The population of Fiji, consisting of 66,571 males and 53,929 females, comprises 3,292 Europeans, 1,201 half-castes, 10,433 East Indians, 2,310 Polynesians, 2,156 Rotumans, 100,321 Fijians, and 787 others. The native Fijians at the present rate of decrease will become extinct within a century. Their children are instructed by Wesleyan missionaries without Government aid.

The vital statistics of the several colonies for 1896 were as follow:

COLONIES.

Natural increment.

20.667

South Australia.

2.183 10,012

4,038

2,020

Net immigration.

117

3,657 6,432 12,180 1,472 5,131 +1,162

+ Decrease.

The Chinese are gradually leaving Australia in consequence of the poll tax of £100 levied on their immigrants. In 1896 the arrivals in New South Wales were 99 and the departures 450; in Queensland 395 immigrated and 397 returned to China; in Victoria there were 9,377 in 1891, and the number has rapidly diminished since.

Finances.-The budgets of the several colonies and the state of their debts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, in New South Wales. Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia, and March 31, 1897, in Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and Fiji are shown in the following table:

Of the revenue of New South Wales £2,458,069 came from taxation, £1,953,348 from public lands, £4,599,706 from public services, and £298,146 from miscellaneous sources. Of the total expenditure £1,832,418 went to railways and tramways, £707,073 to posts and telegraphs, £2,285,100 to the service of the public debt, £738,546 to public instruction, and £3,767,422 to other public works and services. The average rate of interest on the debt is 3.71 per cent., including the new loan of £4,000,000 raised in October, 1895. Over four fifths of the debt was expended on the construction of railroads, telegraphs, waterworks, and sewerage, from which a net return of 3.15 per cent. is obtained.

Of the revenue of Victoria £1,733,672 came from customs, which average 13 per cent. on all imports: from excise, £297,030; from the land tax, £127,178; from estate duties, £148,432; from the banknote duty, £19,317; from stamps, £162,500; from business licenses, £17,378; from tonnage dues, etc., £17,413; from the income tax, £168,088; from railways, £2.394,475; from posts and telegraphs, £516,566; from Crown lands, £411,467; from other sources, £445,165. Of the expenditures £1,893.363 went for interest and expenses of the debt, £1,418,893 for working expenses of the railways, £279.680 for other public works, £588,575 for posts and telegraphs, £160,241 for Crown lands, £571,036 for public instruction and the encouragement of science, £254,726 for charitable institutions, £154,155 for courts of law, £244,054 for police and jails, £94,639

Customs yielded £996,812 of the revenue of Western Australia in 1896, while the rest was derived mainly from railroads, the postal service, and leases of Crown lands. The income and expenditure have increased nearly threefold in two years.

Of the revenue of Tasmania 59 per cent. is derived from customs duties and taxes, 32 per cent. from railroads, telegraphs, and other services, and 9 per cent. from rents and sales of land; of the expenditure the public works consume 31 per cent. and interest on the debt 44 per cent. The customs revenue amounts to 276 per cent. of the total value of imports.

Of the New Zealand revenue £1,818,972 were raised by customs duties, £730,237 by stamps, including postage and telegraph receipts, £1,287,140 came from railways, £105,504 from the land tax, and £109,521 from sales of land. The chief branches of expenditure were £1.709,469 for the public debt, £776,748 for railways, £461,582 for education, £352,386 for the postal and telegraph service, and £189,143 for the constabulary and defense.

In Fiji half the revenue is raised by customs duties, and over a quarter by native taxes, and of the expenditure more than half is paid in salaries.

Commerce and Production.-The following table shows the foreign and intercolonial trade of the several colonies for 1896:

New South Wales collected import duties in 1896 amounting to £1,406,969, an average of 6.84 per cent. on all imports. The export of wool was 306,824,358 pounds, valued at £9,897,332. Other exports were coal for £900,264, preserved and frozen meat for £605,973, tallow for £509,666, and hides and skins for £638,398. The export of gold coin was £3,602.986. The production of gold for the year was 296,072 ounces, valued at £1,073,360. The value of silver-lead ore and metal raised was £1,758,933; of copper, £197,814; of tin, £126,000; of coal, £1,125,281. Of the total imports £7,190,115 came from Great Britain, £9,559,860 from Australasian colonies, £625,164 from other British possessions, £1,729.871 from the United States, and £1,456,500 from other foreign countries. Of the total exports £8.375,883 went to Great Britain, £8,374,826 to Australasian

colonies, £520,328 to other British possessions, £2,064,964 to the United States, and £3,674,348 to other foreign countries. The overland trade in 1896 amounted to £3,125,671 for imports and £4,769,738 for exports. The land under tillage in 1897 was 1,659,717 acres, only four fifths of 1 per cent. of the total area of the colony. The total land alienated up to Jan. 1, 1897, was 45,257,468 acres, while 126,307,790 acres were occupied under leases from the Government. The chief products of the soil are wheat, corn, barley, oats, hay, sugar, wine, brandy, and table fruit, mostly oranges. The live stock in 1897 consisted of 510,636 horses, 2.226,163 cattle, 48.318,790 sheep, and 214,581 pigs.

The exports of gold coin and bullion from Victoria in 1897 were £3.299,012 in value. The wool exports were 146,516,567 pounds, valued at £4,959,404, of which half was the product of other colonies, the imports being valued at £2,270,496. The exports of live stock, valued at £337,541, were less than the imports. Exports of breadstuffs were valued at £596.168; refined sugar, £134,392; apparel, £151,127; tallow, £180,855. There are 2,838 manufacturing establishments, employing 42,332 hands. The quantity of gold produced by 32,123 miners in 1896 was 805,087 ounces of the value of £3,220,348. The cultivated area in 1897 was 3,093,000 acres, producing 7,076,000 bushels of wheat, 6,819,000 of oats, 824,000 of barley, 146,000 tons of potatoes, and 449,000 tons of hay. The live stock in 1891 comprised 436.469 horses, 1,782,881 cattle, 12,692,843 sheep, and 282,457 pigs.

The chief exports from Queensland were gold for £2,104,257, silver for £59.192, tin for £46,779, copper for £32,401, wool for £2,984,210, sugar for £863,080, hides and skins for £449,265, tallow for £337,967, preserved and salted meat for £344,318, frozen meat for £491,850, meat extract for £52,758, green fruit for £67.013, and pearl shell for £94,865. Nearly 60 per cent. of the total area of the colony is leased in squatting runs, of which there are 3,218. Half the total area is covered with forests, but little has been done to develop forestry. Only 336,000 acres are cultivated. Water is easily obtained by boring artesian wells, some of which yield millions of gallons a day. There are several coal mines. The product of gold in 1896 was 640,386 ounces. There were 83,000 acres under sugar cane. The chief grain crop is corn.

The exports of wheat from South Australia were valued at £89.515; those of flour at £523,541; wool, £1,228,991; copper, £219,052. The area under tillage in 1897 was 2,584,395 acres, two thirds of it under wheat. The total area passed to private ownership is 9,147.783 acres. The product of wheat fell off from 14,261,000 bushels in 1880 to 2,804,000 in 1896. There were 1,473,216 gallons of wine made in 1897. The live stock numbers 177,078 horses, 337,225 cattle, and 6,323,993 sheep.

The export of gold from Western Australia increased from £421,385 in 1893 to £787,099 in 1894, £879,748 in 1895, and £1,068,808 in 1896. In 1897 there were 674,993 ounces exported, valued at £2,564,976. There were 20,236 men employed in the mines in 1896. The number of mining leases was 8.141. Other exports in 1896 were: Pearl shell, £30,213; pearls, £20,000; sandalwood, £65,800; timber, £116,420; wool, £267,506; skins, £18,111. Agriculture and stock-raising are rapidly increasing. The live stock in 1896 consisted of 57,527 horses, 199,793 cattle, and 2,248,976 sheep.

The chief exports from Tasmania were: Wool, £290,971; gold, £232,180; silver and silver ore, £222,948; green and preserved fruit, £169,705; tin, £159,038; timber and bark, £61,426; hops, £21,665. The values of the principal exports from New Zealand were: Wool, £4,391,848; frozen meat, £1,

251,993; gold, £1,041,428; Kauri gum, £431,323; butter and cheese, £411,882; grain and flour, £408,405; hides, skins, and leather, £324,060; tallow, £208.821; timber, £133,511; grass seed, £81,175; preserved meat, £75,661; New Zealand hemp, £32,985; specie, £21,198; bacon and hams, £18,367; live animals, £17,704. The quantity of wool was 129,151,624 pounds; of frozen meat, 1,103,362 hundredweight; of butter, 71,353 hundredweight; of cheese, 71,372 hundredweight; of gold, 263,364 ounces; of Kauri gum, 7,126 tons. The live stock in 1897 consisted of 249,732 horses, 1,138,572 cattle, 19,138,493 sheep, and 209,853 pigs.

Fiji has been a British possession only since 1874. The European settlers cultivate cocoanuts, sugar cane, bananas, and to a small extent pineapples, peanuts, rice, tea, cotton, and tobacco. They raise cattle and some sheep and Angora goats. The external trade is almost entirely with Australia and Great Britain. The sugar exported in 1896 was 27,334 tons, valued at £339,929; copra, 5,487 tons, valued at £48,950; value of bananas, etc., £18,490; of rum, £10,163.

There was a remarkable efflux of gold from the Australasian colonies in 1897. The total export, chiefly in sovereigns, was £13,500,000, and it was continued in 1898. This movement reduced the coin in the banks by £3,689,000. The imports showed an increase, but apart from gold, the export trade declined. The total production of gold in the seven colonies was 2,899,650 ounces, against 2,378,126 ounces in 1896.

Navigation. The number of vessels and the tonnage entered and cleared at the ports of the several colonies during 1896 are given in the following table:

997,500 messages were sent, yielding a revenue of £84,247.

In the mining districts of Western Australia railroad connections have been established with Kalgoorli, Kanowna, and Boulder. There is a continuous line of 1,000 miles from Albany, and one of 50 miles leading into the gold fields at Coolgardie. A new railroad from Coolgardie to Menzies was opened on March 22, 1898.

In New Zealand there were 2,285,001 private telegraph messages sent during the year ending March 31, 1897; net revenue, £129,635.

The postal traffic of most of the colonies for 1896 is shown in the following table:

66

In New Zealand 269,566 money orders were issued. Defenses. New South Wales maintains a military force of 621 regulars and 4,826 volunteers, with 2,021 riflemen in the reserve and 580 men in the naval force. The cost of defense in 1897, including the naval establishment and shore fortifications at Sydney, was £224,116. Sydney is a British first-class naval station and the headquarters of the British fleet in Australasia, numbering 12 vessels in 1897. An Australasian naval force of 5 fast cruisers and 2 torpedo gunboats of the most modern design have been built by the British Government, which under a ten years' agreement is maintained by the colonies, which pay also 5 per cent. interest on the cost of construction. The cruisers ("Katoomba," "Tauranga," "Ringarooma," "Mildura," and Wallaroo") have each a displacement of 2,575 tons and 7,500 horse power. The torpedo gunboats ("Boomerang" and Karakatta") are of 735 tons and 4,500 horse power. The annual expenditure of New South Wales on naval defense is £42.306; of Victoria, £45,287; of Queensland, £15.519; of South Australia, £6,180. The expenditure of the Imperial Government is £60,300. The land forces of Victoria number 5.015 men, of whom 379 are permanent, 2,987 militia, and 649 volunteers; the naval flotilla consists of the coastdefense cruiser "Cerberus," 5 gunboats, and some torpedo boats, and it is manned by a permanent force of 177 officers and men, with a reserve of 152. In Queensland, where every man is liable for service, a force of 2,800 has been trained, comprising 130 enlisted men, 2,000 militia, and 670 volunteers; the Government has a naval force of 2 gunboats and a torpedo boat and has drilled 5 naval brigades. In South Australia there is a military force of 974 militia and 385 volunteers, and a small cruiser for naval defense. Western Australia has 650 men armed with Martini-Metford rifles and spends £12,600 a year on defenses. Tasmania's volunteers number 499 and the rifle clubs 966. In New Zealand there has been a large local force since the Maori wars. The volunteers number 7,169, the artillery branch 186, the torpedo branch 80, and the police 495; the total available strength of the militia is 130,000.

Australian Federation. A proposal for a general assembly to legislate on intercolonial questions was discussed as early as 1852. In more recent times the question was agitated until an intercolonial conference adopted a tentative scheme

and the Imperial Parliament passed a bill creating a federal council to which any of the colonies could send delegates for the discussion of intercolonial matters. It first met at Hobart in 1886, and was attended by delegates from Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Fiji. At the next meeting South Australia also was represented. This body devised several measures that were ratified by the colonial legislatures, but its powers were merely deliberative and advisory. In February, 1890, a conference was held at Melbourne in which all the Australasian colonies were represented, and it was there decided to call a national Australasian convention to consider and report upon a scheme for a Federal constitution. This convention met at Sydney on March 2, 1891, and passed resolutions approving the principle of federation. It adopted a draft constitution for the commonwealth of Australasia which, however, proved unsatisfactory to several of the legislatures. A new conference was held by the Premiers of five colonies, who met at Hobart in January, 1895, and took steps resulting in a convention of all the colonies except Queensland, which met first at Adelaide in March, 1897. It was unanimously resolved to establish a Federal Parliament, to consist of a Federal Council, or Senate, and a House of Representatives; also a Federal High Court, which should have jurisdiction as a final court of appeal. The executive authority will reside in a governorgeneral appointed by the Crown, who shall be guided by his constitutional advisers. It was stipulated that the territory and the powers and privileges of the several states of the federation should remain intact except in so far as they might be surrendered by voluntary acts. The Federal Parliament would have power to impose and to collect and dispose of customs and excise duties. and should control the military and naval forces. Intercourse and trade between the federated states must be free. It was resolved to apply the principle of the popular referendum in the adoption of constitutional amendments. In the Senate all the states shall have equal representation, but this house shall have no power to amend money bills.

The Federal Convention, which met in Adelaide on March 22, 1897, adjourned a few months later to allow the Premiers of the colonies to take part in the festivities of the Queen's jubilee in England, met again in September at Sydney, and after a short session again adjourned at the request of the Queensland Government in order that opportunity be given for that colony to join in the deliberations, assembled for the third and final session at Melbourne on Jan. 20, 1898. It was found that Queensland was not yet able to take part in the framing of the commonwealth bill. Nevertheless it was resolved to complete the work without further adjournment, and after a thorough and animated discussion of the details of the measure, developing considerable friction, which threatened at times to result in rupture, during which the convention amended or rescinded some of its former decisions, the commonwealth bill was finally adopted on March 16, and on the following day the convention adjourned. The bill was based on the scheme that was drawn up in the Sydney convention of 1891, many of the members of which served a second time in this convention, though Sir Henry Parkes, Sir Samuel Griffiths, and other leaders of the early federation movement were absent. The modifications embodied in the resulting bill have been the subjects of constant discussion during the intervening seven years. The Sydney bill provided that members of the State Council, or upper house, should be elected by the parliaments of the several colonies. The new bill provides for the election of

both houses by popular suffrage. In colonies where female suffrage has been adopted women will be entitled to vote for the federal as well as for the colonial legislators. In the State Council each colony will have the same number of representatives, whatever its population, while in the lower house representation will be in proportion to population. Equal representation in the Senate was the condition on which the smaller colonies insisted before they would consent to enter into the federation. In return the larger colonies demanded that the upper house should have no power to amend money bills. As a compromise it was finally agreed that the Senate may suggest amendments to financial measures. The State Council, moreover, retains the power of veto. Another safeguard for the rights of the smaller states is that all powers that are not explicitly vested in the commonwealth shall be retained by the individual states, reversing the Canadian system of federation, which leaves to the Dominion all authority not definitely reserved to the individual colonies. One of the main difficulties encountered in the Federal Convention was to provide for the possibility of a deadlock caused by disagreement between the two houses of the Federal Legislature, a constitutional problem that has blocked the wheels of legislation and given rise to unpleasant conflicts in some of the colonies of Australia. After a long debate and a revision of the first conclusion it was in the end decided that in the event of a deadlock, after the lower house has passed a measure twice over the Senate's veto, both houses shall be dissolved simultaneously; in case the newly elected houses disagree they shall meet together in a joint session and vote on the bill in question, which shall be carried or rejected by a three-fifths majority of both houses voting together. The problem of federal finance was left for its final adjustment to be solved in the light of experience. It was generally agreed that the customs and excise revenue of the colonies was to be surrendered for the purposes of federal expenditure, and that the surplus remaining after all federal requirements were satisfied should be returned to the several colonies. The proportion in which eachshould share in this surplus presented practical difficulties. A motion to restrict federal expenditure to one fourth of the revenue collected was carried, but afterward was rescinded. To redistribute the surplus in proportion to population would be advantageous to Tasmania, and would disturb but little the finances of Victoria and South Australia, but would be most unjust to Western Australia, which raises by indirect taxation more than three times as much revenue per capita as the other colonies. Equal tariff rates would place an undue share of the burden on New South Wales. The question of determining what is the fair share to be paid by each colony and what the actual contribution obtained from it by the tariff involved the whole subject of the financial relations of the several colonies. It was referred to a special committee on finance, and the recommendations of the committee were, with slight modifications, incorporated in the bill. They are to the effect that a uniform tariff shall be established for the federated colonies within two years, and that within the limits of this tariff trade shall be absolutely free. A system of careful and detailed bookkeeping and statistics shall be maintained for five years, by means of which it is hoped that the just contribution of each of the colonies to the general trade and its just share in the general expenditure of the commonwealth will be ascertained, and the Federal Parliament will then be able to decide on the proportion of the surplus of the customs revenue that each state is entitled to receive. Many other points

were discussed, but the prevailing idea was that it would be unwise to load down the measure with specific legislation. The commonwealth bill dealt rather with constitutional principles and essential questions, and contained compromises and concessions in which the representatives of the small colonies and those of the large, the exponents of protection, and the free traders found it hard to acquiesce. There was a general understanding that in case of the commonwealth bill becoming law an arrangement would be made for the admission of Queensland to the federation. The parliamentary representatives of the central division of Queensland petitioned the Federal Convention to admit central and northern Queensland as separate states, irrespective of southern Queensland. It was not necessary to initiate the scheme that all the colonies should unite to form the federation. The enabling bill enacted by the British Parliament provided that three or more of the colonies might unite in a federation, which the other colonies might join from time to time as their interests should dictate and their people decide. The enabling bill left the final decision to the electors of the several colonies, and prescribed that in each colony a substantial minimum vote should be required so as to preclude the possibility of a misinterpretation of the popular desire or the possibility of a change except by a deliberate resolution of the people. This minimum was fixed in some of the colonies at so high a figure that the advocates of federation anticipated great difficulty in obtaining the prescribed majority. Thus, in Victoria a minimum vote of 50,000 was required among 252,000 qualified electors; in New South Wales, with a total of 293,000, the minimum was increased from 50,000 to 80,000 votes.

The question of referring legislation on old-age pensions to the Federal Parliament was at once decided in the negative by the convention. A spirited controversy between the representatives of South Australia and New South Wales grew out of the proposition to leave to the Federal Parliament the exclusive control of intercolonial rivers. The South Australian delegates, having special regard to the tributaries of the river Murray, contended that the navigation of the lower reaches of a river ought not to be impeded by the withdrawal of the upper waters for irrigation purposes. The Government of New South Wales conceded to the commonwealth the control of the navigation of the Murray, but claimed the free use of the water of the tributaries for irrigation purposes, having sold lands with the understanding that the water should be available to settlers. The rivers were regarded as the most valuable part of the colony, without the use of which for irrigation a large portion of the surface must remain a sheep run instead of being permanently settled. It was resolved that if Great Britain contributed a third of the cost of the projected Pacific cable, and Canada a third, then New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania should find the remaining third. The convention gave the interests of navigation precedence over irrigation. It was decided against the protest of Queensland and Western Australia to give the federation exclusive power to legislate concerning aliens, the restriction of immigration to remain a question for the individual states until federal legislation shall have been enacted on the subject. It was resolved to pass an act similar to the law of Natal restricting the immigration of colored races. A clause was adopted declaring that the commonwealth shall not prohibit any religion nor impose any religous test for office. The federation, by a clause which was first made mandatory, then merely permissive, can assume and consolidate the debts of all the colonies. The convention could not see a way, in view of the