Federal Convention.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 993, 13 March 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

Federal Convention.

[By Electric Telegraph— Cchpyright.]

(PER PRESS ASSOCIATION’.) London?, March 11. Tha Morning Post warns the Federal Convention that the commercial views "" 0 f the new British democracy are as keen as their own, and they may refuse to be any longer parties to a one-sided bargain

Sydney. March 11. Mr Cockburn’s speech yesterday was very cleverly thought out. Mr Dibbs was very much exercised over the question of the location of the Federal Cap:tal and the idea of depi'iving the Crown or the right of veto. He pitifully .vanted to know, in the event of the latter being done, what would become of the Crown. Mr Forrest, in his speech, did not mince matters as to the situation of Perth in regard to Federation. Lady Jersey* has written a poem on the theme,' “ One People, One Destiny. More than half of the delegates have now spoken. Mr Gillies (Victoria) resumed the debate this morning. He said the Victorian Parliament did not require its delegates to ask for any guarantees ; they wanted no more guarantee than any other colony. He believed justice "would he done‘by the Federal Parliament with regard to the Customs, and thought the resolutions clearly dealt with the fiscal policy. They meant Intercolonial Freetrade and Protection against the world. There was nothing in the resolutions to warrant the assumption that a large standing army was contemplated, which would prove a menace to their own people. There was not a colony in the group which did not possess as great freedom as any country in the world, not even excepting America. These liberties had been too "long enjoyed to permit any body of men, or even the Federal Parliament, to interfere with them. It would be a great mistake to determine at the present time where the site < f the Federal Capital should be. It would be sufficient to confine thems Ives to the matters In the resolutions. They had greater work before them now than the question of a Capital, and it must be attended to first. Mr Gillies continued—He dealt at some length with the question of the Constitution. He said he could see no reason to alter the Constitution in the -direction of a tepublic. The time, he believ- d, was far away when the Continent would be under the form of a Republican Government. Remarks with reference to republicanism did not come well at the present time. We bad nothing to complain of. We had stood in such close relation with the British Empire that we had never been refused anything we seriously required. While we were permi’ted to make laws as we did, it would be well to retain the elasticity ot the present Constitution without giving a thought to a Republican form of government. It was unjust to suppose that the Fede-a! Parliament would be given power to div.de the States. He deprecated the hints which had been dropped that this might be so. The resolutions clearly stated that this was not the case. He expressed him elf in favor of the retention of the present elastic Constitution, and wished to see the items of taxation, which involved questions of distinct policy, embodied- in separate Bills and sent to the second Cnamber instead of lumping them in one Bill. He asked those who were so anxious to give the Senate power of amending Money Bills, why not claim the power of initiation and the right of rejection as often as they were considered harmful. As the amount of representation given to the smaller States on the Senate would be more than the two great Colonies put together there would be complete protection against the Lower House legis'ation. They must also remember that the owners of large estates were not likely to force on measures of taxation in face of the fact that they would have to contribute the greatest amount themselves. Questions involving special expenditure, such as defence, should be sent to the Upper House in separate Bills It would be a mistake to form the Senate on the American basis. He challenged anyone to say the English Constitution had not worked as well as the American. If the Executive did not sit in Parliament it would not live two days. It was indispensably necessary that members should depend on the support of the popular branch of the legislature. He declined to believe such a principle would not work in the Federal Parliament. There was no fear of the two lartre Colonies ruling, as the Government was sure to be confronted by a strong opposition immediately it was formed. The reason Sir J. Macdonald lricf held office in Canada so long was not due to the joint power of any two States, but to the division of representation. Mr IA. G. Clark (Tasmania) thought the Senate should have the powers proposed by Sir'S. Griffith. He would r.ot like to r see the American or Swiss system established unless it was found that respon-

sibla Government would not work under a Federal Constitution. Responsible government as a working machine had been a success, although the quality of legislation had not as yet attained the highe t type. He believed, however, that responsible government under a liberal Constitution would be a complicated affair. The Senate must have the power of vetoing details, but not of initiation, otherwise they might have both advocati g adverse financial policies. They should begin by defining the right of initiation, although under Responsible Government it was immaterial where taxation was initiated, because taxation only came as a message from the Crown. They should define it, because in future they might change the system of ac ministration. If the Senate were given co ordinate powers in regard to finance it would become more powerful, while the Lower Chamber would depreciate. He believed the time was passing pway when taxation was the most important question. It would always be important, but he believed the social problem would become the greatest question. He preferred the term_ “ State interests ” to “ State rights.” While not prepared to say one State might plunder another, still he could clearly see there were dangers in their way. There w ere some injuries for which there was no judicial remedy, such as political injuries. There were many Amer can States to whom Protection was a great injury without a judicial • remedy. They must not tiust the Judiciary, and must define Protection in the Constitution. They should give the States power to protect themselves. Both Queensland and Tasmania might be very seriously injured if the Federal Parliament controlled the sugar industry and fisheries respectively. They must have a proper s3’stem of Federal Courts, and the State Judiciary must remain under the control of the respective Governments. The reason why Sir John Macdonald retained office in Canada was not because he divided the power of representation, but because the Judicial system practically gave him the power of the appointing of the Judges, Lieutenant-Governors, and other high officials. He approved of the suggestion to do away with the Appeal and the Privy Council, except in cases where Imperial interests were involved. Sir J. B. Cox (South Australia) thought it would be better to first determine the sort of Government they were to have before they dealt with the powers to be given. They must know what the Constitution was before they could consider what powers the Government should have. If they undertook to take over all the obligations of the different colonies they might say the majority shall rule, but while the States hal to perform these duties they must see that they had an adequate voice in Federal affairs.. He pointed out that the Northern Territory was not really a part of South A ustralia. It was nec ssary to consider this because of Imperial interests, and because they must decide what steps would have to be taken to make it pait of the Federation. He wished t'> know if it was absolutely necessary to have responsible government and an Opposition, and to have the Government turned out before giving effect to its measures. He said emphatically No, and he hoped the Convention would consider whether it was nece sary to have responsible government. They must not drop what they had for the sake of trying an experiment. They must give the Senate veiy full powers, although the popular Chamber must in the end prevail. They must not allo-v it to prevail too easily. Efficient control must bo established. He could not see why money should be controlled differently to anything else. The Senate ought to have a voice in any large expenditure outside the ordinary expenditure of the year. The Constitution must be definite on this point. They must have freetrade between each colony, and the Federal Par lament must provide the customs tariff before freetrade was instituted, unless aoy of the colonies agreed to free trade between themselves. He agreed with the proposal to fix a time when the Federal tariff should come into operation. He thought it would be to the advantage of the Federal Government to take over the debts of the several Colonies. That would go a long way to demonstrate the advantages of Federation. He did not think it likely the Federal Government would run counter to the wishes of the people wi ll regard to defence, and he did not wish to see a large standing army. He agreed with Sir G. Grey’s suggestion to elect the officers of State with the exception of the Governor-General. A HISTORICAL GATHERING. SOME REMINISCENCES OP THE OLDEN TIME. (FB.OM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPOXPEXT). S'DNEV, February 28. The Federal Convention which opens its sessions in this city early in the ensuing

week, will, I venture to predict, be set down hereafter in the historical records as the most important political event that had occurred iu Australasia since the day when the Union Jack was hoisted upon the shores of the great Southern continent. Mon rarely perceive the full bearing of contemporary events upon the history of a nation, and this is especially true of the chief actors in the historical drama. llow little did Captain Phillip dream, when he dropped anchor in Sydney Cove, on the 27th of January, 17SS, to establish a penal settlement, that he was laying the foundations of a great empire. Nevertheless, the landing of those 750 convicts w.:s the stating point of Australian colonisation. The germ was planted, and though its growth for half a century was sickly, its roots were ever extending more widely through the soil and taking a deeper and firmer hold. Upon the trunk of that old convict stock were grafted the healthier branches of free Anglo-Saxon colonisition in the South Paoifio. For ardently as we New Zealanders may repudiate anv kinship with the lawless elements of which the first community established at Port Jackson was largely composed, and though we may point with pardonable pride to the shiploads of free immigrants of the very highest type who set out from England with their wives and children at the beginning of 1810 to establish homes in Maoriland, we cannot deny the fact that the missionary agencies operating from Sydney and the early traders hailing from that port bad prepared the way for systematic colonisation, and had been the means of making known in the Home country the wonderful beauty and fertility of the islands that were taken possession of by Cook on behalf of the British Crown fifty years before, but had been deliberately relinquished by the rulers of the Empire as worthless. What is true of. New Zealand is even more directly true of Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, which were offshoots of the Mother Colony, and though South Australia became the centre of a separate colonising operation, somewhat akin to that which waa developed in New Zealand, the Colony really drew tbe sources of its materal prosperity from New South Wales. As was very ably pointed out in the second of the two interesting volumes published by Sir George Grey in ISII, describing his early Australian experiences, the advancing tide of prosperity flowing over the grassy plains of the Australian continent was represented by the tramp of droves of horned cattle and flocks of sheep.

Glancing baok to the earliest days of the settlement so inauspiciously commenced I believe that there stood among the number of those who first entered into possession of the land a seer to whom this beatific vision revealed. In so far as that deep insight and quick perception, which places cause and effect in their true relations and perceives their potentialities for almost limitless development, can endow a man with prophetic powers, Captain Macarthur was the intelligent interpreter and high priest of a new dispensation for Australia. When, in 1792, he turned in disgust from the rum-selling practices of his brother officers, and introduced sheep and cattle to graze upon the pastoral lands of the country, he did more to advance its material interests than the rulers of the Empire at that period, ty whom his enterprise was obstinately’ opposed, were capable of conceiving. Captain Macarthur unquestionably saw that tbo future inhabitants of that oreat continent were destined to play a part in the world of a much more portentious character than was marked out for them by the great officers of State, whose highest conception of the uses of a continent, peculiarly favoured in climate and rich in natural resources of the most varied kind, was to make it the dumping ground for English criminals and paupers. Bat though the rapid multiplication of stock verified the soundness of Macarthur’s judgment, the practical expansion of his idea was limited for nearly a quarter of a century by the apparently impassible barrier of the Blue Mountains, which shut off in profound mystery the interior of the coutinent. The bursting through of this barrier, gave the first Tisgah view of the magnitude of the land of promise, and the adventurous stockman then became the pioneer of civilisation across the Australian wilds. Hume and Hovel!, in 1824, in search of new pasture for their flocks and herds, pushed their way as far as the River Murray and down to the shores of Port Phillip. W ithin 12 years, the crack of the stockman’s whip was familiar to the rude inhabitants of the Australian wilds, along the whole line of country from Sydney to Adelaide. Describ. ing this remarkable invasion, Sir George (then Captain) Grey, writing in 1540, says : < • jf the reader casta his eye upon a general map of Australia, it will be an eafsy task to follow the march of stock, for the last four years. Port Phillip was occupied in 1836, Portland Bay in 1535, South Australia m December 1836. The first step taken by the Overlanders was the connection of Port Phillip with Sydney, and they thus as it were, established a great base line from which their subsequent operations could be carried on. At this period they did not, however, bear the name of «Overlanders, ’ which was only given to them after Adelaide had been reached in 1838. The Overlaaders had hitherto been occupied in merely pushing their stock stations to different portions of the colony of New South Wales ; bub a new and fertile field for enterprise opened to them in the establishment of the colony of South Australia, which, as before stated, was in December, 1836 ; and many an enterprising mind turned thitherward with earnest longings, which soon ripened into action. In November, 1537, — that is, in eleven months from the founda-

tion of the new colony several hardy adventurers had laid, matured and commenced carrying into operation p'ans which were deemed insane, when they heard of ttie amount of capital invested in so new an undertaking, but which were undertaken by trio adventurers in full confidence in their own powers. Two expeditions started almost at tha same time for this new market. In February, IS3S, Mr Hawdon moved from the Goulburn, and Air Eyre from Port Phillip. In April, 1838, Mr Hivvdon arrived in Adelaide, but coming upon an impassable country, he had been compelled to turn to the northwards, and then to make it by the same route which Mr Hawdou had pursued. Just eight years before this period, a hardy pat ty of explorers, under Captain Sturt, bad first ventured iu a whale boat to descend tha river traversing this unknown laud. Rapidly had the fruits of this enterprise ripened to maturity ; the river was now made a highway of commerce, a connecting link between two c juutries.

“ In the remaining portion of 183 S and in lS39the energies of the Overlanders we;e fully employed in supplying South Australia with stock, and during this period several new and shorter lines of route were struck out. The last great improvement of this kind being made by the adventurous C. Bonuy, Esq , who connected Port Philip with Adelaide by adireot line, running nearly parallel to the coast. “ During 1839 it was felt that the markets of South Australia no longer afforded such large profits ; but Port Lincoln was then occupied and a new country opened, to which cattle and sheep were sonveyed across Spencer’s Gulf. This for a time afforded some employment to the Overlauders ; but their spirits were secretly chafed by the thought that the limits of their career were attained. Several expeditions to the westward of Port Lincoln were undertaken, and in August, 1539, Mr Eyre, still anxious to open a new market, pushed as far to the west as Denual Bay ; but the journey to King George’s Sound seemed so vast an undertaking, that although such a scheme was often contemplated, the hazard and risk of property appeared, even to a daring Overlander, to be great. Yet, although none ventured, many an eager heart turned that way, and many a thoughtful faC3 lighted up, when a premising plan was unfolded.

“ Whilst the Overlanders were thus speculating upen the possibility of connecting the eastern and western portions of Australia by one great line of communieation, the new settlements of f outh Australia and Port Phillip were making such rapid advances in prosperity as almost exceed belief.”

Port Phillip had, indeed, been settled from the seaward side. John Batman, a native of New South Wales took command of an expedition, which was fitted out in Tasmania in 1835, to establish a settlement at Port Phillip, and in the same year John Pascoe Faulkner sailed up the Yarra and occupied land upon the present site of Melbourne. Towards the end of 1837 a hundred houses had been erected iu the little town of Melbourne,, and half-acre allotments were selling at from £25 to £IOO each. _ It was not to be expected that a magnificent country like New Zealand should rt main wholly unaffected by a movement which had stimulated a large proportion of the population of A ustralia like new wins. In 1840 Air W. B. Rhodes landed some cattle at Akaroa for the purpose of estabfishing a station, and four years later Sir Charles Clifford successfully negotiated the lease of his first run with the Natives occupying the Wairarapa Plains. Others qnickly followed in his footsteps. Let us, for a few moments, survey this great Australian continent, in which the thrabbiugs of national life are now being felt from the Swan River to Fort Jackson. We are fond of twitiug the people of Great Britain witn their ignorance of colonial geography, how many New Zealanders are there who could tell, without reference to a gazeteer, the distance which the delegates who are now on their way from Western Australia wdl have to travel iu order to take their seats at the Conference, or what is signified by a trip from Sydney to Northern Queensland ? We set down 2,944,628 square miles in figures as the area of the great island continent, and place its measure of 2500 miles from east to west and 1950 miles from north to south beneath the imposing total, and imagine we have ac complished a kind of mectal circumnavigation of the laud. But I doubt whether one person in every five hundred fully realises that, excluding Texas, you might plump down the United States of America in the middle of Australia, and find the colonial margin overlapping, or that a similar operation might be performed with all the countries of Europe, barring Russia, and then have about a million and a quarter square miles of Australian ground available towards covering the European possessions of the Czar. Does it ever occur to your readers that the Colony of Queensland alone comprises more land than would be found within a line encircling France, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire? That the recently enfranchised Colony of Western Australia could add England and Spain to the European countries abovenamed, tnd still have a big lump of territory to cut to waste. Because until these ideas have become firmly rooted in the mind, and with them the differences of climate and material interests, the difficulties which beset a close federation botween the sugar - planting districts of the tropical North and the corn-growing settlements of the South will never be intelligently grasped. Of course, it would be an egregious error if, in [comparing these abstract spaces and

bare figures the reader should get the impressiop that they represent an equivalent in population suitainii-g territory. It is still a contested p iut whether a large portion of the va.-t interior of the Australian continent might not with advantage be once more sunk beneath the waters of the sea, if its future usefulness to the human species be the object aimed at. There are those who maintain that, as far as settlement extending into the heart of the land is concerned, it mart always maintain its character as a mere coastal fringe unless the science of the future shall number among its achievements the power to throw up a backbone mountain range, from whose enow clad summits refreshing streams shall pour down to fertilise the arid plains and furnish abundaut supplies to irrigation canals. And even the most ardent admirer of the great work which the Chaffey Brothers have accomplished at Aliidure, must admit that many such schemes would speedily drain the river Murray dry and leave the riparian proprietors lower down lamenting, There are many people, however, who look with confidence to the achievements of irrigatian from artesian wells and the storage of a tropic >1 rainfall. We are not much concerned with these speculations at present. At a modest computation there exLt iu the available lands .and mineral wealth already accessible capabilities of profitable occupation for as many tens as theae are now units located upon the soil. Spa king upon the subject of Federation before the Colonial-Institute lately Lord Carricgtoa asserted that tha population of Australasia in 90 years would iqnal the population o‘ the United Kingdom. The estimate 13 sanguine, but not impossib'e of realisation. In the nariow compaßs of the Mother Country there is no such capacity for expansion, though the arable area should be cultivated like a Chinese garden. As the Bulletin jocosely expressed it, the tail is becoming too huge for tne dog to wag, nod is already manifesting a disposition to reverse the natuial order of things and wag the dog. SIR GEORGE GREY’S FIRST YISIT TO AUSTR -LIA. Bat before proceeding to deal with the possibilities of the future, and the work set out before tha approaching Convention, I think it will not be uninteresting to glance back cnee more for a little while at what has already been achieved ; and it may add a charm to the narration if T place before New Zealand readers two pictures which must at this time present themsrive* to the mind of the venerable statesman, who has been appointed by Parliament as one of the three delegates who are authorised to represent your Colony. Fifty-three years ago in a solitary district of North-western Australia, hitherto untrodden by the foot of a white man, there lay w unded and as he believ d dving, a young soldier in the fall vigour of early manhood, struck down by,the spear of an aborigiual of the country, into whose teirit.-ry the young explorer and his companions had intruded. His plight was a pitiable one. A numerous party of natives had been emboldened to attack the strange visitors in consequence of the cowardice exhibited by one of the two men who were accompanying Lienfc. Grey in a forward survey of tbe country. Tbe man, coming suddenly upon a native with a spear, had turned tail and ruo, when the whole howling pack came pell meli after him. Lieut. Gray then graphically narrates the sequel : “ fn the meantdme our opponents pressed more closely around ; their spea r 3 kept whistling by ns, and our fate seemed inevitable. The light coloured man spoken of at tbe camp now appeared to direct their movements. He sprang orward to a rock not more than thirty yards from as, and posting himself behind it, threw a spear with such deadly force and aim, that had I not thrown myself forward with a sudden jerk, it must have gone through my body, and as ic waa it touched my back in flying by. Another well directed spear, from a different hand, would have pierced me in the. breast, but in the motion I made to avoid it, it otiuck upon the stock of my gun of which it carried away a portion fay its force. All t is took place in a few seconds of time, and no shot had been fired except by me. I now rt-cognised in the fight coloured man au old enemy who had led on the former attack against ina on the 22-id of Dec amber. By his cries and gestures, he now appaared to be urging the others to surround and press on us, which they ware rapidly doing. I saw now that but one thing could be done to save our lives, so I gave Coles my gun to complete the reloading, and took the rifle which he had not yet diseugiged from the cover. I tore it off, and stepping out from behind our parapet, adv&nc.-d to the rock which covered my light-coloured opponent. I had not made two steps in advance when throe spears struck me nearly at the __ same monnnfc, one of which was thrown by him. I felt severely wounded in the hip, but knew not exactly where the others had struck me. Tbe force of all knocked me down and made me very giddy and faint, but as I fell I heard the savage yells of the natives’ delight and triumph. These recalled me to myse’f, and, roused by momentary rage and indignation, I made a strong effort, rariied, and in a moment was on my legs. The s-pc-ar was wreuchcd from my wound and my haversack drawn closely over it, that neither my own party nor the natives might see ic, and I advanced again steadily to the rook. The man became alarmed and threatened me with his club, yelling most furiously, but aa I neared tne rock behind which all bat his head and arm was covered, he fled towards an adjoining one, dodging, dexterously, according to the native manner of confusing an aasailaot, and avoiding the cast of his spear ; but he was

Eiarcely uncovered in his flight when my rifle ball pierced him through the back, between the shoulders, and he fell heavily ou his face with a deep groan. The effect was electrical. The tumult of the combat had ceased : Not anotuer spe r was thrown, not another yell was uttered, native after native dropped away and noiselessly disappeared. j[ stool alone with toe wretched savage dying before tne, and my two men close to me behind the r.<cks. iu the attitude of deep attention, a»id as ilooked rcuud upon the daik rocks and f nests, nowsu It-uiy silent and lifele.s, bat for the sight of the unhappy being who lay on the tr.iund before me, i could have thought that the whole affair had been & horri 1 dream f ° have bred upoD the other natives when they returned for the wounded man would, in my b-lief, have beau an un iecesairy piece of barbarity. I had alrea ly fe't deeply the death of him I had been CJtnpelle 1 to shoot, and I believe when a fellow creature falls by one s hand, even in smgle comb it r.ndered unavoidable in self-defence, it is impossible not to sincerely regret the fo.oa of so ciuel a necessity.” The excitement of the battle over the wounded leader struggled bravely onward towards his eacauipoienl, the life blood we'ling from ilia wounds until he fell, utterly exhausted and unable to rise, by the side of a stream he had endeavoured to cross. Of the two men who were with him one proceeded to tbe tents two miles away, where the other members of the expedition were pcsted, white tho other man remained beside his fai en chief to give warning of auj’ renewal of the attack by the natives.

“ I sat upon the rocky edge of a cool clear brook, supported by a small tree,” writes Captain Grey in the deeply interesting volume from which I have already quoted. “ The sun shone out brightly, the dark forest wai afire with birds and insects—on such scenery I had loved to dilate when a boy, but now how changed 1 was. woun ied, fatigued, and wandering in an u>.known iand. Iu momentary expectation of being attacked, my finger was on the trigge-, my gun ready to be raised, my eyes and ears busily engaged in detecting the slightest sound, that I might defend a life which I at that moment believed was ebbing with iny bloolaway. The loveliness of nature was around me. the suu rejoicing in its cloudless career, the birds filling the woods with their songs, and my friends far away and unapprehensive of my condition — whilst I felt that I was dying there. And in this way many exploreis yearly die. Oue poor youth, my own friend and companion, has thus fadeu since the circumstances above described took place ; others have to my knowledge lately perished in a similar way. A strauge sun shines upon their lonely graves, tbs foot of the wild man yet roams over them—but let us hope when civilisation has spread so far, that their graves will be sacred spots, that the future settlers will sometimes shed a tear over the remains of the first explorer, and tell their children how much they are indebted to the enthusiasm, perseverance, and courage of him who lies baried there.”

In these days, when we hear so much of the reckless sacrifice of human life, by explorers and upon out stations, it is refreshing to turn to the record of the sad impression which was made upon this early explorer, by the necessary taking away of the life of even a wild Australian native, who Was endeavouring, without p-ovocation, to destroy men who had made no attempt to injure him. Speaking of the days during which he lay wounded in his tent, Lieut. Grey writes :—- “I cared but little for the want of comforts I must now be subject to. Therein I only shared the lot of many a worthy soldier; but one thing made the Dight very wretched, for then through the woods came the pierciDg shrieks of wailing women, and the mournfal erica of native men, sorrowing over him who had that day fallen by my hand. Tiieee cries rang in my ears all night, startling me at every moment from my feverish and fitful slumbers. During the time I was lying in my tent, in great pain and very low spirits, I was attended with every care and kindness by Huston, the sailor I had brought from- the Cape, who occasionally suggested such odd topics of cumfort as his philosophy could supply ; and one day, either from some expressions I had dropped, or other circumstances, he conceived that the death of the native was preying on my mind ; under this Impression he came into the tent, seated himself on a flour bag near me, and made his asual inquiries as to my wants and desires ; then glancing at recent events, proceeded to say, * Well, sir, I’m sure if I were you I shouldn’t think nothing at all of having shot that there black fellow; why, sir, they’re very thick and plentiful up the country.’ I did not exactly see the consolation to be derived from this argument of Huston’s, bat I could not forbear smiiicig at its quaint* n-ss. and feeling for the kindness with which it was iu'ended.”

Huston’s philcs iphy has been fully acted upon since, not merely by irresponsible settlers in Australia, who have carried on a guerrilla warfare, but by representatives of Imperial authority, until the aboriginal population of the continent which Captain Phillip roughly estimated at one million is reduced to certainly not more than 200,000. In Tasmania the wretched people were hunted down like wild beasts, and if report, which occasionally reach the borders of civilisation from “back blocks” be anything near the truth, organised hunts, having human beings as their game, are not unknown even in these days in Australia. The expedition which resulted in the calamity described in the preceding paragraphs, had originated In a letter addressed by Lieutenant Grey and Lieutenant Lushington in 1836 to Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies, offering to conduct an exploration from the Swan Hiver northward. The project was favoured by the Geographical Society, and finally accented by tbe Imperial Government. The plan, however, was afterwards altered by making the starting point somewhere in the vicinity of Prince Regent’s Hiver on the north-west coast, and to be directed towards the Swan. The expedition embarked in H.M. Beagle for the Cape of Good Hope in July, 1837, Lieutenant Grey having chief command. At

the Cape he hired the schooner Lyuher, of 140 tone, and after his party had been landed at the spot selected he de patched the vtß3el to Timor for ponies, occupying the interval during her absence in miaor explorations and in preparation for pushing on into the interior. The severe wound sustained by the leader when ad vanciug into tbe intelior cut short the expedition. Alter resting until his injuries were partially healed he pushed forward and pouetrated a considerable distance inlaud, discovering the Glenelg Hiver in the course of his cilvano ; but weakness compelled hitn to return and go to the Muuritiu i to reci uit.

Lieutenant Grey re-ernbarked from the Mauritius for the Swan R;Ver on tbe 18th September, 1833, intending to consult Sir James Stirling, Governor, with regaid to prosecuting further explorations on the north-west coast. Being delayed for five months in the expectation of getting the use of the Colonial Government schooner, he occupied his time with expeditions into the little known country north and south of Perth, and culli ated friendly relations with the aborigines to such good effect that he was able to compile a vocabulary of the different dialeots spoken in these parts. Finally, disapp iated with regard to the Government schooner, he arranged with a whaler to take himself and party, together with three whaleboats, to Shark Bay, about 600 miles north of Perth, where he proposed to establish a provision depot on one of the islands, and from that point explore the bay and make expeditions along the coast and into the interi ir.

Misfortune dogged this expedition also. After the whaler had landed the party on Bernier Island, aad the stores were buried in what was believed to be a secure posilion, Lieutenant Grey set out wi h the intention of searching for water on the mainland and upon another island. A phenomenal storm arose, iu which one of the whaleboats was wrecked aad all the stores in it lost, the crew barely escaping with their lives. Proceeding to the maiuland, the party discovered a good supply of water in a fine river whien Lieutenant Grey named the Gascoyne. After a detention of eight days by a storm, which made it impossible to again launch the boats through the surf, the party returned to their provision depot, where they discovered, to their dismay, that a tidal wave had completely altered the configurat on of the island, and washed away their stores. The action taken after this discovery is thus narrated in the records of the expedition : —“I requested Mr Smith to see the little flour that was left in the barrel and on the rocks carefully collected by Coles, and, leaving them thus engaged, I turned back along the seashore towards the party, glad of the opportunity of being alone, as I could now commune freely with my own thoughts. The safety of the whole party depended upon my forming a prompt and efficient plan of ODerations, and seeing it carried out with energy and perseverance. As soon as I was out of sight of Mr Smith and Coles, I sat down upon a-.rock on the shore, to reflect upon our present position. The view seaward was discouraging ; the gale blew fiercely in my face, and the spray of the breakers was dashed over me ; ■ othing could be more gloomy and drear. I turned inland, and could see only a bed of rock covered with drifting sand, on which grew a stunted vegetation, and former experience had taught me that we could cot hope to find water in this island. Oar position here was, therefore, untenable, ard but three plans presented ihemselves to me. First, to leave a notice of my intentions on the island, then to make for some known point on the mainland, and there endeavour to submit ourselves till we should be found and taken off by the colonial schooner ; secondly, to start for Timor or Port Essington ; thirdly, to try to make Swan River in the boats. I deter mined not to decide hastily between these plans, and in order more fully to compose my mind, I eat down and read a few chap’ ters in the Bible. By the influence thus imparted I became perfectly contented and resigned to our apparently wretched con* dition, and, again rising up, pursued my way along the beach to the party. It may be here remarked by some that these statements of my attending to religious duties are irrelevant to the subject, but in such an opinion I cannot at all coincide. In detailing the suffering we underwent it is necessary to relate the means by which sufferings were alleviated; and after having in the midst of perils and misfortunes, received the greatest consolation from religion, I should be ungrateful to my Maker not to acknowledge this, and should ill perform my duty to my fellow men did I not bear testimony to the fact that, under all the weightier sorrows and sufferings that our frail nature is liable to, a perfect reliance upon the goodness of God and the merits of our Redeemer, will be found a Bure refuge and a certain source of consolation.”

In another passage the writer observes : “It is only those who go forth into perils and dangers, amidst which human foresight and strength can but little avail, and who find themselves day after day, protected by an unseen influence, and ever and again snatched from the very jaws of destruction by a power which is not of this world, who at all estimate the knowledge of one’s own weakness and littleness, and the firm reliance and trust upon the goodness of the Creator which the human breast is capable of feeling. Like all other lessons which are of great and lasting benefit to man, this one must be learnt amid much sorrowing and woe, but, having learnt it, it is but the sweeter frem the pain and toil which are undergone in the acquisition.” (To be continued.)