THE ADELAIDE CONVENTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10418, 16 April 1897, Page 4

THE ADELAIDE CONVENTION

Those who have followed the proceedings of the Federation Convention at Adelaide during the past three weeks, nay have noted how singularly closely ' he Constitution Bill now in course of tonstructioii has followed the policy ' aid down in the Commonwealth Bill ' oassed by the Convention at Sydney in 1991. It appears to have been little more than personal prejudice, savouring somewhat of pique or jealousy, that prevented that great measure from being taken as the basis for the pro- ' :eedings of the present Convention; jut the ability shown in the framing rf the Commonwealth Bill has asserted itself over the minds of the delegates, md some of those who were most opposed at first to the adoption of that measure for a basis have in the sequel shown themsolves the most strenuous supporters of its various principles.. As a consequence the new measure seems to be in great part a replica o! the old, the alterations made being, with but two or three exceptions, immaterial in their character. Those ol most importance-excepting the financial proposals not yet determinedhave relation to the Senate, and it! status in the Federal Parliament; and all those who have an intelligent and ; a sincere desire for the federation of the colonies must rejoice at the crisis so happily passed by the resolution of '-', two days ago, taking from the Senate ■• '■<■ the power of amending money bilk Itwas a fair stand-up fight and a vigorous, If one, between the small States and the 1 larger ones, and had it been re- "■ solved otherwise, it is not too much to say that federation would have been indefinitely postponed, The importance of the question arises from the fact that in the Senate all the States, small or large, are to be equally represented by six members each, New South Wales or Victoria, with a population of over a million and aquarter each, will send six members td Senate, while Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, and Queens, land, with an of population of barely a limn, will send twenty, four. Great concession had therefore been made to the so-called smaller colonies, in allowing them equality of State representation in the Upper Chamber; but to give a Chamber so constituted, the power of directly dealmg with taxation and appropriation of revenue, would have been an outran on reason and justice. Yet such an injustice was defeated by but the narrow majority of two votes, which, of course, is explained in the fact that the colonies, large and small, are equally represented in the present Convention Ihe attempt to obtain for the Senate equal power in dealing with money ' Bills with the House, which is to be elected on a population basis, was an innovation on the Commonwealth Bill, which had excluded from the Senate the power of dealing with taxation and money Bills; so that the resolution just passed is only another reversion to the . policy adopted in that Bill. One important change, however, has been made on the constitution of the Senate as originally framed. In the Commonwealth Bill, the members of Senateeight for each State- were to be elected by the several legislatures of the States, as it is in the United States of America, whereas under the Constitution Bill now in course of construction, the sii Senate members allotted to each Stat* are to be elected by the direct votes ol the electors, voting as a single constituency coterminous with the boundaries of the colony. This seems a decided improvement, but in view of the vast difference in the number of electors in these several electorates, the reason stands all the sounder, why an upper chambei so constituted should have nothing to do with framing taxation. Power ol absolute rejection of a taxation or money Bill is, of course, reset ved to the Upper House but power of amendment is left only in the hands of tin House representing numerically the people of the country. This generally close adherence to the Constitution Bill framed six years ago is a striking evidence to its ability, and to its correctly expressing the matured will of the country; and it appears to augut well for the prospect of the present convention being on the safe road t" the completion of federal union.