THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY
 
 Australasian 
 
 Democracy 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY DE R. WALKER 
 
 LONDON 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 MDcccxcvn
 
 [All rights reserved.]
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE following pages have been written from 
 the point of view of the year 1896, the greater 
 part of which I spent in Australia. During the 
 earlier months of the present year I was in New 
 Zealand, but I was unable to continue my survey 
 of general Australasian affairs. 
 
 A result of the limitation that I was compelled 
 to impose upon myself will be observed in the 
 apparent antiquity of the chapter dealing with 
 Australian Federation ; but this is not so great 
 as might have been anticipated, the new Federal 
 Convention having drafted a Bill which is based, 
 to a large extent, upon that of 1891. For pur- 
 poses of comparison I have, with the kind permis- 
 sion of the London agents of the Melbourne 
 Argus, included an article in which that newspaper 
 has summarised the provisions of the new P'ederal 
 Constitution Bill. 
 
 1 have also included a brief account of a visit to 
 the Coolgardie goldtields which, though alien in 
 purpose from the remaining chapters, may not be 
 without interest as a record of personal impressions 

 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 of a Province which has but recently felt the effects 
 of a budding prosperity. 
 
 It has been suggested to me that I should attempt 
 to discuss Australasian problems with reference to 
 their applicability to Great Britain ; but I have 
 preferred to leave this task, of which the impor- 
 tance cannot be overstated, to persons of greater 
 experience, and to confine myself to a record of 
 Australasian action and to a comparison of the 
 points of similarity or the reverse between the 
 several Provinces. It will be seen, however, that, 
 in some cases, as when dealing, for instance, with 
 the results of payment of members and with the 
 powers and privileges of Australasian Upper Houses, 
 I have noted differences of conditions which must 
 render deductions by analogy a matter of extreme 
 difficulty. 
 
 The terms "Liberal" and " Conservative " are 
 used to denote, respectively, the more and the less 
 advanced parties in Australasian politics, and must 
 not be taken to imply differences in opinion similar 
 to those prevailing in Great Britain. 
 
 In conclusion, I would only say that my studies 
 would have been impossible in the absence of kindly 
 communicativeness on the part of politicians of all 
 shades of opinion ; and, on the social side, that I 
 retain warm feelings of gratitude towards the com- 
 mittees of clubs and numerous acquaintances who 
 extended to me the cordial hospitality of kinship. 
 
 H. DE R. WALKER. 
 23, Cork Street, W., 
 
 ^uly 2S, 189;.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. 
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IX SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Contrast between Western Australia and the Eastern Provinces 
 — The Constitution of South AustraHa — The alliance be- 
 tween Liberahsm and Labour — Joint action in the face of 
 financial depression : Village Settlements, Progressive 
 Taxation, the direct encouragement of production — The 
 advocacy of an Elective Executive — The State and Re- 
 ligious Instruction I 
 
 II. 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IX NEW 
 SOUTH WALES. 
 
 The necessity for safeguards against financial extravagance 
 and political pressure — The Crown Lands Act — The 
 appointment of independent Railway Commissioners — The 
 Standing Committee on Public Works — The Public Service 
 Board — The unemployed, their numbers and treatment — 
 The democratisation of the constitution — The Labour 
 Party, its history, successes and aspirations . . . -34
 
 X CONTENTS 
 
 III. 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND. 
 
 PAGfc 
 
 The agitation of Central and Northern Queensland for separa- 
 tion from the South — The "Kanaka" traffic— White and 
 coloured labour on the plantations — The Sugar Works 
 Guarantee Act — The irregularity of employment in the 
 sugar and pastoral industries — The conditions and opinions 
 of the shearers — Assistance to dairymen and producers 
 of frozen meat — The Labour Party, its history and pro- 
 spects — Criticisms of the Government — The principles of 
 State action 54 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 Differences of conditions between Australia and New Zealand 
 — The Public Works policy — Taxation on land — The Land 
 Act of 1892 — The Land for Settlements Acts — The Govern- 
 ment Advances to Settlers Acts — The encouragement of 
 settlement — The co-operative construction of Public Works 
 — The unemployed — Continuity of policy 82 
 
 V. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION. 
 
 Comparisons between the Australasian Upper Houses — Con- 
 flicts between the two Houses in Victoria — The proposed 
 obviation of deadlocks — The utility of the Legislative 
 Council — The antagonism between Town and Countrj' — 
 The Factory Acts, their justification and provisions — State 
 Socialism : Railways, Irrigation Works, the encourage- 
 ment of Mining, Subsidies and Bonuses, State advances 
 to Settlers— The Unemployed and the Leongatha Labour 
 Colony .... 121
 
 COXTENTS xi 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE GROWTH AXD DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN 
 
 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Constitutional history— The relations of Church and State- 
 Natural impediments to development — The construction 
 of railway?— The scarcity of water — the promotion of 
 the mining and other industries — The absence of parties 
 in Parliament 156 
 
 VII. 
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA. 
 
 The restriction of the immigration of coloured races — Betting 
 and lotteries — The adoption of a modification of Hare's 
 System of Voting — Conflicts between the two Houses of 
 Parliament — Finance and Taxation — Land Grant Railways 170 
 
 VIII. 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE . . . .184 
 
 IX. 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 212 
 
 X. 
 
 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 
 
 Indirect effects of the discovery of gold — Causes of the 
 financial crisis — The origin and extent of State Socialism — 
 The thriftiness of the working classes — Labour Repre- 
 sentation in Parliament — Parliamentary Government — 
 Direct Taxation — Conciliation and Arbitration in Industrial 
 disputes — Protection and its corollaries — The feeling to- 
 wards Great 1 Britain — General conclusions .... 244 
 
 XI. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS IN 
 
 MARCH, iSgO 303 
 
 INDEX 
 
 . 317
 
 I 
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH 
 AUSTRALIA 
 
 Contrast between Western Australia and the Eastern Provinces — 
 The Constitution of South Australia — The alliance between 
 Liberalism and Labour — Joint action in the face of financial 
 depression : Village Settlements, Progressive Taxation, the 
 direct encouragement of production — The advocacy of an 
 Elective Executive — The State and Religious Instruction. 
 
 THE traveller who visited Western Australia 
 in 1896 saw a country which was enjoying, 
 owing to its goldfields, a phenomenally rapid de- 
 velopment, with all its attendant advantages of a 
 large increase in population, an expanding revenue, 
 and abundance of employment. As he passed to 
 the Eastern Provinces he found himself in the 
 midst of communities which had been shaken to 
 their foundations by the fall in the value of their 
 staple products and the collapse of many banking 
 institutions, and were putting forth strenuous efforts 
 to restore the equilibrium between revenue and ex- 
 penditure and to make a fresh start upon the path 
 of prosperity. These efforts, varying in detail in 
 different Provinces, have included the imposition 
 
 2
 
 2 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 of additional taxation, provision for the unem- 
 ployed, and, in some cases, direct encouragement 
 of production. The policy pursued by South 
 Australia is of particular interest as her Constitu- 
 tion gives the freest play to democratic influences. 
 
 The House of Assembly is elected on the basis 
 of adult suffrage ; the Upper House or Legislative 
 Council by adults possessing a property qualifica- 
 tion consisting of a freehold of the clear annual 
 value of ;^5o, a registered leasehold of ;^20, with 
 three years to run or the right of purchase, or the 
 occupation of a dwelling-house of the clear annual 
 value of £2^. No property qualification is required 
 in candidates for election to either House, and the 
 Members of both Houses are paid at the rate of 
 ;^2oo per annum. Adults, upon reaching the age 
 of twenty-one in the case of the Assembly or 
 possessing the requisite qualification in the case of 
 the Council, can claim to be placed upon the 
 electoral roll and are entitled to vote upon the 
 expiration of six months after registration ; upon 
 removal to another constituency, the vote can 
 immediately be transferred. Plural voting is for- 
 bidden under heavy penalties, and all the elections, 
 except that for the Northern Territory, take place 
 upon the same day. 
 
 These conditions have enabled the democratic 
 element to obtain a preponderating voice in both 
 Houses, by a majority of one in the Council and by 
 a considerable majority in the Assembly. During
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 3 
 
 the last three years the Government has been in the 
 hands of the Liberals under the Hon. C. C. King- 
 ston, who has included in his cabinet two former 
 Premiers in the persons of the Treasurer, the Hon. 
 F. W. Holder, and the Minister of Education and 
 Agriculture, the Hon. Dr. Cockburn. The Ministe- 
 rialists have had the support of the Labour Party, 
 which has been very successful with its candidates 
 and now holds the balance of power. It was formed 
 towards the close of the year 1890, after the failure 
 of the maritime strike, in response to the feeling of 
 the Trades Unions and other labour organisations 
 that their objects would be obtained most easily by 
 securing the direct representation of labour in Parlia- 
 ment. They were influenced also by the rejection 
 by the Assembly of Dr. Cockburn's proposals for 
 progressive taxation in spite of promises made by a 
 majority of the members before their election. A 
 political programme was, accordingly, drawn up, 
 which is the accepted creed of the Labour repre- 
 sentatives, who number six in the Council of 
 twenty-four and twelve in the Assembly of fifty- 
 four members. It has successively been modified, as 
 measures previously advocated have been passed 
 into law, and contains the following principal 
 items : The cessation of the alienation of Crown 
 Lands by the substitution of some system of leasing ; 
 the remission of the duties on articles not grown or 
 produced in the Colony, any resulting deficiency in 
 the revenue to be made up by increasing the tax on
 
 4 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 land values ; redistribution of seats on the basis of 
 population ; the encouragement of local industries 
 by the extension of the State Export Department, 
 so that producers may be able to obtain the full 
 benefit of foreign markets ; and Federation on a 
 democratic basis. The Labour Party are opposed 
 most strongly to the admission of coloured races 
 and to assisted immigration, on the ground that the 
 former would lower the status of the Australian 
 workman, and the latter cause the supply of labour 
 to exceed the demand and bring misery and desti- 
 tution upon the poor. The relations of the Labour 
 and Liberal members, which have been most cordial, 
 are based upon mutual interdependence. The 
 Liberals rely upon the support of the Labour mem- 
 bers ; the latter are not strong enough to take office, 
 nor, I understand, do they wish to do so, and must 
 support the Liberals in order to be able to mould 
 the legislation to the shape that they desire. A 
 prominent member of the Labour Party has thus 
 summarised the position : " The hardest work in 
 connection with some of the measures has been 
 done by Liberals who, though not members of the 
 Party, are generally found working in connection 
 with that body. But it must be conceded that 
 most of the planks which have been carried owe 
 their early success to the fact of their adoption on 
 the programme of the United Labour Party, and 
 the persistent advocacy and solid votes of its mem- 
 bers." The policy of the Party has created a great
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5 
 
 amount of bitterness in the country, their successful 
 advocacy of progressive taxation on incomes and 
 land values and of other democratic measures having 
 led them to be charged with being inimical to 
 capital as such ; but the Speaker of the Assembly, 
 who is a Conservative, has stated in a recent speech 
 that, " in speaking of the Labour Party, he wishes to 
 do so with the greatest respect. They are a power 
 in the House, and no Government could have re- 
 tained office in the last Parliament without their 
 support. The Labour representatives were picked 
 men, clever in debate, unremitting in attention to 
 their duties, and a credit to the districts they 
 represented." The leader of the Party is Mr. J. A. 
 McPherson, a native of Aberdeen, who migrated 
 to Adelaide in 1882 and engaged in the printing 
 trade. He identified himself with Trades Union 
 affairs, was elected unanimously in 1890 to be 
 Secretary of the Trades and Labour Council, and 
 still holds that position. He entered the Assembly 
 at a bye-election in 1892, and is regarded as one 
 of the ablest and most energetic members of the 
 Labour Party. Mr. McPherson has a popular 
 supporter in Mr. E. L. Batchelor, the colleague 
 of the Premier in the representation of West 
 Adelaide, who has risen from subordinate employ- 
 ment on the Government railways to be, at the age 
 of thirty. President of the Railway Association and 
 Secretary of the Party. Mr. Batchelor is a man of 
 broad views and a keen student, and has brought
 
 6 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 forward a Bill for the institution of the initiative and 
 referendum, which he considers to be suited to the 
 small population of South Australia. The Party are 
 fortunate in their leading men and show no signs of 
 cleavage, their only serious difference of opinion 
 having been in regard to the qualifications of Labour 
 candidates. As long as solidarity can be maintained 
 and the present leaders remain in the ascendant, no 
 fear need be felt that they will subordinate the inte- 
 rests of the community to those of their own class, 
 though they would be the first to admit that their 
 main object is to protect the working man and to 
 improve his position. 
 
 The principal measures of the present Administra- 
 tion, such as the Taxation Acts and the establish- 
 ment of the Village Settlements and of the Produce 
 Export Department, may be said to be the joint 
 product of the Liberal and Labour Parties, and may 
 be regarded as an example of the policy pursued by 
 a pure democracy in the face of financial depres- 
 sion, dislocation of trade, and widespread scarcity 
 of employment. 
 
 The object of the Act of 1893 which authorised 
 the formation of Village Settlements was to prevent 
 men of small means, who found difficulty in 
 obtaining employment, from leaving the country 
 by affording them the opportunity of settling 
 upon the land and working it co-operatively with 
 the assistance of advances from the State. Its main 
 provisions were, that any twenty or more persons
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 7 
 
 might form an association for the purpose of taking 
 up a grant of land not exceeding 160 acres per head ; 
 that the work should be done under the direction of 
 trustees appointed by members of the association 
 from among their number, who should manage the 
 affairs of the village upon principles of co-operation 
 and equitable division ; and that the Commissioner 
 of Crown Lands might advance to any such associa- 
 tion out of funds provided by Parliament, an amount 
 not exceeding the sum of ;^^5o for each villager and 
 not exceeding one-half the cost of the improvements 
 upon the land. The advances were to be repaid in 
 ten equal annual instalments, with interest computed 
 at 5 per cent, per annum on the moneys for the time 
 being remaining unpaid ; but the first of such instal- 
 ments was not to be payable until after the expiration 
 of three years from the date of the advance. The 
 formation of settlements on a purely communistic 
 basis was rendered possible by Section 78 of the 
 Act, which states that "the rules" (of an associa- 
 tion) " may require payment to a common fund or 
 otherwise as may be determined of all or any part 
 of the earnings of the villagers whether earned within 
 the village or elsewhere." Twelve associations were 
 formed, mostly on the banks of the Murray, between 
 the months of February and August, 1894, but not, 
 with a single exception, on the lines intended by the 
 Government. The extreme scarcity of employment 
 and great poverty at Adelaide and in the neighbour- 
 hood in the early part of that year led them to form
 
 8 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 the remainder of persons who were almost entirely 
 destitute. They were necessarily assisted at the 
 start, but did not afterwards receive advances until 
 the Government Inspector had certified that they 
 were justified by the improvements made upon the 
 land. The action of the Government was illegal 
 throughout, as the Act stated expressly that the 
 advances should be made out of funds provided by 
 Parliament, and no funds had been voted for the 
 purpose, but it may be condoned on the ground of 
 the extreme urgency of the crisis. At the expira- 
 tion of a year the limit had been reached in most 
 cases, and further advances were indispensable to 
 prevent the immediate collapse of the majority of 
 the settlements. The Commissioner of Crown 
 Lands, accordingly, introduced a Bill in which he 
 asked for authority to increase the advances, under 
 the same conditions, to ;^ioo per head, and for 
 further powers of control over the settlements. The 
 Bill, which was hotly opposed, was not passed till a 
 Select Committee had been appointed to inquire on 
 the spot into the conditions and financial prospects 
 of the settlements and had reported in its favour. 
 
 The report, which was dated November 14, 1895, 
 and the evidence upon which it was based, gave a 
 complete picture of the disadvantages under which 
 the settlers laboured and of the drawbacks of the 
 system of distribution. The land selected for the 
 villages was such, it was pointed out, that it could 
 not be cultivated except under irrigation. This had
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA g 
 
 necessitated the erection of a costly pumping plant, 
 which the settlers had difficulty in purchasing, as 
 they could offer no security for payment. When 
 the plant was finally obtained, it was found, in some 
 cases, to be unsuitable ; in others it could not be 
 properly worked in the absence of a capable 
 engineer. The settlers, brought together at hap- 
 hazard by destitution and not by their knowledge 
 of agricultural pursuits, had wasted much time and 
 labour through ignorance, incapacity, and insuf- 
 ficiency of proper tools. They had lacked a strong 
 controlling hand to direct their operations, and had 
 disobeyed the trustees whom they had themselves 
 appointed ; and as the trustees had little power 
 discipline had been nonexistent, and quarrels, at 
 several settlements, of continual occurrence. Order 
 had been restored with difficulty, as the only punish- 
 ment was expulsion, upon a decision of the trustees 
 ratified by a vote of the villagers, and many villagers 
 had voted against expulsion from the fear that they 
 in their turn might be subjected to a similar penalty. 
 The arrangements for the distribution of rations also 
 had caused considerable dissatisfaction and led to 
 disagreement between single and married men, as 
 the former felt that the latter received a share of the 
 stores out of proportion to the work they had done. 
 The general system was, that rations were issued on 
 a sliding scale, according as a man was single or had 
 a large or small family, and was to that extent purely 
 communistic.
 
 lo LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 The difficulties encountered by the settlers had 
 been such as would have discouraged most men, 
 but, in spite of them, the total number had only 
 fallen in eighteen months from 598 to 440, and the 
 majority of witnesses expressed themselves satisfied 
 with their lot. They admitted the necessity of 
 further advances, but pleaded that they had a heavy 
 burden to bear in the cost of machinery, and that 
 their labour, especially in the planting of fruit trees, 
 could not yield an immediate return. The financial 
 position was thus summarised : — The Govern- 
 ment had advanced ^'26,000, the unpaid accounts 
 amounted to about ;^i 1,000, and the improvements 
 were valued by the Commissioner of Crown Lands 
 at ;^4i,ooo. 
 
 During 1896 the further advances had been 
 expended, but the settlements had not become self- 
 supporting, and the increased burden of debt and 
 uncertainty as to the future had caused many of the 
 settlers to become disheartened and others to leave 
 in despair. On the other hand, the appointment of 
 an expert to exercise the additional powers conferred 
 upon the Commissioner and to give advice to the 
 settlers, had led to the diminution of quarrels and 
 disagreements among them and to a better direction 
 of their work. In view of these facts the Govern- 
 ment decided to close four of the settlements which 
 had been formed upon land unsuitable to the pur- 
 pose, owing to the poorness of the soil or the absence 
 of facilities for profitable irrigation. It has been
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 1 1 
 
 estimated that the remainder have sufficient irrigable 
 land to maintain a population of about three hundred 
 families, and that they require an average of about 
 £2^ per settler to make them self-supporting. A 
 few enthusiasts alone believe that any portion of the 
 principal of the loans will ever be repaid ; but the 
 Government will have no cause to complain if they 
 receive regular interest on the money. Some 
 difficulty is likely to arise in the disposal of the 
 produce. There is a considerable market for vege- 
 tables on the river, but it will soon be overtaken by 
 the supply. The settlers will probably devote most 
 of their land to fruit growing and dairying, and will 
 be able to take advantage of the Export Department. 
 The settlers should have a better chance of suc- 
 cess in the future, as loafers are gradually being 
 weeded out, and the process is to be continued 
 until the settlers shall have been reduced to such as 
 have shown an honest desire to make homes for 
 themselves and their families upon the land. This 
 course has been rendered possible by the large exodus 
 of working men to Western Australia, which has 
 reduced the pressure upon the local labour market. 
 The Government desire to approximate all the 
 settlements to the level of Murtho, which alone was 
 formed of persons who had considerable means of 
 their own. The settlers, about twenty in number, 
 put an average of ;;^6o each into the venture and left 
 good situations out of enthusiasm for the principles 
 of co-operation. They are intelligent, well-educated
 
 12 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 men and women who are bound to put forward 
 every effort to be successful, as otherwise they will 
 be in a worse position than at the start. They work 
 all the land upon the method of joint cultivation on 
 the ground that, as different forms of produce are 
 grown, it is of importance to be able to concentrate 
 the greater portion of the labour at any point where 
 it may be required, and, under the influence of com- 
 munistic ideas, give to all an equal share of the 
 results of their united efforts. This system would 
 have seemed, from the constitution of human 
 nature, to be doomed to failure ; but an amount 
 of work has been done in planting and clearing 
 which testifies to continuous and sustained labour, 
 disagreements have been rare, and the settlers, in 
 conversation with me, expressed themselves as 
 contented with their lot and confident of eventual 
 success. They do not regard themselves as re- 
 cipients of charity, as they have received advances 
 on the same conditions as holders of Working 
 Men's blocks ; on the contrary, they regard them- 
 selves as pioneers of a new movement, and desire, 
 not only to make homes for themselves and their 
 families, but to prove that land can be worked 
 successfully on a co-operative, almost a com- 
 munistic, basis. If the Murtho settlers succeed, 
 they will do so by the continued exercise of 
 mutual forbearance and from the impulse of a 
 common enthusiasm. 
 The Government appear to have made several
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 13 
 
 grave mistakes of omission and commission in the 
 formation of the settlements. They should have 
 caused a survey of the Murray lands to be made 
 before the selection of the sites, and they should 
 have realised that men, united only by their des- 
 titution, required control and direction, and, as the 
 majority were ignorant of agricultural pursuits, 
 constant superintendence of their work. The 
 system of joint cultivation also was entirely un- 
 suited to the class of men who formed the bulk 
 of the settlers. It is true that the Act authorised 
 neither preliminary surveys nor the appointment 
 of superintendents, and stated expressly that the 
 associations were to be co-operative ; but if the 
 urgency of the crisis may be taken to have justified 
 the Government in making advances without the 
 sanction of Parliament, it would also have justified 
 such further illegalities as would have benefited the 
 settlers and safeguarded the interests of the tax- 
 payers. 
 
 A certain amount of co-operation was inevitable 
 if the settlements were to be formed upon land 
 which could only be cultivated under irrigation, in 
 the erection of the pumping plant and the use of 
 water. It would also be advisable in the purchase 
 of seeds, trees and vines, the disposal of produce 
 and the common ownership of horses and imple- 
 ments of husbandry. But the land might have 
 been cut up into blocks, in order to enable each 
 settler to obtain the full benefit of his exertions
 
 14 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 subject to payment for the services rendered to 
 him by the association. 
 
 The Government are to be congratulated, how- 
 ever faulty their methods may have been, upon their 
 attempt to enable the unemployed to make homes 
 for themselves upon the land, a great improvement 
 upon the policy of their predecessors, who wasted 
 thousands of pounds upon unnecessary relief works. 
 They have undoubtedly raised the moral tone of the 
 settlers, who make a good impression upon the 
 visitor through their intelligence and sobriety and 
 the happy appearance of their children, and one 
 cannot but regret that, owing to the absence of 
 direction, much of their labour has been absolutely 
 valueless. The cynic will say that the men have 
 every reason to be contented as they are living 
 entirely upon advances and can rid themselves of 
 all responsibility for the loans by leaving the settle- 
 ments ; but he forgets that they have qualified for 
 these advances by hard work and that they never 
 see a shiUing that they can call their own. 
 
 The whole question must be looked at from the 
 point of view of the Australian, who would be 
 horrified at our system, under which indigence is 
 assumed to be the result of idleness and im- 
 providence and relief is offered under the most 
 degrading conditions, and expects his Government 
 to do something to relieve the misery caused by 
 scarcity of employment. In South Australia, where 
 adult suffrage and payment of the members of both
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 15 
 
 Houses have made the working classes masters of 
 the situation, they can compel the Ministry to pay 
 attention to their wishes. A step in the right 
 direction was taken when Village Settlements were 
 substituted for temporary relief works ; but any 
 future scheme, while affording to men the oppor- 
 tunity of regaining a position of independence, 
 should compel them to prove their worthiness by 
 their own individual exertions. 
 
 The wide application by the Australasian Pro- 
 vinces of the principle of State action renders them 
 especially liable to violent fluctuations of prosperity 
 and adversity. As young countries they have 
 borrowed largely for purposes of development, 
 and have constructed expensive public works which 
 have greatly increased the demand for labour. 
 During the recent years of depression the Govern- 
 ment have been obliged to discontinue their opera- 
 tions, and have offered less employment at a time 
 when the labour market was already overstocked 
 owing to the contraction of private enterprise. 
 Similarly in the case of revenue : the receipts from 
 the railways, which are almost universally owned by 
 the State, vary proportionately with the returns from 
 taxation, which depend in their turn largely upon 
 the condition of trade. They have fallen in South 
 Australia from ^^i, 229,598 in 1891-2 to £()(i'],(iS(> 
 in 1894-5, with the result that when the community 
 has been least able, owing to the diminished returns 
 from other resources of revenue, to bear additional
 
 16 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 taxation, further taxes have necessarily been im- 
 posed to meet the interest upon the loans out of 
 the proceeds of which the railways have been 
 constructed. The Kingston Government, which 
 took office in 1893, had to face a deficit of ;^20o,ooo, 
 and immediately set to work to restore order in 
 the finances. This they attempted to do by re- 
 trenchment, reducing the expenditure by ;^ioo,ooo 
 per annum, and by the imposition of fresh taxation. 
 Succession Duties, a tax on the unimproved value 
 of land and an income tax had already been 
 imposed, a distinction being made in the latter 
 case, between incomes derived from property and 
 incomes resulting from personal exertion ; but the 
 present Government were the first to introduce the 
 progressive principle into the taxes on incomes 
 and land values. This legislation has encountered, 
 as might be expected, the strongest opposition from 
 the richer members of the community, who protest 
 that a feeling of insecurity is produced and capital 
 driven out of the country, but it may be noted that 
 South Australia in 1895 raised money at 3 per cent, 
 upon exceptionally favourable terms. The Govern- 
 ment were compelled to obtain further funds, and 
 showed their desire to equalise the incidence of 
 the additional taxes by lowering, in spite of the 
 opposition of the Labour Party, the exemption 
 from income tax from ;£20o to £12^ and by 
 increasing the duty on beer, spirits, and other 
 articles of ordinary consumption. Income tax is
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 1 7 
 
 at present at the rate of 4|d. in the pound up to 
 ;^8oo, and of 6d. in the pound above ;^8oo of taxable 
 amount resulting from personal exertions, and at 
 the rate of gd. and is. in the pound, respectively, 
 on incomes from property. Incomes between ;£i25 
 and £^2^ enjoy exemption on ;^I25 of the amount. 
 Taxpayers are required, under penalty of prose- 
 cution for perjury for a false declaration, to furnish 
 annually a statement of all forms of income that 
 they have enjoyed during the past year, except in 
 respect of any share or interest in a registered 
 company ; in this case the tax, at the rate of a 
 shilling in the pound, is deducted by an officer 
 of the company before payment of the dividends 
 to shareholders. The higher rate is not paid on 
 either form of income unless it, separately, exceeds 
 ;^8oo. The tax on the unimproved value of land 
 is ^d. in the pound up to, and id. above, the capital 
 value of ;^5,ooo, and is increased by 20 per cent, 
 in the case of absentee owners. A general assess- 
 ment of all the lands in the Colony is made 
 triennially, each person's property in each district 
 or township being treated separately. The assess- 
 ments are then sorted alphabetically, in order to 
 discover the total holding of each individual which 
 is the basis upon which the higher or lower rate 
 of taxation is imposed. Little objection is taken 
 to the manner in which the value of the land is 
 assessed ; in the majority of cases the owner and 
 the official of the Government are able to agree as 
 
 3
 
 1 8 LIBERA LISM A ND LA BO UR IN SO UTH A US TRALIA 
 
 to a fair valuation, and, should they fail to do so, 
 an appeal against the valuation may be made to 
 the Taxation Department, and, if an arrangement 
 be not arrived at, to a Court of Law. The assess- 
 ment of 1894 led to a large number of appeals, 
 as the assessors had not realised the enormous fall 
 in value of agricultural and pastoral land, but all, 
 with a single exception, were met to the satisfaction 
 of the appellant by concessions voluntarily made 
 by the Department. Their attention is turned 
 mainly to urban land, because it is subject to the 
 greatest increase in unimproved value and returns 
 the larger portion of the receipts derived from this 
 source. An incidental advantage of the tax lies in 
 the fact that land held by speculators for a rise in 
 value contributes to the revenue equally with that 
 on which buildings have been erected. The tax is 
 recognised by most people as equitable in principle, 
 but its progressive character has brought upon the 
 Ministry the bitterest animosity of the landed class, 
 who maintain that it has caused land to be given up 
 and to become unsaleable, not so much because the 
 present burden is intolerable but because it is merely 
 the thin end of the wedge. They point to the pro- 
 gramme of the Labour Party in which it is stated 
 that the duty should be taken off certain articles 
 of ordinary consumption, the deficiency (which, 
 according to an official estimate, would be -^310,000 
 a year) to be made up by increasing the tax on land 
 values, and argue that as the Labour Party hold the
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 19 
 
 Government under their thumb, they will be able to 
 enforce compliance with their wishes. It is difficult 
 for a stranger to judge to what extent possessors of 
 capital have actually been deterred from investing 
 it in land, especially as several important factors 
 have led concurrently to a depreciation in its value, 
 such as the fall in the prices of wheat and wool, the 
 failure of banks which were interested, directly or 
 indirectly, in large tracts of country, and bad legis- 
 lation, passed some ten years ago, under which the 
 runs were cut up into blocks too small for the suc- 
 cessful prosecution of the pastoral industry. The 
 Government can point to Pastoral Acts which are 
 admitted to be steps in the right direction, and 
 challenge their opponents to show in what way 
 they could have raised the ^^20,000 yielded by the 
 additional Land Tax with less burden to the com- 
 munity. The Absentee Tax lacks similar justifica- 
 tion, as it only brings in ;^3,6oo a year. It is 
 defended by the Premier on the ground that the 
 absentee, as regards his property, has the full pro- 
 tection of the administration of the laws, and should 
 contribute to the expenditure necessary for the 
 maintenance of the State ; and that he does not do 
 so to the extent of those who live in South Australia 
 and contribute daily to the revenue by means of the 
 Customs in all they eat and drink and practically all 
 they put on. On the other hand it is contended 
 that it is of supreme importance to attract capital 
 to the Colony and that this principle is recognised
 
 20 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 in the case of public loans and Treasury bonds, on 
 which no income tax is charged, and should also 
 be taken into consideration with reference to private 
 investments in land. Succession Duty is levied 
 upon a graduated scale, ranging from i^ per cent, 
 for ;^5oo to 10 per cent, for ;^2oo,ooo and upwards 
 in the case of a widow, widower, ancestor or de- 
 scendant of the deceased, and from i per cent, for 
 any amount under ;^200 to lo per cent, for ;^2o,ooo 
 and upwards where the property is inherited by a 
 person in any degree of collateral consanguinity. 
 If the heir is a stranger in blood he pays lo per 
 cent, whatever be the value of the property. In 
 order to promote the diffusion of wealth the rate 
 of the tax is based upon the amount inherited, not 
 upon the total value of the estate. 
 
 In the relief of the unemployed and the imposition 
 of additional taxation, the Ministry, while choosing 
 their methods, have dealt with problems which they 
 were bound to face ; but they have not confined them- 
 selves to the negative task of coping with existing diffi- 
 culties. They have realised that greater commercial 
 activity would permanently benefit the revenue and 
 add to the demand for labour, and that, in a country 
 like South Australia, it could only be secured by a 
 wider and more varied cultivation of the soil, and 
 have, with the hearty support of the Labour Party, 
 seized every opportunity to encourage production 
 and develop the export trade. Farmers already had 
 the advantage of an Agricultural Bureau at Adelaide,
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 21 
 
 with local branches, which periodically disseminated 
 information, and of an Agricultural College to which 
 they could send their sons, at a small annual charge, 
 or gratuitously if they could obtain a scholarship ; 
 but they were hindered, when the fall in the value 
 of cereals compelled them to turn their attention to 
 subsidiary industries, by the absence of facilities for 
 obtaining a market for subsidiary products. The 
 limited demand in the Colony for butter, fruit, and 
 wine offered insufficient inducement to farmers and 
 small cultivators. Previous to 1893, the total export 
 of butter did not exceed the value of ^^ 1,200, but in 
 that year and in 1894 a bonus was offered by the 
 Government, with the result that butter of the value 
 of ;^i 10,000 has since been shipped. They also 
 formed a Produce Export Department through 
 which producers can ship their goods to London, 
 entered into a contract with the Peninsular and 
 Oriental and Orient Steamship Companies for cheap 
 rates of carriage, and established in London a Wine 
 and Produce Depot to receive the goods and sell 
 them on the most favourable terms. A receiving 
 depot has since been established at Port Adelaide 
 and refrigerating machinery and chambers have 
 been erected, which enable the Department to 
 receive sheep and send them as frozen meat to 
 England. Butter, wine, frozen meat, and fruit have 
 been sent to London through the Department, and 
 in some cases prices have been realised which far 
 surpassed those which could have been obtamed m
 
 22 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 the local market. The scheme is not yet self- 
 supporting, as, though the charges cover the 
 expenses, the salaries of the additional officials 
 required in the Ministry, and an annual sum of 
 some ;^3,5oo for the maintenance of the Depot in 
 London, fall upon the revenue of the country ; but 
 this expenditure is more than repaid by the impetus 
 undoubtedly given to trade which would not other- 
 wise have been afforded owing to the absence of 
 private enterprise. The Ministry have undertaken a 
 work in which individuals would have had little 
 chance of success, and have enabled small con- 
 signors to ship their produce at wholesale rates. 
 Their object also has been, in the words of the 
 Minister of Agriculture (Dr. Cockburn), " to afford 
 a guarantee of quality. All goods consigned to the 
 Depot are examined previous to shipment. If 
 found to be in good condition and properly packed, 
 they are sent forward to the London manager with 
 a certificate to that effect. By this system of 
 inspection a barrier is erected against the export of 
 inferior goods which have an injurious effect on the 
 reputation of South Australian produce." This 
 latter point is of great importance and applies equally 
 as regards the injury that might be done by one 
 Province to another, as the British consumer regards 
 Australian produce generically, and does not 
 distinguish between the output of different Provinces. 
 Dr. Cockburn called a conference in 1896, which 
 was attended by representatives from New South
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 23 
 
 Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, to consider how 
 far joint action might be taken to secure uniformity 
 of output. The presence of a representative from 
 Victoria enhanced the practical character of the 
 deliberations, as that Province has been the pioneer 
 in the movement and conducts its operations on 
 a very extensive scale. It was decided that the 
 respective Parliaments should be invited to legislate 
 in the direction of uniform inspection of frozen 
 meat, dairy produce, wine and fruit, the adoption as 
 far as possible of a federal brand which would be 
 a guarantee of high quality and the joint exhibition 
 of Australian produce at some leading agricultural 
 show in England. The conference is regarded as 
 a promising sign of the willingness of the 
 Australian Provinces to act together in matters 
 of common concern. The institution of the 
 Produce Export Department is favourably viewed 
 by the press of South Australia and by the 
 bulk of the community, but, while it is admitted 
 that the initiative of the State has been success- 
 ful, the hope is expressed that, when the trade 
 has been firmly established, the scope of State 
 action will be reduced and private enterprise be 
 allowed to step in. Such an attitude shows the 
 prevalent distrust of State action ; in order that it 
 may not be perpetuated, the middleman is to be 
 invited to absorb a portion of the profits which at 
 present are gained by the producer. 
 
 The present Ministry have also legislated on the
 
 24 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 subject of workmen's liens, to protect the wage- 
 earner against an insolvent or dishonest employer ; 
 they have passed a Conciliation Act, to facilitate the 
 settlement of industrial disputes, and have established 
 a State Bank to provide for advances to farmers and 
 other producers and to local authorities. These 
 measures were warmly supported by the Labour 
 members, who tried, unsuccessfully, to enlarge the 
 scope of the State Bank by making it a Bank of 
 Issue. 
 
 At the General Election in 1896 the Liberals, who 
 were again successful, advocated certain measures 
 of social reform ; continued economy of administra- 
 tion ; the extension of the functions of the Export 
 Department ; Federation on a democratic basis, and 
 the election of Ministries by Parliament, a proposal 
 which has excited singularly little interest, in spite 
 of the complete change that it would effect in the 
 methods of government. The justification for it 
 must be sought in the local conditions of the Pro- 
 vince, which has never taken kindly to the system of 
 government by party. 
 
 The tariff question, which has caused a clear line 
 of division in New South Wales, has been settled 
 decisively in favour of protection, and no distinct 
 issue has taken its place at the recent elections. In 
 Adelaide and the neighbourhood the contest may 
 be said to have been fought in some sense between 
 capital and labour, though among the supporters of 
 the Ministry are many men of considerable means ;
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 25 
 
 or between individualism and socialism, but that all 
 are socialists to the extent of believing in State 
 ownership of railways and State control of water- 
 works and water conservation, while the majority 
 are favourably disposed to the Export Department, 
 and the average man has no definite ideas on the 
 subject, but views each proposed extension of State 
 action according to his opinion of its possible effect 
 upon himself. The success of the Liberals was 
 remarkable, as the South Australians are a fickle 
 people, and usually overthrow the party that is in 
 power ; but it is suggested that the female vote, 
 which has been given for the first time, may have 
 been recorded largely in favour of those who had 
 passed the Adult Suffrage Act. However that may 
 be, the Kingston Government are by no means sure 
 of an extension of three years, as the ties of party 
 allegiance are slight except in the case of the Labour 
 members, and the struggles in the Assembly may 
 resolve themselves, as in the past, into contests 
 between individual aspirants for office. The ten- 
 dency of the last Parliament was in the direction of 
 a clearer line of cleavage, but this was due to the 
 cleverness of the present Premier, who included in 
 the Cabinet his two strongest opponents whose 
 opposition had been the more bitter that it was 
 not founded upon differences of political opinion. 
 Until that time South Australia had had forty-one 
 Ministries in thirty-seven years, a constant change 
 of the responsible heads of public departments
 
 26 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 which greatly impaired their efficiency and pre- 
 vented continuity of administration. The absence 
 of a stable majority in the Assembly gave the 
 opportunity, and ambition and love of power the 
 impetus, to continual struggles for office which 
 were wholly unallied with any baser motives, as 
 Australian statesmen have obtained an honourable 
 pre-eminence for their rectitude of character. 
 
 The intentions of the Government in regard to 
 the substitution of an elective executive, which have 
 not yet been definitely formulated, may be gathered 
 from a speech made by Dr. Cockburn, the principal 
 advocate of the change, in which he proposed that 
 Ministers, who would continue, as at present, to be 
 Members of Parliament, should be elected by ballot 
 by the Assembly at the commencement of each 
 session ; that they should appoint one of their 
 number to be their leader, but should be respon- 
 sible individually to Parliament for their respective 
 departments ; and that their corporate responsibility 
 should be limited to matters affecting the Province 
 as a whole, such as finance or its relations with 
 other countries. The Governor's prerogative of 
 dissolution would remain unaffected, but as the 
 House would be brought into closer touch with 
 the people, dissolutions would be unnecessary 
 and undesirable. Dr. Cockburn claimed that his 
 proposal was in accordance with the natural evolu- 
 tion of Parliamentary Government, and contended 
 that, the area of selection being enlarged, the
 
 LIBERA LISM A ND LA BOUR IN SO UTH AUSTRALIA 27 
 
 best men would be chosen as Ministers from the 
 whole House and the best man for each office. 
 Ministers would not be called upon to justify 
 proceedings of their colleagues which in their 
 hearts they condemned, and private members 
 would be able to exercise greater independence, 
 as they would not be called upon to sacrifice 
 their convictions to maintain their friends in office, 
 and, being allowed greater freedom on questions of 
 legislation, would introduce many bills of an im- 
 portant character. Intrigue, which was an essential 
 of Party government, would become disreputable 
 when resorted to for purposes of personal ad- 
 vancement. The objection that certain members 
 would not work together if chosen to form an 
 administration was met by the fact that men sat in 
 amity on the Treasury benches who previously had 
 denounced one another to the utmost of their 
 power. The distinctive feature of the proposal, 
 therefore, is the indirect election of Ministers. The 
 people elect the representatives, who, in turn, are to 
 elect certain of their number to form the Executive. 
 The first criticism that suggests itself is, that it is 
 difficult to believe in the rapid elim.ination of party 
 feeling, and that it is probable, granted the existence 
 of intrigues among aspirants for office under the 
 present system, that they would be increased tenfold 
 when such persons sought to ingratiate themselves, 
 not only with prospective Premiers, but with a 
 majority of the members of the Assembly. Again,
 
 28 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 while it is impossible to foresee all the results of the 
 change, it may be anticipated that some obvious 
 advantages would be counterbalanced by incoher- 
 ence of policy and haphazard legislation, but that a 
 class of men might be induced to come forward as 
 candidates who are deterred by their horror of 
 continual party strife. Dr. Cockburn stated that no 
 amendment would be required in the Constitution 
 Act, as, after the election of the Ministers, their 
 names would be submitted in the ordinary way to 
 the Governor. The present Ministry also favour 
 the biennial retirement of half the members of the 
 Assembly, in order to secure continuity in its 
 composition, and the institution of the referendum. 
 These proposals are warmly supported by the 
 Labour Party. They advocate elective Ministries 
 on the ground that the people would obtain greater 
 control over the Executive, that stability of govern- 
 ment would be promoted, and that the legislative 
 efficiency of Parliament would greatly be increased. 
 They contrast the rapid dispatch of business by local 
 governing bodies with the waste of time and obstruc- 
 tion which prevail in legislative assemblies. The 
 biennial retirement of half the members of the 
 Lower House commends itself to them for the 
 reason which causes it to be opposed by men of 
 conservative tendencies, that it would do away 
 with the form of minority representation which is 
 rendered possible in two-member constituencies 
 by the widespread habit of plumping. They have
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 29 
 
 been foremost in their advocacy of the referendum 
 and the initiative, and one of their representatives, 
 Mr. Batchelor, has introduced a Bill which provides 
 for the establishment of the referendum, and con- 
 tains the striking clause that '* If petitions, signed 
 by not less than one-tenth of the electors entitled to 
 vote for the election of members of the House of 
 Assembly .... shall be presented to Parliament 
 praying that legislation shall be initiated on any 
 subject, the Attorney-General shall prepare, or cause 
 to be prepared, a Bill to give effect to such petition ; 
 and such Bill shall be introduced into Parliament as 
 a Government measure." Mr. Batchelor believes 
 that legislation would be accelerated on subjects 
 which fail to receive attention because Ministries 
 fear that they might alienate the sympathies of some 
 of their supporters. 
 
 The idea of the direct consultation of the people 
 upon a particular subject was put into practical 
 effect at the recent elections, when they were in- 
 vited, in the form of an initiative, to say whether 
 they desired alterations in the law in regard to 
 education. Primary education in South Australia 
 is free, secular and compulsory. No religious in- 
 struction is permitted in the State schools, but the 
 Minister of Education has the power, on receiving 
 a written request from the parents of not less than 
 ten children who attend any school, to require the 
 teacher to read the Bible to any pupils who are 
 present for that purpose for half an hour before
 
 30 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 half-past nine, the time at which the ordinary 
 teaching commences. The direct reference to the 
 people was the result of a Parliamentary resolution 
 instigated by the advocates of denominational 
 education, who contended that public opinion was 
 veering round in their favour and believed that they 
 would obtain a great accession of strength in the 
 female vote which was to be exercised for the first 
 time. It was couched in the form of the following 
 questions, which were submitted to the electorate 
 on a separate voting paper on the occasion of the 
 general elections : — 
 
 1. Do you favour the continuance of the present 
 system of education in the State schools ? 
 
 2. Do you favour the introduction of religious 
 instruction in the State schools during school 
 hours ? 
 
 3. Do you favour the payment of a Capitation 
 Grant to denominational schools for secular 
 results ? 
 
 The wording of the first and second questions 
 was calculated to act in favour of the opponents 
 of secularism, as the first would probably be 
 answered in the negative not only by those who 
 support religious instruction but also by many who 
 believe that, in the present state of the finances, 
 education should not be free except to such as 
 are unable to pay for it. It was not made clear 
 whether it was intended to apply to the system 
 as a whole or merely to its secular character. The
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 3 1 
 
 second question would bring together all who favour 
 religious instruction, however much they may dis- 
 agree among themselves as to the form in which 
 it should be given. During the progress of the 
 campaign the majority of the candidates declined 
 to express their views upon the matter, but stated 
 that they would be prepared to abide by the popular 
 decision. 
 
 The following figures give the result of the 
 reference for the whole Province with the exception 
 of the Northern Territory, which has a very small 
 electorate : — 
 
 I. 
 
 Yes ... 
 
 ••• 51744- 
 
 No ... 
 
 - 17,755 
 
 2. 
 
 Yes ... 
 
 ... 18,889. 
 
 No ... 
 
 ... 34,922, 
 
 3- 
 
 Yes ... 
 
 ... 13,428. 
 
 No ... 
 
 - 41,97s 
 
 The classification of the papers is disappointingly 
 meagre, as no information can be gathered as to the 
 number of supporters of religious teaching and the 
 capitation grant who were favourable to the other 
 leading features of the existing" system, nor as to the 
 extent to which the friends of the capitation grant 
 approved or disapproved of religious instruction in 
 the State schools. The returns show, however, that, 
 while 90,000 votes were given for Parliamentary 
 candidates, some 20,000 persons either did not vote 
 at all or gave an informal vote upon the distinct 
 issue, and that less than one-fifth pronounced against 
 the Act as it stands. The condemnation of the 
 capitation grant is still more emphatic, and if the
 
 32 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 
 
 supporters of religious teaching have less cause for 
 dissatisfaction, it may be noted that in no con- 
 stituency were the affirmative in excess of the 
 negative replies, and that as the total number of 
 votes given upon the first question was far larger 
 than that on the second and third, thousands who 
 had voted affirmatively upon the first must have 
 considered that they had thereby returned a negative 
 reply to the others and should be reckoned as 
 additional opponents of religious instruction and 
 of the capitation grant. It is also noteworthy that, 
 contrary to the general expectation, the country 
 districts gave a considerably higher percentage of 
 votes in favour of the present system than the seven 
 constituencies which include Adelaide and its im- 
 mediate neighbourhood. The advocates of religious 
 instruction have announced that they intend to 
 continue their efforts to win over the majority to 
 their views ; in the meanwhile, they will realise that 
 the process must be slow and will stir up the various 
 agencies of the churches to increased activity in a 
 sphere which is particularly their own. 
 
 The secular character of State education, which 
 dates from 185 1, cannot be shown to have had evil 
 effects upon the conduct of the working classes, who 
 almost universally respect and obey the law and 
 have an air of confident independence which has 
 been fostered by manhood suffrage, high wages and 
 a high standard of comfort. South Australia was 
 fortunate in her original settlers, and has always
 
 LIBERALISM AND LABOUR IN SOUTH A USTRALIA 33 
 
 attracted a good class of immigrants. At present 
 great benefit is accruing from the rapid development 
 of Western Australia, which has relieved the pressure 
 upon the labour market and increased the demand 
 for South Australian goods. The latest Savings 
 Bank returns give the total amount deposited as 
 ;^2,7i3,ooo and the number of depositors as 88,876, 
 a very satisfactory rate for a population of about 
 320,000, especially when it is considered that the 
 working classes also have large investments in 
 Friendly and Building Societies. In conclusion, 
 the visitor cannot but be struck by the entire 
 absence of squalid poverty and of overcrowding 
 in tenements and by the orderliness of the people 
 and the high average of prosperity.
 
 II 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 
 
 The necessity for safeguards against financial extravagance and 
 political pressure — The Crown Lands Act — The appointment 
 of independent Railway Commissioners— The Standing Com- 
 mittee on Public Works — The Public Service Board — The 
 unemployed, their numbers and treatment — The democra- 
 tisation of the constitution — The Labour Party, its history, 
 successes and aspirations. 
 
 THE inhabitants of New South Wales, as of 
 several other Australian Provinces, lived for 
 many years in a fool's paradise. They had received 
 a magnificent inheritance in the land and were able, 
 owing to the proved mineral resources of the country, 
 to draw upon a practically inexhaustible fund in the 
 willing advances of British capitalists. All classes 
 vied with one another, especially in Victoria, in the 
 extravagant loans and expenditure which caused the 
 crisis of 1893, the greatest blessing, as many think, 
 that has ever befallen Australia. Regardless of the 
 burdens it was imposing upon future generations, 
 the Parliament of New South Wales, with which I 
 shall be dealing principally in the present chapter, 
 
 34
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 35 
 
 constructed unnecessary public works, allowed the 
 Civil Service to be packed with the friends and rela- 
 tions of those in power, and authorised roads and 
 bridges almost at the whim of each individual 
 member. This condition of things could not 
 continue indefinitely : on the one side, a rapidly 
 increasing debt, on the other, an enormous army 
 of civil servants, aspirants for employment on 
 public works and local claimants for a share of 
 the expenditure of loan funds, who were able, 
 on account of the wideness of the franchise and 
 the numerous functions undertaken by the Govern- 
 ment, to bring pressure to bear upon the Ministry 
 through their representatives in the Assembly. It 
 was essential that the power to borrow should be 
 curtailed ; essential also that the possibilities of 
 political pressure should greatly be diminished. 
 The former object could only be achieved at 
 the cost of a comparative loss of credit, the latter 
 by a wise recognition on the part of the electorate 
 of the dangers of unfettered State action under a 
 democratic constitution. 
 
 The rapid growth of indebtedness cannot justly 
 be laid solely to the charge of the popular represen- 
 tatives, as, though the Legislative Council has occa- 
 sionally resisted Loan Bills, it does not appear to 
 have realised the dangers of the proposed expendi- 
 ture. Nor was it in human nature that it should 
 have opposed the construction of railways by which 
 its members, mostly landholders, would enormously
 
 36 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 be benefited. Were their lands to be resumed by the 
 Government, they would obtain an enhanced price 
 for them ; in any case, many of them would gain a 
 large unearned increment. The members of the 
 Council who are nominated for life, similarly with 
 Labour members, lawyers, and others who represent 
 particular sections in Parliament, have been active 
 mainly where their ovv^n interests have been con- 
 cerned. In pursuance of their right to reject 
 measures of taxation, they threw out Sir George 
 Dibbs' Income-Tax Bill in 1893 and, two years 
 later, Mr. Reid's Land and Income-Tax Assessment 
 Bill. As landholders they objected to a land tax, 
 and to an income tax as representatives of the 
 wealth of the community. Nor has the extrava- 
 gance been due to payment of members, which is 
 regarded by some as the cause of all the evils of 
 Australia, as it was not inaugurated until after the 
 greater part of the indebtedness had been incurred ; 
 but the necessity for political safeguards has been 
 accentuated by the entrance into Parliament of 
 men who, owing to their pecuniary circumstances, 
 are less able to resist the demands of their electors, 
 are deeply interested in the postponement of dis- 
 solutions, and are more dependent upon their re- 
 election. It would be equally false to attach any 
 blame to the Labour Party, which did not make its 
 appearance in the Assembly until 1891. 
 
 While the great diminution of borrowing and con- 
 sequently of the construction of public works has
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 37 
 
 lessened the opportunities for undue political in- 
 fluence, many still exist, and the number would 
 have been far greater in the absence of recent 
 legislation. How numerous these opportunities 
 might be, may be gauged from the fact that, 
 exclusive of some 10,000 railway employes, 
 20,000 persons were formerly in the service of 
 the State at an annual salary of ;^2, 600,000 ; that 
 many thousands are tenants of the Crown, liable 
 to be propitiated by the reduction of their rent ; that 
 nearly half the population live in unincorporated 
 districts, in which the local expenditure is met out 
 of national funds, and that the unemployed continu- 
 ally clamour for rations and employment upon relief 
 works, the receipt of which, under the existing law, 
 does not entail political disfranchisement. 
 
 The first legislative recognition of this danger is 
 seen in the Crown Lands Act of 1884, which con- 
 stituted Local Land Boards, consisting of not more 
 than three members to be appointed by the Governor 
 in Council, which were to consider all applications 
 for land, insure the due fulfilment of the conditions, 
 residential or other, which are attached to different 
 forms of tenure, and appraise the rents of pastoral 
 leases and the rate of compensation for improve- 
 ments. The practice of the Ministry has been to 
 appoint as chairman of a Board some experienced 
 official of the Crown Lands Department and, as his 
 colleagues, persons recommended by the residents in 
 the district. I ani assured that this system of Land
 
 38 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 Boards, whose decisions are subject to an appeal to 
 the Land Court, has worked satisfactorily and that 
 confidence has been promoted by the pubUcity of 
 the proceedings. A full statement is published 
 periodically, for each district, of the areas still 
 open for settlement and of the conditions under 
 which they can be taken up : the Land Boards have 
 to inquire into the bond fides of the applicants. 
 The question of the remission or suspension of 
 the payment of rent is one of great difficulty in 
 countries in which the Crown is the largest land- 
 holder. If a discretionary power is given to the 
 Ministry, political pressure can be brought to bear 
 upon them by tenants through their Parliamentary 
 representatives ; if it be withheld, great hardship 
 may ensue. This is particularly the case in Aus- 
 tralia, where the value of a property may greatly be 
 reduced by the devastations of rabbits or other pests 
 and the consequent deterioration in the grazing 
 capability of the land, or by a fall in the price which 
 can be obtained for stock or wool. The Land Acts 
 of New South Wales recognise either of the above 
 causes as sufficient to entitle a pastoral lessee to a 
 reappraisement of his rent by a Land Board, and 
 permit the suspension of annual payments for one 
 year in the case of holders of land under conditional 
 purchase who reside upon it, but compel the vast 
 majority of tenants of the Crown to abide strictly by 
 the conditions of their agreements, under pain of the 
 forfeiture of their holdings. Cases of individual
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 39 
 
 hardship, which would engage the attentions of a 
 private landlord, are, in the avoidance of a greater 
 evil, left without redress. 
 
 In 1888 two further measures were passed with a 
 similar object, the Government Railways and Public 
 Works Acts. In a book recently published by 
 authority of the Government,' to which I have 
 to acknowledge my indebtedness, it is stated 
 that the re-organisation of the railway adminis- 
 tration was rendered necessary by the excess of 
 political influence, the absence of expert control, 
 and the constructioii of new lines without sufficient 
 regard to the prospects of an early remunerative 
 traffic, which had caused the capital expenditure to 
 have been nearly doubled while the net earnings had 
 not increased. Under the former Act, accordingly, 
 the Government railways and tramways, which are 
 now about 2,600 miles in extent and have been 
 constructed at a cost of thirty-eight millions, were 
 vested absolutely in a Board of three Railway Com- 
 missioners to be appointed by the Governor in 
 Council. In order that their independence might 
 be secured, they were made irremovable except for 
 misbehaviour or incompetency, and then only upon 
 a vote of both Houses, and their salaries were 
 charged on the consolidated Revenue Fund, which 
 was permanently appropriated to the required 
 extent. They were entrusted with the general 
 management of the railways and with the appoint- 
 ' " New South Wales ; the Mother Colony of the Australias."
 
 40 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 ment, subject to the regulations governing entrance 
 into the pubhc service, and dismissal, of all clerks, 
 officers and employes, whose salaries and wages, 
 however, are subject to the vote of Parliament. 
 The Government were fortunate in securing the 
 services of a very competent senior commissioner, 
 who, with his colleagues, has been able, without 
 lowering the rate of wages, to reduce the percentage 
 of working expenses to gross revenue from 66*69 to 
 54*46 per cent., and has increased the net return on 
 capital from 2*85 to 3*60 per cent. The result is the 
 more satisfactory that the railways are not worked 
 solely with a view to profit, but in such a manner 
 as to benefit the population as a whole and to 
 encourage the remote farmer and pastoralist. The 
 experience of the other Australasian Provinces 
 which established similar Boards proves it to be 
 essential that the commissioners should not only 
 possess great commercial ability, but be strong men 
 who are able to withstand the pressure to which 
 they will be subjected and are regardless of the 
 attacks which are likely to follow upon their refusal 
 of favours. 
 
 The Public Works Act provides for the appoint- 
 ment of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on 
 Public Works, which is to consider and report upon 
 all proposals for the construction of public works, 
 except such as are connected with the military or 
 naval defences of the Province, where the estimated 
 cost exceeds ^^20,000, and upon any similar pro-
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 41 
 
 posals involving a smaller expenditure, which may 
 be submitted to it by the Governor in Council. It 
 consists of thirteen persons, eight members of the 
 Assembly and five of the Council, who are appointed 
 for the duration of a Parliament and receive re- 
 muneration at the rate of three guineas for each 
 sitting and thirty shillings a day for travelling ex- 
 penses where the sittings are held at a distance from 
 Sydney. The Secretary for Public Works nominates 
 an equal number from both sides of the House after 
 consultation with the leader of the Opposition ; 
 in the majority of cases these nominations are 
 challenged and the appointments are made by 
 ballot of the whole House, which, according to 
 trustworthy information, leads to disreputable 
 negotiations between those who desire the addi- 
 tional salary and those who are able to confer it. 
 It has been suggested recently by a Royal Com- 
 mission, which reported that " the expenditure on 
 public buildings is in excess of what is necessary, 
 owing to the system of political interference, which 
 is responsible for the erection of special post ofticcs 
 in country townships where shops could be used, 
 and of costly courts of justice and other structures 
 which are not required," that all proposals for public 
 expenditure involving a probable outlay of more 
 than ;^5,ooo, should be considered and reported on 
 by a committee consisting of the permanent heads 
 of the Public Works Department, the Treasury, and 
 the Department on whose behalf the proposed ex-
 
 42 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 penditure would occur. But the adoption of this 
 suggestion would not go to the root of the evil, 
 which lies in the manner in which small public 
 works of a purely local character are carried out in 
 rural districts. In the early days of the Province 
 the Government, in order to widen the area of 
 settlement, constructed all roads, bridges, and other 
 local works out of national funds. As population 
 increased, municipalities were established, which 
 rated themselves for local purposes and received 
 subsidies from the Government proportionately to 
 the amounts thus raised; but the Act of 1867, 
 which contemplated the extension of the system, 
 provided that new municipalities, either boroughs 
 or municipal districts, could only be created upon 
 the receipt of a petition signed by a stated propor- 
 tion of the prospective ratepayers. The Councils of 
 such municipalities have the right to levy rates not 
 exceeding two shillings in the pound in one year 
 upon all rateable land within their borders, and 
 receive from the Government during the first five 
 years a sum equal to the whole amount actually 
 raised in this manner or from any other specified 
 source of revenue. This is gradually diminished 
 until, at the end of fifteen years, no further subsidies 
 are received, except such as have specially been 
 voted by Parliament. At the present time, owing 
 to the absence from the Act of any compulsory 
 provision, the incorporated districts of the Province 
 comprise somewhat more than half of the popula-
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 43 
 
 tion, but less than one hundredth of the total area. 
 Successive Governments have recognised the evil, 
 but have failed to pass a satisfactory Amending Act 
 which would establish some form of local govern- 
 ment in the unincorporated areas and compel them 
 to pay a fixed portion of their local expenditure. 
 The estimates for such expenditure are framed by 
 the Public Works Department, and are based upon 
 the reports of its resident engineers and of the 
 agents of the Government Architect. The oppor- 
 tunity of the pushing rural member occurs upon the 
 expenditure of the unappropriated sum of money 
 which is left in the hands of the Minister, to meet 
 requirements that cannot be foreseen ; in this con- 
 nection, members may threaten a withdrawal of 
 their support and ministers may seek to win over 
 new adherents. The reports of such actions are 
 probably much exaggerated, as there are many who 
 delight in vilifying the Assembly, but the popularity 
 of a rural representative depends undeniably on the 
 number of public works which the Government 
 carry out in his district. 
 
 The next important step was the appointment, 
 early in 1S95, of a Royal Commission to inquire 
 into the Civil Service, which reported that the Act 
 of 1884, under which a Civil Service Board of five 
 persons had been constituted, had failed in its pur- 
 pose, because the Board consisted usually of men 
 who had other duties to perform and had not the 
 power to fix the salaries or control the service, and
 
 44 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 because the right was reserved to ministers in 
 special cases to make appointments without either 
 examination or probation. The Commissioners 
 found that, owing to the absence of any well-ordered 
 system of classification, the grossest inequalities and 
 anomalies existed in the salaries of offices attached 
 to different departments or even to the same depart- 
 ment, as, to take an extreme case, that, in the depart- 
 ment of the Government Architect the official who 
 designed the Crown Lands office and supervised its 
 erection was receiving less remuneration than the 
 principal messenger ; and that, while the service 
 contained many high-minded and able officials, 
 there were cases where incompetency, neglect of 
 duty, and even drunkenness had formed no bar to 
 continued employment. In accordance with their 
 recommendations, founded on the belief that Par- 
 liament could not directly cope with the matter, an 
 Act was passed in 1895 which constituted a Public 
 Service Board of three persons, to be appointed for 
 a period of seven years in the same way, and with 
 the same securities for independence, as the Railway 
 Commissioners. The Board was charged with the 
 duty of making a thorough investigation, which was 
 periodically to be repeated, into the working of each 
 department, and of fixing the number, grade, and 
 salary of the officials. Future appointments and 
 promotions were to be made by the Governor in 
 Council, upon a certificate of the Board, subject to 
 the regulations in regard to competitive examina-
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 45 
 
 tions and an obligatory period of probation upon 
 entrance into the service. As the Commission had 
 reported that it should be possible to effect an 
 annual saving of a quarter of a million, special im- 
 portance attached to the provisions which enabled 
 the Board to dispense with the services of those 
 who could not usefully and profitably be employed, 
 such persons to receive gratuities on a fixed scale 
 upon their retirement. The Board were sitting 
 during my stay in Sydney and had to suft'er from 
 the open hostility of those who had been affected 
 by their decisions and from abusive correspondence 
 in the press. Their impartiality was impugned, and 
 they were charged with allowing themselves to be 
 influenced by the wishes of Ministers ; but when 
 the unpleasant task of retrenchment has been 
 completed, they will doubtless carry on a work 
 of practical utility unhampered by criticisms and 
 accusations. 
 
 No serious attempt has yet been made to deal 
 with the problem of the unemployed, which is the 
 more urgent from the fact that the receipt of relief 
 does not disfranchise the recipient. Its origin must 
 be sought in the extensive Public Works policy of 
 the past, which absorbed immigrants who would 
 otherwise have settled on the land. In 1887 the 
 majority of the great undertakings had been com- 
 pleted, and many thousand men, thus thrown out 
 of employment, drifted into Sydney and led the 
 Ministry to establish a sual labour Board, which
 
 46 DEMOCRACY AXD ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 was discontinued after a year, but spent ^^252,000 in 
 the relief of destitution. In the following years 
 other causes intensified the distress : the great 
 strikes of 1890 destroyed confidence and deterred 
 enterprise ; the Broken Hill strike and the recent 
 strike at Newcastle have had similar effects, the 
 latter having struck a blow at the export tiade in 
 coal, which was gradually recovering from earlier 
 disturbances ; the collapse of 1893 cast adrift a 
 large number of mechanics and clerks whose ser- 
 vices had been required during the period of 
 inflation, the fall in the price of wool caused a 
 shrinkage in private expenditure, and the severe 
 drought experienced during the latter part of 1895 
 had disastrous effects on the labours of those em- 
 ployed in mining, pastoral, and agricultural pursuits. 
 To meet the difficulty a Labour Bureau was estab- 
 lished at Sydney in 1892, in order that the unem- 
 ployed might be able to register themselves and 
 might be helped to obtain work ; but, while much 
 has been done in this direction, no more satis- 
 factory solution has been found for the problem, as 
 a whole, than continual relief works, which attract 
 the destitute from country districts and other 
 Provinces, and afford merely temporary alleviation 
 of the distress. According to a recent report of 
 the Superintendent of the Bureau, to whom I am 
 indebted for information, ^^201, 000 were spent 
 dunng the year ending February last (in a popu- 
 lation of a million and a quarter) upon works in
 
 .V£II' SOUTH WALES 47 
 
 aid of the unemployed, an expenditure of which 
 two items alone, ;^5o,ooo for forest thinning and 
 ^'35,000 for railway deviations, can be supposed to 
 have had any other justification. Mr. Creer told 
 me in June, 1896, that the daily attendance at the 
 Bureau had averaged for several months 1,500 to 
 2,500, but had decreased latterly to 300 to 500 ; 
 that many who had been given employment had 
 abandoned it, and that, where a large number had 
 been working together, he had had much trouble 
 owing to their rowdiness and bad behaviour. On 
 this point the Premier, Mr. Reid, stated that he 
 had been informed, on good authority, that there 
 were not more than 1,500 genuine unemployed in 
 Sydney, but admitted, quoting his informant, that 
 " there are also hundreds of men who do little or 
 no work" and "a large number of men who have 
 been identified with the unemployed agitation for 
 the past ten years, and w^ho appear to delight in its 
 existence, as no doubt they consider it a capital 
 cover to pose as bond-Jide workmen out of employ- 
 ment." The conduct of the latter is mainly due to 
 the weakness of successive Ministries, which have 
 failed to resist pressure and may almost be said to 
 have encouraged idleness. Such encouragement is 
 also provided in the climate of Sydney, which enables 
 men to sleep in the open for nine months of the 
 year without discomfort. Mr. Creer proposed that 
 those who profess to be willing to work should be 
 employed upon schemes of water conservation and
 
 48 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 irrigation in the drier parts of the Province, which 
 should be carried out by gangs of men under strict 
 supervision, and that the confirmed loafers should 
 be placed in Industrial Homes and be compelled to 
 choose between work and starvation. The present 
 Government have established thirty-five branches 
 of the Labour Bureau, which will tend to prevent 
 the unemployed from flocking into the Metropolis. 
 But the bulk of the unemployed at Sydney are 
 demoralised by idleness and ignorant of agricultural 
 pursuits, and can only be dealt with by a strong 
 Minister who, regardless of political consequences, 
 will discontinue the system of indiscriminate relief 
 and treat the confirmed loafers with the greatest 
 severity. 
 
 Democratic government, actively opposed by 
 some and detested by most of the more educated 
 members of the community, is firmly established in 
 New South Wales, and is essential to the happiness 
 of the people there as elsewhere in Australasia, in 
 the general prevalence of purely commercial in- 
 stincts and the absence of a landed class which is 
 bound by inherited traditions to take an interest 
 in its dependents. Of recent years the democratic 
 movement has been more rapid : payment of Mem- 
 bers of the Assembly dates from 1889, Sir George 
 Dibbs passed manhood suffrage in 1893, and Mr. 
 Reid seeks to curtail the power of the Upper House. 
 A great impetus has been given by the Labour 
 members, whose numbers and influence entitle
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 49 
 
 them to be regarded as one of the most important 
 pohtical factors in the Province. The reason for 
 the formation of a separate party has thus been 
 explained to me by one of its members : the 
 prominent men among the working classes, who 
 were anxious to promote progressive legislation, 
 were hampered by the fact that they disagreed upon 
 the question of the tariff, and that their votes were, 
 consequently, useless as far as the advancement 
 of such legislation was concerned. The line of 
 cleavage in the Assembly was between Protection- 
 ists and Free Traders ; reactionary and advanced 
 views were represented on both sides of the House. 
 They felt, therefore, that labour would be powerless 
 unless the issue of the tariff w^ere explicitly sunk 
 and a programme put forward which would con- 
 centrate the votes of the working classes. In 
 their campaign they were doubtless aided by 
 the Act passed for the payment of members, and 
 by the failure of the maritime and other strikes, 
 which impressed Trades Unionists with the neces- 
 sity of seeking to attain their ends by other 
 means, A programme was, accordingly, drawn 
 up, of which the principal items were, in order of 
 importance. Electoral Reform, the Right of Mining 
 for Gold on Private Land, and the Taxation of 
 Land Values ; it was adopted at the elections of 
 1 89 1 by a large number of candidates who came 
 forward in the Labour interest and succeeded in 
 winning thirty-four seats. Upon the meeting of 
 
 5
 
 So DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 Parliament it was decided by the Party, although 
 the majority had Protectionist leanings, that 
 support should be accorded to Sir H, Parkes, who 
 had made Electoral Reform the principal item of 
 his policy. A few months later he was defeated on 
 the Coal Mines Regulation Bill, and the votes of 
 the Labour Party were transferred to his Pro- 
 tectionist successor, Sir G. Dibbs, who also favoured 
 Electoral Reform ; but, in the meanwhile and sub- 
 sequently, many of the Labour members refused to 
 leave their views on the tariff in abeyance, with 
 the result that the number of those who adhered 
 staunchly to the programme was reduced to five or 
 six. In spite of these defections, the first two items 
 in the programme were carried and the Taxation of 
 Land Values took the foremost place. At the 1894 
 elections the Labour Party had been much dis- 
 credited, but secured fifteen representatives, in 
 the Assembly of one hundred and twenty-five, 
 who were pledged to the so-called ''solidarity" 
 vote. Their support was then transferred to Mr. 
 Reid, the present Free Trade Premier, who was in 
 favour of the Land Tax, which they enabled him to 
 carry in 1895, though only after a further election, 
 caused by the action of the Upper House, at which 
 they carried three additional seats. At present the 
 Labour Party are concentrating all their efforts 
 upon the abolition of the Legislative Council and 
 the substitution for it of the referendum, which they 
 regard as a necessary preliminary to the passage of
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 51 
 
 advanced legislation, and are prepared to accept, as 
 a step in the right direction, Mr. Reid's proposal 
 that the tenure of the members of the Council who 
 are nominated for life should be reduced to a 
 period of years, and that all-important Bills, upon 
 which the Assembly and Council have failed to 
 agree in two consecutive sessions, should be 
 referred to a plebiscite. They argue that when 
 the electors realise that the Council can only delay 
 legislation for one session, and that the issue is then 
 directly referred to them, they will sweep it away as 
 a mere obstacle in the path of progress. It may 
 be doubted whether the adoption of the plebiscite 
 would have the results that they anticipate, but it 
 cannot be doubted that a compact body of repre- 
 sentatives, aiming at the democratisation of the 
 constitution and willing to support whichever party 
 makes the highest bid for their votes, have but to 
 remain united to achieve their object, especially 
 when it is in accordance with the natural evolution 
 of Parliamentary government. The Labour mem- 
 bers have a definite programme upon which all 
 their efforts are concentrated, but are chary of 
 giving their views upon other questions, as their 
 votes, in consequence of the common pledge, will 
 depend on the decision of the majority of the party. 
 Great indignation is expressed at the " caucus " 
 meetings, at which the votes of all are thus deter- 
 mined ; but it is difficult to see wherein the con- 
 duct of the Labour members differs essentially
 
 52 DEMOCRACY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS IN 
 
 from that of the representatives who support one of 
 the principal parties in the State. In both cases 
 certain main objects are sought and individual con- 
 victions are, on occasion, subordinated to their 
 attainment ; the only difference is that, in the latter 
 case, the action is taken voluntarily in order to main- 
 tain a party in power ; in the former, its expediency 
 is determined by the majority of those who are 
 united in a common purpose. On the other hand 
 it must be admitted that the Labour Party display, 
 at present, all the irresponsibility of independence, 
 and have often acted in such a manner as to justify 
 the hostility of their opponents. During my stay 
 at Sydney they attempted, on one occasion, to 
 convert the Assembly into a court of judicial 
 appeal ; on another, to interfere with the actuarial 
 calculations of insurance societies. 
 
 The importance of political safeguards is accen- 
 tuated not only by the accelerated movement in the 
 direction of constitutional change, but by the in- 
 creasing belief in the efficacy of State control and 
 state interference. During the session of 1896 the 
 Government brought forward measures dealing with 
 the conservation of water, the public health, adultera- 
 tion, and the regulation of coal mines and of factories 
 and workshops, the passage of which would neces- 
 sitate a considerable increase in the number of State 
 officials ; and the Labour Party, the transference of 
 whose support would place the Ministry in danger 
 of defeat, have shown, by their votes in the past,
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 53 
 
 their conviction that all new public works which are 
 in the nature of a monopoly, should be constructed 
 and owned by the State. 
 
 The scope of my inquiries in New South Wales 
 led me in directions which have caused me to 
 emphasise the darker sides of political life ; but I 
 wish to guard against the inference that similar 
 shadows could not have been found elsewhere, 
 and have touched upon the subject in my general 
 observations upon Australasian tendencies. In fact, 
 I may add, I was drawn into my particular line of 
 study at Sydney by the knowledge that New South 
 Wales had taken especial precautions, except in 
 regard to the unemployed, against the evils which I 
 have here sought to summarise. The predominant 
 note in that Province is one of hopefulness : the vast 
 pastoral, mineral, agricultural, and other resources of 
 the country, the harbour at Sydney which renders it 
 the natural centre of the foreign trade of the Con- 
 tinent, and the rapidity of the recovery from the 
 crisis of 1893, are calculated to inspire confidence in 
 the future ; as are the high average wages of the 
 working classes, the low cost of living, and the short 
 hours of labour. But the most impressive sign of a 
 healthy national life is the readiness of the democracy 
 to recognise the dangers inherent in its rule, and to 
 divest itself voluntarily of some of its powers, in the 
 interests of pure and upright government.
 
 Ill 
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 The agitation of Central and Northern Queensland for separation 
 from the South — The " Kanaka " traffic — White and coloured 
 labour on the plantations — The Sugar Works Guarantee Act — 
 The irregularity of employment in the sugar and pastoral 
 industries — The conditions and opinions of the shearers — 
 Assistance to dairymen and producers of frozen meat — The 
 Labour Party, its history and prospects — Criticisms of the 
 Government — The principles of State action. 
 
 IN the Southern Provinces of AustraHa, Sydney, 
 Melbourne and Adelaide are not only the political 
 capitals, but have become naturally, from their geo- 
 graphical position and other advantages, the points 
 of departure of the trunk lines of railway and the 
 centres of commercial and intellectual activity. In 
 the case of Queensland, Brisbane, which was selected 
 as the capital because settlement was almost confined 
 to its neighbourhood, had to compete with several 
 other good harbours ; it is situated at the south- 
 eastern extremity of a vast territory, and is con- 
 nected only by sea with the northern parts above 
 Bundaberg. The existence of this means of com- 
 munication caused successive Governments to 
 
 54
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 55 
 
 postpone the construction of a coastal railway in 
 favour of lines running from East to West which 
 would promote the development of the pastoral 
 resources of the interior by affording access to the 
 nearest port ; but these lines, which start from 
 Brisbane, Rockhampton, and Townsville, and have 
 a respective length of 483, 424, and 235 miles, have 
 tended, by increasing the importance of the latter 
 places, to foster in their inhabitants a feeling of 
 jealousy at the supremacy of the former and of 
 antagonism of interests with the South. The 
 climatic conditions also are divergent : the Centre 
 and South are semi-tropical ; the North, which lies 
 wholly within the tropics, contains a low fringe of 
 fertile land along the coast, suitable for the cultiva- 
 tion of sugar, and the cause of the constant struggles 
 which have surrounded the question of the employ- 
 ment of coloured labour. 
 
 The establishment of Queensland as a separate 
 Province dates from 1859, and was at once followed 
 by an extension of population to the Northern 
 districts, and a few years later by the growth of a 
 demand for separation, which culminated in 1871 in 
 a petition to the Crown, in which the desire was ex- 
 pressed that the country to the North of the Dawes 
 Range, which lies between Gladstone and Bundaberg, 
 should be created into a new Province, on the 
 ground that the absence of regular communication 
 between the capital and the Northern settlements 
 rendered good government and the administration
 
 56 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 of justice very difficult and uncertain. During the 
 succeeding years the agitation flickered in the North 
 and was latent in the Centre, which had been con- 
 ciliated by the construction of its railways and 
 appeared to have identified itself with the South. 
 Some ten years ago the Northern members pressed 
 their claims very strongly, and more recently the 
 Central members have petitioned the Crown, sent a 
 deputation to the Colonial Secretary, and brought 
 their case before the Queensland Parliament. 
 
 The arguments advanced by the Northern and 
 Central separationists are similar in character, and 
 if recognised as valid in the case of the Centre, must 
 be doubly so when applied to the North, owing to 
 its greater distance from the capital and the difficulty 
 of communication with many of its outlying dis- 
 tricts. The boundaries adopted by the separationists 
 are those laid down by the Real Property (Local 
 Registries) Act of 1887, under which the Province 
 was divided into three parts, of which the Northern 
 contains 255,000, the Central 223,000, and the 
 Southern 190,000 square miles. 
 
 The claims of the Centre, to which I have been 
 able to give more attention, as I spent some time in 
 that district, are based not only upon alleged unjust 
 apportionment of expenditure, defective administra- 
 tion, and financial hardships endured under the 
 protective tariff for the benefit of Southern manu- 
 facturers, but upon the inherent and inalienable 
 right of a community of free British people. It is
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 57 
 
 pointed out that Central Queensland is in a more 
 advanced position than were Victoria and Queens- 
 land at the time of their separation from New South 
 Wales ; that it returns less members than the city of 
 Brisbane and the country within a radius of ten 
 miles of it ; and that the Northern and Central 
 members, even if unanimous in favour of separation, 
 would only number twenty-seven as against the forty- 
 five representatives of the South, and are bound, apart 
 from the constitutional aspect of the question, to look 
 to the intervention of the Imperial Government. 
 The most important utterance from this source is 
 the reply of Sir Henry Holland, now Lord Knutsford, 
 to the Northern deputation, in the course of which 
 he said that *' there is no instance of recent years, 
 since the Colonies attained the greatness they have, 
 of the Imperial Legislature passing an Act interfering 
 with the administration of one of those great Colonies, 
 except at the request of the Colonial Government. 
 Therefore I say it is difficult, if not undesirable, to 
 deal with such a question as this unless we have the 
 authority, on a desire expressed on the part of the 
 Colonial Legislature, or unless there is some case 
 made out which is absolutely overwhelming ; " and 
 Mr. Chamberlain recently stated, with reference to 
 Central separation, that, even if local agreement had 
 been reached, the difficulties and risks attending any 
 attempt to divide the Province were, under existing 
 circumstances, very great. He clearly appreciated 
 the hostile feeling that would be aroused throughout
 
 58 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 Australia by any interference on the part of the 
 Imperial Authorities with the internal government 
 of an Australian Province. As the separationists do 
 not hope to obtain a majority in the Queensland 
 Assembly, they are likely to be ardent advocates of 
 Federation, especially if a clause be inserted in the 
 Constitution which would enable the Federal Govern- 
 ment to subdivide a Province without the consent of 
 its Parliament. 
 
 The Southern members are influenced by the fear 
 that, under separation, they would lose the Northern 
 and Central markets. To meet this objection, a 
 resolution was moved in the Assembly by one of 
 the members for Rockhampton that the separation 
 of Central Queensland was desirable, but on such 
 terms that the interchange of natural products 
 between the two Provinces should continue to be 
 free from tax or duty ; but the proposal, which 
 was seen to be fraught with endless difficulties, has 
 not been regarded seriously. The question has also 
 arisen in what manner the liability for the public 
 debt would be distributed in the case of separation, 
 but it is contended that the matter would be settled 
 under the Imperial Act of 1861, under which both 
 Provinces would jointly be liable for the whole debt, 
 and machinery is provided for arbitration as to the 
 proportion of it which would be borne by each of the 
 Provinces. 
 
 The necessity for some form of decentralisation 
 has been recognised, and partially acted on, by
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 59 
 
 successive Ministries since 1877, when a Royal 
 Commission was appointed to inquire into the 
 best means of bringing about a more equitable 
 distribution of the revenue. The system of Local 
 Government, introduced in 1878 and extended in 
 the following year to rural districts, lessened the 
 direct control exercised from Brisbane, and handed 
 over to elective Municipal Councils and Divisional 
 Boards the expenditure of the revenue raised for 
 local purposes. In 1887 local registries of titles to 
 real estate were established at Townsville and Rock- 
 hampton, and Sir S. GrifHths introduced a Financial 
 Districts Bill, to divide the Province into three dis- 
 tricts and to provide for separateiaccounts of revenue 
 and expenditure. The Bill was not passed, but 
 separate returns have since been published, which 
 do not, however, give a full statement of the con- 
 tributions of the different districts to the revenue. 
 In 1892 the same Minister introduced a Constitution 
 Bill, in which he proposed to place Queensland 
 under a federal system of Government, a General 
 Assembly of the United Provinces, and three Pro- 
 vincial Parliaments. In the course of discussion 
 the number of Provinces was reduced from three to 
 two, to the exclusion of the Centre, which was to 
 retain its connection with the South. The Bill 
 passed the Assembly, and was thrown out by the 
 Council, principally on the ground that it had not 
 been supported by the statutory two-thirds majority. 
 The Central Separationists were naturally oppose<l
 
 6o PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 to the Bill in its amended form, and public opinion 
 in the North was equally hostile. It was pointed 
 out that the expenses of government would greatly 
 be increased, even more than under territorial 
 separation, and that the powers of the Provincial 
 Parliament would be so limited, in the absence of 
 control over the railways and the customs tariff, 
 that the North would not enjoy the enhanced 
 prosperity which, under an entirely separate 
 Government, would make it indifferent to the 
 additional expenditure. The appointment of a 
 judge of the Supreme Court to reside at Towns- 
 ville, and, since last year, at Rockhampton, has 
 lessened the expenditure and loss of time involved 
 in legal proceedings initiated in the Northern and 
 Central Districts. In the Ministerial measure 
 dealing with the election of delegates to represent 
 Queensland at the Australian Federal Convention, 
 which failed to become law owing to an insoluble 
 deadlock between the two Houses, it was proposed 
 that, of the ten delegates, three should be elected by 
 the Northern and two by the Central Parliamentary 
 Representatives, a greater proportion than would be 
 warranted by their respective populations as com- 
 pared with that of the South. The Premier, Sir Hugh 
 Nelson, defended the liberality of this proposal on 
 the ground that " it is of the utmost importance that 
 in any federal constitution provision should be made 
 for the division of existing Colonies and the terms 
 on which such divisions shall take place ; " adding
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 6i 
 
 that " the Northern and Central districts have a 
 perfectly legitimate aspiration : they are looking 
 forward to the day when they will be formed into 
 separate states." 
 
 The above remarks embody the views of many 
 South Queenslanders who look forward to eventual 
 separation, but are not prepared to advocate it at 
 present ; the Central separationists, on the other 
 hand, contend that the question is ripe for immediate 
 settlement, and, as a proof of popular feeling in the 
 matter, point out that ten out of the eleven represen- 
 tatives of Central Queensland are pledged to separa- 
 tion, and that numerous petitions were handed to the 
 late Governor, Sir Henry Norman, on the occasion 
 of his tour through the district. Personal observa- 
 tion and inquiries directed to all with whom I came 
 in contact, have convinced me that the enthusiasm 
 for separation is greatly on the wane in the Centre, 
 owing to the strength of the Labour Party, which, 
 in 1896, carried a majority of the Central seats, and 
 to the inevitable reaction which succeeds a period 
 of excitement. The owners of property and trades- 
 people of Rockhampton have everything to gain by 
 a change which would make their town the capital 
 of a province ; the miners at Mount Morgan and 
 the shearers are indifferent, though the latter, judging 
 from a conversation which I had with some twenty 
 of them, have a vague idea that under separation the 
 Labour Party, of which they are supporters, would 
 be in a stronger position ; and the pastoralists, who
 
 62 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 direct the principal industry of the community, are 
 practically unanimous in their opposition : they have 
 obtained the railway which has opened up the 
 Western Downs, and they dread the predominance 
 of the Labour Party and of Rockhampton, the 
 inhabitants of which, they maintain, have shown 
 little regard for their interests. 
 
 As regards the feeling in the North, I have been 
 told by one of the Northern members, himself a 
 supporter of separation, and by others, that the 
 agitation is at present dormant. The election of 
 local men has been promoted by the payment of 
 members ; previously most of the Northern repre- 
 sentatives were inhabitants of Brisbane, who were 
 out of touch with the feelings and interests of their 
 constituents. Material and political considerations 
 also have exercised great influence. The sugar 
 planters, ardent advocates of separation as long as 
 the importation of coloured labour was forbidden, 
 have been staunch supporters of the Union since 
 the removal of the prohibition and the passage of 
 the Sugar Works Guarantee Act. On the other 
 side, the Labour Party, who share in the hatred 
 of coloured labour which is common to the 
 working classes throughout Australasia, opposed 
 separation while it was likely to lead to its legalisa- 
 tion, but have been encouraged by their present 
 strength, the tenure of seven seats out of sixteen 
 in the Northern district, in the belief that, if they 
 obtained separation, they might hope again to
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 63 
 
 exclude it, and would have an opportunity of 
 giving effect to their general political views. 
 
 The "Kanaka" question has been so fully discussed 
 in the press and in numerous pamphlets, that the 
 Imperial and Provincial Acts, whicii first aimed at 
 the protection of the islanders, may be dismissed 
 with the remark that they are admitted in Queens- 
 land to have had abundant justification. The con- 
 ditions have been made successively more stringent 
 until, at the present time, it is almost impossible that 
 any Kanakas should be taken against their will, ill- 
 treated on the voyage, or oppressed upon the planta- 
 tions. Government agents, to give a brief summary 
 of the Acts, accompany all recruiting vessels and 
 are bound to see that the islanders understand the 
 nature of the agreement into which they are about 
 to enter, as to rate of payment, and duration of 
 service ; that every return passenger is duly landed 
 along with his property at his own village or district, 
 and that the islanders receive the prescribed pro- 
 visions and clothing on the journey, and are other- 
 wise treated in accordance with the regulations. 
 Inspectors receive the vessels upon their arrival in 
 Queensland, superintend the signature of the agree- 
 ments, and, generally, are responsible for the 
 welfare of the labourers during their residence in 
 the country. In the case of sickness employers 
 are bound to provide proper medicine and medical 
 attendance, and they may be called upon to con- 
 tribute towards the maintenance of a hospital.
 
 64 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 The contentment of the labourers may be inferred 
 from the fact that a large proportion re-engage 
 themselves upon the expiration of the term of three 
 years, and that, of the 1,305 who were landed during 
 the year 1895, 250 had previously been employed in 
 Queensland. As the result of frequent intercourse, 
 the conditions are well known in most of the islands 
 from which the labourers are recruited. According 
 to official figures, the number of islanders in Queens- 
 land increased in 1895 from 7,853 to 8,163, of whom 
 nearly two-thirds are in the districts of Mackay and 
 Bundaberg ; all are employed on the cultivation of 
 sugar, with the exception of a few at Thursday 
 Island, who are engaged in the beche-de-mer and 
 pearl-shell fisheries. 
 
 It would seem that the only valid objection which 
 can now be made against the system, except by 
 those who disagree from the whole thing on 
 principle, is, that it may lead to the gradual de- 
 population of some of the islands by the withdrawal 
 of a considerable proportion of the adult males of 
 marriageable age. It may be noted, in this connec- 
 tion, that the islanders have also been recruited for 
 Guatemala, if not for other countries. 
 
 The mode of cultivation and the treatment of the 
 raw material have been modified during the last few 
 years. At first the cane was grown solely in large 
 plantations, each of which possessed a separate mill 
 and treated only its own produce ; but as prices fell 
 and the local demand was overtaken, more scientific
 
 Problems of Queensland 65 
 
 methods began to prevail. It was found, on the one 
 hand, that the cane could be treated most economi- 
 cally on a large scale ; on the other, that few planta- 
 tions were sutBciently extensive to keep a large mill 
 at work during the whole season. To meet these 
 conditions, central mills were constructed and the 
 land was in many cases subdivided, and let or sold 
 on a system of deferred payments to farmers, who 
 were encouraged to cultivate it in small areas, and 
 to send their cane to the factories. The interests of 
 the mill-owner and the farmers should be identical ; 
 the former is anxious that his mill should be worked 
 to its full capacity, and has every inducement to 
 dispose of his land upon terms favourable to culti- 
 vators ; the latter have a sure outlet for the disposal 
 of their produce. In 1894, fully 40 per cent, of the 
 80,000 acres under cane was cultivated in areas of 
 ninety acres and under. An impetus was given to 
 this movement by the temporary prohibition of the 
 importation of islanders, which compelled planters to 
 consider the possibility of an alternative to coloured 
 labour, and by a vote of ;^"'5o,ooo, by means of which 
 two central mills were erected for groups of small 
 farmers. The success of these mills induced the 
 Government to pass the Sugar Works Guarantee 
 Act, under which " any company which can give 
 the Government security in land, has the requisite 
 cane crops growing for a fair season's mill work, 
 and can show that it has an area of land capable of 
 supplying the mill with a full crop, can obtain the 
 
 6
 
 66 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 sanction of the Government to accept a tender for 
 the erection of a factory, the State guaranteeing the 
 interest and the redemption of the debentures issued 
 in payment for it. By this measure the country has 
 not only suppHed the means for the steady develop- 
 ment of the industry, but has taken, in its belief in 
 the soundness of the enterprise, a direct interest in 
 it. No surer guarantee can exist than this law, that 
 the Parliament of Queensland will in future safe- 
 guard the prosperity of an undertaking in which the 
 State has so keen an incentive to protect itself from 
 loss." ^ The contingent liability incurred by the 
 State in the year ending June, 1895, was ;^i57,ooo, 
 and in the preceding year ^^44,000 : the amount is 
 likely to be increased, as the construction of seven 
 additional mills has been conditionally approved 
 of, but, under an amending Act of 1895, is not to 
 exceed a total of ^500,000. The Premier sees no 
 reason to suppose that, with proper management, 
 any of the new factories will fail to meet their 
 liabilities to the State. 
 
 Under these circumstances the question arises 
 whether coloured labour will permanently be neces- 
 sary, the answer to which depends upon the ability 
 of the white man to become acclimatised in a tropi- 
 cal country. " If the white man," to quote a pro- 
 minent Oueenslander, "can live and work and bring 
 
 ' Quoted, by permission of the author, from an article con- 
 tributed to the Australasian Review of Reviews by Mr. J. V. 
 Chataway, one of the members for Mackay.
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 67 
 
 up his children in the tropics of this continent, then 
 assuredly the time will come when we shall require 
 coloured labourers to cultivate our cane no more 
 than do the continental sugar-beet farmers require 
 coloured men to do their field work. Where can 
 we look for proof of the European's ability to work 
 and live in the heated North ? He works on rail- 
 ways and in mines now, but there is an entire lack 
 of evidence that his children and his children's 
 children can continue to do so with unimpaired 
 health and vigour. Again, it has to be seen what 
 will be the normal death-rate in the North. It has 
 been heavy, but we have yet to estimate the lowering 
 of that rate as the malarial swamps are drained, and 
 the dense tropical scrubs cleared away. . . . Time 
 alone can solve this question thoroughly, though it 
 may be permitted one to say that so far there is 
 ample reason to think that the evidence is accumu- 
 lating in favour of the European's ability to perma- 
 nently inhabit and cultivate our tropical lands. 
 There is some satisfaction in noting, for instance, 
 that, despite the increased settlement in Northern 
 Queensland, the death-rate for the Colony has fallen 
 from 22'97 per 1,000 in 1884 to 12-08 in 1894." ^ The 
 rate of mortality among the Kanakas is reported 
 officially to have been 40-62 per 1,000 in 1894, and 
 29-64 in 1895. Their employment is absolutely 
 prohibited in the mills, and is restricted to certain 
 forms of work upon the plantations. The Govern- 
 
 ' See footnote p. 66.
 
 68 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 ment are anxious to replace the Kanakas gradually 
 by white labourers and to settle the tropical littoral 
 with a population of small farmers. This object, 
 however, it is contended, cannot be attained without 
 the temporary employment of coloured labour. 
 Another aspect of the question may be noted : 
 granted that white men cannot at present do all 
 the work upon the plantations, Kanakas are pre- 
 ferable to Orientals, whether Chinese or Japanese, 
 who would remain permanently in the country. 
 Even in Queensland, though less than in the 
 Southern Provinces, such a state of things would 
 be regarded as eminently undesirable. 
 
 A considerable demand for white labour has thus 
 been created, the extent of which may be gauged 
 from the figures given to me by a planter who has 
 3,000 acres under cane in the neighbourhood of 
 Bundaberg. Upon land which formerly carried 800 
 head of cattle and gave employment to a single 
 married couple, he now employs 300 Kanakas and 
 80 white men during the whole of the year, and 
 120 additional white men during the crushing season, 
 which lasts, as a rule, from June to December. The 
 latter are compelled to shift for themselves during 
 the remaining months of the year and waader about 
 the country in the search for casual work ; many, it 
 is said, seek it in the agricultural districts of the 
 Darling Downs. 
 
 The people of Queensland are confronted with 
 a serious problem in the fact that of the three
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 69 
 
 principal industries of the countries, mining alone 
 affords regular and constant employment, and that 
 only on proved goldfields. In the sugar industry, 
 as stated, about 40 per cent, of the labourers, ex- 
 clusive of the islanders, are permanently employed, 
 and in the pastoral industry the proportion is even 
 smaller. On a typical sheep-station in the Central 
 district which carries 80,000 sheep, the permanent 
 staff number only 19, and are supplemented at 
 shearing time by some 25 to 30 shearers and as 
 many more workmen who pick up, sort, and pack 
 the fleeces. The shearers with whom I conversed 
 bewailed the irregularity of their employment ; they 
 work at high pressure for a few months in the wool- 
 sheds, and have no fixed occupation during the 
 remainder of the year. I was favourably impressed 
 by the men, and was informed that, as a class, they 
 have much improved of late years, and that many 
 of them have considerable savings. Allowances must 
 be made for workmen who are herded together, 
 good characters with bad, and lead a nomadic and 
 demoralising existence which lacks the sobering 
 influences of sustained industry and domestic as- 
 sociations. Recent Ministries have been alive to 
 the importance of this question and have aimed 
 at the gradual diminution of the size of pastoral 
 properties held from the Crown. The Land Act of 
 1884 divided them into two equal parts, over one of 
 which the holder was offered a fixed lease for 21 
 years, while the other was to be subject to resump-
 
 70 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 tion by the State as the demand for the land might 
 arise. Under this provision large tracts of country 
 have been thrown open for occupation as grazing 
 farms of from 5,000 to 20,000 acres and have been 
 eagerly taken up, as many as twenty applications 
 having been received for a single farm where the 
 quality of the soil has been exceptionally favourable. 
 The Act of 1894, passed by the present Government, 
 established a new form of tenure which was intended 
 to meet the special requirements of the shearers. 
 Grazing homesteads not exceeding 2,500 acres in 
 area may be acquired at a low rental, subject to the 
 condition that the selector must reside upon the 
 land for not less than six consecutive months in 
 each year during the first ten years of his lease ; but, 
 under license from the Land Board, the selectors of 
 two or more homesteads may co-operate to work 
 their holdings as a whole, in which case residence 
 by one-half of the whole number of selectors will 
 fulfil the conditions of occupation. Some of the 
 shearers may, from the force of habit, be incapable 
 of a settled existence ; but many of them proclaim 
 their desire to occupy land and are hereby afforded 
 an opportunity which they have scarcely at present 
 realised. The attractiveness of this form of tenure 
 will be increased if the Government pass their pro- 
 posed legislation to authorise them to sink bores 
 for the supply of water to the smaller holdings. 
 
 A better state of things prevails upon the Darling 
 Downs in the south of the Province, where the
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 71 
 
 shearing is done by cultivators and others who are 
 in regular employment. This part of the country 
 should eventually carry a large resident population 
 engaged in the growth of cereals and in dairy- 
 farming. To promote settlement and "in the strong 
 belief that Queensland is capable of and will soon 
 be supplying not only her own requirements, but 
 also of exporting largely of her surplus farm pro- 
 ducts, the Government have made provision in 
 connection with the Torres Strait Service for the 
 carriage of farm and dairy produce in large quan- 
 tities, and have also submitted to Parliament a 
 measure for the appointment of an additional 
 Minister, to be charged solely with the development 
 of agricultural interests, and have taken the neces- 
 sary steps for the establishment of an agricultural 
 college within a reasonable distance from Brisbane." ^ 
 The export of dairy produce has been encouraged 
 by the offer of a bonus, and the construction of 
 butter factories by loans, the funds being obtained 
 from a portion of the proceeds of a tax imposed 
 upon owners of sheep and cattle by the Meat and 
 Dairy Produce Encouragement Act of 1893. The 
 remainder is expended in advances to proprietors 
 of meat works, and it is provided in a subsequent 
 Act, that the amounts received in payment of interest 
 or repayment of the principal of the loans, may be 
 refunded to the payers of the tax. Tiie progress of 
 settlement has been retarded by the alienation from 
 ' Financial btatemcnl 1896, p. 14.
 
 72 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 the Crown of much of the land that is most suitable 
 for the purpose, both in quality and situation. The 
 freehold has in many cases passed to financial 
 institutions, which, having advanced upon it an 
 amount greater than the present value as depreciated 
 by the fall in prices, are unwilling to sell the land 
 and to reconcile themselves to their losses. The 
 Government have been authorised by the Agricul- 
 tural Land Purchase Act of 1894, to expend a sum 
 not exceeding ;^ioo,ooo a year in the purchase, 
 under voluntary agreement, of land suitable for 
 agricultural settlement which is to be offered for 
 selection in agricultural farms, and have made 
 considerable use of their powers, but the system 
 has not been sufficiently long in operation to enable 
 an estimate to be formed of its results. 
 
 The irregularity of employment has engendered 
 among the working classes a widespread feeling of 
 discontentment, and constitutes one of the main 
 causes of the numerical strength of the Labour vote, 
 which amounts to about 34 per cent, of the whole. 
 The Parliamentary Labour Party in Queensland 
 differs from that of the other Australian Colonies 
 in its close identification with directly socialistic 
 aspirations. It was founded to give effect to the 
 political platform of the Australian Labour Federa- 
 tion, published in 1890 under the influence of the 
 communist, William Lane, which advocates "the 
 nationalisation of all sources of wealth and all 
 means of producing and exchanging wealth ; "
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 73 
 
 its organ, The Worker, writes under the motto 
 " Socialism in our time," and several of its 
 members publicly admit that they are Socialists. 
 Others, however, who look forward to the pos- 
 sibility of an alliance with a reconstructed 
 Opposition ask to be judged solely by the pro- 
 gramme of the party which contains no distinctly 
 socialistic item, in the popular acceptation of the 
 term, except the establishment of a State Labour 
 Department to which men may apply as a right for 
 work at a minimum wage ; but they will have diffi- 
 culty in overcoming the general impression, which 
 their opponents, not unnaturally, do all in their 
 power to intensify. 
 
 The Party first came into prominence at the 
 elections in 1893, when they won fifteen seats out 
 of seventy-two, and have nothing to show in the 
 way of practical legislation to counterbalance the 
 undoubted consolidation of the forces of their 
 opponents. A comparison suggests itself with the 
 success of the Labour Parties in New Zealand and 
 South Australia which have co-operated with pro- 
 gressive Ministers in the enactment of measures of 
 social reform. In the latter case, the Labour Party 
 have been so moderate in their programme, speeches, 
 and actions, that they have carried a quarter of the 
 seats in the Legislative Council, and thus prove 
 themselves not to have alienated the householders 
 and small owners of property who form the bulk of 
 the electorate for that House. In New South Wales
 
 74 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 the Labour Party have been able, by opportunistic 
 transfers of their votes, to secure electoral reform 
 and the taxation of incomes and land values. The 
 position of affairs in Queensland is not analogous ; 
 the coalition of Sir S. GrifEth and Sir T. Mcllwraith 
 practically destroyed the Opposition, and made it 
 necessary for the Labour Party to trust almost 
 entirely to their ovv'n efforts, which should have 
 been directed towards the concentration of all the 
 progressive feeling of the community. Their policy, 
 on the contrary, has deprived them of the support 
 of many who are dissatisfied with the Government, 
 and has not materially strengthened their hold upon 
 the working classes. Though they carried twenty 
 seats in 1896, they only polled 964 more votes than 
 in 1893, nor have they improved their position in 
 the House, as, even should they be supported by the 
 ten Oppositionists and Independents, they would be 
 confronted by a solid phalanx of forty-two Minis- 
 terialists. It may be of interest to note that their 
 principal successes have been gained among bush- 
 men and miners, but that they also hold the sugar 
 district of Bundaberg, two agricultural con- 
 stituencies, two seats at Rockhampton, and three 
 in the poorer and outlying parts of Brisbane. 
 
 The complaints of the Labour Party against the 
 Government were directed mainly to their failure to 
 amend the electoral laws or to pass humanitarian 
 legislation, and to the stringency of the Peace 
 Preservation Act of 1894. Apart from their obvious
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 75 
 
 objections to the plural vote of persons holding 
 property in different divisions, they contend that 
 many miners and shearers are permanently dis- 
 franchised, as they are neither householders nor 
 reside for six months in the same place, and that 
 persons qualified to be registered are impeded by 
 the provisions which oblige them to fill in a claim 
 in which, among other things, they have to state 
 their qualification, and to get the claim attested by 
 a justice of the peace, electoral registrar, or head 
 male teacher of a State school. The Peace 
 Preservation Act was passed at a time when a 
 serious disturbance had arisen from a strike of 
 shearers in the pastoral districts of the West, on 
 the ground that the ordinary laws of the Colony 
 were insufficient for the prevention, detection, and 
 punishment of crime in such districts, and was as 
 strongly justified by some as it was condemned 
 by others. The Act authorised the Executive to 
 proclaim districts which should come under its 
 operation, and to appoint such district magistrates 
 as might be necessary for carrying its provisions 
 into effect. These may be summarised in the 
 words of the Hon. T. J. Byrnes, the Attorney- 
 General : " The first portion of this legislation is to 
 give us power to put an end to the carrying of arms 
 and the sale of arms in the districts that have been 
 disturbed ... It is proposed in the second part of 
 the Bill that inquests on crime may be held . . . 
 The third portion of the Bill deals with the power
 
 76 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 of arrest and detention of persons under suspicion." 
 Under the latter heading persons suspected of crime 
 committed in a proclaimed district could be arrested 
 by a special or provisional warrant, in any part of 
 Queensland, and be detained in prison ; but it was 
 provided that such persons should be treated as 
 persons accused of crime and not as convicted 
 prisoners, and that no person "should be held in 
 custody under a provisional w-arrant for a longer 
 period than thirty days, nor under a special warrant 
 for a longer period than two months, without being 
 brought to trial for the offence stated in such war- 
 rant." In justification of the measure, the same 
 Minister quoted cases in which woolsheds had been 
 burnt and the police and private individuals had 
 been fired upon although no actual loss of life had 
 occurred. A stranger cannot form an opinion upon 
 the question and can only note, on the one side, 
 that the operation of the Act was limited to one 
 year, that it was most judiciously administered, not 
 more than one district, under a single district magis- 
 trate, having been proclaimed, and that it brought 
 about the speedy cessation of the troubles ; on the 
 other, that no attempt was made by the Government 
 at mediation between the opposing parties, although, 
 to quote the Attorney-General again, they "knew 
 that labour troubles of an aggravated nature were 
 likely to occur." A Bill "to provide for conciliation 
 in industrial pursuits " is included in the programme 
 of the Government.
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 77 
 
 As regards the necessity for humanitarian legis- 
 lation, reference can be made to the evidence given 
 before a Royal Commission in 1891. The Com- 
 missioners were unanimous in reporting that, in 
 many factories and workshops which they had 
 visited, the sanitary conditions were very bad, the 
 ventilation was improperly attended to, and little or 
 no attempt had been made to guard the machinery. 
 They were agreed as to the need of further legis- 
 lation, but, while some were of opinion that the 
 wider powers should be exercised by inspectors 
 under the local authorities, others were in favour 
 of the appointment of a special class of male and 
 female inspectors. They also found that children 
 of the ages of ten, eleven, and twelve years were 
 employed in factories, and that the hours of labour 
 in many retail shops were very long, adding that 
 medical evidence was conclusive that the excessive 
 hours were more injurious to health in Queensland 
 than they would be in a colder climate ; but they 
 were unable to concur as to the advisability of 
 legislative interference. A Factory Act, though not 
 of a very stringent character, was passed by the 
 Government towards the end of the session of 1896. 
 The attention of the Government during the last 
 few years has been directed mainly towards the 
 restoration of the credit of the country and the 
 development of its industries. Queensland reached 
 its lowest ebb in 1889, when, in spite of the recent 
 loan of ten millions, the deficit amounted to
 
 78 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 ;^484,ooo. Since that time matters have rapidly 
 improved, and in 1895 and 1896 the revenue was 
 considerably in excess of the expenditure. This 
 result has been achieved by economical administra- 
 tion, and the direct encouragement of enterprise 
 which has been effected by a large extension of the 
 sphere of State action. The principles involved 
 appear to have been threefold. 
 
 First, that the State should facilitate the occupa- 
 tion of outlying districts by the construction of 
 public works, provided they may be expected to 
 return a fair interest upon the expenditure. The 
 proposals put forward some fifteen years ago, that 
 the three Western lines should be connected with 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria by a series of Land Grant 
 Railways, were condemned by the sense of the 
 community, which preferred to postpone their con- 
 struction until it could be undertaken by the State. 
 In pursuance of this policy all the railways are 
 owned and managed by the State, which has recently 
 protected itself against the danger of the construction 
 of unprofitable lines under political pressure by an 
 Act of Parliament under which, upon any fresh 
 proposal, the local authorities affected may be 
 required to give a guarantee that they will, for a 
 period of years, should the earnings fail to reach a 
 certain standard, make good half of the deficiency 
 out of the rates. In the Western portions of the 
 Colony, in which occupation has been retarded by 
 the scarcity of water, the Government have also
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 79 
 
 incurred considerable expenditure in the successful 
 provision of artesian water and in general works 
 of conservation. 
 
 Secondly, that the State may assist producers to 
 dispose advantageously of their produce. Reference 
 has been made to the contracts which the Govern- 
 ment have entered into with the British India 
 Company for the carriage of farm and dairy produce. 
 They are now considering the advisability of assisting 
 cattle-owners, whose resources are severely strained 
 by the low prices which they obtain in London for 
 their frozen meat. The principal cause of the low 
 prices and the attitude of the Premier can be 
 gathered from the following extract from the 
 financial statement which he delivered in 1896 : — 
 " Our meat I believe to be as good as any in the 
 world, and the cost at which it can be delivered at 
 a profit at the ports of the Colony will compare 
 favourably with any other country that I am aware 
 of ; and yet the prices lately obtainable in London 
 are such as barely cover the charges for freezing, 
 freight, insurance, &c. Something will have to be 
 done if the industry is to be preserved. The only 
 suggestion I have received as yet is that the Colony, 
 either individually or in conjunction with the other 
 Colonies, should take the business of distribution 
 into its own hands, as it is believed that, whilst the 
 consumers give good value for our meat, a great part 
 of that value is absorbed by various graduations of 
 middlemen, leaving, as I have said, a margin for the
 
 8o PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 
 
 producer altogether disproportionate to the real 
 value of the product. To effect this a large amount 
 of capital will be required, respecting which I have 
 no proposal to submit, as the matter is really one for 
 private enterprise to undertake, but 1 mention the 
 matter as one requiring speedy and most serious 
 attention, because, if private enterprise should not 
 be forthcoming to cope with the difficulty, it may 
 devolve upon Parliament to adopt such measures as 
 may appear practicable to conserve an important 
 industry which we can ill afford to lose," 
 
 Subsequently, I understand (I was not in Queens- 
 land at the time), a Parliamentary Committee was 
 instructed to consider the question, and reported in 
 favour of the establishment at London and in the 
 provinces of depots for the receipt and distribution 
 of frozen meat. 
 
 On another occasion, referring to the injury done 
 to the harbour of Brisbane by excessive towage 
 rates, the Premier said that if private enterprise could 
 not do it for a less sum, it would be a very simple 
 thing for the Government to take the matter in 
 hand. 
 
 Thirdly, that the State may use its credit, after 
 strict investigation of the circumstances and upon 
 conviction of the validity of the security, to enable 
 prospective producers to borrow money at a low 
 rate of interest. The Sugar Works Guarantee Act, 
 of which I have quoted the provisions, has led other 
 producers to ask for similar concessions. The
 
 PROBLEMS OF QUEENSLAND 8i 
 
 farmers want flour mills and cheap money ; the 
 pastoralists and graziers complain of the tax levied 
 upon them under the Meat and Dairy Produce 
 Encouragement Acts. Why, they ask, should the 
 sugar industry be exceptionally favoured ? Again, 
 if the Government are to establish distributing 
 agencies for frozen meat, why not also for other 
 produce ? 
 
 The Socialists describe these various measures as 
 a spurious form of socialism calculated to increase 
 the profits of a single class of the community ; but 
 the Government do not trouble themselves about 
 abstract terms. They have steadily pursued a settled 
 policy, and have successively assisted the sugar, 
 pastoral, and agricultural interests ; they are pre- 
 pared, if necessary, to give substantial help to cattle- 
 owners in the disposal of their produce, and they 
 intend to propose amendments of the mining laws 
 which will promote the further development of the 
 industry. Nor have the producers alone been 
 benefited ; the working classes, who are the first to 
 sufter in times of depression, are sharing in the 
 renewed prosperity of the country, and have been 
 able to take advantage of the increased demand for 
 their services.
 
 IV 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Differences of conditions between Australia and New Zealand — 
 The Public Works policy — Taxation on land — The Land Act 
 of 1892 — The Land for Settlements Acts — The Government 
 Advances to Settlers Acts — The encouragement of settlement 
 — The co-operative construction of Public Works — The 
 unemployed — Continuity of policy. 
 
 THE Constitution of 1852, under which New 
 Zealand obtained responsible government, 
 differed from those granted to the Australian Pro- 
 vinces in the creation of Provincial as well as 
 Central Authorities. Owing to the mountainous 
 character of many parts of both islands, and in 
 the absence of railways and other facilities for 
 internal transit, communication had been carried 
 on principally by sea, and settlement, instead of 
 radiating from one point, as in New South Wales, 
 Victoria, and South Australia, had been diffused at 
 Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and 
 other places of secondary importance. Under 
 these circumstances, while it was deemed advisable 
 to create a Central Government at Auckland, which 
 
 was transferred to Wellington in 1865, six elective 
 
 82
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 83 
 
 Provincial Councils were established, which, though 
 their legislative and executive powers were con- 
 fined within specified limits, promoted the con- 
 tinuance of the separate development of the several 
 portions of the Colony. In 1876 the Provincial 
 Legislatures, which had in the meanwhile been 
 increased by a division of territories to ten, were 
 abolished by the Central Government, principally 
 because they impeded the execution of the national 
 policy of the construction of public works. The 
 effects of the system, however, are still seen, 
 especially in the demands made in the House of 
 Representatives that the different districts shall 
 share in the benefits of any proposed expenditure 
 of public funds. 
 
 Another feature which served to differentiate 
 New Zealand from Australia was the existence of 
 a warlike native race in the North Island, which 
 opposed the colonisation of the early settlers. 
 From the outset, ignorance of each other's lan- 
 guage and habits of thought led to misunder- 
 standings in regard to the disposal of land, which 
 was complicated by the communal tenure of the 
 Maoris. The appreciation of this difficulty led to 
 the insertion in the Treaty of 1840, in which the 
 chiefs purported to cede the sovereignty of New 
 Zealand, of a provision which reserved to the 
 Crown the right of pre-emption over all native 
 lands. But the dissatisfaction was not allayed ; the 
 natives, conscious of the steady advances of the
 
 84 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 settlers and urged to sell by agents of the Crown, 
 feared that they would gradually be dispossessed of 
 their territory. A conflict which arose in regard to 
 some land, and led to fatal results, increased the 
 state of tension, which culminated, after a struggle 
 in the extreme north, in the prolonged conflicts of 
 i860 to 1870, After the pacification the reciprocal 
 relations began to improve, and are now excellent. 
 The Maoris are universally respected, have four 
 members in the House of Representatives, and 
 two in the Legislative Council, and are represented 
 in the Executive Council by a Minister, who is 
 himself a half-caste. Numerous attempts have also 
 been made to settle the land question, notably by 
 the resumption of the right of pre-emption, which 
 had been waived for a time, and by the constitution, 
 by an Act of 1893, of a Validation Court for the 
 purpose of considering and finally settling the titles 
 to lands obtained by Europeans from the natives. 
 In view of their pre-emptive right, the Government 
 have been bound, in justice to the Maoris, to 
 make provision for the purchase of such lands as 
 may be offered to them, though they have not 
 herein initiated a new policy. From the estab- 
 lishment of Imperial sovereignty to 1870, successive 
 Governments acquired six million acres in the 
 North Island, the whole of the Middle Island, 
 with the exception of reserves for the original 
 owners who were few in number, and Stewart 
 Island. From that date until 1895, another six
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 85 
 
 million acres had been acquired at an outlay of 
 a million and a half pounds, and subsequent pur- 
 chases, from a large area still under negotiation, 
 amount to about 550,000 acres. New Zealand has 
 thus disbursed, and is still disbursing, large sums of 
 money in the purchase of native lands, while 
 Australia and Tasmania recognised no right of 
 possession on the part of the few degraded 
 aboriginals ; and New Zealand alone is burdened 
 with the payment of interest upon loans raised 
 to cover the charges of prolonged military cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 During the wars, settlement was necessarily 
 checked in the North Island, but proceeded in 
 the Middle Island without intermission. At their 
 conclusion, in 1870, Mr. (now Sir Julius) Vogel, 
 the Colonial Treasurer, placed before Parliament 
 a comprehensive scheme of public works, which 
 aimed at the general improvement of means of 
 communication, a matter of particular importance 
 in the North Island as being likely to hasten its 
 final pacification. "The leading features of the 
 policy were : to raise a loan of ten millions, and 
 to spend it over a course of years in systematic 
 immigration, in the construction of a main trunk 
 railway throughout the length of each island, in 
 the employment of immigrants on the railway 
 work, and in their ultimate settlement within large 
 blocks of land reserved near the lines of railway, in 
 the construction of main roads, in the purchase of
 
 86 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 native lands in the North Island, in the suppl}'- of 
 water-power on the goldfields, and in the exten- 
 sion of the telegraph. The plan, with some 
 modifications, was authorised by the Legislature. 
 These modifications mostly related to the amount 
 to be borrowed and to its expenditure ; but there 
 was one alteration which crippled the whole policy. 
 The reservation of large tracts of Crown land 
 through which the railways were intended to be 
 made, with a view to the use of that land for 
 settlement thereon, and as the means of recouping 
 to the Colony a great part of the railway expendi- 
 ture, was withdrawn by the Government from fear 
 of losing the whole scheme. That fear was not un- 
 founded, inasmuch as provincial opposition to the 
 reservation in question, combined with the opposi- 
 tion of those who disliked the whole scheme, would 
 have seriously endangered its existence." ^ The pro- 
 vincial opposition was due to the fact that, though 
 the disposal of the Crown lands and the appropria- 
 tion of the Land Fund were vested by the Con- 
 stitution Act in the Central Legislature, each 
 province had in practice been allowed to frame 
 the regulations for the alienation of land within 
 its district, and had received the proceeds of sale 
 for its own use. But the omission of the proposed 
 reservation ** has necessitated the frequent recur- 
 rence of borrowing large sums in order to continue 
 work which had been begun and was useless while 
 
 ' "The Colony of New Zealand," Gisborne, p. 170.
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 87 
 
 it was unfinished, instead of making, as would have 
 been the case under a proper system of land reser- 
 vation, the work itself to a great extent, if not 
 altogether, self-supporting and self-extending ; and 
 that deplorable omission has also frustrated the 
 anticipated conduct of progressive colonisation 
 concurrently with the progress of the railways. 
 The result of not insisting on this fundamental 
 condition has been what should have been foreseen 
 and obviated. The Provincial Governments sold 
 land in the vicinity of the intended railways, and 
 expended the proceeds for provincial purposes ; 
 and, as a rule, speculative capitalists absorbed the 
 land and the profits which should have been 
 devoted to colonisation and to the railway fund." ^ 
 As the proposed railways would pass through private 
 as well as Crown lands. Sir Julius Vogel also sought 
 the power to levy a special rate, in certain circum- 
 stances, upon the persons in the vicinity of the 
 railways who would be benefited by their construc- 
 tion. He believed that he would thereby prevent 
 " indiscriminate scrambling for railways," but was 
 equally unable to induce Parliament to accept his 
 views. The aggregation of large estates was pro- 
 moted by the low price, los. or even 5s. an 
 acre, at which the land was for many years sold. 
 262 freeholders, including companies, owned in 
 1 89 1, 7,840,000 acres of land in estates of 10,000 
 acres and upwards. The Province has, since its 
 
 ' " The Colony of New Zealand," Gisborne, pp. 171-2.
 
 88 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 foundation, sold or finally disposed of more than 
 21 million acres, and has at present nearly three 
 million acres open for selection. The remaining 
 lands, exclusive of those in the hands of the 
 Maoris, amount to i6i million acres, but comprise 
 large tracts of barren mountainous country in the 
 Middle Island, and of valueless pumice sand in the 
 North Island. In most directions, according to 
 the Premier, settlement is already in advance of 
 the roading operations. 
 
 The policy initiated by Sir Julius Vogel in 1870 
 was carried on by successive Ministers until 1888, 
 during which time more than 27 millions were 
 borrowed and devoted, for the most part, to the 
 construction of railways and other public under- 
 takings. Subsequently, Sir Harry Atkinson and his 
 successor, Mr. John Ballance, realised the danger of 
 constant reliance upon loans, and greatly reduced the 
 expenditure, which had become extravagant in the 
 abundance of borrowed money. Mr. Ballance also 
 reformed the system of direct taxation and gave an 
 impetus to legislation dealing with the settlement 
 of the land and the protection of workmen in 
 industrial pursuits. 
 
 The existing property tax, at the rate of one penny 
 in the £ on all property, subject to an exemption 
 of ;^5oo, was replaced by a graduated tax on incomes 
 and land values, the principle of graduation having 
 already been recognised in the case of succession 
 duty. The former impost was naturally upheld by
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 89 
 
 large owners of property and by all classes of pro- 
 fessional men who had escaped taxation upon their 
 incomes ; while it was distasteful to shopkeepers, 
 who might be taxed on unsaleable merchandise, 
 and to cultivators of the soil, who found that their 
 taxes rose in proportion to the improvements which 
 they effected upon their estates. The Government 
 had little difficulty in passing their measure, which, 
 subject to slight modifications, is in force at the 
 present time. Incomes below ;^300 are not taxed ; 
 between ^300 and ;^ 1,300 they pay 6d. in the £, 
 above ;^i,3oo a shilling ; but the sum of ;^300 is 
 deducted from the total income in the assessment 
 of the tax. For instance, an income of ^^2,000 pays 
 ;^6o, at the rate of £2^ upon _^i,ooo, and £^5 i-^pon 
 £'Joo. The ordinary land-tax is a penny in the £ 
 on all freehold properties of which the unimproved 
 value exceeds ^'500 ; between ;^5oo and ^1,500 
 exemption is allowed on ;^5oo ; between ;^i,5oo 
 and ;^2,5oo the exemption decreases by £1 for 
 every £2 of increased value, being extinguished at 
 the latter amount. Should the value exceed ^^5,000, 
 a graduated land-tax is also levied, which rises 
 progressively from half a farthing, until it reaches 
 twopence upon estates of the unimproved value of 
 ;^2io,ooo and upwards. All improvements are ex- 
 cluded from the assessment of the taxable amount : 
 they are defined to include "houses and buildings, 
 fencing, planting, draining of land, clearing from 
 timber, scrub or fern, laying down in grass or
 
 90 
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 pasture, and any other improvement whatsoever, 
 the benefit of which is unexhausted at the time of 
 valuation." Under this provision rural owners have 
 every encouragement to improve their properties, as 
 the more they do so, the smaller becomes the pro- 
 portion of the total value of their estates on which 
 they are liable for taxation. Owners are allowed, 
 for the purposes of the ordinary, but not of the 
 graduated land-tax, to deduct from the unimproved 
 value of their land the amount of registered mort- 
 gages secured upon it ; and mortgagees pay one 
 penny in the £ upon the sum total of their mort- 
 gages, but are not subject to the graduated tax. A 
 return, published under the assessment of 1891, 
 shows, however, that rural owners are obtaining less 
 benefit from the exemption of improvements than 
 the owners of urban lands 
 follows :— 
 
 The figures are as 
 
 
 Actual Value, 
 
 including 
 improvements. 
 
 Value 
 
 of 
 
 improvements. 
 
 Unimproved 
 value. 
 
 Counties 
 
 Boroughs 
 
 85,818,167 
 36,406,862 
 
 27,922,735 
 18,442,562 
 
 57,880,233 
 17,907,662 
 
 Total ... 
 
 ;£l22,225,029 
 
 ;^46,365,297 
 
 ;£75,787,89S 
 
 It thus appears that land is taxed, on an average, 
 at 49 per cent, of its actual value inclusive of improve- 
 ments in boroughs, and at 67J per cent, in counties ;
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 91 
 
 but it must be remembered that, as the urban popu- 
 lation is not concentrated in one centre, kind vahies 
 have not been inflated to any great extent, and that 
 much of the rural land has either recently been 
 settled or is held in large blocks in a compara- 
 tively unimproved condition. The improvement 
 or sale of such properties would, the Government 
 believed, be promoted by the imposition of the tax. 
 The Minister of Labour (the Hon. W. P. Reeves) 
 expressed this view in the clearest terms : " The 
 graduated tax is a finger of warning held up to 
 remind them that the Colony does not want these 
 large estates. I think that, whether partly or almost 
 entirely unimproved, they are a social pest, an in- 
 dustrial obstacle, and a bar to progress." Similar 
 feelings are, apparently, entertained towards the 
 absentee owner, who, if he has been absent from 
 or resident out of the Province for at least three years 
 prior to the passing of the annual Act imposing the 
 tax, is required to pay an additional 20 per cent, 
 upon the amount of graduated land-tax to which he 
 would otherwise be liable. The income and land 
 taxes produce a revenue about equal to that 
 formerly derived from the property tax, and are 
 collected from far fewer taxpayers, the respective 
 numbers being 15,808 and 26,327 in a population of 
 some 700,000 persons. The benefits have been 
 felt principally by tradesmen, miners, mechanics, 
 labourers, and small farmers. Of 91,500 owners of 
 land, 76,400 escape payment of the land-tax. It
 
 92 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 may be noted, incidentally, that a permissive Act of 
 1896 authorises such local bodies as adopt it to levy 
 rates on the basis of the unimproved value of land. 
 Much anxiety has been felt by large landowners and 
 owners of urban property throughout Australasia at 
 the successive adoption of a tax on unimproved 
 values by South Australia, New Zealand, and New 
 South Wales. They fear that it is the first step 
 towards the national absorption of land values advo- 
 cated by Henry George, but forget that the Govern- 
 ments of New South Wales and New Zealand, in 
 respect of exemptions, and of New Zealand and 
 South Australia, in respect of graduation, have 
 introduced features in their systems of taxation 
 which cause them to be fundamentally distinct from 
 his proposals. The Bill passed through the Victorian 
 Assembly in 1894, but rejected by the Council, also 
 provided for exemptions. 
 
 But how, it may be asked, has an equitable assess- 
 ment of the land been secured for the purposes of 
 the tax ? Any owner who is not satisfied with the 
 value placed upon his land on the assessment roll, 
 may require the Commissioner to ireduce the assess- 
 ment to the amount specified on the owner's return, 
 or to purchase the land at the sum mentioned on 
 the owner's return of its actual value inclusive of 
 improvements. The Commissioner is bound to 
 make the reduction unless the Government approve 
 of the acquisition of the land. A reasonable balance 
 is thus struck : the Government are unwilling to
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 93 
 
 have a large amount of land thrown on their hands, 
 while the owner does not take the risk of the 
 resumption of the land at an inadequate valuation. 
 Disputes between the Commissioner and owners 
 have, in most cases, been adjusted satisfactorily; but 
 the Government decided to buy the Cheviot Estate 
 of 85,000 acres, which lies close to the sea in the 
 Middle Island. Upon its purchase they at first let 
 the pastoral lands temporarily at the rate of ^^8,862 
 a year, while their surveyors laid out the country 
 and supervised the construction of roads. The 
 results of the transaction were, in 1896, eminently 
 satisfactory ; the capital value of the estate then stood 
 at £2'ji,'joo, and the annual rental at ^^14,300 ; and 
 the few inhabitants engaged in pastoral pursuits had 
 been replaced by 216 settlers and their families, who 
 were reported to be of a good class and to have 
 done a large amount of work in the improvement 
 of their lands. 
 
 The principal Act dealing with the alienation of 
 Crown Lands is that of 1892, which consolidates 
 and amends former legislation. Crown Lands are 
 divided into urban, suburban, and village lands, 
 which are sold by auction at an upset price, and 
 rural lands, which are again subdivided according 
 to their adaptability for cultivation or pasturage. 
 When townships are being laid out on Crown 
 Lands, one-tenth of the superficial area is to be 
 reserved for purposes of recreation, and a similar 
 extent as a nucleus of municipal property, to be
 
 94 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 vested subsequently as an endowment in the local 
 authority in addition to the reserves necessary for 
 all public purposes. At the option of the applicant, 
 lands may be purchased for cash, or be selected for 
 occupation with the right of purchase, or on lease 
 in perpetuity. Selectors are limited to 640 acres of 
 first-class land, or 2,000 acres of second-class land, 
 the maximum being inclusive of any lands which 
 they may already hold. The object of this pro- 
 vision is to prevent existing landowners from aggre- 
 gating large estates by the purchase of Crown Lands. 
 Cash sales are effected at a price of not less than 
 20s. and 5s. per acre, respectively, for first-class and 
 second-class land, and entitle the selector to a free- 
 hold title upon the expenditure of a prescribed 
 amount on improvements. Land selected under 
 occupation with the right of purchase is subject 
 to a rental of 5 per cent, upon the cash price, under 
 lease in perpetuity, which is for 999 years, to a rental 
 of 4 per cent. ; and strict conditions of residence 
 and improvement are, in both cases, attached and 
 rigidly enforced. At the expiration of ten years, a 
 licensee under the former tenure may, upon pay- 
 ment of the upset price, acquire the freehold or may 
 change the license for a lease in perpetuity. The 
 latter is the perpetual lease of the previous Acts, 
 denuded of the option of purchase and of the 
 periodical revaluation of the rent, and is, in the latter 
 respect, reactionary, as the State gives up its right to 
 take advantage of any unearned increment. Sub-
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF A'£IF ZEALAND 95 
 
 sidies amounting to one-third of the rent of land 
 taken up under any of the above tenures and one- 
 fourth of the rent of small grazing-runs are paid to 
 local authorities for the construction of roads, but 
 must be expended for the benefit of the selectors 
 from whose lands such moneys are derived. The 
 Act of 1892 also authorises the Governor to reserve 
 blocks of country, as special settlements or village 
 settlements, for persons who may desire to take up 
 adjacent lands. The Village Settlements have been 
 successful when they have been formed in localities 
 in which there was a demand for labour ; the Special 
 Settlements comparative failures, because many of 
 the members of the associations had neither the 
 requisite means nor knowledge of rural pursuits. 
 Pastoral land is let by auction in areas capable of 
 carrying not more than 20,000 sheep or 4,000 head 
 of cattle ; or in small grazing-runs not exceeding, 
 according to the quality of the soil, 5,000 or 20,000 
 acres in area. The dominant feature in the Act, in 
 its application to pastoral as well as agricultural 
 land, is the strict limitation of the area which may 
 be held by any one person ; rightly or wrongly, the 
 Government are determined that the Crown Lands 
 shall not pass into the hands of large holders. The 
 principal transactions of the last three years are 
 thus summarised, the figures for 1894 covering the 
 period from April, 1893, to March, 1894, and so for 
 the other years :
 
 96 
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 
 1894. 
 
 1895. 
 
 1896. 
 
 Tenure. 
 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 Area. 
 
 No. 
 
 Area. 
 
 No. 
 
 Area. 
 
 
 
 Acres. 
 
 
 Acres. 
 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Cash 
 
 500 
 
 34.999 
 
 415 
 
 38.710 
 
 492 
 
 26,584 
 
 Occupation, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 with right to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 purchase ... 
 
 471 
 
 108,499 
 
 428 
 
 75.500 
 
 434 
 
 84,970 
 
 Lease in per- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 petuity 
 
 1,228 
 
 255.348 
 
 1,032 
 
 166,037 
 
 1,461 
 
 199.093 
 
 Pastoral runs 
 
 227 
 
 899.945 
 
 123 
 
 568,293 
 
 188 
 
 2,156,378 
 
 In regard to the numerical superiority of leases in 
 perpetuity, it must be pointed out that, not only the 
 special blocks, but the improved farms and lands 
 offered under the Land for Settlements Acts, to 
 which I shall have occasion to refer, are disposed of 
 solely under that tenure ; but it appears to be 
 attractive in itself : as most of the Crown Lands 
 require considerable outlay before they become 
 productive, a selector can expend any capital that 
 he may possess more advantageously upon the 
 development of the capabilities of the soil than upon 
 the acquisition of the freehold. The Government 
 also are benefited by a policy which renders the land 
 revenue a permanent asset in the finances. The 
 receipts for the financial year 1895-6 amounted to 
 nearly ;^300,ooo. 
 
 In 1892 an attempt was also made to deal with 
 the problem of the scarcity of available land in 
 settled districts which was caused by the prevalence
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 97 
 
 of large estates. It was thought that the labourers 
 employed upon them, and the sons of farmers who 
 might wish to settle near their parents, should have 
 an opportunity of acquiring" land. The Govern- 
 ment, accordingly, passed the first of a series of 
 Land for Settlements Acts, which authorised the re- 
 purchase or exchange of lands and their subdivision 
 for purposes of close settlement. Upon the recom- 
 mendation of a Board of Land Purchase Commis- 
 sioners, some of whom represent local interests, that 
 a certain estate is suitable for settlement, and should 
 be purchased at a certain price, the Government 
 may enter into negotiations with the owner with a 
 view to a voluntary transaction, and, upon his 
 refusal, take the land compulsorily at a valuation 
 fixed by a Compensation Court. Owners are so far 
 safeguarded that they cannot be dispossessed of 
 estates of less than 640 acres of first-class, or 2,000 
 acres of second-class land, that they can claim to 
 retain the above area, and that they can require the 
 Government to take the whole of their estates. The 
 maximum annual expenditure was limited at first to 
 ;^5o,ooo, but has been raised to ^"250,000. At the 
 end of March of last year twenty-eight estates, con- 
 taining 87,000 acres, had been acquired, in one case 
 compulsorily, and made available for settlement by 
 surveys and the construction of roads at a total 
 expenditure of nearly ^"390,000. Nineteen of these 
 had already been subdivided into farms of various 
 sizes, and were bringing in rentals amounting to 
 
 8
 
 98 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 476 per cent, upon the outlay which they had 
 involved. The Land Purchase Inspector was able 
 to report that the lands, which had been the object 
 of eager competition, had, in most cases, been greatly 
 improved and were in good condition, and he is 
 likely to find even better results in the future, as the 
 Amending Act of 1896 provided that applications for 
 land should not be entertained unless the applicants 
 were able to prove their ability properly to cultivate 
 the soil and to fulfil the stipulations of the leases. 
 This provision is of great importance, as much of 
 the land has been cultivated by its former owners, 
 and would deteriorate rapidly under incapable 
 management. The Governments of South Australia, 
 Queensland, and Western Australia have legislated 
 in a similar direction, and that of New South Wales 
 introduced a Bill which failed to become law. As 
 far as New Zealand is concerned, which has con- 
 ducted its operations on the largest scale, the system 
 has not been sufficiently long in existence to enable 
 an estimate to be formed of its probable financial 
 results. 
 
 A similar uncertainty prevails in regard to the 
 more recent attempts to place cheap money within 
 the reach of settlers. The first step in that direction 
 was taken in 1886, when regulations were made 
 for the establishment of Village Settlements, the 
 members of which might receive loans for the 
 construction of their houses and for other purposes. 
 These settlements were not, as in some of the
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 99 
 
 Australian Provinces, formed on a co-operative or 
 a semi-communistic basis. The success of this 
 experiment doubtless encouraged the Government 
 to widen the scope of the advances. In 1895, 4,560 
 persons, divided among 144 settlements, had occu- 
 pied 33,800 acres of land ; they had received 
 ;^25,8oo in advances, had paid X 17,600 in rent and 
 interest, and had carried out improvements of the 
 value of ;^'92,8oo. These improvements, conse- 
 quently, form an ample security for the repayment 
 of the loans. The necessity of a general scheme of 
 advances was based upon the difficulty experienced 
 by small settlers, however good might be the 
 security, in obtaining loans except at prohibitive 
 rates. Authority was, accordingly, obtained through 
 the Government Advances to Settlers Acts of 1894-6 
 to borrow three millions with a view to loans 
 ranging from £2^ to £2»^oo, upon first mortgages, 
 to owners of freehold land and occupiers of Crown 
 Lands, the advances not to exceed three-fifths of 
 the value of the former and one-half of the value 
 of the lessee's interest in the latter. Advances may 
 not be made on town lands, nor on suburban lands 
 which are held for residential or manufacturing pur- 
 poses. The valuation of every security is to be carried 
 out by or on behalf of a superintendent appointed 
 ad hoc, and is to be submitted for the consideration 
 of a General Board consisting of the Colonial 
 Treasurer, the Superintendent, the Public Trustee, 
 the Commissioner of Taxes, and a nominee of the
 
 loo THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Governor in Council. The advances on freehold 
 land may be either for a fixed period at 5 per cent., 
 or for 36^ years at 6 per cent., of which 5 per cent, 
 is reckoned as interest and i per cent, towards the 
 gradual repayment of the principal ; on leasehold 
 lands, in the latter form alone. As the loan of a 
 million and a half raised as the source of advances 
 was floated at 3 per cent., and realised nearly 
 ;^i,40o,ooo, the margin between the percentage due 
 by the Government and that received from the 
 settlers should be sufficient to enable one-tenth of 
 the interest to be paid, as provided, into an Assu- 
 rance Fund against possible losses, and a residue to 
 be available which will cover the general expenses 
 of administration. But it is obvious that the result 
 of the experiment will depend greatly upon the 
 prevalent rate of interest and the price of produce. 
 Hitherto, two-thirds of the advances have been used 
 by settlers to enable them to rid themselves of 
 former and less advantageous mortgages ; in some 
 cases, mortgagees, in order to retain their mort- 
 gages, have voluntarily lowered the rate of interest 
 to 5 per cent. The tabular statement on the 
 following page of the financial position is the 
 latest that has been issued, and does not pur- 
 port to be more than approximately correct. Ad- 
 vances may also be made towards the construction 
 of dwelling-houses to those who have obtained 
 selections under the Land for Settlements Acts ; 
 but they may not exceed twenty pounds nor the
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 lOI 
 
 amount already spent by the applicant upon his 
 holding. 
 
 IXCOME. 
 
 The advances authorised and accepted 
 amount to ^735,967, and yield an annual 
 income of 5 per cent ;^36,798 
 
 The temporary investment of ;£6o3,444 "'' 
 Government securities yields an annual 
 income at the rate of 3*42 per cent. ... 20,747 
 
 The balance of ;^5 1,805 on current account 
 with the Bank, may be estimated to yield 
 2 per cent 1,036 
 
 Estimated total income on June 15, 1896 ... ;^58,58i 
 
 Expenditure. 
 Annual charge for interest at 3 per cent, on 
 
 ;^i, 500,000 ;^43,ooo 
 
 Salaries for the year ... ... ... ... 3,700 
 
 Other expenses 2,800 
 
 Mortgage Tax, estimated 1,800 
 
 Estimated total expenditure 
 
 Balance of income over expenditure 
 
 £53.300 
 
 5,281 
 
 ;£58,58i 
 
 Another measure which may affect the well-being 
 of settlers is the Family Home Protection Act, 1895. 
 Any owner of land may settle as a family home the 
 land, not exceeding, with all improvements, ^^1,500 
 in value, on which he resides and has his home, 
 provided that at the time the land is unencumbered 
 and he is able to pay all his debts without the land 
 in question. As a precaution against the conceal-
 
 I02 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 ment of liabilities, he is obliged to make an appli- 
 cation to a District Land Registrar, who must 
 thereupon give public notice of the intended regis- 
 tration. Should any creditor put in a claim within 
 twelve months, the case is to be tried before a Judge 
 of the Supreme Court, and if the owner of the land is 
 vindicated, the Registrar is to issue a certificate which 
 will exempt the family home from seizure under 
 ordinary processes of law, but not in one or two 
 contingencies, of which the principal is the failure 
 to meet current liabilities in respect of rates or taxes. 
 The registration is to continue until the death of 
 the owner or the majority or death under the age of 
 twenty-one of all his children, and is not to precede 
 the last of these events. Upon its cessation it may 
 be renewed at the option of the persons then holding 
 the estate, who must be relations of the deceased. 
 Little effect has been given to the Act owing, 
 probably, to the unavoidable publicity of the pro- 
 ceedings. It appears to have been based upon a 
 South Australian Act of 1891, which enables holders 
 of workmen's blocks, by the endorsement of their 
 leases, to secure for their properties somewhat 
 similar exemptions from seizure. Their failure to 
 avail themselves, to any considerable extent, of this 
 privilege is attributed to the unwillingness of 
 working men to take any trouble in a matter of 
 which the advantages are merely contingent. 
 
 So far I have discussed the legislation of New 
 Zealand which affects freeholders and those who
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 103 
 
 are, or desire to become, tenants of the Crown ; but 
 before proceeding to deal with matters of common 
 import to most settlers, I must point out that tenants 
 holding from private landlords have also engaged 
 the paternal attention of the Government. The 
 Minister of Lands introduced last session, but failed 
 to pass, a Fair Rent Bill, which would have estab- 
 lished a system of Land Courts under the presidency 
 of Stipendiary Magistrates. Landlords and tenants 
 would have had an equal right to apply for the 
 determination of the fair rent which, upon the 
 decision of the Court, whether it were higher or 
 lower than the reserved rent, would have been 
 deemed, until a further revision, to be the rent 
 payable under the lease. The Government dis- 
 played great inconsistency in the introduction of the 
 measure ; having shown, in the system of lease in 
 perpetuity, that they objected to the periodical 
 revaluation of the rents payable upon Crown Lands, 
 they proposed, through the Fair Rent Bill, to enable 
 the Crown, as landlord, to take steps to increase the 
 rents of its tenants. 
 
 As regards the general interests of producers, the 
 Government have, through reductions amounting to 
 ^50,000 a year in railway rates, made a concession 
 to them at the expense of the general taxpayer, as 
 the railways, after payment of working expenses, 
 return only 2*8 per cent., a sum insufficient to meet 
 the interest upon their cost of construction. Again, 
 they have appointed experts in butter-making, fruit-
 
 I04 THE LAND POLICY OF. NEW ZEALAND 
 
 growing, &c., who travel about the country and give 
 technical instruction by means of lectures ; and 
 they distribute, among farmers and others, pamph- 
 lets containing practical advice upon various aspects 
 of cultivation. But, except that butter is received, 
 graded and frozen free of charge, they have not 
 followed the example of Victoria and South Aus- 
 tralia in the direct encouragement of exports. 
 Finally, while the State acts as landlord, banker, 
 and carrier, it also carries on a department of life 
 insurance and annuities, accepts the position of 
 trustee under wills, and, if the programme of the 
 Government is accepted by Parliament, will under- 
 take the business of fire insurance and grant a small 
 allowance to all who are aged and indigent and 
 have resided for a long term of years in the Colony. 
 The development of the resources of the country, 
 under the assistance of the State, has also proceeded 
 in other directions. More than ;^5oo,ooo had been 
 spent up to March, 1896, in the construction 
 of water-races on goldfields for the benefit of 
 alluvial miners and public companies ; and in that 
 year the Premier, in view of the large amount of 
 foreign and native capital that was flowing into the 
 industry, obtained the authorisation of Parliament 
 to the expenditure of a further sum of _^"20o,ooo in 
 the conservation of water by means of large reser- 
 voirs, the construction of water-races, the extension 
 of prospecting throughout the Colony, and the 
 construction of roads and tracks for the general
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 105 
 
 development of the goldfields. The physical attrac- 
 tions and health resorts of the country, many of 
 which are reached with difHculty, are also being 
 opened up by the expenditure of public funds. 
 
 The general question of settlement has, during 
 the last few years, been connected closely with that 
 of the unemployed. In New Zealand, as in several 
 of the Australian Provinces, the construction of the 
 main lines of railway attracted into the country 
 immigrants who, upon their completion, were left 
 without other resources. At the same time the fall 
 in prices rendered many settlers unable to fulfil 
 their obligations, and, upon the loss of their proper- 
 ties, drove them into the towns, where they swelled 
 the ranks of the unemployed. It also forced those 
 who remained solvent to cut down their general 
 expenses, and especially their labour bill, to the 
 lowest possible point. The Government were com- 
 pelled to face the problem and attempted to give 
 former settlers a fresh chance and gradually to 
 accustom artisans to rural pursuits which, in the 
 case of uncleared land, are at first of a simple 
 character. But the facilities offered under the Land 
 Act were of little use unless it could be arranged 
 that the men, being without capital, should have 
 outside employment upon which they could depend 
 until their lands had been cleared and brought into 
 cultivation. It had already been realised that the 
 construction of roads was an indispensable sequel 
 to that of railways, and large annual appropriations
 
 io6 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 had been made from the Public Works Fund ; but 
 it was then decided that settlement should be 
 encouraged systematically in those districts in which 
 it was proposed to proceed with the construction of 
 roads. This policy has, accordingly, been carried 
 out energetically during the last few years from 
 loans and current revenue upon the co-operative 
 system, which was inaugurated in 1891 by the Hon. 
 R. J. Seddon, then Minister of Public Works and 
 now Premier of the Colony. As this system, which 
 was first tried as an experiment upon the railways, 
 is now employed in connection with most public 
 works, its object and operation may be illustrated 
 by a series of quotations : " The contract system 
 had many disadvantages. It gave rise to a class of 
 middle men, in the shape of contractors, who often 
 made large profits out of their undertakings, and at 
 times behaved with less liberality to their workmen 
 than might have been expected under the circum- 
 stances. Even in New Zealand, where the labour 
 problem is less acute than in older countries, strikes 
 have occurred in connection with public works 
 contracts, with the result that valuable time has 
 been lost in the prosecution of the works, much 
 capital has been wasted by works being kept at a 
 standstill and valuable plant lying idle, and large 
 numbers of men being for some time unemployed ; 
 and considerable bitterness of feeling has often been 
 engendered. The contract system also gave rise to 
 sub-contracting, which is worse again ; for not only
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 107 
 
 is it subject to all the drawbacks of the parent 
 system, but by relegating the conduct of the works 
 to contractors of inferior standing, with little or no 
 capital, the evil of *' sweating " was admitted. Very 
 often, too, the business people who supplied stores 
 and materials were unable to obtain payment for 
 them, and not seldom the workmen also failed to 
 receive the full amount of their wages. The result 
 in some cases was that, instead of the expenditure 
 proving a great boon to the district in which the 
 works were situated, as would have been the case if 
 the contract had been well managed and properly 
 carried out, such contracts frequently brought 
 disaster in their train. The anomaly of the prin- 
 cipal contractor making a large profit, his sub- 
 contractor being ruined and his workmen left 
 unpaid, also occasionally presented itself, and thus 
 the taxpayer who provided the money had the 
 mortification of seeing one man made rich (who 
 would perhaps take his riches to Europe or America 
 to enjoy them) and a number of others reduced to 
 poverty, or in some instances cast upon public 
 charity. . . . The co-operative system was designed 
 to overcome these evils, and to enable the work to 
 be let direct to the workmen, so that they should be 
 able, not only to earn a fair day's wage for a fair 
 day's work, but also to secure for themselves the 
 profits which a contractor would have otherwise 
 made on the undertaking. . . . The work is valued 
 by the engineer appointed to have charge of it
 
 io8 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 before it is commenced, and his valuations are 
 submitted to the Engineer-in-Chief of the Colony 
 for approval. When approved, they constitute the 
 contract price for the work ; but they are not 
 absolutely unchangeable as in the case of a bind- 
 ing, strictly legal contract. It frequently happens 
 under an ordinary contract that work turns out to 
 be more easy of execution than was anticipated, and 
 the State has to see its contractors making in- 
 ordinate profits. Sometimes, on the other hand, 
 works cost more than was expected ; but in most 
 cases of this kind the contractor either becomes a 
 bankrupt, so that the State has, after all, to pay full 
 value for the work, or, if the contractor happens to 
 be a moneyed man, he will probably find some 
 means of getting relieved of a contract, or of 
 obtaining special consideration for his losses on 
 completion of his work. Under the co-operative 
 system, if it is found that the workmen are earning 
 unusually high rates their contracts can be deter- 
 mined, and be re-let at lower rates, either to the 
 same party of men or to others, as may be 
 necessary. Similarly, if it is shown, after a fair 
 trial of any work, that capable workmen are not 
 able to earn reasonable rates upon it, the prices 
 paid can, with the approval of the Engineer-in- 
 Chief, be increased, so long as the department is 
 satisfied that the work is not costing more than it 
 would have cost if let by contract at ordinary fair 
 paying prices. . . . Another great advantage of co-
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 109 
 
 operation is that it gives the Government complete 
 control over its expenditure. Under the old plan, 
 when large contracts were entered into, the expendi- 
 ture thereunder was bound to go on, even though, 
 through sudden depression or other unlooked-for 
 shrinking of the revenue, the Government would 
 gladly have avoided or postponed the outlay. . . . 
 Not only has the Government complete control 
 over the expenditure, but in the matter of the time 
 within which works are to be completed the con- 
 trol is much superior to that possessed when the 
 works are in the hands of a contractor. When 
 once a given time is allowed to a contractor in 
 which to complete a work, any request to finish it 
 in less time would at once provoke a demand for 
 extra payment ; but under the co-operative system 
 the Government reserves the right to increase the 
 numbers employed in any party to any extent con- 
 sidered desirable, so that if any sudden emergency 
 arises, or an unusually rapid development in any 
 district takes place, it is quite easy to arrange for the 
 maximum number possible of men being employed 
 on the works in hand, with no more loss of time 
 than is required to get the men together." ^ 
 
 It was at first proposed that the men should work 
 in gangs of about fifty, who should have an equal 
 interest in the contract and make an equal division 
 of the wages and profits ; but experience showed 
 that large gangs did not work together harmoniously 
 
 ' New Zealand Official Year Book, 1894. Report by Under- 
 Secretary of I^ublic Works.
 
 no THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 owing to differences, not only in the temperament 
 of the men, but also in their abilities as workmen. 
 The labourers solved this difficulty by forming 
 themselves into small parties composed of men of 
 about equal ability, with the result that, while some 
 gangs earn higher wages than others, the weak are 
 not excluded altogether from employment. The 
 co-operative works have, on the whole, been suc- 
 cessful ; but it is clear, from the reports of the 
 surveyors, that constant supervision is necessary, 
 and that there is considerable dissatisfaction, among 
 unskilled workmen, with the low rate of their earn- 
 ings, and, generally, with the intermittent character 
 of the employment. For the Government have 
 decided, in order that work may be given to as 
 many as possible and that settlement may be pro- 
 moted, that no labourers shall be employed more 
 than four days in the week. During the remainder 
 of the time, if they have taken up land in the 
 neighbourhood, they devote themselves to it ; 
 otherwise they are likely to be demoralised by 
 enforced idleness. The Minister of Public Works 
 attempted to prove that works had been carried out 
 more economically under the co-operative system, 
 but was unable to cite cases that were exactly 
 analogous. He showed that the average number 
 of employes had risen from 788 in 1891-2 to 2,336 
 in 1895-6, but that, whereas in the former years 
 workmen under the Public Works Department were 
 twice as numerous as those under the Lands
 
 THE LAXD POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND iii 
 
 Department, in the latter the proportion had been 
 more than reversed. This change must be re- 
 garded as satisfactory, as employes under the 
 Lands Department are, in a large majority of 
 cases, settlers. 
 
 In 1894 the Government passed an Act which 
 
 was intended to meet the special requirements of 
 
 the unemployed. Any number of men composing 
 
 an association may, by agreement with the Minister 
 
 of Lands, settle upon Crown Lands for the purpose 
 
 of clearing or otherwise improving them, and will, 
 
 subject to the authorisation of Parliament, receive 
 
 from the Colonial Treasurer payment for their 
 
 work. They are entitled thereupon to take up 
 
 holdings at a rental based on the combined value 
 
 of the land in an unimproved condition and of 
 
 the improvements. This system, which is known 
 
 as that of Improved Farm Settlements, has been 
 
 worked largely in connection with co-operative 
 
 works. In March of last year 39 settlements had 
 
 been initiated which covered 63,600 acres and 
 
 carried 679 residents. They have " had the effect 
 
 of removing from the towns a considerable number 
 
 of people who otherwise would have been found 
 
 in the ranks of the unemployed, and an opportunity 
 
 has been given to all who are really desirous of 
 
 becoming bond-fide settlers to make homes for 
 
 themselves, and become producers rather than a 
 
 burden on the State. Many who have taken up 
 
 land on this system brought no experience with
 
 112 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 them to aid in the operations of the pioneer work 
 of settlement, and this had to be gained at some 
 cost to themselves and the State. So long as the 
 Government continues monetary aid by way of 
 assisting in clearing, grassing, and house-building, 
 all will go well ; by the time this comes to an end, 
 sufficient experience should have been gained, and 
 the farms ought to be stocked. This latter is at 
 present a difficulty with many of the settlers, for 
 it is obvious that many of them can at first do 
 little more than support themselves out of the 
 moneys advanced for clearing, without sparing any- 
 thing for stock." I The success of these settlements, 
 it is pointed out, depends upon the simultaneous 
 occupation by men with capital of the adjoining 
 Crown Lands in larger holdings on which there will 
 be a demand for the labour of the settlers ; other- 
 wise they will be in difficulties when the roads are 
 completed, as their blocks of a hundred acres or 
 so will not alone suffice to secure to them a liveli- 
 hood. This principle has been borne in view, as far 
 as possible, in the location of the settlements. 
 
 Labourers for the co-operative works, I should 
 have stated, are recommended by the local agencies 
 of the Labour Department, and are selected on the 
 principle that applicants not previously employed 
 have priority of claim over those who have recently 
 had employment ; that men resident in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the works have priority over non- 
 
 ' Report of Department of Lands and Survey, 1896 ; page iv.
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 113 
 
 residents, and that married men have priority over 
 single men ; while the quahfications of the men 
 as workmen and their personal characters are 
 naturally taken into consideration. During the 
 five years of its existence, the Labour Department 
 has found employment for nearly 16,000 men ; 
 of the 2,781 men assisted during the year ending 
 March, 1896, 2,163 were sent to Government works. 
 Under the control of the Labour Department is a 
 State Farm, in the province of Wellington, at which 
 unemployed are received for a few weeks or months, 
 and, having saved a few pounds, are enabled to seek 
 work elsewhere. The farm is specially adapted for 
 young, able-bodied men who have been brought up 
 as clerks and shop assistants, but, owing to the 
 stress of competition, have been thrown out of 
 employment. Many of them would be prepared 
 to undertake manual labour, but lack the necessary 
 experience. At the farm they would be able to 
 obtain in a short time sufficient knowledge to 
 render them capable of accepting work for private 
 employment. The Secretary of the Department 
 of Labour, Mr. Tregear, maintains that the farm 
 has proved its usefulness and should be supple- 
 mented by similar institutions in the other pro- 
 vinces. Since the last annual report, I understand, 
 the Government have decided, as the land has been 
 improved to a point which renders it impossible 
 to employ any considerable number upon it pro- 
 fitably, to dispose of it, and to remove the workmen 
 
 9
 
 114 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 to fresh areas of uncleared land. They hope to 
 recoup themselves for their whole expenditure, 
 but will not necessarily be convicted of failure 
 should they fail to do so, as the undertaking was 
 started on a charitable, and not on a commercial, 
 basis. It aimed at the assistance of the genuine un- 
 employed, and was not intended to become a refuge 
 for confirmed loafers. On this point Mr. Tregear 
 writes, and his views are those of the working 
 men of New Zealand : " I am more and more im- 
 pressed with the necessity that exists of establishing 
 farms which shall be used as places of restriction 
 for the incurably vagrant atoms of the population. 
 The State Farm does not and should not fulfil this 
 purpose ; it is for the disposal and help of worthy 
 persons, unsuccessful for the time, or failing through 
 advance in years. What is required is a place of 
 detention and discipline. There exists in every 
 town a certain number of men whose position 
 vibrates between that of the loafer and the criminal : 
 these should altogether be removed from cities. 
 The spieler, the bookmaker, the habitual drunkard, 
 the loafer on his wife's earnings, the man who has 
 no honest occupation, he whose condition of 
 'unemployed' has become chronic and insoluble 
 — all these persons are evil examples and possible 
 dangers. Such an one should be liable, on con- 
 viction before a stipendiary magistrate, to be 
 removed for one or two years to a farm, where 
 simple food and clothes would be found for him
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF XEIV ZEALAND 115 
 
 in return for his enforced labour. The surroundings 
 would be more healthy, and open-air life and 
 regular occupation would induce more wholesome 
 habits and principles than the hours formerly spent 
 in the beer-shop and at the street-corner, while the 
 removal from bad companionship would liberate 
 from the pressure of old associations. He would, 
 on his discharge, probably value more highly his 
 liberty to work as a free man for the future, and, 
 as the State would have been to no cost for his 
 maintenance, it would be a gainer by his temporary 
 removal from crowded centres. There need be no 
 more trouble than before in regard to the sustentation 
 of the restricted person's family, as such a vagrant 
 is of no use to his family, but only an added 
 burden. While for the honest workman, tem- 
 porarily 'unemployed,' every sympathy should be 
 shown and assistance to work. given, for the other 
 class, the * unemployable,' there should be com- 
 pulsory labour, even if under regulations of severity 
 such as obtain in prisons." ^ New Zealand has a 
 justification for penal colonies lacking in older 
 countries in the fact that the genuine unemployed 
 can obtain assistance from the Government to 
 enable them to settle on the land, either through 
 the Co-operative Works or the Improved Farm 
 Settlements. 
 
 The special efforts of the Government to settle 
 impecunious persons on the land are still in the 
 ' Report of Department of Labour, 1896 ; page vii.
 
 ii6 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 initial stage and have not served to neutralise the 
 effects of the lowness of prices and consequent 
 scarcity of employment. The total expenditure 
 under the heading of Charitable Aid was ^^106,500 
 in the year ended March, 1896, being an increase of 
 ;^2o,ooo upon that of the previous twelve months. 
 A sum of ;^ 1 8,000 was also spent on relief works. 
 The administration is vested in the local authorities, 
 who obtain the necessary funds from rates, voluntary 
 contributions and subsidies on a fixed scale from 
 the National Exchequer. They expend one-fifth of 
 the amount on the maintenance of destitute children 
 and the greater portion of the remainder on out- 
 door relief. No information is available as to the 
 number of persons relieved, their average ages, 
 the form of relief or the conditions under which 
 it is given ; but it is evident from reports of the 
 Inspector of Charitable Institutions that the ad- 
 ministration is exceedingly lax and tends to in- 
 tensify the evil which it should strive to alleviate. 
 It would seem that, on the one hand, the Govern- 
 ment are inculcating habits of independence, 
 on the other, conniving at the encouragement of 
 pauperism. 
 
 The results of recent legislation will depend, 
 partly, on the price of produce, principally, on 
 the methods of administration. This matter is 
 one on which it is difficult to form an adequate 
 opinion, as all statements are tinged more or less 
 with the prejudice of partisanship. It is therefore
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 117 
 
 best to confine oneself to Acts of Parliament and 
 official documents while realising that the more a 
 State extends its sphere of action, the more are its 
 Ministers subject to political pressure and tempted 
 to maintain themselves in office by a misuse of the 
 possibilities of patronage. The disposal of Crown 
 Lands is vested in Local Land Boards, which con- 
 sist of the Commissioners of Crown Lands for the 
 district, and of not less than two nor more than four 
 members appointed for two years, but removable 
 from time to time by warrant under the hand of the 
 Governor. These Boards receive all applications 
 for Crown Lands and dispose of them in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of the Land Acts. They 
 are constituted the sole judges of the fulfilment of 
 the conditions attached to leases and may cancel 
 them, after inquiry, subject to the right of appeal 
 to a judge of the Supreme Court. If any lessee 
 make default in the payment of interest, his lease 
 is liable to absolute forfeiture, subject to a similar 
 right of appeal, without any compensation for his 
 improvements. This question is one of great 
 delicacy : it is manifestly unfair to confiscate a 
 man's improvements if he has a fair prospect of 
 being able to meet his obligations within a definite 
 period ; on the other hand, if such latitude be 
 allowed, possibilities of favouritism are at once 
 admitted. Again, are all applicants for land to 
 be treated alike, irrespective of the probability 
 that they will be good tenants of the Crown ? The
 
 ii8 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Land Boards are vested with a discretionary power 
 to refuse applications, but must state the grounds 
 of their refusal. The best constitution for these 
 Boards has been much discussed ; but if, as 
 has been proposed, nomination by the local 
 authorities or election by the electors of local 
 authorities were substituted for nomination of 
 the Government, the pressure might be not only 
 greater, but more immediate. Statistics, moreover, 
 show that the administration of the Land Laws has 
 not erred on the side of leniency. In March, 1896, 
 the arrears of rent throughout the Province were 
 only ;^i5,7oo, a decrease of ;^22,ooo upon the 
 amount reported for the previous twelve months ; 
 and forfeitures had been numerous for failure to 
 carry out the conditions of tenure. Under excep- 
 tional circumstances Parliament is prepared to make 
 special arrangements. In view of the losses incurred 
 by pastoralists during the severe winter of 1895, it 
 passed a Pastoral Tenants' Relief Act, which em- 
 powered the Land Boards after inquiry into the 
 facts of each case to grant remissions of rent or 
 extensions of leases at reduced rentals. The Ad- 
 vances to Settlers Act also appears to be administered 
 prudently, on the principle that the value of the 
 property which may be offered as a security for a 
 loan, and the risk of any loss from granting an 
 advance, must determine the result of the con- 
 sideration of every application. It is a necessary 
 limitation of the Act that many of those who most
 
 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 119 
 
 require assistance, having borrowed at high rates of 
 interest, are unable to obtain the advances which 
 would enable them to clear off their mortgages on 
 account of the depreciation in value of the security. 
 Of 2,196 applications received to March of last year, 
 730 had been refused, and 397 had lapsed through 
 the refusal of the department to offer amounts equal 
 to the expectations of the applicant. 
 
 The Acts providing for the purchase of private 
 and native land and for advances to settlers have 
 necessitated a large increase in the indebtedness of 
 the Colony, and a consequent divergence from the 
 principles laid down by Sir Harry Atkinson and 
 Mr. Ballance. The present Premier, Mr. Seddon, 
 who succeeded Mr. Ballance in 1893, admits that 
 his Government borrowed ;^3,8oo,ooo in three years, 
 but contends that the whole of the amount with the 
 exception of ^"2 10,000 is being expended in such a 
 manner as to be remunerative. The sum mentioned 
 is exclusive of a loan for a million authorised last 
 session, which is to be expended upon the con- 
 struction of railways and roads, the purchase of 
 native lands, and the development of the goldfields 
 and hot springs. Have these loans been in the best 
 interests of the Colony ? A stranger can but look 
 at the matter broadly and will be inclined to think 
 that they follow, in natural sequence, upon the 
 policy of Sir Julius Vogel. The State then decided 
 that it would use its credit to accelerate the con- 
 struction of railways and roads and open up out-
 
 I20 THE LAND POLICY OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 lying districts. Such works were valueless — in fact 
 ruinous to the Province — unless they were followed 
 by a strenuous and successful encouragement of 
 settlement and cultivation. The latter task has been 
 the principal work of the Seddon Government, which 
 has attempted, not only to settle people on the land, 
 but to settle them in suitable localities and under 
 conditions that will give them a reasonable prospect 
 of an independent and comfortable livelihood.
 
 V 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN 
 LEGISLATION 
 
 Comparisons between the Australasian Upper Houses — Conflicts 
 between the two Houses in Victoria — The proposed obviation 
 of deadlocks — The utiHty of the Legislative Council — The 
 antagonism between Town and Country — The Factory Acts, 
 their justification and provisions — State Socialism : Railways, 
 Irrigation Works, the encoui-agement of Mining, Subsidies and 
 Bonuses, State advances to Settlers — The Unemployed and the 
 Leongatha Labour Colony. 
 
 THE Victorian Legislative Council is, from the 
 democratic point of view, the most objection- 
 able of all the Australasian Upper Houses. In 
 Queensland, New South Wales, and New Zealand, 
 the members of the Council are nominated for life 
 and receive no remuneration for their services ; 
 but, as their number is not restricted, their opposi- 
 tion to measures passed by the Assembly is limited 
 by the dread that the Executive may exercise the 
 power of making additional appointments. In the 
 other Provinces the Councils are elective ; in South 
 Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania, as in 
 the Provinces already mentioned, the Members are 
 
 121
 
 122 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 subject to no property qualification, and in New 
 Zealand, South Australia, and Tasmania they are 
 paid at the rate, respectively, of ^150, _:^2oo, and 
 ;^5o a year. In Victoria, on the other hand, there 
 is a property qualification for membership which 
 consists in the possession of a freehold estate of 
 the clear annual value of ;^ioo, which confines 
 eligibility to a small fraction of the population ; 
 and the area of selection is restricted further by 
 the absence of remuneration and by the size of 
 the electoral districts, which necessitates heavy 
 expenditure on the part of a candidate at a con- 
 tested election. Under these circumstances, the 
 comparatively low electoral franchise, which admits 
 upon the rolls two-thirds of the voters for members 
 of the Assembly, is absolutely useless to the demo- 
 cratic electors : they are unable to find candidates 
 who will adopt their views, and have been obliged, 
 as at the last elections, to allow all the retiring 
 members to be re-elected without opposition. It 
 should be stated that the members are elected for 
 a period of six years in ten provinces, and retire in 
 rotation at intervals of two years. 
 
 The Victorian Assembly consists of ninety-five 
 members who are elected for three years upon the 
 basis of manhood suffrage and receive remuneration 
 at the rate of ;^27o a year. Conflicts between the 
 two Houses were incessant during the first twenty- 
 five years of Responsible Government. Imme- 
 diately after its establishment in 1855 a struggle
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 123 
 
 arose as to the right of selection upon pastoral 
 properties, in which the Council supported the 
 interests of the squatters. The issue could not be 
 doubtful, as the squatters, who had been allowed 
 to depasture enormous tracts of land in the early 
 days of the Province, had no fixed tenure and were 
 impeding the settlement of the country. In 1865 
 the Assembly passed a protective tariff which was 
 distasteful to the Council as representative of the 
 producers, and tried to secure its enactment by 
 tacking it on to the Appropriation Bill. They relied 
 upon the section of the Constitution Act which pro- 
 vides that " all Bills for appropriating any part of the 
 revenue of Victoria, and for imposing any duty, rate, 
 tax, rent, return or impost, shall originate in the 
 Assembly, and may be rejected but not altered by 
 the Council." Upon the refusal of the Council to 
 submit to such coercion, the Ministry arranged with 
 various banks that they should advance the funds 
 required for public purposes, levied a tax upon a 
 resolution of the Assembly and paid the civil servants 
 without parliamentary authority. A general election 
 followed, at which the Ministry were successful ; the 
 Assembly and Council repeated their action of the 
 previous session, and, finally, the Council agreed to 
 accept the new tariff provided it was submitted to 
 them in the form of a separate Bill. Similar con- 
 stitutional struggles occurred in 1867 upon the pro- 
 posed grant to ex-Governor Darling, and in 1877 
 upon the Bill to provide for the payment of Members
 
 124 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 of the Assembly. During the following years peace 
 reigned between the two Houses, owing at first to 
 the great prosperity of the Province, which caused 
 universal confidence, and the predominance of 
 material considerations ; afterwards to the equally 
 great reaction which compelled politicians to sink 
 their differences and combine to save the credit of 
 their country. 
 
 The antagonism was renewed in 1894 upon the 
 proposals for additional taxation, by which the 
 Premier, Mr. Turner, hoped to cope with an antici- 
 pated deficiency in the revenue of more than half a 
 million pounds. His scheme included the repeal 
 of the existing land-tax, under which landed estates 
 of upwards of 640 acres in extent are taxed annually 
 upon the excess of the capital value over ^'2,500 — 
 an impost which obviously penalises rural, at the 
 expense of urban, properties and was intended to 
 promote the subdivision of the land (though it 
 does not appear to have had much effect in that 
 direction) ; and the imposition of a tax on unim- 
 proved values at the rate of id. in the £, subject 
 to the exemption of ;^"ioo when the value does not 
 exceed ^1,000, and of an income tax which, subject 
 to the exemption of incomes not exceeding ^200, 
 was to be at the rate of 3d. in the £ on incomes 
 derived from personal exertion and 6d. on incomes 
 derived from property up to ^'2,200, above which 
 sum the amount was in both cases to be doubled. 
 Absentees were to pay an additional 20 per cent.,
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 125 
 
 and incomes from land were to be exempt where 
 the owner paid the land-tax. These taxes, it was cal- 
 culated, would yield an annual revenue of ;^6oo,ooo. 
 The Finance Bill was passed in the Assembly at 
 its second reading by a majority of twenty-two, 
 but in committee it was amended so as to exempt 
 from the land-tax land values of less than ;^5oo. 
 The resultant deficiency in the proceeds of the tax 
 was made up by a continuance of the primage duties 
 and by an increase of the tax on incomes derived 
 from personal exertion. Upon its transmission to 
 the Council the Bill was summarily rejected, the 
 Minister who was in charge of it alone, beyond the 
 tellers, being in its favour, on the ground that the 
 questions of a tax on unimproved values had not 
 been submitted to the electorate and that, in the 
 existing conditions of the Province, any further 
 burden upon the producers would be opposed to 
 its best interests. The Ministry accepted the decision 
 of the Council and contented themselves with rigid 
 retrenchment, the continuance of the existing land- 
 tax, and the imposition of a progressive income tax 
 which rises to a maximum of sixteen-pence upon 
 the excess over ^2,000 of incomes derived from 
 property. According to a statement of the Premier, 
 they intend to make the question a distinct issue at 
 the next elections, and will in the meanwhile take 
 no action in the matter. 
 
 In the following session the Council rejected an 
 Electoral Bill which provided for the abolition of
 
 126 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 the plural vote and the enfranchisement of women, 
 and disagreed with the Assembly upon several im- 
 portant clauses of a Factory Bill, in the legitimate 
 exercise of the functions of a revising Chamber. 
 The Ministry succeeded in 1896 in passing the 
 Factory Bill in a form which met some of the 
 objections of the Council, and reintroduced the 
 Electoral Bill, which was subsequently laid aside 
 by the Council on the ground that it had not 
 secured in the Assembly the absolute majority of 
 all the votes required in the case of amendments 
 to the Constitution. 
 
 The value of any Second Chamber must rest upon 
 its ability, and the exercise of its ability, to check 
 dangerous tendencies in legislation. As regards 
 Victoria, it must be admitted that the greatest 
 danger has lain in the tendency to extravagant 
 expenditure due to the fatal facility of obtaining 
 almost unlimited advances from the British 
 capitalist. Politicians have been tempted to 
 outbid each other in the struggle for popular 
 support, and to promise the outlay of vast sums 
 of borrowed money. Judged with reference to 
 this question, the Legislative Council cannot be 
 regarded as having been efficient. The greatest 
 waste of money has occurred in connection with 
 the construction of railways from which there was 
 no likelihood of adequate returns, and with in- 
 judicious advances to Irrigation and Water Supply 
 Trusts. The Council has been hampered by the
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 127 
 
 restrictions imposed upon it by the Constitution 
 Act, but it has not admitted that it is debarred 
 from amending Railway Bills, though it has done 
 so but sparingly, owing to the opposition which 
 such action aroused in the Assembly. It would 
 seem that, at the time of the greatest output of 
 the Victorian gold mines and of the high prices 
 obtainable for agricultural and pastoral produce, 
 the Council was as much carried away by the 
 prosperity of the Province as the Assembly, and 
 formed an equally false estimate as to its con- 
 tinuance. It appears, however, to have been the 
 first to realise the imminence of a reaction. A 
 comparison of the British and Victorian finances 
 shows that while, in the former case, speaking 
 broadly, provision is made only for the maintenance 
 of the public services and for some matters of 
 national importance, such as public instruction, in 
 which all parts of the country share equally, in 
 the latter case the expenditure includes the con- 
 struction of public works which benefit particular 
 localities, and grants and subsidies which benefit 
 particular industries. Under these conditions mem- 
 bers of the Assembly are subject to continual 
 pressure from their constituents, which, it is 
 contended, the members of the Council, owing 
 to the greater size of the constituencies, are better 
 able to resist. As the whole body of the tax- 
 payers are responsible for the interest on the 
 railways, a locality has everything to gain by the
 
 128 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 increase of its mileage ; if it receives advances for 
 works of irrigation and defaults upon the con- 
 sequent obligations, it hopes to induce the Govern- 
 ment, through its Member, to grant more lenient 
 terms. The works in many cases are of doubtful 
 value ; the liability remains as a burden upon 
 posterity. 
 
 The evil is widely recognised, but opinions differ 
 as to the remedy. A step in the right direction was 
 taken by the appointment in 1890 of the Parlia- 
 mentary Standing Committee on Railways, which, 
 it is suggested, should be supplemented by a similar 
 Committee whose duty it would be to report upon 
 all proposals for new works of water supply in- 
 volving an expenditure of a thousand pounds of 
 State money. Others ask that the Council should 
 be allowed to amend Money Bills, and would do so 
 with more reason if the property qualification for 
 membership were removed, as the electorate already 
 includes the bulk of the stable elements of the 
 population. But the greatest safeguard would 
 appear to lie in the lessons of the past, and in the 
 appointment of Standing Committees whose ante- 
 cedent sanction shall be essential to proposals for 
 the expenditure of national funds upon public 
 undertakings. It would be advisable to define by 
 Act of Parliament what classes of public works 
 might be carried out upon borrowed money ; all 
 others would then form a charge upon current 
 revenue.
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAX LEGISLATION 129 
 
 The absence of any ultimate appeal in the case of 
 a divergence of opinion between the two Houses 
 has recently been discussed in several of the 
 Provinces. It has been pointed out that the power 
 of the Executive to make additional appointments 
 to nominee Councils is an unsatisfactory device 
 calculated to produce friction between the Governor 
 and his responsible advisers ; that elective Councils 
 can force upon the Assembly dissolutions from 
 which they are themselves exempt ; and that, in 
 the majority of cases, the Councils are able, owing 
 to the variety of issues and the influence of local 
 and personal considerations, to deny that any 
 particular question has received the verdict of 
 popular approval. The measures rejected by the 
 Victorian Council since 1891 include the Land 
 and Income Tax Bill, the Opium Bill, the Miners' 
 Right Titles Bill, the Mallee Land Bill, and the 
 Village Settlements Amendment Bill. The Council 
 has rejected the Opium Bill twice, and the Bill for 
 the abolition of plural voting three times. 
 
 The question was considered in 1894 by a Victorian 
 Royal Commission, which recommended that : — 
 
 "(i) If the Legislative Assembly shall in two con- 
 secutive sessions pass any Bill which shall not be 
 passed by the Legislative Council, then, notwith- 
 standing such Bill when passed in the second 
 session by the Legislative Assembly shall be in an 
 amended form, if the same shall not in such 
 second session be passed by the Legislative 
 
 10
 
 I30 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 Council, such Bill, if the Assembly so determine 
 by resolution, shall, in manner to be duly pro- 
 vided, be submitted for acceptance or rejection to 
 the voters on the roll for the Legislative Assembly. 
 
 " (2) In the event of the said Bill being duly 
 accepted or approved of by the majority of the 
 voters on the said roll who shall vote when a 
 poll is taken, and upon a certificate to that effect 
 to be duly given by the Speaker, the said Bill shall 
 be transmitted to the Governor for his assent. 
 Should, however, such Bill be rejected or dis- 
 approved of, then, upon the certificate of the 
 Speaker to that effect, the said Bill shall lapse for 
 the session. 
 
 " (3) At least six weeks must intervene between 
 the first and the second passing of the said Bill by 
 the Legislative Assembly." 
 
 Measures based upon these lines were introduced 
 during 1896 in the Assemblies of Victoria, Tasmania, 
 and New South Wales, but, in the latter case alone, 
 reached the Legislative Council. It was thought 
 that that body might receive the Bill favourably, as 
 it would be brought thereby into direct contact with 
 the people, and might overcome the jealousy which 
 is at present felt against it. In fact, it might attain 
 to actual popularity by enabling the electorate to 
 pronounce directly upon a distinct issue. But this 
 view did not prevail with the Council, which rejected 
 the measure in the most summary manner. 
 
 A supplementary proposal put forward in Victoria
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 131 
 
 is that, upon subjects which cannot be referred in a 
 clear and simple manner to the electors, differences 
 should be followed by a dissolution of both Houses, 
 and, if an agreement is still impossible, by their 
 joint meeting as one Chamber. In New Zealand, a 
 Bill recently introduced by the Premier, but not 
 passed through the House of Representatives, pro- 
 vided that, if a measure had been twice within 
 fourteen months passed by one House and rejected 
 by the other, the House which had passed it might 
 call upon the Governor to convene a joint meeting 
 of the two Houses, which should finally dispose of 
 it by approval, rejection, or amendment. It will be 
 noticed that the Council might thus secure the 
 enactment of a measure which was opposed by the 
 majority of the popular representatives. 
 
 The antagonism of the two Houses in Victoria 
 would seem to be to a great extent a reflex of an 
 antagonism between town and country. The popu- 
 lation of the Province is estimated to have been 
 1,180,000 in 1895, that of Melbourne and its suburbs 
 439,000, or 37 per cent, of the whole. Under these 
 conditions, and owing to the greater cohesion of 
 compact electorates, a strong feeling has arisen in 
 the rural districts that Melbourne has a dispropor- 
 tionate voice in the affairs of the Province, and that 
 the balance should be redressed by the action of the 
 Council. It is also believed that the abolition of the 
 plural vote would lead to equal electoral districts 
 which would increase the supremacy of the capital
 
 132 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 and the power of the Labour Party. At the present 
 time they hold fifteen seats, all of which are urban 
 or suburban, and, though discredited by the collapse 
 of the Trades Unions, are not without influence 
 upon the Government. 
 
 The percentage of the total population contained 
 in Melbourne and its suburbs rose from 26 in 1861 
 to 43 in 1891, mainly as the result of the high 
 protective tariff which aimed at making Victoria 
 the principal manufacturing centre of Australia. 
 Upon the consequent establishment of a large 
 number of factories, the Government were soon 
 compelled to intervene in the interests of the 
 workers, and passed in 1873 the first Act dealing 
 with the supervision of factories and workrooms. It 
 defined a factory as any place in which not less than 
 ten persons were employed in manufacturing goods 
 for sale, and provided that such places should be 
 subject, as to building, sanitation, &c., to regulations 
 made by the central Board of Health, and that no 
 female should be employed therein without the 
 permission of the Chief Secretary for more than 
 eight hours in any one day. The measure failed 
 in its purpose through the indifference of the 
 Municipalities, which were charged with its entire 
 administration. They appear to have been negligent 
 in exercising the powers entrusted to them, and to 
 have allowed themselves to be served by officers 
 who were unacquainted with their duties. In the 
 following years several measures were passed which
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAX LEGISLATION 133 
 
 were consolidated by the Factories and Shops Act 
 of 1890. Some new points of great importance had 
 been introduced, which appHed, however, only to 
 cities, towns, and boroughs, unless they were ex- 
 tended to any shire at the request of its Council : 
 the definition of a factory was amended so as to 
 include all places in which four white men or two 
 Chinamen were employed in manufacturing goods 
 for sale ; such places had to be registered, subject to 
 the approval of the premises by the Local Council, 
 and the employers were bound to keep a record 
 showing the names of the persons employed in the 
 factory, the sort of work done by them, and the 
 names and addresses of outside workers ; the em- 
 ployment of children under thirteen years of age 
 was prohibited ; machinery had to be fenced in in 
 order to prevent accidents, and persons in charge of 
 steam-engines and boilers, with a few exceptions, 
 had to obtain certificates of competency. As regards 
 the enforcement of these and other provisions, in- 
 spectors were authorised to enter a factory at any 
 reasonable time, to make any pertinent inquiry and 
 examination, to demand the production of any 
 certificate or documents kept in pursuance of the 
 Act, and, generally, to exercise such other powers as 
 might be necessary for carrying it into effect. Pro- 
 ceedings for offences against the Act were to be 
 taken before two or more justices, who, upon a 
 conviction, would be guided by a prescribed scale 
 of fines and penalties. Finally, retail shops were
 
 134 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 dealt with by a provision which Hmited the hours 
 during which they might be kept open ; but certain 
 categories of shops were exphcitly excluded, and 
 Municipal Councils were given the power of altering 
 the hours upon a petition of a majority of the 
 shopkeepers. 
 
 The absence of finality in such legislation was 
 soon shown by the demand for further restrictions, 
 which was met by the Government by the cus- 
 tomary expedient of the appointment of a Royal 
 Commission. The census of 1891 had given the 
 number of persons employed in connection with 
 the manufacturing industries as 96,000, of whom 
 less than a half were in registered factories. The 
 remainder were working in shires, in laundries 
 and dye works, in workrooms other than Chinese 
 in which less than four persons were employed, 
 or in their own homes. The Commission con- 
 sequently, in the pursuance of their instructions to 
 " inquire and report as to the working of the 
 Factories and Shops Act, 1890, with regard to the 
 alleged existence of the practice known as sweating 
 and the alleged insanitary condition of factories and 
 workrooms," had a wide field of investigation, but 
 turned their attention principally to the industries 
 in which the circumstances of the workers were 
 believed to be most unfavourable. In the clothing 
 industry they found that, beyond the common 
 grievance of slackness of trade, those employed in 
 factories had little to complain of in the matter of
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 135 
 
 wages, but that among the outworkers, owing to 
 the depression, competition had reduced the rate of 
 pay to the lowest level compatible with continued 
 existence. They were informed of many cases, 
 which have been corroborated by factory inspectors 
 and others, of women who, working from twelve to 
 fourteen hours a day, were unable to earn more 
 than ten or twelve shillings in a week. It was con- 
 tended that, as in other countries, the competition 
 was rendered more acute by those who were not 
 dependent upon the work for a livelihood. Another 
 result of this competition was seen in the policy 
 pursued by several large firms which had closed 
 factories built at a heavy cost and were relying 
 upon their operations being carried on by con- 
 tractors, because they had been unable to produce 
 goods at the factory at the rale at which they could 
 be turned out by those who employed the services 
 of outworkers. An attempt had been made by the 
 women to protect their interests by the formation 
 of a Tailoresses' Union, which, after a fitful exist- 
 ence, collapsed in 1893. Since that time, in the 
 absence of any form of combination, contractors 
 had been able to play off the outworkers against 
 the in workers and against each other. It may here 
 be noted that, according to a recent report of the 
 Chief Inspector of Factories, the inquiry caused 
 the rate of payment to be lowered in consequence 
 of the publicity given to the very small wages paid 
 by some firms engaged in the clothing trade.
 
 136 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 In the course of their inquiries into the furniture 
 trade, the Commissioners found that the Chinese, 
 by evasions of the Factory Act, their poor way of 
 Hving, long hours of labour and acceptance of low 
 wages, had practically ruined the European cabinet- 
 makers. Their competition was confined to that 
 branch of the industry, but had indirectly affected 
 it as a whole. Statistics showed that in 1886 there 
 were 64 registered European furniture factories em- 
 ploying 1,022 male hands, while in 1894 the number 
 of factories had decreased to 46 and of employes to 
 320. On the other side, the number of Chinese 
 employed as carpenters and cabinetmakers had 
 increased from 66 in 1880 to 320 in 1886, and 
 decreased to 246 in 1894. It appeared that the 
 Chinese, having ousted the European workmen 
 from the industry, had engaged in a keen com- 
 petition among themselves, which had reduced 
 prices to such a low level that many manufacturers 
 had been compelled to close their factories and 
 dismiss their workmen. These latter had com- 
 menced to make articles of furniture on their own 
 account, and were reputed to be in a pitiable state 
 of destitution. The Commissioners came to the 
 conclusion that, while the unsatisfactory condition 
 of trade had contributed to the distress of the 
 European cabinetmakers, the competition of the 
 Chinese had been the greatest factor in bringing 
 about the existing state of affairs. 
 
 Their recommendations were embodied in a
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 137 
 
 measure introduced in 1895 and passed in the 
 following session, but limited in its operation, by 
 the action of the Council, to a period of four years. 
 Its most important provisions aim at the protection 
 of the workers in those industries in which they are 
 least able to protect themselves. The desire of the 
 Government was to get persons as far as possible to 
 work in factories and to deal with the difftculty of 
 outworkers by a system of permits. Clause 13 of 
 the Bill prohibited the making up of apparel outside 
 a factory except by those who had received a permit 
 from the chief inspector, W'hich w^as not to be given 
 unless he were satisfied that the person applying for 
 it was prevented by domestic duties or bodily afflic- 
 tion from working inside a factory or workroom. 
 Employers were to keep a record showing the work 
 done by holders of permits, their names and ad- 
 dresses, and the amount of remuneration, which 
 w^as to be forwarded periodically to the chief 
 inspector, and might be published in the Govern- 
 ment Gazette at the discretion of the Governor in 
 Council. The number of outworkers would be 
 reduced to a minimum, and the fear of publicity 
 would act as a check upon their employers. A 
 further protection was afforded to makers of fur- 
 niture and of clothing or wearing apparel, including 
 boots and shoes, by clauses under which the 
 Governor in Council was authorised to appoint 
 special Boards, consisting of a chairman and four 
 members, of whom two were to be representatives
 
 138 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 of occupiers of factories and workrooms in which 
 such articles were prepared or manufactured, and 
 two of the persons employed in wholly or partly 
 preparing such articles. The Board was to deter- 
 mine the lowest rate which should be paid to the 
 employes, whether working inside or outside a 
 factory. The Assembly added another clause which 
 authorised the appointment of similar Boards for 
 the determination of the hours of labour in any 
 manufacturing industry, but the Council refused to 
 accept it, and also rejected the clause which pro- 
 hibited outside work by others than holders of 
 permits. They introduced amendments which 
 provided that the discretionary publication of 
 particulars in the Gazette should be limited to 
 cases in which an employer had been convicted 
 for some contravention of the Factories and Shops 
 Acts, and that the special Wage Boards should be 
 elective, in the belief that it would be dangerous 
 to vest the power of appointment in the Governor 
 in Council, since it would actually be exercised by 
 the Chief Secretary. The Government agreed to the 
 former of these amendments, as the value of the 
 right of publication was lessened by the Council's 
 acceptance of the principle of the Wage Boards ; but 
 upon the other points of difference a conflict ensued 
 between the two Houses, which resulted in the final 
 decision that the Boards are to be elective, and that 
 outworkers will not be required to obtain a permit, 
 but, if engaged in the manufacture of clothing or
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 139 
 
 wearing apparel, must register their names and 
 addresses with the chief inspector, for the confiden- 
 tial use of the Department, and must answer all 
 questions put to them by inspectors as to the names 
 of their employers and the rate of remuneration. 
 The Chief Secretary had explained in the Assembly 
 that the Government desired to obtain the registra- 
 tion of outworkers in order that they might know 
 from the individuals themselves the addresses at 
 which they were working, and whether they were 
 being paid in accordance with the prices fixed by the 
 Boards, It is also provided that a sub-contractor, 
 equally with the occupier of a factory, must keep 
 the prescribed record of all work given out by him. 
 The furniture trade, as has been seen, is one of 
 those for which the Governor in Council may cause 
 special Boards to be elected; but it has been realised 
 that, in the cabinet-making branch, owing to their 
 superior numbers, the Chinese would obtain a con- 
 trolling voice. This difficulty was met by an 
 amending Bill which authorised the nomination 
 of these Boards. Other sections of the Act also 
 aim at the protection of the white workman : one 
 Chinaman is to be deemed to constitute a factory, 
 and no person employed in a factory or workroom 
 in the manufacture of any article of furniture is to 
 work on a Sunday, after two o'clock on a Saturday, 
 or between five o'clock in the evening and half-past 
 seven in the morning on any other day of the week. 
 Furniture made in Victoria is to be stamped legibly
 
 140 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 and indelibly in such a manner as to show whether 
 it was manufactured by white or Chinese labour. 
 It is noteworthy that, through the Boards which 
 will fix the minimum rate of pay in the baking 
 and furniture trades, the Victorian Government are 
 making their first attempt to regulate the labour of 
 men ; in the other trades affected by these Boards 
 women form the vast majority of the workers. 
 
 The general provisions of this Act as they afifect 
 factories include greater stringency in the sanitary 
 requirements, in the limitation of the hours of 
 labour of women and boys, and in the precautions 
 against accidents. Laundries and dye-works are 
 constituted factories, and the powers of inspectors 
 are in several respects strengthened. 
 
 The sections dealing with shops also deserve a 
 word of notice. The necessity for further legisla- 
 tion w^as based by the Chief Secretary on the ground 
 that under the existing law Municipal Councils were 
 not bound to give effect to petitions received from a 
 majority of shopkeepers, and could only bind their 
 own districts. Besides, the penalties imposed for 
 contravention of any law or bye-law had, in many 
 cases, been so small that shopkeepers had been able 
 to ignore it with practical impunity. He therefore 
 proposed that petitions should in future be addressed 
 either to the Governor or to the local authorities, 
 that a metropolitan district should he constituted so 
 as to render possible uniformity in the hours of 
 closing shops, and that the penalties should be on a
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 141 
 
 fixed scale. These proposals were embodied in the 
 Act, as were others which provided that assistants in 
 shops should have a weekly half-holiday, and that 
 women and boys should not be employed for more 
 than a fixed number of hours in a week or day, nor 
 for more than five hours without an interval for 
 meals, and should have the use of adequate sitting 
 accommodation. These provisions, however, were 
 not to apply to the categories of shops excluded 
 from the operation of previous Acts unless extended 
 to them under regulations made by the Governor in 
 Council. Soon after the passage of the Act a strong 
 feeling arose among the shopkeepers of Melbourne 
 and its suburbs that, as assistants had to receive a 
 weekly half-holiday, shops should be closed upon 
 one afternoon in the week ; but opinions differed 
 as to whether the day should be Saturday or 
 Wednesday. The shopkeepers in the city were 
 disposed to favour the former, those in the suburbs 
 were divided in their views. 
 
 The Act should be regarded as a humane attempt 
 to minimise the sufferings of the outworkers and to 
 improve the conditions of labour of the toiling 
 masses of the population. The appointment of the 
 special Boards is regarded with sympathy even by 
 those who doubt the possibility of enforcing a 
 minimum wage in the case of persons whose com- 
 petition is intensified by the fear of starvation. Two 
 general considerations suggest themselves : that a 
 vast discretionary power is vested in the Executive,
 
 142 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 and that the inspectors will be confronted with a 
 task of hopeless magnitude. On the first point it is 
 to be noted that the Governor in Council, acting 
 naturally upon the advice of the Chief Secretary, 
 may not only exercise the powers already mentioned, 
 but may extend the provisions of the Act or any of 
 them to any shire or part of a shire, and make 
 regulations upon a large number of subjects con- 
 nected with the efficient administration of all the 
 Factories and Shop Acts. As regards the inspectors, 
 who are eleven in number, it is to be feared that, 
 though they may invite the co-operation of the 
 police, they will be unable adequately to supervise 
 factories, watch the labour of the single Chinaman, 
 protect the home-worker from the tyranny of the 
 contractor, and assure to assistants in shops the 
 conditions to which they are legally entitled. They 
 will undoubtedly be fettered by the unwillingness of 
 the workers to supply information which may lead 
 to the loss of their employment. 
 
 The correlative of protection, which principally 
 benefits the manufacturer, is the direct encourage- 
 ment of the enterprise of the producer. In this 
 respect successive Governments have displayed an 
 eagerness which has not always been confined within 
 the limits of prudence. The borrowed capital sunk 
 in the construction and equipment of the Victorian 
 Railways is about ;^36,73o,ooo, which returned in 
 the year 1895-6 a net profit on working of ;^855,ooo, 
 being a deficit of ^584,000 upon ^^1,439,000, the
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAX LEGISLATION 143 
 
 annual charge for interest upon the loans ; but a 
 large proportion of this deficiency was due to the 
 failure of the wheat crop and the consequent 
 decrease in the amount of goods carried along the 
 lines. Recent returns show that several lines not 
 only do not pay any interest on the capital expen- 
 diture, but do not earn even as much as is disbursed 
 in working expenses. The report of the Railway 
 Inquiry Board shows that the Assembly was actually 
 disposed at one time to sanction the expenditure of 
 a further sum of ;^4i,ooo,ooo upon the construction 
 of new lines ; but the Age newspaper published a 
 series of articles which showed clearly that national 
 insolvency would follow the approval of expenditure 
 on such a gigantic scale. The exposure attained its 
 object, but involved the proprietor, Mr. David Syme, 
 in actions for libel, brought by the Railway Com- 
 missioners, which extended, with intervals, over a 
 period of four years. Finally, he was proved to have 
 been entirely justified in his language, but was 
 saddled with an enormous bill of costs as the reward 
 of his patriotic efforts on behalf of the community. 
 The danger that similar proposals might be carried 
 in the future was lessened in 1890, when the Standing 
 Committee was appointed as a check upon the 
 extravagant tendencies and culpable pliability of 
 individual members. 
 
 Again, in connection with water supply and 
 irrigation, the expenditure has been on an extra- 
 vagant scale. The Melbourne Waterworks are
 
 144 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 justified by the requirements of the metropoHs, but 
 those of Geelong and of Bendigo and adjacent areas 
 commenced in 1865, and constructed at a capital 
 cost of ^1,427,000, show an annual deficit of 
 ^35,000 ; and other national works which cost 
 ^^830,000 are dependent for a return upon irrigation 
 trusts, most of which are unable to meet their own 
 liabilities. Apart from this direct expenditure, the 
 State has advanced ;^2,438,ooo to local bodies, urban 
 and rural waterworks trusts and irrigation trusts. 
 Adding together these different amounts, we find the 
 total direct and indirect expenditure of the State to 
 have been ^4,695,000, and we learn from the report 
 of a recent Royal Commission that the annual 
 revenue is about ^68,000, or less than ij per cent, 
 upon the capital. As the money bears an average 
 interest of 4 per cent., the loss to the consolidated 
 revenue is at the rate of ^120,000 a year. The 
 expenditure was based upon the principle that the 
 national credit should be pledged in order that 
 farmers and land and property owners might be 
 assisted to provide works of water supply which 
 would accelerate the permanent settlement of many 
 parts of the Province. Loans had been granted to 
 municipalities before 1881, but in that year the 
 question was treated comprehensively by the Water 
 Conservation Act, which authorised the constitution 
 of trusts for the construction of works of water 
 supply for domestic purposes and the use of stock. 
 In 1883 the Act was amended so as to include trusts
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAX LEGISLATION 145 
 
 formed for the promotion of works of irrigation. 
 The Urban Trusts and local bodies generally have 
 met their obligations satisfactorily, with the exception 
 of some of the latter, which, instead of striking 
 higher rates or increasing the charge for the water, 
 appear to have hoped that the State would step in 
 and relieve them of their liabilities. The Rural and 
 Irrigation Trusts also have attempted to throw the 
 duty of paying interest on the cost of the works 
 upon the taxpayers of the whole province. In the 
 latter case the Public Works Department cannot be 
 absolved from blame. It is clear from the report of 
 the Commission that money was advanced to Irriga- 
 tion Trusts without an adequate preliminary investi- 
 gation of the amount of water available or of the 
 number of settlers who would make use of it. " The 
 public mind was excited at the time, and the gospel 
 of irrigation was preached from one end of the 
 Colony to the other. The farmers had been suffering 
 from a cycle of dry seasons, the price of produce 
 was high, and the prospect of insuring their crops 
 against the exigencies of climate by means of irriga- 
 tion appears to have overruled all prudential con- 
 siderations. Schemes were hastily conceived and as 
 hastily carried out. The question as to whether the 
 cost of the undertaking would be commensurate 
 with the benefits to be derived therefrom, or whether 
 the land could bear the burden that would be placed 
 upon it, was apparently lightly considered, if con- 
 sidered at all." But, according to an official who 
 
 II
 
 146 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 had been concerned in the matter, the Department, 
 far from readily concurring in or urging on 
 schemes, had done its utmost to restrain the popular 
 enthusiasm. Continued pressure had been exercised 
 by deputations, generally supported by the Member 
 for the district, which tried to induce Ministers to 
 set aside formalities in view of the great necessity 
 for water and of the great benefit that would ensue. 
 The lavish ness of the Department, whatever may 
 have been its cause, was equalled by that of the 
 Trusts, which in most cases expended the loan money 
 as expeditiously as possible without regard to the 
 requirements of the district or the supervision of the 
 undertakings ; they did not realise that they would 
 ever be called upon to provide for meeting the 
 interest on the moneys advanced to them. There 
 can be no doubt that the Government overrated the 
 knowledge and ability of the Trusts, and their 
 recognition of the responsibility involved in the 
 control of large sums of public money. The Royal 
 Commissioners recommended that, after Parliament 
 had decided what concessions should be made, the 
 enforcement of the monetary obligations should be 
 transferred from the Department to the Audit Com- 
 missioners, who should be vested with powers 
 enabling them to take action to recover arrears due 
 to the State. They believed that, in the absence of 
 such a change, the Department, being subject to 
 political pressure, might make further concessions, 
 and again allow matters to drift into an unsatis- 
 factory condition.
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 147 
 
 The next instance of national expenditure in the 
 promotion of enterprise conies under a different 
 category : the State has, since 1878, devoted to 
 the encouragement of the gold-mining industry the 
 sum of £'800,000, which was not intended to give 
 a direct return upon the outlay so much as to 
 maintain the pre-eminence of Victoria among the 
 gold-producing Provinces of Australasia. Of this 
 amount ^^455,000 was expended in boring, the 
 remainder in subsidies to mining companies and 
 prospecting parties. But, as in the case of railways 
 and works of water supply, the Government were 
 confronted by the extreme difficulty of providing 
 safeguards against the misapplication of the funds. 
 Direct control by the Minister of Mines was proved 
 neither to yield good results nor to be satisfactory 
 to the Minister, as he was subjected to continual 
 pressure from Members of Parliament. Prospecting 
 Boards were, accordingly, appointed in the seven 
 mining districts into which the Province is divided, 
 each Board consisting of five members, the sur- 
 veyor of the district, a member of the Mine-owners' 
 Association, a member of the Miners' Association, 
 a member of the local mining board, and a repre- 
 sentative of the municipalities. These men were 
 authorised to allocate all votes, and, according to 
 a statement of the present Minister, as they repre- 
 sented different interests in the mining and different 
 localities, they took a parochial view of their duties 
 and developed " a kind of unconscious log-rolling "
 
 148 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 which caused the grants, in many cases, to be 
 devoted to entirely unprofitable objects. The ex- 
 penditure of the ;^8oo,ooo is believed to have been 
 of the greatest value to several mining companies, 
 but has produced a direct return of only ;^i 1,526, 
 an amount which would have been smaller had not 
 the Minister threatened dividend-paying companies 
 with the forfeiture of their leases unless they repaid 
 their loans to the State. 
 
 The Government have also attempted to increase 
 the export of such articles as butter, wine, cheese, 
 and frozen meat, for which a large market is 
 beheved to be obtainable in Great Britain. Their 
 policy has been to foster these industries by means 
 of bonuses to producers, subsidies to owners of 
 factories, and the free use of cold storage at re- 
 frigerating works, and to enforce a certain standard 
 of quality as a necessary condition of their assis- 
 tance. As the industry progresses the bonus is 
 reduced and finally withdrawn, and charges are 
 made for cold storage which are sufficient to 
 reimburse the State for its outlay. Such a course 
 has already been pursued in the most successful 
 case, that of butter, in which the value of the 
 amount annually exported has risen from _^""5 1,000 
 in 1889-90 to ;^876,ooo in 1895-6. In this manner 
 the State is not permanently engaged, but initiates 
 its expenditure at the highest point and gradually 
 releases itself from the obligation. 
 
 In 1893 the Government were confronted with
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 149 
 
 a large amount of misery among the working 
 classes, much of it undeserved, which had resulted 
 from the collapse of many land companies and 
 banking and building associations. An artificial 
 prosperity, caused by the inflation of metropolitan 
 values, had created a demand for the services of 
 a disproportionate number of artisans, who, upon 
 the inevitable reaction, were thrown suddenly out 
 of employment. Under these circumstances the 
 Ministry were called upon to do something to 
 relieve the distress, and passed a new Land Act 
 which offered favourable terms, in the way of 
 tenure and monetary advances, to those who were 
 willing to settle upon the land. They were enabled 
 to take it up either individually or in associations 
 of not less than six persons who desired to live 
 near each other. At the expiration of a year after 
 the passage of the Act 4,080 applications had been 
 received, of which 2,122 had been approved, 993 
 rejected, and 965 were under consideration ; and, 
 in order that the benefit might be immediate, the 
 land had been made available as speedily as possible 
 and applicants had not been compelled to wait until 
 blocks had been surveyed. In view of the con- 
 ditions under which the settlements were formed 
 it is not surprising to learn from subsequent otHcial 
 reports that the favourable anticipations have, in 
 numerous instances, not been realised, owing to 
 the unsuitability of the soil, the inexperience or 
 physical incapacity of the settlers, or the absence
 
 ISO CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 of a local demand for labour or of a market for 
 the surplus produce. Many of the associations 
 have been disbanded as the members were unable 
 to work together harmoniously ; and those that 
 are still in existence have, in almost every case, 
 abandoned the co-operative principle and are 
 working their blocks on individual lines. In 1896 
 the number of resident settlers was 2,127, who, 
 with their wives and families, formed a total popula- 
 tion of 8,802 ; they had received, during the three 
 years, advances from the Government to the 
 amount of ;^57,ooo. 
 
 The Act of 1893 also provided for the establish- 
 ment of Labour Colonies. The movement in this 
 direction originated with a few people at Melbourne, 
 who saw the futility of periodical doles to the desti- 
 tute, which were of merely temporary assistance 
 to them and did not place them in the way of 
 earning a permanent livelihood. It was also felt 
 that, in the absence of any system similar to the 
 English poor-law, which, whatever its evils, relieves 
 the conscience of the community, ministers were 
 subject to continual pressure, which compelled 
 them to institute public works for the sole benefit 
 of the unemployed. In 1892 the distress was met, 
 as far as the public were concerned, by the sub- 
 scription of a large sum of money, which was 
 distributed through the agency of the local branch 
 of the Charity Organisation Society ; but, in the 
 following year, the distress being still more acute,
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 151 
 
 the idea of a Labour Colony rapidly gained ground 
 and was met by the Government by the grant of an 
 area of 800 acres at Leongatha, some 80 miles 
 from Melbourne, which enabled the promoters of 
 the scheme at one to commence their operations. 
 At the outset it had been intended that the funds 
 should be obtained, partly by private subscription, 
 partly by pro-rata contributions from the national 
 exchequer ; but, in the absence of popular response, 
 the Government deemed it advisable, at the com- 
 mencement of 1894, to take over the entire admini- 
 stration of the colony, and appointed, as Honorary 
 Superintendent, Colonel Goldstein, who had been 
 actively identified with the undertaking. Colonel 
 Goldstein states that the main purpose of the 
 colony, which is based on a German model, is 
 to give temporary work at unattractive wages to 
 the able-bodied unemployed in order that they 
 may be prevented from passing over the narrow 
 line which separates poverty from pauperism. At 
 first the aged and infirm were admitted, but it 
 was found that employment could not be obtained 
 for them and that their presence affected the value 
 of the colony as a means of instruction for a class 
 of men in whom it is necessary to arouse a spirit 
 of responsible independence. They are, moreover, 
 provided for by benevolent asylums and other 
 charitable institutions which receive large subsidies 
 from the Government. Consequently men beyond 
 the age of 55 years are now only received in
 
 152 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 exceptional cases. All applicants are registered, 
 and, if their alleged destitution is believed to be 
 genuine, are forwarded by rail to the colony, where 
 they receive free board and lodging. The colonists 
 are subjected to strict discipline, work for a week 
 without pay upon probation, and then earn wages 
 which rise to a maximum of 4s. a week ; they 
 receive no money while at the colony, but may 
 draw certain necessaries, or, if married, cause their 
 wages to be remitted to their wives. The work 
 is so arranged that the capabilities of the colonists 
 may be used to the best advantage and that they 
 may be fitted as far as possible for agricultural 
 employment, which is obtained for them by means 
 of a Labour Bureau established at the colony. At 
 the expiration of six months, or upon an accumu- 
 lation in their favour of a credit balance amounting 
 to 30s., colonists must, subject to occasional exemp- 
 tions, seek employment elsewhere, and may not be 
 re-admitted under a period of six weeks. In this 
 manner the men either obtain outside employment 
 while resident at the colony or leave it possessed 
 of a sum of money which renders them better 
 able to search for it ; they have the alternative 
 of applying subsequently for re-admittance. The 
 results obtained during the three years have been 
 of a most satisfactory character ; 1,832 men have 
 passed through the colony since its inception, of 
 whom only 124 have been dismissed for faults, 
 and none for insubordination ; 573 have had re-
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 153 
 
 miinerative work found for them, and the remainder 
 have earned sufficient ready money to enable them 
 to set out in search of employment. There have 
 been 566 re-admissions of 307 men who have 
 returned from one to eight times. " The majority 
 of the men," says Colonel Goldstein, *' are of the 
 shiftless sort, who cannot do anything for them- 
 selves. As Leongatha is 80 miles from Melbourne, 
 we seldom see the genuine loafer there. The men 
 who go are willing enough to work when shown 
 how, but they seem unable to rouse themselves into 
 any sort of vigour, to say notliing of enthusiasm, 
 until they have been there a considerable time. 
 . . . Numerous instances could be given indicative 
 of the generally helpless nature of the men. There 
 can be no doubt that employers, during the depres- 
 sion, will first reduce their worst men. Of these, 
 many have sufficient energy to shift for themselves ; 
 the rest drift to the labour colony. Most of them 
 have suffered severely from privation and poverty, 
 and probably have had their dejected condition 
 further dispirited by semi-starvation. . . . After 
 a few months' stay it is surprising to see the 
 difference in their appearance, and, what is more 
 to the purpose, their discovery that a new kind 
 of life is opened to them. Bush-work gives them 
 a healthier feeling of self-dependence than they 
 ever enjoyed before, especially so for men who 
 have a trade behind them ready when the chance 
 comes." The total outlay has amounted to ^^i 1,276,
 
 154 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LEGISLATION 
 
 which has been expended mainly upon farm ap- 
 pointments, implements, and permanent improve- 
 ments, and is represented by assets of the value 
 of ;^io,86i. The net cost must be regarded as 
 exceedingly small in view of the fact that, as the 
 great majority of the colonists are artisans and 
 quite unused to bush or farm work, their labour 
 is necessarily slow and expensive, and that, as 
 soon as a man begins to be useful, he is selected 
 for some private employer. The Labour Colony 
 has, it is maintained, apart from the benefits con- 
 ferred upon hundreds of individuals, paralysed the 
 agitation of the unemployed ; as long as it is in 
 existence no able-bodied man need starve. 
 
 Finally, a measure, passed in 1896, aimed at the 
 protection of pastoralists, farmers, and other culti- 
 vators of the soil by providing machinery by which 
 the State might grant loans to them, upon adequate 
 security, at a low rate of interest, with a sinking 
 fund extending over a long period of years. 
 
 The salient features of Victorian legislation are 
 the strong note of humanity and the confidence 
 in the wisdom and efficiency of State action. If 
 this confidence has sometimes been misplaced, 
 there is no reason to suppose that the Victorians 
 have imposed upon themselves a burden that they 
 are unable to bear. They are an energetic race, 
 who have not only developed the resources of their 
 own country, but have obtained large interests in 
 New South Wales and Queensland. If in the past
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTORIAX LEGISLATION 155 
 
 they were too much inclined to draw bills upon 
 futurity, they have had a sharp lesson which has 
 taught them the necessity of retrenchment and 
 compelled them to reduce their annual expenditure 
 by a third of the total amount. It is impossible 
 to form an unfavourable estimate of the prospects, 
 or of the high average prosperity, of a population 
 of less than 1,200,000 persons, which includes 
 185,000 freeholders and has accumulated at the 
 Savings Banks ^^'7,300, 000 divided among nearly 
 340,000 depositors.
 
 VI 
 
 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 
 
 Constitutional history — The relations of Church and State — Natural 
 impediments to development — The construction of railways — 
 The scarcity of water — The promotion of the mining and other 
 industries — The absence of parties in Parliament. 
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA received the privi- 
 leges of Responsible Government many years 
 after the other Australasian Provinces ; otherwise, 
 its constitutional development has proceeded upon 
 similar lines. The first Governor was appointed in 
 1829, and administered the affairs of the country 
 with the assistance of an Executive Council. Two 
 years later a Legislative Council was established 
 which consisted solely of the members of the Execu- 
 tive Council, but it was subsequently widened by the 
 admission, at first, of unofficial nominee members, 
 afterwards of a sufBcient number of elected mem- 
 bers to form a majority of the whole body. Then 
 an agitation sprang up in the Province in favour 
 of Responsible Government, and in 1889, after a 
 
 unanimous vote of the Legislative Council, a Consti- 
 
 156
 
 WESTERN ACSTRALlA 157 
 
 tulion Bill was submitted by the Government, con- 
 sidered by the Council, and forwarded to the Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies. In the House of Commons 
 it met with considerable opposition, on the ground 
 that the Crown Lands of the Province should not 
 be handed over to a population of only 46,000 
 persons. But, upon a favourable report of a Select 
 Committee and representation made by the Agents- 
 General of the other Australasian Provinces, the 
 point was decided in the sense desired by the Pro- 
 vince, and, as the Bill passed rapidly through the 
 House of Lords, it received the Royal Assent in 
 August, 1890. 
 
 Under the Constitution the Executive power is 
 vested in the Governor, w^ho acts by the advice of 
 a Cabinet composed of live responsible Ministers. 
 They are, at the present time, the Colonial Trea- 
 surer and Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, 
 the Commissioner of Railways and Director of 
 Public Works, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, 
 and the Mmister of Mines. The Premier, Sir John 
 Forrest, holds the offices of Colonial Secretary and 
 Colonial Treasurer, and the Minister of Mines, the 
 only Minister in the Upper House, controls the 
 Postal and Telegraphic Departments. 
 
 The Legislative authority is vested in the two 
 Houses of Parliament, the Legislative Council and 
 the Legislative Assembly. The Council consists of 
 twenty-one members, of whom a third retire every 
 two years. They are elected upon a property quali-
 
 158 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 fication, and must have been resident for at least 
 two years in the Province. The Assembly consists 
 of thirty-three members, who must have resided at 
 least one year in the Province, and are elected upon 
 a wider franchise for the period of four years. No 
 remuneration is paid to the members of either House, 
 but they receive free passes over all Government 
 Railways and, by courtesy, over those belonging to 
 private companies. 
 
 The limitations upon the power of legislation 
 possessed by the Parliament of Western Australia 
 are similar to those imposed upon the Legislatures 
 of other Australian Provinces, except that the pro- 
 tection of the aborigines has been placed in the 
 hands of an independent Board, nominated and 
 controlled by the Governor. It receives for the 
 execution of its duties i per cent, of the annual 
 revenue of the country, but cannot carry them out 
 without the active support of Government officials. 
 The existence of this Board is strongly resented by 
 Western Australians as an unjust reflection upon 
 them, land as an imputation that they cannot be 
 trusted to deal in a just and humane manner towards 
 the natives ; and the Premier, voicing the unanimous 
 opinion of both Houses, has attempted, hitherto 
 without success, to secure the repeal of the obnoxious 
 section of the Constitution Act. 
 
 The attitude of the Government in regard to the 
 relations between Church and State as affecting the 
 endowment of religious bodies and the assistance
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 159 
 
 given to denominational schools was, until recently, 
 that grants should annually be voted by Parliament. 
 But the trend of public opinion has been in the 
 direction of secular education and the termination of 
 the payments made to the Churches. The matter 
 was, accordingly, during the session of 1895, dealt 
 with by the Ecclesiastical Grants Abolition Act and 
 the Assisted Schools Abolition Act. Previously the 
 payments to the Churches had been at the rate of 
 about ^3,500 per annum, of which the Church of 
 England received ^2,000, the Roman Catholics 
 ;^i,ooo, and the Wesleyans and Presbyterians ;^36o 
 and ^160 respectively. The grants have been com- 
 muted at ten years' purchase, and the capital amount 
 is to be paid pro rata out of the Consolidated 
 Revenue Fund in two equal instalments to the 
 recognised heads of each religious denomination. 
 This Bill was passed, with universal approval, through 
 both Houses of Parliament, but a like unanimity was 
 not manifested in regard to the Education question. 
 In fact, early in the session, the Premier had stated 
 that he had no immediate intention of dealing with 
 it, but his hands were forced by popular opinion, as 
 manifested by the result of several elections fought 
 upon that issue. Consequently, after a resolution 
 passed by both Houses that " It is expedient that the 
 Assisted " (denominational) " Schools should no 
 longer form part of the public Educational system 
 of the Colony," and on the report of a Joint Com- 
 mittee, a Bill was introduced by the Premier into the
 
 i6o THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 Assembly fixing the sum to be paid as compensa- 
 tion, in lieu of grants in aid, at _^20,ooo. In 1894 
 one-third of the children being educated in the 
 Colony were attending the Assisted Schools, at a 
 cost to the country of ^2,093 for the Assisted, and 
 ^11,356 for the Government Schools. The Bill was 
 hotly discussed ; the Opposition divided over the 
 amount, and were only beaten by one vote, and it 
 was finally decided that the compensation should be 
 ;^i5,ooo. The whole of this money will be paid to 
 the Roman Catholics, who had alone taken advan- 
 tage of the system. There is a High School at Perth 
 established by statute ; otherwise little has been 
 done in the direction of secondary education, and 
 Western Australia has no University. The advan- 
 tages of primary education have been extended as 
 far as possible ; any district which can guarantee 
 the attendance of fifteen children can claim the 
 erection of a school and the appointment of a 
 teacher ; but it is clear that, in a very sparsely in- 
 habited country, no system can be devised which 
 will reach the whole population. 
 
 The policy of the Ministry has been, in the main, 
 one of loans and public works. They were called 
 upon, at the inauguration of Responsible Govern- 
 ment, to administer an area of nearly a million 
 square miles, thinly populated and penalised by 
 great natural drawbacks, such as the scarcity of good 
 harbours, the difficulty of inland communication, 
 and the absence over large tracts of country of a
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 16 1 
 
 sufficient supply of water. These drawbacks the 
 Government have, in various ways, done their best 
 to overcome. 
 
 The principal ports of Western Australia are — on the 
 south Albany and Esperance Bay, on the west Bun- 
 bury, Fremantle, and Geraldtown, and on the north- 
 west Cossack and Broome. The most important of 
 these are Albany, a fine natural harbour, which is the 
 point of call of the ocean liners, and Fremantle, the 
 port of Perth. All have been improved, as far as 
 conditions would permit, by dredging operations 
 and the construction of piers and jetties, but very 
 extensive works, for which the sum of ^350,000 has 
 already been allotted, are being carried out at Fre- 
 mantle, in the hope of making it a good and com- 
 modious harbour for all classes of ocean vessels. 
 In the interests of safe navigation, lighthouses 
 have been erected at various points along the 
 coast. 
 
 As the rivers are mostly filled only during the 
 rainy season, and un navigable for any distance even 
 for small boats, the methods of internal transit are 
 limited to road and rail. The Government have 
 regarded the construction of roads as a matter of 
 national rather than of purely local importance, and 
 have expended upon them large sums of money. 
 They are at present engaged in opening up stock 
 routes to the North and between the Murchison and 
 Coolgardie Goldfields. Their railway policy has 
 been to render accessible the different resources of 
 
 12
 
 1 62 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 the country. The South-Western Railway from 
 Perth to Bunbury, Busselton, and Donnybrook 
 traverses country suitable for the growth of cereals 
 and for mixed farming. Its course is along" the foot 
 of the Darling Range, which is covered with valuable 
 forests of jarrah. Parliament has recently sanctioned 
 two extensions : to Collie, an important coalfield, and 
 to Bridgetown, the centre of an agricultural area. 
 The Eastern Railway, starting from Fremantle, 
 passes through Perth and taps an important district 
 adapted for general agriculture, fruit-growing, and 
 viticulture ; it connects with the Yilgarn Railway, 
 which has now been completed to several points 
 upon the Coolgardie Goldfields, and will be depen- 
 dent for its returns upon their prosperity, as it passes 
 through vast areas of arid scrub. The Northern Rail- 
 way consists of short lines from Geraldtown, which 
 pass through country suitable, in parts, for the 
 growth of cereals, in others, for pastoral purposes ; 
 it is to be continued to Cue, on the Murchison 
 Goldfield. The above are all Government railways, 
 built under private contract and equipped and 
 managed by the State. There are also two large 
 private companies, the Great Southern Railway, 
 connecting Albany with Beverley, the terminus of 
 the Eastern Railway, and the Midland Railway, 
 connecting Geraldtown with Perth at points on the 
 Northern and Eastern Railways. They were built 
 upon the land-grant system, at a time when the 
 Government were anxious to extend the railways.
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 163 
 
 but were not in a position to incur the cost of their 
 construction. This system is not Hkely to be adopted 
 again, as both Companies have pursued an un- 
 generous poHcy in regard to the ahenation of their 
 lands, while the Midland Company were unable to 
 complete their undertaking without the assistance of 
 the Government, which, in return for a mortgage of 
 the whole line, guaranteed for them the interest and 
 principal of a loan of ^500,000. In fact, during the 
 session of 1896, the Government, after negotiations 
 with the Great Southern Railway Company, obtained 
 the authority of Parliament for the negotiation of a 
 loan for the purchase of all its interests, including 
 the permanent way, rolling stock, buildings, and 
 unsold lands. 
 
 In the southern and western portions of the 
 Province water is plentiful. The northern portion 
 is subject to terrible drought, such as that which 
 a few years ago almost ruined the squatters and 
 caused the loss of three-quarters of a million sheep. 
 But the attention of the Government has been 
 mainly turned to the eastern division, which includes 
 the Yilgarn, Coolgardie, and Dundas Goldfields, and 
 has an average annual rainfall of about ten inches, 
 and it is in this portion of the country that the 
 heaviest expenditure was incurred during the year 
 ending June 30, 1895. Thirteen large and two 
 small tanks were completed on the Coolgardie 
 Goldfields with a capacity of 13J millions of gallons 
 and at a total cost of nearly ;^38,ooo. Wells were
 
 i64 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 sunk, bores put down in the search for water, 
 condenser plants erected, and new soaks opened 
 up at advantageous places throughout the district. 
 Wells have also been sunk, and reservoirs con- 
 structed, on the Murchison and Pilbarra Goldfields, 
 and in other parts of the country. But the greatest 
 undertaking in this direction will be the construc- 
 tion of vast works for the supply from a distance of 
 water to the Coolgardie Goldfields. Parliament has 
 authorised the required loan, and may therefore be 
 presumed to concur with the Ministry in the belief 
 that the necessary water cannot be obtained on the 
 spot by artesian bores or otherwise. The future of 
 Western Australia is bound up with that of the 
 goldfields. Should they fail through lack of water, 
 recent immigrants would leave the country, and 
 their departure would cripple, if not ruin, the agri- 
 cultural industry, and cause immediately a heavy 
 fall in the revenue. Under these circumstances, the 
 scheme of the Government, even though it entails a 
 very large expenditure, might be justified as being 
 essential to the continued prosperity of the Province. 
 A similar argument may be applied to the large 
 sums spent upon the railways, since they, as well as 
 the waterworks, should be remunerative ; but when 
 we find Parliament sanctioning, in one session, 
 applications for loans amounting to seven millions 
 — and bear in mind the smallness of the population 
 — we cannot but fear that the Province is beginning 
 to borrow recklessly and may expose itself to the
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 165 
 
 financial troubles which have overtaken some of its 
 Eastern neighbours. 
 
 So much for the natural difficulties and the 
 attempts made, and about to be made, b}- the 
 Government to overcome them ; but they have 
 recognised that the heavy expenditure upon public 
 works would be unjustifiable in the absence of 
 simultaneous efforts to encourage the occupation 
 and cultivation of the land and the development of 
 the mineral resources ; and they have, therefore, 
 while not embarking upon a policy of direct sub- 
 sidies for the payment of the passages of immigrants, 
 offered every inducement to people to come to the 
 Province of their owm accord. Intending settlers or 
 companies can obtain, upon favourable terms, land 
 for pastoral or agricultural purposes, mineral leases, 
 and concessions giving them the right to cut timber 
 upon the State forests. A miner can acquire, on the 
 annual payment of ten shillings, a miner's right, 
 entitling him to take possession of, mine, and 
 occupy, unoccupied Crown Lands for gold mining 
 in accordance with the Mining Regulations. The 
 general conditions dealing with the alienation of 
 Crown Lands are laid down in the Land Regulations, 
 under which the Province has been divided into six 
 districts, in order that different terms may be made 
 in accordance with the varying quality and capabili- 
 ties of the soil in different parts of the country. 
 Pastoral leases may be obtained at a rent ranging 
 from five shillings to ^^i a vear for r,ooo acres.
 
 i66 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 Agricultural land is in most parts of the country sold 
 at ten shillings an acre, to be paid either directly or by 
 annual instalments ; but the title to the land is not 
 given until certain stated improvements have been 
 carried out upon it, in order to prevent its being held 
 in an unimproved condition for speculative purposes, 
 and residence is encouraged by the enforcement of a 
 larger expenditure in improvements upon occupiers 
 who do not live upon their estates. As a further 
 inducement to settlers, the Government have set 
 apart special agricultural areas, which they cause to 
 be surveyed before selection and marked out in 
 blocks ; they offer, under the Homesteads Act, 1893, 
 free grants of land not exceeding 160 acres in extent, 
 subject to stringent conditions as to residence and 
 expenditure upon improvements ; and they have 
 established an agricultural bank which is authorised 
 to make advances to farmers and other cultivators of 
 the soil. The policy of the Government has had 
 considerable success, as the total area of cultivated 
 land rose from 86,000 acres in 1886 to 193,000 acres 
 at the end of 1894. But farmers have had to con- 
 tend with great difficulties in the work and expense 
 required for the clearing of the land, and in the 
 absence of a market for their produce. A distinct 
 improvement, however, has obtained since the advent 
 of a large population upon the goldfields, whose 
 wants they may hope to supply. 
 
 It must be admitted that Sir John Forrest and his 
 colleagues have had matters entirely in their favour.
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 167 
 
 The credit of the Province has steadily improved, in 
 view of its mining operations ; for the same reason 
 the railways have shown the most satisfactory re- 
 turns, and the receipts from the Customs, under a 
 tariff levied primarily for purposes of revenue, but 
 partially protective in its incidence, have increased 
 by leaps and bounds. Again, in Parliament the 
 Ministry have met with but little opposition. Upon 
 the inauguration of Responsible Government, the 
 Premier had the prestige of former office under the 
 Crown, and found himself face to face with an 
 Assembly which had no experience in the principles 
 of Party Government. The members were inti- 
 mately acquainted with each other, and criticism of 
 the Ministry was resented as a personal insult. The 
 so-called Opposition made no serious attempt to 
 overthrow the Government, partly because, in the 
 dearth of men of both ability and leisure, there was 
 no material for the formation of an alternative 
 Ministry ; partly because they were in agreement 
 with them upon most of the questions that came up 
 for discussion. The policy of the construction of 
 public works out of loans was generally acceptable, 
 and soon justified itself by results, owing, to a great 
 extent, to the development of the goldfields. Mines 
 had been w^orked in Western Australia for a con- 
 siderable time, but attracted little attention until the 
 great discoveries at Coolgardie and in its neighbour- 
 hood. These came at a most opportune moment. 
 A large amount of capital in Europe was seeking
 
 'i68 THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 
 profitable employment ; the stagnation of business 
 in the Eastern Provinces of Australia had brought 
 hardship upon the labouring population and made 
 them anxious to seek work elsewhere ; and the 
 success of the South African Mines had caused the 
 British public to look favourably upon mining 
 speculations. As a result, mines were successfully 
 floated in London and in Australia, immigrants 
 poured in from the Eastern Provinces, mercantile 
 firms established branches at Perth and at other 
 centres, and the revenue obtained from the Customs 
 and from the Railways and other public departments 
 increased to an unparalleled extent. But the in- 
 crease of revenue naturally caused a large increase 
 in the work of the departments concerned, and they 
 failed signally to meet the additional demands upon 
 them. 
 
 The Telegraphic and Postal Department obtained 
 an evil pre-eminence through its irregularity and 
 untrustworthiness, and caused much inconveni- 
 ence and monetary loss, owing to the delay in 
 the delivery of letters and telegrams. Complaints 
 were also rife against the Railway Department, as 
 imported machinery lay for months at Fremantle, 
 because the Government had not sufficient trucks 
 in which to take it up the line to its place of 
 destination. It must be remembered, however, that 
 the public services had been organised to meet the 
 needs of a far smaller population and were called 
 upon to carry out work which had increased at a
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 169 
 
 rapidity which could not be foreseen. A certain 
 amount of difficulty was, under these circumstances, 
 bound to occur, as the Government would not have 
 been justified in launching into heavy additional 
 expenditure until they had reasonable assurance 
 of the permanence of the goldfields and of the 
 consequent increase of business. 
 
 Hitherto the Government of Western Australia 
 has been that of a huge land development company ; 
 constitutional questions have been in the background. 
 But a tendency is already perceptible among recent 
 immigrants to demand manhood suffrage, payment 
 of members, and other items of democratic legisla- 
 tion to which they have been accustomed in the 
 Eastern Provinces. This movement, however, will 
 be checked by the conservative instincts of the 
 native population, and by the general belief that the 
 Ministry have guided the destinies of the province 
 wisely during the crucial years w-hich have succeeded 
 the inauguration of Responsible Government.
 
 VII 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 The restriction of the immigration of coloured races— Betting 
 and lotteries — The adoption of a modification of Hare's 
 System of Voting — Conflicts between the two Houses of 
 Parliament— Finance and taxation— Land Grant Railways. 
 
 THE session of the Tasmanian Parliament in 
 1896 was of a quiet character as far as the 
 Ministerial programme was concerned. Measures 
 were introduced, amon.^ others, for the extension to 
 certain coloured races of the restrictions imposed 
 upon the immigration of the Chinese, for the better 
 suppression of public betting and gaming, for the 
 inspection of certain products intended for export, 
 for the consolidation and amendment of the electoral 
 laws, and for the reference to a plebiscite of disputes 
 between the House of Assembly and the Legislative 
 Council. 
 
 The first of these measures was introduced in 
 pursuance of a resolution passed at the Premiers' 
 Conference at the commencement of the year, and 
 was based upon the Chinese Immigration Act, 1887, 
 
 which limits the number of Chinese, not being 
 
 170
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 171 
 
 British subjects, that may be brought to Tasmania 
 in any vessel in proportion to its tonnage, and 
 throws upon the masters of the vessels the duty 
 of paying a capitation fee of _^io for every such 
 Chinaman that they introduce into the Province. It 
 was proposed to apply this provision to " all male 
 persons belonging to any coloured race inhabiting 
 the Continent of Asia or the Continent of Africa, or 
 any island adjacent thereto, or any island in the 
 Pacific Ocean or Indian Ocean, not being persons 
 duly accredited on any special mission to Her 
 Majesty by the Government or ruler of any 
 country, state, or territory, or to Tasmania under 
 the authority of the Imperial Government." The 
 Bill, which also exempted from its operation the 
 native races of Australia and New Zealand, was 
 accepted by the two Houses of Parliament, but was 
 reserved by the Governor for the Imperial assent, 
 which was likely to be withheld, as the measure 
 would undoubtedly lead to the strongest protests 
 from the Japanese, who will scarcely submit to be 
 treated as an inferior race by an Australian Province. 
 Should this attitude be adopted, a considerable 
 amount of friction may be anticipated, as mea- 
 sures on similar lines have been adopted by the two 
 Houses of Parliament in some of the other Provinces. 
 The Bill for the better suppression of betting and 
 gaming should rather have been called a Bill for their 
 regulation, as, while it aimed at the entire suppres- 
 sion of book-makers and betting-houses, it did not
 
 172 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 interfere with the totaHsator or with any lotteries 
 which had been authorised by Act of ParHament 
 or were carried on solely by correspondence through 
 the post-office, and in accordance with regulations 
 which might be made by the Governor in Council. 
 The totalisator is now to be found in all the 
 Australasian Provinces except New South Wales 
 and Victoria ; in the latter its adoption has widely 
 been advocated, but has been opposed by the 
 clergy, who have entered into an unconscious 
 alliance with the book-makers. The organisers of 
 the large "Tattersall" Sweeps, which are worked 
 from Tasmania and attract subscribers from all 
 parts of Australasia, will also be unaffected by the 
 Act ; to a certain extent they will even be benefited, 
 as they will be freed from the competition of many 
 of their more humble rivals. 
 
 The measure dealing with the inspection of ex- 
 ported produce was deemed advisable on account, 
 partly of the proposed action of other Provinces in 
 regard to Tasmanian fruit, partly of the importance 
 of enabling Tasmanian producers to obtain an 
 official certificate of the quality of their produce. 
 In outside markets, it was contended, in which the 
 Provinces come into competition with each other, 
 dealers gave the preference to, and paid higher prices 
 for, imports which had received the imprimatur of 
 the Government stamp. The interests of the com- 
 munity also would be protected against those of 
 selfish and dishonest traders. It was, therefore, pro-
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 173 
 
 posed that all dairy produce, fruit, or timber intended 
 for exportation should be examined b}^ an inspector, 
 and should not be shipped until he had certified 
 that it was sound, free from disease, and likely to 
 reach its destination in a good state of preservation. 
 The Governor in Council was also authorised to 
 make regulations for the inspection of the ships 
 in which such produce was to be carried, for the 
 protection from unnecessary suffering of live stock 
 when carried by sea, and for the branding and ship- 
 ment of products approved of by an inspector for 
 exportation. The Bill was read a second time in 
 the Assembly on the understanding that it would be 
 referred to the persons who would principally be 
 affected by it, and was so unfavourably received by 
 them, and especially by the fruit-growers, that it was 
 shortly afterwards dropped. In several Provinces 
 inspection has been accompanied by a system of 
 bonuses to producers, but in this respect Tasmania 
 has taken no action. Substantial bonuses were, 
 however, offered some fourteen years ago to manu- 
 facturers of considerable quantities of sugar, sacking, 
 and woollen goods, but of these the last alone has 
 been claimed. 
 
 Tasmania has not followed the example of New 
 South Wales and South Australia in the adoption of 
 manhood or adult suffrage and the abolition of 
 plural votes, but has passed a new Electoral Bill 
 which adopts a modification of Hare's system, and 
 thus secures a considerable representation of the
 
 174 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 minority in both Houses of Parliament. It provided, 
 as introduced, that the two principal cities, Hobart 
 and Launceston, which return, respectively, six and 
 three, and four and two, representatives to the 
 Assembly and Council, should thenceforward be 
 single constituencies, and that " each elector shall 
 have one vote only, but may vote in the alternative 
 for as many candidates as he pleases ; and his vote 
 shall be deemed to be given in the first place for the 
 candidate opposite whose name in the ballot-paper 
 the figure i is placed ; but in the event of its not 
 being required to be used for the return of such 
 candidate, it shall be transferable to the other candi- 
 dates in succession, in the order of priority indicated 
 by the figures set opposite their respective names ; 
 and the elector shall insert opposite the names of 
 the candidates for whom he wishes to vote, the 
 figures i, 2, 3, and so on, in the order of his pre- 
 ference." The method by which the returning 
 officer was to decide who were the successful candi- 
 dates was so complicated as to require two pages of 
 the Bill for its explanation. Briefly stated, it was 
 as follows : the total number of votes divided by 
 the number of representatives being the " Quota " 
 necessary for the election of candidates, the return- 
 ing officer declares the candidates who have a 
 number of first votes equal to or greater than the 
 quota to be elected ; he then notes how many of 
 the second votes on the papers of the successful 
 candidates are given to each of the other candidates,
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 175 
 
 and distributes the surplus votes among them in 
 accordance with their respective proportions. One 
 or more additional candidates are probably thereby 
 elected, and the process is repeated until the 
 requisite number are elected or a further quota is 
 no longer reached. In the latter case, the candidate 
 who has the smallest number of votes is excluded, 
 and the second votes of those who supported him in 
 the first instance are counted to the other candidates. 
 The second votes of the candidates who successively 
 become lowest on the list may be distributed, as 
 often as may be necessary, among the remainder ; in 
 this manner a final result must at length be obtained. 
 The Assembly provided by an amendment that each 
 elector should vote for as many candidates as there 
 were vacancies, while signifying the order of his 
 preference ; the Council reduced the number of 
 requisite votes by one-half, and limited the opera- 
 tion of the Bill to the next general election. A 
 doubt was expressed whether the benefits would 
 counterbalance the additional trouble and inevit- 
 able confusion which would attend the first applica- 
 tion of the new system. It was also contended that, 
 among a population of not more that 160,000 persons, 
 if the experiment were worthy of a trial, it should be 
 extended to the whole country. The only other 
 electoral peculiarity that I have noted in Australia 
 is to be found in Queensland. Under an Act of 
 1892 which deals with the election of members of 
 the Assembly, an elector may " indicate on his ballot-
 
 176 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 paper the name or names of any candidate or candi- 
 dates for whom he does not vote in the first instance, 
 but for whom he desires his vote or votes to be 
 counted in the event of any candidate or candidates 
 for whom he votes in the first instance not receiving 
 an absohite majority of votes." These contingent 
 votes are not counted unless the requisite number 
 of candidates fail to obtain an absolute majority of 
 all the primary votes ; they are of no value where 
 the candidates are not in the ratio of more than 
 two to one to the vacancies, as it is provided that in 
 such cases the candidates who receive the greatest 
 number of votes shall be elected. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that the four Provinces, 
 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and 
 Tasmania, which decided in favour of popular 
 election of the delegates to the new Federal Con- 
 vention and the subsequent approval or rejection 
 of the Draft Constitution by a direct popular vote, 
 are those in which the Ministry advocate a plebis- 
 cite for the settlement of disputes between the two 
 Houses of Parliament. The acceptance of the 
 Federation Enabling Bill by the Legislative Coun- 
 cils of these Provinces must weaken the moral 
 force of their opposition to the plebiscite, as it 
 may reasonably be argued that, if the people can 
 be trusted to give an intelligent vote upon the most 
 important of all Australian problems, they can still 
 more be trusted to deal with any question of 
 current politics. In Tasmania Ministers are con-
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 177 
 
 fronted with a Legislative Council which continually 
 amends, as well as rejects, their financial proposals, 
 justifying its attitude upon the wording of the Con- 
 stitution Act of 1854. The section in question 
 states that "all Bills for appropriating any part of 
 the revenue or for imposing any tax, rate, duty, or 
 impost shall originate in the House of Assembly, 
 and it shall not be lawful for the House of 
 Assembly to originate or pass any vote, resolution, 
 or Bill for the appropriation of any part of the 
 revenue, or of any tax, rate, duty, or impost for 
 any purpose which shall not have been first re- 
 commended by the Governor to the House of 
 Assembly during the session in which such vote, 
 resolution, or Bill shall be passed." As the right 
 of amendment is not specifically withheld, as in 
 the Victorian Constitution, the Legislative Council 
 assumes its possession. The case for the plebiscite 
 was put by the Premier and the Treasurer upon the 
 second reading of the Bill. Sir Edward Braddon 
 stated that the financial privileges of the Assembly 
 had continually been infringed by the Council, and 
 that, on one occasion, in reference to the Draw- 
 backs Bill, they had almost assumed the power of 
 initiating a money vote. Curiously enough, the 
 principal question mentioned by him as suitable 
 for the application of the plebiscite was that of 
 Female Suffrage, which, introduced as a private 
 measure, had been rejected by the Council after he 
 had failed to secure Us defeat in the Assembly. In the 
 
 13
 
 178 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 preceding session, he said, the Assembly had vainly 
 asked the Council to agree to a joint dissolution of 
 both Houses when a Bill had twice been rejected 
 and a General Election had intervened. A similar 
 measure, passed in South Australia in 1881, had 
 operated most successfully, its mere presence on 
 the Statute Book having put an end to the dead- 
 locks which had previously been of constant 
 occurrence. It is probable, how^ever, that the 
 comparative absence of disputes has mainly been 
 due to the democratisation of the Council, which 
 has brought it into close touch with the feeling of 
 the Assembly ; and that, in Tasmania, where the 
 electors for the Council are only one in five of 
 those for the Assembly, a joint dissolution would 
 produce little change in the personnel of the former 
 body. The Treasurer, Sir Philip Fysh, treating the 
 subject historically, pointed out that the Council 
 had thrown out year after year votes, first passed 
 in 1863, for the expenditure of ;^io3,ooo upon the 
 construction of roads and bridges, and had several 
 times rejected the Launceston and Western, Hobart 
 and Launceston, and Mersey and Deloraine Railway 
 Bills. They had three times refused to accept a Bill 
 for the re-assessment of the land of the Province 
 with a view to the imposition of a tax on unim- 
 proved values. As regards its opposition to the 
 proposed expenditure of borrowed money upon 
 the construction of railways, roads and bridges, it 
 would appear that the Council in most cases acted
 
 DISCURSIVE XOTES ON TASMANIA 179 
 
 wisely, and that the Province would have been 
 benefited if it had persisted in its opposition. 
 The total public debt at the end of June, 1896, was 
 nearly ;/^8,i5o,ooo, exclusive of ;^2i5,ooo in tem- 
 porary Treasury Bills and ^^250,000 in Local 
 Inscribed Stock, and entailed an annual liability 
 for interest of ;^3 13,000. Towards this amount, 
 the works which should be directly reproductive, 
 such as the railways and the postal and tele- 
 graphic services, returned a net revenue, after 
 payment of working expenses, of only ;^26,ooo. 
 It may be contended, of course, that the country 
 could not have been developed in the absence of 
 a large expenditure ; but, as the liability forms a 
 heavy burden upon so small a population — a 
 burden, indeed, which might have become almost 
 unbearable but for the valuable discoveries of 
 minerals — the Council seems to have had abun- 
 dant justification for its efforts to check the 
 extravagant tendencies of the Assembly. The 
 Ministry, after passing the second reading of the 
 Bill in the Assembly by a small majority, with- 
 drew it, as there was no possibility of getting it 
 through the Council ; its introduction appears to 
 have been due to the desire that it should be 
 discussed at the pendmg General Elections. The 
 principal clause provided that " any Bill which 
 shall be passed by the House of Assembly in two 
 consecutive sessions of Parliament, and which shall 
 be rejected by the Legislative Council in each of
 
 i8o DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 two such consecutive sessions, may be submitted 
 for the approval of the people of Tasmania by- 
 means of a general poll of, or referendum to, the 
 electors for the House of Assembly." An interval 
 of not less than six weeks was to elapse between 
 the two sessions, and where a Bill had been 
 amended by the Council, the Assembly was to 
 be vested with the final decision whether the 
 amendments effected such substantial alterations 
 as to be tantamount to a rejection, and might 
 present an address to the Governor requesting that 
 a Bill which had been rejected twice or substan- 
 tially altered might be submitted to a general vote 
 of the electors. A bare majority of the votes so 
 recorded was to be sufficient to secure the enact- 
 ment of the measure subject to the constitutional 
 rights of the Governor. 
 
 The placid progress of the Session was impaired 
 by the introduction of a private railway Bill, which 
 led to many nights of contentious debate and much 
 hostility among the various sections in the Assembly. 
 All the railways are owned by the State with the 
 exception of a few short lines in the Northern and 
 Western portions of the Province which have been 
 constructed by Mining Companies without any 
 concessions from the Government. During recent 
 years the Western district has become an important 
 mining centre, and should, in the opinion of most 
 Tasmanians, be connected by railway with either 
 Launceston or Hobart. But the condition of the
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA i8i 
 
 finances is such, as has ah-eady been seen, that the 
 Government cannot venture to undertake the con- 
 struction of further pubhc works unless it can be 
 shown that they will immediately give an adequate 
 return upon the outlay. The small surplus of the 
 last two years was obtained at the cost of rigid 
 retrenchment and high direct taxation, an income 
 tax of eightpence in the pound upon incomes 
 derived from personal exertion, and a shilling 
 upon those derived from property, and a land- 
 tax of a halfpenny in the pound upon the capital 
 value of land. It, therefore, became necessary, if 
 the construction of the line or lines were not to 
 be postponed indefinitely, that the aid of private 
 enterprise should be invoked and that concessions 
 should be offered which would be sufficient to 
 attract private capitalists. 
 
 In 1895 a Bill was passed which authorised the 
 Van Diemen's Land Company to construct a rail- 
 way of about forty miles in length, which would 
 place the West Coast in communication with Emu 
 Bay in the North. At a distance of eighteen miles 
 from the latter place is Ulverstone, which is directly 
 connected with Launceston, and the Government 
 have a balance from loan funds which may be 
 devoted to the construction of a railway across 
 the intervening space. The inducement offered to 
 the Company was the right to mark off, within 
 certain areas, twelve blocks of 320 acres of mineral 
 land, which would be granted to them upon the
 
 1 82 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 
 
 completion of the railway. They were limited in 
 the charges which they might make for the carriage 
 of passengers and the conveyance of merchandise, 
 were to pay a royalty of 2^ per cent, upon the 
 gross value of all minerals obtained by them in 
 addition to the statutory income tax of one shilling 
 in the pound, and were to be liable, after the 
 expiration of twenty-one years, to the resumption 
 of the railway and all its appurtenances by the 
 Government at the price of 20 per cent, above the 
 actual cost of construction. At the end of 1896 
 the Company had not taken the initial steps 
 towards the commencement of the undertaking. 
 
 The proposal made by a Victorian Syndicate and 
 submitted to Parliament during the session of 1896, 
 aimed at the connection by railway of the West 
 Coast with some point on the State lines in the 
 South. In return for the construction of the rail- 
 way, which would be about a hundred miles in 
 length, the promoters asked for a concession of 
 large areas of land along its proposed route and 
 for considerable rights to make use of the rivers 
 in its vicinity, which are running to waste in the 
 greatest abundance, as sources of electrical energy. 
 As the railway would, admittedly, be worked at a 
 loss for many years, they based their hopes of a 
 profit upon the probability of the discovery of 
 minerals and upon the generation of electricity, 
 which they would either use themselves or dispose 
 of to companies mining on land belonging to the
 
 DISCURSIVE NOTES ON TASMANIA 183 
 
 State. The district in question, it may be stated, is 
 believed to be of little agricultural value, but to be 
 likely to carry minerals, though it has not adequately 
 been prospected. After its second reading the Bill 
 was referred to a select committee, which made 
 reductions in the concessions, and these were 
 further reduced, after prolonged debate, upon its 
 reconsideration in the Assembly. I have men- 
 tioned these details in order to show that, while 
 the State was not in a financial position to under- 
 take the direct construction of railways deemed to 
 be necessary for the development of the resources 
 of the country, the Assembly was not unmindful of 
 the interests of posterity, and sought to reduce the 
 inevitable concessions to the lowest possible point.
 
 VIII 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 I DO not propose, in the present chapter, to 
 discuss the hackneyed arguments for and 
 against female suffrage, but to indicate the pro- 
 gress of the movement in the several Provinces of 
 Australasia, and to note some of the results of the 
 adoption of adult suffrage in South Australia and 
 New Zealand. 
 
 As regards the other Provinces, we are bound to 
 consider the existing franchise for the election of 
 members of the Assembly in order to realise what 
 would be the effect of extending it to women upon 
 similar terms. In Victoria manhood suffrage would 
 be superseded by adult suffrage ; in New South 
 Wales and Western Australia, where residence of 
 three and six months, respectively, forms a quali- 
 fication, the vast majority of women would obtain 
 a place on the rolls ; but in Tasmania and Queens- 
 land the right to exercise the franchise would be 
 confined, practically, to widows and women of 
 
 independent means. 
 
 184
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 185 
 
 We are also bound to take into consideration the 
 constitution of the Legislative Council in order to 
 gauge the full significance of female suffrage. If it 
 is elective, as the electors must be qualified as free- 
 holders, leaseholders, or occupiers, the vote would 
 be confined to women of independent means and 
 widows or spinsters in personal occupation, and, 
 while the wife and daughters of the poor man 
 would necessarily be excluded from the register, 
 those of the rich man might, as has been done in 
 South Australia, receive special gifts of freehold 
 property which would be sufficient to render them 
 eligible. To this extent, therefore, as in Tasmania 
 and, to a small degree, wherever plural voting is 
 allowed, female suffrage would constitute a new 
 property vote. Similar conditions would not pre- 
 vail when the members of the Council are nomi- 
 nated upon the recommendation of Ministers who 
 are subject to the control of the popular repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 It is probable that Victoria will be the next 
 Province to follow the example of South Australia 
 and New Zealand. A ministerial measure which 
 would have introduced female suffrage, though 
 only in the constituencies of the Assembly, has 
 twice been passed by that House. On the first 
 occasion it was rejected by the Council, on the 
 second it was laid aside on the ground that it had 
 not been approved by the absolute majority which 
 is required in the case of amendments of the con-
 
 l86 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 stitiition. Both Bills were rendered distasteful to 
 the Council by the inclusion of a provision for the 
 abolition of the plural vote, but it is unlikely that 
 the first would, apart from that fact, have been 
 accepted. Many members of the Council, I was 
 told, are favourable to female suffrage, but would 
 have voted in accordance with their opinion that 
 important constitutional changes should not be 
 passed until they have been placed before the 
 electorate. As the life of the Assembly may not 
 exceed three years, the reference need not long 
 be delayed. 
 
 In Tasmania, in 1896, the House of Assembly 
 passed a private Bill containing a similar limitation 
 to that in the Victorian measure, and was equally 
 unable to secure the concurrence of the Council. 
 A resolution in favour of female suffrage has been 
 adopted by a large majority in the Assembly of New 
 South Wales, but the question has not been taken 
 up by either of the recognised parties. The 
 Premier may be reckoned as a personal supporter, 
 but declines to move in the matter in view of 
 differences of opinion in the Cabinet. Neither in 
 Western Australia nor in Queensland does the 
 subject arouse much interest. 
 
 Such is the state of feeling in five of the six 
 Australian Provinces. In South Australia an 
 arduous contest was concluded in 1894 by the 
 passage of an Act which placed women upon an 
 absolute equality with men in the right to vote for
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 187 
 
 members both of the Assembly and of the Council. 
 It is unnecessary to trace the history of the agitation 
 which may be said to have commenced in 1888 
 upon the formation of the Women's Franchise 
 League, though a Bill for the enfranchisement of 
 women of property had previously been introduced. 
 Thenceforward it was pursued vigorously, and cul- 
 minated in 1893, when the Government pronounced 
 in favour of adult suffrage. But the difficulties 
 were not at an end : the Bill of that year was 
 wrecked, mainly because its adoption was to be 
 dependent upon an affirmative plebiscite ; reintro- 
 duced in the following year without the obnoxious 
 clause, it was passed through both Houses of 
 Parliament, though only by the bare statutory 
 majority in the Assembly, and shortly afterwards 
 received the Queen's assent. 
 
 During the course of the debates the Premier, 
 who holds the portfolio of Attorney-General, said 
 that, if women were entitled to vote, they would 
 have the right to sit in Parliament, and the 
 Assembly, by twenty-eight votes to eight, refused 
 to exclude them. A doubt has since been ex- 
 pressed, which is not shared by the Ministry, 
 whether they are qualified to be elected to the 
 Council. 1 have not had the opportunity to read 
 the arguments, which concern the interpretation of 
 several statutes, but they would be of no great 
 interest, the main point being that Parliament 
 intended to enable women to sit in both Houses.
 
 1 88 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 In New Zealand, on the other hand, the enfran- 
 chising Act of 1893 expressly denied to women the 
 right of election to the House of Representatives or 
 nomination to the Council ; and the succeeding 
 House, though elected under adult suffrage, refused 
 to go back upon this decision. The subsequent 
 proposal of the Premier that women should be 
 eligible for nomination to the Council, was in- 
 tended, I believe, partly as a bid for their support, 
 partly as a means of casting ridicule upon the non- 
 representative body. 
 
 The first elections in South Australia under the 
 new franchise were held early in 1896, and, apart 
 from a few rural constituencies in which the issues 
 were personal rather than political, were contested 
 under three recognised programmes. The National 
 Defence League, or Opposition, mentioned in its 
 programme no items which were likely to be 
 especially attractive to the female voters, and treated 
 as open questions temperance legislation, and re- 
 ligious instruction in State' schools ; the Labour 
 platform, with discreet vagueness, advocated any 
 equitable and reasonable claims of women for the 
 amendment of the laws ; and the Ministerial policy, 
 as enunciated by the Premier, included an amend- 
 ment of the Licensed Victuallers' Act in the 
 direction of greater local control over licenses, and 
 various measures of social reform, of which the 
 principal were the raising of the age of consent, 
 the simplification of the remedies of deserted wives,
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 189 
 
 and the restriction of the importation and sale of 
 opium. It should be mentioned, however, that, as 
 the Labour Party are united in a close, though 
 independent, alliance with the Government, the 
 supporters of the one in many cases voted for the 
 candidates of the other. In several constituencies a 
 Ministerialist and a Labour man contested the two 
 seats and received jointly the assistance of both 
 parties. 
 
 As the Women's Franchise League had been dis- 
 solved upon the attainment of its purpose, the only 
 organisation which interested itself, specifically, in 
 the female voters was the W.C.T.U., which, having 
 drawn up a scheme of reforms, suggested that it 
 should be used as a basis for ascertaining the views 
 of candidates, but did not seek directly to influence 
 the votes of its members though leaning, un- 
 doubtedly, to the side of the Government. Its 
 efforts to instruct women in the method of voting 
 enabled returning officers to congratulate them on 
 their knowledge of the business. From personal 
 observation I can bear witness to the extreme 
 orderliness of the proceedings, both during and 
 after the poll. 
 
 The elections resulted in a slight accession of 
 strength to the ranks of the Ministerialists and 
 Labour members. As these are very Radical, the 
 majority of w^omen, contrary to the expectations 
 of many, had failed to display Conservative pre- 
 dilections. It would seem, indeed, if we take also
 
 tgo FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 into consideration the result of two General Elec- 
 tions in New Zealand, that their so-called Con- 
 servatism takes the form, not of an aversion from 
 advanced legislation, but of a disinclination to bring 
 about a change of Ministry. Under masculine 
 influences. South Australia had forty-two Ministries 
 in forty years ; women entered the arena and a 
 Ministry which had held office for three years was 
 again returned to power. An allowance must, of 
 course, be made for a feeling of gratitude to those 
 through whom the privilege of the vote had been 
 obtained. Equally wrong was the anticipation that 
 the women would be found to be subject to clerical in- 
 fluences. At the instigation of those who were under 
 this impression, the electors were invited, under a 
 direct reference, to say whether they desired the 
 introduction of religious instruction in State schools 
 during school hours and the payment of a capita- 
 tion grant to denominational schools for secular 
 results. Both questions were answered emphati- 
 cally in the negative, the second by a majority of 
 more than three votes to one. The W.C.T.U. was 
 in favour of religious instruction, but strongly 
 opposed to the capitation grant. 
 
 The general conclusion formed after the elections 
 was that, in the vast majority of cases, the women 
 had voted in the same way as their masculine 
 relatives, and that domestic harmony had not been 
 disturbed. It was impossible to obtain definite data, 
 as the Premier refused, rightly enough, to sanction
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE tgt 
 
 the issue of different voting papers for the two 
 sexes. But, even if the female franchise merely 
 increased the number of votes and did not affect the 
 result of the elections, it does not follow that it has 
 been nugatory. 
 
 Members who have to consider the wishes of 
 female as well as male constituents will shape their 
 actions accordingly. The effects of this influence 
 cannot yet be studied fully in South Australia, as 
 they were not manifested, to any great extent, in the 
 first session of the new Parliament. A Licensed 
 Victuallers' Act was passed, as had been promised 
 by the Premier, which instituted local control over 
 the issue of licenses, but provided, in accordance 
 with statutory enactment, that the refusal of licenses, 
 or reduction in their number, should be accom- 
 panied by compensation to the parties directly 
 interested. As the Province has a steadily growing 
 industry in the cultivation of the vine. Prohibi- 
 tionists will be met by a serious obstacle to their 
 crusade. In pursuance of diW ad feminas captandas 
 agitation for the prohibition of the employment of 
 barmaids which had been carried on during the 
 elections, the Assembly inserted a clause in the Bill 
 which prohibited their employment after a certain 
 number of years, but submitted to its excision by 
 the Council. A Bill which would have given to 
 widows a legal right to one-third of their deceased 
 husband's property was discussed, but allowed to 
 lapse. The Franchise Act, I should have stated,
 
 192 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 allowed a female elector, upon the completion of 
 certain formalities, to vote through the post if she 
 would be absent from her home on the day of the 
 election, a privilege already accorded to men, or if 
 she were resident more than three miles from the 
 nearest polling place, or, by reason of the state of 
 her health, would probably be unable to vote at the 
 polling place on the day of the poll. This provision, 
 which permitted open voting, was found to have led 
 to abuses, and the Government passed an amending 
 Act which withdrew all the supplementary privileges 
 except the last, and required absent voters to fill in 
 the paper at a postmaster's office and without super- 
 vision. As I was not in South Australia during the 
 session, I am unable to give more than a brief 
 summary of the proceedings which may be con- 
 nected, directly or indirectly, with the extension of 
 the franchise to women. 
 
 But when we turn to New Zealand, where a 
 House elected under adult suffrage has fulfilled its 
 allotted term of three years, we may expect to find 
 more definite results. In that Province, as in South 
 Australia, women were enfranchised by a House 
 which had received no popular mandate to that 
 effect ; in fact, the matter had scarcely been dis- 
 cussed in the constituencies, though attention had 
 been drawn to it by the advocacy of several suc- 
 cessive Premiers. In 1892, however, a new Elec- 
 toral Bill, which conferred the franchise on all adult 
 women, was passed by the House of Representatives
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 193 
 
 and accepted by the Council subject to the insertion 
 of a clause which absolved women in some cases 
 from attendance at the polling booth. The Govern- 
 ment refused to accept the amendment, and the Bill 
 lapsed for the session. In the following year it was 
 reintroduced in the original form, and was passed 
 by both Houses, though only by a slender majority 
 in the Council. The Act contains the striking and, 
 as far as 1 know, unique provision that the names of 
 voters who have not exercised their privileges are 
 to be erased from the rolls, though a claim for 
 reinstatement may be made at the next periodical 
 revision. 
 
 The elections, which took place at the end of 
 1893, aroused widespread interest in the members 
 of the fair sex, of whom nine out of every eleven 
 who were registered went to the poll and proved 
 conclusively that, though the desire for the vote 
 might not have been general, women would not 
 refrain from its exercise. With the help of their 
 lords and masters, they falsified the expectations of 
 those who had anticipated a reaction in favour of Con- 
 servatism, by retaining in power, with an increased 
 majority, a Government which is, in some respects, 
 even more Radical than that of South Australia. 
 So complete was the defeat of the Opposition that it 
 was reduced to a remnant of twenty members in a 
 House of seventy-four. Another important feature 
 was the return of a body of Prohibitionists who 
 aimed at legislation which would enable the electors 
 
 14
 
 194 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 in a locality to close all the public-houses by a bare 
 majority. As they sat on both sides of the House, 
 they did not affect the numerical strength of the 
 two parties, but constituted a force which it was 
 impossible for the Government to ignore. But 
 while the consequent liquor legislation and the 
 increased prominence of the temperance movement 
 are the principal effects of the extension of the 
 franchise to women, other measures of considerable 
 importance are connected with the new factor in 
 the sphere of politics. 
 
 Some of these would, doubtless, have been passed 
 in any case. The Shops and Shop Assistants Act 
 of 1894, for instance, which limits the total number 
 of hours in a week, and the number of consecutive 
 hours in a day, during which women and persons 
 under eighteen years of age may be employed in a 
 shop, and requires shopkeepers to provide sitting 
 accommodation for their female employes, was 
 passed by the preceding House of Representatives, 
 and would have become law but for its rejection by 
 the Council. Similarly, the greater stringency in 
 the limitation of the hours of employment of women 
 and young persons in factories, the exclusion of 
 young persons from certain dangerous trades, and 
 the prohibition of the employment of women within 
 a month of their confinement, all of which were 
 included in the Factories Act of the same year, 
 might have been expected in the natural progress of 
 industrial legislation. The appointment of women,
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 195 
 
 also, as inspectors of factories, gaols, and asylums 
 is in accordance with the recent practice of other 
 countries. The same may be said of the Infant 
 Life Protection Act, which seeks to prevent baby- 
 farming, and of Acts dealing with the adoption of 
 children and with industrial schools, though it is 
 probable that their passage has been hastened by a 
 knowledge of the approval of the female voters. 
 Their influence is also seen in measures such as the 
 raising of the age of consent to sixteen, in a country, 
 be it remembered, in which girls come much more 
 early to maturity than in England, the permission 
 accorded to women to be enrolled as barristers and 
 solicitors, and the simplification of the procedure 
 where a judicial separation is desired. Parliament 
 has discussed, but without legislative results, pro- 
 posals that the sexes should be placed on an equality 
 as regards the grounds for a divorce, and that a 
 divorce should be obtainable if either party become 
 insane or be sentenced to a long term of imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 But we can trace the influence of women most 
 directly in the desire of the Premier, to which I 
 have referred, to render them eligible for nomination 
 to the Council, and in the attempts to put an end to 
 the legal sanction accorded by the State to betting, 
 immorality, and drink. In these matters members 
 are face to face with the most pronounced opinions 
 of their female constituents. 
 
 The prevention of gambling is sought through the
 
 T96*f FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 suppression of the totalisator, which was legaHsed 
 in 1889. In the following years, it is admitted, the 
 number of licenses issued was in excess of the 
 requirements of the population, and it was felt, even 
 by the advocates of the machine, when a strongly 
 supported effort was made in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives to abolish it, that a concession was 
 inevitable. In its final form the measure reduced 
 by one-third the number of licenses which might 
 be issued thenceforward, and prohibited all persons 
 from betting with minors and from laying or taking 
 odds dependent upon the dividend paid by the 
 totalisator. 
 
 The female voters are even more anxious to secure 
 the repeal of the CD. Act, though it has for several 
 years been a dead letter. It only applies to districts 
 which the Government declares to be subject to its 
 provisions, and no Ministry at the present time 
 would venture to recommend its application nor 
 Municipal Council to proffer such a request. But 
 the women will not be satisfied until they have 
 expunged from the Statute Book an Act which they 
 declare to be a disgrace to New Zealand. Their 
 purpose would have been effected by a short 
 measure which was passed by the House of Repre- 
 sentatives but rejected by the nominated Legislative 
 Council, which is less amenable to public opinion. 
 They have also inspired the Government to greater 
 stringency in the administration of the law against 
 keepers of houses of ill-fame, which has led, accord-
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 197 
 
 ing to common report, to a large increase in the 
 prevalence of venereal diseases. 
 
 In order to understand the position of affairs as it 
 affects the Prohibitionists in their crusade against 
 public-houses, it is necessary to have some know- 
 ledge, in their broadest aspects, of the constitution 
 and powers of the licensing authority and of the 
 gradual extension of popular control. Under an 
 Act of 1 88 1 the regulation of the traffic was placed 
 in the hands of elective Licensing Committees, and 
 the first step in the direction of popular control was 
 taken by the provision that additional licenses, 
 except in special cases, should not be granted until 
 they had been demanded by a poll of the ratepayers. 
 Objections to the granting or renewal of licenses 
 might be made by private individuals, the police 
 and corporate bodies, and should specify, as the 
 ground of objection, that the proposed licensee was 
 an undesirable person, that the premises were un- 
 suitable, or that " the licensing thereof is not required 
 in the neighbourhood." The words that I have 
 quoted were seized upon by the Prohibitionists, who 
 had gathered strength during the following years as 
 a justification for the refusal of all licenses if they 
 could capture the Licensing Committee. In Syden- 
 ham, a suburb of Christchurch, they were at length 
 successful, and were confronted with the bitter 
 antagonism of the brewers. After several years of 
 litigation they were defeated conclusively, and were 
 thrown back upon an agitation for the amendment 
 of the law.
 
 198 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 The next important measure, that of 1893, was 
 passed by representatives elected under manhood 
 suffrage, who knew that when they sought a re- 
 newal of confidence they would be called upon to 
 justify their actions, not only in the eyes of Pro- 
 hibitionists, but in those of the newly enfranchised 
 female electors. We shall therefore not be surprised 
 to find that the Act introduced a great extension of 
 the principle of popular control. It placed both the 
 election of the Licensing Committees and the Local 
 Option polls on the basis of adult suffrage and en- 
 larged the scope of the latter. Previously, as we 
 have seen, the electors were only allowed to decide 
 as to the advisability of additional licenses. Herein 
 their power was curtailed, as such polls were not to 
 be held unless a census had shown that the popu- 
 lation of a district had increased by 25 per cent, in 
 the quinquennial period. This was a concession to 
 Prohibitionists who would welcome a change which 
 rendered the increase of licenses more difficult. But 
 the principal innovation was the control given to 
 the electorate over the renewal of all publicans' 
 accommodation or bottle licenses. Triennial polls 
 were to be held, at which they were to be invited to 
 say whether they desired the continuation, reduc- 
 tion, or abolition of licenses, subject to the proviso 
 that prohibition would not be deemed to be carried 
 except by a three-fifths majority of the votes, and 
 that the poll would be void unless it had been 
 attended by a majority of the registered electors.
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 199 
 
 Should prohibition not be carried, the votes in its 
 favour were to be added to those cast for reduction, 
 and, in the event of reduction, the Licensing Com- 
 mittee were to refuse to renew the hcences of not 
 more than one in four of the pubhcans in the dis- 
 trict, commencing with those whose hcenses had 
 been endorsed, and proceeding with those who 
 offered httle or no accommodation to travellers. 
 No provision was made for compensation to persons 
 who, through no fault of their own, might be dis- 
 possessed of their licenses. As the Act declared 
 that the poll should be regarded as void unless 
 one-half of the electors recorded their votes, it was 
 to the obvious interest of anti-prohibitionists to 
 abstain from attendance at the booths, and the 
 figures consequently afford no index of the full 
 strength of the opposing parties. The Prohibi- 
 tionists, however, had little cause to be dissatisfied 
 with the results of their first appeal to the electo- 
 rate, which included women as well as men : pro- 
 hibition was carried in one case, reduction in 
 fourteen, while in the remainder the poll was either 
 void or the votes were cast in favour of existing 
 conditions. 
 
 The amending Act of 1895 has made no sub- 
 stantial alterations in the law in spite of the per- 
 sistent agitation of Prohibitionists in favour of 
 prohibition on the vote of a bare majority. It was 
 decreed that licensing polls should be held con- 
 currently with General Elections, that voters should
 
 200 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 be allowed to vote both for prohibition and reduc- 
 tion, though the two votes could, naturally, no 
 longer be combined in favour of the latter, that 
 the vote should affect all forms of licenses, and, 
 in view of the district in which prohibition had 
 been carried, that, in such cases, the issue should 
 be between the continued refusal of licenses and 
 their restoration to the former number. Under the 
 present law, it will be noted, should successive 
 reductions lead to the cancellation of all licenses, 
 a vote of the electors can never restore more licenses 
 than existed at the time when the last was doomed 
 to extinction. 
 
 The second poll was taken at the end of 1896 and 
 resulted in the failure to carry either prohibition or 
 reduction in any district. The figures were as 
 follows : continuation, 139,249 ; reduction, 94,226 ; 
 prohibition, 98,103. Though the Prohibitionists had 
 been enabled to increase their vote by nearly 50,000 
 and had therein sufficient grounds for the hope of 
 ultimate success, it is probable that they would have 
 been more successful but for the intemperance of 
 their leaders, who aim at prohibition alone and care 
 neither for the regulation of the traffic nor for re- 
 duction. They were also handicapped by the frantic 
 efforts of the brewers, who spent their ample funds 
 freely and were able to command the votes of many 
 who were interested, either directly or indirectly, in 
 the trade ; and by an alliance between the brewers 
 and many of the Ministerialists. While the General
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 201 
 
 Election and the Local Option poll constituted 
 distinct issues, and there was no reason why a 
 supporter of the Government should feel bound to 
 vote for the continuation of licenses, it is an un- 
 doubted fact that a large number of the women of 
 the working classes, who might have been expected 
 to be opposed to the public-houses, voted, on that 
 occasion, in favour of their retention. At Wellington, 
 where, as at Adelaide, I was struck by the prevailing 
 orderliness, the only women whom I noted as taking 
 an active part in the proceedings were canvassing in 
 favour of the brewers. 
 
 At first sight it seems strange that the brewers 
 should have worked with the party which had 
 passed the most stringent liquor legislation on the 
 Statute Book, but it must be remembered that this 
 question had neither been debated nor divided the 
 House on the ordinary lines of cleavage. The 
 brewers, many persons maintain, know that they 
 have the sympathy of the Government which, 
 according to this hypothesis, has done as little as 
 possible to meet the wishes of the Prohibitionists, 
 and that only under virtual compulsion, and, in its 
 measure of 1896, introduced a Bill which would 
 certainly be rejected by the Council and was cal- 
 culated to cast ridicule upon the agitation of the 
 Prohibitionists. It was provided therein that a 
 fourth issue should be added at the Local Option 
 polls, that of national prohibition, and that, if it 
 were carried by a three-iifths majority ni the votes
 
 202 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 recorded in all the districts, it should be unlawful, 
 subject to the exception mentioned hereafter, to 
 import into the Province any liquor for any purpose 
 or to distil it in the Province or to manufacture it for 
 sale or barter. No person selling any spirituous or 
 distilled perfume, nor any apothecary, chemist, or 
 druggist administering or selling any spirituous, 
 distilled, or fermented liquor for medicinal use, 
 should do so otherwise than in such combination 
 as rendered it unfit for use as a beverage. The 
 Governor might declare, by notice in The GazettCy 
 by what combination of ingredients the articles 
 would be rendered sufficiently unpalatable. Persons 
 requiring liquor for medicinal use or use in the arts 
 and manufacturers were to make applications to 
 Her Majesty's Customs and if their bond fides were 
 proved, might receive it, for ready money, " in such 
 closed and sealed bottles or other receptacle as that 
 the liquor therein cannot be poured out without 
 such seal bemg first broken," and attached "with 
 a Government label declaring the kind, quantity, 
 quality, and price of the liquor, as these may be 
 determined by the Governor." In this measure the 
 Government seem to have attempted to run with 
 the hare and hunt with the hounds. The brewers 
 would laugh in their sleeves and the Prohibitionists 
 would welcome a measure which instituted machinery 
 for the attainment of national prohibition. If the 
 assumption be correct, the latter are credited with a 
 lamentable lack of any sense of humour ; from all
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 203 
 
 appearances they are not prepared to allow them- 
 selves to be hood^ivinked. 
 
 Many of the representatives seem to have had an 
 equally low opniion of the average intelligence of 
 female electors, as they sought to capture the votes 
 of domestic servants by a Bill which was rejected 
 by the Council, in which a weekly half-holiday was 
 decreed to them except in cases of sickness or death 
 in the family, or where an annual holiday of not less 
 than fourteen days had been substituted by mutual 
 agreement between employers and their servants. 
 How the period of rest was to be enforced was, 
 perhaps wisely, not laid down, as domestics would, 
 in few cases, be prepared to give information against 
 their employers. Those among the latter, however, 
 who took the matter seriously would, presumably, 
 guard themselves against judiciary proceedings by 
 compelling their servants to be out of the house on 
 the holiday between three o'clock and half-past nine, 
 whatever might be the state of the weather. Again, 
 the undoubted evil, that young girls, by the culpable 
 weakness of their parents, are allowed to parade the 
 streets at night, was to be cured, according to the 
 Government, by the so-called Juvenile Depravity 
 Suppression Bill, which failed to meet with accept- 
 ance by the usually docile House of Representatives. 
 Its danger and absurdity can be gathered, without 
 further comment, from the quotation of one of the 
 clauses: "Whenever any constable finds any girl " 
 (who is apparently not over the agi' of sixteen years)
 
 204 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 " loitering in the streets or in out-of-the-way places 
 after the hour of ten of the clock at night, and 
 he has reason to believe that she is there for im- 
 proper purposes, the following provisions shall 
 
 apply :— 
 
 " I. He shall forthwith take her to the nearest beat 
 
 of another constable, or, failing him, to the nearest 
 
 justice or clergyman, or, failing him, to the nearest 
 
 house of some married person of good repute, in 
 
 whose presence the girl shall be questioned as to 
 
 her name, her abode, her parents or guardians, and 
 
 her reason for being from home and loitering as 
 
 aforesaid. 
 
 " 2. The constable shall then take, or shall cause 
 her to be taken, to her home, where she shall be 
 handed over to the person in charge of the house, 
 and the constable shall forthwith on his return from 
 duty make report of the facts to the officer in charge 
 of the station." 
 
 Should the offence be repeated and the girl's 
 reply be deemed by the oflicer in charge of a police 
 station to be unsatisfactory, she may be brought 
 before a magistrate and be committed to a reforma- 
 tory or an industrial school. Some justification, I 
 must add, for the seemingly depreciatory opinion of 
 the members was afforded by the proceedings at the 
 convention of the National Council of Women held 
 at Christchurch early in 1896. This Association, 
 which claims to be non-political and to focus the 
 views of the women of New Zealand, passed reso-
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 205 
 
 lutions in favour of the nationalisation of the land, 
 a compulsory eight hours' day, and the enactment 
 of a minimum rate of wages ; but the climax was 
 reached when it was resolved that " in all cases 
 where a woman elects to superintend her own 
 household and to be the mother of children, there 
 shall be a law attaching a certain just share of her 
 husband's earnings or income for her separate use, 
 payable if she so desires it into her separate ac- 
 count." The first portion of this sentence is mys- 
 terious, and seems to be based on the assumption 
 that the husband has nothing to say in the matter. 
 
 The extraordinary legislative activity which I have 
 summarised need arouse no astonishment, as it is in 
 consonance with the usual practice of the Parliament 
 of New Zealand. Between the years 1876 and 1894, 
 it has been computed, 2,972 measures were passed, 
 and of these no less than 1,602 have already been 
 repealed. 
 
 So much for the past : we must now consider 
 briefly the present position of affairs and the further 
 effects which may be anticipated from female 
 suffrage. 
 
 It is the general impression that while a large 
 majority of the women voted in 1893 as their 
 husbands and brothers advised them, yet they 
 were induced, in many instances, by their leagues, 
 which had been started on independent lines, to 
 support candidates on moral rather than political 
 considerations. In the following year these leagues,
 
 2o6 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 with the exception of those which placed Hquor 
 questions before all others, were captured by one 
 of the political parties, most of them by the 
 Ministerialists. An amusing incident occurred in 
 this connection at Dunedin. Shortly before the 
 last elections it was decided, at a thinly-attended 
 meeting of the Women's Franchise League, to 
 support the three Ministerial candidates, although 
 one of them was an anti-prohibitionist. Thereupon 
 many of the members protested against the party 
 character given to the association, and called a 
 meeting, the proceedings at which were thus 
 described by the local newspaper : — 
 
 " The meeting which was held yesterday afternoon 
 in connection with the Women's Franchise League 
 was, in some respects, the most unique gathering 
 ever held in the city. There were nearly 200 
 women present, and they were divided into two 
 parties — the followers of Mrs. Hatton and the 
 supporters of Mrs. Don and Mrs. Hislop. At the 
 close of the opening remarks of the Chairman (the 
 Rev. Mr. Saunders), Mr. Hatton mounted the plat- 
 form, and declining to take his seat, the Chairman 
 threatened to send for a policeman. Then occurred 
 a scene and uproar, of which it is impossible to give 
 any conception. The noise was deafening, and 
 attracted to the spot passers-by in the street. 
 Half a dozen persons occupied the stage, and 
 while some persons were addressing the meeting, 
 others were engaged in heated argument. Women
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 207 
 
 stamped on the tioor with their feet and parasols, 
 others were speaking at the highest pitch of their 
 voices ; there were hissing and hooting, and other 
 unwomanly demonstrations. Eventually a portion 
 of Mrs. Hislop's supporters withdrew to a side 
 room, and the Chairman, having dissolved the 
 meeting, vacated the chair." ^ 
 
 We find, therefore, that, with the exception of 
 ardent Prohihitionists, women are subordinating 
 their special interests to their increasing attachment 
 to one or other of the parties ; but it does not follow 
 that they will cease to exercise a direct influence 
 upon legislation. It is not easy to learn to what 
 extent their views have been modified during the 
 last few years. The proceedings of the National 
 Council of Women cannot be taken seriously, and 
 the practical aspirations of the sex must be sought 
 rather in the points emphasised by the local leagues. 
 The files of the newspapers, unfortunately, afford 
 little information, as it was the practise of candidates 
 to speak upon general topics at their public meetings, 
 and to take part in informal and unreported discus- 
 sions with the members of the various women's 
 leagues. On these occasions, I understand, and I 
 must again except the Prohibitionists, the women 
 made their views known, but did not seek to exact 
 pledges as a condition of support. It is believed 
 that they took less interest in the second elections, 
 but statistics are not yet available for a comparison 
 
 ' Ofago Daily Times, November 2, 1896.
 
 2o8 ' FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 of the numbers that went to the poll on the two 
 occasions. Of 9,332 women who were registered 
 for the City of Auckland, 6,304 recorded their 
 votes, but I am unable to say whether the pro- 
 portion of about seven in ten holds good for the 
 Province. 
 
 But, while it is necessary to consider the view of 
 local leagues in order to form general conclusions as 
 to the trend of female thought, it is found that, in 
 the absence of one predominating centre, different 
 issues obtain prominence in different places, and 
 that the vote lacks the force which would be given 
 to it by concentration. A general similarity of aims, 
 however, enables an estimate to be formed of the 
 questions which the women will press upon the 
 attention of Parliament in the immediate future. 
 The repeal of the CD. and Totalisator Acts, 
 amendments of the marriage laws, and greater 
 protection of women and children against the 
 cruelty of husbands and fathers, are subjects 
 which are certain again to provoke discussion. 
 Parliament will also be asked again to admit 
 women within its precincts, as they are no 
 longer satisfied with the possession of the 
 franchise ; but the agitation will, I think, at 
 present be unsuccessful, partly because, in the 
 only instance in which a woman has held a 
 public position, the experiment is regarded as 
 having been a failure. Some three years ago 
 Mrs. Yates was elected to be Mayor of Onehunga,
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 209 
 
 and was unable to fill the position satisfactorily. 
 She was a woman of considerable ability, but of a 
 hasty temper, and came into constant conflict with 
 the Councillors. Very possibly they did not give 
 her a fair chance ; but the fact remains that the 
 proceedings excited much ridicule, in the press 
 and elsewhere, and retarded the movement in 
 favour of rendering women eligible for seats in 
 Parliament. 
 
 The Prohibitionists do not count upon much 
 legislative assistance during the next three years, 
 as the number of members of the House of 
 Representatives who are in favour of prohibition 
 upon the vote of a bare majority was reduced by 
 the last election. They believe that if the ** National 
 Option " Bill be re-introduced, the Council may 
 seize upon that fact as a ground for again 
 rejecting it. In the meanwhile, they will concen- 
 trate their efforts upon the education of the 
 electorate, and have, as I have shown, no reason 
 to be discouraged by the results of the second 
 local option poll. 
 
 ** Equal wages for equal work " is a new cry of 
 the female voters. They believe that if the Govern- 
 ment were to introduce the principle of equal wages 
 for similar work as between the men and women in 
 the Civil Service, private employers would gradually 
 follow the example. This proposal has the support 
 both (jf those who desire to raise the wages of women 
 and of those who think that they would no longer be 
 
 15
 
 2IO FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 able to compete with men in the search for employ- 
 ment. It might have been expected that the habit 
 which women have now acquired of meeting to- 
 gether for the discussion of a common policy would 
 have inclined them to the formation of Trades 
 Unions ; but it is too early to look for indirect 
 results from female suffrage, which has hitherto had 
 no appreciable effect upon the rate of wages of 
 women. Nor has it modified the domestic instincts 
 of the vast majority of the sex. 
 
 Lastly, the women of the working classes, almost 
 without exception, are in favour of pensions to the 
 aged and needy, and regard objections based on the 
 deterrence of thrift or the difficulty of raising the 
 necessary funds as factitious and disingenuous. 
 Herein, as in some of the other matters to which 
 I have referred, we see the principal danger of 
 female suffrage in New Zealand, the tendency of 
 the women to subordinate reason to sentiment. 
 They note the prevalence of an evil, and believe 
 that if the State decrees its cessation it will promptly 
 cease to exist. But we must cherish the hope, 
 though the justification for it is not yet manifest, 
 that as the women become accustomed to the 
 exercise of their power, they will no longer take a 
 purely emotional view of the problems which 
 engage their attention. At the same time, as we 
 have seen, they have promoted several unobtrusive 
 but eminently useful reforms which would have 
 had less chance of acceptance in a House elected
 
 FEMALE SUFFRAGE 
 
 211 
 
 by men. It is in this direction, and not in attempts 
 to make people virtuous or sober by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, that we may anticipate the best results 
 from the enfranchisement of the women of New 
 Zealand.
 
 IX 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 THE five self-governing Provinces of the main- 
 land of Australia have been evolved from 
 the Crown Colonies of New South Wales, South 
 Australia, and Western Australia by the successive 
 detachment of Victoria and Queensland from the 
 former and the gradual growth of the system of 
 responsible government, and are separated by lines 
 of demarcation which, except where the Murray or 
 one of its tributaries forms the boundary, are purely 
 arbitrary and have not been drawn in accordance 
 with any distinctive geographical features. In the 
 exercise of fiscal autonomy as regards their re- 
 ciprocal relations, they have adopted protective 
 tariffs which have not only impeded the interchange 
 of commodities, but in some cases diverted trade 
 from its natural course. New South Wales, indeed, 
 after a period of protection, has reverted to the 
 policy of free trade, while the tariffs of Queensland 
 and Western Australia are directed mainly to the 
 
 312
 
 THE EVOLUriOX OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMEXT 213 
 
 acquisition of revenue ; but they are actually pro- 
 tective, as are, avowedly and to a high degree, 
 those of Victoria and South Australia. Under 
 these circumstances, and as the result of insufti- 
 cient intercourse, antagonistic interests have been 
 created and jealousies aroused which are a source 
 of anxiety to those who consider the future of 
 Australia. 
 
 The dangers which would be likely to arise from 
 the independent development of the Provinces were 
 recognised at an early date. At the time of the 
 suggested separation of the district of Port Phillip 
 from New South Wales and of the discussion of the 
 new constitutions which were about to be granted, 
 it was proposed by the Imperial Authorities that the 
 government should be in the hands of a General 
 Assembly and local Provincial Councils, but it was 
 objected by the colonists that, in the absence of 
 regular means of communication, any scheme which 
 included the creation of a central legislature and 
 executive would be found to be impracticable. In 
 deference to their views the idea was allowed to 
 drop, and no attempt was made to secure unity of 
 action between the Provinces, except that, in 1850, 
 the Governor of New South Wales received a com- 
 mission as Governor - General of Australia and 
 Governor of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, 
 the administrators of which obtained the rank of 
 Lieutenant-Governor. They were to be superseded 
 in their authority by the former when he was in
 
 214 '^f^E EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 their territories, but were instructed to correspond 
 directly with the Colonial Office. It is not clear to 
 what extent the Governor-General was expected to 
 direct the administration of the other Provinces. 
 Some writers maintain that his pre-eminence was 
 purely titular and intended as a compliment to the 
 Mother Colony. In any case, when, a few years later, 
 responsible government was established and the 
 Governors gradually became little more than figure- 
 heads of the Executive, the matter ceased to be of 
 any importance. 
 
 The next phase in the movement originated in 
 Victoria upon the initiative of Mr. (now Sir Charles) 
 Gavan DufTy, who, in 1857, induced the Legislative 
 Assembly to appoint a committee to consider the 
 advisability of federal union. Upon their recom- 
 mendation that an inter-provincial conference should 
 be held, communications were addressed to New 
 South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania, which, 
 though separated from the mainland of Australia, 
 has always identified itself closely with Australian 
 affairs. The proposal was in each case favourably 
 received, as also, a little later, by Queensland, which 
 had been erected into a separate Province in 1859 ; 
 and Tasmania actually appointed its delegates. But 
 there the matter was allowed to rest ; and, although 
 occasional conferences were held at which a uniform 
 tariff, the immigration of the Chinese, and other 
 subjects were discussed, no practical steps were 
 taken until 1883, when external questions impressed
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 215 
 
 Australian statesmen with the necessity for the 
 creation of some body which would voice the 
 opinions of Austraha. Germany was reputed to 
 have designs upon New Guinea, France upon the 
 New Hebrides ; while the latter country also gave 
 offence by the penal settlement in New Caledonia. 
 In the spring of that year Sir T. M'llwraith, the 
 Premier of Queensland, which from its position has 
 the greatest interest in New Guinea, had hoisted the 
 British flag on the Island and taken formal posses- 
 sion of that part of it which was not inider the 
 control of the Dutch ; but his action had been dis- 
 avowed by the Imperial Government. A convention, 
 attended by representatives from the five Australian 
 Provinces, Tasmania, New Zealand, and Fiji, was 
 accordingly held at Sydney, at which a decision was 
 arrived at as to the main principles which were 
 embodied in the Federal Council Act of 1885, the 
 first legislative recognition of the Unity of Australia. 
 Under this Act it was provided that a Federal 
 Council, containing two representatives from a self- 
 governing Province and one from a Crown Colony, 
 should come into existence as soon as four of the 
 Australasian Provinces had expressed their willing- 
 ness to join it, and should thenceforward hold 
 biennial sessions. The motive which had called 
 the Council into existence was shown clearly in the 
 principal power delegated to it, that of legislating, 
 subject to Imperial approval, in regard to the 
 relations of Australasia with the Islands of the
 
 2i6 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Pacific. It was also authorised to deal, among other 
 subjects, with the fisheries in Australasian waters 
 beyond territorial limits and certain aspects of civil 
 and criminal jurisdiction, upon which it could pass 
 enactments which would bind the Provinces repre- 
 sented upon it ; and with questions such as general 
 defences, quarantine, copyright, uniformity of 
 weights and measures, and others which might 
 be referred to it by the Legislatures of two or 
 more Provinces, and any other matters of general 
 Australasian interest on which the Legislatures can 
 legislate within their own limits, but as to which it 
 is deemed desirable that there should be a law of 
 general application. Such legislation, however, was 
 to take effect only in the Provinces that requested 
 the Council to act, and in any others that might 
 subsequently adopt it. It will thus be seen that the 
 measure is of a purely permissive character, as each 
 Province decides for itself whether it will be repre- 
 sented on the Council. New South Wales, mainly 
 under the influence of the late Sir Henry Parkes, 
 and New Zealand have never taken part in the 
 deliberations, and South Australia has only been 
 represented on a single occasion. The abstention 
 of New Zealand is of smaller importance, from her 
 geographical position and her intention not to 
 identify herself at present with any scheme of 
 Australian federation ; but the hostility of New 
 South Wales and the apathy of South Australia 
 have placed great obstacles in the way of Queens-
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 217 
 
 land, Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania, 
 which, and especially Victoria, have attempted to 
 turn the Council to the best account. Other 
 causes have combined to minimise its utility ; it 
 has neither an Executive to carry out, nor a 
 judiciary to enforce its decisions ; it has no 
 control over public funds ; and, as has recently 
 been pointed out, " it transacts its business with- 
 out a Ministry or a department, without a leader 
 or an Opposition, without a party or a pro- 
 gramme; there is no necessary continuity of repre- 
 sentation, or similarity in the mode of appointment 
 of representatives, or fixed area within which its 
 legislation has force ; it is vagrant in domicile and 
 without a roof to shelter it, without a foot of 
 territory to rest upon, without a ship or a soldier to 
 protect it, without a single man in its service, or a 
 shilling of its own to pay one." ^ But, in spite of 
 these drawbacks, the Council has done practical 
 work : it has paved the way for a system of national 
 defence by the establishment of federal garrisons at 
 King George's Sound and Thursday Island ; it has 
 regulated the pearl-shell and beche-de-mer fisheries 
 on the coasts of Queensland and Western Australia, 
 and it has interested itself actively in the promotion 
 of the proposed Pacific cable. More would liave 
 been done, particularly in the consideration of the 
 matters referred to it by Provincial Legislatures, had 
 
 '"The Federal Council of Australasia," by the Hon. Alfred 
 Deakin, Australasian Review of Reviews, February, 1895.
 
 2i8 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 it not been hoped that by the postponement of 
 action the Council would be enabled, through the 
 adhesion of South Australia and New South Wales, 
 to legislate for the whole of Australia. Several of 
 the Provinces, notably Western Australia and 
 Queensland, which have shown little eagerness for 
 the immediate realisation of a closer union, believed 
 that the Council would, by a gradual process of 
 development, be transformed into a Federal Parlia- 
 ment, and were prepared to allow events to take 
 their natural course ; but in other quarters a strong 
 feeling arose, which was strengthened by the report 
 of Imperial officers on the condition of the Pro- 
 vincial Defences, that the time had arrived when an 
 attempt should be made to draft a Federal Con- 
 stitution Bill which should be submitted to the 
 various Provinces, and, if approved by them, to the 
 Imperial Authorities. As the result of correspond- 
 ence between the Premiers, delegates from the whole 
 of Australasia, with the exception of Fiji, met at 
 Melbourne in 1890, and passed resolutions which 
 led to the convocation at Sydney in the follow- 
 ing year of a constituent convention, which was 
 attended by Parliamentary representatives from 
 the seven Provinces. The convention sat for 
 several weeks, under the presidency of Sir Henry 
 Parkes, and drew up a Bill " to constitute the 
 commonwealth of Australia," which formed the 
 basis of the discussions at the recent Federal 
 Convention.
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 219 
 
 The legislative powers of the Commonwealth are, 
 under the provisions of the Bill, vested in a 
 Governor - General, appointed by the Queen, a 
 Senate, and a House of Representatives. The laws 
 passed by the Parliament are to be presented to 
 the Governor-General, who may assent to them 
 in the Queen's name, reserve them for the signifi- 
 cation of her pleasure, withhold his assent, or return 
 them to the Parliament with any amendments that 
 he may recommend. Laws assented to by the 
 Governor-General may be disallowed within two 
 years by the Queen in Council, and laws that 
 have been reserved shall not come into force 
 unless within the same period they have received 
 the assent of the Queen in Council. The Members 
 of the Convention did not deem it necessary that 
 any class of Bills should be reserved, but under- 
 stood that, as they proposed that the Common- 
 wealth should be able to legislate on several 
 matters affecting the relations of Australia with 
 foreign nations, the Constitution would not be 
 acceptable to the Imperial Authorities unless a 
 considerable power of intervention were reserved 
 to them. 
 
 The Senate is to be composed of eight members 
 for each Province, which is henceforth to be called 
 a State, of whom one-half retire triennially, directly 
 chosen by the Houses of Parliament of the several 
 States for a period of six years. Senators are sub- 
 ject to no property qualification, but must be of
 
 220 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 the age of thirty years, have resided for five years 
 within the hmits of the Commonwealth, be entitled 
 to vote for a member of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and if not British subjects by birth, have 
 been naturalised for at least five years before the 
 time of their election. Bankrupts, criminals, and 
 Government contractors are specially disqualified. 
 Similar provisions and disqualifications apply to 
 members of the House of Representatives, except 
 that the minimum age is reduced to twenty-one 
 years, and that the periods of residence and 
 naturalisation are reduced from five years to 
 three. They are to be chosen, in constituencies 
 of thirty thousand inhabitants, by electors whose 
 qualification shall be that prescribed by each 
 State as the qualification for electors of its more 
 numerous House of Parliament. The members of 
 both Houses are to be paid at the rate of ;^5oo a 
 year, and are precluded from sitting in a State 
 Parliament. The Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth is to have authority to deal with " external 
 affairs and treaties," to take over the powers of 
 the Federal Council, which will cease to exist from 
 the date of its establishment, and to have the ex- 
 clusive right to legislate in regard to the affairs 
 of the people of any race, not being Australian 
 aboriginals or Maoris of New Zealand, with respect 
 to whom it is deemed desirable to make laws not 
 applicable to the general community ; the seat of 
 the Federal Government and any places required
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 221 
 
 for Federal purposes ; and the provisional adminis- 
 tration of any territory surrendered by any State, 
 and accepted by the Commonwealth, or any terri- 
 tory in the Pacific placed by the Queen under the 
 authority of and accepted by the Commonwealth. 
 The framers of the Constitution doubtless had in 
 view the Northern Territory, which, as it forms a 
 heavy burden upon its resources. South Australia 
 might be glad to hand over to the Federation. 
 The Federal Parliament is also to deal exclusively 
 with the postal and telegraphic services, military 
 and naval defences and munitions of war, ocean 
 beacons and lighthouses, quarantine, and, as soon 
 as a uniform tariff has been imposed, with foreign 
 and internal trade, bounties and duties of customs 
 and excise. In the meanwhile, the duties are to be 
 collected by Federal officials, but will be those that 
 are, or may be, imposed by the Parliaments of the 
 several States. Upon the enactment of a uniform 
 Federal tariff, all such State laws will thereby be 
 repealed and " trade and intercourse throughout 
 the Commonwealth, whether by means of internal 
 carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely 
 free." The expenditure of the Commonwealth is 
 to be charged to the several States in proportion 
 to the numbers of their people, and any surplus of 
 revenue over expenditure is to be returned to them 
 in proportion to the amount of revenue raised 
 therein respectively, subject to certain reservations 
 and to the right of the Federal Parliament, after
 
 222 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 the imposition of a uniform tariff, to prescribe the 
 method of its disposal. The Federal revenue is to 
 consist of customs and excise duties and of moneys 
 raised by any other mode or system of taxation, but 
 so that all such taxation shall be uniform through 
 the Commonwealth. The Federal Parliament may 
 also, " with the consent of the Parliaments of all 
 the States, make laws for taking over and con- 
 solidating the whole or any part of the public 
 debt of any State or States ; but so that a State 
 shall be liable to indemnify the Commonwealth in 
 respect of the amount of a debt taken over, and 
 that the amount of interest payable in respect of 
 a debt shall be deducted and retained from time 
 to time from the share of the surplus revenue of 
 the Commonwealth which would be otherwise 
 payable to the State." ^ Certain other legislative 
 powers are vested in the Federal Parliament, which 
 may concurrently be exercised by the several States, 
 and in such cases Federal shall supersede State 
 legislation. All subjects not exclusively vested in 
 the Parliament of the Commonwealth, or with- 
 drawn from the Parliaments of the several States, 
 are reserved to, and shall remain vested in, the 
 State Parliaments. 
 
 The authority of the Senate in regard to Money 
 
 Bills formed the subject of much discussion, and 
 
 was decided by a compromise which, it was hoped, 
 
 would satisfy both those who desired to secure the 
 
 ' Cap. iv., Clause 13.
 
 THE EVOLUTIO\' OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 223 
 
 financial supremacy of the House of Representa- 
 tives and the inhabitants of the smaller States, 
 who would naturally struggle for the rights of the 
 Senate in which they would be on a footing of 
 equality with their more powerful neighbours. The 
 views of the former were met by the provisions 
 that " laws appropriating any part of the public 
 revenue, or imposing any tax or impost, shall 
 originate in the House of Representatives," and 
 that " the Senate shall have equal power with the 
 House of Representatives in respect to all proposed 
 laws, except laws imposing taxation and laws appro- 
 priating the necessary supplies for the ordinary 
 annual services of the Government, which the 
 Senate may affirm or reject, but may not amend. 
 But the Senate may not amend any proposed law 
 in such a manner as to increase any proposed 
 charge or burden on the people." The interests 
 of the latter were safeguarded by the four succeed- 
 ing sub-sections : 
 
 " Laws imposing taxation shall deal with the 
 imposition of taxation only. 
 
 " Laws imposing taxation, except laws imposing 
 duties of customs on imports, shall deal with one 
 subject of taxation only. 
 
 "The expenditure for services other than tlie 
 ordinaiy annual services of the Government shall 
 not be authorised by the same law as that which 
 appropriates the supplies for such ordinary annual ser- 
 vices, but shall be authorised by a separate law or laws.
 
 224 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 " In the case of a proposed law which the Senate 
 may not amend, the Senate may at any stage return 
 it to the House of Representatives with a message 
 requesting the omission or amendment of any items 
 or provisions therein. And the House of Repre- 
 sentatives may, if it thinks fit, make such omissions 
 or amendments, or any of them, with or without 
 modifications." ^ '** 
 
 The executive authority of the CommonweaHh is 
 to be exercised by the Governor-General as the 
 Queen's representative, with the aid and advice of 
 a Federal Executive Council. Considerable dis- 
 cussion took place at the Convention as to the 
 relations which should exist between the Federal 
 Executive and Legislature, some of the Repre- 
 sentatives being in favour of the British system, 
 others of the direct popular election of the head 
 of the Government. It was finally agreed that the 
 members of the Council should be chosen and 
 summoned by the Governor-General, should hold 
 office during his pleasure, and should be capable 
 of being chosen and of sitting in either House of 
 Parliament. They are to execute the provisions of 
 the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth ; 
 to assume at once control of the departments of 
 customs and excise, posts and telegraphs, military 
 and naval defence, ocean lights and quarantine ; 
 and, until other provision is made by Parliament, 
 to appoint and remove all other officers of the 
 
 Government. 
 
 ' Cap. i., Clauses 54 and 55.
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 225 
 
 The Parliament of the Commonwealth may estab- 
 lish a Supreme Court of Australia, consisting of a 
 Chief Justice and not less than four other Justices, 
 who shall be appointed by the Governor-General in 
 Council, and shall be irremovable except upon an 
 address from both Houses of Parliament. The 
 Supreme Court shall be a final Court of Appeal from 
 any other Federal Court, which may be established 
 by Parliament, and from the highest Court of final 
 resort in any State ; and may be invested by Parlia- 
 ment with final and conclusive jurisdiction in all 
 cases upon which an appeal has hitherto been 
 allowed to the Queen in Council, subject to the 
 right of the Queen to grant an appeal to herself in 
 Council against the judgment of the Supreme Court 
 in any case which concerns the public interests of 
 the Commonwealth, or of any State, or of any other 
 part of the British Empire. The Parliament may 
 also confer upon the Federal Courts, other than the 
 Supreme Court, jurisdiction to deal, either exclu- 
 sively or concurrently with the Courts of the States, 
 with cases arising under the Constitution or under 
 any law made by the Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth or affecting the Representatives of Foreign 
 Powers, and with certain other matters including 
 cases in which the Commonwealth is a party, or in 
 which a Writ of Mandamus or Prohibition is sought 
 against an officer of the Commonwealth. 
 
 As the powers of the State are to be substantially 
 those which they possess at present with the excep- 
 
 16
 
 226 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 tion of such as are transferred to the Federal Legis- 
 lature and Executive, it is only necessary to add that 
 the Governors of the States are to be appointed in 
 the manner which their Parliament may prescribe, 
 but are to correspond with the Imperial Authorities 
 through the Governor-General : that States are not 
 to be subdivided nor deprived of any of their terri- 
 tories without the consent of their Parliaments ; and 
 that they are forbidden explicitly to raise or main- 
 tain any military or naval force, to coin money, or 
 make anything but gold and silver legal tender in 
 payment of debts, to make any law prohibiting the 
 free exercise of any religion, or to make or enforce 
 any law abridging any privilege or immunity of 
 citizens of other States of the Commonwealth, or to 
 deny to any person within their jurisdiction the 
 equal protection of the laws. 
 
 Finally, it is provided that any of the existing 
 Provinces that have not adopted the Constitution 
 may, upon doing so, be admitted to the Common- 
 wealth, and that any law for the alteration of the 
 Constitution is not to be submitted to the Governor- 
 General for the Royal Assent until it has been passed 
 by an absolute majority of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, and has been approved by conventions of a 
 majority of the States representing a majority of 
 the people of the Commonwealth. 
 
 When the Constitution Bill had been drafted, the 
 next step should have been its reference to the Par- 
 liaments of the Constituent Provinces ; but it was
 
 THE EVOLUTIOX OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 227 
 
 not even introduced in New South Wales, Queens- 
 land, Western Australia, or New Zealand. In 
 Victoria it was passed by the Assembly and forwarded 
 to the Council, which passed it subject to certain 
 amendments which were never considered by the 
 Assembly ; in South Australia it was introduced in 
 the Assembly, and was dropped ; in Tasmania it 
 passed the Assembly and was dropped at an early 
 stage in the Council. This procession of failures 
 caused the advocates of Federation to realise that 
 there must be something faulty in the method of 
 procedure, and to ask themselves whether it was 
 reasonable to expect that fourteen independent 
 Chambers, or twelve, if New Zealand be excluded, 
 should be able to arrive at a uniform decision on so 
 complicated and contentious a subject. It was felt, 
 also, that the Parliaments had no popular mandate 
 to deal with the question, and that, in the general 
 apathy and absence of interest, the electors them- 
 selves should be stirred up by direct participation in 
 the movement. Accordingly, Mr. Reid, the Premier 
 of New South Wales, invited the Premiers of the 
 other Australian Provinces to meet him at Hobart in 
 January, 1895, taking advantage of the fact that four 
 of them would be there in connection with the 
 biennial meeting of the Federal Council. The invi- 
 tation was accepted, and a new scheme was devised 
 of which the main principles were the popular elec- 
 tion of delegates empowered to meet and frame a 
 Federal Constitution ; the reference of the Consti-
 
 228 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 tution so framed to a plebiscite of the several elec- 
 torates and its subsequent transmission for Imperial 
 legislation. The Premiers of New South Wales, 
 Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania accepted 
 the proposal in its entirety ; the Premier of Queens- 
 land agreed to it, except as regards the reference of 
 the Constitution to a plebiscite ; but the Premier of 
 Western Australia was unable to concur with the 
 decision of his colleagues. Sir John Forrest did not 
 believe that popular election would lead to the 
 choice of the most highly trained jurists and finan- 
 ciers, who could alone frame a consistent and work- 
 able Constitution, and he regarded as absurd the 
 assumption that the average elector could give an 
 intelligent opinion upon a measure of so complicated 
 a character. There is much force in these object 
 tions ; but it must be remembered that the former 
 effort failed from its dissociation from popular im- 
 pulse, and that the delegates would have the benefit 
 of the work of their predecessors, which they would 
 be bound to accept as the basis of their deliberations. 
 As regards the plebiscite, it cannot have been ex- 
 pected that the vote of the bulk of the electorate 
 would be more than an affirmative or negative reply 
 upon the broadest issue ; but, assuming it to be 
 necessary that the Constitution Bill should in some 
 manner or other be submitted for the judgment of 
 each of the Provinces, the direct reference has the 
 merit of being expeditious and conclusive and of 
 avoiding the quagmire of Parliamentary discussions.
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERN M EXT 229 
 
 Before proceeding to note the results of the reso- 
 lutions passed at the Premiers' Conference, it may 
 be of interest to consider to what extent recent 
 events have affected the status of the Federal 
 Council. As has already been remarked, it has pur- 
 sued a policy of self-effacement, and in spite of the 
 increase in its numbers, it has never appealed to the 
 imagination of Australians. It was undoubtedly 
 dwarfed by comparison with the Federal Conven- 
 tion, which, indeed, decreed its contingent extinc- 
 tion, and it has, to some extent, been supplanted by 
 the informal meetings of Australian Premiers which 
 tend to become an annual institution. At a Con- 
 ference held at Sydney in January, 1896, the urgent 
 necessity for Federation was again emphasised, and 
 it was resolved that, pending its attainment, the 
 military laws of the Provinces should be assimilated, 
 and a cordite factory be established under State 
 supervision. Resolutions were also passed in favour 
 of a Federal system of quarantine, the distribution 
 of the cost of lighthouses on the basis of population, 
 the extension to all coloured races of the provisions 
 of the Chinese Restriction Acts, and non-participa- 
 tion in the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. In this manner 
 the Premiers, instead of referring questions to the 
 Federal Council through their respective legislatures, 
 decided, after personal consultation, upon measures 
 which each would endeavour, in the common 
 interest, to pass through the Parliament of his own 
 Province. Other intcrprovincial conferences also
 
 230 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 are becoming more common. The precautions to 
 be adopted against the tick fever were discussed at 
 Sydney in 1896, and a few months ago, earlier, 
 several Ministers of Agriculture met the South 
 Australian Minister at Adelaide and decided upon 
 the advisability of uniform legislation which would 
 promote similarity of out-put in the products of the 
 different Provinces, such as frozen meat, butter, wine, 
 and fruit, for which it was hoped to create a large 
 market in England. It has been argued that the 
 growing realisation of the interdependence of the 
 Provinces and of the material advantages accruing 
 from combined action, will tend to hasten the advent 
 of Federation. 
 
 The new proposals in that direction were favour- 
 ably received, and the Legislatures of New South 
 Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania 
 passed the so-called Australasian Federation En- 
 abling Act, in substantially similar form, upon the 
 lines laid down by the Premiers. The details of 
 their scheme may be gathered from the principal 
 provisions of the Victorian Act : — 
 
 " The Convention shall consist of ten Representa- 
 tives of each Colony represented. 
 
 " The Convention shall be charged with the duty 
 of framing for Australasia a Federal Constitution 
 under the Crown in the form of a Bill for enact- 
 ment by the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 " Every Member and every person eligible for 
 Membership of either House of Parliament shall be
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 231 
 
 eligible for Membership of the Convention as a 
 Representative of Victoria, And any one hundred 
 or more electors duly qualified to vote for the elec- 
 tion of a Member of the Legislative Assembly shall 
 be entitled in the prescribed manner to nominate 
 any eligible person. 
 
 " Every person duly qualified to vote for the 
 election of a member of the Legislative Assembly 
 shall be qualified and entitled to vote for the 
 election of Representatives of Victoria. 
 
 "The voting shall be taken throughout Victoria as 
 one electoral district, and every voter shall vote for 
 the full number of Representatives required, other- 
 wise the vote shall be rejected as informal. 
 
 " No person shall vote or attempt to vote more 
 than once at the same election of Representatives 
 of Victoria." 
 
 (A similar provision applies to the subsequent 
 referendum.) 
 
 *' When the Constitution has been framed by the 
 Convention, copies thereof shall be supplied to the 
 Members of the Convention, and the President 
 shall declare the sitting of the Convention ad- 
 journed to a time and place to be fixed by the 
 Convention, not being less than sixty nor more 
 than one hundred and twenty days thereafter. And 
 as soon as convenient the draft constitution shall be 
 submitted for consideration to each House of Par- 
 liament sitting in Committee of the whole, and such 
 amendments as may be desired by the Legislature,
 
 232 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 together with the draft Constitution, shall be remitted 
 to the Convention through the Senior Representa- 
 tive. 
 
 "On the reassembling of the Convention the 
 Constitution as framed prior to the adjournment 
 shall be reconsidered, together with such suggested 
 amendments as shall have been forwarded by the 
 various Legislatures, and the Constitution so framed 
 shall be finally adopted with any amendments that 
 may be agreed to." 
 
 " So soon as practicable after the close of the 
 proceedings of the Convention the question of the 
 acceptance or rejection of the Constitution shall be 
 referred and submitted to the vote of all persons 
 in Victoria qualified and entitled to vote for the 
 election of Members of the Legislative Assembly." 
 
 "The majority of votes shall decide the question, 
 and if the Constitution be thereby rejected, no 
 further action shall be taken pursuant to this Act : 
 Provided that any number of votes in the affirma- 
 tive less than fifty thousand shall be equivalent to 
 the rejection of the Bill. 
 
 " If two Colonies in addition to Victoria accept 
 the Constitution the Legislative Council and the 
 Legislative Assembly of Victoria may adopt a Joint 
 Address to the Queen praying that the Constitution 
 may be passed into law by the Imperial Parliament 
 upon receipt from the Parliaments of such two 
 Colonies, either of similar joint or separate 
 Addresses from each House of such Parliaments.''
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 233 
 
 It will be noticed that the Convention will have 
 entire freedom in regard to any amendments sug- 
 gested by the Provincial Parliaments, and that if 
 the Constitution be accepted, the Victorian Parlia- 
 ment will not be bound to join in submitting it 
 for Imperial enactment. It is assumed that it will 
 bow to the popular pronouncement unless the 
 Government should have some grave reason for 
 recommending a contrary course. A difficulty, 
 not provided against in the Act, might arise if the 
 Constitution were to be amended during its passage 
 through the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 The Act passed by Western Australia provided 
 for the election of the delegates by the two Houses 
 of Parliament sitting as" one Chamber, the area of 
 selection being limited to candidates nominated by 
 not less than twenty persons who are qualified to 
 vote at elections for Members of the Assembly. 
 "The draft Constitution, as finally adopted by the 
 Convention, if approved by Parliament, shall be 
 submitted for the decision of the electors of Western 
 Australia by their vote ; and if a majority of the 
 electors voting on such question signify their 
 approval of such Constitution, the same may be 
 adopted by the Colony, provided that any number 
 of votes in the al^rmative less than six thousand 
 shall be equivalent to the rejection of the Con- 
 stitution." "The adoption of the Constitution by 
 Western Australia may be signified by the passing 
 of an Act or by a joint resolution of both Houses of
 
 234 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Parliament, and both Houses may thereupon adopt 
 Addresses to the Queen, praying that the Consti- 
 tution may be passed into law by the Imperial 
 Parliament, subject to the adoption of similar 
 Addresses by at least two other Colonies, of which 
 New South Wales shall be one." Parliament thus 
 retains the initiative in each successive phase of 
 the movement, but will have no power to alter the 
 Bill when it finally leaves the Convention. If the 
 provisions are regarded as unacceptable, it will be 
 able to decline to submit the Bill to the electorate. 
 The Western Australian measure was based in its 
 general language upon that previously introduced in 
 Queensland, but differed from it in several im- 
 portant particulars. In the latter case it was pro- 
 posed that the election of the delegates should be 
 vested in the members of the Assembly alone, that, 
 of the ten delegates, five should be chosen by the 
 Southern, three by the Northern, and two by the 
 Central Parliamentary Representatives, a provision 
 inserted in view of the somewhat divergent interests 
 of different portions of the Province, and that the 
 draft Constitution should be submitted for the con- 
 sideration of the electors in such manner as Parlia- 
 ment might prescribe. The Bill was passed by the 
 Assembly, in spite of a widespread feeling that 
 Queensland should have followed the course of 
 the other Provinces, and was amended by the 
 Council, which regarded itself as unjustifiably 
 ignored, and provided that it should have an equal
 
 THE EVOLUTIOX OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 235 
 
 share with the Assembly in the appointment of the 
 delegates to the Convention. It is unnecessary to 
 consider the arguments by which the Premier sup- 
 ported his proposal of indirect election, or those 
 put forward by the two Houses during the deadlock 
 which followed upon their disagreement. Finally, 
 when each House had insisted several times upon 
 its attitude, the Bill was laid aside by the Council. 
 As a result of this action the new movement was 
 blocked at its first step, which was regarded with 
 little anxiety even by those who appreciated the 
 difficulties which were likely to attend the later 
 stages. Great disappointment was felt in Australia, 
 and efforts were made, though in vain, to induce 
 Sir Hugh Nelson to reintroduce the Bill in some 
 form that would be acceptable to both Houses. At 
 the same time public opinion demanded that the 
 Convention should be held, even though one of the 
 Provinces would be unrepresented. 
 
 The benefits which would follow Federation are 
 so obvious as scarcely to require enumeration. The 
 Federal Government would be able to deal ade- 
 quately with the problem of National Defence and 
 to speak authoritatively, to the manifest satisfaction 
 of the Imperial Authorities, upon such matters as 
 the contribution of Australia towards the expenses 
 of the Imperial squadron maintained upon its 
 coast ; the consolidation of the debts would, it 
 has been estimated, enable a million pounds to be 
 saved upon the annual bill of interest ; Inter-
 
 236 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 provincial Free Trade would promote intercourse 
 between neighbours who have hitherto been 
 estranged by arbitrary lines of demarcation ; and 
 in the words of the Chief Justice of Queensland/ 
 " The first effect in point of importance, though 
 some time may elapse before the effect is fully felt, 
 will be the creation of an Australian Nation, form- 
 ing a distinct constituent part of the British Empire, 
 having one mind, speaking with one voice instead 
 of the six, often discordant and sometimes inarticu- 
 late, voices now heard, consulted on all matters of 
 Imperial concern, and exercising a powerful in- 
 fluence in the political affairs of the whole world." 
 Such w'ould appear to be the destiny of Australia, 
 which has, however, doubtless been benefited by 
 the independent development of its component 
 parts. In the absence of distinctions of race and 
 language, in the general diffusion of the Roman 
 Catholics among the Protestants, and the steady 
 determination to exclude coloured races, the early 
 establishment of Federal relations would have pro- 
 duced among Australians a monotonous uniformity 
 of characteristics, which has to some extent been 
 prevented by the divergent political tendencies of 
 the several Provinces. 
 
 But, to put the practical question, what are the 
 prospects of Federation ? The general impression 
 is not one of hopefulness : it is pointed out that the 
 
 • " Notes on Australian Federation," by Sir S. W. Griffith. 
 Parliamentary Paper, Queensland, 1896.
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 237 
 
 Provinces have so long maintained an independent 
 existence that they are unhkely to submit to a 
 curtaihnent of their powers except under the im- 
 perative impulse of the fear of foreign invasion ; 
 that all but the leading politicians realise that they 
 would be affected prejudicially by a change which 
 would dwarf the Legislatures with which they are 
 connected ; that many, especially during the period 
 of depression, dread the creation of a new taxing 
 and governing body ; and that the Labour mem- 
 bers, in the natural belief that their influence would 
 be smaller in a Federal Parliament, are either apa- 
 thetic or actively hostile. The economic aspects of 
 Intercolonial Free Trade, in reference to its probable 
 effect upon the prosperity of manufacturers and 
 producers in the different Provinces, also form an 
 important factor in the situation. Time alone can 
 show whether popular participation in the suc- 
 cessive stages of the movement, though it will not 
 be universal, will generate an enthusiasm sufficient 
 to outweigh the opposing forces and weld Australia 
 into a strong and united Nation. 
 
 APPENDIX TO IX. 
 
 THE NEW FEDERAL SCHEME.' 
 
 Now that the Adelaide Convention has completed its labours, 
 it is possible to give a connected view of the provisions of the 
 draft Constitution Bill, as it will be submitted to the local 
 
 » An article published in the Melbourne Ayg:is of April 26, 1897, and 
 included with the kind permission of the London agents of that news- 
 papsr.
 
 238 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Parliament, and then after it has been again dealt with by a 
 second meeting of the Convention at Sydney, to the vote of 
 the people. 
 
 The Bill provides for the constitution of the Commonwealth 
 of Australia and for the appointment of a governor-general by 
 the Queen, at a salary of ;£io,ooo. The Federal Parliament 
 is to consist of two Houses — the Senate and the House of 
 Representatives. The former chamber will be composed of 
 six members for each state. They are to be elected by the 
 electors of the Legislative Assembly in each colony for a term 
 of six years, and one-half will retire every three years. For 
 the election of these senators each colony will be regarded as 
 one electorate, and no one will be allowed to vote at more 
 than one polling-booth on the day of election. In other 
 words, the election will be conducted on the same lines as 
 the recent election of representatives to the Federation Con- 
 vention. At the first meeting of the Senate, the members 
 elected for each state will be divided by lot into two classes, 
 and the seats of those in the first class are to be vacated at the 
 end of the third year, but the others will continue to be mem- 
 bers of that House for the full term of six years. In this way 
 one-half the members of the Senate will be elected by the 
 people every third year. 
 
 The House of Representatives is to be composed of mem- 
 bers directly chosen by the people of the several states, and 
 the number which each colony will return will depend on its 
 population. This Chamber is, as nearly as practicable, to 
 contain double the number of members of the Senate. The 
 House of Representatives would therefore consist, at the out- 
 set, of about seventy-two members, which would give as 
 nearly as possible, one member for every 50,000 of the 
 population. Victoria would, roughly speaking, have about 
 twenty-two members. In order, however, to protect the 
 interests of the smaller states in this House, it is provided 
 that Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia, shall 
 be entitled to at least live members each, although on the 
 population basis, the island colony might not be able to claim 
 more than four members. Until the Federal Parliament 
 otherwise provides, each local or state Parliament can deter- 
 mine into how many electoral divisions the colony should be 
 divided for the purpose of returning members to the House 
 of Representatives, but should it not divide the state into
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 239 
 
 electoral districts, then each colony is to be regarded as one 
 electorate, in the same way as in the case of the election of 
 senators. 
 
 The duration of every House of Representatives will be 
 three years, unless it is sooner dissolved by the Governor- 
 General. There is no power, however, conferred on the 
 Governor-General to dissolve the Senate. The qualification 
 of electors of members of the House of Representatives is in 
 each state to be that for electors of the more numerous 
 House — or Legislative Assembly — of the state. The members 
 of both Houses are to receive an allowance of ;£400 each per 
 annum for their services. 
 
 The following are the subjects the Commonwealth Parlia- 
 ment is to be empowered to legislate upon and deal with : — 
 
 1. The regulation of trade and commerce with other coun- 
 
 tries and among the several states. 
 
 2. Customs and excise and bounties. 
 
 3. Raising money by any other mode or system of taxation. 
 
 4. Borrowing money on the public credit of the common- 
 
 wealth. 
 
 5. Postal and telegraphic services. 
 
 6. The military and naval defence of the commonwealth and 
 
 the several states, and the calling out of the forces to 
 execute and maintain the laws of the commonwealth. 
 
 7. Munitions of war. 
 
 8. Navigation and shipping. 
 
 9. Ocean beacons and buoys and ocean lighthouses and 
 
 lightships. 
 
 10. Astronomical and meteorological observations. 
 
 11. Quarantine. 
 
 12. Fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits. 
 
 13. Census and statistics. 
 
 14. Currency, coinage, and legal tender. 
 
 15. Banking, the incorporation of banks, and the issue of 
 
 paper money. 
 
 16. Insurance, excluding state insurance not extending beyond 
 
 the limits of the state concerned. 
 
 17. Weights and measures. 
 
 18. Bills of exchange and promissory notes, 
 
 19. Bankruptcy and insolvency. 
 
 20. Copyrights and patents of inventions, designs, and trade 
 
 marks.
 
 240 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 21. Naturalisation and aliens. 
 
 22. Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations, 
 
 formed in any state or part of the commonwealth. 
 
 23. Marriage and divorce. 
 
 24. Parental rights, and the custody and guardianship of 
 
 infants. 
 
 25. The service and execution throughout the commonwealth 
 
 of the civil and criminal process and judgments of the 
 courts of the states. 
 
 26. The recognition throughout the commonwealth of the 
 
 laws, the public acts and records, and the judicial 
 proceedings of the states. 
 
 27. Immigration and emigration. 
 
 28. The influx of criminals. 
 
 29. External affairs and treaties. 
 
 30. The relations of the commonwealth to the islands of the 
 
 Pacific. 
 
 31. The control and regulation of the navigation of the River 
 
 Murray, and the use of the waters thereof from where 
 it first forms the boundary between Victoria and New 
 South Wales to the sea. 
 
 32. The control of railways with respect to transport for the 
 
 military purposes of the commonwealth. 
 
 33. The taking over by the commonwealth, with the consent 
 
 of the state, of the whole or any part of the railways of 
 any state or states, upon such terms as may be arranged 
 between the commonwealth and the state. 
 
 34. Raihvay construction and extension with the consent of 
 
 any state or states concerned. 
 
 35. Matters referred to the Parliament of the commonvi^ealth 
 
 by the Parliament or Parliaments of any state or states, 
 but so that the law shall extend only to the state or 
 states by whose Parliament or Parliaments the matter 
 was referred, and to such other states as may afterwards 
 adopt the law. 
 
 36. The exercise within the commonwealth, at the request or 
 
 with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the states 
 concerned, of any legislative powers which can at the 
 establishment of this constitution be exercised only by 
 the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or by the 
 Federal Council of Australasia. 
 
 37. Any matters necessary for, or incidental to, the carrying
 
 THE EVOLUTIOX OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 241 
 
 into execution of the foregoing powers or of any other 
 powers vested by this constitution in the ParHament or 
 the Executive Government of the commonwealth, or in 
 any department or officer thereof. 
 All matters not mentioned above, such as land settlement, 
 raihva}- construction, &c., arc to remain vested in the Parlia- 
 ments of the several states. Each state shall retain its local 
 Parliament and have a Governor, who is to be appointed by 
 the Crown, and communicate direct with the Crown as at 
 present. 
 
 On the establishment of the commonwealth the control of 
 the following departments will be taken over by the Federal 
 Government, and the commonwealth will assume the obliga- 
 tions of any state or states with respect to such matters : — 
 Customs and excise. 
 Posts and telegraphs. 
 Military and naval defence. 
 Ocean beacons, buoys, lighthouses. 
 Quarantine. 
 
 There are to be seven Ministers of State, and their salaries 
 will, in the aggregate, be ;^i 2,000 per annum. A Minister, 
 within three months after being appointed to that office, must 
 become a member of one of the Houses of the Federal 
 Parliament. 
 
 All Bills having for their main object the appropriation of 
 any part of the public revenue, or moneys, or the imposition of 
 any tax, must originate in the House of Representatives. Bills 
 imposing taxation must deal with the imposition of ta.xation 
 only, and those imposing duties of Customs or excise must deal 
 with duties of Customs or excise only. The expenditure for 
 services other than the ordinary annual services of the Govern- 
 ment must not be authorised by the same law as that which 
 appropriates the supplies for the ordinary annual services, but 
 must be authorised by a separate measure. The Senate can 
 amend any Bills except those imposing taxation, or appropria- 
 ting the necessary supplies for the ordinar}- annual services of 
 the Government. With respect to these money measures, the 
 Senate can, at any stage, return a taxation or appropriation Bill 
 to the House of Representatives, suggesting that any provision 
 or item therein should be omitted or amended, and the House 
 of Representatives may, if it thinks fit, make such omissions 
 or amendments with or without modifications. The Bill, in its 
 
 17
 
 242 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 amended or original form — should the House of Representa- 
 tives decline to adopt the suggestion of the Senate — will then 
 be sent back to the latter Chamber, which may either pass or 
 reject the measure. 
 
 The seat of the Government of the commonwealth is to be 
 determined by the Federal Parliament. Until such determi- 
 nation the Parliament shall be summoned to meet at such 
 place as the majority of the Governors of the states, or, in the 
 event of an equal division of opinion amongst them, as the 
 Governor-General may direct. 
 
 Before the Constitution can be amended an absolute majority 
 of both the House of Representatives and Senate must approve 
 of the alteration, and it must then be confirmed by a vote of 
 the people, a majority of the states being required as well as a 
 majority of the people. 
 
 There is to be a federal judiciary, consisting of a high court 
 of Australia, and such inferior courts as Parliament may deter- 
 mine. The high court is to consist of a chief justice, and at 
 least four other judges, and is to hear appeals from the state 
 courts and inferior federal courts. This appeal is to be final, 
 except that in matters affecting the public interests of the 
 commonwealth or of any state, application may be made to 
 the Queen for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council. 
 
 Uniform Customs duties are to be imposed within two years 
 of the establishment of the commonwealth, and trade and 
 intercourse throughout the commonwealth is then to be abso- 
 lutely free. In the meantime the local tariffs are to continue, 
 but they will be collected by the Federal Government, and 
 after deducting from the revenue received in each state the 
 contribution of that state towards federal expenses, the balance 
 is to be returned to the state month by month. During the 
 first three years after federation the total annual expenditure 
 of the Federal Government is to be limited to _£3oo,ooo for 
 new federal expenses, and ;^i, 250,000 for services transferred 
 from the sta.tes. During the first five years after the imposi- 
 tion of a uniform tariff, the surplus revenue, after deducting 
 the contribution of each state to the federal expenses, is to be 
 returned to the states in the following way : Accounts of 
 Customs and excise duties collected in each state are to be 
 kept during the twelve months following the coming into 
 operation of the uniform tariff, in order to ascertain, first the *" 
 average net amount per head in each state, and next the
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 243 
 
 average per head for the whole commonweath. A sHding 
 scale, extending over four years, is then to be adopted, in 
 order to determine the amount to be returned. Where the 
 average for a particular state for the first year is less than the 
 general average, the per capita sum is to be increased by equal 
 gradations, until, at the end of four years, it equals the general 
 average. Similarly, where the average for a state is greater 
 than the general average, it is to be gradually reduced to the 
 general average. Then, at the end of the five-year period, all 
 the states will be placed on the same footing, and will receive 
 an equal sum per head from the federal revenue. This 
 scheme of distribution is subject, however, to the important 
 proviso that during the five years the aggregate amount 
 returned to all the states in any 3-ear must not he less than the 
 aggregate amount returned in the year immediately preceding 
 the imposition of uniform duties. 
 
 Equality of trade is to be preserved throughout the common- 
 wealth, and any law or regulation derogating from that prin- 
 ciple is to be null and void. Parliament may appoint an inter- 
 state commission to execute and maintain upon railways within 
 the commonwealth, and upon rivers flowing through, in, or 
 between two or more states the provisions of the constitution 
 relating to trade and commerce. The commission is to have 
 such powers of adjudication and administration as may be 
 necessary for its purposes, and as the Parliament may from 
 time to time determine, but shall have no powers in reference 
 to the rates or regulations of any railway in any state, except 
 in cases of rates or regulations preferential in effect, and made 
 and used for the purpose of drawing traffic to that railway 
 from the railway of a neighbouring state.
 
 X 
 
 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALASIAN 
 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
 Indirect effects of the discovery of gold — Causes of the financial 
 crisis — The origin and extent of State Socialism — The thrifti- 
 ness of the working-classes — Labour Representation in Parlia- 
 ment — Parliamentary Government — Direct Taxation — Concilia- 
 tion and Arbitration in Industrial disputes — Protection and its 
 corollaries — The feeling towards Great Britain — General 
 conclusions. 
 
 THE enormous immigration of the fifties, due to 
 the great discoveries of gold in Victoria and 
 New South Wales, has caused Austraha to become 
 one of the most democratic countries in the world. 
 Before that time the soil was held in large areas by 
 pastoralists who, in the absence of opposing forces, 
 would have formed themselves gradually into a 
 strong landed aristocracy. But the miners, a class 
 of men who had shown their energy and determina- 
 tion by their readiness to travel thousands of miles 
 in the search for wealth, introduced an entirely new 
 element : they had thrown off their traditionary 
 reverence for vested institutions, they were able to 
 
 earn high wages or directly to enrich themselves, 
 
 244
 
 AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY 245 
 
 and they resented an assumption of superiority on 
 the part of any section in the community. When, 
 in the course of years, the mining industry began to 
 wane, they swarmed into the towns and constituted 
 an important Hnk in the chain of causes which has 
 swelled some of the capitals to their present un- 
 wieldy dimensions. Deprived of their means of 
 livelihood, and indisposed for rural life, they 
 clamoured for other employment, and were able, 
 in several Provinces, to induce the Ministry to 
 impose a protective tariff which artificially fostered 
 the growth of manufactures. The protective tariff 
 naturally increased the urban population, as did the 
 undiscriminative system of State-aided immigration, 
 the centralisation of all departments of the Govern- 
 ment, and, in its ultimate effects, the construction 
 of public works. 
 
 In a population of pastoralists and miners, 
 engaged in pursuits which inculcate reliance upon 
 individual efforts, it is somewhat strange to note the 
 early development of a tendency towards State 
 socialism ; but I am inclined to think that, in this 
 respect also, the discoveries of gold exercised a per- 
 manent influence, not only in the Provinces imme- 
 diately affected, but throughout Australasia, from a 
 tendency towards imitation. In the first years of 
 Responsible Government British capitalists had a 
 natural distrust of Australian securities, and declined 
 to advance money except at a high rate of interest. 
 i3ul wliL-n they saw the plicnoincnal increase in the
 
 246 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 yield of gold, and the large revenue obtained from 
 the sale of lands, they overcame their scruples and 
 displayed, during the twenty years which preceded 
 the financial crisis, a readiness to grant loans to the 
 several Governments which is believed by many to 
 have been a great misfortune to their debtors. 
 
 The political and unremunerative railways of 
 Victoria, which have been discussed in the chapter 
 dealing with that Province, could not have been 
 constructed but for the easy access to large funds. 
 Another aspect of the question has been emphasised 
 in an article published by the Sydney Bulletin ^ which, 
 however much an Englishman may demur to its 
 Republican principles, must be admitted to be an 
 authority on Australasian topics. A strong plea is 
 put forward for the necessity of defining by Act of 
 Parliament what kind of works should be charged 
 to loan-moneys, and what should be charged to 
 revenue. The advantages, it is contended, will be 
 threefold ; the attention of the country will be 
 drawn to the matter ; the Loan Estimates go 
 through so rapidly that very few people are aware 
 how the thing is worked. The lender will know 
 the destination of his money, and all treasurers will 
 be placed on a level, whereas, at present, " the dis- 
 honest treasurer who makes a surplus by using 
 borrowed money for road repairs and all manner of 
 other ordinary expenditure is a heaven-born financier, 
 while the honest one who doesn't is driven out of 
 
 • August 8, 1896.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 247 
 
 office, either for having a deficit, or for increasing 
 taxation, and is a faikire either way." Official 
 figures are quoted for New South Wales in order 
 to prove that during the years 1885-1890, which 
 covered the flotation of several loans, surpluses and 
 deficits alternated as the treasurer was or was not 
 able to dispose of borrowed funds. Indirectly, of 
 course, many of the public works which do not 
 produce a direct revenue may be of financial benefit 
 to the State, through an increase of population and 
 the encouragement of settlement ; but it is a hazardous 
 principle to borrow money for their construction. 
 
 Equally dangerous for Australia was the more 
 recent excessive eagerness of the British capitalist 
 to invest his money in Australian commercial under- 
 takings, as, according to the Victorian Year Book,i a 
 publication of the highest merit, " there is no doubt 
 that the feverish financial activity that preceded, and 
 ultimately led to, the Australian financial crisis 
 primarily arose from the enormous influx of British 
 capital — far in excess of the legitimate requirements 
 of the Colonies — for remunerative enterprises. This 
 influx was probably the result of the large amount 
 of attention that for some years prior to 1888 
 had been directed to these Colonies, which were 
 brought into prominence by such events as the 
 passing of the first Federal Council Act by the 
 Imperial Parliament in 1885, the Colonial and Indian 
 Exhibition held in London in 1886, and the Imperial 
 ' X893, vol. ii. pp. 456, 457.
 
 248 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 Conference in 1887; it was also much stimulated by 
 the lowering in 1888 of the interest on the British 
 Public Debt, and pro rata on other first-class British 
 securities. The first indications of this were notice- 
 able in the marked rise in the prices of all Colonial 
 Government securities which occurred just after Mr. 
 Goschen's notification of his scheme for reducing 
 the interest on the National Debt of the United 
 Kingdom, in March, 1888. Such securities, how- 
 ever, being of limited extent, the superabundant 
 capital was forced into private channels, which led 
 to the growth of co-operative enterprise on an un- 
 precedented scale — through the medium of joint 
 stock companies — which commenced prior to, but 
 probably in anticipation of, the conversion of the 
 British Public Debt, and culminated in the United 
 Kingdom, as well as in Australia, in the same year. 
 Owing to this increasing competition for Colonial 
 Government securities, and the consequent fall in 
 the rate of interest thereon, the Colonial Govern- 
 ments were tempted to, and no doubt did, borrow 
 in excess of their immediate requirements, although 
 this was not recognised during the period of general 
 inflation ; but assuming a portion of the Govern- 
 ment loans to have been unjustified, far worse was the 
 condition of the large private investments, chiefly in 
 joint stock companies, many of which supplemented 
 their resources by deposits — equivalent in some 
 cases to as much as three times the paid-up capital 
 — which had been drawn, by reason of the high rates
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 249 
 
 of interest offered, from all sections of the community, 
 both in England and Australia. Between the ist of 
 January, 1887, and the 30th of June, 1893, but for the 
 most part in 1888, 1,154 companies with a paid-up 
 capital of no less than ^^28,436,500 (subscribed 
 capital ^54,300,000) were registered in Victoria alone, 
 and of these, 397, with a paid-up capital of ;^9,469,ooo 
 (subscribed capital ^'19,526,000) are known to have 
 become defunct, to say nothing of numerous others, 
 of which no information has been furnished to the 
 Registrar-General." The crisis was most acute in 
 Victoria, but its effects were felt largely, and are still 
 felt in calls upon shareholders, in other Provinces. 
 In conclusion, while British capitalists are still chary 
 of industrial investments, they appear to be willing 
 to meet the Australasian Governments in their 
 resumption of applications for loans. 
 
 The danger is accentuated by the tendency to- 
 wards State socialism, the origin of which I had 
 begun to discuss before this long digression. The 
 earliest concessions for the construction of railways 
 were granted in New South Wales in 1848 and 1853, 
 but the companies were unable to carry out their 
 undertakings, owing to the scarcity of workmen 
 caused by the rush to the goldfields, and the 
 Government stepped in and completed the railways 
 out of public funds. This assumption by the State 
 of a function which had been delegated to private 
 enterprise, coupled witli the growing confidence of 
 the British investor and the elasticity of the revenue,
 
 250 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 both from the Customs and from the disposal of 
 land, which had been accelerated by the rapid 
 increase of population, appears to have convinced 
 the political leaders of the advisability of the Govern- 
 mental extension of the railway lines. They were 
 enabled to carry out this policy without difficulty, as 
 the bulk of the electors were engrossed in material 
 pursuits and did not trouble themselves about 
 political issues. In Victoria three short lines of 
 railways were constructed during the fifties by 
 private companies, but were subsequently purchased 
 by the Government, which thenceforward monopo- 
 lised the construction of new lines. Why Victoria 
 and the other Provinces should have decided in 
 favour of State ownership and management of rail- 
 ways I am unable to explain, except upon the 
 hypothesis that they were influenced by the example 
 of New South Wales, that they wished to open up 
 the country more quickly than would otherwise have 
 been possible, and that they were tempted by the 
 funds at their disposal in surpluses of revenue over 
 expenditure. Then, the railways having in many 
 instances preceded population, it was necessary, if 
 the lines were not to be unprofitable, that special steps 
 should be taken in order to promote settlement. This 
 was done, partly by the offer of land upon favour- 
 able conditions, partly by the payment out of the 
 National Exchequer of all the expenses of Local 
 Government. In New South Wales this state of 
 things still prevails in many of the rural districts ; in
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 251 
 
 the other Provinces pro rata subsidies are paid to the 
 Local Authorities, but are limited, in some cases, to 
 a fixed term of years. The Local Bodies have had 
 no spontaneous evolution ; they are the creation of 
 the Central Government, they are supported and 
 controlled by it, and look to it for assistance when- 
 ever they are in financial difttculties. It would seem 
 that, accustomed to State railways and to depen- 
 dency upon the State in their local affairs, Austra- 
 lasians have been led insensibly to magnify the 
 efficacy of its intervention and to welcome every 
 enlargement of its sphere of action. The protective 
 tariff appears to have had a similar effect, unless it 
 is to be regarded as a mere coincidence that South 
 Australia, New Zealand, and Victoria, which alone 
 are avowedly Protectionist, have authorised the 
 widest extension of the functions of the State. 
 
 Throughout Australasia all parties in the several 
 Parliaments are agreed on the principle of the State 
 ownership of railways. In Victoria and Queens- 
 land the railways are entirely in the hands of the 
 Government ; in New South Wales and South 
 Australia they are so with some trifling exceptions ; 
 in Tasmania, Western Australia, and New Zealand 
 a few private lines have been authorised because it 
 has been advisable, in the interests of settlement, 
 that they should be constructed, and the Govern- 
 ments have been unable or unwilling to undertake 
 further financial obligations. The recent action of 
 Western Australia may be mentioned in evidence of
 
 252 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 the prevalent feeling, it having taken advantage of 
 its improved credit to purchase one of the private 
 lines. The waterworks of the capitals, also, are 
 national or municipal property ; but other municipal 
 monopolies, such as gasworks and tramways, are 
 mostly in the hands of private companies. 
 
 The railways of Australasia are worked, as far as 
 is consonant with national interests, for the direct 
 benefit of producers, who, as has been seen in the 
 chapters dealing with individual Provinces, have 
 been the special object of the paternal solicitude 
 of their Governments. The various efforts in this 
 direction may briefly be recapitulated. South Aus- 
 tralia, Victoria, Western Australia, and New Zealand 
 make advances to settlers at low rates of interest ; 
 South Australia sells its wines in London ; Queens- 
 land facilitates the erection of sugar mills, and is 
 proposing to establish depots in London and the 
 provinces for the receipt and distribution of its 
 frozen meat ; Victoria and South Australia have 
 given a bonus upon the exportation of dairy pro- 
 duce. These Provinces and New Zealand receive 
 such produce, grade and freeze it free of charge or 
 at a rate which barely covers the expenses. Victoria 
 has given subsidies towards the erection of butter 
 factories ; Victoria and New Zealand have subsidised 
 the mining industry ; and Western Australia has 
 adopted a comprehensive scheme for the supply of 
 water to the Coolgardie Goldfields. 
 
 The above brief summary shows that action by
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 253 
 
 the State for the promotion of enterprise has met 
 with approval in Queensland and Western Australia 
 as well as in the Provinces which have adopted the 
 widest extensions of the franchise. It maybe noted, 
 however, that Sir Hugh Nelson, the Premier of 
 Queensland, is an individualist at heart, and consents 
 to extensions of the functions of the State un- 
 willingly upon a conviction of their necessity ; 
 while, in Western Australia, Sir John Forrest is a 
 strong advocate of State socialism, and opposed to 
 private enterprise in any matter which is of the 
 nature of a monopoly. New South Wales and 
 Tasmania have not hitherto followed the lead of 
 the other Provinces. This tendency is one of the 
 most marked of recent years, and received a strong 
 impetus from the financial crisis of 1893, which 
 burst the bubble of a fictitious prosperity and com- 
 pelled attention to the strenuous development of 
 the resources of the soil. It is likely to lead to 
 closer relations between the Provinces, from the 
 appreciation of the fact that the exports of one 
 Province, if unregulated and allowed to fall into 
 disrepute, may prejudicially affect the interests of 
 the whole continent. 
 
 As regards the invervention of the State in the 
 direction of industrial legislation, the Governments 
 of Western Australia and Tasmania have had little 
 cause to take action, in the absence of crowded 
 centres and of manufacturing activity ; but New 
 South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia,
 
 i54 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 and New Zealand have placed stringent Factory 
 Acts upon their Statute Books. Measures have also 
 been passed, largely under the influence of Labour 
 Representatives, dealing with the liability of em- 
 ployers, the regulation of mines, the protection of 
 shop assistants, and other matters affecting the wel- 
 fare of the working classes. Upon their enactment 
 complaints have been made of undue interference 
 with employers ; but the administration is now, in 
 most cases, carried out efficiently and without 
 unnecessary friction. 
 
 Indirectly, the various Provinces have, through 
 their schemes of public works, exercised considerable 
 influence upon the demand for labour and have, 
 upon the completion of the more important under- 
 takings, been subject to continual pressure with 
 the object of inducing them to authorise special 
 works for the benefit of those who have been 
 deprived of their livelihood. New South Wales, 
 indeed, and, to a lesser extent, Victoria, have almost 
 admitted an obligation to provide work or rations 
 for the unemployed. In Victoria the tension has 
 been relaxed by the formation of the Labour Colony 
 of Leongatha, at which the destitute can obtain 
 temporary subsistence. Australian politicians, gene- 
 rally, were appalled by the undeserved misery which 
 resulted from the cessation of public works and 
 from the financial disturbances, and, under the stress 
 of humanitarian motives, failed to temper their 
 humanity with discretion, and initiated a policy of
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 
 
 -OD 
 
 indiscriminate assistance from which, once entered 
 upon, it has been difficult for them to draw back. 
 The formation of village settlements in all the 
 Provinces except Western Australia was based upon 
 the necessity for special efforts in the face of the 
 prevailing distress. Australians have never been 
 able to regard the unemployed as a necessary 
 factor in their economic system. The ordinary 
 problems of pauperism have been felt acutely in 
 Australasia and have been met in somewhat similar 
 fashion in the different Provinces. Destitute children 
 are, in most cases, boarded out ; the aged and in- 
 capable are provided for in Benevolent Asylums. 
 In Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zealand 
 a movement has recently arisen for the adoption 
 of a system of old-age pensions, which has had no 
 appreciable results in the former Province, but has 
 led in New South Wales to the appointment of a 
 Parliamentary Committee which reported favourably 
 and suggested forms of additional taxation by which 
 the necessary funds might be obtained, and in New 
 Zealand to the introduction of a Ministerial measure 
 which sought to establish the general principle and 
 left to the House the elaboration of the financial 
 details. The Bill was accepted on its second reading, 
 but in Committee an amendment was carried against 
 the Government to the effect that all persons above 
 the age of sixty-five, irrespectively of their means, 
 should be entitled to receive a pension. An Act 
 was, however, subsequently passed of which the
 
 256 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 object is to ascertain the probable cost of a pension 
 fund. All persons of the age of sixty-five and 
 upwards, who have resided in the Province for 
 twenty years, imprisonment being reckoned as 
 absence, and are not possessed of an income ex- 
 ceeding ^"50 a year, are entitled to apply for a 
 pension certificate which will be issued to them 
 upon the verification of their claims, and will be 
 regarded as conclusive if a pension fund be estab- 
 lished hereafter. The success of the Government 
 at the recent elections renders it probable that the 
 matter will shortly receive attention. In neither of 
 the Provinces in which the subject has been dis- 
 cussed is it proposed that the pension should be 
 earned by previous contributions ; it is to be 
 offered as a free gift in recognition of the services 
 which every worker must have rendered to the 
 community. 
 
 To conclude a superficial summary of the func- 
 tions undertaken, or likely to be undertaken, by 
 the State in Australasia, it may be mentioned that 
 the State system of primary education is in all the 
 Provinces compulsory and undenominational. In 
 South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and New 
 Zealand it is also free ; in the other Provinces 
 fees are charged but may be remitted, wholly or 
 partly, in the case of the inability of parents to 
 pay them. There are no signs that the advocates 
 of grants in aid of denominational education are 
 gaining ground ; in the direct reference to the
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 257 
 
 electors taken in South Australia they were defeated 
 by a large majority, and have equally little chance 
 of securing subsidies to religious bodies. 
 
 In the presence of great activity on the part of 
 the State, it is interesting to note to what extent 
 the working classes have exerted themselves on 
 their own behalf. Distributive co-operation has not 
 become popular owing, partly, according to the 
 Australasian,^ " to the vicissitudes in trade which 
 are inseparable from new countries, and to the 
 temptations which are consequently held out to 
 the workers from time to time to change their 
 occupations and abodes. Partly, too, an explana- 
 tion may be found in the efficacy of existing 
 agencies for distribution. But we cannot help 
 thinking that it is due also, in part, to the pernicious 
 ideas which lead so many of our artisans to cry out 
 against capital, and to seek the aid of the State, 
 instead of trusting to their own efforts and deter- 
 mining to become capitalists themselves in a way 
 which has been proved by the co-operative societies 
 at home to be thoroughly practical." Though the 
 Australasian is strongly individualistic in its bias, 
 it appears to be justified in its reference to a certain 
 lack of initiative shown by Australasian workmen ; 
 they are inclined to look upon the State as a gold 
 mine from which they can draw permanent divi- 
 dends, especially as they are scarcely, if at all, 
 affected directly by the periodical calls upon the 
 
 ' July 25, 1896.
 
 258 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 shareholders ; but, in his strictures upon the 
 attitude of labour towards capital, the writer should 
 have added that the wealthy classes are at least 
 as ready to misjudge every effort made by the 
 Labour Representatives to pass remedial measures 
 through the legislatures. Proceeding to deal with 
 the co-operation of producers, he says that ''there 
 is co-operation of this kind already in our butter 
 and cheese factories, where the farmer who conveys 
 his produce to the factory may also be a shareholder, 
 and at the end of the half-year may receive a 
 dividend on his shares and a bonus on the milk 
 supplied, in addition to the established price. Co- 
 operation of a like kind prevails, to some extent, 
 though not so largely as might be desired, between 
 the graziers and the companies for the export of 
 Australian meat." These remarks, which refer 
 primarily to Victoria, are generally true of Austra- 
 lasia. 
 
 But, while the working classes look constantly to 
 the State for assistance in various forms, they can be 
 shown to have made considerable provision against 
 the future. In spite of bad times, the number of 
 depositors in Australasian Savings Banks rose from 
 742,000 in 1891 to 895,000 in 1895, and the total 
 amount of deposits from 19 to 26 millions. 
 Victoria and South Australia, which are followed 
 closely by New Zealand, have the largest number 
 of depositors in proportion to population, 29 and 
 24 per 100 respectively, and Queensland and New
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 259 
 
 South Wales the highest average amount of de- 
 posits.^ In the three Provinces, therefore, in which 
 the paternal action of the Government is carried 
 to the furthest extent, we find the widest diffu- 
 sion of an important exemplification of the spirit 
 of thrift. I am far from suggesting a relation of 
 cause and effect, as the amount of savings must 
 depend largely upon the rate of wages, the abun- 
 dance or scarcity of employment, the cost of living, 
 and many other factors, and would merely point 
 out that the policy in question does not appear to 
 have deterred the working classes from individual 
 efforts. 
 
 As regards Friendly Societies, South Australia 
 takes the lead with a membership exceeding one 
 in ten of the population ; Victoria comes next with 
 one in fifteen, and is third in the average amount of 
 funds per member. Under the latter head New Zea- 
 land occupied the first place with ;^i8 8s. 2d., and is 
 followed by Western Australia with £iy los. 4d., but 
 the latter amount is of no comparative importance 
 owing to the very small number of subscribers.^ 
 
 In 1895 the average amount of assurance per 
 head of the population in Australasia was ;^20, 
 the average sum assured per policy ;:^285, and the 
 average number of policies per 1,000 of the popula- 
 tion, 70. Compared with the United Kingdom, 
 
 ' "A Statistical Account of the Seven Colonies of Austra- 
 lasia, 1895-6," by T. A. Coghlan, p. 345. 
 " Ibid., p. 359.
 
 26o SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 Australasia has a considerable advantage in the 
 first of these figures, has the proportion reversed 
 in the second, but wins by more than two to 
 one on the last, w^hich is the most interesting as 
 a further indication of the prevalence of the in- 
 stinct of providence among Australasian workmen. i 
 Prior to the recent crisis the working classes 
 had availed themselves largely of the opportunities 
 which Building Societies offered to them to secure 
 the freehold of their homes by payments spread 
 over a term of years ; but a run upon the deposits 
 lodged in these institutions, which set in towards 
 the end of 1891, and continued during 1892, 
 affected them disastrously, and the large majority 
 of even the soundest of them were obliged 
 eventually, owing to the heavy withdrawal of de- 
 posits, to close their doors. Though some have 
 since been re-opened, upon terms agreed to be- 
 tween the shareholders and depositors, their busi- 
 ness has collapsed for the time, the amount of 
 advances in Victoria having fallen from over two 
 miUions in 1890 and in 1891 to less than a 
 hundred thousand pounds in 1893.2 In the ap- 
 parent absence of statistics of the number of 
 freeholders in several Provinces, no general idea 
 can be formed of the extent to which the working 
 classes have, through Building Societies and other- 
 wise, invested their savings in the acquisition of 
 
 ' "A Statistical Account of the Seven Colonies of Austra- 
 lasia, 1895-6," p. 357. ^ Victorian Year Book, 1894, p. 648.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 261 
 
 freehold properties. The only figures that I have 
 been able to obtain give the estimated number of 
 owners as 30,600, 91,500, and 184,500 for New 
 South Wales, New Zealand, and Victoria respec- 
 tively. As far as the two latter Provinces are 
 concerned, the total populations being only 
 699,000 and 1,174,000, it is absurd to suppose 
 that the electors, a large proportion of whom are 
 freeholders, will be captivated by the advocates of 
 the Single Tax. It cannot too often be repeated 
 that the Australasian Governments, all of which 
 are, to a greater or lesser degree, aiming at the 
 multiplication of small owners or perpetual lease- 
 holders, are rendering it practically impossible 
 that an agitation for the confiscation of land values 
 should be successful, and are fostering the growth 
 of that class of settlers which is believed to be 
 Conservative in the best sense of the word. But 
 large estates, except in the case of certain kinds 
 of pastoral land, are doomed to extinction, either 
 in the natural course of events, owing to the 
 costliness of labour, or from the pressure of heavy 
 graduated taxation, the workmen of Australasia 
 being thoroughly convinced of its justice as a 
 means of raising revenue and of its efficacy as 
 a means of causing land to be subdivided or 
 placed upon the market. They have also, as has 
 been seen, supported legislation which has autho- 
 rised the re-purchase and subdivision of landed 
 estates.
 
 262 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 Lastly, they have reahsed since 1890 that, for 
 the furtherance of their aspirations, the strength 
 of their Unions should be devoted mainly to the 
 promotion of the representation of Labour in 
 Parliament. The great strike of that year has 
 been described so fully that it is unnecessary to 
 say more than that a strong combination of labour, 
 which had made itself master of the situation, was 
 confronted upon the outbreak of hostilities by 
 rapidly organised but powerful associations of 
 employers ; that the struggle, which spread over 
 the whole Continent and New Zealand, terminated 
 in the success of the latter, and that the workmen 
 realised that, even had they succeeded, the victory 
 would have been won at too heavy a cost in the 
 misery entailed upon themselves and their families. 
 Many of them were dissatisfied with the generalship 
 of their leaders during the strike, and realised that 
 the exhaustion of their funds rendered them unable 
 to engage again in a huge industrial struggle. In 
 the following years low prices, the financial crisis, 
 and the consequent scarcity of employment and fall 
 in wages, further weakened the Unions and intensi- 
 fied the conviction that strikes should be superseded 
 by the ballot-box. In some Provinces, also, it was 
 felt that the rivalry of parties had degenerated into 
 a contest between the ins and the outs, and that pro- 
 gressive measures would not be passed until Labour 
 had entered as a compact body into the arena. 
 
 I have discussed in the earlier chapters the
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 263 
 
 history and results of Labour representation in 
 several of the Provinces, and have shown that 
 the Labour Party has been successful in South 
 Australia, where it has formed an alliance with 
 the Government, though maintaining a separate 
 organisation, and in New South Wales, where it 
 has held the balance of power between the Pro- 
 tectionists and Free Traders, but has failed utterly 
 in Queensland, where mainly through its own 
 fault, but partly through the astuteness of its oppo- 
 nents, it has occupied a position of antagonism to 
 all the vested interests of the community. In 
 Victoria the Labour Party acts usually with the 
 Government, but seeks to obtain its objects by the 
 exercise of its strength more than by friendly 
 negotiations. In New Zealand no distinct Party 
 was formed, but the working-men representatives 
 threw in their lot with the Government and, by 
 consistent support, helped to secure the imposition 
 of graduated taxation and the enactment, among 
 other measures, of a compulsory Conciliation and 
 Arbitration Act, and of a large number of Indus- 
 trial Statutes. 
 
 A great similarity of aims and aspirations can be 
 traced between the different Labour Parties if we 
 ignore side issues and exclude that of Queensland, 
 which is affected by the taint of aggressive socialism. 
 Judging from the respective programmes and from 
 conversations which I have had with many of the 
 leaders, 1 lind thai, subject to certain exceptions
 
 264 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 which I shall mention, they are united upon the 
 following propositions : — 
 
 Manhood or adult suffrage, shorn of the plural 
 vote, should be the basis of representation in the 
 Assembly. The Legislative Council should be 
 abolished, as it prevents the wishes of the people 
 from being carried into effect. 
 
 Direct taxation should consist of graduated death 
 duties and graduated taxes on incomes and land 
 values. 
 
 Parliament should secure to every worker for 
 wages sanitary and safe conditions of employment, 
 and immunity from excessive hours of labour. 
 
 Machinery should be provided by Parliament by 
 which industrial disputes may be referred to an 
 impartial tribunal. 
 
 The workers should protect themselves not only 
 against foreign goods, but against undesirable im- 
 migrants, whether they be Orientals or indigent 
 Europeans. 
 
 The consideration of these questions, and of the 
 wider issues with which they are concerned, will 
 cover most of the points of recent interest in 
 Australasian politics. 
 
 (i) It is doubtful whether Responsible Govern- 
 ment, in the sense of government by a Ministry 
 which carries out a definite policy approved by the 
 country, and, in return, receives allegiance from its
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 265 
 
 supporters in Parliament, has ever been acclimatised 
 in Australasia except in New South Wales under the 
 influence of the late Sir Henry Parkes. How, in- 
 deed, could it be otherwise, when it was sought to 
 transplant a delicate system, hallowed by conventions 
 and dependent for its success upon the election of a 
 special class of representatives, among a community 
 necessarily ruled by men who had little experience 
 of public life ? Australian Parliaments, save on the 
 rare occasions when some important issue, such 
 as that of the tariff, has come to the front, have not 
 been divided on ordinary party lines, and have 
 amused themselves with the excitement of a con- 
 stant succession of new Ministries selected on 
 personal and not on political considerations. New 
 South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria, to take 
 three Provinces at random, have had, respectively, 
 28, 42, and 26 Ministries in 40 years. The policy of 
 the Opposition has often been almost identical with 
 that of the Government. Again, coalitions between 
 former opponents have been of frequent occurrence ; 
 the Ministries formed by Messrs. Deakin and Gillies 
 in Victoria, and by Sir Samuel Griffith and Sir 
 Thomas Mcllwraith in Queensland, are recent 
 instances of this tendency. In some rural con- 
 stituencies, also, candidates appeal to the electorate 
 on personal grounds and are not required to declare 
 their adhesion to a party. 1 was struck, when pre- 
 sent at the elections in South Australia and New 
 Zealand, by the subsequent animated discussions in
 
 266 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 the newspapers as to the probable effect of the 
 changes in the personnel of the Members upon the 
 prospects of the Government. This is the more 
 noticeable from the fact that the freedom of action 
 allowed to representatives has been curtailed since 
 the return to Parliament of Labour Members, who 
 are pledged to a definite programme and have put 
 forward questions on which there is a distinct line 
 of cleavage. Proposals for the extension of the 
 franchise, for the abolition of the plural vote, or 
 for the imposition of a tax on incomes and land 
 values, are such as divide the electorate into two 
 camps and perpetuate the division in the House. 
 This state of things, combined, perhaps, with the 
 financial crisis which raised problems demanding 
 continuity of administration for their solution, has 
 contributed to the greater stability of Ministries. 
 Another factor, which has given constituencies a 
 greater hold on their representatives, and has tended 
 thereby to make them adhere more closely to one or 
 other of the parties, is the payment of Members, 
 which has now been adopted in all the Lower 
 Houses except that of Western Australia, and in 
 the Upper Houses of South Australia, Tasmania, 
 and New Zealand. Australia has been confronted 
 with the difficulty experienced by every young 
 country, that the men who should naturally enter 
 Parliament are prevented by commercial or profes- 
 sional duties from devoting the necessary time, and 
 that, in the absence of men of leisure, constituencies
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 267 
 
 are much hampered in their choice of candidates. 
 The payment of Members, it is needless to say, 
 offers no inducement to the successful merchant or 
 lawyer, but has increased the competition among 
 men to whom the salary is an inducement. My 
 inquiries as to its effect upon the tone of politicians 
 have elicited mutually contradictory replies. On the 
 one hand I am assured that the attractions of the 
 salary have led men to resort to disreputable prac- 
 tices in order to be selected as candidates and to 
 seek to retain the fickle affections of their con- 
 stituents by similar means ; on the other, that 
 necessitous Members have been raised by the 
 salary above temptations which their poverty made 
 it difficult for them to resist ; and such temptations 
 must increase in number with each extension of the 
 functions of the State unless it be dissociated from 
 political influence. It is clear that a knowledge of 
 the inner life of a Parliament could alone supply 
 materials for the adequate discussion of this ques- 
 tion, and that a similar consideration applies to the 
 discussion of the effects of State socialism upon 
 political morality. The possible abuses are many : 
 railways may be constructed with a view to popu- 
 larity ; the rents of Crown tenants may be remitted, 
 and borrowers may be allowed to fall in arrears with 
 the interest on their advances ; subsidies and bonuses 
 voted by Parliament may be misapplied ; and the 
 unemployed may be conciliated by unnecessary 
 public works. Personal corruption, I am confident,
 
 268 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 does not exist, but that safeguards have been felt to 
 be necessary is proved by the appointment of in- 
 dependent Railway Commissioners by New South 
 Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and 
 New Zealand, and of Public Works Committees by 
 Victoria and New South Wales. In the latter coun- 
 try, as has been seen, the Commissioners have been 
 most successful, but New Zealand has reverted to 
 the system of political control, and Victoria, Queens- 
 land, and South Australia have reduced the number 
 of Commissioners from three to one. This change, 
 which must have lessened the efficacy of non- 
 political control, was advocated on grounds of 
 economy at a time when all forms of expenditure 
 were being cut down to the lowest point. In 
 Victoria the Leongatha Labour Settlement has 
 diminished the difficulties connected with the 
 unemployed, and its administration has been 
 studied by the other Provinces with a view to 
 similar action. The general political tone is healthy, 
 and is stimulated, in all the Provinces, by a high- 
 class press, which uses its great influence in a 
 conscientious manner. But, as long as Treasurers 
 can balance their accounts by recourse to loans, and 
 are tempted, as is inevitable, to apply borrowed 
 money to placatory enterprises, the dangers which 
 are necessarily connected with State socialism are 
 multiplied tenfold. They would be lessened if the 
 objects for which loans might be contracted were 
 defined, as has been suggested, by Act of Parliament,
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 269 
 
 or if Federation were to eventuate at an early date 
 and the right to borrow were hmited to the Federal 
 Authority. 
 
 In New Zealand alone have I found direct 
 evidence of the misuse of political patronage. 
 Upon the third reading of the Appropriation Bill 
 in 1896, Captain Russell, the Leader of the Opposi- 
 tion, made use of the following words : " I 
 maintain that for years past the administration 
 of the Government has been anything but good. 
 They have hunted for popularity and they have 
 hunted their enemies. They have hunted their 
 enemies to a very great extent. You find positions 
 which were capably filled by old and valued servants 
 now filled by friends of the Government. We have 
 a system of espionage in existence which is dis- 
 gusting. . . The Civil Servants should not depend 
 on the favour and their popularity with Ministers 
 for promotion, but rather on good honest service, 
 and that is not the case now. Why, a Civil 
 Servant dare not come and speak to an Oppo- 
 sition Member for fear of that fact being reported 
 to the Ministers. (An Hon. Member : No 1) It is 
 all very well to say 'No,' but I am acquainted with 
 dozens of Civil Servants in Wellington, and they will 
 not come and speak to me in the street for fear of 
 being reported." ^ In his reply the Premier made 
 no attempt to meet these charges, which I have 
 quoted because I have gathered corroborative 
 ' Parliamentary Debates of New Zealand, vol. 96, p. 901.
 
 270 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 evidence in different parts of the country, though 
 it is not such as admits of being adduced as defi- 
 nite proof, and because the Minister of Lands made 
 an exceedingly candid admission shortly after the 
 elections. In the course of a speech delivered 
 at Geraldine he is reported by a Ministerial news- 
 paper to have said : " They had endeavoured during 
 their term of office to do what they could in the 
 interests of the Colony as a whole, but they had 
 been very badly treated by two classes of the 
 public at the elections. In the session of 1895, 
 they would remember, the Government passed a 
 measure to give relief to pastoral Crown tenants 
 who lost a large number of sheep in the snow. 
 The Government did this in the interest of the 
 people as a whole, as they thought, but how had 
 they been treated by the people they helped in time 
 of distress ? (A voice : Very badly.) Yes, there 
 might have been one or two exceptions, but 
 generally speaking they fought tooth and nail 
 against the Government. Then, again, the Govern- 
 ment saved the Bank of New Zealand and the 
 Colony from ruin, but still the old leaven of the 
 Bank fought and voted against the Government 
 at the elections. He considered this very unfair 
 on their part, considering what the Government 
 had done for them." ^ Sir Robert Stout, a former 
 Premier of New Zealand, has also brought a 
 grave indictment against the Government, from 
 ' New Zealand Times, January i, 1897.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 271 
 
 which I quote the portion referring to appoint- 
 ments : — 
 
 " By the Statute Law of New Zealand, no one who 
 has been a member of either House can be appointed 
 to any position in the Civil Service until he has for 
 twelve months ceased to be a member of Parlia- 
 ment. A vacancy occurred in the position of 
 Sergeant-at-arms, and it was announced that an 
 ex-member, who had at the elections retired in 
 favour of a Ministerial candidate, had received 
 the office. When Parliament met, the appoint- 
 ment gave rise to much discussion. Ultimately 
 a large majority supported the Ministry in con- 
 ferring the appointment temporarily, the official 
 appointment to be made at the end of twelve 
 months. If this had been the only flagrant 
 violation of the law it might have been over- 
 looked ; but it is only a type of what has been 
 done. The Civil Service Reform Act, 1886, pro- 
 vides that no one, save an expert, can be appointed 
 to the Civil Service unless he enters as a cadet. 
 Some departments, such as the railway, postal, and 
 telegraph departments, are exempted from the pro- 
 visions of the Act. The cadets must obtain their 
 positions by competition ; the examination is annual. 
 The Ministry, however, appointed some cadets out 
 of their order, and some who had never even 
 submitted to an examination at all. There is 
 a provision for " temporary " clerks. When va- 
 cancies arise in the service these are given to
 
 272 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 temporary clerks. The policy of "spoils for the 
 victors" has been openly defended. To carry 
 out this pernicious system the law has been 
 violated. It has been said that only those of 
 the 'right colour' of political opinions should 
 receive appointments in the Civil Service." ^ 
 
 However great may be one's sympathy with the 
 efforts of the Government to encourage settlement 
 and to promote industrial conciliation and arbitra- 
 tion, one cannot but rejoice at the increased strength 
 of the Opposition, which will be sufficient to enforce 
 greater purity of administration and the enactment 
 of legislation which will prevent a recurrence of the 
 evil. 
 
 The realisation of the dangers of an unmuzzled 
 democracy has caused a widespread anxiety which 
 has been displayed in vehement but, for the most 
 part, unsuccessful opposition to proposed changes 
 in the constitution of the Assembly. New Zealand 
 and South Australia have adopted adult suffrage, 
 coupled with the abolition of plural voting ; Vic- 
 toria and New South Wales manhood suffrage, 
 associated in the former case with the plural vote 
 but not in the latter. In Victoria, the Conservatives, 
 if I may so characterise the less-advanced party, 
 have put forward a proposal which is unique in 
 Australasia. They suggest that, while each man 
 should continue to have a vote, the present plural 
 votes should be replaced by a second vote which 
 
 ' Australasian Review of Reviews, September, 1896.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 273 
 
 should be possessed equally by all freeholders what- 
 ev'er be the size and number of their properties. 
 They believe that they would thereby place the 
 power in the hands of the more stable elements of 
 the population, and that they are not unlikely to be 
 supported by the freeholders, who constitute nearly 
 two-thirds of the electors on the rolls for the 
 Assembly. 
 
 At present the Labour parties are engaged in 
 onslaughts upon the Legislative Councils with a 
 view to their ultimate abolition, but are prepared to 
 accept, as an instalment, any proposals which would 
 cripple their power. They concurred heartily with 
 the Bill introduced in 1896 by the Government of 
 New South Wales and rejected by the Council after 
 it had been passed by large majorities through the 
 Assembly, which provided for the reference to a 
 popular vote of matters in dispute between the two 
 Houses. Similar measures are also advocated by 
 the Governments of Victoria, South Australia, and 
 Tasmania ; while in New Zealand, it is proposed 
 that deadlocks shall be obviated by a joint session of 
 both Houses, w^hich shall sit as one Chamber. It 
 may be that an Act of 1891 which, as will be seen, 
 tends to popularise the Legislative Council in New 
 Zealand will account for the less drastic character 
 of the solution put forward in that Province, it is 
 probable that it will become customary in Austra- 
 lasia to submit distinct issues to the electorate, on a 
 separate ballot-paper, at the time of a general elec- 
 
 19
 
 274 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 tion. The Government of South Australia ascer- 
 tained in this manner the popular wishes in regard 
 to religious instruction in State schools, and the 
 payment to denominational schools of a capitation 
 grant for secular results ; and the recent " Alcoholic 
 Liquors Sale Control Act " of New Zealand provides 
 that Local Option polls shall be taken concurrently 
 with the election of representatives. Under refer- 
 ences similar to that in South Australia, it may be 
 objected. Ministers may be supported on their 
 general policy, but be required to introduce a mea- 
 sure to which they are opposed. Such a position, 
 however, would not apparently be regarded as incon- 
 sistent, as most of the candidates in South Australia 
 stated their willingness to give effect to the popular 
 vote, in whatever direction it might be expressed. 
 Disputes between the two Houses will, I believe, be 
 decided similarly, on the score of the expense of a 
 special poll, unless the issue be such as to demand 
 an immediate settlement. 
 
 The first line of attack of the Labour Members is 
 thus seen to be an agitation which aims at enabling 
 the electorate of the Assembly to override the 
 Council ; the second is directed at its Conservative 
 tendencies. The policy pursued depends upon the 
 constitution of the Council : if it is elective, it 
 should be so modified as to become a Chamber of 
 paid representatives, subject to no property qualifi- 
 cation and elected upon a wide franchise, such as 
 the South Australian Council, in which a combina-
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 275 
 
 tion of Ministerialists and Labour Members has been 
 able to obtain a bare majority. If it is nominated, 
 the life tenure should be superseded by nomination 
 for a short term of years, which will enable succes- 
 sive Ministries to introduce a new leaven of persons 
 who are in touch with popular feeling, and will be 
 prevented, by the limit placed upon the duration of 
 their appointments, from being subjected to re- 
 actionary influences. The Council, that is to say, is 
 to become a mere machine for registering the wishes 
 of the Assembly. The only success which has 
 hitherto attended this agitation is the enactment in 
 1891 of a measure in New Zealand which limited to 
 seven years the duration of subsequent appoint- 
 ments ; but the Government now desire to abolish 
 the life tenure, and they are followed herein by New 
 South Wales, by providing for the gradual retire- 
 ment of all the members who hold their seats for 
 life. They also propose, whether seriously or in 
 order to cast ridicule upon the Council, that women 
 shall be eligible for appointment to that body. In 
 regard to the general position of the nominated 
 Councils, which are not limited as to the number of 
 their members, it may be stated that the Imperial 
 Government decided, upon a case submitted to them 
 from New Zealand, that the Governor should accept 
 the recommendations of his constitutional advisers 
 in the matter of additional appointments. Strangely 
 enough, the Premier of Queensland, the only other 
 Australasian Province that has a nominated Legisla-
 
 276 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 live Council, though a strong constitutionalist, aimed 
 a blow at its prestige in a proposal, which he carried 
 through the Assembly but not through the Council, 
 that the former House alone should be vested with 
 the power of selecting the delegates to the pending 
 Federal Convention. 
 
 Before leaving this portion of the subject, I must 
 mention that other proposals affecting the form of 
 Government of the Provinces have been discussed 
 in Parliament and are likely to attract serious atten- 
 tion. Theoretically, indeed, it has been asserted, 
 apart from the question of the power of the Upper 
 Houses, and the point is of interest as showing the 
 ideas germinating in the minds of Australasian poli- 
 ticians, that five changes are required in order that 
 the Parliamentary machinery may be brought into 
 proper relations with the people : the election of 
 Ministers by the Assembly ; continuity of represen- 
 tation in the Assembly, to be secured by the division 
 of the country into constituencies returning two 
 representatives who retire alternately at fixed periods ; 
 the Swiss form of Initiative and Referendum ; and 
 the right of a certain proportion of the members to 
 convoke a special session of Parliament, and of an 
 absolute majority of the electors in a constituency 
 to require the resignation of their member. The 
 first and second of these reforms, as I have shown, 
 are included in the programme of the Ministry of 
 South Australia, which, however, in spite of its 
 success at the polls, has not pressed them forward
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 277 
 
 during the first session of the New ParHament, 
 Continuity of representation could easily be arranged, 
 as all the constituencies return two members. An 
 Elective Executive Bill has been introduced in the 
 House of Representatives in New Zealand and 
 received a large measure of support, though it was 
 opposed by the Premier and the leader of the 
 Opposition. The idea has taken a strong hold upon 
 the imagination of the Labour Members in all the 
 Provinces. 
 
 It may be thought that I have laid stress upon a 
 variety of fantastic theories, but the objection takes 
 insufficient account of the facility with which 
 changes can be effected in the absence of a strong 
 force of traditional conservatism. I must admit, as 
 a failing of Australasian politicians, that they are 
 inclined to welcome innovations which are super- 
 ficially attractive, without due consideration of the 
 ulterior consequences. To quote an extreme case, 
 the Government of New Zealand proposed, in a 
 Single Bill, not only to abolish the life tenure of 
 Members of the Legislative Council, but to provide 
 machinery for the settlement of disputes between 
 the two Houses and to establish a modified form of 
 the Swiss Referendum. But I am confident that 
 several of the proposals to which I have referred, 
 notably that for an Elective Executive, meet with a 
 large measure of support in the constituencies. 
 This movement has gathered strength from the dis- 
 inclination of Ministries to resign except upon a
 
 278 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 direct vote of want of confidence. Some of them 
 look with equanimity upon the defeat of cardinal 
 principles of important Bills, whether it be due to 
 the strength of the Opposition or the defection of 
 their own followers, and do not hesitate, if sufficient 
 pressure be exercised, to withdraw them altogether. 
 As the Ministry tends, therefore, to become a body 
 which carries out the wishes of the whole House, 
 and ceases to lead its own Party, the position would 
 be simplified if the whole House elected the Execu- 
 tive for a fixed period. Another argument is found 
 in the increasing desire of the Assembly to shift its 
 legislative duties to the shoulders of the Executive. 
 Parliament decides the broad principles of measures 
 and leaves the details to be filled in by Regulations 
 made by the Department concerned under the 
 supervision of the Minister and with the approval of 
 the Executive Council. 
 
 (2) Graduated death duties are imposed in all 
 the seven Provinces, though in Tasmania the tax 
 levied on the largest properties does not exceed 3 
 per cent. Western Australia came into line with 
 the other Provinces in 1895, when a Bill imposing 
 graduation up to 10 per cent, was passed, almost 
 without discussion, through both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. The Premier admitted that it had not been 
 rendered necessary by the condition of the finances, 
 but contended that it should be placed upon the 
 Statute Book while there were few rich men in the 
 community who would resent it.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 279 
 
 Other forms of direct taxation are as follows : 
 New Zealand, South Australia, and New South Wales 
 have taxation on incomes and land values, the two 
 former with, the latter without, graduation ; Victoria 
 has a graduated income tax and an ungraduated 
 land tax on estates above a certain value ; Tasmania, 
 an ungraduated tax on incomes and the capital 
 value of land ; Queensland, an ungraduated income 
 tax, which is only collected on dividends paid by- 
 public companies. The taxation in New South 
 Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, and South Australia 
 has been promoted, if not inspired, by the Labour 
 Movement in Parliament, and constitutes its greatest 
 triumph. In Victoria the taxation of land values 
 was rejected by the Legislative Council. 
 
 A point of interest is the distinction made by 
 Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia between 
 incomes derived from property and those which 
 are the result of personal exertion. It is thought to 
 be equitable that the former should be taxed at a 
 higher rate, and the principle is similar to that 
 which dictates the taxation of land upon its un- 
 improved value. 
 
 (3) I have referred very briefly in the present 
 chapter to certain forms of industrial legislation ; 
 speaking generally, they are based upon English 
 examples and do not call for any particular com- 
 ment. The Labour Parties are keenly interested in 
 these matters because it is simpler, apart from 
 greater efficacy, that inspectors should protect their
 
 28o SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 interest under Acts of Parliament than that they 
 should be compelled constantly to engage in 
 negotiations with individual employers. 
 
 (4) As I have already pointed out, the considera- 
 tion of Australasian problems must be accompanied 
 by a recollection of the difference of conditions 
 from those existing in Great Britain. Even in the 
 latter country it is obvious that the intimate rela- 
 tions between employers and employed are being 
 replaced, especially in the manufacturing centres, 
 by a purely monetary bond ; but they can never, 
 except in individual cases, have had any existence 
 in Australasia, where capitalists and workmen have 
 approached each other and entered into agreements 
 as strangers. Consequently the workmen, attached 
 neither to people nor places, have been prepared to 
 move as their varying interests have suggested and 
 have formed few lasting ties with their employers. 
 Many of the industries, indeed, have tended to 
 accentuate this absence of cordial relations : in 
 pastoralism, for instance, the small permanent staff 
 is supplemented for a few weeks in the year by a 
 large number of shearers and others, who sign a 
 definite agreement with their employers, and, pro- 
 vided that the conditions are carried out, can have 
 no interest either in them or in their properties. 
 Incidentally, an association recently formed at 
 Sydney which engages shearers and provides them 
 with consecutive employment at different sheds, 
 should not only be a financial success, but allay the
 
 AUSTRALASIAX DEMOCRACY 281 
 
 natural dissatisfaction of a body of men who, though 
 they earn high wages, can depend upon neither 
 regularity nor permanency in their work. I could 
 show that similar conditions prevail in the sugar 
 industry and, to some extent, in agriculture ; but 
 enough has been said to prove that the working 
 classes are differently situated from those in older 
 countries and partially to explain their willingness 
 to form themselves into Trades Unions and the 
 combativeness of these organisations. 
 
 The great maritime strike, though it has been 
 followed by the Broken Hill strikes of 1891 and 1892, 
 the shearers' strikes of 1891 and 1894, and periodical 
 hostilities at Newcastle, has modified largely the 
 attitude of the working classes in regard to the 
 efficacy of industrial warfare. The later struggles 
 have principally affected Queensland and New South 
 Wales, which was the first of the Provinces to 
 attempt to deal with the matter by Act of Parlia- 
 ment. A Board of Conciliation was established 
 upon the recommendation of a Royal Commission, 
 but is admitted to have been a failure in the absence 
 of any compulsory reference of disputes. On the 
 occasion of the most recent disturbances, at New- 
 castle in 1896, which originated upon an application 
 of the miners for higher wages, the Premier, follow- 
 ing English precedents, intervened, and was enabled 
 to settle the dispute, though not until the strike had 
 lasted for three months and had caused much of the 
 foreign trade to be diverted to foreign ports. Actual
 
 282 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 and prospective losses caused the owners, though 
 they made a small concession at the request of the 
 Premier, to refuse to reinstate the miners except at a 
 slightly lower rate of wages than that against which 
 they had struck. The offer, as modified by the 
 Premier, was accepted by the miners, who had thus, 
 at the cost of much misery, brought about a reduc- 
 tion in their wages. The disturbances of 1894 in 
 Queensland, which reached an acute stage, were 
 met by the Government by resolute administration 
 under special powers obtained by Act of Parliament, 
 but no attempt was made to intervene between the 
 disputants or to make use of the Conciliation Act of 
 1892, which, as far as I know, has remained a dead 
 letter. It is useless, therefore, to discuss the Act 
 further than to say that its machinery can only be 
 set in motion by a Local Authority, but it may not 
 be unfair to attribute the unsympathetic attitude of 
 the Government to the bitterness engendered by the 
 extravagances of the Labour Party. 
 
 In most of the Provinces neither the employers 
 nor the workmen are prepared, as yet, to bind them- 
 selves to refer their disputes to an impartial tribunal 
 and to abide by its decision. Though the tendency 
 in that direction is on the increase, it has been 
 suggested that, in the meanwhile, Boards should be 
 constituted which would be empowered to consider 
 disputes, and, after the examination of books and 
 witnesses, to issue a public report. The judgment 
 would not be enforceable, but might be expected, in
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 283 
 
 the majority of cases, to lead to a settlement of the 
 difficulty ; at any rate, it would influence public 
 opinion, which is a large factor in all industrial 
 struggles. But South Australia and New Zealand 
 have passed this stage, and have placed drastic 
 measures on their Statute Book which provide, in 
 certain cases, for compulsory awards. The com- 
 pulsory provisions of the South Australian Act apply 
 only to employers and workmen who are organised 
 and have voluntarily accepted them by the process 
 of registration. Should they become involved in an 
 industrial dispute, the Governor may, upon the 
 recommendation of the President of the State Board 
 of Conciliation, cause the matter to be referred to it, 
 and the Board may make an award which will be 
 binding upon the parties concerned. In New 
 Zealand, on the other hand, while the proceedings 
 must be initiated by employers or workmen who 
 are registered, the other party, though unregistered, 
 may be called upon, should the Bo2ird of Conciliation 
 fail to effect a settlement, to attend before the Court 
 of Arbitration and to obey its award, subject to the 
 general proviso that an employer may suspend or 
 discontinue any industry and an employe cease 
 from working therein. In neither Province is a 
 strike or lock-out permitted during the deliberations 
 of the tribunal. 
 
 The Acts do not apply to unorganised workers, 
 except indirectly, partly because they have not been 
 the cause of the great industrial struggles of the past.
 
 284 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 partly because it would be difficult, if not impossible, 
 to enforce awards against them. It may also have 
 been thought that they would be encouraged thereby 
 to form themselves into Unions, and that the best 
 chance of industrial peace lies in negotiations 
 between responsible bodies of workers and em- 
 ployers who will have too much at stake to be 
 willing to proceed thoughtlessly to extremities. As 
 regards registration, it has been found that the 
 workers of South Australia, though their leaders 
 had supported the compulsory provisions, have 
 been backward in this direction ; but that, in New 
 Zealand, no such hesitation has been displayed. 
 The workers in that country do not appear to share 
 the disinclination to agree to the intervention of an 
 arbitrator which is stated to be increasing in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 In South Australia, to give a brief account of the 
 new tribunals. Boards of Conciliation may be either 
 Private Boards, constituted under industrial agree- 
 ments and endowed with such jurisdiction as may 
 be confided to them in the agreements ; or Public 
 Boards, which include Local Boards constituted for 
 particular localities and particular industries, and 
 the State Board of Conciliation. In New Zealand, 
 the first reference is to an elective Board of Con- 
 ciliation constituted for the district in which the 
 dispute has occurred. Should it fail to effect a 
 settlement, the matter may be referred to the Court 
 of Arbitration, which, similarly with the State Board
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 285 
 
 of Conciliation in South Australia, consists of an 
 equal number of representatives of employers and 
 employed and a chairman nominated by the Govern- 
 ment, who must, in the former country, be a judge 
 of the Supreme Court. These tribunals are invested 
 with full powers to require the attendance and 
 examination of w-itnesses, and may either make an 
 award which shall take effect for a period not 
 exceeding two years, and may be enforced by legal 
 process against associations and individuals, or they 
 may confine themselves, at their discretion, to a 
 recommendation which will be merely a direction 
 to the parties concerned. 
 
 In South Australia the State Board has also the 
 power to inquire into, and report upon, industrial 
 disputes, though the parties be not registered. This 
 portion of the Act has alone been brought into 
 operation, and that unsuccessfully, as, though the 
 representatives of employers and employed on the 
 Board arrived at a unanimous decision upon a dis- 
 pute affecting the rate of wages, the employer in 
 question refused to be guided by its judgment. The 
 general failure of the Act, though the affirmation 
 of the principle of Conciliation has been valuable, 
 has been due partly to the absence of serious dis- 
 putes in South Australia, but principally to the 
 unwillingness both of employers and employed to 
 place themselves in a position in which they will 
 lose control over the terms of employment. 
 
 The Act passed by the Government of New
 
 286 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 Zealand, on the contrary, has hitherto been entirely 
 efficacious, and has prevented the interruption of 
 harmonious relations between employers and em- 
 ployed. It was first tested upon a dispute which 
 arose over the action of the Consolidated Goldfields 
 Company in reducing wages in the mines from los. 
 to 8s. 4d. per day. The men, who were not 
 members of a union, went out on strike, and were 
 then offered wages at the rate of 9s, Upon the 
 advice of their leaders, the men accepted the offer 
 provisionally ; and, having formed themselves into 
 a union which they promptly caused to be 
 registered, referred the matter to the Board of 
 Conciliation. The decision of the Board, which it 
 is unnecessary to specify, was refused by the men, 
 who appealed to the Court of Arbitration. The 
 award of the latter body, which fixed the wages of 
 miners at 9s. 6d. per day, a rate smaller than that 
 which had been received by the men, but larger 
 than that against which they had protested, has been 
 observed loyally by the Company and its employes. 
 
 The next dispute arose at Christchurch upon the 
 expiration of the agreement which had been in 
 operation between the boot manufacturers and their 
 workmen for several years, and upon the desire of 
 the former to substitute new terms which were 
 regarded as distasteful. It was concerned with 
 several matters of detail, but hinged principally 
 upon the question whether non-unionists should 
 be allowed to work with unionists. As in the
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 287 
 
 former case, an appeal was made from the Board 
 of Conciliation's award to the Court of Arbitration, 
 whose decision, it is noteworthy, both sides had 
 signified their willingness to accept. The award 
 applied to all the bootmakers in the Province with 
 the exception of three or four who were not 
 identified with the boot manufacturers' association, 
 and was accompanied by remarks pronounced, it 
 must be remembered, by a judge of the Supreme 
 Court, which cannot fail to be of interest to the 
 Trades Unionists in all parts of the world. I do 
 not, therefore, apologise for quoting them at 
 length : — 
 
 "The Arbitration Court has not hitherto been in 
 the habit of giving reasons for its decision. It 
 appears to the Court that, sitting as arbitrators, it 
 should as a general rule follow the ordinary practice 
 of arbitrators and simply give its decision without 
 reasons. In the present case, however, so far as I 
 myself am concerned, I think it is desirable that I 
 should, with respect to part of the award, give some 
 indications of the reasons which have induced the 
 Court to arrive at its conclusion. The part of the 
 award to which I refer is that which relates to 
 clauses i and 2 of the general rules which the 
 Manufacturers' Association has submitted to the 
 Court : 'i. (a) It is the individual right of the 
 employer to decide whom he shall employ or 
 dismiss, (b) It is the individual right of the work- 
 man to accept or refuse work from any employer.
 
 288 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 2. Employers or employes, either individually or 
 through any organisation, shall not discriminate for 
 or against any person because he is or is not a 
 member of any organisation, neither shall there be 
 any distinction between organised or non-organised 
 labour ; both shall work under the same conditions 
 and receive equal pay for equal work.' The Boot- 
 makers' Union, in opposition to the rules so sug- 
 gested, put forward the contention that employment 
 should be limited to members of the Bootmakers' 
 Union. The Court, however, is not able to accept 
 the extreme view which has been put forward by 
 the Bootmakers' Union. If it were accepted it 
 might follow that an employer, who had work to 
 do and who could not get Union men to do it, 
 might have to bring his operations to a standstill. 
 The effect of it also would be that non-Union men 
 would be absolutely prevented from earning their 
 living in the workshops of the members of the 
 Manufacturers' Association. That, so far as I am 
 concerned, seems to be going beyond what the 
 Court ought to decree. On the other hand, how- 
 ever, I am not prepared to accept absolutely clauses 
 I and 2 in the form in which the Manufacturers' 
 Association has put them forward. The Court 
 ought, I think, to comply with the intention of 
 the Legislature as evidenced in the provisions of 
 the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and 
 ought not to do anything which is calculated to 
 destroy or weaken any industrial organisation. The
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 289 
 
 intention of the Act is indicated in its title— the Act 
 is an Act to encourage the formation of Industrial 
 Unions and Associations. The Court, therefore, 
 ought not to do anything which will tend to destroy 
 or weaken an industrial association, or interfere 
 with the manifest intention of the Legislature as 
 disclosed by the Act. We have this also, that for 
 the last three years the shops of the Manufacturers' 
 Association have been practically working as Union 
 shops. It is true that manufacturers say — probably 
 with truth — that they were so worked because they 
 could not help it, but the fact remains that they 
 have been working in that way, and the proposed 
 new rules, as put forward by the manufacturers, 
 expressly reverse the previous mode of working. 
 We have this also, that the previous statement was 
 a statement agreed to between the Manufacturers' 
 Association and the Bootmakers' Union, the con- 
 ference which followed the statement was between 
 the Association and the Union, and the dispute 
 now before the Court is between the Associa- 
 tion and the Union. It is only by means of 
 Unions that labour can take advantage of the Act. 
 Under these circumstances, it seems to me not un- 
 reasonable that the Union should stipulate for 
 special privileges to its members. The Union are 
 fighting the battle, and it is fair that they should 
 say that the results of the victory, so far as it is a 
 victory, and has any beneficial results, should accrue 
 to them, at any rate in the first instance. They fight 
 
 20
 
 290 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 the battle for their members, and not for the sake 
 of outside labour. Under these circumstances it 
 appears to me that it is quite reasonable that the 
 members of the Union should have preference in 
 employment ; that members of the Union who are 
 competent should not have to wait about while 
 non-members of the Union are employed in the 
 shops of the Boot Manufacturers' Association. The 
 Court, therefore, has modified Rules i and 2 in this 
 direction. I need hardly say that each case to be 
 decided under this Act must depend on the par- 
 ticular circumstances attaching to it ; that no one 
 case can be treated as a precedent to any future 
 case, and that because under the particular circum- 
 stances of a particular case, this Court has decided 
 as it has decided, that is no reason why, under 
 different or varying circumstances, a similar decision 
 ought to be come to. The Court in coming to its 
 decision, takes into consideration not general prin- 
 ciples so much as the special circumstances of each 
 particular case." 
 
 The award, which modified the regulations on the 
 lines laid down by the Court, is regarded as a great 
 triumph by Trade Unionists, who are, not unnatu- 
 rally, inclined to apply it as a precedent to all 
 organised trades. 
 
 A possible exemplification of the efficacy of the 
 Act occurred at the end of 1896, when the engineers 
 employed in the AustraHan trade of the Union 
 Steamship Company of New Zealand asked that
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 291 
 
 their wages might be raised to the rate which had 
 prevailed before the financial troubles. They took 
 advantage of the increased traffic caused by the 
 holidays in order to emphasise their demands. The 
 engineers of the ships plying in New Zealand waters 
 made a similar request, which was at once acceded 
 to by the Company, but did not attempt to exert 
 undue pressure. I am not prepared to state that the 
 difference in attitude was due to the Conciliation 
 and Arbitration Act of the latter country, but the 
 conicidence is calculated to encourage that belief. 
 The Managing Director of the Company (Mr. James 
 Mills) told me that he was a hearty supporter of 
 compulsion, not so much because he believed in 
 arbitration, as because a strike or lock-out was 
 obviated, and the parties to a dispute, often trivial 
 at the outset, were brought together before they had 
 been embittered by mutual recriminations. Mr. 
 Kingston, the Premier of South Australia, and the 
 principal promoter of the South Australian Act, has 
 written in a similar strain : — ■ 
 
 "Conciliation Boards should be established in 
 anticipation of the differences they are designed to 
 prevent. On the occasion of a great strike, the 
 public cries out for conciliation. Suggestions are 
 received from all quarters recommending Confer- 
 ences and Arbitration ; but when war has been de- 
 clared, and the disputants, as it were, are at each 
 other's throats, each hopeful of ultimate success, 
 they are seldom in the mood to listen to peace- 
 makers. If either party fears the result of the
 
 292 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 contest, it may favour pacific counsels. There is, 
 however, a vehement probabiHty that the stronger 
 party will reject all overtures and insist on an un- 
 conditional surrender and all the advantages which 
 victory can command. The dispute is then deter- 
 mined, not on its merits, but by sheer strength. 
 The vanquished, smarting under a sense of defeat 
 and injustice, capitulate only with the view to the 
 early renewal of the struggle under more favourable 
 circumstances." ^ 
 
 (5) A large proportion of the workmen of Austra- 
 lasia are convinced believers in iProtection in the 
 widest sense of the word. As far as their opinion 
 can be ascertained from the representation of Labour 
 in Parliament, it is unanimous in Victoria, South 
 Australia, and New Zealand. In New South Wales, 
 as has been seen, the Labour Members have, for the 
 sake of solidarity, sunk the fiscal issue ; but the 
 majority are Protectionists, and have proposed that 
 the question of the tariff should be settled for a fixed 
 period by a plebiscite. Thereby they believe that 
 they will secure Protection and continue to be 
 unfettered in their support of the more advanced 
 party. In Queensland, also, the Labour programme 
 states that the fiscal issue is not to be regarded as a 
 party question. 
 
 Protection, the Labour Members admit, raises 
 prices to the consumer ; but they contend that, if 
 prices are high, employers can afford to pay high 
 ' Australasian Review of Reviews, August 20, 1894.
 
 AUSTRALASIA\' DEMOCRACY 293 
 
 wages, and that the strength of Trades Unionism 
 should be sufficient to enforce them. To put their 
 argument, such as it is, in a nutshell, it is better to 
 have high prices and high wages than low prices 
 combined with low wages and uncertain employ- 
 ment. Then, as combination is expected to keep 
 wages at a high point, it is obvious that it can be 
 exercised most effectually over a small area, and we 
 find the South Australian Labour Members voting 
 against a resolution in favour of inter-provincial 
 Free Trade, and Labour Members generally imbued 
 with an actual, if not avowed, opposition to Federa- 
 tion, the first result of which would, it is believed, 
 be the removal of fiscal barriers. They profess, 
 indeed, a desire for Federation on a democratic 
 basis, but are, as far as their material interests are 
 concerned, under the influence of a patriotism which 
 is intensely provincial and does not take account of 
 national, much less of imperial, considerations. 
 
 If he lives under a protective tariff, the workman 
 asks himself of what use is it to exclude the products 
 of cheap labour if the cheap labourer be allowed to 
 enter the country and compete with him on the 
 spot. The agitation against Asiatic immigrants has, 
 I am prepared to admit, a wider basis, and rests 
 largely upon physical repugnance and the fear that 
 they might enter in such large numbers as to swamp 
 the white population. To that extent it appeals to 
 the Free Traders of New South Wales, who have 
 not been backward -in their support of anti-Chinese
 
 294 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 legislation, and meets with the general support of 
 Australians, as was shown by the unanimity with 
 which the Premiers, assembled in Conference early 
 in 1896, decided against participation in the Anglo- 
 Japanese treaty and in favour of the extension to 
 other coloured races of the restrictions placed upon 
 the influx of the Chinese. But, from the point 
 of view of the working classes, antipathy is felt, 
 principally, towards competitors who have a lower 
 standard of comfort, and the difficulties placed in 
 the way of Imperial statesmanship are persistently 
 ignored. 
 
 Thence, by an easy transition of thought, the 
 objection is extended to all labourers whose com- 
 petition, through the stress of necessity, may tend to 
 reduce wages. The indigent Italian or German is 
 equally undesirable, as are indigent Englishmen, who 
 alone, among Europeans, are likely to arrive in large 
 numbers. Some of them, it is known, have been 
 assisted to emigrate, by philanthropic agencies or 
 otherwise, because they were unable to earn a liveli- 
 hood at home. South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, 
 and New Zealand seek to exclude paupers by the 
 provision that the owner or master of a ship bring- 
 ing persons who are likely to become a charge upon 
 the public or any charitable institution, may be 
 called upon to execute a bond to pay all expenses 
 incurred within five years for the maintenance or 
 support of such persons. But the workman re- 
 serves his strongest condemnation for the proposal
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 295 
 
 that he should be compelled to contribute, through 
 taxation or Custom duties, to State-aided immigra- 
 tion, which increases the number of his competitors. 
 Herein is seen the cloven foot of the capitalist, 
 which must be concealed, except in Queensland, 
 where capital and labour are in open antagonism 
 and the former is at present in the ascendant. 
 
 The ultimate development of protective ideas is 
 found in the annual tax levied on foreign com- 
 mercial travellers in New Zealand and in the desire 
 to subject immigrants to physical as well as 
 pecuniary and racial tests. In New Zealand the 
 Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Bill, and the 
 equally unsuccessful Public Health Bill of 1896, 
 forbade masters of ships, under a heavy penalty, to 
 introduce persons who are consumptive into the 
 Provinces. Consumption, it is known, has proved 
 deadly to the Maoris, and, to an even greater extent, 
 to half-castes. 
 
 It is not my intention to discuss the wisdom of 
 the measures by which Australians seek to keep out 
 Asiatics, indigent Europeans, criminals, and persons 
 in ill-health. The Imperial Government, of course, 
 can have no objection to the imposition of pecu- 
 niary disqualifications which, being of general 
 application, do not conflict with treaty obligations, 
 though the policy is diametrically opposed to that 
 which has prevailed hitherto in England. I merely 
 wish to point out the strength of Australasian oppo- 
 sition to unrestricted competition, and to express
 
 296 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 considerable sympathy with workmen who, having 
 seen, or having learnt from their parents, how 
 much misery and pauperism are to be found in 
 older countries, are inhospitable to strangers and 
 will do all in their power to prevent a fall to a 
 similar level. Many of them have noted the exist- 
 ence of destitution in Sydney and Melbourne, and 
 dread the operation of any cause which would be 
 likely to intensify it. 
 
 It cannot be denied that, as England is the 
 principal competitor with native manufactures, and 
 the only European country from which immigration 
 on a large scale is likely to arise, some of the work- 
 ing men entertain a feeling of hostility towards the 
 Mother Country. Ill-feeling is also promoted by 
 the condition of financial dependence. Australians 
 are inclined to complain, however unreasonably, 
 that, had it not been for the temptations to which 
 they were exposed by British capitalists, their 
 Provinces could not have incurred the extravagant 
 expenditure under which they are suffering and 
 must continue to suffer. Australia, it has been 
 said, owes to England merely the gratitude of the 
 poor man toward his pawnbroker. I should not 
 have mentioned the existence of these views, which 
 are confined to a small section of the community, 
 were it not that they seem ominous for the future, 
 when we remember the principal cause of the 
 estrangement between the Eastern and Western 
 States of America. In spite of inquiries and
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 297 
 
 observation, I have been unable to form an opinion 
 as to the general attitude, which is being modified 
 year by year by the increase in the proportion of 
 native-born Australians. At one extreme of the 
 social scale are those who bask in the sunshine of 
 titled vice-royalty, at the other those in whom the 
 continual struggle for existence precludes the possi- 
 bility of national, not to mention Imperial, ideals. 
 The large intermediate classes, which will control 
 the future, appear to be animated by great sympathy 
 with the English people. I am led to believe that 
 the boisterous loyalty of the past has been replaced 
 by a deeper feeling of kinship, which was displayed 
 in marked fashion on the occasion of the German 
 Emperor's telegram after the Transvaal raid. On 
 the other hand, the growing independence of a 
 young nation and the sentimental, but none the 
 less real, objection to the term " Colonial," which is 
 regarded as a mark of inferiority, have convinced 
 some Imperialistic Australians that the shortest road 
 to Federation lies through separation. Others, I 
 have been surprised to note, do not consider that 
 permanence of friendly relations necessarily implies 
 continuance under one flag. Englishmen will be 
 disappointed to learn that there is little general 
 appreciation, especially among native-born Aus- 
 tralians, of the benefits accruing from the protection 
 of the British fleet. Never having known the 
 horrors of war and removed from the area of 
 great armaments, they are not aware of the dangers
 
 298 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 against which they are guarded. In fact, many of 
 them grudge the " contributions without representa- 
 tion " that are given towards the maintenance of the 
 Austrahan squadron. In foreign politics Australians 
 are strongly Imperialistic, and will respect Great 
 Britain as long as she maintains the dignity of her 
 position. In domestic affairs they resent the inter- 
 ference of the Colonial OfBce, rarely though it be 
 exercised, and do not take sufficient account of 
 international difficulties. They are satisfied, more- 
 over, with existing conditions, and do not manifest 
 any desire for closer union with Great Britain at 
 present, though any proposals emanating from the 
 Imperial Government will be received with re- 
 spectful attention and may meet with theoretical 
 approval ; and, while the recent Presidential election 
 in the United States convinced them of the dis- 
 advantages of Republican institutions, they are pre- 
 pared to wait upon the natural evolution of events, 
 and believe that, in the meanwhile, we should strive, 
 through the press, travel, and otherwise, to become 
 better acquainted with each other's ideas and 
 aspirations, and to correct many of the wrong 
 impressions which prevail both in Australia and 
 Great Britain. This policy is not heroic but 
 practical, especially if it could be accompanied by 
 a greater identification of Australia with the Empire. 
 If a few hundred Australians could be recruited, in 
 spite of the lowness of the pay, for service in the 
 Army and Navy, they would, I am convinced, upon
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 299 
 
 their return, do much to broaden the minds of their 
 countrymen. Austraha and New Zealand, it must 
 be remembered, are isolated from the rest of the 
 world. Again, some of the vacancies in the Indian 
 Civil Service might be filled by examinations held 
 in Australia simultaneously with those in England. 
 These suggestions, which could be amplified and 
 extended by men of greater experience, may be 
 regarded as trivial and unimportant, but I am con- 
 fident that they indicate the direction in which 
 Englishmen can most effectually seek to retain 
 the affections of their Australasian kinsfolk. The 
 problems of Australian Federation will tax all the 
 resources of statesmanship, and must, in my 
 opinion, be solved before there can be any profit- 
 able discussion of modified and closer relations 
 with the Mother Country. It seems to me that the 
 Victorian or Queenslander must realise that he is an 
 Australian before he can be expected to appreciate 
 the meaning of the words, ** Civis Britannicus 
 Sum." 
 
 The subject of Australian Federation has been 
 discussed at length in a preceding chapter. I 
 . need only point out that politicians are bound to 
 recognise three lines of severance : the artificial 
 boundaries between one Province and another, the 
 diversity of opinions engendered by differences of 
 climate, as exemplified principally in the attitude 
 in regard to Polynesian labour, and the divergence 
 of development between the denizens of tov/ns and
 
 300 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
 
 the more settled areas and those who are struggling 
 against the inclemencies of nature in the back 
 country. I felt, and others have chronicled a 
 similar impression, that I had entered into a dif- 
 ferent country when I travelled in the Western 
 Downs of Queensland. I found myself, if I may 
 generalise from a limited experience of shearers, 
 among a class of men who are thoroughly honest 
 but absolutely narrow-minded and interested only 
 in matters which concern their means of livelihood. 
 They form their opinions from an advanced organ 
 of labour, which is their principal, if not only, 
 literature, and even such of them as are emigrants 
 from Great Britain have little knowledge of the 
 leading events of recent years. 
 
 The urban population, of course, is in a different 
 position, and is kept by the newspapers in touch 
 with local and Imperial affairs. Apart from the 
 causes of the aggregation of large centres which 
 have been discussed in the opening pages of this 
 chapter, and may be supplemented by the observa- 
 tions of Sir Charles Dilke,i it may be noted, as a 
 subsidiary influence, that a high standard of comfort 
 makes people unwilling to face the hardship of the 
 bush, that squatters are inclined to place their sons 
 in urban professions, and that education turns out 
 clerks rather than manual labourers. But the 
 dwellers in towns are, on the whole, comfortably 
 situated ; even Melbourne and Sydney do not 
 ' " Problems of Greater Britain," vol. ii. pp. 246-8.
 
 AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 301 
 
 show an average of more than 273 and 4*87 
 persons to the acre ; but these figures inckide the 
 suburbs, and must be amended if the metropoHs 
 proper is solely regarded. 
 
 But, in spite of this consideration, the working 
 classes of Australasia have little to complain of. 
 Destitution exists, as is inevitable under present 
 conditions, but many workers, especially in Victoria, 
 are owners of their homes, and all the younger men 
 have had the benefit of a general system of national 
 education and of the favourable situation of their 
 class. This is due partly to the position attained, 
 and not subsequently lost, when the rush of men 
 to the goldfields produced a scarcity of labour ; 
 partly to the fact which has already been noted, 
 that the men who emigrated from Great Britain 
 were imbued with the spirit which qualified them 
 to assert themselves. Hitherto they have not 
 proved themselves unworthy of their nationality. 
 They are uniformly courteous, in my experience, 
 to those who are civil to them, and do not expect 
 the servility of older countries, and are the most 
 law-abiding people in the world. On a Saturday 
 night in Coolgardie I found things to be as quiet 
 as in a small country town in England. The 
 larrikinism of Melbourne and Sydney has been 
 much exaggerated, and does not extend beyond 
 the capitals ; in the former city, at the annual 
 festival which marks the recurrence of the Mel- 
 bourne Cup, the behaviour of the crowd is such
 
 302 FEATURES OF AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY 
 
 as would be a credit to any country. But Austra- 
 lians and New Zealanders, as any visitor cannot 
 but note, take their pleasures sadly, and have 
 transplanted the seriousness of a Northern land 
 to a climate which should lend itself to merriment 
 and laughter. How far their character has been 
 modified I am not prepared to say : on the one 
 hand, employment is not subject to seasonal 
 interruptions ; on the other, the pressure of cold 
 upon industry is entirely wanting. The climate 
 has, however, in spite of the denunciations of the 
 Prohibitionists, undoubtedly conduced to temperate 
 habits. Time after time did I notice, during my 
 travels, that all the company were drinking tea, 
 and I have been assured that shearers and other 
 labourers no longer waste their earnings upon 
 drink. The temperance of the younger genera- 
 tion has also been promoted by the spread of 
 education and by the love of athletics ; which 
 necessitates physical soundness. Speaking gene- 
 rally and responsibly, the working classes, which 
 form the backbone of every country, though they 
 pay high rent, earn high wages, and, as they do 
 not pay high prices for their food or clothing, 
 are enabled to become self-respecting members 
 of a self-respecting community.
 
 XI 
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 IN MARCH, 1896. 
 
 I SAILED from Marseilles for Australia by one of 
 the large steamers of the Messageries Maritimes 
 Company. Among my fellow travellers was a mining 
 expert, bound for the Western Australian goldfields, 
 who proposed that I should accompany him, and 
 said that, as he knew the leading people on the 
 fields, he would be able to render my trip agreeable. 
 I gladly accepted his offer, and have since had cause 
 to consider that I was most fortunate, as I believe 
 that some such introduction as mine is indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 The large mail steamers all touch Western 
 Australia at Albany, distant 340 miles from Perth 
 and 570 miles from Coolgardie. The Government 
 are carrying out very extensive harbour works at 
 Fremantle, the port of Perth, in the hope of inducing 
 the mail steamers to call there, and they believe that, 
 when a railway line has been constructed between 
 
 303
 
 304 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 Perth and Adelaide, a line which must eventually be 
 built, though perhaps not for many years, Fremantle 
 will become a place of great importance, as, beyond 
 being the shipping port for the produce of the Cool- 
 gardie goldfields, it will be the point of arrival and 
 departure of the mails between Great Britain and all 
 the Australian Provinces. 
 
 We reached Albany, which is 200 miles further 
 from Coolgardie than Fremantle, late in the evening, 
 and, having missed by a few hours the direct train 
 which runs three times a week to Perth, we spent 
 the night at a third-rate hotel, unable to sleep owing 
 to the attacks of the mosquitoes, and left by train 
 the next morning after a breakfast consisting of 
 coarse meat and impossible eggs. We soon lost 
 sight of the bay of Albany, and, plunging into the 
 bush, travelled through it the whole day. The heat 
 was overpowering, as we were still almost at the 
 height of summer. In the afternoon a stranger 
 came into the compartment and enlivened us with 
 anecdotes of his experiences at an outlying station. 
 In several stories he referred to actions which 
 showed him to have behaved in the most ruth- 
 lessly cruel manner towards the aborigines. To 
 quote one among many : A young native servant 
 in his employment came to believe that, owing to 
 some unintentional contravention of the religious 
 observances of his people, he was doomed to die 
 within three days ; so he lay on his back and 
 refused to take food. As he was a good workman,
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 305 
 
 his master first tried to induce him to rise, then 
 thrashed him with all his might, and afterwards had 
 him dragged along the ground by his hair until he 
 was so exhausted that he came unconscious. It is 
 needless to add that, on his recovery, the man had 
 been cured of his obstinacy. Such conduct, I am 
 convinced, is most exceptional. All the Australasian 
 Governments are actuated by a sincere desire to 
 protect the aborigines, as are the vast majority of 
 the inhabitants. But, as long as many districts are 
 sparsely settled, isolated cases of barbarous cruelty 
 must continue to occur. 
 
 After thirteen hours of travel we reached Beverley, 
 where we were obliged to spend the night, and again 
 suffered from bad accommodation, indifferent food, 
 and mosquitoes. A journey of five hours on the 
 following morning took us to Perth, where we 
 proposed to spend a few days. My companion 
 noticed a great difference in the appearance of the 
 town ; a few years ago, he told me, it was lifeless 
 and dull, strangers rarely arrived, trade was stagnant, 
 and the whole place wore an air of listlessness. The 
 rapid change must be put down entirely to the 
 success of the goldfields, even allowing full credit 
 to the Government for their efforts to develop all 
 the resources of the country. The population of 
 the Province has doubled during the last five years ; 
 the population of Perth has more than doubled, and 
 large business firms have established branches there. 
 But great though its progress has been, it is hard to 
 
 21
 
 3o6 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 realise that this place, which is not larger than an 
 English country town, is the capital and seat of 
 government of a Province of nearly a million square 
 miles, which possesses 1,200 miles of railway and 
 goldfields of enormous extent, which seem likely to 
 take rank among the most productive of the world. 
 Perth is picturesquely situated on the Swan River, 
 and should increase largely beyond its present 
 dimensions. Handsome brick buildings alternate 
 even in the principal thoroughfares with miserable 
 shanties which are bound soon to disappear. In 
 the evening the streets present a scene of great 
 animation, as hundreds of people may be seen 
 walking up and down, eagerly discussing the 
 mining news, which always presents some feature 
 of interest. Men gather together in small groups, 
 whispering weighty secrets which may or may not 
 be intended for the benefit of their hearers, for in 
 Perth, as elsewhere, we hear that large fortunes have 
 been made through the credulity and folly of the too 
 eager investor. 
 
 At Perth I made several purchases, all of which 
 were of use to me : a pair of dark blue spectacles 
 with perforated sides, as a protection against the 
 dust and sun, a fly-net and a water-bag. The latter, 
 made of canvas, in order that its contents may be 
 cooled by evaporation, is carried by all travellers 
 who distrust the quality of the water which they are 
 likely to obtain at wayside stations. 
 
 At the time of my visit to the goldfields, the
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 307 
 
 railway terminated at BuUabulling, some eighteen 
 miles from Coolgardie. The journey from Perth 
 to Coolgardie was a matter of twenty-eight hours. 
 Leaving in the afternoon, we arrived the next 
 morning at Southern Cross, the centre of a 
 mining district which has been eclipsed by those 
 further east. We had breakfast at an unpretentious 
 little hotel, the landlady of which harrowed us by 
 accounts of the amount of typhoid fever prevalent 
 in the place. Her own servant was ill, several 
 deaths had recently occurred, and she had heard 
 the undertaker in the early morning again at work 
 upon a coffin. We continued our journey by the 
 contractor's train, covering one hundred miles in 
 seven hours and passing through scenery which 
 became terribly wearisome from its dreary mono- 
 tony. So far we had travelled comfortably enough, 
 but the last eighteen miles by coach were more 
 tiring than the whole of the rest of the journey. 
 The road was inches deep in dust and full of holes, 
 and we ploughed our way along it at the rate of 
 five miles an hour, a pace which was not maintained 
 when darkness set in and the driver could no longer 
 pick his way in the best track, but continually jolted 
 us in the deep ruts and bumped the coach against 
 tree stumps. Upon our arrival at Coolgardie, we 
 found a difficulty in obtaining rooms ; at the 
 principal hotel no accommodation of any kind was 
 to be had ; at another all the rooms were occupied, 
 but we were offered a shake-down which we thought
 
 3o8 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 it wise to accept. We learnt the next day that 
 twenty-three extra beds had been made up, in the 
 drawing-room, on the balcony, in fact at every 
 available spot, and that the rush had continued 
 for more than a year. 
 
 The following morning I looked out upon a 
 sandy track which represents the main street of Cool- 
 gardie. It was already a scene of some animation ; 
 camels, driven by Afghans, were carrying their 
 heavy burdens in and out of the town ; aborigines, 
 with their wives and children, in all their degraded 
 ugliness, were passing to and fro ; and bustling 
 merchants and clerks were hurrying past on bicycles 
 to their various occupations. The houses of Cool- 
 gardie are built of a framework of wood, covered 
 with a sheeting of galvanised iron. The town is 
 entirely dependent for all its supplies on the outside 
 world, as the country, within a radius of at least one 
 hundred miles, will produce food for neither man 
 nor beast. The question of water supply, even for 
 domestic purposes, was until recently a great diffi- 
 culty ; but several fresh water wells have been sunk 
 which, together with the output of numerous con- 
 densers, give an ample supply for the town. The 
 rainfall is very small, and too irregular to be 
 depended upon. The sky is often overcast for 
 weeks and rain threatens daily, but the clouds 
 gradually disperse and leave the land as parched 
 as before. 
 
 Strolling out of the town we found ourselves
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 309 
 
 on the outskirts of a mining district. As far as 
 the eye could see, the country was studded with 
 tents, mining shafts, and condensers, and the soil 
 was everywhere raised in irregular heaps. For 
 miles around every sod of earth has been turned 
 over and put through a blower in the search for 
 the alluvial gold which has been found there in 
 great quantities. We came upon an old man who 
 said that the land upon which he was working 
 had not been thoroughly sifted, and showed us 
 a few grains of gold which he had obtained as 
 the result of his labours. A little further on we 
 came to some mines, and my companion pointed 
 out and explained to me the machinery by which 
 the gold is separated from the stone. A return of 
 an ounce of gold to a ton of quartz is, speaking 
 generally, regarded as satisfactory, but many other 
 factors have to be weighed in the consideration 
 of the question whether a mine is likely to repay 
 the outlay upon it, such as the width and probable 
 extent of the reef, and the possibility of obtaining 
 an adequate amount of water for working the 
 machinery. I gathered that there could be no 
 doubt as to the richness of the reefs on several 
 of the goldfields of Western Australia, but that, on 
 most of them, the great difficulty has been, and 
 still is, the inadequacy of the water supply. 
 
 We did not remain long at Coolgardie, but 
 continued our journey to Kalgoorlie, a small 
 township twenty-four miles from Coolgardie and
 
 3IO A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 the centre of the field where my companion had 
 to do most of his work as a mining expert. We 
 travelled by coach in the early morning and had 
 a further experience of the discomforts of a rough 
 and heavy track. Kalgoorlie was a repetition of 
 Coolgardie, on a smaller scale. Both are the 
 creation of the last few years and must not be 
 judged by too high a standard. The town autho- 
 rities have done their best to procure good sanitary 
 conditions and have been aided by the Government, 
 who give, as a subsidy to municipalities, one pound 
 for every pound raised from general rates, and have 
 also assisted them in the erection and maintenance 
 of hospitals ; but the lack of funds has retarded 
 improvements which the authorities have been 
 anxious to carry out. We arrived at Kalgoorlie 
 on a Sunday, and noticed that the inhabitants, 
 most of whom are adults, bachelors or married 
 men separated from their wives and families, were 
 loitering about with every appearance of utter 
 boredom. 
 
 From the town we walked to one of the neigh- 
 bouring camps where my companion had acquain- 
 tances. These camps offer a much pleasanter life 
 than that in the towns. Each forms in itself a small 
 settlement of large canvas tents fitted up by the resi- 
 dents, who have a common mess and every oppor- 
 tunity of leading a sociable life. At the camp which 
 we visited we found several of the men disporting 
 themselves in hammocks in an arbour made of
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 311 
 
 closely plaited branches of trees, which kept off the 
 heat of the sun and admitted a cool current of air. 
 In the course of conversation it was arranged that 
 we should visit several of the mines on the following 
 day. 
 
 In the morning we visited a mine upon which 
 little had, so far, been done. We were placed at the 
 top of the shaft in a small cage, by which we were 
 let down to a depth of a hundred feet. Then we 
 were led along a labyrinth of passages from which 
 my companions gathered the direction and extent 
 of the reef, and we were shown various points at 
 which the gold, which was of a coarse character, 
 could clearly be seen in the stone. In the afternoon 
 we visited another mine which was of more interest 
 to me. A shaft had been sunk to a depth of two 
 hundred feet, at which level water had been struck, 
 and the miners were busily at work. Again we 
 were let down in a cage, and wandered through 
 seemingly endless passages, which reminded me, in 
 my ignorance, of parts of the catacombs at Rome, 
 as nothing appeared to the unsophisticated eye 
 but the bare rock. The gold was very fine, and 
 only visible to us when the foreman struck off a 
 flake and pointed it out to us glistening in minute 
 particles in the quartz. He told me that ordinary 
 miners earned £'^ ids. a week, those working in the 
 water at the low level £^, but that they could not live 
 on less than £2, and, even so, only in the roughest 
 way. The life is, however, not an unhealthy one.
 
 312 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 as the mines are, to judge from those that I visited, 
 well ventilated. The mine and other surrounding 
 properties have created a thriving settlement ; well- 
 built offices have been erected, hundreds of men 
 are employed, and the ear is continually greeted 
 by the din of machinery. In the evening we re- 
 turned to Kalgoorlie and heard, near our hotel, a 
 service held by the Salvation Army in the centre 
 of the street. A large group of loungers stood 
 around, moved neither to ribaldry nor attention, 
 but apparently listening in complete indifference to 
 the ipassionate pleadings of the preachers. Some 
 yards away a mining agent was doing a brisk 
 business in shares. 
 
 A few days later I retraced my steps to Coolgardie, 
 and thence to Perth. On the homeward journey I 
 had experiences of much discomfort. On the coach 
 between Coolgardie and Bullabulling, I managed, 
 as on the previous occasion, by a private arrangement 
 with the driver, to secure the box-seat, in order to 
 be at an elevation from the dust. But the wind was 
 behind us, and we were soon enveloped in such a 
 cloud of dust that it was often impossible to see the 
 leaders, and, as there is no rule of the road, we had 
 narrow escapes of colliding with teams travelling in 
 the opposite direction. Upon our arrival at Bulla- 
 bulling, we found that the contractor's train con- 
 tained only one passenger carriage, which was 
 already crowded ; so several of us climbed on an 
 open luggage truck and made ourselves tolerably
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 313 
 
 comfortable, though we suffered from the blazing 
 heat of the mid-day sun. My neighbour was a man 
 who had had a most varied career. In his youth he 
 had managed a small hosiery shop in an English 
 Midland town ; then, as his health was bad, he had 
 emigrated to Victoria, where he had unsuccessfully 
 carried on grazing operations. He had been attracted 
 to Western Australia by the discoveries of gold, and 
 had bought a waggon and team of horses, with which 
 he had carried goods between Southern Cross and 
 Coolgardie before the construction of the railway. 
 He told me that the life had been very hard, and 
 pointed out to me portions of the road which were 
 so heavy that a progress of ten miles was regarded 
 as a satisfactory day's work. He was then on his 
 way to revisit the " old country," after an absence of 
 five years. At Southern Cross we changed into the 
 Government train, and I travelled through the night 
 in a compartment with four others, two of whom 
 were ill, one of them suffering from some form of 
 ophthalmia which caused him excruciating pain and 
 kept him the whole time awake. None of us obtained 
 much sleep, and we were glad to reach Perth early 
 next morning. 
 
 Thus ended my trip to the goldfields, upon which 
 I look back with considerable satisfaction in spite of 
 the obvious discomforts which it entailed. I found 
 that all with whom I came in contact in Western 
 Australia, and, I might add, in Australasia, whether 
 they were custom-house officials, railway employes.
 
 314 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 
 
 hotel proprietors or servants, had done their best 
 to be obHging. Of the kindly hospitality of all 
 whom I met on the goldfields I cannot speak in 
 sufficiently high terms. They were uniformly 
 straightforward, generous, energetic men, who gave 
 me the impression of a good moral standard. I do 
 not speak of the adventurers who congregate in any 
 place where money can be made rapidly by un- 
 scrupulous methods, but of the managers, foremen 
 and others, who are directly engaged in the develop- 
 ment of the mines. The great curse of the mining 
 districts, and also, to some extent, of Perth, is the 
 absence of sufficient means of recreation. This 
 state of things may be inevitable in the case of 
 towns of very recent growth, but its result is, that 
 men who have worked all day, requiring some form 
 of diversion, find it in drink. But, in spite of the 
 large consumption of liquor, drunkenness is rare 
 and rowdiness almost unknown. At Coolgardie 
 on a Saturday evening the streets were perfectly 
 quiet ; beyond some discordant strains of music, 
 scarcely a sound was to be heard. In spite of one 
 or two recent burglaries, life and property are 
 scarcely less safe than in England. A bank 
 manager who travelled with me from Kalgoorlie 
 told me that, in starting a new branch of his bank 
 at an outlying township, he had been obliged at 
 first to live in, and keep his money in, a tent, but 
 that on no occasion had he been menaced by the 
 slightest attempt at robbery. I shall long remember
 
 A VISIT TO THE COOLGARDIE GOLDFIELDS 315 
 
 the sight of townships which have sprung up where 
 a few years ago was nothing but bush, and promise 
 to become the scene of great industrial activity, and 
 my intercourse with some of the pioneers of the 
 mining movement, men who have penetrated hun- 
 dreds of miles into the interior of the country, have 
 endured for years the terrible hardships of life in 
 the bush, and have, by their untiring exertions, 
 seconded by the influx of capital following upon 
 their success, done much to raise Western Australia 
 to a prominent position among the Provinces of the 
 Southern Hemisphere.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Aborigines : 
 
 Constitution Bill for estab- 
 lishing Federation, special 
 provisions for, 220 
 
 Maoris of New Zealand [see 
 that title] 
 
 Protection of, 158, 305 
 
 Right of possession not re- 
 cognised in Tasmania and 
 Australia, 85 
 Absentee Tax, assessment of in: 
 
 New Zealand, 91 
 
 South Australia, 19 
 Adelaide, Agricultural Bureau 
 
 and Agricultural College in, 
 
 20, 21 
 Adult Suffrage : 
 
 Lower Houses of South Aus- 
 tralia and New Zealand 
 elected on basis of, 2, 192 
 
 Liquor legislation in New 
 
 Zealand, Local Option and 
 
 Licensing Committee polls 
 
 placed on basis of, 198 
 
 Advances to Settlers Act, New 
 
 Zealand, 99, 118 
 
 Agricultural Bureau and Agri- 
 cultural College, Adelaide, 
 20, 21 
 
 Arbitration and conciliation in 
 industrial disputes : 
 New South Wales, 281 
 New Zealand Act, 283 
 
 Awards under, 286 
 Queensland, 76, 282 
 South Australian Act, 24, 283 
 
 Assisted Schools Abolition Act, 
 
 159 
 
 Australasian Federation En- 
 abling Act : 
 Queensland Bill, rejection of, 
 
 235 
 Victorian Act, provisions of, 
 
 230 
 Western Australian Act, pro- 
 visions of, 233 
 Australasians, character of, 302 
 
 B 
 
 Batchclor, Mr. E. L., 5 
 
 Plebiscite, Bill for establish- 
 ing introduced by, 29 
 Benevolent asylums for aged 
 
 and incapable persons, 255 
 
 317
 
 3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Betting and gaming, suppres- 
 sion of : 
 New Zealand, female voters 
 
 in favour of, 196 
 Tasmania, Parliamentary 
 measures for, 170 
 Board of Land Purchase Com- 
 missioners, New Zealand, 97 
 Braddon, Right Hon. Sir E., 177 
 British capital in Australia : 
 Co-operative enterprise due 
 
 to, 248 
 Dependence on, causing ill- 
 feeling towards Great 
 Britain, 296 
 Financial activity arising 
 from, 246 
 British fleet's protection, Aus- 
 tralians' appreciation of, 297 
 Broken Hill, strike of 1891, 
 
 1892, 281 
 Building societies, Australian 
 labouring classes availing 
 themselves of, 260 
 Byrnes, Hon. T. J., 75 
 
 C. D. Act, Repeal of, advocated 
 by female voters in New 
 Zealand, 196 
 
 " Caucus " meetings of New 
 South Wales Labour Party, 
 
 .51 
 
 Central and Northern Queens- 
 land's separation from the 
 South [see title Queensland] 
 
 Character of Australasians, 302 
 
 Charitable Aid expenditure for 
 1896, New Zealand, 116 
 
 Chataway, Mr. J. V., 66 
 
 Cheviot Estate purchased by 
 New Zealand Government, 93 
 
 Chinese : 
 Anti-Chinese legislation sup- 
 ported by Australasians, 
 
 293 
 Cabinet-making in Victoria, 
 
 Chinese competition, 136 
 Immigration Act of 1887 
 limiting number of Chinese 
 immigrants to Tasmania, 
 170 
 Christchurch, New Zealand, 
 boot manufacturers' dispute, 
 Arbitration Courts decision, 
 286 
 Churches, Western Australia, 
 
 grants to, abolition of, 159 
 Civil Service, New South Wales : 
 Public Service Board for 
 investigation of all depart- 
 ments, 44 
 Royal Commission inquiry, 
 
 43 
 
 " Civis Brittanicus Sum," neces- 
 sity of realising Australian 
 unity before appreciating, 299 
 
 Cockburn, Hon. Dr., Minister 
 of Education and Agriculture 
 in South Australia, 3, 22, 26, 
 28 
 
 "Colonial," objection to term, 
 297 
 
 Colonial Office, Australians' re- 
 senting interference of, 298 
 
 Conciliation and arbitration in 
 industrial disputes [see title 
 Arbitration and Concihation] 
 
 Conilicts between Legislative 
 Assembly and Legislative 
 Council ;
 
 INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Causes of contention : 
 New South Wales : 
 
 Rejection of Taxation 
 Bill, 36 
 Tasmania : 
 
 Female Suffrage Bill, 177 
 Public Works Expendi- 
 ture, 178 
 Victoria : 
 
 Additional Taxation, 124 
 Electoral Bill, 125, 126 
 Protective Tariff, 123 
 Right of selection upon 
 pastoral properties, 123 
 Proposals for remedying, 
 273-276 
 New South Wales, 130 
 New Zealand — Proposed 
 joint session of the two 
 Houses, 131 
 South Australia — Dissolu- 
 tion of both Houses, 
 success of, 178 
 Tasmania — Plebiscite, 180 
 Victoria : 
 
 Dissolution of both 
 
 Houses, 131 
 Royal Commission's re- 
 commendations, 129 
 Town and country antago- 
 nism, reflex of antagonism 
 between the two Houses, 
 131 i 
 Ultimate appeal, absence of, 
 129 
 Consolidated Goldfields Com- 
 pany dispute, New Zealand, 
 286 
 Constitution Bill for establish- 
 ing "the Commonwealth of 
 Australia," 1891, 218 
 
 Governor-General's Execu- 
 tive authority, 219, 224 
 Failure of Bill, 227 
 Money Bills, authority of 
 Senate with regard to, 222 
 Parliament of Common- 
 wealth : 
 Aboriginals, special pro- 
 visions for, 220 
 Postal and telegraph ser- 
 vices, &c., to be exclu- 
 sively managed by, 221 
 Revenue and expenditure, 
 
 regulations for, 221 
 Salary of members, 220 
 Senate, composition of, 219 
 States : 
 Provinces to be so called, 
 
 219 
 Powers of, under Com- 
 monwealth, 226 
 Supreme Court of Appeal, 225 
 Tariff, uniform, to be im- 
 posed, 222 
 Territories surrendered by 
 states, administration of, 
 
 221 
 
 Constitution Bill for establish- 
 ing "the Commonwealth of 
 Australia," 1897, draft of, re- 
 print from Melbourne Argus, 
 
 237 
 
 Consumptive persons, Bills for- 
 bidding immigration of, 295 
 
 Continuity of representation in 
 Australian Houses of As- 
 sembly, means of obtaining^ 
 276 
 
 Coolgardie Goldfields : 
 Camp settlements, 310 
 Coolgardie town, 308
 
 320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Drunkenness and rowdiness, 
 absence of, 314 
 
 Earnings of the miners, 311 
 
 Kalgoorlie, 309 
 
 Mines, description of, 311 
 
 Perth to Coolgardie, discom- 
 fort of journey from, 307 
 
 Population of Western Aus- 
 traHa increasing since dis- 
 covery of, 305 
 
 Salvation Army services, 312 
 
 Waterworks for supplying 
 water from a distance, 164 
 Coolies [see title Kanakas] 
 Co-operative construction of 
 
 Public Works, New Zealand, 
 
 105 
 Crown Lands : 
 
 New South Wales, Act of 
 
 1884, means of diminishing 
 
 political pressure in, 37 
 New Zealand : 
 
 Local land boai'ds for dis- 
 posal of, 117 
 
 Sale of, 93 
 Western Australia — mining 
 
 rights on acquiring, 165 
 
 D 
 
 Darling Downs, Queensland, 
 pastoral industries, success 
 of, 70, 71 
 
 Darling, Ex-Governor, pro- 
 posed grant to, cause of 
 conflict between Legislative 
 Council and Assembly in 
 Victoria, 123 
 
 Death Duties, graduated, assess- 
 ment of in Australia, 278 
 
 Democratic Government estab- 
 Hshed in New South Wales, 48 
 
 Democratic tendency : 
 Gold, discovery of in Aus- 
 tralia, result of, 244 
 South Australian democratic 
 tendency due to Constitu- 
 tion, 2 
 
 Denominational Schools, Wes- 
 tern Australia, termination of 
 grants, 159 
 
 Dibbs, Sir George, 36, 50 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, 300 
 
 Domestic servants' weekly 
 half-holiday, Bill for estab- 
 lishing in New Zealand, 203 
 
 Drunkenness and rowdiness, 
 absence of among Coolgardie 
 miners, 314 
 
 Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, 214 
 
 Eastern Railway, Western 
 Australia, course of, 162 
 
 Ecclesiastical Grants, Western 
 Australia, Abolition Act of 
 
 1895, 159 
 Education : 
 South Australia : 
 
 Primary and Religious 
 
 Education in, alterations 
 
 proposed, plebiscite 
 
 taken on, 29, 274 
 
 ReHgious instruction in 
 
 schools, 29 
 Secular character of, effect 
 on working classes, 32 
 State system of in Australasia, 
 
 256 
 Western Australia — Assisted 
 Schools AboHtion Act, 159 
 Elective Executive : 
 New Zealand Bill, 277
 
 INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 South Australia, substitution 
 
 of, advocated, 26 
 Electoral Legislation : 
 Queensland — Contingent 
 
 vote, 176 
 Tasmania — Modiiication of 
 
 Hare's System of Voting, 
 
 173 
 
 Victoria — Electoral Bill, 
 
 cause of conflict between 
 Legislative Council and 
 Assembly, 122 
 Electoral Reform Policy : 
 New South Wales Labour 
 
 Party, 48, 49 
 Queensland Labour Party, 74 
 Expenditure [see title Revenue 
 
 and Expenditure] 
 Export [see title Produce and 
 Export Department] 
 
 Factories and Shops Acts, Vic- 
 toria : 
 
 Cabinet - making, Chinese 
 competion, 136 
 
 Definition of factory, amend- 
 ments, 133, 139 
 
 Protection of workers in 
 factories, 137, 140 
 
 Royal Commission of Inquiry 
 into working of the Act of 
 1890, 134 
 
 Shops, hours of closing, 140 
 
 Tailoresses' Union, formation 
 
 of, 135 
 Wage Boards, appointment 
 
 of, 138 
 Factories and workshops in 
 Queensland, Royal Com- 
 mission of Inquiry into, 77 
 
 Fair Rent Bill, New Zealand, 103 
 Family Home Protection, New 
 
 Zealand, Act of 1895, loi 
 Federal Council : 
 
 Abstention of New South 
 Wales and New Zealand, 
 from, 216 
 
 Act of 1885 establishing, 215 
 
 Permissive character of, 216 
 
 Status of, effect of Federation 
 agitation on, 229 
 
 Utility of, causes tending to 
 minimise, 217 
 Federation of Australasian 
 Provinces : 
 
 Artificial boundaries between 
 the provinces, 299 
 
 Australasian Federation En- 
 abling Act [see that title] 
 
 Benefits of, 235 
 
 Climatic differences engen- 
 dering divergence of 
 opinions, 299 
 
 Committee appointed by 
 House of Assembly, Vic- 
 toria, to consider, 214 
 
 Constitution Bill [see that 
 title] 
 
 Federal Council [see that 
 title] 
 
 Hobart, Premiers' conference 
 at, 227 
 
 Interdependence of Pro- 
 vinces, hastening establish- 
 ment of, 230 
 
 Inter-provincial conference 
 on, 214 
 
 New South Wales, Governor 
 of, receiving commission 
 as Governor-General of 
 Australia, 213 
 
 22
 
 322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Plebiscite, new Federal con- 
 stitution proposed, refer- 
 ring to, 228 
 Prospects of, 236 
 Sydney conventions, 215 
 Town and country inhabi- 
 tants, difference in de- 
 velopment of, 299 
 Female Suffrage : 
 New Zealand : 
 CD. Act, Repeal of, ad- 
 vocated by female voters, 
 196 
 Domestic servants' weekl}' 
 
 half-holiday Bill, 203 
 Elections, Radical returns, 
 
 193 
 
 Electoral Bill of 1892 con- 
 ferring franchise on all 
 adult women, 192 
 
 Equal wages for similar 
 work of men and women 
 demanded by female 
 voters, 209 
 
 Juvenile Depravity Sup- 
 pression Bill, 203 
 
 Liquor legislation and 
 prominence of temper- 
 ance movement, due to, 
 194 
 
 Modifications of female 
 voters' views, 207 
 
 National Council of 
 Women, resolutions 
 passed by, 204, 205 
 
 Sentiment, tendency of 
 subordinating reason to, 
 danger of Female Suf- 
 frage, 210 
 
 Totalisator, suppressing, 
 result of, 196 
 
 Women's franchise leagues 
 inducing female voters 
 to support candidates on 
 moral considerations,2o5 
 Queensland, result of adopt- 
 ing in, 185 
 South Australia : 
 
 Election to Parliament, 
 women eligible for, 187 
 First elections under new 
 franchise, 188 ; results 
 of, 189 
 Licensed Victuallers' Act, 
 prohibition of employ- 
 ment of barmaids, pro- 
 posed under influence 
 of, 191 
 Plebiscite [see that title] 
 Voting privileges accorded 
 to female electors in, 192 
 Tasmania : 
 
 Plebiscite, proposed appli- 
 cation of for, 177 
 Result of adopting in, 184 
 Victoria : 
 
 Plural voting, abolition of, 
 
 included in Bill, 186 
 Result of adopting in, 184 
 Finance [see title Revenue and 
 
 Expenditure] 
 Financial crisis in Australia, 
 
 causes of, 246 
 Financial extravagance in New 
 South Wales, means of 
 diminishing, 34 
 Financial statement, Queens- 
 land, 1896, extract with 
 regard to export of home 
 produce, 79 
 Foreign competition m Aus- 
 tralasia :
 
 INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 Great Britain, hostility to- 
 wards in consequence of, 
 296 
 Labouring classes' opposition 
 to, 294 
 
 Foreign politics, Australasians' 
 imperialistic views of, 298 
 
 Forrest, Right Hon. Sir John, 
 157, 166, 253 
 
 Free trade policy of New South 
 Wales, 212 
 
 Fremantle, Government har- 
 bour works to induce mail 
 steamers to call at, 303 
 
 Friendly societies and savings 
 banks, individual efforts of 
 labouring classes demon- 
 strated by, 259 
 
 Frozen meat industr}' : 
 
 QUEEXSLAXD : 
 
 Distributing agencies, 80 
 Financial statement of 
 1896, 79 
 South Australia, receiving 
 depot at Port Adelaide, 21 
 Victoria, State advances for, 
 148 
 Fysh, Hon. Sir P. O., 178 
 
 Gold-mining : 
 
 Discovery of gold, effect of, 
 on Australasian Democ- 
 racy, 244 
 
 Xew South Wales, right of 
 mining on private land ob- 
 tained by Labour Party, 49 
 
 New Zealand goldficlds, 
 roads and water-races on. 
 Government constructing, 
 
 ^05 
 
 Victoria, state encouragement 
 
 147 
 Western Australia : 
 
 Coolgardie goldfields [see 
 
 that title] 
 Crown lands, miner's rights 
 
 on acquiring, 165 
 
 Inducements offered to 
 
 immigrants, 165 
 
 Goldstein, Colonel, Honorary 
 
 Secretary of Leongatha 
 
 Labour Colony, Victoria, 151 
 
 Government advances to 
 
 Settlers Act, New Zealand, 
 
 99. i^^ 
 Government Architect Depart- 
 ment of New Sontli Wales — 
 designer of Crown Lands 
 office receiving less salary 
 than principal messenger, 44 
 Government Railways Act of 
 1888, New South Wales, 
 means of diminishing political 
 pressure, 39 
 Graduated Death Duties, as- 
 sessment of, in Australasia, 
 278 
 Great Britain : 
 
 Closer union with, Austra- 
 lians' indifference to, 298 
 Friendly relations with, sug- 
 gestions for maintaining, 
 298 
 Ill-feeling towards, causes of 
 
 of, 296 
 Sj'mpathy of the middle 
 classes of Australia with, 
 297 
 Great Southern Railway, 
 Western Australia, loan for 
 purchase of, 163
 
 324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 H 
 
 Hobart, Premiers' conference 
 on Federation of Australasia 
 at, 227 
 
 Homesteads Act of 1893, Wes- 
 tern Australia, free grants of 
 land offered to settlers by, 166 
 
 Humanitarian Legislation in 
 Queensland : 
 Factory Act of 1896, 77 
 Labour Party's complaint, 
 
 74 
 Royal Commission of in- 
 quiry, 77 
 
 I 
 
 Immigration : 
 Chinese Immigration Act of 
 
 1887, Tasmania restricting 
 
 immigration of coloured 
 
 races, 170 
 Consumptive persons. Bills 
 
 forbidding immigration of, 
 
 295 
 
 State-aided immigration, 
 
 workmen's objection to tax- 
 ation for, 294, 295 
 
 Western Australian gold- 
 fields, inducements offered 
 to immigrants, 165 
 Improved - farm settlements, 
 
 system of in New Zealand, 
 
 III 
 Income tax : 
 
 Assessment of in : 
 New Zealand, 89 
 South Australia, 17 
 Tasmania, 181 
 
 Property and personal exer- 
 tion incomes, difference 
 between taxation of, 279 
 
 Industrial disputes, settUng by 
 conciliation [see title Ar- 
 bitration and Concilia- 
 tion] 
 
 Inter-provincial conference on 
 Australasian Federation, 214 
 
 Irrigation and water supply 
 works, Victoria : 
 Failure of, 143 
 
 Inadequate preliminary in- 
 vestigations of, 145 
 
 J 
 
 Juvenile Depravity Suppression 
 Bill, New Zealand, 203 
 
 K 
 
 Kalgoorlie, visit to, 310 
 Kanakas : 
 Sugar cultivation in Queens- 
 land : 
 Importation of Kanakas, 
 question as to necessity 
 of, 66 
 Number employed in, 64 
 Protection of, 63 
 Re-engaging after expira- 
 tion of contracts, 64 
 Traffic in Kanakas decreas- 
 ing population of Pacific 
 Islands, 64 
 Kingston, Right Hon. C. C, 3, 
 
 16, 25 
 Knutsford, Lord, 57 
 
 Labour Bureau and Casual 
 Labour Board for relieving 
 unemployed in New South 
 Wales, 45
 
 INDEX 
 
 3*5 
 
 Labour Parties : 
 
 Legislative Councils attacked 
 by, 273 
 
 New South Wales : 
 "Caucus" meetings, 51 
 Electoral Reform policy, 
 
 49 
 Gold, right of mining on 
 
 private land obtained 
 
 by, 49 
 " Solidarity," vote of, 50 
 Tariff question, disagree- 
 ment on, 49 
 Taxation of land vahies 
 obtained by, 50 
 New Zealand, 263 
 
 QUEEXSLAXD : 
 
 Electoral reform policy, 
 
 75 
 Failure of, 74 
 
 Grievances against Govern- 
 ment, 74 
 
 New Zealand and South- 
 Australian Labour Parties 
 compared with, 73 
 
 Socialistic tendencies of, 
 
 73 
 South Australia : 
 
 Development and work of, 
 
 3 
 
 Liberals working in con- 
 nection with, 4, 263 
 Queensland Labour Party 
 compared with, 74 
 Victoria, 263 
 Labouring classes : 
 
 Building societies, labouring 
 classes availing themselves 
 of, 260 
 Condition of, on the whole 
 satisfactory, 301 
 
 Foreign' Competition : 
 Great Britain, hostility 
 towards in consequence 
 of, 296 
 Labouring classes' opposi- 
 tion to, 293 
 Larrikinism of Melbourne 
 and Sydney, exaggeration 
 of, 301 
 Protection, labouring classes 
 
 in favour of, 292 
 South Australian education, 
 secular character of, effect 
 on labouring classes, 32 
 Thriftiness of, 258 
 Land Act of 1893, Victor ia, for 
 
 relief of unemployed, 149 
 Land for Settlements Acts, New 
 Zealand authorising repur- 
 chase or exchange of lands, 
 
 95.97 
 Land Grant railways, 251 
 
 Tasmania, for encouragement 
 of private enterprise, 181 
 
 Western Australia, 162 
 Land tax, assessment of in : 
 
 New Zealand, 88 
 
 South Australia, 17 
 Legislative Assembly : 
 
 Australian Provinces, con- 
 tinuity of representation 
 in, means of obtaining, 276 
 
 Conflicts between Legislative 
 Assembly and Legislative 
 Council [sec that title] 
 
 New South Wales, salary of 
 members, 48 
 
 South Australia : 
 
 Elected on basis of Adult 
 
 Suffrage, 2 
 Salary of members, 2
 
 326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Victoria : 
 Committee to consider ad- 
 visability of Australasian 
 Federation,appointed by, 
 214 
 Elected on basis of Man- 
 hood Suffrage, 122 
 Salary of members, 122 
 Westerx Australia : 
 
 Salar}' — members receiving 
 no salary, 15S 
 Legislative Council : 
 Conflicts between Legislative 
 Assembly and Legislative 
 Council [sec that title] 
 Labour Parties' attacks on, 
 
 273 
 New SouthWales and Queens- 
 land, members nominated 
 for life without salary, 121 
 South Australia : 
 
 Property qualification : 
 Electors', 2 
 
 Members not subjected 
 to, 28 
 Salary of members, 2 
 Tasmania : 
 
 Property qualification not 
 required for member- 
 ship, 122 
 Salary of members, 122 
 Victoria : 
 
 Property qualification of 
 
 members, 122 
 Public expenditure. Legis- 
 lative Council faihng to 
 check extravagance of, 
 126 
 Western Australia : 
 Property qualification : 
 Electors', 157, 158 
 
 Members not subjected 
 to, 122 
 Salary — members receiv- 
 ing no salary, 158 
 Leongatha Labour Colony in 
 
 Victoria, 151, 268 
 Liberals in South Australia 
 working in connection with 
 Labour Party, 4 
 Licensed Victuallers' Act of 
 i8g6, South Australia, pro- 
 posed prohibition of employ- 
 ment of barmaids, 191 
 Life insurance, annuities, &c., 
 in New Zealand, department 
 of the State, 104 
 Liquor Legislation, New Zea- 
 land : 
 Local Option and Licensing 
 Committee polls placed 
 on basis of adult suffrage, 
 198 
 National prohibition of 
 
 licenses proposed, 201 
 Prohibition and reduction of 
 licenses, results of voting 
 on, 200 
 Temperance movement, pro- 
 minence of,effect of Female 
 Suffrage, 194 
 Local land boards for disposal 
 of Crown lands. New Zea- 
 land, 117 
 Lotteries in Tasmania un- 
 affected by Betting and 
 Gaming Act, 171, 172 
 
 M 
 
 McPherson, Mr. J. A., leader of 
 Labour Party in South Aus- 
 tralia, 5
 
 INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Maoris of New Zealand : 
 Conflicts of 1860-70 with 
 
 European settlers, 84 
 Improvement in relations 
 
 with Europeans, 84 
 Lands obtained by Euro- 
 peans from : 
 
 Pre-emptive right of the 
 
 Crown, 83 
 Validation Court for 
 considering titles to, 
 84 
 Sovereignty of New Zealand 
 ceded by, 83 
 Meat and Dairy Produce En- 
 couragement Act of 1893, 
 pastoral industries of Queens- 
 land assisted bj^, 71 
 Melbourne waterworks, 143, 145 
 Midland Railway, Western Aus- 
 tralia, 162 
 Murtho — village settlement of 
 South Australia, success of, 
 II 
 
 N 
 
 National Council of Women, 
 New Zealand, resolution 
 passed by, 204 
 
 Native-born Australians, in- 
 crease in proportion of, 297 
 
 Nelson, Right Hon. Sir Hugh, 
 
 60, 79-253 
 New South Wales : 
 
 Democratic Government es- 
 tablished in, 48 
 
 Federal Council : Absten- 
 tion of New South Wales 
 from, 216 
 
 Female Suffrage, result of 
 adopting, 184 
 
 Financial extravagance and 
 political pressure in, means 
 of diminishing, 34 
 
 Free trade policy of, 212 
 
 Governor of, receiving com- 
 mission as Governor-Gene- 
 ral of AustraHa, 213 
 
 Government Architect De- 
 partment — Designer of 
 Crown Lands Office re- 
 ceiving less salar}'- than 
 principal messenger in 
 1895, 44 
 
 Labour Party [see that title] 
 
 Legislative Assembly, salary 
 of members, 48 
 
 Legislative Council, members 
 nominated for life without 
 salary, 121 
 
 Unemployed [sec that title] 
 New Zealand : 
 
 Australian provinces and New 
 Zealand, differences of con- 
 dition between, 82 
 
 Cheviot estate purchased by 
 the Government, 93 
 
 Crown lands : 
 
 Local land boards for dis- 
 posal of, 117 
 Sale of, 93 
 
 Elective Executive Bill intro- 
 duced into, 277 
 
 Expenditure, reduction of 
 public expenditure, 88 
 
 Fair Rent Bill, 103 
 
 Federal Council, abstention 
 of New Zealand from, 216 
 
 Female Suffrage [see that 
 
 title] 
 Improved-farm settlements 
 system in, m
 
 328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Industrial disputes, Boards of 
 Conciliation appointment 
 of, 284 
 
 Labour Part}- compared with 
 Queensland Labour Party, 
 
 74 
 Land for Settlements Act of 
 
 i892,authorisingrepurchase 
 
 or exchange of lands, 95, 97 
 
 Legislative Council [see that 
 title] 
 
 Life insurance, annuities, &c., 
 104 
 
 Liquor legislation [see that 
 title] 
 
 Maoris [see that title] 
 
 Mayor of Onehunga, inability 
 of Mrs. Yates to fill position, 
 208 
 
 Pastoral Tenants' Relief Act 
 of 1895, 118 
 
 Political patronage, charges 
 brought against Govern- 
 ment, 269, 271 
 
 Provincial legislatures, abol- 
 ishing, 83 
 
 Public works [see that title] 
 
 Technical instruction in agri- 
 culture, &c., by experts, 104 
 
 Unempl03red [see that title] 
 
 Village settlements [see that 
 title] 
 Norman, Sir Henry, 61 
 Northern Railway, Western 
 
 Australia, course of, 162 
 
 Parliament of Commonwealth — 
 Constitution Bill for estab- 
 lishing Federation of Austra- 
 lasia [see that title] 
 
 Pastoral industries : 
 
 QUEEXSLAXD : 
 
 Darling Downs industries, 
 
 success of, 70, 71 
 Irregularity of employment 
 
 in, 69 
 Land tenure, new form of 
 
 for shearers, 70 
 Produce, disposal of : 
 Financial statement, 
 1896, extract with re- 
 ference to, 79 
 Meat and Dairy Produce 
 Act, assisting, 71 
 Victoria : 
 
 Protection of the State, 154 
 Right of selection on pas- 
 toral properties dispute — 
 cause of conflict between 
 the two Houses, 122, 123 
 Pastoral Tenants' Relief Act of 
 
 1895, New Zealand, 118 
 Peace Preservation Act of 1894, 
 
 Queensland, 74 
 Plebiscite : 
 
 Establishment of in Aus- 
 tralasian legislation, 276 
 Federation of Australasian 
 Provinces, proposed fram- 
 ing of new Constitution and 
 referring to, 227 
 LegislativeCounciland House 
 of Assembly disputes, pro- 
 posed settlement of by 
 plebiscite, 273 
 South Australia : 
 
 Bill for establishment of, 
 
 29 
 Educational system, altera- 
 tions in, question referred 
 to plebiscite, 29, 274
 
 INDEX 
 
 329 
 
 Tasmania, Female Suffrage, 
 proposed application of 
 plebiscite for, 177, 187 
 Plural voting : 
 
 South Australia, plural voting 
 forbidden in, 2 
 
 Victoria, proposed abolition 
 of, 186 
 
 Tasmania, partial abolition 
 
 of, 173 
 Political patronage, misuse of, 
 in New Zealand, charges 
 against the Government, 
 269, 271 
 Postal and Telegraphic Depart- 
 ment, Parliament of Com- 
 monwealth's exclusive con- 
 trol of, 221 
 Produce and Export Depart- 
 ment : 
 QuEEXSLAXD, conccssions to 
 producers : 
 Financial statement of 1896, 
 extract with regard to, 79 
 Meat and Dairy Produce 
 
 Act, 71 
 Sugar Works Guarantee 
 Act, 65 
 Relations between. Provinces 
 strengthened by promotion 
 of enterprise, 253 
 South Australia : 
 Institution of, 21 
 Output of the Provinces, 
 means of securing uni- 
 formity, 23 
 Tasmania — Inspection of ex- 
 ported produce, necessity 
 of, 172 
 Victoria — State advances to 
 producers, 148 
 
 Property Qualification : 
 
 South Australian Legislative 
 Council : 
 Electors', 2 
 
 Members not subjected to, 
 121, 122 
 Victorian Legislative Council, 
 
 122 
 Western Australian Legisla- 
 tive Council, 157 
 Prospecting Boards in gold- 
 mining districts, Victoria, ap- 
 pointment of, 147 
 Protection : 
 
 Development, result of, 292 
 Interchange of commodities 
 between the Provinces im- 
 peded by protective tariff, 
 212 
 Labouring classes in favour 
 
 of, 292 
 South Australia adopting pro- 
 tective tariff, 24 
 Provincial Legislatures of New 
 
 Zealand, aboHtion of, 83 
 Public Service Board, New 
 South Whales, for investiga- 
 ting all departments of Civil 
 Service, 44 
 Public works : 
 
 New South Wales, Parlia- 
 mentary Standing Com- 
 mittee of Public Works, 
 means of diminishing poli- 
 tical pressure in, 40 
 New Zealand : 
 
 Communication, improving 
 means of, by public 
 works scheme, 85 
 Co-operative construction, 
 105
 
 330 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Encouragement of settle- 
 ment — public works 
 scheme valueless with- 
 out, 120 
 Railways, preservation of 
 Crown Land for con- 
 structing, withdrawn by 
 Government, 92 
 Queensland, facilitating oc- 
 cupation in outlying dis- 
 tricts by construction of 
 public works, 78 
 Victoria : 
 
 Audit Commissioners to 
 
 recover arrears of money 
 
 due to State, proposed 
 
 authorisation of, 146 
 
 Extravagant expenditure, 
 
 on, 143 
 Irrigation and water sup- 
 ply works : 
 Inadequate preliminary 
 
 investigations, 145 
 Liabilities — failure of 
 works to meet their 
 own liabilities, 144 
 Railway Commissioners' 
 libel action against Mr. 
 David Syme, 143 
 Western Australia — diffi- 
 culties of the Government, 
 160 
 
 Q 
 
 Queensland— Australian Fede- 
 ration Enabling Bill, rejec- 
 tion of in, 235 
 Central and Northern 
 Queensland's separation 
 from the South : 
 Agitation for, 55 
 
 Arguments in favour of, 
 
 56 
 Boundaries adopted by 
 
 Separationists, 56 
 Claims of Central Queens- 
 land, 56 
 Constitution Bill, attempt 
 
 at introducing, 59 
 Decline of agitation, 6i 
 Federal Convention dele- 
 gates — proportion of 
 Northern and Central 
 Queensland representa- 
 tives proposed to be sent, 
 60 
 Financial Districts Bill, 59 
 Imperial Government's in- 
 tervention, Lord Knuts- 
 ford's reply to Northern 
 deputation, 57 
 Natural products, inter- 
 change of between the 
 separated Provinces, 58 
 Public Debt Liability, 59 
 Revenue of the districts — 
 Royal Commission of In- 
 quiry into, 59 
 Supreme Court judges, 
 appointment of, 60 
 Female Suffrage, result of 
 
 adopting in, 185 
 Humanitarian legislation 
 
 [see that title] 
 
 Labour Party [see that title] 
 
 Legislative Council, members 
 
 nominated for life without 
 
 salary, 121 
 
 Pastoral industries [see that 
 
 title] 
 Railways, management of by 
 the State, 251
 
 INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Revenue and expenditure — 
 development of industries 
 by the State.. 77 
 
 Sugar cultivation [see that 
 title] 
 
 R 
 
 Radical result of elections 
 after establishment of Female 
 Suffrage in South Australia 
 and New Zealand, 193 
 Railways : 
 
 New South Wales, appoint- 
 ment of railway Commis- 
 sioners, 39 
 New Zealand, reservation of 
 Crown Lands for construc- 
 ting,withdrawn by Govern- 
 ment, 86 
 Queensland railways,manage- 
 
 ment of by the State, 252 
 Tasmanian land-grant rail- 
 ways, encouragement of 
 enterprise by, 181 
 Victoria : 
 
 Extravagant Expenditure 
 on, 142, 246, 249 
 Railway Commissioners' 
 libel action against 
 !Mr. David Syme, 143 
 Western Australia, 162 
 Referendum [see title Plebis- 
 cite] 
 Reid, Right Hon. G. H., 36, 50, 
 
 51, 227 
 Religious bodies. Western Aus- 
 tralia, grants to, abolition of, 
 
 159 
 Responsible Government : 
 
 Australasia, advantages and 
 
 disadvantages of, 264 
 
 Western Australia obtaining, 
 
 156 
 Revenue and expenditure : 
 Federation of Australasian 
 Provinces — revenue and 
 expenditure of Common- 
 wealth, regulations for, 221 
 New Zealand, reduction of 
 expenditure, 88 
 
 QUEEXSLAXD : 
 
 Central and Northern 
 Queensland — revenue of 
 the districts, Royal Com- 
 mission of Inquiry into, 59 
 Development of industries 
 by the State, 77 
 Victoria : 
 
 Extravagant expenditure 
 
 of, 142 
 Legislative Council's ina- 
 bility to check, 126 
 Western Australia, causes 
 of improved credit, 167 
 Rowdiness and drunkenness, 
 absence of among Coolgardie 
 miners, 314 
 Russell, Captain, misuse of 
 political patronage charges 
 brought against New Zealand 
 Government b}', 269 
 
 Salaries : 
 
 Australasian Parliaments, ef- 
 fect of salaries on mem- 
 bers, 267 
 Parliament of Common- 
 wealth proposed salary of 
 members of, 220 
 Salvation Army services at 
 Coolgardie goldfields, 312
 
 332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Savings Bank returns : 
 
 Individual effort of Australian 
 labouring class demon- 
 strated by, 259 
 
 South Australian, 33 
 Seddon, Right Hon. R. J., 106, 
 
 119, 120 
 Shops in Victoria, hours of clos- 
 ing. 134 
 Socialism : 
 
 Queensland Labour Party, 
 socialistic tendencies of, 73 
 
 State Socialism in Australasia, 
 origin and extent of, 245, 
 249 
 " Solidarity " vote of New South 
 
 Wales Labour Party, 50 
 South Australia : 
 
 Democratic policy due to 
 Constitution, 2 
 
 Dissolution of both Houses 
 after disagreement, success 
 of, 178 
 
 Education [see that title] 
 
 Elective Executive, substitu- 
 tion of, advocated, 26 
 
 Female Suffrage [see that 
 title] 
 
 Income tax on incomes de- 
 rived from property or 
 personal exertion, distinc- 
 tion between, 279 
 
 Industrial disputes. Boards of 
 Conciliation for, 284 
 
 Labour Party [see that title] 
 
 Legislative Assembly and 
 Legislative Council [see 
 those titles] 
 
 Legislative measures, 24 
 
 Plebiscite [see that title] 
 
 Plural voting forbidden in, 2 
 
 Produce Export Department : 
 Institution of, 2; 
 Output of the various Pro- 
 vinces, means of secur- 
 ing uniformity in, 23 
 Progressive Taxation first in- 
 troduced in, 16 
 Savings Bank Returns, 33 
 Tariff question settled in 
 
 favour of Protection, 24 
 Village Settlements [see that 
 title] 
 South-Western Railway, Wes- 
 tern Australia, course of, 162 
 State Farm in New Zealand for 
 
 relief of unemployed, 113 
 
 State Socialism in Australasia, 
 
 origin and extent of, 245, 249 
 
 Stout, Sir Robert, misuse of 
 
 political patronage, charges 
 
 brought against New Zealand 
 
 Government by, 271 
 
 Succession Duties, assessment 
 
 of in South Australia, 20 
 Sugar cultivation in Queens- 
 land : 
 Irregularity of employment 
 
 in, 69 
 Kanakas [see that title] 
 Modifications in, 64 
 Sugar Works Guarantee Act, 
 industry developed by, 65 
 Syme, Mr. David, 153 
 
 T 
 
 Tailoresses' Union, formation 
 
 of in Victoria, 135 
 Tariff : 
 
 New South Wales, Labour 
 Party's disagreement on 
 question of, 49
 
 INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 South Australia, tariff ques- 
 tion settled in favour of 
 Protection, 24 
 Victoria, protective tariff in, 
 cause of contention be- 
 tween Legislative Assembly 
 and Legislative Council, 123 
 Tasmania : 
 
 Female Suffrage [see that 
 
 title] 
 Graduated Death Duties, 
 
 assessment of, 278 
 Immigration of coloured 
 
 races, restriction of, 170 
 Income tax on incomes de- 
 rived from property and 
 personal exertion, distinc- 
 tion between, 279 
 Legislative Council [see that 
 
 title] 
 Produce and Export Depart- 
 ment — inspection of ex- 
 ported produce, 172 
 Public works, taxation for 
 
 obtaining funds for, 181 
 Railways — land-grant rail- 
 ways for encouragement of 
 private enterprise, 181 
 Taxation : 
 
 Additional taxation cause of 
 conflict between Legisla- 
 tive Assembly and Legisla- 
 tive Council, 123 
 Australian Provinces' form 
 
 of direct taxation, 279 
 New South Wales Labour 
 Party, taxation of land 
 values obtained by, 50 
 New Zealand, assessment of 
 land and income taxes 
 in, 89 
 
 South Australia, progressive 
 taxation first introduced 
 into, 16 
 Tasmania, public works 
 outlay, taxation for obtain- 
 ing funds for, 181 
 
 Technical instruction in agri- 
 culture, &c., by experts, New 
 Zealand, 104 
 
 Telegraphic and postal depart- 
 ments — Parliament of Com- 
 monwealth's exclusive control 
 of, 221 
 
 Town and country antagonism 
 — reflex of antagonism be- 
 tween Victorian Legislative 
 Assembly and Legislative 
 Council, 131 
 
 Town and country inhabitants, 
 difference in development of, 
 necessity of considering with 
 regard toAustralasian Federa- 
 tion, 299 
 
 Trade Unions, workmen's 
 willingness to form, 281 
 
 Traditional Conservatism, ab- 
 sence of among Australasian 
 politicians, 277 
 
 U 
 
 Undesirable Immigrants Ex- 
 clusion Bill, forbidding intro- 
 duction of consumptive per- 
 sons into New Zealand, 295 
 
 Unemployed : 
 
 Indiscriminate assistance, 
 
 255 
 
 New South Wales : 
 
 Casual Labour Board and 
 Labour Bureau, 45
 
 334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Loafers, placing in Indus- 
 trial Homes, proposed, 
 48 
 
 Money spent on works 
 for, 46, 47 
 New Zealand : 
 
 Charitable Aid Expendi- 
 ture of 1896, 116 
 
 Compulsory labour for 
 loafers, 115 
 
 Improved - Farm Settle- 
 ments system, iii 
 
 State Farm near Welling- 
 ton, 113 
 South Australia : 
 
 Village Settlements, 6 
 Victoria : 
 
 Land Acts of 1893, 149 
 
 Leongatha Colony, 151, 268 
 
 Public subscriptions for, 
 
 150 
 Shiftlessness of men, 153 
 Union Steamship Company, 
 New Zealand, engineers' 
 industrial dispute, 290, 291 
 Upper House [see titles Legis- 
 lative Council and Conflict 
 between Legislative Assem- 
 bly and Legislative Council] 
 
 V 
 
 Van Dieman's Land Company, 
 Tasmania, Bill authorising 
 construction of railway by, 
 181 
 Victoria : 
 
 Australasian Federation En- 
 abhng Act^pro\H'5ions of 
 Victorian Act, 230 
 
 Confidence of the people in 
 efficiency of State actioji, 
 
 154 
 Factories and Shops Acts [see 
 
 that title] 
 Female Suffrage : 
 Abolition of plural voting 
 included in Bill intro- 
 ducing, 186 
 Result of adopting, 184 
 Gold-mining, State en- 
 couragement of, 147 
 Income tax on incomes de- 
 rived from property or per- 
 sonal exertion, distinction 
 between, 279 
 Legislative Assembly and 
 Legislative Council [see 
 those titles] 
 Produce and export — 
 bonuses given to pro- 
 ducers, 148 
 Protective Tariff : 
 
 Cause of contention be- 
 tween Legislative As- 
 sembly and Legislative 
 Council, 123 
 Public works [see that title] 
 Unemployed [see that title] 
 Village Settlements, 255 
 New Zealand, 95, 99 
 South AustraUa : 
 
 Closed by Government, 10 
 Difficulties, encountered 
 
 by settlers, 10 
 Failure of, 8 
 Formation of, 6 
 Murtho, success of, 1 1 
 New Zealand Settlements, 
 differing from, 99 
 Victoria, 149
 
 INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 W 
 
 Western Australia : 
 
 Aborigines, protection of, 
 
 158 
 
 Assisted Schools Abolition 
 Act, 159 
 
 Australasian Federation En- 
 abling Act — Provisions of 
 Western Australian Act, 
 
 233 
 
 Churches, grants to, aboli- 
 tion of, 159 
 
 Constitution Bill, 157 
 
 Female Suffrage, result of 
 adopting, 185 
 
 GOLD-MIXIXG : 
 
 Coolgardie Goldficlds [see 
 
 that title] 
 Inducements offered to 
 immigrants, 164 
 
 Legislative Council : 
 Property qualification : 
 Electors', 158 
 Members not subjected 
 to, 121 
 PubUc works, Government 
 
 difficulties, 160 
 Responsible Government, 
 
 156 
 
 Women's Franchise Leagues, 
 New Zealand, inducing 
 female voters to support 
 candidates on moral con- 
 siderations, 206 
 
 Working classes [see title 
 Labouring Classes] 
 
 Yates, Mrs., Maj'or of Onc- 
 hunga, inability of to fill 
 position, 208
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, 
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 T. FISHER UNWIN, Publisher, 
 
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 " Mr. Louis Becke wields a powerful pen, with the additional advantage 
 that he waves it in unfrequented places, and summons up with it the elemental 
 passions of human nature. ... It will be seen that Mr. Becke is somewhat 
 of the fle.shlj- school, but with a pathos and power not given to the ordinary 
 professors of that school. . . Altogether for those who like stirring stories 
 cast in strange scenes, this is a book to be read." — National Observer. 
 
 PACIFIC TALES 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUIS BECKE 
 
 With a Portrait of the Author 
 Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth, 6s. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 " The appearance of a new book by Mr. Becke has become an event of note 
 — and very justly. No living author, if we except Mr. Kipling, has so amazing 
 a command of that unhackneyed vitality of phrase that most people call by 
 the name of realism. Whether it is scenery or character or incident that he 
 wi.shes to depict, the touch is ever so dramatic and vivid that the reader is 
 conscious of a picture and impression that has no parallel save in the records 
 of actual sight and memory." — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 " Another series of sketches of island life in the South Seas, not inferior to 
 those contained in ' By Reef and Palm.' " — Speaker. 
 
 "The book is well worth reading. The author knows what he is talking 
 about and has a keen eye for the picturesque." — G. B. Burgin in To-day. 
 
 " A notable contribution to the romance of the South Seas." 
 
 T. P. O'Connor, M.P., in The Graphic. 
 
 11, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.G.
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN, Publisher, 
 
 PADDY'S WOMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 HUMPHREY JAMES 
 
 Crown 8vo., 6s. 
 
 " Traits of the Celt of humble circumstances are copied 
 with keen appreciation and unsparing accuracy." Scotsman. 
 
 " They are full of indescribable charm and 
 
 pathos." — Bradford Observer. 
 
 "The outstanding merit of this series of stories is that 
 they are absolutely true to life .... the photographic 
 accuracy and minuteness displayed are really marvellous." 
 
 Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 "'Paddy's Woman and Other Stories' by Humphrey 
 James ; a volume written in the familiar diction of the 
 Ulster people themselves, with perfect realism and very 
 remarkable ability. . . . For genuine human nature 
 and human relations, and humour of an indescribable 
 kind, we are unable to cite a rival to this volume." 
 
 The World. 
 
 " For a fine subtle piece of humour we are inclined to 
 think that * A Qlass of Whisky ' takes a lot of beating . . 
 In short Mr. Humphrey James has given us a delightful 
 book, and one which does as much credit to his heart as to 
 his head. We shall look forward with a keen anticipation 
 to the next ' writings ' by this shrewd, ' cliver,' and com- 
 passionate young author." — Bookselling. 
 
 11, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.G.
 
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