The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1899. NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 145, 21 June 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1899. NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION.

For the cause that lacks anc;;tar.cs, For the wrong that nerd 3 reslstanco, For Ilia future! iv tho diatancs, And tho good that, wo can do.

The Federation of Australia is assured. Yesterday the voice of the people of Xew South Wales declared

in favour of the amended Convention Bill, and no obstacle now exists, or. so far as one can sec. can arise to hinder the consummation of the great ideal of national unity, in striving for which Australia, we believe, has only fulfilled her destiny. The latest figures

give 101,200 for the Hill, and ~'J,670

against it, which makes a majority of

over :M,()00 votes in favour of federation. When the poll was taken a year

.igo the votes recorded in Xew South

Wales were 71,412 for the "Hill, and

09,954 against it. As a minimum vote

of SO,OOO was then required to carry the measure, the federalists had to own themselves defeated. J!ut they were not discouraged, and so hard have they worked that within twelve months they have reversed the order of things entirely and secured a glorious victory for their side. When the returns ■ are complete we shall no doubt see many interesting conclu-

sions drawn from careful analysis

which, with our present incomplete information and comparative ignorance of local sentiment and conditions in New South Wales, it would be impossible for us to attempt. But. one thing .seems clear enough from the bare figures to hand. It is plain that a much larger interest centred in the issue ou this occasion than when the.

poll was 1 alien a year ago. Then the total number of votes recorded wan 137,300. Yesterday the number was at lenst 190.870, and probably when the complete returns are made up the figures will be considerably larger. The division of the votes for and against the Bill on the two occasions

also teaches a lesson. It shows that while the interest in the question has increased, both among those who de-

sire and those who are averse to feder-

ation, the former have managed to

win a greater proportion of new adherents to their side than the latter. In other words, federal sentiments have gained in favour with the people o\ New South Wales during the last year much more than the anti-federal.

The mere recital of these bare figures, though they are very significant, cannot be expected to appeal very strongly to the majority of New Zealanders. who can scarcely be said to have followed the federal fight in New South Wales with any deep degree of interest. But it would be surprising if the references to the victory made by the political leaders and the press in the Mother Colony did not kindle a little enthusiasm in our breasts. The cable convoys to us but titl'ul echoes of the Te JJeums and the Misereres that are being sung in New South Wales to-day by the victors and the vanquished in the great battle; but it is easy to recog-nise the high pitch of enthusiasm to which the people must have been worked up, and the importance, that the issue had come to wear

in their eyes. The people and the press of lire colony arc talking heroics to-day. The friends of federation are jubilant Jn an even greater degree than we had anticipated they Avould be. it seems as if the victory they have achieved has intensified the federal sentiment a hundred fold. Federation, now no longer a doubtful possibility, but an imminent fact, appeals to their hearts as it never did before. They stje. iv the happy1 issue of their struggle the guiding- hand of destiny; they recognise the dawn of a

new era in the history of the continent —the birth of a nation; they J'eel themselves identified with a future of marvellous achievement—a future in the full glory of which they may not share, but to which they know they have enormously contributed. Those on the other hand who have opposed federation tinder the present Bill are also making themselves. The Sydney "Daily Telegraph," which has been fighting the antifederal battle tooth and nail, is loud to-day in deploring- what it chooses to describe as a most disastrous calamity to New South Wales. That journal prophesies all kinds of evil to the colony as the result of the step thai has been taken. Perhaps were we New South Welshmen the arguments of the anti-federalists in that colony might appeal in some degree to us, for we would certainly be influenced in a way by local interests. As New Zealanders we are entirely free from these, and approach Australian federation unfettered bjr the considerations that are bound to .weigh with the inhabitants of the Continent. From our

! point of view the difficulties are mini-

mi tied, and we see only the splendid principle of unity, the national ideal that is involved. That ideal appeals to everyone of us with irresistible force, and consequently our sympathy is all in favour of the victors of yester-

New Zealand's support of Australian federation is largely based on a general .sentiment in favour of closer union

among' the different parts of the Empire. The same feeling will also play a part in any movement for the inclusion of our own colony in the Australian Commonwealth. But so

soon as the first step in that direction is taken the political, financial and

commercial considerations which have

complicated the position on the Con-

tinent will assert themselves here. Whether, in our cast:, they will prove

greater barriers to our joining' the

Uiiiun tluiu in Australia they have been to federation we will not attempt to discuss on this occasion. We wish

to point out, however, that the event

of yesterday must be the signal for

our taking' up with an earnestness we

have never displayed before the question of New Zealand's attitude towards federation. The question is likely to be forced upon us whether we will or not. In Australia federation had its birth in a desire for unity that was

sentimental rather than utilitarian

but here before the sentiment has

time to ripen as it did on the Con-

forced by commercial exigencies to throw in our lot

tinent we may be

with our great neighbour. Our action in this respect depends on the position Australia takes up with regard to this colony. The trade between Now Zealand and the Australian colonies is worth, roughly speaking, about two and a half millions. In these colonies Sew Sou ill Wales and Victoria are our chief customers, and \ary good customers they are, taking' quite twenty shillings" worth of our goods for every fifteen shilling's' worth we take from

them. And the prospects are all in favour of our doing better business with them in the future, more especially with New South Wales, which is twice i'.s good a customer as Victoria. In dairy produce alone we should establish a great market in the Mother Colony. Our attitude towards feder-

ation must therefore be largely determined by the attitude United

Australia takes up commercially with respect to us. If the Continent should adopt a protective tariff against outsiders it would be a very strong argu-

ment in favour of our joining the Union; but even if the Commonwealth did not go so far there might be other

1 commercial reasons scarcely less | powerful that would make it to our

advantage not to remain apart