ship owners and a remonstrance from the Indian Government when applied to lascar sailors on mail-steamers. The emigration restriction act, which became law in the beginning of 1901, is so worded that it can be used to exclude any immigrants, white as well as colored, British born as well as alien. No person shall be allowed to land in Australia who, when asked to do so by an officer-one specially appointed or any customs officer-fails to write out at dictation and sign a passage of 50 words in a European language dictated by the officer. The only exceptions are Australians returning from abroad, ambassadors, soldiers, and seamen in the British service, and crews of trading vessels during their stay in port. Any person found at large contrary to the provisions of the act may be fined £50 or imprisoned for six months. The act was enforced only against Hindus, Japanese, and other colored immigrants.

The principal subject of discussion in Parliament during the early months of 1902 was the tariff, which was intended by the Government to provide revenue in the first place, but to have a decided protectionist incidence. The free-traders in the House of Representatives were strong enough to abate the protective features, and the result was in most cases a compromise between the proposals of the Government and those of the Opposition. Thus the duty on Oregon timber used in mines was lowered from 18. to 6d. per 1.000 feet, and that on boots and shoes was reduced one-half to 30 per cent. ad valorem. New Zealand timber was placed on the free list. An import duty of 148. a gallon was placed on spirits alongside of excise duties of 118. on domestic brandy and 12s. 6d. on domestic whisky and rum. Wines above 40 per cent. of alcoholic strength pay the same duty as imported spirits. Instead of 20 per cent. an import tax of 12 per cent. was imposed on machinery. Imported cottons and linens were taxed only 5 per cent. of their value. Kerosene was made free, and the tea duties collected hitherto by the colonial governments were abolished, entailing heavy losses of revenue to some of the states. The protected manufacturers of Canada complained of the effects of Australian protection, and so did English manufacturers, but the Government made no attempt to discriminate in favor of parts of the empire, lest it should come into conflict with other nations. The Canadian provision was adopted for suspending duties in cases where they lead to the formation of trusts or combinations. After much discussion as to the policy and constitutionality of the measure it was decided that imports by the governments of the states should be dutiable. The Senate made amendments in over 100 duties, reducing the rates in all cases. The House of Representatives accepted half the amendments, the less important ones, and sent the bill back to the Senate, which abandoned some of its proposals, but repeated its request as to the others. This raised a constitutional question. The Federal Constitution empowers the Senate to ask the House of Representatives to make amendments in bills dealing with taxation. To press its requests after they had been considered was regarded by some as an assumption of coordinate powers with the House over money bills. The House of Representatives therefore, in agreeing to receive a second message from the Senate, made the reservation that it should be without prejudice as to its constitutional powIn regard to the remaining items some minor concessions were made, and the tariff bill was finally passed by the Senate on Sept. 9.

ers.

An electoral bill was passed providing for woman suffrage. Proportional representation was rejected by the Senate. All colored aliens were disqualified.

The bill to establish a Federal High Court, consisting of the Chief Justice and four other judges, was not passed. The Senators examined various sites for the future Federal capital, but deferred the final selection in view of the immense cost of land and buildings involved. It was decided that in the mean time Parliament should sit alternately in Sydney and Melbourne. Lord Hopetoun requested an additional allowance to provide for the extra cost of keeping up residences in both capitals. Parliament voted £10,000 to recoup him for his expenses in entertaining the Duke of York, but rejected the Government bill to grant a supplementary allowance of £8,000 a year in addition to the annual salary of £10,000 pending the selection of a permanent capital. The postponement of this selection was considered a breach of the Constitution by the ministers, who intended to make the question the first business of the next session. Ínasmuch as the salary of the Governor-General is fixed in the Constitution and can not be increased. during the continuance in office of a GovernorGeneral, such an allowance appeared to be unconstitutional. Besides, it is the present policy of the Australian governments to reduce expenses. The salaries of the state governors have been cut down, and the members of the state parliaments are to be reduced in number, especially in the legislative councils. Lord Hopetoun, who as Governor-General and when he was Governor of Victoria has spent more than his salary, sent in his resignation to the Colonial Secretary when Parliament declined to increase his pay, and it was accepted. Before he entered upon the Governor-Generalship the agent-general for New South Wales led him to expect that an extra allowance would be voted to enable him to reside in Sydney when Parliament was not sitting. Statesmen of some of the other colonies were in favor of such a dual residence, and the New South Wales Parliament passed a resolution that he should have an allowance of £10,000 in addition to his salary for the purpose. Hence Lord Hopetoun considered the action of the Commonwealth Parliament a breach of promises that had been held out and derogatory to the dignity of his office as representative of the sovereign. Before selecting his succcessor Mr. Chamberlain asked to have a provision made for the maintenance of Government houses in both Sydney and Melbourne, and Parliament agreed to allow the next Governor-General £5,500 per annum. Meanwhile Lord Tennyson was appointed acting Governor-General, and sworn in on July 17. After returning to England Lord Hopetoun was advanced in the peerage by having conferred upon him the title of Marquis of Linlithgow.

Subjects of legislation to be considered at the next session are a decimal coinage system based on the sovereign, a bill dealing with industrial disputes, and a banking law which would render unlikely a financial crisis such as that of 1893. Old-age pensions can not be dealt with by the Commonwealth Parliament at present. State property connected with the transferred services will be valued and the Commonwealth will become responsible to the individual states for a portion of the state indebtedness equivalent to the transferred property and interest at the rate of 34 per cent. For public works the Federal as well as the state legislators made appropria

tions exceeding the Government estimates, though some of the state premiers considered it the duty of the Government to provide employment in unfavorable times. A conference of state Premiers was held at Sydney in the middle of May. Mr. Barton went to England to take part in the conference of colonial ministers that was to be held in connection with the coronation. During his absence the Attorney-General acted as Premier of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Government prepared to take over the administration of British New Guinea. It is proposed that the northern territory of South Australia be transferred to the Federal Government, which shall complete the railroad from Adelaide to Port Darwin, selling land to pay the cost. New South Wales.-The Legislative Council had 69 members in 1901, who are appointed for life. There are 125 members in the Legislative Assembly, who are elected in as many districts by the votes of all male British subjects of full age who have resided one year in the state and three months in the district. The Governor at the beginning of 1902 was Vice-Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, appointed Jan. 29, 1901. The Cabinet of Ministers at the beginning of 1902 was composed as follows: Premier, Colonial Secretary, and Minister of Railways, John See; Colonial Treasurer, Thomas Waddell; Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Bernhard Ringrose Wise; Secretary for Lands, William Patrick Crick; Secretary for Public Works, Edward William Sullivan; Minister of Public Instruction and of Industry and Labor, John Perry; Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, John Kidd; Vice-President of the Executive Council, Francis Bathurst Sutton; without portfolios, James Hayes and Walter

Bennett.

The net revenue of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1900, was £9,970,677, of which taxation produced £2,618,066, land revenue £2,116,076, Government services £4,992,521, and miscellaneous sources £244,014. Of the revenue from taxation the import and excise duties made £1,736,374, and the stamp-duties, land and income taxes, and licenses, £881,692. The net expenditures were £9,888,977, of which £2,102,794 were for railways and tramways, £722,110 for posts and telegraphs, £2,310,271 for interest on the public debt, £27 for immigration, £769,576 for instruction, and £3,984,199 for other public works and services. The public debt, four-fifths of which was incurred to build railroads, tramways, telegraphs, sewerage, waterworks, and irrigation works, amounted on June 30, 1900, to £65,332,993, paying the average interest of 3.63 per cent., 2.93 per cent. being returned in the profits of the public works, which yielded 3.45 per cent. of their capital cost. Further loans amounting to £19,630,135 were authorized.

The State Assembly met on May 28. Social legislation had the first place in the ministerial program. A women's franchise bill was passed, and a bill for municipal reform. The question of reducing the Assembly to 94 members is to be submitted to a referendum. Parliament has instituted a compulsory arbitration court. The first sittings of the court were to be devoted to the establishment of a minimum rate of wages, the limitation of the hours of labor, and the regulation of child labor. The whole industrial system of the state has been brought under the act. Trade-unions, originally unlawful associations, inasmuch as they acted in restraint of trade, were legalized in New South Wales by the

act of 1881, which enables any 7 persons or more to form a trade-union and be registered as such, and confers on trade-unions the right to hold property and to sue, with liability to be sued. The industrial arbitration act of 1901 provides that any trade-union or association of tradeunions or any branch of a union shall be entitled to register as an industrial union of employees; and conversely that any person, association, or company employing on an average 50 employees per month is entitled to register as an industrial union of employers. Each industrial union on registration becomes a body corporate and has a common seal and perpetual succession. As soon as the act went into effect the trade-unions already in existence applied for registration with enthusiasm. The employers reluctantly and with hesitation also formed industrial unions-the pastoralists, the mine owners, merchants, manufacturers, and masters of the various trades. The provisions of the act placing the control of every business in the hands of a court made it a matter of necessity for employers to take steps to be represented in the court, which consists of a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Governor as president and 2 members appointed by the Governor from lists submitted respectively by a body of delegates from the trade-unions and a body of delegates from the industrial unions of employers. Organizing into unions is a voluntary act, yet if either employers or employed fail to nominate delegates the Governor may appoint on the tribunal such persons as he may see fit. When technical questions come before the court, the court may appoint 2 assessors representing employers and employed respectively. The court has power to hear and determine any industrial dispute or industrial matter or any application under the act brought before it by an industrial union. A person not a member of a union can come into court for the remedy of a grievance sustained through a decision of the tribunal, but an industrial dispute where one of the parties is not a member of an industrial union can only be referred to the court in the discretion of the registrar. Any person entitled to refer a dispute or to apply for an order of the court goes to the registrar, who summons all parties to attend. The court has full power to compel the attendance of witnesses, the production of books and papers, etc. The suspension of work by a strike or a lockout without reference of the dispute to the court entails a fine of £1,000 or two months' imprisonment. The dismissal of an employee for belonging to a union or because he is entitled to the benefit of an award subjects an employer to a penalty of £20. The court has power to prescribe a minimum rate of wages in any particular trade; to direct that unionists shall be employed in preference to non-unionists; to appoint a tribunal to determine whether an employer may employ nonunionists; to declare any regulation, custom, term of agreement, condition of employment, or dealing whatsoever in relation to an industrial matter to be a common rule of the industry affected and to direct in what way and to what extent such common rule shall be binding upon all persons engaged in that industry, whether they are before the court or not. Any union disobeying an order of the court is liable to a penalty of £500 and any individual to one of £5, and the court may specify the persons to whom such penalty shall be paid, and if the property of a union is insufficient to satisfy the award the individual members are liable up to £10. The power of the court includes all or any matters

relating to the wages, allowances, or remuneration of any persons employed or to be employed in any industry; to the hours of employment, sex, age, qualifications, or status of employees and the mode, terms, and conditions of employ ment; to the employment of children or young persons or of any person or persons or any class of persons in any industry or the dismissal of or refusal to employ any particular person or persons or class of persons; to any established custom or usage of any industry, either general or in any particular locality; to the interpretation of any industrial agreement. The court may regulate its own procedure in every respect. It may admit and call for such evidence as it thinks to be the best available, whether strictly legal evidence or not. Costs may be assessed on either party, though each party must pay the attorneys and agents whom it employs. The court may dismiss a proceeding where it thinks that the matter should and can be amicably set tled. It may bring before it as parties any persons it thinks proper. It may sit in any locality and may call in the aid of expert assessors and compel the presence and testimony of any witnesses it sees fit to call. The president of the court has extensive powers of settling all preliminary matters in order that a dispute may be disposed of the more speedily.

Victoria. The 48 members of the Victorian Legislative Council are elected for six years by freeholders, occupants of property rated at £25 a year, and members of the learned professions. The Legislative Assembly has 95 members elected for three years by universal male suffrage. The number of electors for the Council in 1901 was 130,672; for the Legislative Assembly, 276, 314. The Governor is Sir George Sydenham Clarke. The ministry constituted in September, 1901, was composed as follows: Premier, Treasurer, and Minister of Labor, A. J. Peacock; Chief Secretary and Minister of Railways, W. A. Trenwith; Attorney-General, Sir Samuel Gillott; Minister of Agriculture, J. Morrissey; Minister of Public Instruction, W. Gurr; Minister of Lands, D. J. Duggan; Minister of Public Works and Health, W. M. McCulloch; Solicitor-General, A. Wynne; Minister of Mines and Water-Supply, J. B. Burton; without portfolios, R. McGregor and E. J. Crooke.

The public revenue in the year ending June 30, 1900, amounted to £7,460,855, of which £2,984,592 came from taxation, £3,008,521 from railroads, £586,061 from posts and telegraphs, £388.255 from Crown lands, and £493,426 from other sources. Of the tax revenue £1.972,216 were derived from customs, £329,377 from excise, £108,222 from the land tax, £126,478 from duties on estates of deceased persons, £18,660 from a duty on bank-notes, £170,600 from the stamp-duty. £43.968 from tonnage dues, and £215.071 from the income tax. The Government expenditure was £7,293,136, of which £1,852,088 was for the public debt, £1,801,954 for railroads, £259,869 for other public works, £521,918 for posts and telegraphs, £655,579 for public instruction. £320,118 for pensions, £299.610 for charitable institutions, £312,759 for police and prisons, £201,611 for defense, £95,032 for customs and harbors, £68.879 for Crown lands, £198.850 for mining and agriculture. £171,838 for law courts, £231,189 for general Government expenses, and £301,842 for other purposes.

The funded debt on June 30, 1900, amounted to £48.380,859, of which £36,740,813 were borTowed to build railroads, £8.342.895 for waterworks, £778,775 for state school-buildings, and VOL. XLII.-4 A

£2,518,376 for various public works. The average interest on the debt is 3.83 per cent. The local debts in Victoria amount to £10,659,300. The local revenues amount to £1,573,626, and expenditures to £1,602,377.

The ministers offered their resignations collectively in November, 1901. No immediate action was undertaken, and when the letter was at last presented they proposed to withdraw their resignations on the ground that circumstances had altered. They were therefore retained in office. A popular agitation impelled the ministry to go further than was intended in framing a measure for reducing expenditure on Parliament. The Labor party alone in Victoria, as in New South Wales, opposed the reduction of the number of representatives or the curtailment of their salaries, on the ground that it would weaken the representation of the working classes. The Government brought in a bill reducing the number of members in the Assembly and the Council, and limiting the ministers to 6. The qualification of voters for the Legislative Council was altered to simple registration as a ratepayer. Adult suffrage for both sexes was proposed, and provision was made for a dissolution of both houses after a joint 'session has failed to settle a deadlock. To meet a deficit of £229,000 in the year's accounts a loan of £250,000 at 3 per cent. was raised locally at the issue price of 94. After the assemblage of the state Parliament on May 27 the ministers handed in their resignations. Mr. Irvine, who led the victorious Opposition, formed a new Cabinet on June 8 as follows: Premier and Attorney-General, Mr. Irvine; Treasurer, Mr. Shiels; Solicitor-General, Mr. Davies; Minister of Railroads, Mr. Bent; Minister of Education and Health, Mr. Reid;_Minister of Public Works and Agriculture, Mr. Taverner; President of the Board of Lands, Mr. McKenzie; Minister of Mines, Mr. Cameron; Chief Secretary and Minister of Labor, Mr. Murray; without portfolios, Messrs. McLeod, Kirton, Pitt, and Sachse. The new Cabinet proposed to reduce the number of members in the Assembly from 95 to 56 and in the Council from 48 to 28 and the number of ministers to 7. Provision was made for the settlement of deadlocks similar to that in the Federal Constitution. These proposals were satisfactory to Parliament, but when, in view of a probable deficit of £650,000, the ministers proposed a reduction of salaries in the public service they encountered a fierce opposition. The railroad men threatened to strike if Parliament approved the retrenchment scheme. On Sept. 9 the Cabinet was defeated in the Assembly by 44 votes to 33 on the proposal to reduce salaries. The ministers appealed to the country. The dissolution caused the factories act and the decisions of wages boards fixing the wages in many trades to lapse, thereby incensing the trade-unionists. The Government wished to prolong the operation of the temporary act for another year, but the Legislative Council insisted on discussing the whole subject. A commission was appointed to consider legislation of a permanent character. Meanwhile wages boards were empowered to fix minimum wages in the various trades. Employers who paid less were liable to a penalty. Nevertheless, they often evaded the act by various subterfuges.

Queensland. The Legislative Council has 42 members, nominated for life. The Legislative Assembly consists of 72 members elected by the ballots of all males of full age who have at least resided six months in Queensland. Property owners and lessees of pastoral lands can vote

in every district in which they have lands. There were 97,739 electors on the registers in 1901. The Governor is Major-Gen. Sir Herbert Charles Chermside, appointed in 1902. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1902 consisted of the following members: Prime Minister, Secretary for Mines, Chief Secretary, and Vice-President of the Executive Council, Robert Philp; AttorneyGeneral, A. Rutledge; Secretary for Agriculture, D. H. Dalrymple; Home Secretary, J. F. C. Foxton; Secretary for Public Instruction, John Murray; Secretary for Public Lands, W. B. O'Connell; Secretary for Railways and Secretary for Public Works, John Leahy; Treasurer, Robert Cribb; without portfolio, George Wilkie Gray. The revenue of the Government during the year ending June 30, 1901, was £4,327,345; expenditures, £4,855,533. Of the revenue £1,363,844 were derived from customs duties on imports, £201,160 from stamp-duties, £141,108 from excise and export duties, £66,814 from a duty on dividends, £52,525 from licenses, £321,927 from rent of pastoral lands, £263,303 from other rents and sales of land, £1,246,764 from railroads, £310,355 from posts and telegraphs. Of the expenditures £1,415,180 were for interest on the public debt, £310,511 for public instruction, £1,056,132 for operating railroads, £376,191 for post and telegraphs, £116,312 for public land administration, £53,141 for the Department of Agriculture, £194,894 for the Colonial Treasurer's Department, £88,792 for endowments to municipalities and divisions. The expenditure from loans during the year was £1,212,020, for railroads, rivers and harbors, telegraphs, water-supply, defense, etc. The revenue for 1902 was estimated at £3,908,500, exclusive of £325,734 retained by the Commonwealth, and expenditure at £3,887,899. The public debt on Jan. 1, 1901, amounted to £35,898,414.

The Queensland Government announced the intention of reducing the number of ministers and of members of the Legislature. An act enabling the Government to repurchase estates suitable for dairying for the purpose of cutting them up into small holdings for close settlement supplements a previous measure dealing with agricultural lands. Another act enables the state to grant special homestead areas adjoining each other to groups of settlers. According to another bill, pastoral holdings are to be reclassified in connection with an extension of the leases. Provision is made in Queensland, as in other states, for advances to be made to farmers, the loans to be expended only on improvements under official supervision. When the Kanaka exclusion bill was passed by the Commonwealth Parliament Premier Philp, in the interest of the sugar-planters, made an appeal that it should be reserved for the approval of the Imperial Government, but the Governor-General, on the advice of the Commonwealth ministry, signed it nevertheless. The planters of Queensland in their effort to defeat the purpose of the Labor party to exclude alien races so angered their opponents that they nearly lost the protective duty on sugar that was given in compensation for the cessation of Kanaka labor. The Commonwealth Parliament decided that no white laborers can be employed in the tropical lands if colored laborers are employed on the same plantations. The general election in Queensland took place in March. The Government party elected 38 members and the Opposition 30, of whom 24 are representatives of the Labor party. The sugarplanters are determined not to employ white labor so long as they can retain their blacks.

In five years the federal law requires Queensland to deport all Polynesians to the places from which they originally came. The state Government decided that when conditions on shore render it unsafe for islanders to land at their old homes they shall be brought back to Queensland, although from the beginning of 1902 the Federal Government ceased to issue licenses authorizing the employment of additional Kanakas. Farmers who employ white labor in growing sugar are entitled to a bonus of £2 a ton from the Federal Government. The planters have received the protective duty of £3 a ton, the promise of which made them eager to enter the fedration, yet they are willing to see the union dissolved if they can not obtain the repeal of the exclusion act, which the Labor party of southern Queensland was most influential in carrying through with the support of labor politicians of other colonies, but against the wishes of the Queensland Government. The state Government is involved in the financial success of the sugar industry, having advanced £500,000 under the sugar-works guarantee act of 1893 to farmers for the erection of mills, most of which are in arrears and have been kept going by further subsidies. Other undertakings for which the great debt of Queensland was incurred have proved unremunerative, so much so that £1,000,000 of the £1,500,000 interest due on such debts had to be made good in 1901 out of the general revenue. With the protective duty and the bounty the prospect of raising sugar-cane with white labor is promising, but the high prices at which unoecupied land suitable for sugar is held by the owners deters small farmers from entering the field. The smaller industry of pearl-shell fishing can probably be carried on by white fishermen, as it was once. Neither the officials nor the people consider it a benefit to Queensland now, because the capitalists engaged in it are absentees and the Japanese divers take their wages back with them to their own country.

South Australia. The Legislative Council consists of 24 members, one-third of whom are replaced every three years by the votes of freeholders, leaseholders, and householders occupying premises rated at £25 a year. The House of Assembly contains 54 members, which number will be reduced to 41. They are elected by universal suffrage. The franchise was extended to women in 1894. The number of registered voters in 1900 was 153,268. The Governor is Lord Tennyson, appointed in 1899. The ministry in office at the opening of 1902 was composed as follows: Premier and Chief Secretary, J. G. Jenkins; Attorney-General, J. H. Gordon; Treasurer, R. Butler; Commissioner of Crown Lands, L. O'Loughlin; Commissioner of Public Works, R. W. Foster; Minister of Education and Industry, T. H. Brooker.

The state revenue for the year ending June 30, 1901, was £2.824.212, and the expenditure £2,846,577. For 1902 the revenue was estimated at £2.585,758, of which customs produce £612.000; estimated expenditure. £2,562,701. Besides customs, railroad receipts, internal revenue, posts and telegraphs, and lands furnish the main part of the public receipts, and the chief items of expenditure are interest on the debt and the operating expenses of railroads and other serv ices, only 10 per cent. being devoted to administration, courts, police, and defense. The public debt on June 30, 1901, amounted to £26,131,780, more than half of which was borrowed to build railroads, telegraphs, and water-works. The railroads yield a net profit of 33 per cent.

Under the new Constitution of South Australia the members of the Legislature were reduced nearly one-third. The general election, which occurred in May, showed no change in the relative strength of parties except a slight loss in the Labor party. The Cabinet, reduced to 4 members by the change in the Constitution, was reconstituted at the end of March as follows: Premier and Chief Secretary, J. G. Jenkins; Attorney-General and Minister of Education, J. H. Gordon; Treasurer and Minister of Lands and Agriculture, R. Butler; Commissioner of Public Works, R. W. Foster. The revenue of South Australia was affected more severely than that of the other colonies by the causes that operated unfavorably in all, the drought and the fall in the prices of metals. The wheat yield was small and railroad receipts declined. The budget showed a deficit of £239,000, which had to be met by the issue of treasury bills. In order to balance the budget for the coming year the Government proposed additional taxation of incomes and new stamp-duties in conjunction with economies in railroad administration and the public service.

Western Australia. The Legislative Council has 30 members, elected for six years by freeholders possessing property of the value of £100, householders occupying premises worth £25 a year, ratepayers assessed for £25 a year, or holders of leased land or licenses on which they pay the Government £10 a year. The Legislative Assembly contains 50 members, elected by persons of either sex who are twenty-one years of age and residents or owners of property or leaseholders in the district. The Governor is Sir Arthur Lawley. The ministry in office at the beginning of 1902 was composed as follows: Premier and Attorney-General, G. Leake; Colonial Treasurer and Colonial Secretary, F. Illingworth; Minister for Works, Cornthwaite H. Rason; Minister for Lands, Adam Jameson; Commissioner of Railways, W. Kingsmill; Minister of Mines, H. Gregory.

The revenue for 1900 was £3,010,005, and the expenditure £2,898,654. Of the revenue customs produced £987,185. The remainder comes mainly from railroads, the post-office, mining licenses, and leases of public lands. The debt on June 30, 1901, amounted to £12,709,430, requiring the payment of £486,800 for interest and £429,227 for the sinking-fund. The general election took place in January after the assumption of the premiership by Mr. Leake, whose electoral promises included the reduction of the number of members in both houses of the Legislature, electoral reform, a board of management for the goldfields, a water scheme, the establishment of a harbor trust, a factories act, and new railroad construction. After the death of Mr. Leake a new ministry was formed on June 30 as follows: Premier and Attorney-General, Mr. James; Commissioner of Railways, Mr. Kingsmill; Minister of Mines, Mr. Gregory; Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. Jameson; Director of Public Works, Mr. Rason; Colonial Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. Gardener. Western Australia was exempt from the drought which affected the other states. The gold product for 1902 increased notably. The state revenue in 1902 was £3,688,048. Immigration increases, and agriculture, as well as mining. advances steadily. The water-works to supply Coolgardie were completed before the end of

1902.

Tasmania.-The Legislative Council numbers 19 members, elected for six years by possessors of freehold or leasehold property worth £10 or £30

a year respectively and by professional practitioners and holders of academic diplomas. The House of Assembly consists of 38 members, elected for three years by British subjects resident in the state for twelve months. There were 9,430 electors for the Council in 1901 and 41,286 electors for the House of Assembly. The Governor is Sir A. E. Havelock. The Cabinet consisted in the beginning of 1902 of the following members: Premier and Attorney-General, Sir N. E. Lewis; Chief Secretary, G. T. Collins; Treasurer, B. S. Bird; Minister of Lands and Works, E. Mulcahy.

The revenue for 1900 was £1,054,980, and expenditure £923,731. Of the revenue £466,218 came from customs. The revenue for 1901, including the sum retained by the Federal Government, was estimated at £865,071, and expenditure at £855,000. The public debt on Jan. 1, 1901, amounted to £8,511,005, of which £3,527,632 pays 3 per cent. and the rest 4 per cent., the whole having been raised to construct railroads and other public works.

The transfer of the customs to the Commonwealth reduced the revenue of Tasmania, while it cheapened many commodities for the people. New taxes on incomes and inheritances, a graduated land tax on estates worth over £10,000, and additional stamp-duties were not sufficient to equalize revenue and expenditure, in spite of drastic economies. The Government proposed not only to reduce the number of members in the Legislature, but to amalgamate the two chambers, 10 members to be elected on the Council franchise and 20 on the Assembly franchise. British New Guinea.-The governments of Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales, which jointly guarantee the cost of administering British New Guinea within the limit of £15,000 a year, have had a voice in the affairs of this territory, which was proclaimed a British protectorate in 1887 at the solicitation of the Queensland Government. It embraces the southeastern end of the island of New Guinea, and has

an

area of 90,540 square miles, containing a native population of about 350,000. The Europeans number 1,000, including gold-diggers, pearlshellers, sandalwood collectors, storekeepers, officials, and missionaries. The Commonwealth Government has proposed to provide £20,000 per annum for the next five years toward the expense of administering the territory, and on this condition the Imperial Government is prepared to resign the control of the administration. The present head of the local administration, who has the title of Lieutenant-Governor, is George Ruthven Le Hunte. Congregationalist, Roman Catholic, Wesleyan, and Anglican missionaries in different sections have done something to instruct and elevate the natives. Coconut groves have been preserved and extended, and trade with Europeans is increasing. Still savagery and cannibalism render the island unsafe for whites. Tobacco and coffee have been planted by Europeans. It is unlawful to acquire land from natives or to supply them with liquor or firearms, but land can be purchased from the Crown for 2s. 6d. an acre. The revenue in 1900 was £13,831, and expenditure £19,315. Alluvial gold is mined with machinery. There are about 200 diggers in the fields. Articles of food, clothing, tobacco, and hardware are imported from Queensland and New South Wales. Trepang, copra, gold, pearls, pearl shells, and sandalwood are exported. The value of imports for the fiscal year 1900 was £72,286, and of exports £56.167. Pearl and trepang collecting are the principal