To this you have devoted little or nothing. Nearly all has been taken into the general revenue. You tell me that eighty or one hundred millions sterling has been received from the lands. This, with customs and other duties, has apparently been insufficient for ordinary expenditure, necessitating a high tariff in addition, which does not produce what was expected because of the great falling off of imports during the last few years, resulting in deficien- cies all round of between seven and eight millions. Nor is this all, you have borrowed ^160,000,000 for public works, and bankruptcy and repudiation have been talked of in certain quarters. My opinion is that young and energetic communities like the Australian Colonies should not have been in their present circumstances. They are isolated in many respects from European influences, and unencumbered by any burdens of former generations, and they ought to have profited, politically and economically, by the experience of older countries. Your several governments are now on their trial and must be prepared to give an account of their stewardships. They have been selling part of their estates in order to live, and borrowing, or mortgaging revenue, to pay for improve- ments. " Rome was not built in a day." We, in this country, are proud of you as Colonists ; you have done much. But the possession of so vast and rich a country, set, as your lecturers are so fond of telling us, in tropical and temperate zones, w'ashed by the waves of three oceans, and equal in area to Europe — the possession, I repeat, of such a great estate implies and involves more than ordinary duties and obli- gations ; not only obligations to discover and explore the wealth of Nature and to share that wealth with the world a.t large, but obligations to till and sow, plant and cultivate, and restore the gifts of Nature so that she shall not be im- poverished. Do you now (as Lang says you used to do) destroy forests without replanting them ? Do you take all the goodness out of the arable land and then leave it and go to pastures new ? Besides these natural obligations, there are duties which no commonwealth can neglect with impunity — the duty to pre- serve the body politic in health and peace ; your industries must not be disturbed, nor your workmen harassed. It is no less your duty to educate all children and to inculcate in them the purest morals, as it is also your duty to be prepared to pass on to future generations the blessings of good laws and stable government, together with the good name and that high prestige which you, as colonists, may liave secured for yourselves, or have inherited from your forefathers. As the result of forty years of self-government in the Australian Colonies we look for something more than short parliaments and the ballot, manhood sufifrage and the female franchise, land transfer made easy, free secular and compulsory education, religion without State aid, the boarding-out system for the children of the State, unmonopolised railways and water-works, and such-like measures. I offer no opinion as to the wisdom, policy, or expediency of these measures. But, with their golden opportunities, ought your Colonists not to have been able to work out some of the more difficult problems of modern state-craft — the questions of direct or indirect taxation, and that of the currency ? I hear you have your bi-metallists as well as mono-metallists, your advocates for free-trade, fair-trade, and protection. If these problems are not yet worked out in Australia, what hope is there for us — the denizens of older countries, who cannot move with- out trenching upon, or interfering with, long vested interests — that we shall ever be able to work them out ? All these, it may with reason be said, are merely incidental questions, and that the best systems of laws and government are those that meet the needs of the citizens, or which win the greatest amount of respect and obedience from the governed. Now, however, that there is a movement in your Colonies towards Federation, a movement accompanied by proposals for the consolidation and conversion of their public debts, you may be sure that people in this country will desire to know the facts concerning those Colonies — not coloured, exaggerated, or party statements, but the whole truth as to their condition, financial history, and future prospects. They will desire to know what lands have been alienated, how m^uch of the terri- tory has been opened up for the reception of our redundant population, and to what extent the natural, especially the agricultural resources, have been developed. And investors will want to know what has been done with the money they have lent to the several governments and whether it has been spent upon unproductive or reproductive works. I am, Sec, [An Investor in Australian Securities.] To My Dear Sir, Since receiving your letter of the ist inst. I have been thinking about the subject of your remarks and have decided, as I shall be located here for two or three weeks, to write an account of our Australian Colonies, describing the country from personal knowledge, the people, their condition, occupa- tions, &c, I will also attempt to sketch the origin and causes of the present troubles, and will add a few remarks upon future policy and prospects under Federation. I am away from books of reference, but will support all my statements by figures and facts upon my return to London. I am, &c., E. A. P. Pwllheli, Carnar\onshire, 22nd September, i8g6. LETTER I. The Six Colonies. New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. I. AS recently as twenty-five or thirty years ago, maps ■^^ of the great South Land, exhibited little more than its ten thousand miles of coast line, indented by bays and harbours, and a few meridional lines indicating certain territorial boundaries. To-day, maps of Australia delineate the physical features as well as the political divisions. They show a margin of fertile country around the sea coast, varying in width from fifty to five hundred miles, drained by numerous rivers. Behind this coastal margin, and separated from it by mountain ranges, rising from two to eight thousand feet, — mountains which, for a quarter of a century presented an impassable barrier — lies a vast interior consisting not of worthless territory, fit for no purpose of civilized man, likely to be occupied for ages only by the kangaroo and wandering aboriginals, as the early explorers believed, but of extensive undulating table land and grassy plains, of hills and valleys covered with magnificent forests or low woody scrub. This hinterland, which has its rainy as well as its dry seasons, forms a basin of more than a million square miles, the waters of which, in flood time, are drained by creeks and rivers into salt lakes (below the level of the ocean) and there evaporated or absorbed. Some of the rainfall, it is conjectured, finds its way to the ocean by means of underground rivers. Crossed and recrossed from East to West, and from North to South, by explorers and " overlanders " in search of new pastures, the island continent now lies open, inviting the redundant millions of the fatherland to the sunny 10 south and offcrini; them occupation and homes for them- selves and their descendants. At present scantily settled by less than three fourths of the population of London, we are told that Australia is capable of supporting a population of two hundred millions. * * * * 2. Upon the maps may be traced forty or fifty thousand miles of telegraphs (eighty thousand miles of wire being in use) connecting the country towns and interior pastoral .districts with the respective capital cities, these capitals with each other and with Port Darwin in the north.* 3. The maps show also that railways traverse the settled districts and important pastoral and mining districts in the interior, connecting them with sixteen or eighteen ports round the coast. f Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, the four capitals of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, being connected by direct lines of railway, are now less than one day's journey — actually seventeen, eighteen, and twenty-three hours, — from each other, respectively. In short, ten thousand miles of railway run through the occupied districts, and other two thousand miles connect them with the principal cities and seaports. Another three thousand miles of projected lines passing through outlying pastoral districts to the north and west, will link the termini of existing lines with Port Darwin, and thus bring the most distant parts of Australia within three weeks of London. | 4. Good macadamised roads traverse the settled districts in every direction, and timber or iron bridges, punts and ferries, are frequent at all rivers, creeks, and water-courses. * Twenty-four years ago Australia was (with Tasmania and New Zealand) linked by cable from Port Darwin, with Java, Singapore, China, Japan, India, Africa, Europe, and the great states ot the Western Hemisphere. t Beginning at North Queensland, these are Cooktown, Cairns, Townsville, Bowen, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone (Port Curtis), Maryborough, Brisbane, Newcastle, (the great Australian coal depot) Sydney, i5airnsdale and Port Albert (for Gipps Land), Melbourne, Geelong, Warrnambool, Belfast, Portland, Kivoli Bay, Adelaide, Wakefield, Augusta, Lincoln, Albany, Bun- bury, Freemantle (Perth), Grey (Geraldton) &c. I The extension of the present Russian Central-Asian railway system along the old caravan route as far as the Eastern Himalayas, with branches to Calcutta, Saigon and Canton, would bring the British and French East Indies wiihin ten days of London and Paris ; and, when the Australian trans-conti- nental line is completed, Melbourne in sixteen, and New Zealand in twenty days. See Appendix A. II Besides roads, bridges, railways and telegraphs, the several governments have constructed lighthouses, fortifications, harbours, piers, breakwaters, docks, reservoirs and water works for towns and gold fields. 5. Dotted over the maps, and in the gazetteers, may be counted five or six thousand towns, townships, and cities. A tour through these colonies would reveal to the intelli- gent visitor the fact that the indications of towns on the maps represent not staked-out sites of future towns and cities but busy thriving communities, however new or primitive some of these towns may be in appearance. In the majority of the lesser, as well as in the larger towns, besides churches and chapels there are numerous edifices and works of public utility which have been undertaken and carried out by the local municipal bodies, such as post-offices and town-halls, mechanics' institutions, market- houses, abattoirs, drainage, and other local improvements. The public buildings in the cities and muncipalities are especially remarkable, when it is remembered that the gum-tree and the kangaroo were the sole occupants of the sites of many of the larger towns little more than a generation ago. Perhaps the most noticeable features in the towns and cities are the public gardens and open spaces. The streets are generally shaded by trees, and belts of vegetation divide the cities proper from their surround- ing suburbs. The first privilege granted to the inhabitants — after a free press, and trial by jury, was that of local government, and to this is attributable the present healthy condition of the towns, their streets, lighting, cleansing, and approaches/'' An eminent English writer some years ago expressed his strong dislike to the generality of the colonial cities with their straight streets. His dislike could have been acquired from maps alone, for Australian towns, as a rule, are picturesquely situated ; few are laid out on level ground. 6. Adelaide, originally laid out on a plain, is separated from its suburbs by a belt of park-like land, and is inter- * The death rale in these colonies for twenty years, 1873 to 1893, varied from 19*08 per 1,000 in 1S75 tu 1277 in 1892, mean I5"I7, which is lower than the rate in any European country or in any other of the British colonies, New Zealand, St. Helena, and Nova Scotia excepted. The death rate, in Melbourne and suburbs in 1893 was I7'07; in extra-metropolitan towns 21 •54 ; in country districts of Victoria 872. In England and Wales during the ten years 1881 to 1890 the death rate in urban districts was 20*3 per 1,000, and in country districts I7'3 per i,oco. 12 sectcd by the river Torrens, — the banks of which have been beautified. Viewed from a distance, however, the city and its suburbs appear to h'e sheltered at the foot of the Mount Lofty ranges. 7. The objector to straight Hnes had Melbourne, or the map of Melbourne before him. But in this instance his objection was unfortunate, for Melbourne and suburbs, with nearly one hundred and fifty miles of streets, parallel and at right angles and with few curves, is situated upon un- dulating ground. It is, in this respect, like Rome, a city of seven hills. The city proper lies on the slopes of two of these hills and her lofty towers and spires can be seen from a distance of twenty miles by sea and land — churches, cathedrals, public offices, hotels, coffee-palaces, warehouses, and shops which rival (in appearance as well as in contents) those of Regent, Bond, and Oxford Streets. In and around the city are public gardens and recreation grounds, parks, squares and reserves — alto- gether four thousand acres in extent. These relieve Mel- bourne and her suburbs of all possible monotony, while the ever-flowing Yarra Yarra, — crossed by thirteen bridges — winds its way for thirty miles amidst charming rural scenery, — its banks shaded by weeping willows, mimosa, acacia, and the evergreen eucalyptus, — through suburbs, several of which recall while they perpetuate the names of Heidelberg, Malvern, Kew, Abbotsford, Richmond, St. James's Park, and Twickenham. If I am tedious in this description of Melbourne and its surroundings it is because it is the seventh city in the Empire, and may be the future Australian capital. Half a million souls, one seventh of the whole population of Australia, dwell on the banks of the Yarra, — such are the windings of the river that few of the suburbs are very far from the stream. Here may be counted hundreds of villas and mansions in ornamental grounds, or embowered in foliage, thousands of lesser villas and cottages, each with its beds and borders of flowers. The old garden favourites : daisies and roses, geraniums and fuchsias, grow profusely in the open air all the year round, as well as the laurel, magnolia, and rhododendron. Detached houses are usually surrounded by verandas, covered with ivy, honeysuckle, Virginia, and other creepers, or closed in with Venetian blinds to shade from the summer-sun. The main roads to the suburbs are lined with terrace after terrace and detached villa residences for 13 miles — residences adapted to the exigencies of a chanireable climate and exhibiting^ some of the best examples of modern domestic architecture. Government House, Mel- bourne, at present occupied by Lord Brassey and suite, is a palace fit for any European prince, and is situate in extensive and ornamental grounds, overlooking the botanic gardens and the Yarra, and within a (c\v minutes' walk of the city. Around all, even in the less picturesque parts, in the humbler homes and cottages of the labouring classes, there is an air of comfort, for the occupiers are often the owners, or the owners reside near by. Railways and a very complete system of cable tramways render access to the city, or egress from it, to the most distant of the suburbs, possible within the half hour. 8. Within easy distance of Melbourne, there are many places of resort for excursionists, seaside and inland, where Australian nature in her wildest and weirdest form may be seen : — valleys of ferns tall as forest trees, hills whereon are forest trees "to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills were but a wand ; " giants towering to the height of 250, 300 and 400 feet,* some in the full glory of their branching foliage, others long since dead — probably destroyed by bush fires, which have left their gaunt and now whitened limbs, stretched out to a cold and frosty sky ; fresh and tall young saplings, side by side with the monarchs of past ages — others gnarled and twisted, scarcely rising above the low scrub or undergrowth — all types of the everlasting and interminable gum tree spread, now thickly, now sparsely, over the con- tinent, even into Tasmania. 9. From her situation, within 40' and 44° south — the same latitude as Central Italy in the north, but with a milder climate tempered by the breezes of the Southern Ocean, Tasmania, with her lovely places of resort, by mountain, glen, lake, stream, and sea — scenery beautiful almost beyond description — has long been, for Australians * The trunks of some of these " big " trees, now lying low, measure 300 feet to their lowest branch : when in full glory their topmost branches could not have been less than 480 or 500 feet from the ground, — trees with their foliage, greater in height, and equal in expanse to the dome of St. Paul's, or even St. Peter's at Rome ! 14 and Indian officers, a retreat and place of rest. Ninety- years of cultivation has softened the oric^inal weird scenery of the districts around Launceston, Ilobart, and other towns and they now wear something of the aspect of English provincial towns.* The sea-passage across Bass straits, between Port Phillip Heads and Launceston, occupies eighteen hours. For a more invigorating climate like that of Scotland and Switzerland, the Australian holiday maker seeks South New Zealand, and is not disappointed. 10. To return to the Australian mainland. Brisbane and Perth, the capitals of Queensland and Western Australia, are also beautifully situated upon rivers and surrounded by picturesque suburbs and forest scenery. Goulburn and Bathurst, next to Sydney and Parramatta, the oldest towns of importance in New South Wales ; Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo (Sandhurst) in Victoria, if they are not pic- turesquely situated, they have for a long time been receiv- ing all the attention that art can give, and are becoming more attractive year by year. 1 1. Sydney, seated upon a series of promontories jutting into a harbour which has been pronounced the most beau- tiful in the world, has, with the estuary of the Parramatta river, one hundred miles of water frontage, every acre of which is made more beautiful by villas and mansions, public and private gardens, their lawns and green foliage coming down to the water's edge. Here, not much more than a hundred years ago, came the first pioneers, — the greater number a wretched band of outcasts. From a tedious voyage across a dreary waste of waters, they came to a land, — a wilderness, which could offer them only wood and water. Hewers of wood and drawers of water they were forced to remain. For years Nature and the pioneers waged war with each other, and Nature the strongest defied the efforts of the invaders for a quarter of a century. When forests were cleared, crops sown, and * A distinguished visitor in 1888 — the late Earl of Carnarvon — writes that : *' Hobart, under unclouded skies, looked that which its loyal people most desire it should look, an essentially English town. On no part of Australia are, I think, English characteristics more strongly impressed than on Tasmanian things and persons. Life is simple and habits homely, the eager competition of business and politics is absent, the vast fortunes of the main- land do not exist ; but the turn of thought and conversation, the social influences, the very look of mute and material things, the roads, the hedges, the enclosures, all wear a distinctly English character." — Fortnis;htly Review, March, 1889. 15 farmsteads erected upon the banks of the Ilawkesbury, She gave enough for a yea.r or two for half the settlers and then mocked them with floods which disheartened and might have broken up the colony had the settlers been nearer " home." But in the end the pioneers won. l^eau- tiful for situation, Sydney must always remain the Queen, city of the South. She has, in addition to her water frontages, 1 15 miles of streets, and her suburbs have spread in every direction. Like Adelaide and Melbourne, Sydney has her cathedrals, churches, town hall, post office, and vice-regal residence. The government offices in Sydney as in Melbourne, are comparable in extent and appearance with those in Whitehall and St. James's Park. The chief cities have, in addition to public offices, their free public libraries, technical museums of natural and industrial pro- ducts, botanic and zoological gardens, theatres and opera houses. 12. The New South Wales " National Park," situated a few miles to the south of Sydney, contains 35,000 acres of the loveliest woodland, forest, mountain, and river scenery, and has a frontage of eight miles to the Pacific. It lies ad- jacent to the country watered by the river Nepean, on which are situated the villages of Camden, Campbelltown, and Narellan, in the midst of the original estates of the Macarthurs, the Maclcays, the Cowpers, and other founders of Australian wealth and greatness. 13. And while the State thus ministers to the comfort and out-door enjoyments of the living, the departed are not forgotten. The dust of the generations of those who built the cities of Europe, who filled her granaries, fought her battles — of peace as of war — who wrote her literatures, is sacred. The " Brookwoods," " Greenwoods," " Mount Auburns," and " Campo-santos," of Europe and America are repeated in this new world. While the graves of not a few of the first three generations of Australia's pioneers lie " Far in the forest shade," the remains of the majority rest in well laid-out ceme- teries in and around the towns and cities — sites not long since wildernesses, which these departed pioneers have made to blossom as the rose. * * * * 14. The visitor will soon discover that it is not in the towns of Australia that he must look for the best evidences i6 of progress. In the settled districts nearly ten millions of acres are under cultivation, and probably one third of the whole continent — five or six hundred million acres — is under periodical, if not permanent, pastoral occupation. The agriculturist is able to grow more wheat, potatoes, and other foodstuff than is required for local consumption, and a proportion of his crops have long been exported. The visitor will, in his rapid journey, see not only cornfields, and market gardens, but vineyards, cotton-fields, sugar planta- tions, ostrich and poultry farms ; forests cleared, and forests replanted — with European and other exogenous trees and shrubs, as well as indigenous trees, such as the eucalyptus for its oil and the wattle for its bark. And, if the visitor does not see, he will be told of cattle — and horses too, upon a thousand hills ; he will hear of flocks of sheep grazing over hundreds of thousands of square miles of grassy slopes and plains — sheep aggregating more in number than are now to be found in the hills and dales, or upon the rich and well-watered meadow lands, of their old home in Western Europe.* During several months in the year, hundreds of waggons and bullock teams are travelling along the bush tracks and the highways ; and barges are making their way down the Darling, the Murrumbidgee, and the Murray, to the railway depots, conveyances mostly laden with bales of the golden fleece, which will be shipped from the seaports to European aiid American markets. There the bales will be exchanged for the greater part of the necessaries of life (food excepted) and those conveniences and luxuries without which no community can, in these days, claim to be full)' civilised. These waggon and barge loads, of wool, when manufac- tured, clothe one third of the people of Europe and the United States of America.f * Australia and Tasmania, with only three and a half millions of inhabitants in 1894 possessed 1,679,154 horses, 12,337,391 cattle, 100,940,609 sheep, — • more than Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and the Uni'ed Kingdom, countries peopled Vjy two hundred mil- lions. A writer in l^he Mother Colony of the Anstralias (1S96) gives the number of sheep in Australia in 1894 as 121,161,247. t Of seven hundred million pounds weight of wool imported into Great Brilain in the year 1895, ^^^ hundred and forty-one million pounds weight was received from Australia and New Zealand. This was valued, in a depressed year at ^^18,204,871. Shipments from Australasia to other countries made up the total to ;^I9,532,205. In other words, as far as the colonists are con- cerned, every shearing means ;/r20,000,coo, — and a fall of a penny per lb. something like a loss of two and a quarter millions of money. 15. Wool and other natural productions: — gold, silver, copper, tin, coal, tallow, hides, leather, grain, sugar butter, cheese, frozen and preserved meats and fruits, wine, cotton, tobacco, live stock, &c., — made up the amount of exports from Australia and Tasmania in 1895, to ^^56,000,000. This, it is to be noted, is external trade; foodstuffs and other local products and manufactures consumed by three and a half millions of the population and domestic ani- mals, may be, in some degree, imagined from the fact that actual want in these colonies is unknown, while there must be much waste and consequent loss from various causes, as by periodical and sudden inundations destroying crops, or long-continued drought when cattle die in thousands and sheep in tens of thousands for want of grass and water. 16. The imports into the six colonies consist chiefly of textile fabrics (largely manufactured from Australian wool), drapery, haberdashery, and other apparel, leather, boots, and shoes (also largely manufactured from Australian hides and skins), fancy goods, glass and chinaware, jewellery, paper, books, stationery, drugs and chemicals, iron and steel, machinery and hardware, railway plant, military stores, ^c. During the eleven years 1885 to 1895 these imports averaged ^53,000,000 per annum. 17. The volume of Australian trade will thus be seen to aggregate considerably over one hundred millions annually. These results — in the cities and towns, in the agricultural, pastoral, and mining districts of Australia — amply redeem the obligations of the colonists to work-up the natural resources of their country. Indeed the achievements of three generations of pioneers in cutting through forest and scrub; in opening paths across the mountains and through the deserts; in stocking, and producing such marvellous results in pastoral, agricultural, and mining pursuits, in so short a time, on a continent, which, unlike all other conti- nents, possesses no great navigable rivers, or permanent inland water communication, are perhaps, without a parallel in history. ■* * * * In my next communication, I shall treat of the popula- tion, their condition and circumstances, savings, morals, religious and educational advantages, amusements, occupa- 3 i8 tions, &c., having now obtained a copy of Greville's latest Australian Year Book and some other statistical works from the Australian Agents-General in London. I am, &c., E. A. P. Pwllheli, 5th October, 1896. LETTER IL The Population. 18. TN my former letter I described briefly the general -■■ appearance of the country, its towns and cities, and summarized its internal and external trade, and indus- tries. A closer examination will show that the general air of comfort pervading the different communities is not apparent only but real. Despite the heavy clouds of com- mercial and financial depression which have darkened thou- sands of Australian homes during the last two or three years, the latest published returns (1894-95) show that the amount of deposits in the Post Office and Trustee Savings' Banks of the six colonies was ^20,076,709.* The number of depositors was 701,732, the average amount for each depositor being ;^28 4s. od., equivalent to ^^5 15s. 4d. per head of the total population f — nearly thirty pounds for each household of five persons. This average which is a fraction higher than that for 1883, when it stood at £28 3s. 4d. for each depositor, shows how little the lower middle-class of the population has suffered from the recent depression. The class above has suffered most, and this is made clear by the reports of the Life Assurance Companies. There has been a large number of surrenders as well as free borrowing on the surrender value of Policies. The status and funds of the various companies have, however, been maintained, and thirty thousand new policies were [* The returns for 1895-6 show that this amDunt had increased to ;^2i,740,8o2 ; the depositors to 741,386; and the average for each depositor to ;{^29 6s. 6d.] t The amount per head of population in the United Kingdom is less than half this average, £2 i6s. 5d. 19 issued in 1895. [An improvement in nearly every respect is reported as of business done during the \'ear 1896.] * 19. The Benefit and Friendly Societies, thirty-three in number, including lodges and orders of Freemasons, Odd- fellows, Foresters, Druids, Rechabites, Gardeners, &c., have 2689 branches, and an aggregate membership of a quarter of a million, nearly all of whose wives and families are entitled to sick allowances and medical attendance. Their present funds amount to ^^2,243,421, and they are reported to be in sound and flourishing condition, present and pro- spective, having contributions and incomes sufficient for outgo as well as for periodical investment. All this speaks favourably for the material well-being of the great mass of the population. 20. The moral and intellectual habits and condition of the people are not less gratifying. Christianity is professed by nearly the whole of the European population. At the last census only about thirty per thousand were " unspeci- fied " and " of no religion." The respective order, in point of numbers, of the different persuasions was : — Church of England, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Methodist, Congregational and Independent, Baptist, Lutheran, other Christians. Jews numbered 14,000. Habi- tual attendants at churches, chapels, and meeting houses, were estimated at not less than one third of the whole population. Six or eight hundred thousand children regu- larly attend. Sunday Schools. In the fourteen bishoprics of the Churcli of England there are eight hundred clergy besides readers, 1500 churches and as many more school churches and dwellings used for service.f The Roman Catholic organization comprises four arch-dioceses and eighteen dioceses and vicariates, with their archbishops, bishops, priests (secular and regular) religious brothers, nuns, colleges, numerous churches, orphanages, schools, and homes. The other denominations, above mentioned, are well organized, having their respective Assemblies, Unions, Councils and Conferences. With the exception of occasional grants of land in outlying districts and a few money grants in two only of the colonies, ^ insignificant in * "Year Book of Australia for 1897," p. xxiii. t The bishop of Sydney has hitherto been Metropolitan of Australia. " The Anglican Synod sitting at Sydney has decided to designate a Primate of Australia, with the title of Archbishop." — Renter, Oct. 10, 1896. t . South Australia (1836) 358,659 ; Victoria (1835) 1,181,769; Queensland (1859)460,559, including about 10,000 Polyne- sians ; the Chinese scattered through all the colonies and numbering 36,000, are included in these figures. They follow the European miners in alluvial diggings, living upon the " tailings," and are good market gardeners and fishermen, but their habits and customs, especially in the Chinese quarters, are said to be offensive to their European neighbours. The aborigines, estimated at not more than 60,000, still remain in the "hunter and fisher" state, those near the settled districts being for all practical purposes useless. During the period of the early gold discoveries a few were found useful as mounted police in country districts. Useless to squatter as to civilian they often spear sheep by way of retaliation upon the white man who shoots black man's kangaroo. The few remnants of tribes which once wandered about the present settled districts are taken care of by Government protectors, and lodged in aboriginal villages. t These are, in the order of their foundation: Sydney (1788) 383,385; Hobart (1803) 33,450 : Launceston (1804) 21,316; Brisbane (1824) 93,657; Perth (1829) S447 [25,000 in 1897]; Melbourne (1835) 490,896; Adelaide (1836) 133,252; Ballarat (1851) 46,033; Sandhurst, i.e. Bendigo (1852) 37,238. The figures given are those of the Census of 1891. 27 women and forty thousand men arc engaged in domestic duties, and eighty-three thousand in professional occupa- tions, of which twenty-seven thousand are women. In other words, there are one million three hundred thousand bread-winners in these colonies. Add to these one hundred thousand ablebodied men and women who ha\e been in Australia, but have left it, retired to their father- land or to other countries, and a further two hundred thousand pioneers who braved the ocean, and helped to change the face of the " inhospitable " land, who " made the wilderness and the solitary places to be glad," but who now rest from their labours, and we have the total of say, one and a half millions for whom the claim may be ad- vanced that they have made of this former waste continent what it is to-day. It possesses no soil which if ' tickled with a hoe will laugh with a crop.' Not without immense toil and severe tribulation — of 'road-gangs,' 'chain-gangs,' and much 'sweat of the brow' of free labour — came the grand results of the first Australian century. 1 am, &c., Pwllheli, loth October 1896. E. A. P. LETTER III. Australian Finances and Public Works. 31. (^"^N the whole, the Australian Colonies have been ^-^ very prosperous. They have prospered in spite of continuous trials and vicissitudes. For many years after the original settlement was founded the community was distressed by sickness and famine. Four times the farms on the banks of the Hawkesbury were swept away by floods and the crops destroyed. A long period of drought followed extending over eleven years. When hard experience had taught the colonists the characteristics of the climate and the seasons and they could in some measure prepare for the inevitable " rainy," or " dr}'," 28 day, the community was prostrated by a financial crisis.* Sheep farmini^ at tliis time (1826) was still in its infancy, and, by many, reckoned unprofitable.! Those who could sell out did so and invested in cattle in preference to sheep; others abandoned both occupations for commerce. The truth is that those who engaged in pastoral pursuits, had not only to stock their "runs" and to wait for the shearing, but also to wait another twelve or eighteen months before they could receive the value of their wool, unless they obtained advances from local money lenders or from the local bank, at very high rates of interest. The distance between the place of production and the market, in other words, the " geographical difficulty," has never been over- come and must always be considered in commercial trans- actions between London and distant colonies. In 1842, through the misfortunes of the leading house in Sydney, one of the two Australian banks, then in existence, stopped payment, and the whole community was again involved in the failures, l Port Phillip (Melbourne) firms, being largely dependent for their supplies upon Sydney firms, were in a worse predicament. The new Province of South Australia, founded in 1836, depending too much upon the home government and extraneous capital, also col- lapsed. After the Californian gold discoveries in 1849 had drawn off many from these Colonies, richer discoveries of the precious metal were made both in New South Wales and Victoria, and during the years 185 1 to 1854, money, * There had been also a bastard currency, mixed and vitiated : a silver Spanish dollar, with the centre punched out, was legal tender for 5s. ; the "dump," or punched-out part, is. 3d., a guinea 22s., a Johanna /^^, half Johanna £2, a ducat 9s. 6d., a gold mohur 37s. 6d., a pagoda 8s., a rupee 2s. 6d., a dutch guilder 2S., an English shilling is. id., any copper coin (Id.) 2d. t The price of sheep fell, in 1830, to is. yd. per head : at one sale of 2000, at that figure, the lambs were given in. Allowing a " dump " (quarter dollar) for the skin the value of the carcase was foitrpeiue ! In 1843-44 the price of sheep fell to is. 6d. per head ; about 1866 thousands were sold, owing to the drought at one shilling per head ! At the same time and for some time after, a side of best mutton could be bought in any butcher's shop in Melbourne for eighteen-pence ! X During the years 1842 and 1843 there were twelve hundred insolvencies in Sydney (New South Wales) alone and there had not been a recovery of pros- }:erity up to 1850. The liabilities of the insolvent estates up to 1849 amounted to nearly six millions ; unsecured estates, amounting to four millions, realised less than 2s. 6d. in the ^. Among the insolvents were men of reputation and stability, who had firm faith in sheep farming and believed it could be carried on profitably. 29 or i(old dust, was plentiful. The extraordinary high prices for all necessaries as well as wages, soon, however, dispelled as an illusion, this appearance of prosperity. Responsible government was introduced at this time and borrowing for public works began. The circulation of part of the loans in wages* no doubt, prevented another collapse. In 1866, the banks (some of them then but recently established) were again constrained to put pressure upon their cus- tomers, the squatters, whose interests suffered once more. With increasing supplies of wool and a rise in its price, the commercial barometer rose again. Melbourne and Sydney merchants whose transactions in the European markets had increased in volume, beyond the means of individual firms, were also dependent upon the Banks for working capital. 32. Australian bankers thus assumed in addition to the ordinary business of banking, that of traders in wool and other merchandize. In the circumstances this was legiti- mate business, but when they, or some of the banks, later on, having millions more money than they needed — sent to the Colonies for investment — when they lent it to specu- lators,! or to mortgage companies and building societies, this business was, to say the least, hazardous. But having advanced it upon what was accounted the best security, which to have questioned a (qw years earlier would have been deemed financial heresy ! — the Banks were able to pay high rates of interest to depositors and extra- ordinarily high dividends to pleased and gratified share- holders, who invariably voted " hearty thanks " to the management. Bank shares thus became a favourite in- vestment and many realised other property and invested in them, so that the Banks had plenty of money. Com- * The larger part of the loans reached the colonies in the shape of railway iron, rolling stock, and iron water pipes. See paragraph 39. t Speculation look shape mainly in Company mongering — land, building, mortgage, estate, and investment societies. During the twelve months ending 31st May 18S8, two hundred and seventy new companies with nominal capital of ;^50,000 [query fifty millions] were registered in Melbourne alone. Some of these survived but a few months. Between January and September 1S92, the period immediately preceding tlie Bank suspensions, one hundred and thirty nine companies were placed in liquidation. In the same period there were eighty- four private compositions and arrangements with creditors, the of liabilities of which amounted to ;;^3,ooo,ooo, and sixty individual insolvencies of ;i{^3,oooand upwards, aggregating ^2,850,000, besides numerous insolvencies for lesser sums. These figures are based ujjon returns for nine months, and for Melbourne alone ! Vide A^e, Melbourne, Sept. 30, 1892. 30 paratively little cash, however, circulated in the Colonies. There, most of the business transacted is upon paper — bills, promissory notes, and cheques ; and every Colonial bank issues its own notes (^i, ^5, &c.), which is the ordinary currency in these Colonies, and is, as a rule, preferred to gold, scarce as it always is, 33, In the mean time gardens and paddocks, parks and estates, accessible from the cities, were bought by specula- tors, cut up into small allotments and sold ; properties in favourite localities rose in market value rapidly, and the fever for speculation, called the "Land Boom," set in. Many properties changed hands several times at an advance, and, sometimes, at quadruple their ordinary value. In the best parts of the cities of Melbourne and Sydney (Collins and George streets) the prices rose so enormously high (;^500 to £'i,S0O per foot frontage) that they were practically unpurchaseable. The owners of these properties, as a rule, held them. A few bold speculators, in the manner related, made large fortunes, upon paper, became Bank directors and, in popular estimation, millionaires. Hundreds of smaller emulators bought only to sell at an advance, paid cash deposits, and gave bills or promissory notes for the balance. The failure to keep their engagements, was not, however, so serious to the community, as that of the imaginary millionaires, who had borrowed for the pur- pose of erecting mansions in the suburbs, colossal city warehouses, grand hotels, coffee palaces and city offices, rising eight, ten, and fourteen stories in height — when these speculators failed, the mortgage companies and building societies began to totter. It has been stated that rumours of their instability reaching London, the depositors on this side gave notice to withdraw their deposits, and that this caused the failure of three Australian banks and the panic which ensued, necessitating the closing and reconstruction, in 1893 of eleven other banks, besides inconveniencing all legitimate colonial trade for many years. This statement is incorrect. The " run " on the banks occurred mainly in Melbourne, and in a less degree in Sydney, in anticipa- tion that on the position of affairs being known on this side, the British depositors would take fright. As a matter of fact the withdrawals on this side were insignifi- cant. Two of the reconstructed banks have already released the whole of their deposits, others a portion, some are about to do so, two have converted portions of their 31 extended deposits into longer dated obligations, two have arranged for reductions of interest to depositors, the City of Melbourne Bank failing to do so, has gone into liquidation. * * * * 34. Necessarily there has been an enormous reduction in the volume of ordinary trade. The distressed community persuaded of the absolute necessity of increasing their own natural productions have more than maintained the volume of exports. Notwithstanding a fall in the price of wool, the value of the Exports for 1894 amounted to ;^53,669,OoS [and to ^56,000,000 in 1895], exceeding the Imports by nearly twelve millions!* 35. As the result of the "land boom," thousands among the thrifty lost the savings of years, hundreds the savings of a lifetime. Officials in all the government departments, members of parliament, and ministers of state have all had to submit to reductions. Yet the mass of the popu- lation will not suffer as severely as might be supposed. While there have been large reductions in wages, house rents, food and other necessaries have also fallen in price. Clouds of depression will for a time rest upon thousands of innocent homes, but the Colonists may take to them- selves this consolation that although a few ignorant specu- lators ma}' wreck a whole community they cannot utterly ruin a country like Australia. 36. [The late financial troubles have been universally felt, and their effects will not pass away for many years ; but the ultimate results will be for good. The gradual reductions and assimilation of prices with those of older countries, especially with English prices, will pave the way for local manufactures and the influx and growth of a large industrial population, benefiting the old and blessing the new country, and thus remove the ground of the common complaint that manufacturing in these Colonies (so wonderfully rich in natural resources) will not pay. This complaint will die away like other com- plaints of former periods in Australian history. "Agri- culture would not pay," said the earlier settlers, for very few of them knew anything about the art. " Sheep- * Imports declined from ;^65, 500,000 in 1891 to ;,^42, 000,000 in 1894 [but rose to ;(f44,364,054 in 1895]. While these figures show less business transacted with Great Britain and other countries, they place the colonists, in regard to their commercial creditors, in a much better position, probably to the extent of between thirty and forty millions in the last four years. farminj]^ would not pay," said others, later on ; "Commerce is played out," many have said, more recently. These complaints made by suffcrinij humanity in times of deep depression — because the science of economics is not taught and therefore not understood — have been, and will aj^ain be contradicted, as time goes on, in Australia. Her vast and varied resources lie at hand, waiting only for the advent of sufficient, and willing, workers.]*' * * * * 37. J HAVE now to speak of the public works in these colonies, the growth of the government debts and government policy. Founded originally by the Home Government as an outlet and penitentiary for the worst of her criminals, " Botany Bay," the name by which the settle- ment was known for two generations, was looked upon and treated as an experiment. The woods and forests surrounding Sydney were cleared, stockades for the con- victs, and slab huts for the officials and military were built, but no permanent buildings of any kind. Governors and officers alike, with one or two notable exceptions, looked only to the period of their engagements when they might get back to England. As for the mass of the con- victs, transported for ever so short a period, there were no opportunities for their return. So terrible was the tale of their sufferings from disease and famine that Old Bailey convicts preferred death to transportation. An experiment &f the colony was considered by Bentham and economists of the Utilitarian School. When the benevolent governor, General Lachlan Macquarie, improved the condition of things, opened up the country, founded inland settlements and made good roads to them, erected hospitals, orphan- ages, churches, law courts, and official residences, enemies to his administration and critics at home rendered his position intolerable. They complained that he had made the colony " a paradise for convicts," forgetting that every year added thousands to the free inhabitants. When, in after years, the "free" and " emancipated " numbered two thirds of the whole population and the majority protested against the continuance of transportation, it is surprising that the Home Government should have kept up the supply of convicts for another ten years at a cost to this country of ;^200,oco per annum. No doubt the influence * See paragraph 60, pp. 45, 46. Od of the minority in the colony, favourable to the system, was powerful in this matter. While the shiploads of con- victs continued to be sent out, that minority was fully provided with free labour. It was by free, or convict, labour that the government roads and other public works, including also the numerous public edifices in Sydney, were carried out. 38. When the supply of convict labour ceased at the time of the great influx of population consequent upon the gold discoveries, an extension of roads became necessary as well as the introduction of railways and telegraphs. New South Wales and Victoria having passed through seven or eight years of commercial depression, as above de- scribed, money for public works had to be borrowed. The gold produce gave to the Governments little or no mone- tary aid toward public works which became more urgent as the result of the discoveries. It is believed that the hundreds of millions of pounds worth of gold, dug from Australian mines, in the first twenty years after its discovery, realized in Europe no more than the cost of its production — labour, machinery, collecting, and transmission. 39. In Victoria an era of high wages and high prices ruled for two or three years to be succeeded by another period of depression, when the unsuccessful diggers — thousands of able-bodied men and their families were added to the town populations. The " unemployed " then became the most urgent question of that time. Hundreds, including men of education, accepted employment from the Government and did what had formerly been done by convict gangs, — broke stones upon the roads. Among remedies proposed at this time was the establishment of local industries, with protection. The governments were also advised to " Throw open the lands ! " and to " Settle the people on the lands !" With these cries would sometimes be heard that of " Down with the squatters !" a catastrophe always to be prayed against in these colonies. The order of "the golden fleece" has been and ever will be the best emblem for Australians to wear. The lands were surveyed and thrown open — millions of acres of arable land — and inducements offered to the people to settle upon them, on the whole with success. But railways were " wanted " everywhere, and water works. The proceeds of land sales, and rents of crown lands, being required principally for the expenses of government and land surveys, money had to 34 be borrowed — for iron pipes, railway iron, railway plant, and roUin;^ stock. The t^reatcr part of the loans benefited the English and Scotch ironmasters, the rest was circulated among a little army of surveyors and engineers, overseers and foremen, navvies, plate-layers, engine-drivers, stokers, booking clerks, traffic managers, station masters, &c., all under the direction of the public works and railway depart- ments. In 1870 one thousand miles of railway were open ; in 1880, four thousand ; in 1890, nearly ten thousand ; another two thousand, making 12,000 miles in all, have been completed since. The total expenditure upon rail- ways has been one hundred and twelve millions, all derived from loans with the exception of five millions taken from general revenue. In the absence of navigable rivers railways have been absolutely necessary to the develop- ment of the whole of the natural and industrial resources of the country — wool, tallow, hides, gold, silver, &c., all have to be brought from the interior : coal only, being pro- curable on the sea coast, at Newcastle, New South Wales, Much attention has been given in recent years to the con- servation and storage of water, the boring of artesian wells, and the formation of reservoirs. Upon water works and irrigation about eighteen millions have been expended. The expenditure upon harbours, breakwaters, docks, and lighthouses — works partaking of an international character, — has been nearly seven millions ; that upon defences has been from one and a half to two millions. Three or four millions have been spent upon main roads and bridges since the days when these were constructed by convict labour ; four millions upon other public works and build- ings, such as law courts, government, post, and telegraph offices and houses of parliament ; and two and a half millions upon school buildings. 40. The gross annual expenditure of the six colonies which has always been out of proportion to their limited population, has been reduced from twenty-six and a half millions in 1890 to twenty-four and a half millions in 1S95- 96. This includes seven millions for interest upon the Public Debts, nine millions for working expenses of railways, water- supply, posts, telegraphs and other reproductive works, and eight and a half millions for the general expenses of government, law, police, gaols, defences, customs and har- bours management, lands, agriculture, and mining adminis- tiation and surveys, public instruction, science, medical and charitable institutions, allowances, pensions, &c. 35 41. The Revenue 1895-96 derived from customs and other taxation, lands, railways, water supply, and other sources amounted to twenty-five millions — the surplus of about half a million beinjr devoted to reduction of previous years' deficiencies. The revenue from land was three and a half millions and from reproductive works ten millions — the latter two millions more than working expenses but insuf- ficient to cover working ex[)enses and interest upon capital. The sole reason for this insufficiency was the falling off of all classes of traffic. Reductions in mileage, in staff, and in wages will, it is expected, result in a balance, and, when traffic resumes its normal state will, apparently, show profits available towards the repayment of loans, or for extension of the lines. 42. A more serious difficulty in the near future, will be the reductions necessary to be made in the ordinary expenses of government. In some departments salaries were fixed when prices of necessaries and rents ruled high. The cost of administration (excluding interest on debts, management of railways and other reproductive works) amounts, as above stated, to nearly eight and a half mil- lions per annum or forty eight shillings per head of popu- lation (3,500,000), three times as much as in the United States and Great Britain.* An explanation for this great disproportion may be found in some of the details, such as education, as well as in the limited population. To abolish offices or to make drastic reductions in order to bring this expenditure within reasonable limits would be injurious and unjust. Increase of population is, therefore, the only cure. But the figures imply that there was some truth in the complaints which used to be made that Aus- tralian civil servants were the masters of the situation, and not the ministers. There is, however at present great disparity in the salaries both of ministers and of civil * The cost of administration of tlie P'ederal Government of the United Stales, including departmental expenses, customs, and pensions to the soldiers of the civil war (^27,600,000), and excludinir army and navy and interest upon national debt, is not more than lifty millions, or sixteen shillings per head of population (63,000,000). In Great Britain (also excluding army, navy, and interest), the expenditure for the civil and consolidated fund lists, supply services, public works, law and justice, education, collection of customs, in- land, postal, and other revenue, amounts to thirty-four millions, being an average of eighteen shillings per head of jiopulation (38,000,000). For comparison I exclude from the total Australian expenditure the cost of rail- way management and other reproductive works, because these are not public property in the United .States and Great Britain. 36 servants : the salaries paid in Tasmania are not more than half the amount of those paid in Victoria and New South Wales. 43- Figures giving total amount of land sales, or of rents for lands, up to the present, are not available. Probably two or three millions of acres were granted free, before the period of responsible government. For other alienated lands, or lands in process of alienation, a sum of eighty to one hundred millions sterling has probably been received. This approximate sum, as well as the rents for pastoral and mining lands, appears to have been absorbed into the general revenue and very little of it used, as was antici- pated, to encourage immigration. None of it was placed to a capital fund for special purposes. The reason for this is to be found in the natural aversion to direct taxation. The land revenues, as well as customs' duties have therefore been necessary to carry on administration. 44. The excuse for high customs' duties was " protec- tion to native industry" — when indeed there were few colonial industries, or none, to protect. The mass of the electors in these Colonies, have no doubt been influenced by the United States and continental countries in this policy of Protection, but they are now awakening to some of its fallacies.* In agreeing to tax "luxuries" they believed that the incidence of taxation would be upon those who used the luxuries, and that they themselves could do without them. It was long supposed also that " protection " was the cry and the badge of the labouring classes and " free trade " that of the commercial classes. This is now discovered to be a mistake. The importer and the middleman, both profited by higher prices, and the consumer has hitherto paid for the original article, the duty upon the article, and an additional rate of profit to the merchant. Again, the supposed assistance to the local manufacturer was not so great as had been imagined. The heavy duty upon the imported article * Leaders of the Free Trade movement in the United States have been recently engaged upon elaborate and intricate inquiries into the incidence of indirect taxation, with some remarkable results : " I'he wealthy class pays less than one tenth of the indirect taxes, the well-to-do class less than one quarter, and the relatively poorer classes more than two thirds. [Here follows a table summing up the incidence of these taxes in 1890]. " /n the domain of lihect taxation," the writer continues, "SUCH injustice WOULD not be toler- ated ONE MONTH ; BUT IN THE DOMAIN OF INDIRECT TAXATION IT IS ENDURED YEAR AFTER YEAR." An Essay Oil the Present Disli-ilmtion of Wealth in the United States y by C. B. Spahr (Library of Economics and Politics), New York, [1896]. 37 enabled him to keep up, and often to raise, his prices, on tlie plea that his material, or part of it, his tools, and machinery were imported, and subject to duty ; his goods he also argued were superior to those imported, as im- ported goods were, in time, reduced in quality as well as in price, to suit the market. 45. The Governments have not always received as much revenue from customs' duties as they reckoned upon ; the duty upon many articles has been more than swallowed up in the cost of collecting it ; and dutiable goods reshipped being subject to rebate, the results have not been commen- surate with the cost of landing, bonding, and examination. Furthermore, the Minister at the head of the Victorian Department has been compelled to apply to Parliament for additional powers to enforce the Act because of its fre- quent evasion. Depending for revenue upon imports and customs' duties thereon, rather than upon direct taxation, has been the chief cause of the deficiencies during the last three or four years. PVom sixty-two millions in 1890 the imports fell off in 1894 to forty-two millions [but rose again in 1895 to forty-four and a-half millions.] These de- ficiencies in total revenue, provided by Treasury Bills, now amount to between seven and eight millions. 46. Are we, then, to assume with certain critics, that because these Colonies have parted with so much of the national wealth, and are one hundred and seventy-five millions in debt, they have therefore failed financially and are likely to repudiate ? There is not the smallest reason for such an assumption. Thus far, they have been able to fulfil all their engagements, even during periods of length- ened depression, and while passing through crises which might have crushed older states. We are witnesses of the vigorous and strenuous efforts which the several govern- ments arc making to meet their future engagements, and can we doubt that they will succeed in retaining that first class financial position in which they, as British Colonies, have hitherto stood firm — a position which, as I have shown, has been jeopardized only by the ill-considered, incautious, and ignorant actions of a very (e\v private speculators. The Australian Colonies are financially sound. They have alienated part of their estates, selling too cheaply, and the proceeds have been swallowed up in the expenses of government, instead of being devoted to improvements — railways, &c. Por these they have bor- 38 rowed, and are in debt. They have still left, the lari^er portion of these estates ; will they alienate this in the same manner ?* These are, however, mere matters of policy, it will be said, " If these estates do not belong to " the Crown, as once they did, they belong to the people, "who can be taxed, and so we can get our revenues and "our interest in that way."' I have said the colonies are financially sound. Let us look at a rough Balance Sheet. LlAUILITIES. Government Loans for Public Works, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ^175,000,000 Indebtedness of all Australian Banks, Mortgage Companies and Private Mortgagees ... ... ... ... 110,000,000 Indebtedness of Colonial Merchants for, say, six months' imports, less pro- portion advanced by the Banks, forming part of their liabilities Approximate Public and Private In- debtedness of the six Australian Colonies Assets. Government Railways, Water Works, and other Public Reproductive Works, Public Buildings, &c. Private Property, in Towns and in Country, estimated upon Rateable Valuet Personal Property, Sheep, Cattle, Horses, &c.J ... Personal Property, Goods in Shops and Warehouses Government Savings' Banks ... Approximate Public and Private Assets of the six Australian Colonies 15,000,000 ^300,000,000 7^300,000,000 350,000,000 100,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000 ^800,000,000 * See footnote to paragraph 49. t The depreciated value of rateable property in cities, towns, boroughs, and shires in the Colony of Victoria, alone, in 1S93 was ;!^iS9,46i,350. The capital value of property in Sydney city in 1895, by another authority is ;,^55, 000,000 ; that in Sydney .suburbs is ;^70,ooo,coo, Brisbane city ;^5, 800,000, Adelaide city ;^9, 500,000. With that in other cities, towns, municipalities and shires in the six colonies the total can scarcely be less than ;i^4O0, 000,000, but I have set it down at 1^350,000,000. \ A more recent estimate than mine sets down this item at ;if 300,000,000. 39 The estimate of some of the Government statists would be ^1,000,000,000 or more, but accepting the lower esti- mate, it shows a surplus of five hundred millions without taking into account the unoccupied lands and mineral resources, which scarcely can be claimed to belong to the present generation, except in as far as they may use them. The loans are secured not upon lands or mines, but upon revenue. Such results are enough to excite the jealousy, if not the cupidity of a foreign enemy. The Colonists are to be congratulated upon the fact that the railways and water works are not in the hands of syndicates or mono- polies.* This concludes my examination of the financial position of these Colonies. Such mistakes as have been made in fiscal policy are due to circumstances rather than to lack of foresight, and are neither ruinous nor irremediable. The Colonists are, therefore, rather to be envied in their possessions and their opportunities than to be commiser- -ated for the mistaken policy, faults, or omissions, of their several governments. I am, &c., Pwllheli, October 14, iSg6. E. A. P. AUbTKALIAN P^EDERATION AND FUTURE POLICY. t 47. n[^HE advocates of P^ederation in the Australian ^ Colonies believe that some of the errors ol past policy, as regards the lands, loans, tariffs, and minor mistakes in departmental management will be remedied and rectified under P'ederal Government. At present each of the six colonies has a governor appointed by the Crown, * A few years ago the government of Western Australia allowed one of their lines to be coiihtructed by a syndicate, but has now purchased tliis from the West Australian Land Company for the sum of ;{, 1, 100,000. t New Zealand, sometimes reckoned with the Australian Colonies, though geogiaphically and politically distinct, and more or less self-coniamed, is apparently not to come into an Australian I'ederation. I'ossibly she might be included in a Eederal Government comprehending New Zealand, !• iji, and flther island groups of the Pacihc at present under the British Hag, wnh benefit to herself and the Mother Country. 40 an executive or ministry, a legislative council, and a house of assembly. In New South Wales and Queensland the legislative assemblies are elective, and the members of the legislative councils or upper houses are nominated for life and unlimited in number. In South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania both chambers are elective. Altogether there are 217 members of councils or upper houses, and 415 members of assemblies, or lower houses. In all twelve houses and 632 members. 48. To abolish these governments, even if practicable, would be unwise. For, these colonies, though limited in population, can scarcely be treated like English counties. The smallest, Tasmania, is nearly as large as Ireland, Victoria is as large as Great Britain ; New South Wales is the size of France and Italy ; Queensland is larger than France, Italy, Austria and Germany combined ; while South Australia (with the Northern Territory) and Western Australia are greater, each containing an extent of territory equal to that of France, Italy, Austria, Germany, with Spain and Portugal and Great Britain and Ireland thrown in. Or, taking Great Britain as the unit, Tasmania is one third, Victoria equal. New South Wales four times, Queens- land eight times, South Australia ten times, and Western Australia eleven times as large as the Mother Country.* 49. Centralization cannot, therefore, cure all the ills, even those of departmental government. Victoria and Queensland were separated from New South Wales because their representatives were not numerous, or influential, enough to secure a fair proportion of expendi- ture for their respective districts. New South Wales as well as the larger Colonies may, at no distant period, find further subdivision desirable.! With an increase of popu- lation in those great colonies, decentralization will be as necessary for practical government as Federation. The * The actual figures in square miles are Great Britain (mainland) 87,823 ; Tasmania, 26,375 ; Victoria 87,884 ; New South Wales, 309,175 ; Queensland, 668,224 ; South Australia, 903,425 : Western Australia, 975,920. Total of Australia and Tasmania, 2,970,003; of Euiope, 3,555,000; of the United .States (exclusive of Alaska), 3,027,591. [.See accompanying map.] t The Clarence River District should be separated from the ' Mother Colony' and united with South Queensland, capital Brisbane, according to the original plan, and Rockhampton (or Gladstone) and Townsville made the capitals of two new Colonies in North Queensland Small Colonies may soon be formed in North and North-Western Australia, with Palmerston (Port Darwin), Derby (Kimberley District), Roebourne (Pilbarra and Ashburton 41 present governments should therefore be modified only — - governor, executive, and a house of assembly with depart- ments sufficiently staffed for administration of lands, agriculture, mining, education, law, police, the manage- ment of railways, water works, posts, and telegraphs, and the collection of revenue. Municipal government would of course remain as it is. 50. Taxation and appropriation, loans (national and municipal), army, navy, and defence, fisheries, treaties, copyright, patents, naturalization, New Guinea, Polynesian, Chinese and Coolie labour, and other measures common to the whole, would be assumed by the Federal government. Permanent officials would no doubt be selected from the present colonial staffs. Whatever method of taxation is adopted the P'ederal government should come to an arrangement with the English Treasury by which remit- tances abroad shall be exempt from the incidence of taxation in Great Britain, or any British possession, and vice versa. Investors will hesitate to deal in Colonial securities if they are liable to a double tax — deductions on both sides. Sufferers by the recent Victorian impost have submitted to the exaction under a very strong feeling of injustice. 51. The Convention which it is proposed shall draw up the Federal Constitution should restrict the number of mem- bers : one for every six or seven thousand electors, eighty or one hundred in all. They should be elected in groups of three or five so that every interest in every one of the present colonies, land, labour, capital, agriculture, pastoral, mining, manufacturing, commercial, professional, educa- tional, and other interests will be represented. Some " proportionate " plan of voting should be adopted with a view to this result, and to prevent waste of votes. 52. These members would constitute the Senate or Federal Parliament and one house should be sufficient.* Districts), and Carnarvon (Gascoyne District), as capitals. Local progress and prosperity has always dated from the erection of separate Colonies. The outside districts should be considered, and treated, as " Tenitory " belonging to the group, and disposed of only for the benefit of the whole until such time as new Colonies might be carved out of it. * Earl Grey's "Australian Colonies Government Bill" introduced into the House of Lords in 1S50, provided for a Federal Council or General Assembly and a single Chamber for each Colony. Of what use is a Second House in a Pure Democracy ? Indeed Lord Abinger argued the provision would make the constitution a "pure Democracy." The clauses embodying these provi- 42 That, witli Governor General or Viceroy, and executive selected from members of the Senate, should be ample for all purposes for the present, or for ten years. Qualifica- tions for Senators should be British or Australian birth, age ^not less than thirty years — and residence in cither of the Colonics. Legislation on national subjects might be intro- duced in the State or Colonial Assemblies, and members having charge of the Bills might be permitted to speak upon them at the Bar of the Senate, though not to vote. 53. For honourable gratification Senators, after serving one or more constituencies in three Federal Parliaments, should be enrolled members of a Grand Council and retain the title of " Grand Councillor" for life. To the roll of the Grand Council should be added the names of those who have achieved aught in science, art, and literature, or who, in other ways, may deserve well of their country. Is the idea too sentimental and visionary ? The civilized world is mostly influenced by sentiment : the people that rewards its great men is always great and holds securely in its grasp the possibilities and potentialities of the future. The Grand Council should be called together to confer with the Senate, upon any revision of the constitution, or in case of war. For the next ten years and until the Grand Council is inaugurated, these discussions should be jointly conducted by the members of the Convention and the Senate. Thus, in ten years, there would be four branches of the Government : — 1. Urban District and Municipal Councils 2. The State, or Colonial Assemblies 3. The Senate, or Federal Parliament 4. The Grand Council — a Life-Peerage. 54. Naturally there is much local jealousy as to the choice of a capital for the united Colonies. I have already described Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, the chief among the present capitals. Hobart has also been suggested, but, however mild and salubrious or otherwise suitable, Hobart can be reached from the other colonies only by sea, and its communications could therefore be cut sions, although passed in Comniiltee, were afterwards amended or withdrawn, and the Lords' Amendments assented to in the House of Commons, Mr. Gladstone informing the House that "although the federative clauses formed an important portion of the Bill sent out to Australia in 1S49, they did not form an acceptable portion" [i.e., to the N.S.W. "nominee" Legislative Council]. — Pari. Debates, 3. S. Vols. Ill, I12, I13. May to Aug., 1850. See preface, pp. i, 2. 43 off or delayed by roug'h weather. Brisbane and Perth are not central, the latter city being practically as far away from Melbourne and Sydney as New York is from Lon(^on. Even by railway (when completed) her distance from Adelaide would be three, and from the eastern cities, four days. From Adelaide, supposing that city to be chosen, Melbourne is one, Sydney two, and Brisbane three days' distance by rail, and Hobart three, by sea. If S}'dney be chosen Melbourne and Brisbane are one and Adelaide two days by rail, and Hobart three days by sea. Or, if Melbourne be chosen, Adelaide and Sydney are one, and Brisbane two days by rail, and Hobart two days by sea, — via Launceston, five hours by rail and one day by sea. 55. Not Sydney, Adelaide, or Hobart, however, is so central as a capital of their respective colonies, as Mel- bourne is; some of the representatives of New South Wales would be nearer Melbourne than they would be to their own capital. Certain inland towns also have been suggested ; Goulburn, 133 miles .S.W. of Sydney by rail, situated 2,000 feet above the level of the sea, and Albury on the river Murray, 386 miles S.W. of Sydney and about 190 N.E. of Melbourne. But neither of these towns has anything more to recommend it than its geographical position. A much more eligible inland city would be Ballarat, 75 miles N.W. of Melbourne, on the direct route to Adelaide. Ballarat is 1,400 feet above the level of the sea, is situated in the midst of an agricultural district, will be the seat of a large manu- facturing district, and is already the fifth city in Australia having a population of 46,000. Ballarat is safe from naval attack, is well-laid out, her buildings being handsomely constructed, while her citizens have always been noted for their enterprise and public spirit. If an inland capital is desirable no other is at present more eligible than Ballarat. A new house of parliament and public offices must, how- ever, be erected if Ballarat be chosen. But Melbourne is scarcely less central ; forty miles from the Ocean, she is as free from naval attack by an enemy as Ballarat, while Adelaide and Sydney could both be bombarded from the open sea. P"or representatives coming from the other colonies by sea, Melbourne is more conveniently situated than any other city we have mentioned. 56. The members of the senate being limited in number might, for a few years, hesitate to fix upon a capital, and hold their sessions in the state capitals, alternately. Such 44 an arranc^cmcnt in the earlier years of the Federation mig^ht be convenient both to members of the senate and to the leading constituencies. In the meantime, as a seventh governor is not absolutely necessary to inaugurate the I'^ederation, the governor of the parent Colony could perform the functions, ex-officio, of Viceroy or Governor- General of Australia. 57. One of the first measures to which the Federal government will, in all probability, address itself is Free Trade. This should be settled at once and for a length- ened period of, say, ten years, and a system of direct taxation introduced. The act of Federation would at once abolish border duties and admit to every colony the pro- ducts of the other Colonies free of all duty. Excise would, of course, be collected in each colony, as at present. 58. The consolidation and conversion of the Australian loans will probably be entrusted to a special Commission by the several governments to report upon before the Federation is accomplished. The total borrowings of these governments have been altogether about two hundred millions, of which twenty-six millions have been paid off. The balance, one hundred and seventy four millions, consists of ordinary loans, debentures, and treasury bills. These are over two hundred in number, varying in amount from half a million to three millions, due at different dates, the latest in 1945. A few loans (after due notice) are redeemable at dates subsequent to the period originally fixed, and some have no fixed date of redemption. The rates of interest vary from three to five per cent. The variety of scrip in circulation is so numerous and in some respects so insignificant that many brokers treat it as " un- marketable." The funding of the whole will, it is said, make it "marketable" and save the colonies one million per annum in interest. As these loans have been incurred for the benefit of posterity as well as the present generation, there is no reason why posterity should not bear its share of the burden. The scheme may be carried out without difficulty, as it is believed that holders of the present bonds and debentures will prefer to exchange them for an equivalent in permanent bonds guaranteed by the United Australian Colonies. It is also assumed that the Imperial Act will be amended so that Colonial and other trustees may be permitted to invest in Australian consols as well as in the British and Indian funds. 45 59- Municipal and other local Loans should be included in the general Consolidated Fund, and it ought to be a pro- vision of the new Constitution that no money shall be borrowed for Municipal purposes except of, and through, the medium of the Commissioners of the Consolidated Fund empowered by Act of the Federal Parliament. 60. Another measure necessary to be undertaken by the Federal government is the encouragement and promotion of immigration. In a footnote to my description of the natural products of these Colonies (ante p. 16), I mentioned that five hundred and forty million pounds weight of wool is annually exported to Great Britain and other colonies. Some of this is sent back manufactured. I also stated that more food is produced in these Colonies than is re- quired by the present population, and that large quantities are exported. The attempt to bring frozen meat across the ocean has not been so successful as was at one time anticipated. New Zealand mutton arrives in better condi- tion than that which comes from Australia. But if all of it was, upon its arrival, as fresh as English meat, how far would it go in this country? Would a shipload daily provide a breakfast for a tenth of the population of London ? Vege- table food and fruits, as well as butter and cheese would also be sent from Australia freely but that the shipments hitherto made have resulted in loss. Such failures are to be regretted. The true economy would be to send the people to the country where the food is abundant. There is plenty and to spare in Australia. Rents are low enough now. Bread is cheaper, and the best joints of beef and mutton are retailed in Melbourne at 2^d. and 3d. per pound, or twelve pounds of assorted meats for one shilling! Work also is abundant, for a certain class of our popula- tion. Why not manufacture the wool in the colonies ? The Federal government should offer some inducement to a few Yorkshire woollen manufacturers, to lead the way. Great Britain would be benefited as well as Australia, if a hundred thousand of her woollen operatives with their families were removed and located in the sunny southern colonies. The secret of prosperity is industry. When Philip IL harried the population of the Netherlands rather than consent to be the sovereign of heretics — not knowing that a nation's wealth consists in a large population actively employed, undisturbed and undistracted by internal dis- orders, the Netherlands became an " Indies " to England. 46 Driven from tlic continent, thirty tliousand workmen found a home in England, where they helped to build up the English woollen industries, while those of Antwerp and other Flemish cities declined. Here is Australia's oppor- tunity : she has abundance of food and abundant work. England now can spare the people !* [They should be located in the temperate parts of these Colonies ; the Northern districts need Coolie or Kanaka labour. White men can superintend but cannot perform plantation work. The banana, cocoa-nut, pine-ap[)le, lemon, orange, citron, tapioca, sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton, the tamarind, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, all find their natural home in tropical Australia.] 6i. Industries and peaceful employment naturally lead us to consider war and defences. About one million and a half has been already expended in fortifications and other works of defence, but more is necessary. To burden themselves with an army or a navy can hardly be expected of these young colonies. But they may be attacked. Their commerce is great ; forty or fifty vessels are always at sea carrying goods to or from these colonies, valued at not less than twenty millions sterling. Some vessels are coming or going by way of the Suez Canal, others round the Cape of Good Hope. British merchants own the vessels and probably the larger part of the shipments belongs to them. In time of war these vessels would be convoyed by vessels of the Imperial navy, but that does not prevent Australia from doing her duty. If a small island like Great Britain required a navy in the past, how much more will such an island as Australia with ten thousand miles of seaboard need one in the future ? Australia must be prepared to guard her seas, and help to keep the peace of the world. History teaches that the strong and lusty youth of a country should be inured to hardihood and given the opportunity of a disciplined train- ing by sea, or by land, not that it should be compulsory for them to adopt either the army, the navy or mercantile marine as a profession. All boys should be taught a trade, for a people, still in their lusty youth, we may add, can only " hope in their hands." 62. The loyalty of Colonists is sometimes questioned, but we are assured that Australian colonists do not desire separation or independence. They are proud of their * See Appendices B and C. 47 connexion with Great Britain, and have more than once given evidence of their practical sympathy with national and imperial aspirations. While people of other nation- alities have settled in Australia, those of English, Irish and Scotch descent predominate.* As long as the Colonists are left unmolested in their internal affairs, and treated as part and parcel of the nation ; permitted, if need be, to stand shoulder to shoulder against foreign aggression, , and to share in the nation's vicissitudes as well as its glories, so long their attachment will remain unabated and unalterable. Invariably the health of the Queen is drunk with cheers at all Australian gatherings, in the towns and in the bush. Never have Australian Colonists — citizens, settlers, or miners — been wholly absorbed in the pursuit of gold or other pecuniary interests. They have never forgotten the "Old Land;" their deepest thoughts, feelings, and sympathies have been centred in the " Old Land." They carried with them, into the new country the treasured memories of the "Old Land," and the names of British heroes — soldiers, sailors, and statesmen : — Welling- ton and Nelson, Collingwood and Gordon, Palmerston and Beaconsfield, Russell and Gladstone — the names of hundreds of cities, towns, and hamlets in the "Old Land," are to-day engraved upon their charters and upon their maps. Even at the height of the gold fever, the Colonists followed the history of the "Old Land," closely and inti- mately. Often, came the diggers out of their mines and " Quaff 'd a cup and sent a cheer up for the Old Land ! " When Australian children shall ask, " Why these names upon our streets, and roads, and stations, and upon the roll of Australian municipalities : Alma, Balaclava, Inker- mann, Redan, Malakoff, Sebastopol, Lucknow, Raglan, St. Arnaud, Cardigan, Yea, Havelock, and others?" they will be told the story of the last great wars and reminded that the hearts of their fathers were one with the brave men who fought and died for Old England. 62,. I cannot conclude without a reference to the authori- ties for the statistics given. Australian Government statis- * According to the Census of 1891, 2,183,659 of the inhabitants were born in these colonies and New Zealand, 470,398 in England and Wales, 226,94 in Ireland, 123,518 in Scotland. There were also 36x00 Chinese, 44,00 born in Germany, 7,500 natives of the United States, and 80,000 born in olhe foreign countries. 949 ,000 48 ticians have lonc!^ been noted for their comprehensive, well-arranged, and exact compilations (to be obtained from the Agents-General, London). I am most indebted to Mr. Greville's Year Book of Ajistralia (London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., los. 6d.) The latest volume gives concise reports and summaries upon all matters pertaining to the natural and industrial resources of these colonies, specially written articles upon Australian banking and insurance companies, a chapter on steam routes, as well as a variety of information upon land administration, law, education, religion, medical, military and naval affairs, rail- ways, posts, telegraphs, sporting, — and gazetteers of the several colonies. London, October 1896. POSTSCRIPT. If any justification is necessary for publishing my views upon Australian affairs, or for expressing my opinions with confidence, it is to be found in the fact that I am so frequently asked for information about them and that I have been asso- ciated all my life with Australian officials, professional men and clergymen, journalists, merchants, tradesmen and me- chanics, and apart from business, have been actively engaged with literary, friendly and religious societies in these colonies. I might add that I knew Gordon, Kendall, Clarke, and many other colonial writers, and was most intimate with the founder of Melbourne, John Pascoe Fawkner, for the last fifteen years of his life. I have known Melbourne since the greater number of its inhabitants lived under canvas or dwelt in houses of weatherboard, when the grass was growing on what are now its main streets. I have seen many other Australian towns and cities, having travelled through the country by rail and mail coach, by buggy, on horseback, and on foot, from Adelaide to Brisbane. I have lived on squatting stations, have camped on the diggings, have dug gold in alluvial mines, have been down quartz reefs, and have worked with my head as well as with my hands. For more than thirty years it has been my great privilege to dwell under the shadow of the tree of knowledge and to observe what literature the people of Australia, as well as New Zealand, have been reading. I have also suffered (and few have suffered more than I have) from the late Bank failures. Nevertheless, my knowledge and experience make me hope- ful and confident of the future of all these Colonies. 49 " What does he know of a country who only that country knows? " some may ask. To which 1 reply, that it has also been my privilege to visit other Colonies and countries, including Canada and the United States. Though I have lived so long in London I still can say that " Australia is the ocean to the river of my thoughts," and if I can dispel any ignorance regarding my adopted country or its people, it will be my highest gratification to do so. I am, &c., Edward A. Petherick. London, 20th January, 1897. so APPENDICES A. RAILWAY TO INDIA AND THE EAST. To THE Editor of " The Colonies and India." Sir, — Your notice of the Hon. Mr, Campbell's pamphlet, "India in Six, and [N.W.] Australia in Sixteen, Days," induces me to offer a few remarks upon the subject. Rapid communication with our Eastern possessions and Southern Colonies becomes of more importance daily. But a short time since w^e were satisfied to be taken to India in twenty days and to Australia in forty. Now that the cable is our daily and hourly experience, we find it desirable to transport ourselves in a much shorter time. But the connection between Europe and the Southern Colonies is a subject of importance to the whole of Europe and Asia, as well as to the British Empire, as I believe that the ultimate route to those Colonies must be through Central Asia. The Euphrates Valley route involves so many changes and delays that it will be too costly a route for the conveyance of goods. Indeed, I do not think it can ever be of use except for conveyance of mails and of light goods to and from India. Besides which, the cost would have to be borne by Great Britain alone, as she is the only nation to be directly benefited by it. The alternative route, which I have studied for some years, is by way of Central Asia to the western borders of the Chinese Empire, thence descending the valley of the Brahma- putra through Assam, with branches to (i) Calcutta, (2) Saigon, and (3) Canton. This line, unlike that of the Euphrates Valley, would be always passing through healthy and temperate countries, some of the most productive in the world. The products would be gathered on the route, and carried direct to their destination — furs from Siberia, silk and tea from China, Assam, &c. ; and these would be brought with less trouble, and without losing any of their qualities as at present on the passage by sea — products also that would pay for carriage by railway. None of those mentioned could be brought direct by the Euphrates Valley line ; in fact, that 51 line would be available only for passengers and mails. It cannot be a comfortable journey, passing as it does for a great part through unhealthy districts, under a broiling sun, without any ocean breeze to temper the heat. By the alternative route through Central Asia, travellers would always be passing through a mild climate and clear atmosphere, while the after-voyage from Saigon, or from Singapore, would be through the Eastern Archipelago, sur- rounded by beautiful scenery, in one of the most delightful parts of the world, fanned by the " spicy breezes," where the lotus-eaters live, and where, in the words of the [late] Laureate, " it is always afternoon." More than a third of this line is already constructed. If through trains were started it would be possible now to go direct from Calais or Ostend across Central Europe and Russia to Orenburg. [And a further section is in progress.] The middle section would be partly along the old caravan route traversed by Marco Polo and the merchants of the Middle Ages. Calcutta would thus be brought within eight or nine days of London, Hong Kong and Saigon would be reached in the same time (though so much farther from the proposed terminus of the Euphrates route). Japan and Aus- tralia would be only a week farther off; Melbourne and Sydney, when the overland Australian trunk railway is completed, would be reached within nineteen days, a much shorter time than by either of Mr. Campbell's suggested routes. The recommendations for the Central Asian route are — (i) that it is a world's route : England, Holland, France, Ger- many, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, are all interested in it. (2) It passes through temperate regions, and food and fuel are obtainable all the way along. (3) More than a third of the line is already constructed, and on the remaining sections there are no great rivers or high ranges to be crossed. (4) It passes, not through compara- tively unpopulated districts like the Euphrates Valley and Syrian deserts, but through the most productive parts of the world, and opens up a highway to four hundred millions of people. (5) It would carry us nearer to Japan and Australia (not requiring several changes which the Euphrates Valley line involves), one change only taking travellers for those countries, or, if via Australia, three for passengers to New- Zealand. I am, &c., E. A. P. London, April 18, 1883. 52 B. EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA. To THE Editor of " The Bridgwater Mercury." Sir, — As a colonist with nearly thirty years' experience, I have read with much interest your leader respecting emigra- tion to Australia. You say that there is here a redundancy of population and a scarcity of food, and on the other hand in Australia a super-abundance of food with a small population, * '''' ■■'■ ■'- ■'■ For attempts now being made to bring some of this surplus food across sea, we ought to be grateful ; but all the steam vessels now on the Australian route could not bring meat sufHcient, alive or dead, to reduce the present English price to a reasonable figure or within the means of the poor. This is not the place to show the impracticability of such schemes, nor is it necessary. Enough that we know and feel our want. Neither should there be occasion for argum.ents about emigration. As we cannot buy meat here, and animal food is needful, we must give up some ©f our sentimental objections, sever some of our ties, and send such as are strong and young enough to bear transplantation where they can get it. A voyage to the antipodes to-day is not such an undertaking as it was twenty or thirty years ago. Our fast steamers now perform the passage in forty days [thirty-five days in 1896] and as every reasonable comfort is provided it may be con- sidered a holiday pleasure trip. Far from being exiled from all home associations and shut out from all the rest of the world as the pioneer colonists were, "new chums" (so we style new arrivals) find themselves in a comparatively settled country, and since the laying of the telegraph cable we are daily acquainted with all that goes on in the old country, and consider that we form no small part of the great world ourselves. But, Sir, there are objections not sentimental. The strongest of these come from the Colonies. Many there say, " Don't send any more people here — thousands among us are often out of work, sometimes for long periods ; we are not so well off, nor so rich and comfortable, as some represent ; in fact, most of us are poor. Some of us regret having left the old country, where we were more comfortable ; but, hearing that this was a land which flowed with milk and honey, we came, and are disappointed. We don't want any more people here," &c. Such remarks are not made without reason — I know them to be unselfish. We have our periods of local depression, and our politicians, squatters (another term for landholders), and others are sometinies blamed as being the 5j cause. As far as possible the several governments find occu- pation on public works for the unemployed, but as the funds for public works are mostly borrowed, and therefore limited, they cannot find permanent occupation for all. There is often, therefore, a cry to be heard, " Find us employment," and certainly, some reason for the objection to receiving additions to our colonial population. The real cause is not far to seek — we do not receive enough of the right sort ; we need more of the industrial classes. Probably more has been written during the last forty years about emigration than upon any other great public question of the period, and without any satisfactory, adequate result. Emigration, to be satis- factory in its results, must be systematic, and wholesale. We must send away those only for whom occupation can be found. The first and last idea in this country seems to have been to get rid of the super-abundant population somehow ; get it out of the country anyhow, and if possible into our own Colonies. And in the Colonies the several governments have welcomed all comers, especially those who have had a little money to give in exchange for land. I don't say they should not have been welcomed; but more of the right sort should have been encouraged. A few communities have been care- fully planted in various colonies, on the whole successfully, by private enterprise ; these, however, form but a minute part of the whole population which was drawn directly and indirectly to Australia and New Zealand by the gold discoveries — though probably not one in fifty or a hundred ever saw a gold- field. By far the larger proportion, mechanics and artizans, with a large number of unskilled labourers, mostly accus- tomed to town life and town occupations here, they have congregated into towns there, and many are often out of employment. This evil will be overcome when we have enough of the class of operatives capable of working upon our chief production, which is wool. We need more of the industrial classes, as I will now show. It may surprise some of your readers to learn that we produce in Australia other things besides tinned meats. We possess eight million head of cattle, seventy million sheep, a million horses, besides pigs and goats, and wool grows on tlie backs of Australian sheep as elsewhere — as good or better wool than can be grown elsewhere. Of the four hundred million pounds weight of wool now annually imported into this country, three hundred million pounds [over five hundred million pounds in 1895] comes from Australia. It arrives here in its raw state. Now, I would submit to statesmen, capitalists and manufacturers, especially manufacturers con- nected with the woollen trades, whether it would not, con- 54 sidering the condition of the operatives, be more reasonable to manufacture this wool in the Colony than to bring it here in its raw state. Some portion of it must go back again when manufactured, as well as to the other colonies and America. Why not transfer some of the manufactories to the Colonies, where the operatives can be fed well and cheaply ? If the millions engaged in this trade, or part of them, were trans- ferred, I believe it would be better for both countries, and a far happier state of things would be the result as far as the operatives, their wives, and families, were concerned. And not only to the woollen trades are these suggestions applicable, but to the cotton and allied trades, though in a less degree. In a few years Queensland will produce enough cotton to occupy thousands of others of our English, Irish, and Scotch operatives. Australia is capable of supporting many more millions than the thirt}' which manage to exist in this country. At present the population there is only about half that of London — a little over two millions [three and a half millions in i8g6] — and they are scattered over territory equal in extent to that of Europe, which supports nearly three hundred millions. To sum up the foregoing remarks briefly. As it is im- practicable to bring the surplus food from Australia, the people must be carried there. Emigration, to be satisfactory, must be select, systematic, and extensive, and chiefly from among the operatives in our woollen, cotton, and allied industries, as they can be employed in the manufacture of the raw material, which is already produced in as great as, if not in greater abundance than, food. Capitalists and manufacturers must devote their attention to the establishment of woollen and cotton factories in the Australian Colonies. I am, &c., London, 21st May, 1881. E. A. P. C. Extract from Letters to the " Nun of Kenmare." Dear Miss Cusack, — You have set yourself no easy task in attempting to compile a book of " Advice to Emigrants." I am often asked my opinion as to the Colony most desir- able to go to. Generally those who propose to emigrate would like to be assured of finding suitable occupation upon arrival ; some think it possible to secure engagements before- hand. ... I always tell these applicants, principally clerks and tradesmen, that there is no likelihood of their engagement before their arrival out, because business in the 55 Australian Colonies is now as well organized as in the cities of Great Britain or America. No unskilled person should go out to these Colonies, for everyone in a new country may have, at one time or another, to turn to manual labour for a livelihood. As for mechanics, they have just about the same chance of finding work abroad as at home, and no more. Abroad the necessaries of life are abundant and, on the whole, cheaper. The climate, usually, is genial and in- vigorating, preferable to that of these Islands with their long winter, fog, mist, rain, and snow In the Australian Colonies we have bright sunshine nearly all the year round ; the wet seasons, as a rule, last two, at the out- side three months only. Snow in the principal towns is almost unknown. . . . The summers are dry, and the heat at times intense and oppressive, when work in the sun is to be avoided, and light and thin dresses are to be worn. I have heard old Australian Colonists say that they have suffered more inconvenience in a hot summer in London than ever they did in Australia. I think that comparatively fewer die of Australian summer heat than of your northern winter cold and fog Your other question is answered in a letter which I recently wrote to a provincial newspaper ; a copy is enclosed. I am, &c., London, 1882. E. A. P. D. AN AUSTRALIAN NAVY. Admiral Bridge, of the Australian station, distributed the prizes won at the Sydney Yachting Regatta, in which 250 boats and 1571 persons competed. In the course of a few remarks the Admiral expressed his opinion that " yachting in Australia was, perhaps, the most manly and most practical form of the sport to be seen in any portion of the world, and as one who had been forty years on the sea he was certain that a great naval class would spring up in the colonies." The [Lords of the] British Admiralty have not done much to encourage the youth of Australia to train for positions in the Navy, and, in fact, by their refusal to allow any but the English-born to be eligible as naval officers on the Austral- asian fleet have aroused a strong feeling of resentment. — Sunday Times, Jan. 31, 1897. o Smercld /.' Stniih t ■ » .SVi Au^a>tai MAR 1 4 1990 Form Ij9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 DU Petherick - -leS Australia in piiUa 1897 L 006 010 007 uc souTHrnrj Rrninr;Ai library facility AA 000 951 960 4 I*:" ;_ ■..<: T5>i.j5ri,> iW T« ^