THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11952, 29 April 1902, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA

What is likely to be the future of Aus

tiaba? That is a question which is forcing itself, we have no doubt, upon the attention of British and foreign statesmen v. ith the steady growth of the colonies, :i."ii is also one that has a deep interest for Australians themselves. In a recent lecture on the subject, Mr. E. W. O'Sullivan, Minister for Works in New South Wales, expressed the opinion that Australia is the destined arbiter and controller of the southern world. To be so, he said, she niiiSt be a great naval and military Power. M'Mtary she has already proved herself 1.1 be in South Africa. Naval she must beef me, or else with the great Powers o» the world established so near her shores she will surfer in any contest that may ariseas assuredlv it will—for the supremacy of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. \Vt ought not to gauge Australia by what s! e is to-day, but what she will be 50 or 100 years hence. Then she will have a population of many millions—probably 60 or —and be able to hold her own against a»*.y Power in Asia, or whose fleets may attempt to dominate the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He trusted that nation would always work hand in hand with the Mother Country, and help on the great movement for the consolidation of the Anglo-Celtic people. Anglo-Saxon to him was a misnomer, and an obsolete term. Irishmen, .Scotchmen, Welshmen, and Cornishmen had ad done good work in building up the great British Empire, and they should all assert their right to a share in its glories. Disintegration was the shallowest and silliest of politics. What could Ireland do it separated from Croat Britain? Nothing but keep up a continuous warfare that would ruin both countries;. What could Australia do single-handed with the great Powers of the world wo near her? Nothing but take to the bush, and allow her seaboard' cities to become the prey of the aggressors. We should be like the Boers in South Africa— fighting in a half-civilised way to retain our independence. The true policy was the consolidation of the people who spoke the language of Shakespere, and had the same laws and literature and aspirations for freedom and liberty. Whether we liked it or not, that policy of consolidation would be forced upon us. The history of the world for the past 500 years showed that every time a nation became powerful and prosperous there was always a. combination of other Powers against her. The same feelings of jealousy and envy that existed then exist now, and Great Britain was the object of the envy of the great European Powers. He earnestly, therefore, preached the doctrine of the unification of race. Tf the English-speaking people—and by that he meant those who lived in Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, South Africa, ami Australia, and possibly the United States " for blood was thicker than water"— but actuated by that, noble sentiment, they would become the greatest Power that the world lias ever seen, and the bulwarks of freedom, liberty, and a high stale of civilisation all over the world.