thereof shall be supplied to the Members of the Convention, and the
President shall declare the sitting of the Convention adjourned 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 Parliament sitting in Committee of the whole, and such
amendments as may be desired by the Legislature, {232} together with
the draft Constitution, shall be remitted to the Convention through the
Senior Representative.
"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
affirmative 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."
{233}
It will be noticed that the Convention will have entire freedom in
regard to any amendments suggested by the Provincial Parliaments, and
that if the Constitution be accepted, the Victorian Parliament 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 affirmative less than six thousand
shall be equivalent to the rejection of the Constitution." "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}
Parliament, and both Houses may thereupon adopt Addresses to the Queen,
praying that the Constitution 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
important particulars. In the latter case it was proposed 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 consideration
of the electors in such manner as Parliament 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 {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 supported
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
adequately 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;
Interprovincial {236} 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,[4]
"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, forming a distinct constituent part of the British Empire,
having one mind, speaking with one voice instead of the six, often
discordant and sometimes inarticulate, voices now heard, consulted on
all matters of Imperial concern, and exercising a powerful influence in
the political affairs of the whole world." Such would 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 produced 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 {237} Provinces have so long maintained an
independent existence that they are unlikely to submit to a curtailment
of their powers except under the imperative 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 members, in the natural belief that
their influence would be smaller in a Federal Parliament, are either
apathetic 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 successive 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.[5]
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 {238}
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 L10,000. 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
Convention. 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 members 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 members 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
outset, 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 five 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 determine 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 {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 L400 each per annum for
their services.
The following are the subjects the Commonwealth Parliament is to be
empowered to legislate upon and deal with:--
1. The regulation of trade and commerce with other countries 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 commonwealth.
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}
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. Railway construction and extension with the consent of any state or
states concerned.
35. Matters referred to the Parliament of the commonwealth 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 {241}
into execution of the foregoing powers or of any other powers vested by
this constitution in the Parliament or the Executive Government of the
commonwealth, or in any department or officer thereof.
All matters not mentioned above, such as land settlement, railway
construction, &c., are to remain vested in the Parliaments 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 obligations 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 L12,000 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 taxation 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 Government 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 appropriating the necessary
supplies for the ordinary 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 {242} amended or original form--should the House of
Representatives 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 determination 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 determine. 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 absolutely 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 L300,000 for
new federal expenses, and L1,250,000 for services transferred from the
states. During the first five years after the imposition 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 {243} average
per head for the whole commonweath. A sliding 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 year must not be
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 commonwealth, and
any law or regulation derogating from that principle is to be null and
void. Parliament may appoint an interstate 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.
[1] "The Federal Council of Australasia," by the Hon. Alfred Deakin,
_Australasian Review of Reviews_, February, 1895.
[2] Cap. iv., Clause 13.
[3] Cap. i., Clauses 54 and 55.
[4] "Notes on Australian Federation," by Sir S. W. Griffith.
Parliamentary Paper, Queensland, 1896.
[5] An article published in the Melbourne _Argus_ of April 26, 1897,
and included with the kind permission of the London agents of that
newspaper.
{244}
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 Representation in Parliament--Parliamentary
Government--Direct Taxation--Conciliation 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 Australia 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 determination 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, {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 link in the chain of causes which has swelled
some of the capitals to their present unwieldy 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
Government, and, in its ultimate effects, the construction of public
works.