unnavigable 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
{162} 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 dependent for its returns upon their
prosperity, as it passes through vast areas of arid scrub. The
Northern Railway 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, {163} but were not in a position to incur the cost of their
construction. This system is not likely to be adopted again, as both
Companies have pursued an ungenerous policy in regard to the alienation
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 L500,000. 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 13-1/2 millions
of gallons and at a total cost of nearly L38,000. Wells were {164}
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 constructed, on the Murchison
and Pilbarra Goldfields, and in other parts of the country. But the
greatest undertaking in this direction will be the construction 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 agricultural 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 {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, by 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 subsidies for the payment of the passages of
immigrants, offered every inducement to people to come to the Province
of their own 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
capabilities of the soil in different parts of the country. Pastoral
leases may be obtained at a rent ranging from five shillings to L1 a
year for 1,000 acres. {166} 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 contend 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. {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 returns, 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
intimately 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 worked in Western Australia for a considerable time, but
attracted little attention until the great discoveries at Coolgardie
and in its neighbourhood. These came at a most opportune moment. A
large amount of capital in Europe was seeking {168} 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 increase 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
inconvenience 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 {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 legislation 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 which have succeeded the inauguration
of Responsible Government.
{170}
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, among 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 {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 L10 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 measures 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 suppression of book-makers and betting-houses, it did not {172}
interfere with the totalisator or with any lotteries which had been
authorised by Act of Parliament 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 exported 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 community
also would be protected against those of selfish and dishonest traders.
It was, therefore, {173} proposed that all dairy produce, fruit, or
timber intended for exportation should be examined by 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 shipment 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
manufacturers 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} 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 1
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
candidates 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 1, 2, 3, and so on, in the order of his preference." The
method by which the returning officer was to decide who were the
successful candidates 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 returning 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, {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 operation of the Bill
to the next general election. A doubt was expressed whether the
benefits would counterbalance the additional trouble and inevitable
confusion which would attend the first application 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 {176} ballot-paper the name or names of
any candidate or candidates 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 absolute 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.