at first abstained, it was agreed that writs for the elections to the federal convention should be issued on Jan. 20, that nominations should be received until Feb. 11, that the elections should be held on March 4, and that the convention should meet on March 29. Western Australia at first refused to join, but at the last moment decided to take part and to hold its elections on March 13. The enabling act passed in each colony in practically identical terms took the matter henceforth out of the hands of the parliaments. It provided that the convention charged with the task of framing the federal constitution should consist of 10 representatives from each colony elected by the voters for the Legislative Assembly. When three or more colonies should have elected their members to the convention, it devolved upon the governors of those colonies to summon the convention. After framing a constitution the convention was to adjourn for at least thirty, but not more than sixty days, to enable the constitution to be criticised. After the adoption of the constitution by the convention, it was to be referred to the direct vote of the electors for acceptance or rejection. If three colonies accepted the constitution, it should be presented for imperial enactment by the British Parliament. The convention possessed a groundwork for its labors in the comprehensive commonwealth bill framed by the Sydney convention of 1891 after six weeks of deliberation. In that convention Queensland took part, and the scheme of federation drawn up there was in great part the work of the Chief Justice of that colony, Sir Samuel Griffith. New Zealand was also represented at Sydney, but even then showed no strong bent for uniting with the Australian colonies separated from it by 1,200 miles of sea. The elections of delegates to the new federal convention were governed in Victoria and New South Wales largely by the consideration of state rights. The commonwealth bill of 1891 proposed that the Federal Parliament should consist of two houses, of which the lower was to represent the population of Australia, and the upper was to represent the states. State rights were fully guaranteed by the provision that each state was to be represented by 8 senators, each senator to have one vote. Thus every state, small or great, was to have equal power in the Senate, while for the lower house the representation was to be proportioned to population, each state having a representative for every 30,000 inhabitants. The smaller colonies in sist strongly on equal state rights, which they regard as the only guarantee that they will not be swamped in the Federal Parliament by the greater representation in the lower house of the more populous colonies. The great colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, on the other hand, demur to an arrangement that will enable Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania in combination to outvote them in the Senate. A federal council met at Hobart on Jan. 27 to consider joint action by the colonies to celebrate the sixty years' reign of Queen Victoria, trade relations between Great Britain and Australia. the New Hebrides question, federal quarantine stations, and uniforin bank laws. The Victoria delegates deprecated proceeding with business of importance in view of the early meeting of the federal convention. The Queensland and Western Australia delegates strongly opposed inaction, predicting that the labors of the convention would prove abortive. Finally it was decided to proceed with the business. The conference discussed Mr. Chamberlain's suggestion of a Zollverein, but were unable to determine whether it involved free trade within the empire or lower duties on British as compared with foreign goods. The Australian premiers here, and

later in London, declared generally in favor of preferential duties on British goods on condition of a like protection of Australian products in the British market. The delegates to the federal convention were elected in the five colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. In New South Wales and Victoria several delegates were elected on a platform of state rights. The Victorian delegates held a meeting with a view of coming to an agreement on debatable questions, but they decided to go to the convention free to vote at their individual discretion.

The convention met on March 22 at Adelaide, the central capital between Sydney and Perth. An amendment to allow women to vote for members of the House of Representatives was rejected by a vote of 23 to 12. On the questions of state rights and federal finance widely divergent opinions were expressed. As the debate did not lead to a satisfactory agreement, the convention adjourned till September, when it was hoped that Queensland would also be represented. The Queensland ministry proposed to the Parliament to authorize the election of delegates to the September convention, but the bill was defeated.

The second federal convention assembled at Sydney early in September.

In the interval all the colonial parliaments had discussed amending bills to the commonwealth act, and the results of their deliberations were laid before the Sydney convention to serve as a guide to the framing of the final federal constitution. In the spring convention it was proposed that the Senate should control money bills, and this was carried by the votes of South Australian, Western Australian, and Tasmanian delegates against those of New South Wales and Victoria. It was decided that amendments to the federal constitution, after passing both houses, should be submitted to a referendum. Sir George Turner proposed that deadlocks in the Legislature should also be settled by the popular referendum, but this was negatived. The New South Wales Assembly proposed various amendments of a democratic nature to the constitution which the convention had framed on conservative lines in close imitation of constitutional precedents. The Senate, instead of being a permanent body, re-elected at intervals in segments, it was proposed to make dissolvable at any time by the Governor at the advice of the ministers-that is, at the dictation of the House of Representatives. Equal representation in the Senate of each state was pronounced unacceptable to New South Wales, and a plan of proportional representation on the basis of population was proposed, with popular election of the senators in separate election districts. All money bills, including those that fix fees or salaries as well as taxation and appropriation bills, must originate in the House of Representatives. In case a difference should arise between the two chambers, the referendum would settle it. Judges were to be removable by address from both houses. Constitutional amendments would require only a majority vote of the people of the whole commonwealth, not of each state. The parliaments of the smaller colonies-South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia-insisted on equal representation in the Senate of all the states, large or small. The Victorian Assembly conceded this. The Adelaide convention gave the Senate power to reject bills imposing taxation, but the question of the right of amending such bills was compromised, a small majority deciding that the Senate should only have power to suggest amendments to the House of Representatives by message. This compromise the parliaments of the

smaller colonies rejected, desiring that the Senate should have full power to amend. The assemblies of Victoria and New South Wales, on the other hand, wished to deprive the Senate of even the right to suggest amendments. The problem of how to surmount deadlocks between the houses was left by the Adelaide convention without a solution. The assemblies of Victoria and New South Wales suggested three methods of settling such disputes: By the simultaneous dissolution of both houses; by a clause providing that if the bill should be passed a second time by the House of Representatives and the Senate should again reject it, the latter should be dissolved; or by the decision of the people in the form of a referendum in case a bill has been twice passed by one house and twice rejected by the other. The Adelaide convention adopted an elaborate scheme for the distribution among the states of the surplus revenue of the commonwealth derived from the uniform federal tariff that would be adopted. The colonial treasurers of New South Wales and Victoria attached great importance to the scheme, but the others thought that the question ought to be left to the commonwealth Parliament. The Victorian Legislative Council offered few and unimportant amendments, but the Council of New South Wales, led by the Attorney-General, voted for numerous and drastic changes in the draft constitution as it issued from the Adelaide convention, being actuated by the confessed purpose of wrecking the bill. The very word "federal" was struck out of all the clauses, and the commonwealth Parliament was deprived of the power of imposing duties or taxes of any kind or of raising revenue by any means. In view of the serious character of many of the parliamentary amendments, the prospects of federation were not regarded as favorable when the Sydney convention came together at the beginning of September. Sir George Turner proposed adjournment for a year in order to give the colonies opportunity for further discussion and to enable Queensland to be represented. Sir Samuel Griffith, Chief Justice of Queensland, wrote to urge adjournment. When the enabling bill was introduced in the Queensland Assembly it was expected that it would pass without opposition, and as soon as an amendment was proposed the minister withdrew the measure. After the Federal Convention assembled in Sydney the Queensland Assembly requested it not to conclude its labors until Queensland was represented by a direct vote of the people. A motion providing for the election of delegates by popular vote in the same manner as in the other colonies was finally carried in the Queensland Assembly on Sept. 16 by the majority of 34 to 8. The other parliaments that placed obstacles in the way of the scheme of federation adopted at Adelaide were not fairly representative of the people on the subject of federation, which was expressly intrusted to the delegates to the convention elected by the direct vote of the people. It was therefore expected that the commonwealth bill, as finally elaborated at Sydney, would meet no further opposition in the parliaments if it proved acceptable to the people of the several colonies and received a large majority of their votes when submitted to

their decision.

The second session of the Federal Convention opened at Sydney on Sept. 2, and, in response to the request of the Queensland Government that Queensland should be represented in the convention before the commonwealth bill was finally adopted, adjourned on Sept. 24 until January, 1898, when a third session was to be held at Melbourne. The convention rejected the principle advocated by New South Wales of proportional representation in

the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives, which would give the larger colonies an overwhelming majority in both houses and place the destinies of the smaller states in all federal ques-. tions in their hands. By a majority of 41 votes to 5 it was decided to give all states, large or small, equal representation in the Senate. It was moreover decided that the members of the Senate should be elected by each colony voting as one electorate. In the case of new states entering the federation, however, representation shall not necessarily be equal. A proviso favoring female suffrage was negatived. The delegates of the smaller colonies, after being helped to their decisive victory on the question of equal representation in the federal Senate, were expected to make concessions to the larger colonies on the question of limiting the powers of the Senate in regard to money bills and in the matter of providing against deadlocks. A number of them proved themselves accommodating by rejecting the proposal of Sir John Forrest, Premier of Western Australia, to give the Senate full power to amend money bills, which was lost by 39 votes to 29. Even the compromise that was adopted at Adelaide in order to save the commonwealth bill was now dropped, and it was decided that the popular house should have sole control over the finances of the commonwealth. On the question of the best method of dealing with or averting deadlocks between the houses, which the Adelaide convention left undetermined, strong diversity of opinion was disclosed. Victorian delegates were disposed to support the proposal of a referendum emanating from New South Wales, but since this would place the Senate ultimately under popular control the smaller colonies objected to this system as tending to nullify state rights. Most of the delegates were in favor of a simultaneous dissolution of both houses and were willing to adopt a dual referendum, requiring a majority of states and a majority of the people to agree on the subject referred. Another proposal was that the lower house should be dissolved, and if the disputed bill was passed a second time after an appeal to the country and a second time rejected by the Senate, that the Senate should then be dissolved. The proposed dual referendum seemed farcical to Sir John Downer, of South Australia, and a monstrous absurdity to Mr. Reid, of New South Wales. Josiah Symons, of South Australia, proposed the dissolution of the Senate in the event of its rejecting a measure passed by the lower house after an appeal to the country, and this was accepted by the narrow majority of 5 votes. Amendments providing for a referendum in the event of the further rejection of the same bill by the newly elected Senate for a dual referendum, for allowing the Government a choice between dissolution and a referendum, for the dissolution of the house that had been longest elected, for a joint vote on the disputed measure by both houses, were rejected in succession, and after a long and heated debate the convention finally accepted a compromise suggested by Mr. Wise, of New South Wales. This provides that in case of deadlock both houses shall be simultaneously dissolved, and a further amendment proposed by Mr. Carruthers, of New South Wales, provides that in the event of the double dissolution proving insufficient the matter in dispute shall be decided by a three fourths' majority of both houses sitting together. Financial questions were left to be dealt with by the Melbourne convention. Though the view prevailed in the colonial parliaments that the distribution of surplus revenue should be left to the future consideration of the Federal Parliament, it was decided to refer the question to a finance committee for special consideration and report.

New South Wales.-The Parliament consists of a Legislative Council of 66 members, appointed for life, and a Legislative Assembly, of 125 members, elected in separate districts for three years by manhood suffrage. The number of registered electors in July, 1895, was 267,458. The Governor is Viscount Hampden, appointed in 1896. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Railways, George Houstoun Reid; Chief Secretary, James Nixon Brunker; Attorney-General, John Henry Want: Secretary for Lands, Joseph Hector Carruthers; Secretary for Public Works, James Henry Young; Minister of Public Instruction and of Labor and Industry, Jacob Garrard; PostmasterGeneral, Joseph Cook; Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, Sydney Smith; Minister of Justice, Albert John Gould; Vice-President of the Executive Council and Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council, Andrew Garran. When all the Australian premiers went to England to take part in the Queen's jubilee a tacit truce was agreed to, in accordance with which no serious legislative proposals of a controversial nature were put forward by the acting premiers, and no attempts to overturn the ministries were made by the Opposition. Mr. Brunker, who filled the place of the Premier of New South Wales, encountered difficulties in connection with the collection of land and income taxes, though on the whole the revenue returns were satisfactory, showing a total revenue of £9.309.000 and an increase of £57,000 over 1896, strengthening, on the whole, the freetrade policy of the Government. The session of Parliament was opened in April. One of the laws passed abolishes the payment of school fees.

Victoria.-The Legislative Council has 48 members, elected under a property qualification, and the Legislative Assembly 95 members, elected by universal adult male suffrage. There were 138,393 electors for the former and 247,730 for the latter on the roll in 1896. The Governor is Lord Brassey, appointed in 1895. The Cabinet was composed as follows at the beginning of 1897: Premier and Treasurer, George Turner; Chief Secretary and Minister of Public Instruction, A. J. Peacock; Attorney-General, Isaac Isaacs; Solicitor-General, H. Cuthbert; Commissioner of Trade and Customs, President of the Board of Land and Works, and Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, R. W. Best; Postmaster-General, J. G. Duffy; Minister of Defense, W. McCulloch; Minister of Mines and Water Supply, H. Foster; Minister of Agriculture and Commissioner of Public Works, J. W. Taverner; Minister of Railways and Minister of Health, H. R. Williams; Ministers without portfolios, A. McLean, David Coutts, and S. Williamson.

The recovery from former depressed conditions was more marked in 1897 than in any previous year. The clearing-house returns were much larger. The banks paid up a large share of the deferred deposits due since the Australian banking crisis. The coin deposits exceeded any sum previously recorded, amounting to £8,900,000 in January Later there were heavy shipments of gold, especially after imports of wheat set in from the United States. The production of gold has been stimulated in all the Australian colonies. The yield in Victoria during 1896 was 84,000 ounces above that of 1895. There were new alluvial mines discovered near the New South Wales border, and auriferous rock in several new districts. The output for 1897 promised to exceed any previous yield for twenty years. The revenue of Victoria for 1897 amounted to £6,600,000, an increase of £170,000. The increase in railways was £200,000, and in customs £25,000. The question of meat exports

has occupied the attention of the public authorities as well as the producers in several colonies. The exporters of Victoria, in a conference with Mr. Taverner, the Minister of Agriculture, agreed that the state should supervise and control all meat exports in order to insure their perfect condition. A bill was passed providing for Government inspection, grading, and branding of butter, meat, rabbits, poultry, and fruit exported from the colony. This was the result of an agreement with the other Australian governments, which promised similar legislation on exported produce from all the colonies. A trial shipment of Victorian tobacco was considered by the Government expert to be equal to the American leaf. The Parliament opened in the middle of June, and closed at the end of August to enable the delegates to attend the second federal convention. The principal business besides the budget estimates was the consideration of the federal bill made necessary in all the colonies by the dissolution of the Adelaide convention. One of the new labor laws of Victoria forbids working before seven in the morning or after five in the evening. The new factories act authorizes joint boards of employers and employed to fix a minimum wage for each trade. The Labor party has pressed for a State bank, reform of the Council, taxation of unimproved land, and a referendum. By his new programme, presented to Parliament in September, Sir George Turner appealed to the moderate politicians, breaking away from the Labor leaders with whom he has been in alliance.

Queensland.-The Legislative Council consists of 39 members, appointed for life, and the Legisla tive Assembly of 72 members, elected by universal adult male suffrage. There were 86,878 registered electors at the end of 1895. The Governor of Queensland is Lord Lamington, appointed in 1895. The Cabinet in the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Chief Secretary, and Treasurer, Sir Hugh Muir Nelson; Minister for Lands, J. F. G. Foxton; Postmaster-General and Secretary for Agriculture, A. J. Thynne; Secretary for Mines and for Railways, Robert Philp; Secretary for Public Instruction and for Public Works, D. H. Dalrymple; Home Secretary, H. Tozer; AttorneyGeneral, T. J. Byrne; Ministers without portfolios, W. H. Wilson, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, and A. H. Barlow.

Queensland alone of the Australian colonies suffered a decline in its revenue in 1897, the total receipts being £3,613,200, or £28,400 less than in 1896. The industrial conditions, however, were not altogether unfavorable, though the pastoralists sustained losses due to the tick plague and agriculture suffered from drought. The sugar industry, according to the report of the Land Commission, was holding its own notwithstanding adverse conditions, and counted an export for the year of upward of 70,000 tons. The coffee and tobacco industries promised well, and there was a hopeful tendency in the mining interest as well as in agriculture. The output of gold was estimated for the year at £2,500,000. The legislative session began in the latter half of June. Owing to the absence of the Premier in England nothing of importance was transacted. A moderate and economical policy in extending the main railroad lines was proposed. The Premier conferred with the other colonial premiers in London with a view to providing against Asiatic immigration and concerning the adminis tration of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. A committee appointed to study the question of a Pacific cable unanimously affirmed the practicability of the scheme. Experienced colonists have been sent by the Government to England, the Con

tinent of Europe, and America to lecture on the advantages of emigration to Queensland. Sir Hugh M. Nelson, the Premier, is desirous of amending the stringent mining laws by accepting the expenditure of money on machinery as a test of the good faith of the lessee in lien of requiring the employment of a man on every acre, also by abolishing the dividend tax and by allowing a company to have only one shaft for two or more adjacent claims.

South Australia.-The Legislative Council contains 24 members, elected for nine years by property holders. One third of them retire every three years, and each of the 4 electoral districts elects 2 new members to succeed them. In 1894 the franchise was extended to women. The House of Assembly consists of 54 members, elected for three years by manhood suffrage, 2 for each assembly district. The number of registered voters in 1895 was 137,778. The Governor is Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, appointed in April, 1895. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier and Attorney-General, C. C. Kingston; Chief Secretary, J. V. O'Loghlin; Treasurer, F. W. Holder: Commissioner of Lands, L. O'Loughlin; Commissioner of Works, J. G. Jenkins; Minister of Education and Agriculture, J. A. Cockburn.

The position of Mr. Kingston's Government was somewhat weakened by the results of the elections in June to the Legislative Council, which gave a majority to the Opposition in that house. The Opposition in the lower house underwent also a reorganization under its new leader, Sir John Downer. These facts and the absence of the Premier deterred the Government from making any startling proposals when the session opened in June. The Railway Commissioners had an ambitious scheme to offer of important bearing on the development of the internal trade and communications of the Australian continent and of the export trade as well. This is a project for the construction of a connecting line of railway 1,000 miles long between South and West Australia, which would complete the railway circuit from Perth to Brisbane and bring Western Australia into easy communication with the other colonies. Mr. Holder, the acting Premier, laid the project before Mr. Wittenoom, who was filling that capacity in West Australia, and inquired if West Australia was prepared to undertake the construction of the part of the line crossing its territory. This the authorities of the vigorous young western colony would not promise, and hence this project, the cost of which is too great to be fairly borne by the two colonies alone, remains to be achieved by the future federated Australia. The proposed line, which will shorten mail communications between Australian cities and the outer world by two full days, will some day be as important for strategic as for commercial considerations. The revenue of New South Wales for 1896-'97 showed an increase of £44,000 over the previous year, and reached a total of £2.600,000. The increase in customs revenue was £23,000.

Western Australia.-The Legislative Council contains 21 members, 3 for each electoral district, elected for six years by holders of a certain amount of real property. The Legislative Assembly consists of 45 members, elected in separate districts for four years under a property qualification also, about half as high as the other. The Governor is Sir Gerard Smith. The Cabinet was as follows at the beginning of 1897: Premier, Treasurer, and Colonial Secretary, Sir John Forrest; Attorney-General, Septimus Burt; Commissioner of Lands, A. R. Richardson; Commissioner for Railways and Director of Public Works, F. H. Piesse; Minister for Mines and Education, E. H. Wittenoom.

The revenue of Western Australia reached the

astonishing figure of £2,842,751 for 1897, which was £984,057 more than the receipts for 1896. The yield of gold for 1896 amounted to 281,265 ounces, valued at £1,068.805, an increase of 49,753 ounces, as compared with the previous year. The yield for 1897 was expected to exceed £2,000,000 in value. The auriferous land extends from Dundas in the south to Kimberley in the northeast, covering a tract of 1,000 miles, in which 17 productive gold fields have already been discovered. The early boom was succeeded by a depression, from which the colony is emerging, as is shown by the increase in the railroad revenue and in land settlements. The Government has built railroads far into the interior, and in various other ways aided the goldmining industry, including the erection of smelting works at Freemantle. The duties on mining machinery have been abolished. Many of the mines are now equipped with an expensive plant. The difficulty arising from scarcity of water in the gold fields is now met in a great measure by condensing water. The colony has very liberal land laws, offering to every settler the fee of 160 acres without payment, and even lending money for the development of the land. European investors who have expended immense sums in the gold mines of Western Australia complain of the mining laws of the colony. Certain onerous conditions regulating the employment of labor have already been modified to meet their views. As a further concession, they desire a law enabling them to amalgamate claims in the same district, at any rate, when these claims adjoin each other, so that they may be deemed a single holding for the fulfillment of labor conditions; also that the conditions effecting the forfeiture of a lease should be changed so as to favor the holder and secure a permanent title to persons who have expended large sums of money on mines. The present conditions as to labor permit two men to hold a claim of 24 acres, or any other area, for the first twelve months, after which one man must be working on every 6 acres. Sir John Forrest, when in England, promised that the Government would endeavor to meet the views of investors as to security of title for property on which British capital had been expended, and on other points, but a request for the abolition of duties on articles of food he was unwilling to comply with, because the colony not only wants to obtain ample revenues but also to build up a farming community that will produce all the food required by the people living in Western Australia. The Government intends to give assistance and encouragement to the pastoral industry, and is prepared to introduce a new land bill for this purpose. The mines of Western Australia, since the collapse of the share market, are being worked in a legitimate and businesslike manner. Trained mining engineers have gone into the fields to succeed ignorant and venal charlatans. The genuine properties are being opened up and developed under the supervision of competent managers, and are being equipped with the latest mining appliances. The labor conditions are at present extremely onerous for both the prospector and the capitalist, requiring an expenditure of £30 or £40 per annum on every acre of mineral ground, including the rental of £1 per acre. Wages vary from £3 108. to £4 a week. The result has been that since the demand for prospecting exhibits ceased hundreds of leases have been abandoned, and no attempts are made to bring to light the properties, perhaps as rich as any yet discovered, that now lie hidden in the sandy desert of scrub. Capitalists are deterred from making new investments in Western Australian mines by the danger that they incur of having their property jumped and forfeited after they have spent large sums of money in purchasing

claims and in development work and machinery, simply because, perhaps through an oversight, they have failed to employ the full complement of men on the lease that the law requires.

The result of the elections in Western Australia was the return of Sir John Forrest to a third lease of power, with a mandate to continue the work of development that he has conducted with success since the grant of responsible government to the colony in 1890. Since then the population of the colony has grown from less than 50,000 to 140,000, and the revenue, then under £500,000, has increased over fivefold. During the year ending March 31, 1897, no fewer than 35,000 persons went as emigrants into Western Australia. Trade has increased in the same proportion as the revenue, and the gold output in a larger ratio, the total yield since the first discovery in 1886 being £4,000,000. The railroads have been extended in six years from a total length of 400 miles to more than 1,400 miles, and telegraphs from 3,500 miles to 8,000 miles. The number of persons employed in the public services has fully doubled since 1894. The legislative machinery of the colony has itself been enlarged to meet the expanding needs of the population, the number of members in both houses having been increased, and an elective upper house substituted for a nominated Legislative Council. The franchise has also been remodeled and expanded to meet the wants of an inflowing adult population. Now the right to vote and to be elected as a member of Parliament is possessed by every man of full age who has lived twelve months in the colony and six months in his district. The property qualifications attaching to membership in the upper house have also been abolished, so that no colony in Australia has so extended a franchise save South Australia, where women are allowed to vote. The bold policy of public works that has distinguished the administration of Sir John Forrest has had the approval of the colonists. Just before the last general election he applied for authority to borrow to the extent of £6,000,000, and the proposal was passed without a division in both houses. During the last year he has been able to spend £1,000,000 out of the revenue upon public works, and he holds out the prospect of having for some time to come a sufficient surplus revenue to construct all necessary public buildings and local public works throughout the colony. He stated before the election that he has no further intention of increasing the loan liability of the colony, believing that the amount already authorized will suffice for several years, unless there is an unexpected influx of population. There was a board created for the protection of the aborigines under the act conferring responsible government. The Government of Western Australia proposed to transfer this duty to one of the departments, but objections were raised in England, where the system of indenturing natives was condemned as a species of slavery, and stories of inhuman treatment were circulated. The Colonial Office in London finally sanctioned the creation of a special Government department to look after the interests of the natives and to superintend the distribution of funds provided for their relief.

Tasmania.-The Parliament of Tasmania consists of an elective Legislative Council, for which the larger property holders and professional men vote, with 18 members elected for six years, and a Legislative Assembly of 37 members, voted for by all owners or occupiers of real property or possess ors of an income of £60 and serving three years. The Governor is Viscount Gormanston, appointed in August, 1893. The Cabinet in the beginning of 1897 was composed of the following members: Premier, Sir E. N. C. Braddon; Chief Secretary,

W. Moore; Treasurer, Sir P. O. Fysh; AttorneyGeneral, A. I. Clark; Minister of Lands and Works, A. T. Pillinger; minister without portfolio, Thomas Reibey.

In Tasmania the revenue returns were so favorable that the Government felt justified in making a reduction of income and other taxes. Attention has lately been directed with satisfactory results to mineral development in this colony. The Government has introduced a crédit foncier system. New Zealand.—The legislative power is vested by the act of 1875 in a General Assembly, consisting of a Legislative Council of 44 members and a House of Representatives, whose number was reduced in 1887 to 74, including 4 Maoris. The Representatives are elected for three years, every adult man or woman having a vote who has resided a year in the colony and three months in the electoral district or possesses freehold property worth £25. Members of the Legislative Council who were appointed prior to Sept. 17, 1891, hold their seats for life; others are appointed for seven years. There were 302,997 registered white voters in 1893, of whom 193,536 were men and 109,461 women. In the Maori community 11,269 were registered. Of the whole population 454 per cent. were qualified voters. The Governor at the beginning of 1897 was the Earl of Glasgow, appointed in June, 1892. He was succeeded by the Earl of Ranfurly. The ministry at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Colonial Treasurer, Postmaster-General, and Electric Telegraph Commissioner, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, and Minister of Labor, R. J. Seddon; Acting Colonial Secretary and Commissioner of Stamp Duties, J. Carroll; Minister of Justice, Industries and Commerce, and Defense, T. Thompson; Ministers of Lands, Minister of Agriculture, and Commissioner of Forests. J. Mackenzie; Minister of Public Works and Minister of Marine, W. Hall-Jones; Minister of Railways and Mines, A. J. Cadman; Minister of Education and Immigration and Minister in Charge of Hospitals and Charitable Aid, W. C. Walker.

New Zealand continues to advance in wealth and prosperity. The revenue for 1897 was £78,000 more than in the preceding year. This colony has in the past few years enacted some of the most original and advanced laws in the world in regard to land, labor, and taxation, legislation that has been denounced as democratic and semisocialistic, but which has been, on the whole, successful in operation and met with the popular approval of the colony. By the new land laws hundreds of worthy industrious men have been made into honest, sturdy farmers for one who through inexperience or indolence has met with failure. Immense estates have been broken up, and every man in the colony has been afforded an opportunity of obtaining a piece of land on which to build himself a home. The labor legislation has been less entirely successful, and some of it is regarded by many of the well-to-do colonists as vexatious. Against their opinion may be placed the fact of increased prosperity in every branch of trade. Prices are good, the interest rate has fallen to 4 or 5 per cent.. and the waste lands of the colony are being rapidly taken up. With the introduction of one man one vote and the extension of the franchise to women, the power of corporate wealth in New Zealand seems to have been irrevocably destroyed. The United States consul at Auckland, in reporting on these conditions, says that the more reasonable members of the labor associations are now disposed to let well alone for the present, and considers that the leveling process, which began about seven years ago, has reached a point where prudence, good taste, and a due regard for