PAGE ART. 8.-SUBMARINES: DEFENSIVE AND OFFENSIVE - And other works. ART. 9.-THE POETRY OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1. The Works of William Morris. Twenty-four vols. London: Longmans, 1910-11. (In course of publication.) 2. The Defence of Guenevere (1858), The Life and Death of Jason (1867), The Earthly Paradise (1868–70), Grettir the Strong (1869), The Volsungs and Niblungs (1870), Love is Enough (1873), The Eneids (1876), Sigurd the Volsung (1877), The Odyssey (1887), Dream of John Ball (1888), House of the Wolfings (1889), News from Nowhere (1890), The Sundering Flood (1897), and other works by William Morris. And other works. ART. 10.-THE ENGLISH BIBLE 1. The Authorised Version of the English Bible, 1611. Edited by W. Aldis Wright. Five vols. Cambridge: University Press, 1909. 2. The Authorized Edition of the English Bible, 1611; its subsequent reprints and modern representatives. By F. H. A. Scrivener. Cambridge: University Press, 1910. And other works. ART. 11.-ENGLISH CHURCH LAW AND DIVORCE 1. Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum. London, 1571. 2. First Report of the Commissioners appointed by Her Majesty to enquire into the Law of Divorce and more particularly the mode of obtaining Divorces a vinculo Matrimonii. [1604.] London: Wyman, 1853. ART. 12. THE NATIONAL INSURANCE BILL 1. National Insurance Bill. London: Wyman, 1911. 1911. ART. 13.-THE RECENT STRIKES 1. Psychologie du Socialisme. By Gustave le Bon. Paris: Félix Alcan, 1898. - 462 - 482 - 505 2. Le Collectivisme. By P. Leroy-Beaulieu. Second (enlarged) edition. Paris: Alcan, 1909. English translation (abridged). By Sir Arthur Clay. London: Murray, 1908. And other works. - 531 552 573 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 429.-OCTOBER, 1911, Art. 1.-TEN YEARS OF THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH. 1. Australien in Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur. By Dr Robert Schachner. Jena: Fischer, 1909. 2. The Labour Movement in Australasia. By Victor S. Clark. London: Constable, 1907. 3. State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand. By W. P. Reeves. Two vols. London: Grant Richards, 1902. 4. Australia's Awakening. By W. G. Spence, M.H.R. Sydney: The Worker' Trustees, 1909. 5. Le Socialisme sans Doctrines. By Albert Métin. Paris: Alcan, 1901. 6. Australasia. By Arthur Jose. London: Dent, 1901. 7. The Official Year-book of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1901-1909. Melbourne, 1910. 8. Parliamentary Debates, Commonwealth of Australia, 1901-1910. Melbourne, 1902-11. THE career of the Australian Commonwealth, now ten years old, is unique in political history. Never before has the population of a continent, racially homogeneous, comparatively unfettered by traditions and vested interests, practically undisturbed by the rest of the world, been entrusted with the administration of its own affairs on a purely democratic basis-both Houses of Parliament elected at first by manhood, then by adult, suffrage, the double dissolution for deadlocks, and the ' referendum' for constitutional amendments. There were, of course, disturbing outside influences; the South African war, the Russo-Japanese war, and the critical condition which, we are led to believe, European politics have lately reached, have all modified the CommonVol. 215.-No. 429. X There wealth's history. are traditions and vested interests which still affect it. But the total effect of these influences-except as regards that of the South African war, which will be mentioned later-has been trivial and temporary when compared to that of the overmastering forces which originated from local sources and popular feeling. The master-motives of Australian Federation were three: to free inter-State trade, to organise an efficient defence system, and to create a single organ for expressing Australian sentiments on Imperial affairs. These motives swayed the leaders and dictated the text of their public appeals; but only one of them had much effect on the majority of the voters. The vote which carried Federation came from the country districts, Melbourne alone among the larger cities giving an affirmative vote. Now Melbourne, which under a strict protective policy had become the centre of Australian manufacture, wanted to extend its market area; while the country districts, especially those on the border between two States, longed to get rid of the oppressive border duties and the constant surveillance of the most insignificant border traffic. Thus inter-State free trade became the determining issue for the average voter; and he was satisfied for the time if Federation in its early stages gave him that. But the vote for Federation had only been made. possible by the consent of the existing State Parliaments; and they were by no means inclined to surrender one jot of their independence which could be retained. Consequently the Constitution which which was actually submitted to the popular vote had to be so shaped that these Parliaments would not be too hostile to it; it became, therefore, a compromise-not so much what its chief creators wanted as what its opponents would concede. Popular feeling demanded free trade between the States; and that was conceded. The unification of defence was conceded also; Imperial officers, both naval and military, had been urging it for years, and the parochialist majority in the State Houses was indifferent about the control of what most politicians at the time thought a fad. Everything of external interest, indeed, was in those days disregarded by nine out of every ten politicians. Republicanism and independence, enjoyed in isolation from the older countries,' was at the back of their minds; and more than one of the framers of the Constitution felt that he was laying the foundations of an Australian Republic. But the matters which really affected Australians in their daily life-the problems connected with land and industry- these the State Parliaments took care to retain under their own control. This retention was important because of the vital difference between the new Federal Parliament and those of the States. The first was, as has just been said, purely democratic; though for some years no one in Australia perceived exactly how democratic it was, or guessed the inevitable consequences. But the State Parliaments, all bicameral, embodied in their Upper Chambers some form of property representation. The elected Chambers (in Victoria, South and Western Australia, and Tasmania) represented voters with a definite property qualification; the nominees (in New South Wales and Queensland), having a life tenure of membership, naturally came to consist principally of men of property and of conservative temperament appointed before the rise of the Labour party.* Consequently the candidates elected by manhood or adult suffrage to the Federal Parliament found themselves almost powerless with regard to the very matters which most interested them; and the history of Federal legislation-apart from fiscal laws, which were obviously the first and most important work to be dealt with by that Parliament-is largely that of a series of endeavours to deal indirectly with commerce and industries, which, by the terms of the Constitution, were for the most part outside the Commonwealth's direct jurisdiction. Perhaps the shortest way to a clear understanding of the forces behind Federal politics is to summarise chronologically the important legislation and the party fluctuations of the four Commonwealth Parliaments. The first Parliament (1901-3) was elected on the tariff issue, although the Labour candidates, as usual, appealed It is for this reason that advanced Radicalism has in Australia gradually identified itself with the party of unification, while the reactionaries are all for State rights. to the electors on their own platform, which was discreetly silent on the fiscal question. The first Federal Ministry, led by Sir Edmund Barton, was an experimental Cabinet of the all Colonels' type, definitely Protectionist, but otherwise rather incoherent. The Labour party, though including 16 members only out of 75, had an influence beyond its numbers, since it held the balance of power; and its mark on the 1901-2 session was the passing of two important Acts, one of which fixed a date five years ahead for the repatriation of the Kanakas, while the other made provision against Asiatic immigration. The Tariff Act, moulded almost equally by the desire for Protection and the need for a revenue of at least 6,000,000Z., was the Parliament's chief achievement; while in its second session the Federal machinery was enlarged by the creation of the High Court, and the beginnings of a defence system were made by the Defence Act and the Act confirming the naval agreement of 1902. Labour, for its part, demanded a Federal system of conciliation and arbitration; and the Bill introduced to meet this wish broke up the Ministry. The second Parliament met under the leadership of Mr Deakin, who had been Sir E. Barton's right-hand man from the first, and had succeeded him as Prime Minister in September, 1903. Labour had gained considerably at the polls; and the measures most to its mind, the Arbitration and Navigation Bills, became naturally the first of the session. The Navigation Bill, however, was soon withdrawn in favour of a thorough enquiry by Royal Commission; and subsequent negotiations with the British Board of Trade have delayed its passage ever since. The Arbitration Bill became the destroyer of two Ministries in five months; and the third, which passed it, believed in it less than either of the others. Parties were divided as follows:-Deakinites* 23, Reidites 26, Labour 25; and these bodies at once began an intricate dance. For a month or so Mr Deakin had the support of Labour. Then an amendment to the Arbitration Bill was carried * These names are clumsy and inharmonious; but there is no choice. The tariff once settled, Labour was the only party with a settled policy, and the rest of the members either attached themselves to Mr Deakin (who also had a settled policy) or to Mr Reid, whose policy was opportunist opposition. Note that in all party figures the Speaker is omitted. |