THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. •

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1800, 3 June 1891, Page 5

THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE CONSTITUriON. • The Timee,' which devotes the greater part of its article on the Constitution Bill to the discussion of Sir George Grey's amendment, making the office of Governor one of popular election, rejoices heartily at the unanimity with which the delegates rejected his proposal. "Though hia (Sir George Grey's) victory would have implied a wish in the Convention to render the union between the colonies and Mother Country nominal, and therefore inconceivable, the absoluteness of Mb defeat is heartily welcome. Evidently Australians recognise as they ought their inestimable gain through freedom from the turmoil involved in the popular election of the head of the Federal Executive. It is not only that it would have become a farce for them to claim to appertain to the British Empire when they admitted within their Executive no direct mouthpiece of its central authority, but the delegates would, in addition, have encouraged the growth of dangerous forms of personal ambition ; they would have imperilled the peace of the States by obtruding upon it the supremacy of an individual whose popularity in some of the allied communities would be certain often to be balanced by greater odium with the rest." 'The Times' also deprecates the clause in the Federation Bill which proposes the institution of a Supreme Court of Australia as a filial appellate tribunal, in place (with certain reservations) of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on the ground that its instalment will cause a loss which will more than equal the gain if the regular confluence of Australian and English jurisprudence, no v ensured by the appellate jurisdiction of the Privy Council, be intermitted. The 'Daily News,' discussing the Bill, says that the most important and far reaching of the proposals in its consequences, and the one on which the greatest difficulty may yet be found is, undoubtedly, that which provides for the abolition of the barrier of tarriffa, which at present separates colony from colony. . , Here it was thought by some, and devoutly hoped by others, that the scheme would break down even in this its preliminary stage. Another point on which prediction was as likely to be falsified is the unexpected strength given to the federal tie. It has been said all along that the colonies were too jealous of their local privileges for effective union, and that they would never give any federal body authority enough to make it respected. . , . The powers proposed in this Bill will make a federal union almost as strong as that of the United States. . . . The Bill as it stands is rather the work of the statesmen and thinkers than of the people themselves, but there is every reason to believe that it will ultimately win the fullest popular approval. . . . It is to be passed now or never ! In another quarter of a century the consolidation of separated interests will render it impossible." The 'Pall Mall Gazette,' after detailing the elements in the constitution introduced to keep intact "the golden circlet of the Crown," says : *' The price of them is the absence of any such restrictive check upon their representatives as the people of America have created in their President. But it is as well to recognise that though, as a bond of union with the Mother Country, the Crown, which will still surmouat the commonwealth, is a reality, as a power within the commonwealth itself it is a figment." The 'Star' remarks that "Sir George Grey's proposal was defeated by 35 votes to 3, bat the fact that it received any support in the Convention shows that there is some desire* among Australian people for still weakening the Imperial tie. . . ." The ( St. James's Gazette ' observes that it iB " easy to draft a constitution, especially when you have cut and dried models in abundance to select from. The difficulty is to make the machine work when you have set it up. Most of the federal constitution only work with an enormous amount of friction, and some of them require to be periodically lubricated with blood. But then the Australians start under peculiarly favorable conditions. They have a fine country and a fine people, and plenty of elbow room. They have no race difficulty as yet, and so long as they have the good sense to remain under the broad folds of the union jack they need not ooncetn themselves with a foreign policy. There is no FrenchCanadian question, no Negro question, no Irish question ; though perhaps the problem of satisfying the pampered trade unions and the working men, demoralised by socialistic legislation,, may be considered ai serious as any other ; and the Chinese immigrant and the semi-servile laborer from the Pacific may give trouble enough in the future. But, on the whole, Federal Democracy goes to work with many advantages in the Southern Ooean. It will be interesting to watch the experiment, and to observe whether the

new commonwealth succeeds in combining local Home Rule and central government more smoothly than moßt other federations." The ' Daily Chronicle ' sees notbiDg objectionable in the provisions of the Bill, and considers them far less separatist than might have been expected from the dnft of public opinion in the colonies, especially among native-born Australians. But, of course, judgment must be reserved till the Convention has voted on them in detail."