THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1907. THE COMMONWEALTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1907. THE COMMONWEALTH.

The Australian Commonwealth would appear to be perpetually upon the verge of disruption into its component elements— if we judged solely by the utterances of the State Premiers in conference assembled. But as a matter of fact, Australia is as permanently set into the federal form as if it had thus existed from the first colonisation. There are differences of opinion between the States and the Commonwealth, naturally; it will be some considerable time before a smoothly-running system is developed, under which the dual authorities may work somewhat harmoniously; an'd in the nature of things there can never be a time when there will be no jealousy whatever on the part of the State officials, and no tendency to encroach on the part of the Federal Government. But all these things are inevitable arid unavoidable, just as federation was inevitable and unavoidable. There is no geographical reason for the separate existence of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, whatever there may be for West Australia and Tasmania. None of the four eastern States has a natural border line separating it from its neighbours ; nor any difference whatever, of language, race, creed, or conception, making separate government necessary. These State organisations, from the beginning, have been merely for convent" nice sake, have been cut out of the map by means of casual waterways or—-more commonly—by the use of lines of latitude and longitude. 'Feeling has arisen between the great cities on the coast, a feeling due to their commercial claims over their respective back-countries, and to the influence upon their commercial prosperity made by railway lines and local tariffs but the people of the eastern colonies, as a people, have had no option but to recognise that they were continental, not local, by all geographical, political, lingual; and social law. Intercolonial organisations of every kind, of employers and employed, of friendly societies and athletic unions, of pastoral, shipping, commercial, and other industrial companies, preceded and brought' about political federation. West Australia Was cut off by a great stretch of desert which had the : effect '-of making it insular—approachable only by a sea voyage. Tasmania is geographically distinct. But the commercial interests of Tasmania compelled it to enter the Commonwealth, and when a railway is built the isolation of West Australia will be at an end. These ■ minor 'States must, in any case, be subordinate "to the populous States of 'the eastern mainland; and nobody with any knowledge of Australian history and of the geographical conditions of the continent would speak 'seriously of the possibility of any political schism arising between these eastern States. It is safe to say that the idea does not actually exist in the minds of the State* Premiers, but is produced on occasion in the hope that it may help -to overawe the more energetic statesmen of the Commonwealth.

When -the State Premiers of Australia speak of the Federal Government we are apt to overlook the fact that the Federal Government has the State populations as it own constituents. What is more, the founders of the Commonwealth were wise in their generation, when they based the federal franchise upon adult suffrage, and thus made those men and women who ere still disfranchised in several States enthusiastic supporters of the .Federation. The result of.this was visible in Queensland, where, while a ProKanaka Government was still in office, the State was swept from end to end by Anti-Kanaka candidates for the Federal Parliament ; and in the Queensland Parliament of to-day there are 44 who approve the Commonwealth's Sugar Labour policy as against 28 who denounce it. Nor is the popular franchise the only factor which makes for federal strength and State weakness. The tendency is undoubtedly for the strongest politicians to go info- the Federal Parliament, and take part in Federal 'politics. The Kingstons of South Australia, the Deakins of Victoria, and the lleids of New South Wales are but the forerunners of an unavoidable tendency. Mr. Bent is a strong man, but Mr. Carrutbers can hardly be regarded as a worthy successor of the great .New South Welshmen who have led the Parliaments of that State; and Mi-. Bent is a much more probable leader in 'Federal politics than Mr. Car- ; ruthers. '; Much of the agitation raised by the Premiers is, indeed, .largely a personal matter. State Ministers ; are aggrieved at the overshadowing of their dignity and position by the more masterful Ministers who represent the continent; and they are all the more aggrieved where there is little likelihood of their own advancement to the higher office. But there is a more real grievance —the financial complications caused by the taking over of Customs and excise by the Federal Government. The States have a constitutional right to share in these receipts, and upon this right—set by the so-called Braddon clause— an endless dispute has arisen. The easiest way out of this difficulty, and the one which must sooner or later be adopted, would be for the Commonwealth to retain all Customs and excise receipts and to relieve the States of certain burdens as compensation. This solution is opposed by those who claim "sovereignty" for the States, and view all loss of power with regret, and is rendered difficult by their unequal financial position. But whatever is said of "State sovereignty," and however stubbornly the absorption by the Commonwealth of common : duties and general au- J

■■'■■•': ■ ■.• ■ '■:■■■ ■■■■ ... M ~ ■—_._... , thonty is resists, tli». ,-«- 7 ■5! one outcome. . As j n «T '?: Ct % il States, and in the T>,w - 1 ada, the old colonial s*v ll Ln 1 always fight a i osing hVIS' the mow modern federal tS P I Use Mate Premier may £ • I ously indignant at what to ? * *?*■ 1 an apgresion, but the State m'' < is indifferent, for he is'., gj* 1 voter as well as a State v«t» P ]' thinks more of being an V»> "'' i« 1 than of being a Victorian S* 1 ; Qucenslander; And in ff^* ; ; I of the politics „f great JjhC'" ' great partis, the smaller iadnS ■' isolated State, and partial 7*' 1 little consideration. Which* V'" I '' 1 make this colony quite satisfy its refusal -to join . th» (SLT* wealth, even though we fcZ . 1 heartiest goodwill for and the K»r*P est sympathy with-the nolitiS-f I' stitutions of our neighbours ' ■ *fc