MR. MUNRO ON THE FEDERATION CONVENTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8534, 7 April 1891, Page 5

MR. MUNRO ON THE FEDERATION CONVENTION.

A GLOOMY OUTLOOK.

Mr. Munro, who arrived in Melbourne recently, to spend a few days there prior to the 'reassembling of the Convention; Is ' (states the Argus) anything but pleased at what has so far been done in Sydney, and anything but hopeful aa to the ultimate outcome of the deliberations. This is not - entirely to be wondered at, seeing that the Victorian Premier is perhaps the deleft© i who has taken the strongest stand of all against the State rights principle in dispute 1 between the two parties, and that he is now i of opinion, no matter what has passed in , committee, that the Constitution adopted in open Convention will be one which the people of Victoria and New South Wales are certain to reject. He is quite emphatic upon that point, but is equally ready to admit that all other serious difficulties in the way of the including even the dreaded -tariff question, have practically vanished. In the course of an interview with a representative of the Argus, Mr. Munro said :"I am going back to Sydney on Monday night to do what I can until the proceedings are closed, but I have not the least hope now that anything will come of the Convention. The whole project will be smashed up." But independently of the point in dispute there appears to have been almost unanimity. None of the distrust anticipated regarding the surrender of fiscal control by the individual colonies seems to have been shown. "No. Everything in that respect has been amicably settled. The delegates talked the matter over among themselves some time ago, and arranged it all. Our work on the Finance Committee, of which I was chairman, consisted merely of settling details. It is generally admitted among the delegates that the tariff adopted by the federation must be the Victorian tariff against the outside world, .with intercolonial freetrade. They all quite recognise that fact now. At first the Victorian tariff frightened them, but when they came to look into it they found it was not such a formidable thing' after all. For their own information the members of the committee have had tables prepared showing the amount of Customs revenue that would have been collected by the several colonies during the year 188&, on the basis of the Victorian tariff, and the amount that would have been returned by the Federal Government to each colony. Everyone has quite made up his mind that this is the tariff to be adopted." And nothing more is heard about the guarantee that was hinted at by some of the Victorian delegates ? " No. A guarantee for the continuance of the present tariffs for a certain time would only work mischief. Suppose we , said no alteration should take place until five years after the constitution had been proclaimed, the result would be that when the time drew near the whole world would pour its goods into the Sydney warehouses, and the moment the new tariff was passed spread them over the country without paying duty." Notwithstanding the satisfactory adjustment of these difficult questions, further conversation with Mr. Munro only elicited more clearly his general despondency as to the ' fate of the Convention's work. He stated that the compromise which will actually be presented by the Constitution Committee to the Convention, will be one of which he can approve, that is, it will not grant the Senate the right of vetoing a money Bill in detail. It would be impracticable, Mr. Munro insists, that the Estimates or a Tariff Bill should be laboriously carried in detail through two Houses instead of one. Bat, while a recommendation favourable to his view will be made, Mr. Munro is convinced, from the attitude of the members of the committee, that the proposal will not bo agreed to in the Convention. He anticipates another animated debate, after which his party will be out-voted and the bill amended in favour of the contention of the State rights party. This will be effected in a great measure by the solid votes of the Western Australian and New Zealand delegates, and Mr. Munro expresses a keen sense of the unfairness of an arrangement by which the representatives of these colonies, which he considers it absolutely certain will not enter the federation, will take an active share in framing a constitution which must be rejected by the larger colonies. The Victorian people, Mr. Munro is assured, will never agree to it, neither will those of New South Wales—a large section of whom, and at least one of their delegates do not really want federation at all. Sir John Bray has stated that federation cannot be carried even in South Australia on those terms, and Mr. Munro asserts that the majority of the Queensland delegates were fast coming round to his views. Sir Thomas M'llwraith, who has been called away to Queensland, has announced his intention of voting with Sir Henry Parkes and the Victorian delegates, and Mr. Munro is confident that he might have had Sir Samuel Griffith with him also. The Queensland Premier, Mr. Munro says, was misunderstood as regards his attitude on the State rights question, and distinctly stated as much in the Convention. He merely suggested the points of difference between the two parties, and has Bbon led since to greatly modify his -views in favour of the contention of the delegates from the Victorian Legislative Assembly. The same process of conversion, Mr. Munro thinks, has been going on in the minds of other representatives, and he is quite sure that had not the Tasmanian delegates not been misled as to the real feeling of the people of Victoria, they would have been on his side also, whereas as it is they will be against him. The result of 4 ,the voting in the Convention will now be, according to Mr. Munro's calculation—for the State rights principle, implying aright of veto in detail by the Senate, 29; against, 16. But for the block vote of 10 coming from the uninterested colonies of New Zealand and Western Australia, the majority would be reduced to three, and he has no doubt that sufficient converts could have been made to carry the point the other way. A constitution will probably be drafted, as it is, but concerning its fate he entertains little hope. In reply to a question as to whether, if the power of the Senate were curtailed, as he would have ib, the smaller States would not be entirely submerged, Mr. Munro emphatically answered " No." No common interest could possibly unite the populous colonies of Victoria and New South Wales which would not also unite South Australia and Queensland with them. That the difference between giving the Senate the power of vetoing a Bill entirely and vetoing ib in detail is small, the Victorian Premier would by no means admit. He holds that the distinction is vital and all - important. The responsibility of rejecting^an entire measure and perhaps stopping all supplies for the service of the Crown would be so weighty that ib would be rarely if ever exercised, while if the Senate could object to this or that item, he regards ib as certain that the smaller colonies would combine to dictate the expenditure so as to suit their own interests at the expense of the larger States. Mr. Munro expressed great regret at tho impending failure which he foresees. Even the delegates themselves, he thinks, had not until they assembled in convention realised the magnitude of the task before them. "For my own part," said Mr. Munro, " I have only recently wakened to the fact that if federation were accomplished three of my owncolleagueswould have to go at once, viz., the Commissioner of Customs, the Minister of Defence, and the Postmaster-General." On the whole, the one encouraging'admission to be gained from the Premier is that this particular ' point in dispute is absolutely the only one of any importance dividing the delegates. His estimate of the. impassable nature of this obstacle is a strict adherence to his last speech upon the subject in the Conven- j tion. _ j Among the suggestions that Mr. Munro made incidentally on the subject of the Convention was one that the name of the United States, if federation were brought about, should be simply "Australia." That was the name by which the country would inevitably be known, no matter what formal title were adopted. It might be advisable, if his suggestion were carried out, that South Australia and Western j Australia should adopt other names, just as j the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada • had abandoned their names on the estab- | lishment of the Dominion, and became ! Ontario and Quebec. i - " " That low, nervous fever, want of sleep and weakness, calls fof Dr. Soule's American Hop Bitters." ( 10