THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1895.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9714, 9 January 1895, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1895.

Thb question of Federation will shortly be discussed once more, as the Federal Council sits in Hobart at the end of the present month. Mr. Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, is endeavouring to arrange a conference of the Premiers of the various colonies, immediately after the meeting of that body, in order to discuss the matter, with a view to what he terms " a forward movement." In Victoria a conference of municipal and other bodies has declared in favour of each of the Australian colonies passing an Enabling Act providing for the election of " representatives to attend a statutory convention to consider and frame a Bill to establish a Federal Constitution for Australia." The suggestion of Mr. McMillan, ex-Colo-nial Treasurer of New South Wales, is that an inter - colonial meeting of members of Parliament should take place at Hobart at or about the time of the assembling of the Federal Council. Sir Henry Parkas, who has been, and is, the most eloquent advocate of Federation in Australasia, succeeded recently in carrying in the New South Wales Parliament, by 55 to 10, a motion that "in view of the rapid growth of Australia in the elements of national life, it is in the highest sense desirable that Parliament should, without loss of time, resume the consideration of Federation of these colonies under one national government." The Premier of New South Wales approves on the whole of the Sydney proposal to hold a State Convention to draw up a Federating Act. It will be seen, therefore, there is a consensus of opinion that the present state of affairs cannot last much longer, and that a solution of the federation problem must be found by deciding upon the nature of the fusion desired, and the manner of its accomplishment. What is wanted now is the first practical act of advance, either by a convention, or by delegates specially elected to draft a Federal Constitution, and the submission of such proposals to the people of each colony Under the referendum. Mr. MoMillan is desirous that federation should be effected upon the lines of the American Constitution, as "some check upon popular legisla-

tion should be provided since the people were not gods, and ii 6 power should be allowed to become tyranny." Sir Henley Parkes eloquently denounces any such proposal, and points out that the most terrible war of modern times arose out of the fact that equal State representation in the Union came into collision with the verdict of a, majority >of the whole of the people at the ballot-boxes, and that what occurred in the United States might possibly be reproduced from the same causes in Australia. He also shows that the power of a majority of States aggregating but a small minority of the voters of the Union, have been frequently able to defeat the will of the majority, contrary to all true principles of democratic Government. Sir Henry points out that these colonies are now at the parting of the ways. He Says

_ If we do not want to live in union we must live in disunion. There ie no midway between the two elements. We must achieve the emancipation of the whole of the Colonies, and their erection into one national Government, or we must still live in separate colonies, disunited and subject to every kind of irritation and desolating influence that tends to keep us not only strangers but to all intents and purposes foreigners.

One of the pressing reasons for federation is national defence. Competent military authorities state that the only possible method of defending the Australian coast successfully is by a mobile federal force, under one head, and which shall go anywhere and do anything within the boundaries of the Australian commonwealth. Under the present system it is impossible to do that, and the Australians, with what is going on in the East, are simply living in a tool's paradise. Sir Henry Parkes expresses his apprehensions that no thing but an outbreak of war will bring this phase of the question home to the statesmen who would bring federal forces to a stand on the River Murray, or an imaginary geographical line between Queensland and New South Wales. The Premier of New South Wales is also strongly influenced by the same point, for he said in a late debate in the New South Wales Parliament: —

We at this end of the world have been in a state of comparative safety, and very much tempted to allow this great question to go by default. Probably, if the nour of danger came the whole of the Australian communities would suddenly realise the absolutely pressing character of the question of federation, and the great point is to bring that necessity home in this time of peace to the average intelligence of the Australian communities.

Apart from the new relations which China and Japan are likely to hold in future with these colonies, it will be seen from a recent cablegram that the Russian fleet intend during the present year to transport 10,000 troops to Vladivo3tock. These are not necessary there for purposes of defence, but they are necessary preparatory to Russia carrying out her far-reaching designs in the Pacific, for increasing her {own military power and diminishing British prestige. The proceedings of the Federal Council at Hobart will be shorn of much of their interest from the fact that neither New South Wales nor South Australia will be represented on the occasion, and consequently the Federal Council will not be competent to deal effectively with the question of federation ; still, the representatives of the colonies present can do much if they rise superior to local interests and prejudices in preparing the way for laying the foundations of that Australian Commonwealth which is as yet a vision of the future. The Federal demonstration in Melbourne has been postponed to enable the Premier of New South Wales to visit that city and address the demonstration in connection with his visit to the Federal Conference of Premiers in Tasmania, on the 29th instant; and he has promised to fix a date as soon as his arrangements for visiting Hobart are completed. If anything could show the advantages of Federation, it would be the disasters which have befallen Newfoundland, to a large extent through her playing "a lone hand," when the Canadian Dominion was consolidated. Her fisheries difficulty and her banking difficulty— various troubles political ana economical—have been intensified by her short - sighted decision, notwithstanding her small dimensions and lone position, to stand outside the Canadian confederation. The cry of " Newfoundland for the Newfoundlanders," is an attractive but an unreasoning cry, and has only led to her unhappy people "stewing in their own gravy," as bismark said of the beleaguered Parisians in 1870. By becoming a member of a powerful confederation, like the Canadian Dominion, half Newfoundland's chronic difficulties would be at once cured, but unfortunately the men who have controlled her destinies have never risen above the average vestry politician. Newfoundland, unlike the Canadian Dominion, has never been blessed with the posses sion of a Macdonald, a Thompson, or a Bowell, among its rulers, and the result is that even the Government Savings Bank, despite a Government guarantee, went with the other institutions in the recent financial crisis in that colony.