PAPERS RELATIVE TO A PROPOSED CONFERENCE

A.—No. 14.

6

Australian Colonies, under date 29th October, 1868, proposed that a Conference of Delegates should be hold in Sydney for the purpose of considering the Colonial relations of the Australasian Colonies with each other, and with the United States and other foreign countries, as affected by treaties made by Great Britain with foreign Powers, and to consider and advise upon other cognate subjects of common interest to the collective group of Colonies. The proposal met with ready acquiescence from the Governments'of New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland. The Government of Queensland suggested that, in addition to the principal subject of deliberation indicated by Mr. Stafford, the Delegates should be invited to confer and advise upon the questions of — (a.) The admission into other countries duty free, or upon such terms as may bo agreed upon, of the products of Australia and New Zealand. (b.) The free interchange of products between New Zealand and the Australian Colonies respectively. (c.) The expediency of establishing a uniform Tariff for the Colonies, and also Immigration, Ocean Steam Postal Service, Telegraph extension, Lighthouses, Legal comity, and an Australian Court of Appeal. To these subjects the Government of South Australia proposed to add the question of the reduction of Imperial Troops in Australia. The Government of New South Wales, in reply to Mr. Stafford's circular, invited the Governments of the other Australian Colonies to express their opinion upon the advisability of adopting the suggestion for a Conference of Delegates to consider — 1. The introduction of Free Trade in Intercolonial products. 2. A Uniform Tariff; and 3. A Union of Customs. The same Government subsequently intimated its intention to propose for discussion at the Conference, the question of Telegraphic communication with Europe via India and Java; and further suggested that the question of the Naval Defence of the Australasian Colonies, which formed the subject of Earl Granville's Circular Despatch of the 26th January, 1869, should be referred for discussion to the Conference. And the Government of New Zealand intimated its intention to bring forward for discussion at the Intercolonial Conference, the question of paying direct, without the intervention of the Board of Trade, the expenses incurred in one Colony in the relief of distressed seamen belonging to another Colony, as suggested in a Despatch from the Secretary of State, Circular No. 2, of Ist May, 1869. Those preliminary arrangements led to no practical results; and the Government of Tasmania has observed with sincere regret that, notwithstanding the general recognition of the Australian Governments of the gravity of the questions suggested for their joint deliberations in 1808, the year 1869 has been allowed to close without witnessing the assembly of an Intercolonial. Conference, a project which seemed to promise a sensible enhancement of the commercial prosperity and political importance of the Australasian Colonies. Impressed with these views, the Government of Tasmania desires to renew the suggestion of combined action on the large and important question of Intercolonial Commercial relations; and I have now the honor to propose, that a Conference of accredited Eepresentatives of the several. Governments of Australia and New Zealand be hold in Melbourne, in the month of May next, to consider and decide upon the advisability of establishing an Australian Commercial Federation, on the basis of a Customs Union with a common Tariff, and a free interchange of products and commodities. Of all the questions hitherto proposed for tho consideration of an Australasian Conference, that of a Customs Union with Intercolonial Free Trade is unquestionably the most important, and the most likely at this moment to combine the suffrages of the Governments and Legislatures of the several Colonies. I am inclined to think it is not desirable to complicate the discussion or jeopardize the settlement of that question, by formally referring to the Conference now proposed other subjects of common interest, on which, from whatever causes, a considerable difference of opinion is known to prevail, or would probably be provoked. At the same time, the various questions of common Australasian concern that were suggested for discussion at the Conference projected by Mr. Stafford si ill demand the joint deliberation of the Governments of Australia and. New Zealand, and the Conference now proposed might be thought a favourable opportunity for dealing with them. It would therefore be well that these questions should not be formally excluded from consideration by the Delegates, who, being Members of the respective Governments represented, would be fully empowered to confer and advise upon all such matters without any special authorization. But tho question of Customs Union should, 1 think, be deemed the first and principal object of the Conference. It will scarcely be denied that the commercial and producing interests of the British Australasian Colonies demand the recognition of the collective group by the Imperial Government as a geographical unit for all purposes of Customs revenue. That recognition would at once free the Colonies from the restrictions imposed upon their fiscal legislation by the existing Imperial Acts on differential duties, and would also permit the establishment of a system of mutual interchange amongst themselves, free of all duties of Customs, on their respective natural products, and on all manufactured commodities imported into any of them from Great Britain or foreign countries. I deem it superfluous to enlarge upon the beneficial effect such a system would be likely to produce upon the foreign commerce and domestic industry of the federated Colonies, or to point out how seriously and inconveniently those advantageous results would be inevitably lessened by any combination that failed to comprise the whole group. The Despatch addressed by the Duke of Buckingham to tho Governor of New South Wales, under date 7th January, 1868, announces that " Her Majesty's Government would gladly aid in the establishment of a Customs Union, comprising all tho adjacent Australian Colonies, and providing for an equitable division of the Customs duties, and for a uniform Tariff as between Australia and other countries or places."