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
L3 10s. a week, those working in the water at the low level L4, but
that they could not live on less than L2, and, even so, only in the
roughest way. The life is, however, not an unhealthy one, {312} 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 returned 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
passionate 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
Bullabulling, we found that the contractor's train contained only one
passenger carriage, which was already crowded; so several of us climbed
on an open luggage truck and made ourselves tolerably {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} hotel proprietors or
servants, had done their best to be obliging. 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 unscrupulous methods, but of
the managers, foremen and others, who are directly engaged in the
development 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 {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 hundreds 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.
{317}
INDEX
A
Aborigines:
Constitution Bill for establishing Federation, special
provisions for, 220
Maoris of New Zealand [see that title]
Protection of, 158, 305
Right of possession not recognised 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 Australia 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 Agricultural 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 Enabling Act:
Queensland Bill, rejection of, 235
Victorian Act, provisions of, 230
Western Australian Act, provisions of, 233
Australasians, character of, 302
B
Batchelor, Mr. E. L., 5
Plebiscite, Bill for establishing introduced by, 29
Benevolent asylums for aged and incapable persons, 255
Betting and gaming, suppression of:
New Zealand, female voters in favour of, 196
Tasmania, Parliamentary measures for, 170
Board of Land Purchase Commissioners, 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, Australians' 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
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 Queensland'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 supported 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 departments, 44
Royal Commission inquiry, 43
"Civis Brittanicus Sum," necessity 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' resenting interference of, 298
Conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes [see title
Arbitration and Conciliation]
Conflicts between Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council:
Causes of contention:
New South Wales:
Rejection of Taxation Bill, 36
Tasmania:
Female Suffrage Bill, 177
Public Works Expenditure, 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--Dissolution of both Houses, success of, 178
Tasmania--Plebiscite, 180
Victoria:
Dissolution of both Houses, 131
Royal Commission's recommendations, 129
Town and country antagonism, reflex of antagonism
between the two Houses, 131
Ultimate appeal, absence of, 129
Consolidated Goldfields Company dispute, New Zealand, 286
Constitution Bill for establishing "the Commonwealth of Australia,"
1891, 218
Governor-General's Executive authority, 219, 224
Failure of Bill, 227
Money Bills, authority of Senate with regard to, 222
Parliament of Commonwealth:
Aboriginals, special provisions for, 220
Postal and telegraph services, &c., to be exclusively 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 Commonwealth, 226
Supreme Court of Appeal, 225
Tariff, uniform, to be imposed, 222
Territories surrendered by states, administration of, 221
Constitution Bill for establishing "the Commonwealth of Australia,"
1897, draft of, reprint from Melbourne _Argus_, 237
Consumptive persons, Bills forbidding immigration of, 295
Continuity of representation in Australian Houses of Assembly, means of
obtaining, 276
Coolgardie Goldfields:
Camp settlements, 310
Coolgardie town, 308
Drunkenness and rowdiness, absence of, 314
Earnings of the miners, 311
Kalgoorlie, 309
Mines, description of, 311
Perth to Coolgardie, discomfort of journey from, 307
Population of Western Australia increasing since discovery 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 boards for disposal 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, proposed grant to, cause of conflict between
Legislative Council and Assembly in Victoria, 123
Death Duties, graduated, assessment of in Australia, 278
Democratic Government established in New South Wales, 48
Democratic tendency:
Gold, discovery of in Australia, result of, 244
South Australian democratic tendency due to Constitution, 2
Denominational Schools, Western Australia, termination of grants, 159
Dibbs, Sir George, 36, 50
Dilke, Sir Charles, 300
Domestic servants' weekly half-holiday, Bill for establishing in New
Zealand, 203
Drunkenness and rowdiness, absence of among Coolgardie miners, 314
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, 214
E
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
Religious instruction in schools, 29
Secular character of, effect on working classes, 32
State system of in Australasia, 256
Western Australia--Assisted Schools Abolition Act, 159
Elective Executive:
New Zealand Bill, 277
South Australia, substitution of, advocated, 26
Electoral Legislation:
Queensland--Contingent vote, 176
Tasmania--Modification 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].
F
Factories and Shops Acts, Victoria:
Cabinet-making, Chinese competition, 136
Definition of factory, amendments, 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 Commission of Inquiry
into, 77
Fair Rent Bill, New Zealand, 103
Family Home Protection, New Zealand, Act of 1895, 101
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 Enabling Act [see that title]
Benefits of, 235
Climatic differences engendering divergence of opinions, 299
Committee appointed by House of Assembly, Victoria, to consider, 214
Constitution Bill [see that title]
Federal Council [see that title]
Hobart, Premiers' conference at, 227
Interdependence of Provinces, hastening establishment of, 230
Inter-provincial conference on, 214
New South Wales, Governor of, receiving commission as
Governor-General of Australia, 213
Plebiscite, new Federal constitution proposed, referring to, 228
Prospects of, 236
Sydney conventions, 215
Town and country inhabitants, difference in development of, 299
Female Suffrage:
New Zealand:
C.D. Act, Repeal of, advocated by female voters, 196
Domestic servants' weekly half-holiday Bill, 203
Elections, Radical returns, 193
Electoral Bill of 1892 conferring franchise on all adult women, 192
Equal wages for similar work of men and women demanded by female
voters, 209
Juvenile Depravity Suppression Bill, 203
Liquor legislation and prominence of temperance 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
Suffrage, 210
Totalisator, suppressing, result of, 196
Women's franchise leagues inducing female voters to support
candidates on moral considerations, 205
Queensland, result of adopting 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 employment of
barmaids, proposed under influence of, 191
Plebiscite [see that title]
Voting privileges accorded to female electors in, 192
Tasmania:
Plebiscite, proposed application 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, Queensland, 1896, extract with regard to export of
home produce, 79
Foreign competition in Australasia:
Great Britain, hostility towards 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 harbour works to induce mail steamers to call at,
303
Friendly societies and savings banks, individual efforts of labouring
classes demonstrated by, 259
Frozen meat industry:
Queensland:
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
G
Gold-mining:
Discovery of gold, effect of, on Australasian Democracy, 244
New South Wales, right of mining on private land obtained by
Labour Party, 49
New Zealand goldfields, roads and water-races on, Government
constructing, 105
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, 118
Government Architect Department of New South 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, assessment of, in Australasia, 278
Great Britain:
Closer union with, Australians' indifference to, 298
Friendly relations with, suggestions for maintaining, 298
Ill-feeling towards, causes of, 296
Sympathy of the middle classes of Australia with, 297
Great Southern Railway, Western Australia, loan for purchase of, 163
H
Hobart, Premiers' conference on Federation of Australasia at, 227
Homesteads Act of 1893, Western 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 inquiry, 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 taxation for, 294, 295
Western Australian goldfields, inducements offered to immigrants, 165
Improved-farm settlements, system of in New Zealand, 111
Income tax:
Assessment of in:
New Zealand, 89
South Australia, 17
Tasmania, 181
Property and personal exertion incomes, difference between taxation
of, 279
Industrial disputes, settling by conciliation [see title Arbitration
and Conciliation]
Inter-provincial conference on Australasian Federation, 214
Irrigation and water supply works, Victoria:
Failure of, 143
Inadequate preliminary investigations of, 145
J
Juvenile Depravity Suppression Bill, New Zealand, 203
K
Kalgoorlie, visit to, 310
Kanakas:
Sugar cultivation in Queensland:
Importation of Kanakas, question as to necessity of, 66
Number employed in, 64
Protection of, 63
Re-engaging after expiration of contracts, 64
Traffic in Kanakas decreasing population of Pacific Islands, 64
Kingston, Right Hon. C. C., 3, 16, 25
Knutsford, Lord, 57
L
Labour Bureau and Casual Labour Board for relieving unemployed in New
South Wales, 45
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, disagreement on, 49
Taxation of land values obtained by, 50
New Zealand, 263
Queensland:
Electoral reform policy, 75
Failure of, 74
Grievances against Government, 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 connection 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' opposition 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, Victoria, for relief of unemployed, 149
Land for Settlements Acts, New Zealand authorising repurchase or
exchange of lands, 93-97
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, continuity of representation in, means
of obtaining, 276
Conflicts between Legislative Assembly and Legislative
Council [see that title]
New South Wales, salary of members, 48
South Australia:
Elected on basis of Adult Suffrage, 2
Salary of members, 2
Victoria:
Committee to consider advisability of Australasian
Federation, appointed by, 214
Elected on basis of Manhood Suffrage, 122
Salary of members, 122
Western Australia:
Salary--members receiving no salary, 158
Legislative Council:
Conflicts between Legislative Assembly and Legislative
Council [see that title]
Labour Parties' attacks on, 273
New South Wales and Queensland, 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 membership, 122
Salary of members, 122
Victoria:
Property qualification of members, 122
Public expenditure, Legislative Council failing to
check extravagance of, 126
Western Australia:
Property qualification:
Electors', 157, 158
Members not subjected to, 122
Salary--members receiving 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 1896, South Australia, proposed
prohibition of employment of barmaids, 191
Life insurance, annuities, &c., in New Zealand, department of the
State, 104
Liquor Legislation, New Zealand:
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, prominence of, effect of Female Suffrage, 194
Local land boards for disposal of Crown lands, New Zealand, 117
Lotteries in Tasmania unaffected by Betting and Gaming Act, 171, 172
M
McPherson, Mr. J. A., leader of Labour Party in South Australia, 5
Maoris of New Zealand:
Conflicts of 1860-70 with European settlers, 84
Improvement in relations with Europeans, 84
Lands obtained by Europeans 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 Encouragement Act of 1893, pastoral industries
of Queensland assisted by, 71
Melbourne waterworks, 143, 145
Midland Railway, Western Australia, 162
Murtho--village settlement of South Australia, success of, 11
N
National Council of Women, New Zealand, resolution passed by, 204
Native-born Australians, increase in proportion of, 297
Nelson, Right Hon. Sir Hugh, 60, 79, 253
New South Wales:
Democratic Government established in, 48
Federal Council: Abstention 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 commission as Governor-General of
Australia, 213
Government Architect Department--Designer of Crown Lands
Office receiving less salary 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 [see that title]