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Government. In New South Wales, where the principle of tariff for revenue only has prevailed, the customs receipts in 1886-187 amounted to £2,011,947. In Victoria, which has nourished a large industrial development by protective duties, they were £2,353,050 in 1887-88. New Zealand collected £1,251,651 of import duties, and Queensland £1,178,334. The bulk of these duties is now paid on English manufactures. The Protectionists and Fair Traders in Great Britain who cherish the idea of imperial federation propose to tax imports from foreign countries which compete with colonial products. This would scarcely benefit the wool-growers of the colonies, would not help the gold-mining interests, and would encourage wheat-producing only by making bread dear for the English poor. British industry, in return for the sentimental sacrifice of free-trade traditions, would usurp the market now occupied by the growing industries of Victoria and other colonies, in all of which high wages and the eight-hour working day are the rule. The only motive that the colonists could have for thus deranging their fiscal system and crushing their manufacturing interests is that of loyalty to the Crown. Yet, while many are attached to the British connection as it now exists, a large part of the community nurses the hope of complete political independence, and this sentiment is spreading because the imperial connection subjects the colonies to the danger of attack in case of war between England and another naval power. The idea of independence is usually coupled with that of colonial federation. There is a distinct tendency toward a union, popularly conceived after the prototype of the United States; but the movement is attended with much friction, owing to conflicting interests and political jealousy between the various colonies. The Federal Council, which meets at Hobart in January every year to discuss intercolonial questions admitting of common action, has not accomplished much, and till now New South Wales and New Zealand have taken no steps to join even this tentative and shadowy union. At the first meeting of the Council, on Jan. 25, 1886, measures were considered for giving operation to warrants and judgments of the courts throughout the colonies represented, and an agreement was entered into to act with the Imperial Government in fortifying King George's Sound and Torres Straits. The Council met for the second time in January, 1888, when a bill for regulating the bêche-de-mer fisheries of northern Queensland was the principal measure passed. At the third session, opening on Jan. 29, 1889, South Australia was represented for the first time. The Council adopted an address to the Queen, asking to be furnished with copies of all treaties relating to affairs in the Pacific, and, in view of the anxiety concerning the Samoan question, urging the importance of maintaining existing treaties. A bill was passed dealing with the pearl fisheries of Western Australia, while one relating to the status of joint-stock companies was rejected on the ground that it would affect colonies that had not joined the Federation. The Council also adopted a scheme increasing the number of its members on the basis of population, thus giving to the principal colonies proportionate anthority in the deliberations. The question of the

exclusion of Chinese immigrants, on which all the colonies were united, and which they solved by adopting virtually prohibitive measures antagonistic to the spirit, if not to the letter of the treaties with China, was made the subject of diplomatic negotiations between the British and Chinese Governments, which are not yet concluded.

The Chinese, the New Guinea, the New Hebrides, and the French recidivist questions have developed a lively sense of Australian interests as opposed or impeded by the imperial or European interests of Great Britain. Yet, notwithstanding the bond of common feeling that unites all Australians when their deeper political interests are touched, the colonies are rather disposed to differ than to act together in practical matters as they come up. New South Wales has clung to the free-trade system, partly because the Victorians adopted protective tariffs. Even railroads are built on rival systems, South Australia and Victoria having the broad English gauge of 5 feet, while in New South Wales the tracks are 4 feet wide, and in Queensland 34 feet, so that goods have to be reloaded at the frontiers. When the colonies had agreed to pay £15,000 a year for the administration of New Guinea, each contributing according to its population, South Australia subsequently withdrew from the arrangement. They are now considering the matter of erecting wire fences along the boundary lines, so that each colony can combat the rabbitpest in its own way. Yet, in spite of small jealousies, the colonies, of the Australian continent at least, feel, and are ready to act, as one nation on great political questions.

Colonial Governors.-The protest of the Queensland ministry against the appointment of Sir Henry Blake, formerly a resident magistrate in Ireland, as Governor of the colony was followed by discussions in the colonial parliaments and a correspondence with the home Government on the subject of the appointment of colonial governors. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Knutsford, in his reply to the request of the Queensland Government to be consulted in regard to the appointment of the new Governor, laid down the principle that the officer charged with the duty of conducting the foreign relations of the Crown and advising the Crown on imperial, as distinct from colonial questions must owe his appointment and be responsible to the Crown alone, and that the ministers of the colony concerned could not share the responsibility of the Crown or have a veto on the selection. A similar application was made by the Government of South Australia with regard to the appointment of a new governor of that colony, to which an answer in practically the same terms as that given to the Government of Queensland was returned by the Secretary of State. On Nov. 19, 1888, Sir Graham Berry, agent-general for Victoria, communicated the contents of a telegram describing a discussion which took place in the Legislative Assembly, which showed that Victoria had no desire to appoint or nominate its Governor. On Nov. 22, 1888, an address to the Queen from the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales was received, submitting that it was desirable and reasonable, and in accord with the privileges constitutionally conferred on

Australian subjects, that in future the Government of the colony should be informed of any intended appointment to the governorship before the appointment is finally made, and expressing the opinion that the field of selection should be limited to persons who had been members of the British Parliament or had held high office in the Imperial Government. The difficulty with regard to the particular appointment of Sir Henry Blake was overcome by his resignation of the post on Nov. 26, 1888. The correspondence was closed by Lord Knutsford's dispatch of July 8, 1889, to the governors of the Australian colonies and of New Zealand expressing the opinion that the expediency of making any constitutional change in the mode of appointing the governor of an Australian colony had not been established, and pointing out that men in active political life or holding prominent offices in England would not be likely to accept service abroad, that none of the successful Australian governors had been selected from those classes, and that the Imperial Government could not invite a person selected for a governorship to allow his name to be submitted for approval to colonial ministers to whom he might be entirely unknown, however well and favorably known in England.

New South Wales.-The earliest constituted of the Australasian colonies has the most democratic electoral system, suffrage being universal. It retains the nominated Legislative Council, although Victoria obtained an elective upper house after a constitutional struggle lasting from 1862 till 1881; yet the legislative authority has gradually passed into the hands of the Assembly of one hundred and twenty-four members, elected by seventy-two districts. The present Governor is Lord Carrington, who assumed office on Dec. 12, 1885.

New South Wales has at last overtaken Victoria in population, according to the estimate of 1,042,919 for the end of 1887. The net immigration in 1887 was 23,516. The number of births registered during that year was 37,236; the number of deaths, 13,448; the number of marriages, 7,590. The number of blacks in 1885 was 5,362, showing a decrease of 327 since the previous year; the number of half-breeds was 2,622, an increase of 220. The estimated population of Sydney, the capital, on June 30, 1888, was 357,856.

The total value of the imports in 1887 was £18,806,236; of exports, £18,496,917. The exports of domestic products amounted to £15,472,361. One half of both the import and export trade is with Great Britain, and the rest is chiefly with other colonies of Australasia, the commerce with foreign countries being only one tenth of the total. The export of wool in 1887 was valued at £9,200,071. The lands leased for pastoral purposes in 1886 were 211,174 miles in extent. The pastoral lands in 1888, exclusive of Crown leaseholds, had a total area of 36,817,491 acres. The area under cultivation was 1,042,394 The coal product in 1887 was 2,922,497 tons, valued at £1,346,440; the product of gold, 110,286 ounces, valued at £394,579; of copper, 4,763 tons; of tin, 4,961 tons; the value of silverlead ore, £541,952. The number of persons employed in mining operations in 1887 was 18,399, while 44,360 were employed in manufacturing

acres.

operations. The railroads in 1887 had a total length of 2,036 miles, built at a cost of £26,554,357. There were 21,444 miles of telegraph wires. The mails forwarded 44,845,900 letters, 34,181,600 papers, and 5,530,700 packets in 1887.

The principal source of public revenue has been the sale and rent of public lands, which produced more than one half the total receipts till 1884, when the sales were partly stopped. The only direct tax is the stamp duty. Of £8,582,811 raised in 1887, £2,510,335 were derived from railways; £2,378,791 from land, the sales amounting to £1,221,776; and £2,664,548 from customs and other taxes. Of the expenditure, £9,098,460 in amount, £1,698,716 were required for railways; £633,813 for the postal and telegraph service; £1,172,993 for other public works; £1,693,926 for interest and payment of debt; £31,534 for promoting immigration; and £3,149,056 for other purposes. The revenue for 1888 was estimated at £9,158,072, and the expenditure was not expected to exceed £8,588,352. The actual receipts in that year were £8,711,000, and in 1888-'89 the revenue amounted to £8,963,000. The public debt at the end of 1888 reached the sum of £43,996,000. The expenditure on railroads up to Dec. 31, 1887, had been about £30,000,000; on irrigation and sewerage works, £3,500,000; on telegraphs, £700,000; on harbor and river improvements, £1,650,000; on public buildings £1,600,000. A new loan was raised in 1889, but on less favorable terms than the previous ones, although there are better safeguards against the authorization of public works for political purposes than formerly, since every railroad project must be examined by the railway commissioners, and every public improvement estimated to cost more than £20,000 is subjected to the scrutiny of a joint committee of both houses.

At the beginning of 1889 the Free-Trade and Protectionist parties were almost equally balanced in the Assembly. On Jan. 10 the ministry of Sir Henry Parkes, although having a normal majority of a few votes, resigned in consequence of a motion condemning the appointment of a certain railway official. A new ministry was constituted by the Opposition on Jan. 15, of the following composition: Colonial Secretary, G. R. Dibbs; Colonial Treasurer, James P. Garvan; Secretary for Land, William J. Lyne; Secretary for Public Works, James Fletcher; Minister of Public Instruction, F. B. Sutton; Minister of Justice, Thomas M. Slattery; Vice-President of the Executive Council, John Lackey; Attorney-General, Edmund Barton; PostmasterGeneral, Henry Clarke; Secretary for Mines, John M. Chanter. On taking their seats on Jan. 17, the new ministry were defeated on a vote of confidence, by 41 votes to 38. Deeming that the Protectionists were now stronger in the constituencies than the party that had for two years carried on the Government, Mr. Dibbs advised the dissolution of Parliament, and appointed new elections for Feb. 2. In these the Free Traders were again victorious, although the ministry claimed a majority in the total popular vote of 9,000 in their favor. The new Parliament was opened on Feb. 28. In his financial statement the Treasurer asserted that the Liberals had swelled the deficit to £4,000,000, but Sir Henry Parkes had no difficulty in showing that there was

no deficit beside that entailed by the former Conservative Government. On March 6 his amendment to the free-trade address of the ministry was carried by 68 votes against 64. The ministers resigned the same day, and Sir Henry Parkes formed a Cabinet which was substantially the same as the one that was in office in 1888, except that Mr. McMillan became Treasurer and Mr. Brunker Minister of Lands. A motion of the Opposition to abolish the duties on kerosene, bacon, butter, and cheese, which was intended to embarrass the Government, was accepted by the Premier and carried by the Assembly. In response to a popular demand for the payment of members, which the Opposition adopted as part of their programme, the Government offered a bill, or rather the only member of the Cabinet in favor of the principle was allowed to bring one in, which passed the Assembly, as had three previous ones on the same subject, only to be subsequently rejected by the Legislative Council. In the last bill the members even voted to pay themselves salaries. This provision was stricken out by the Council at last agreeing to a tentative measure that should apply to the two next succeeding Parliaments only. In this form it was unacceptable, and was withdrawn by the Government. Parliament authorized the issue of treasury bills at 4 per cent. to cover the deficit of 1886 and previous years, amounting to £2,600,000. The principal act of the session was the land bill. The land bill of 1884 had scarcely been passed, after keeping Parliament at work for thirteen months, when the squatter and selector classes each began to agitate for fresh changes. The most important section in the new bill is one in favor of the squatters, granting them compensation for improvements in the form of a five years' additional lease. The squatters, many of whose leases are expiring, were backed by the banks in pressing for a money compensation for unexhausted improvements, to be paid by the incoming tenant or selector, and the Minister of Lands submitted a clause to that effect, which was changed however at the instance of the Radicals, who objected that this would enable the wealthy squatters to retain the land because the agricultural settlers could not pay for the improvements that would be made on the sheep-runs.

Victoria. Having a cooler climate, Victoria has achieved a more rapid and varied development than New South Wales. The capital and enterprise of the Victorians have brought their own colony to a higher industrial and agricultural stage than the others, and even go outside to seek new fields in land speculations and mining and manufacturing undertakings in Queensland, New South Wales, and elsewhere. Queensland and Tasmania commercially are but provinces of Victoria. Tasmania, in which nearly all the till able soil has been taken up, where the people are emigrating to Victoria, and no new settlers arrive to take their places, and which suffers consequently from commercial depression and disordered finances, is willing to be annexed to Victoria. The "pushing colony" which has won the primacy, may, however, at no distant period, when its limited area is fully occupied, again fall behind New South Wales with its vast extent of territory and undeveloped natural resources. Of the total area of Victoria 22,478,440 acres have

been alienated, leaving only 8,400,000 acres suitable for agriculture and 7,000,000 acres of pastoral land yet to be occupied.

Sir Henry Brougham Loch, who has held the office of Governor since July 15, 1884, resigned in 1889, and was succeeded by the Earl of Hopetoun, who was appointed on July 23. The composition of the ministry is as follows: Premier, Treasurer, Minister of Mines, and Minister of Railways, Duncan Gillies; Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Water Supply, Alfred Deakin; Attorney-General, H. J.Wrixon; Commissioner of Public Works, J. Nimmo; Minister of Justice, Henry Cuthbert; Commissioner of Trade and Customs, W. F. Walker; Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, J. L. Dow; Minister of Public Instruction, Charles H. Pearson; Minister of Defense, Sir James Lorimer; Postmaster-General, F. T. Derham; without portfolio, James Bell.

In 1881, when the last census was taken, 499,199 persons, or 58 per cent. of the population, were natives of the colony, 39,861 of other parts of Australia, 147,453 of England and Wales, 86,733 of Ireland, and 48,153 of Scotland. There were 108,919 persons engaged in agriculture, 13,731 in pastoral pursuits, 23,559 in commerce, 36,066 in entertaining or clothing, 46,883 in mechanical trades, 24,723 in domestic service, and 9,901 in public service. The population of Melbourne in 1888 was 410,000, being nearly 40 per cent. of the total population of the colony. The number of immigrants by sea in 1887 was 90,147, while 68,121 persons departed. The births in that year numbered 33,043; deaths, 16,005; marriages, 7,768.

The total value of imports in 1887 was £19,022,151; of exports, £11,351,145. The exports of gold, including specie, were £1,254,720; of wool, £5,073,491, including re-exports, the produce of other colonies, of the value of £2,778,927; of bread-stuffs, £868,030. Victoria is the only colony, except South Australia and New Zealand, producing wheat beyond its needs. The number of manufactories in March, 1888, was 2,871, employing 50,582 persons. The railroad mileage at the end of June, 1888, was 2,018, besides 493 miles in process of construction. There were 4,115 miles of telegraph lines, with 10,175 miles of wire, at the close of 1887. There were 2,176,915 dispatches during the year. The post-office forwarded 41,289,972 letters, 7,670,615 packages, and 18,869,055 newspapers.

The revenue for 1887-'88 amounted to £7,607,754, of which customs and other taxes yielded £3,040,038; railways, £2,741,488; posts and telegraphs, £539,780; Crown lands, £656,219; and other sources, £630,229. The total expenditures were £7.345,650, of which the interest and expenses of the debt absorbed £1,433,526, operating expenses of railways £1,570,139, other public works 1,024,049, public instruction and science £704,454, posts and telegraphs £524,367, and other services £2,089,115. The revenue for 1888-'89 was estimated at £7,792,624, and expenditure at £8,532,553. The actual receipts were £8,674,000, producing a surplus of £1,607,000. The railroad traffic rates have been lowered, the tax on tea reduced to 1d., and the duties on coffee, cocoa, and kerosene abolished. Reductions were also made on dress goods. The farmers of Victoria have already obtained pro

tective duties on produce brought into the colony across the land frontiers. Recently they have agitated for an advance of those duties to 25 per cent. ad valorem. In the budget for 1889 the import duty on oats and barley is increased from 28. to 3s. per cental. No increase was made in the stock tax, because it is opposed to the federal spirit. Victoria had a debt on June 30, 1888, of £34,627,382, of which sum £26,425,706 was borrowed for railroad construction, £5,345,150 for waterworks, £1,105,557 for publicschool buildings, and £1,750,969 for other publicworks. A new loan of £3,000,000 was raised in Jan., 1889, at 34 per cent. The capital cost of the railroads to June 30, 1889, was £30,120,000, of which £28,275,000 had been raised by loans.

Victoria has onjoyed for three years a period of unexampled growth and prosperity. A centennial exhibition commemorative of the first colonization of Australia was held in Melbourne in the winter of 1888-'89. In addition to its commercial results it had the effect of arousing a wider popular interest in art and of giving an impetus to technical schools. The Government is arranging a complete scheme of technical and agricultural education. Measures are being taken to secure the reforesting of the denuded districts, as well as to conserve the forests still standing. The system of irrigation adopted by Parliament is working beneficially, and the land affected is expected to yield more abundant crops each succeeding year. Boring for water is being done on a definite plan. A tariff bill which was withdrawn in 1888 was reintroduced with changes in the session that opened on June 4, 1889. Another bill improves the civil-service regulations which have now been introduced in all the Australian colonies, whereas formerly patronage and partisan activity were the only roads to office. The permanent endowment of the state schools with revenues from Crown lands is in contem

plation. The Legislature was occupied in 1889 by a public-health bill dealing specially with the sanitation of Melbourne, where an epidemic of typhoid fever occurred at the time of the exhibition. The Parliament was dissolved on March 11, and in the elections which took place on the 28th of that month the ministerial party obtained 63 seats, while only 32 went to the Opposition.

lic Works, J. H. Howe; Minister of Lands, T. Burgoyne; Minister of Education, J. H. Gordon; without portfolio, Dr. Campbell.

The revenue in 1887-'88 was £2,354,743, and the expenditure £2,245,931. For 1888-89 the revenue was estimated at £2,401,874 and the expenditure at £2,279 800. The amount of the public debt on Dec 31, 1888, was £19,397,700, the whole of which had been expended on railroads, harbors, and other productive works.

The population on Dec. 31, 1887, was estimated at 317,446, of which number 165,199 were males and 152,247 females. There were 10,831 births, 3,944 deaths, and 1,977 marriages during the year. The immigrants numbered 15,468, while 17,667 persons left the colony. According to the census of 1881 there were 6,346 aborigines and 2,734 Chinese.

The imports in 1887 amounted to £5,906,293, and exports to £5,330,780. The exports of wool were valued at £2,036,775; of wheat and flour, £1,058,248; of copper and copper ore, £240,333. Out of a total area of 578,361,600 acres, only 9,860,927 acres had been alienated at the close of 1887, and not more than 2,785,490 acres were under cultivation. There were 1,419 miles of railroad completed and 403 miles building by the end of 1887. The colony had 5,485 miles of telegraphs, with 11,007 miles of wire, including the overland telegraph line crossing the continent from Adelaide to Port Darwin and connecting with the British-Australian cable. In 1887 the number of letters and packets passing through the postoffice was 15,181,309; of newspapers, 7,376,953.

Queensland.-Every adult male who has been in the colony six months is qualified to exercise the franchise, and property owners and leaseholders have votes in any districts where their land is situated. The members of the Legislative Council, as in the majority of the colonies, are nominated for life by the Crown. The present Governor is Gen. Sir Henry Wylie Norman, appointed in December, 1888, after the voluntary retirement of Sir Henry Blake. The ministry is presided over by Sir Thomas Mellwraith, the leader of the National party, containing the same elements that formerly made up the "Squatter" or Conservative party, who when Premier before proclaimed the annexation of New Guinea, an act that the home Government disallowed. The Liberal Premier, Sir Samuel Griffith, resigned on Sept. 4, 1888, in consequence of a dispute with the Governor, and the National party, which as advocating the Protectionist theory had been victorious in the elections of May, 1888, succeeded to office, making the thirteenth change of government since the colony was founded in 1859. The ministry is composed

South Australia.-As in Victoria, the Legislative Council is elected by the people under a property qualification, whereas the House of Assembly is elected without limitation of suffrage. The Governor is the Earl of Kintore, who received his appointment in December, 1888. The following ministers at the beginning of 1889 presided over the six departments of state: Premier and Treasurer, Thomas Playford; Chief Secreretary. James Garden Ramsay; Attorney-Gen- of the following members: Premier and Chief eral, Charles Cameron Kingston; Commissioner of Crown Lands, Jenkin Coles; Commissioner of Public Works, Alfred Catt; Minister of Education, Joseph Colin Francis Johnson. In consequence of a vote of want of confidence carried on the motion of J. A. Cockburn, Minister of Education in the last preceding administration, these ministers resigned on June 24, and a new Cabinet was constituted, which is composed as follows: Premier and Chief Secretary, J. A Cockburn; Treasurer, F. W. Holder; AttorneyGeneral, B. A. Moulden; Commissioner of Pub

Secretary and Treasurer, Sir Thomas McIlwraith; Colonial Secretary, B. D. Morehead; Minister for Lands, M. Hume Black; Minister for Railways, H. M. Nelson; Postmaster-General and Minister for Public Instruction, J. Donaldson; Secretary for Mines and Works, J. M. Macrossan; Minister of Justice, A. J. Thynne; without portfolio, W. Pattison.

Queensland comprises the northeastern part of the continent and adjacent islands, with an estimated area of 668,497 square miles and 2,250 miles of coast. Of the total area 8,991,686 acres,

or less than 2 per cent. had been alienated at the close of 1887, the proceeds being £5,756,200. About one half the surface is covered with forests. Under an act passed in 1884, land can be selected for agricultural purposes up to 1,280 acres on a 50-years lease, and afterward can be acquired in fee simple on compliance with certain conditions. Pastoral leaseholds of the maximum area of 20,000 acres can be selected for the term of thirty years.

The estimated population on Jan. 1, 1888, was 366,940. The aborigines are supposed to number about 12,000. Chinese and Polynesian laborers have for three years past left the colony in greater numbers than the arrivals. The European immigrants in 1887 numbered 32,393; Chinese, 307; Polynesian, 2,079; the European emigrants, 16,414; Chinese, 821; Polynesian, 2,120. The number of births in 1887 was 13,513; deaths, 5,166; marriages, 2,914. The population of Brisbane, the political capital, with its suburbs, was 73,649 by the census of May 1, 1886.

The total value of the imports in 1887 was £5,821,611; of exports, £6,453,945. The chief exports, besides gold, are wool, valued at £2,368,711, and sugar, valued at £758,215. Other products are hides and skins, tin, and preserved meat. The gold product in 1887 was 425,923 ounces. Copper and galena are mined to some extent. Extensive and valuable coal deposits have been partly opened. The railroads at the beginning of 1888 had a length of 1,765 miles, and 653 miles more were in course of construction. There were 8,772 miles of telegraph lines and 15,677 miles of wire. The postal traffic in 1887 was 11,586,807 letters, 9,752,563 newspapers, and 1,509,276 packets. The revenue of the Government in 1887-'88 amounted to £3,177,518, and the expenditure to £3,368,883. For four years the expenditures have exceeded receipts, but the returns for 1888-'89 show an increased revenue. The effects of the late drought have disappeared. Artesian wells have been successfully bored in many places. A rabbit-fence constructed across the colony serves its purpose of confining the pest. Among recent legislative acts is the creation of a railway commission, which began its functions in 1889. Western Australia.-The settlement of the colony was begun by the colonists from Sydney in 1829. It has representative government, the Governor and his superiors sharing the legislative authority with a Legislative Council consisting of 17 elected and 9 nominated members. The present Governor is Sir Frederick Napier Broome, appointed in December, 1882. The seat of government is at Perth.

The revenue in 1887. was £377,903, and the expenditure £456,897. There was a debt of £1,290,700 at the end of 1887. The area is estimated at 975,920 square miles. The population on Dec. 31, 1887, was 42,488. During the year there were 4,450 immigrants, while the departures numbered 2.400. There were 1,556 births and 702 deaths. The area under cultivation at the end of 1887 was 105,582 acres out of an area 6,000 times as great. The imports in 1887 were valued at £832,213, and the exports at £604.656. The telegraph lines had a length of 2,955 miles. The post-office transmitted 2,253,814 letters in 1887. The colony has been found to contain rich deposits of copper and gold. Gold was first dis

covered in the northern part of the colony in 1886, and now there are three promising goldfields-Kimberley, Pilbarra, and Yilgarn. Steam machinery has been carted through the tropical forests to Kimberley and Yilgarn. Since 1882 the annual export of wool has risen from 819,758 to 8,475,243 pounds. A railroad, 242 miles in length, was completed in 1887, another of equal length was built in the following year, connecting Perth, the capital, with the harbor of St. George's Sound, one of 294 miles on the western coast has been authorized, and in 1889 a concession was granted for one 800 miles in length that will eventually connect Perth with Adelaide and the other Australian capitals, for building which the company will receive 20,000 acres for every mile of track laid. These railroads have been financed on the land-grant system, the company receiving 12,000 acres along the line for each mile constructed. The Crown lands are open to settlers for selection at the price of 108. an acre, payable in annual installments of 6d. an acre.

Lord

Western Australia received representative government in 1870, and three years later a demand was made for responsible government. Carnarvon, the then Colonial Secretary, in 1874 refused to consider the draft constitution that was framed by the Legislative Council. In 1883 Lord Derby announced the terms on which the home Government was prepared to grant the desired constitution. Sir Frederick N. Broome in 1884, when he had been ten months in the colony, thought that the change ought to be postponed till the colony had advanced greatly in wealth and population, and that then the tropical northern part of the colony should continue under the administration of the Crown. Later he advocated all the demands of the colonists. Resolutions of the Legislative Council were accepted in principle by the Imperial Government, with reservations as to the northern district and protection for the natives, in a dispatch of Lord Knutsford, dated Dec. 22, 1887. In May, 1888, the Governor transmitted a draft constitution, which was returned with the amendments of the Colonial Office. The colonists asked for an elective upper chamber, while the Government insisted on the old model of an upper house nominated by the Crown, but compromised by promising that the elective system should be introduced, should the colonial ministry of the day desire it, at the end of six years or after the population had increased to 60,000. Objections were raised in England to handing over the largest part of what remained of the "patrimony of the Crown" to 8,000 families, who would administer the lands chiefly with a view to the advantage of the section in which they were settled, if not for their own private benefit. The legislatures of the other Australian colonies, resenting the hesitancy of the Imperial Government to yield up the last remnant of Crown legislation on the Australian continent, voted petitions to the Queen seconding the demand of Western Australia for responsible government. The petition from Victoria supported all the demands of the Western Australians; New South Wales and Queensland asked that territory not included in the new constitution should be held exclusively for Australian and British settlement. The English officials proposed to divide the colony into two

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