J. GRATTAN GREY OAK ST. HDSF § l^tarnmg anb Jabor. ^ I LIBRARY I U OF THE W I Universityof Illinois. ^ CI.ASS. BOOK. VOLUME. s S'SB G,%t Accession No. h. ' AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW \ * AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW BY J. GRATTAN GREY AUTHOR OF “ HIS ISLAND HOME,” ETC. NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & CO. LONDON : HODDER AND STOUGHTON > \,'y% Dedication TO MY WIFE WHO HAS RENDERED MUCH VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN ITS PRODUCTION THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED .*^-1 OQ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/australasiaoldne00grey_0 PREFACE I N presenting this volume to the public, it is only necessary to explain briefly some of the reasons which have called it forth. In the first place, no time could be more opportune than the present for the pub- lication of a book of this kind. The first day of the century witnessed the birth of the Australian Common- wealth, and by the time my book appears the first Parliament of Federated Australia will have been opened in the presence of the Heir to the British Throne and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall. That event will be the second one of great importance which marks the new era in Australian history ; and, as my book brings the reader up to that point from earliest times, it will, I trust, prove a welcome and timely addition to the stock of literature which has already been devoted to that distant part of the world. Having spent a very large portion of my life in Australasia, and possessing that intimate knowledge of its people and affairs which long residence and travel under Austral skies give me, my undertaking a literary task of this kind will not, I hope, be considered pre- sumptuous, more especially when I tell my readers that during the whole period of my prolonged absence from PREFACE viii Great Britain I have been actively engaged in jour- nalism, and that from the very nature of my profession I have had exceptional opportunities of studying public men and events at the Antipodes. I mention this fact to show that I should at all events be qualified for my task — how far I have succeeded it will be for my. readers to decide. It has been my especial care to endeavour to present them with a clear narrative of Australasian affairs, in order that they may become familiar with a part of the world which is destined to attract greater attention than has yet been paid to it by the people of other countries, now that the Australian Continent and the adjacent Colony of Tasmania have attained the status of a nation. I wish I could also add that New Zealand was included in that great Commonwealth. One thing which prompted me to write this book was the ignorance — I may be pardoned for saying the illimitable ignorance — which prevails in Great Britain with regard to most matters colonial. It may be that hitherto the people of these islands have felt no interest in the Australasian Colonies, and therefore have not taken the trouble to master any details connected with them, not even as to their geographical position, size, distance from each other, population, and so on ; and there are many persons to be met with in my own experience who are quite in a fog as to whether Australia is part of New Zealand or the latter a portion of the former. It is a common occurrence to be asked about persons and places in Australia and New Zealand as if no greater distance separated them than St. Paufs from Westminster Abbey, and the Post-office authori- ties could supply countless examples of the prevailing want of knowledge on the part of some people who PREFACE IX address their letters Australia, New Zealand,” or vice- versa. I trust my book will have the effect of arousing a greater interest in the Australasian Colonies, and that its perusal will help to dispel the hazy notions about them which appear to exist in the minds of a great number of the general public on this side of the globe. Unfortunately, too much of the literature which has been published about Australasia has been of an ephemeral sort. A considerable portion of it, too, has been written either by interested politicians or by those coming under the designation of “globe-trotters.” I belong to neither class. I have never been in politics, and have no political interests to advance or party to subserve or placate in what I write. Neither have I been a mere bird of passage, visiting Australia, Tas- mania, and New Zealand for a few weeks, picking up scraps of information from unreliable and interested sources, and then returning to England or America and writing a book which can only excite the ridicule of those who have a personal knowledge of the sub- jects it pretends to deal with. It is like a man who has never been to Japan spending a couple of months in the British Museum, and then issuing a work on that country, only for Sir Edwin Arnold and Pierre Loti to laugh at. My readers will perceive that, with regard to the future of the Australian Commonwealth, I hold views that are certain to be unpopular amongst those who indulge in dreams of Imperial Federation or a con- federacy of all the English-speaking nations of the earth. Neither of these ideals, in my humble judgment, will ever come to anything ; and just as certain as I feel upon that point, so also am I convinced that long before X PREFACE this century draws to an end Australia will be an inde- pendent nation, politically and in all other respects. The grounds upon which I base this opinion will be ascertained by the reader in due course. I desire to acknowledge the courtesy of the Editors and Proprietors of The Bookman^ The Leisure HouVy and Sunday at Hoine in allowing me to transfer to this volume articles which I contributed to those periodicals upon subjects which are dealt with in Chapters XVII., XXIV., and XXIX. J. GRATTAN GREY. London, Apnly 1901. CONTENTS PART I. AUSTRALIA AND VAN DIEMEN’S LAND (TASMANIA). CHAPTER I. PAGE General Observations upon Australia ^ . . .3 CHAPTER II. Discovery of Australia — Cook’s Wonderful Voyages — What the American War of Independence had to DO WITH THE COLONISATION OF AUSTRALIA— OfF TO Botany Bay ....... 10 CHAPTER HI. Cook’s Impressions of the Native Race — Earlier Navi- gators— What Cook Thought of Australia as a Land FOR British Settlement . , . . .17 xi CONTENTS xii CHAPTER IV. PAGE The Pioneers of Australian Settlement and the Native Race ........ 23 CHAPTER V. Just in Time— The First Ship— Docile Natives— Van Diemen’s Land— John Mitchel, William Smith O’Brien, John Martin, Terence Bellew MacManus, and other Political Offenders . . . . . .36 CHAPTER VI. Extension of Settlement — Buckley, the “ Wild White Man ” . . . . . . . .46 CHAPTER VH. What Happened under the Transportation System . 57 CHAPTER VHI. Further Remarks upon Transportation— Gibbet Hill — Discontinuance of Transportation . . -64 CHAPTER IX. In Old Convict Days and After 8t CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER X. PAGE Bushranging . . . . . . . 92 CHAPTER XI. The Golden Era . . . . . . .102 CHAPTER XII. Natural Features of the Australian Continent and Tasmania . . . . . . .110 CHAPTER XIII. Australia’s Capitals and Principal Towns . . .123 CHAPTER XIV. Representative and Responsible Government and De- mocracy . . . . . . .147 CHAPTER XV. Australian Society . . . . . .156 CHAPTER XVI. Education in the Australian Colonies and Tasmania . 172 XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER XVII. PAGE The Press of Australasia . . . . .184 CHAPTER XVIII. The Literature of Australasia— Poetry and Prose . 197 CHAPTER XIX. Australia a Nation . . . . . .211 PART II. NEW ZEALAND. CHAPTER XX. Size of New Zealand — Discovery — First Acquaintance WITH THE Natives — Physical Features . . . 227 CHAPTER XXI. In Old New Zealand Days — The Earliest Missionaries — The “Boyd” Massacre — Systematic Settlement — The Treaty of Waitangi. .... 233 CHAPTER XXII. Maori Wars — The Land Qup:stion at the Bottom of Them — Broken Promises — The South Island Natives Claim Three Millions Sterling .... 246 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XXIII. The Maoris — Their Character and Disposition — Canni- balism AND Tribal Wars . . . . . CHAPTER XXIV. The Demoralisation of a Noble Race CHAPTER XXV. Representative and Responsible Government CHAPTER XXVI. The “ Sugar and Flour ” Policy — Native Schools — Sir George Grey and the Natives — Maori Representa- tion IN Parliament ...... CHAPTER XXVH. Sir George Grey and His Island— Sir Robert Stout, Mr. Ballance — Sir Julius Vogel . . . . CHAPTER XXVHI. Mr. Ballance as Premier— His Liberal Policy— Creation OF A Labour Department — Land for the People — State Assistance to Settlers .... PAGE 257 268 277 284 295 XVI CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIX. PAGE Secular Education in New Zealand .... 317 CHAPTER XXX. New Zealand Parliaments Past and Present— “ Spoils to THE Victors” — A Reign of Terror . . . 329 CHAPTER XXXI. More Remarks upon Parliamentary Decadence in New Zealand . 339 Old-Age Pensions . CHAPTER XXXII. 351 CHAPTER XXXIII. Womanhood Suffrage ...... 356 CHAPTER XXXIV. Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration — Cost of Government — Payment of Members . . . 364 CHAPTER XXXV. The Loss of Samoa— Natives Satisfied with German Annexation ....... 37 ^ Appendices— Statistical Information 3S9 a. " PART I AUSTRALIA AND VAN DIEMEN’S LAND (TASMANIA) Z \ CHAPTER I GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA I T is not, in the strict sense of the term, a history of the Australian Continent, and of the two large and important colonies adjacent to it, that the author intends to present to the public on this occasion. To give any- thing like a detailed account of the rise and progress of those distant lands would require one, in addition to any large store of information he may himself possess on the subject, to devote months of research amongst whole files of almost forgotten literature on the shelves of the British Museum, and the result would be rather to confuse than to help a writer in the satisfactory accom- plishment of an object alike comprehensive and ambitious. The purpose which the author has in view is not so much to give a consecutive narrative of events which have been already placed on record, as to present his readers with a true insight into the condition of things as they now exist in what is destined to become the Greater Britain of the South. A continuous residence of nearly forty years in Australasia should enable him to perform such a task as this with satisfaction to the public and to himself. At the same time, it will be necessary to devote a considerable amount of space and attention to the main 4 AUvSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW features connected with the early days of colonisation, in order that the reader may acquire a fair grasp of the whole subject without being wearied by superfluous details of no actual interest or importance to any one. Following out this plan in strict accordance with its simplicity of conception, the author will not trouble his readers with any dull recital of geographical situations which can be obtained by a moment's reference to any of the authenticated maps now everywhere accessible to those who desire to inform themselves upon that branch of the subject ; but in order to show the vastness of Great Britain's possessions in that portion of the Southern Pacific, an epitome of the area comprised within each colony of the Australasian group will be found both interesting and instructive. The Australian Commonwealth, which the new century has brought into political existence, embraces the whole of the Great Island Continent and Tasmania. Before the Imperial Act of last year created it a nation, Australia was divided into five separate colonies, the areas of which are as follow : — New South Wales (the original colony of them all) contains 323,437 square miles, or 206,999,680 acres. Queensland, 678,600 square miles, or 434,304,000 acres. South Australia, 914,730 square miles, or 585,427,200 acres. Victoria, 88,198 square miles, or 56,446,720 acres. Western Australia, 978,298 square miles, or 626,1 1 1,323 acres. The island of Tasmania (also included in the Commonwealth), 26,215 square miles, or 16,778,000 acres. New Zealand (which at present stands out of the Commonwealth) has a total area of 103,658 square miles, or 66,340,910 acres. It will thus be seen that the Australian Continent GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 5 contains 2,983,253 square miles, and Tasmania 26,215 square miles, and that these figures added together give a total square mileage of 3,009,468. But the enormous dimensions of the Australian Continent (leaving Tasmania out of the calculation, because it is an island nearly 200 miles away from it) can be more readily grasped when it is stated that if the areas of Austria- Hungary, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Portugal, Spain, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Switzerland, Greece, Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Eastern Roumelia and Turkey in Europe, were grouped together, they would contain little more than half of the territory which now comes under the administration of the Australian Commonwealth. The total area in square miles of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, is 121,305, only about one-seventh more than the colony of New Zealand ; and when a comparison is made between the United Kingdom and the Australian Continent, some idea can be formed of the countless millions of people who will some day be found to live under Austral skies. What, therefore, can be more obvious to the most ordinary mind than that in the natural evolution of events Australia is destined to become one of the greatest and most progressive nations of the earth? It has already made a good beginning under the beneficent influences of self-government, and who can say that the time will not come when she will find herself of a growth sufficiently robust to take care of herself and shape her own destiny ? Federation is but the stepping-stone towards the ultimate realisation of that ideal, and it is just as well to recognise what must inevitably happen in the future when this new nation in southern seas attains a maturer stage of development and feels that she can walk alone. When that epoch in her career is reached, it is idle to suppose that any obstacles will be interposed against the accomplish- 6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW ment of her legitimate aspirations. But the work of nation-building has just begun ; many decades must pass before Australia is in a position of self-reliance ; her present population, scarcely numbering five million souls, must increase to twenty or thirty millions of people ; and enormous sums of money must be expended in perfect- ing a scheme of internal and external defence. But all these things will assuredly come to pass in the fulness of time ; her geographical position and conditions differing so greatly from those of the northern hemisphere will be special arguments to support her claims for complete control of her own affairs, external as well as internal, and no statesman will be found to resist those claims whenever they are advanced, as they certainly will be, years perhaps before the present century draws to a close. In saying this I am well aware that my prophecy will be challenged by those who indulge in dreams about Imperial federation and a confederacy of all the English-speaking nations of the earth ; but a close examination of the whole subject will convince even the most sceptical, that the tendency of peoples lies in the direction of national independence. To govern themselves in their own way, according to their own conceptions of what is best suited for the requirements of the countries they live in, is the idea which is fast taking possession of people’s minds all the world over ; and it is a well-known fact that in the Australia of to-day there are thousands of men and women who are strongly impressed with the belief that events will so shape themselves in that part of the world as to result in complete independence eventually. Indeed, what Sir Wilfred Laurier so recently said about Canada may be applied to Australia : the present arrangements work very well and suit existing circumstances, but it would be going too far to say that they will last for ever. Sir Wilfred has only shown more candour than any of the GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 7 statesmen of Australia on the subject, but the feeling is there nevertheless ; it is simply more diplomatic not to give expression to it until perhaps a more fitting oppor- tunity. Besides, it might appear somewhat ungrateful to intimate, at the very birth-time of the Commonwealth, that something more will be demanded later on ; but the strong stand made by Mr. Barton and Mr. Deakin against Mr. Chamberlain during the passage of the Federation Bill, and the way in which these gentlemen were backed up by the consensus of Australian public opinion, are straws which indicate clearly enough the trend of popular feeling and sentiment on a question which Sir Wilfred Laurier has touched upon so significantly so far as it relates to the Canadian Dominion. When the Australian Common- wealth has grown a little older, and its accumulating strength has given it greater confidence, probably its statesmen will be no less candid and courageous than the Premier of Canada, and will state with equal definiteness what their ultimate aims are as the natural and irresistible sequence of Federation. In considering the future destiny of Australasia, it would be a mistake to suppose that because of the enthusiasm which has been manifested there during the past sixteen months, it may therefore be assumed that the federating States will for all time be content with what they have already secured in the way of self- government. There is a proneness on the part of too many people to attribute to that enthusiasm an import- ance and significance which do not really belong to it, for the reason that it has been more in the nature of a sentimental expression of feeling which sudden and extraordinary developments aroused in that part of the world. It therefore possesses no real or durable signifi- cance as to the future course of action in Australia with reference to its own affairs. No one acquainted with Australia, or with the strong and swelling current of 8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW popular opinion which exists there on the subject, can shut his eyes to what the ultimate result of that opinion will be, and there is nothing to be gained by any attempted concealment of what Australia desires to achieve as the crowning point of her national aspirations and hopes. At the same time, it is premature to talk of “ cutting the painter.” Australia is not in a position to cut it even if she wished to do so, in her present circum- stances. It suits her to maintain the connection, and there will be no thought of cutting the painter until she is fully prepared to take care of herself ; but the time will assuredly come when she will be in that position. Whether the period be long or short depends altogether upon two essential features in her progress and sense of self-reliance : population and defence. In neither one respect nor in the other is she prepared to stand alone at this moment, and before she can do that she will require a vastly larger population and such means of internal and external defence as will enable her to meet any possible contingency that may arise from an international point of view. At present she is without a fleet of her own ; the few boats she has would be of little avail in protecting her from attack by a fleet of the most modest dimensions sent out there specially for that purpose by any foreign nation, and her extensive coast lines could be assailed with impunity, except at Port Phillip, Port Jackson, and a few other places where defence works have been carried out. Therefore Australia has much to do before she can dispense with the protection of Great Britain, and it would be madness to dream of doing that under existing circumstances. The danger of doing it is too evident for Australia to ignore her dependence upon the Mother Land. That she recognises the neces- sity of maintaining the connection is clear from the anxiety she displays with regard to the encroachment of foreign powers in the Pacific. On one hand, she regards GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 9 with apprehension the possibility of France getting possession of the New Hebrides ; and on the other she sees Germany permanently installed in New Guinea and Samoa. Left to herself just now, these two powers would be a constant source of uneasiness to Australia, and that danger would be intensified if she had not the protection and assistance of Great Britain to rely on. Complete national independence will not be sought for, therefore, until Australia feels absolutely sure of her position from being able to defend herself against foreign attack, and when that stage of her development is reached the leave-taking between Great Britain and Australia will be one of mutual friendliness and best wishes on the part of the old nation and the new. CHAPTER II DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA — COOK’S WONDERFUL VOYAGES — WHAT THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDE- PENDENCE HAD TO DO WITH THE COLONISATION OF AUSTRALIA — OFF TO BOTANY BAY L ong before the advent of Captain Cook, Tasman and other great navigators had penetrated so far into southern latitudes as to reveal to the world the existence of Terra Australis and the islands now known as Tasmania and New Zealand. To the former the name of New Holland was subsequently given, and from the time of Tasman’s visit until the year 1854, Van Diemen’s Land was the title under which Tasmania was popularly known, and claimed its rather unenviable notoriety under the convict system which prevailed there during a considerable portion of the nineteenth century. The sea which separates New Zealand from the Australian Continent, in width a little over 1,200 miles, still bears the name of the celebrated Dutch navigator, and there are places in New Zealand where the original nomenclature has never been departed from. Thus we find Tasman’s Head and Cape Maria Van Diemen still applied to prominent headlands on its coasts. These particulars are mentioned for the purpose of showing that Cook was not the discoverer of these distant parts of the earth, although it must be admitted 10 DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA II that nothing was done to bring them into prominence until the publication of “ Cook’s Voyages ” aroused a degree of interest about them which ultimately resulted • in their acquisition for purposes of British settlement and expansion. Cook was undoubtedly the most won- derful and heroic navigator of the age in which he lived. Any one now sailing along the coasts of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand cannot but be struck with the marvellous courage and intrepidity which must have marked the progress of this great man in southern seas. The dangers to which he was constantly exposed were indeed prodigious. Buffeted about in a sailing craft, which can be designated little more than a cockle-shell alongside the monster productions of marine architecture of our own time, without a chart of even the roughest outline to guide him from one point to another, it is incomprehensible how he averted destruc- tion upon the wild and barren coasts round which he was the first to sail ; and viewed from this distance of time, it is astounding to note the absolute correctness of his original survey. All the headlands and coastal inden- tations, as well as depths, distances, magnetic bearings and currents, have been set forth in his Voyages ” with a detailed accuracy which has withstood the test of subsequent research, and the stupendous nature of his task, and the manner of its successful accomplishment, must for all time impress the world with his exceptional genius and indomitable perseverance and courage. Cook was in every sense a true benefactor of mankind. He opened up a new world to relieve the congested con- ditions of the old one, just as the discoveries of Chris- topher Columbus and other navigators in earlier times provided the vast territories of America as outlets for the over-populated nations of Europe. When one thinks of the results that have flown from the colonisation of America and Canada, and the millions of people who 12 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW are now settled in these countries, one naturally wonders what the consequences would have been if these lands had not been available — if they had remained in the primitive condition in which they presented themselves to the early pioneers of Virginia, or the later adventurous colonisers of the New England States, whose descen- dants constitute a large proportion of the seventy-six millions of souls who are included in the population of the United States. Even taking those who are of Anglo-Saxon origin, what room would there have been for them within the circumscribed limits of the British Isles ? In the words of the American satirist, they would have been too numerous to maintain even a foothold upon the soil and would have squeezed each other into the surrounding waters through overcrowding. What the United States and Canada have done in the past to relieve that pressure, the Australian colonies have been doing in a lesser degree since 1788. In the latter case distance has always stood in the way of a more rapid development, and even the attractions of their goldfields have not been instrumental in augment- ing their population in the ratio that might have been expected. But the establishment of the Commonwealth is the dawn of a new era of progression, and when it becomes more generally known that Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand offer inducements for settlement superior to those in any part of the world, a tide of emigration will set in which will increase the number of their inhabitants to tens of millions before the second century of their settlement draws to a close. It is not generally understood that the War of Inde- pendence in America, and the loss of the British colonies there, had much to do with the colonisation of Australia. It was, in point of fact, a direct factor in the origination and execution of the plan of Australian settlement. The settlement of Virginia had an exactly similar com- DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 13 mencement, under the auspices of Lord Delaware. For a considerable period after taking possession of Virginia, it was the custom of Great Britain to send great numbers of her criminal classes across the Atlantic, and the practice existed for a century and a half before the War of Independence broke out. Most of these convicts, men and women, were sold to the Virginian planters, some of them for a term of years, others for life. The average price per head was £ 20 , and for a long time England derived a considerable amount of revenue from this source, sometimes as much as ;6’40,ooo a year. Many of these convicts, after completion of their servi- tude or liberation upon ticket-of-leave, rose to positions of wealth and influence in Virginia, and their descendants are now to be found amongst some of the first families,'^ as they are ironically termed, in that highly aristocratic State of the Great Republic. When the War of Independence deprived England of her colonies in America, the despatch of convicts to Vir- ginia came to an end, of course, and the Government had to cast its eyes elsewhere for a dumping ground to which its criminal classes might be consigned, under the belief that the transportation system could not be dispensed with. Such an idea was exploded little more than half a century later, when the free people of Australia deter- mined that they would tolerate no more convict ships coming to their shores ; but transportation was the prevailing idea after the close of the American war, and Australia was decided upon when the American ports were closed against further consignments of law-breakers from Great Britain. The accounts furnished by Captain Cook about the Australian climate, the natural resources of that part of the world, and the apparent docility of its aboriginal inhabitants, were perused with increasing interest, and it was considered by the authorities that no better place than Australia could be selected for the 14 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW continuance of the transportation system. The graphic descriptions of Botany Bay given by Cook, and the favourable account of his reception by the natives in that locality, induced the Government to try the experi- ment in that quarter. “ Botany Bay became ever afterwards associated with convict life at the Antipodes, and the words bore such a significance in those days and for many years afterwards, that to hear of a person being sent to Botany Bay meant nothing less than life- long suffering and expatriation. As a matter of fact, however, Botany Bay never became a convict establish- ment. It is true that Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Australian Governor, was entrusted with the task of founding a settlement there ; but upon arrival he found the place undesirable for the purpose, and after an examination of the Bay to the northward, he took formal possession of the country by hoisting the British colours on a flagstaff erected on the site now occupied by Dawes' Battery. This was Port Jackson, the lovely harbour upon whose shores Sydney now stands ; and here it was that the first British settlement in Australia was founded. In 1787, the fleet which was to accompany Governor Phillip assembled at the Isle of Wight. It consisted of eleven sailing vessels of various tonnage. The precise number of persons who embarked on this pioneer fleet was 1,044, made up as follows : 10 civil officers, 212 military (including officers), 28 women and 17 children (the wives and families of the military), 81 other free persons ; or a total of 348 persons who were free men, women and children, and 696 convicts. Of the total number 1,030 were safely landed in the colony. The women numbered altogether 220, 28 of whom were wives of the military, and the remaining 192 were women who had been sentenced to transportation for various offences. The prisoners, male and female, were DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA IS mostly young persons from the agricultural districts of England, nine-tenths of them being natives of the south- western and midland counties, and the chronicler of the time relates that very few of them had been convicted of serious crimes. It was on the 13th of May, 1787, that the fleet sailed from England, and on the i8th of January, 1788, the Supply^ with Governor Phillip on board, was the first to drop anchor in Botany Bay. The other vessels arrived on the 19th and 20th ; and on the 26th of the month the whole fleet was riding at anchor in that portion of Port Jackson known as Sydney Cove. Neither at Botany Bay nor at Port Jackson did Governor Phillip encounter any opposition from the natives. Perfectly devoid of clothing, these wild inhabitants of Australia came down to the beach in considerable numbers, and gazed with wonderment and curiosity upon the new- comers, that being in all probability the first occasion on which they had seen a race so dissimilar to them- selves since Cook and his seamen made acquaintance with some natives many years previously, and it is quite likely there was not one amongst them old enough to remember the event. The nomadic habits of the Australian black render it quite probable that the natives first seen by Governor Phillip belonged to a different tribe and were far away in the interior at the time Captain Cook landed on that historic spot in Botany Bay. Those met with by Governor Phillip evinced no spirit of hostility. On the contrary, they laid down their spears and other weapons as he approached them, and gleefully accepted presents of beads, pieces of red baize and other articles which were tendered as tokens of his desire to establish friendly intercourse between the two races. It was under these encouraging auspices that the first attempt at British colonisation was made in i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Australia. We shall see presently how the project succeeded, how settlement extended to other portions of the Continent under a mixed free and convict system, and how rapidly the supremacy of the white man asserted itself at a period when, through vastly inferior numbers, he was practically at the mercy of those whose possessions he had come to take as the pioneer of civilisation in that remote quarter of the globe. The conquest was an easy and bloodless one, and it is upon that account that the subsequent ruth- less decimation of the aboriginal inhabitants is all the more to be deplored and condemned. CHAPTER III cook's impressions of the native race — EARLIER NAVIGATORS — WHAT COOK THOUGHT OF AUSTRA- LIA AS A LAND FOR BRITISH SETTLEMENT HE last of the continents to be discovered, Australia has likewise been the last to be colonised ; and although that vast territory is barren of any historical associations before the advent of the white man, that blank is more than compensated for by the stirring events that have happened there since the arrival of Governor Phillip and his mixed band of free and convict men and women, more than one hundred and twelve years ago, and the student of colonial history will find ample material both for his amusement and instruction in the fragmentary records of the earlier periods of settlement. More than a century had elapsed after the discovery of America when De Quiros and Torres, and some Dutch navigators, after skirting the New Hebrides, set foot on Australian soil. Torres gave it the name of Terra Australis, but beyond naming it, that great navigator apparently made himself very little acquainted with the country itself, for he left no records either as to its extent, its natural features, or the characteristics of its inhabitants. It is just as likely as not that he merely landed for the sake of saying he had been there. 3 i8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW and that he encountered none of the aborigines during his short stay on shore, the probability being that they retired to the dense forests upon his approach, and did not again venture to the seaboard until they felt assured of his departure. After De Quiros and Torres, more extensive examinations of the coasts were made by Dampier, Tasman, Pelsart, Carpenter and others ; but it was one hundred and thirteen years after Torres' time that Captain Cook took possession of Australia (so named by Flinders) for the British Crown. When Cook first landed at Botany Bay, he found the place inhabited by a strangely wild and unintellectual race. Men and women alike were in a state of absolute^ nudity. Exceedingly timid in demeanour, their first impulse was to rush into the woods, but he allayed their fears and eventually induced them by signs of friendship to return to the beach and to mingle with the new- comers without displaying any further symptoms of alarm. A mutual confidence was soon established between the aborigines and the crew of Cook's vessel. For a time they gazed with curiosity at each other, and the natives were peculiarly interested in all the strange objects which were brought under their notice. Beads, knives, rings, pieces of cloth, and other articles were liberally bestowed upon these wild creatures of the woods, and during the whole of Cook's sojourn at Botany Bay nothing occurred to upset the friendly relations which had been established between the two races. Cook subsequently described these natives as fine physical types of humanity, but it is hard to recon- cile that description with the remnant of the native population to be found in the Australia of to-day. One thing is obvious — either that Cook must have grossly exaggerated their physical characteristic.s, or that since his time an extraordinary degeneracy of the aboriginal race of Australia has ensued ; for they are now a weak COOK’S IMPRESSIONS OF THE NATIVE RACE 19 and small-limbed people, especially the females, and more than a century’s intercourse with white men has failed to improve or civilise them, or to produce the smallest degree of intellectual development. It may be that they are incapable of improvement, or that the right methods have not been employed to elevate the race ; the fact remains that the aborigines of Australia have made no appreciable approach to civilisation since the time Cook first set his foot on the shores of Botany Bay. What appears to have made the most impression upon Captain Cook was their docility. They were so unlike the ferocious savages he had seen on some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean, that he had no reason to suppose hostilities would be resorted to in the event of Great Britain attempting the colonisation of the Australian continent. He naturally enough concluded that the same friendly reception would be given to any body of colonising pioneers as had been accorded to himself, and what he saw in Australia must have con- vinced him that no better field could be selected for the purpose of colonial extension. He had experienced the attractiveness of its climate, and had witnessed the luxu- riance of its vegetation and the richness and fertility of its soil. Although more a sailor than a politician, he must have reflected, even in those days, upon the con- gested population of his native land, and compared the contracted area of England with the apparently illimitable region of virgin wastes which he had taken possession of in the name of the King under whom he served. True, it was but the fringe of the Continent he had touched, but he had seen enough to convince him of the enormous resources in the interior which only awaited development ; and that he had a clear notion that some day Australia would become a colony of Great Britain is evident from the encouraging strain in which 20 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW his impressions of it are recorded. They all seem to point to such an eventuality. He was familiar with the conditions under which Virginia had been settled, and with the heroic and successful settlement of the New England States by the Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower and their descendants. He knew what a blessing those colonies had proved to the thousands of his countrymen who had abandoned the old world for the new, and the avenues which those colonies opened up to a population at home whose growth was out of all proportion to the means of existence in their native land. It never, perhaps, entered his mind that the time was so near at hand when those colonies would be lost to Great Britain, and that America would become the hospitable refuge of the poor and oppressed of all nations of the earth. But if Captain Cook had not the prescience to observe the dawning of the American Revolution, it is abundantly evident that from his earliest acquaint- ance with it he regarded Australia as a most suitable field for colonising enterprise, and it was no fault of his if so little attention was paid to his recommendations until the loss of the American Colonies turned the eyes of British Statesmen in that direction. And then, too, as we have already seen, that enterprise was to be accompanied by the undesirable adjunct of convict contamination and the disorders inseparable from such an objectionable system of colonisation. From the perusal of the foregoing items of history it will be seen that the possession of Australia as a portion of the British dominions is due to Captain Cook ; but the uninformed reader must not suppose that he dis- covered that great island Continent. As a matter of fact, it was discovered in 1609 by Don Pedro Fernando de Quiros, a Spanish nobleman, who named it Australia of the Holy Spirit ; but it afterwards received the name COOK’S IMPRESSIONS OF THE NATIVE RACE 21 of New Holland from a number of Dutch navigators, by whom its southern and western coasts were explored at different times. Indeed, that portion of the Con- tinent which is now known as Western Australia is supposed to have been discovered in the sixteenth century ; but there is no distinct record either of the fact or of the name of the discoverer, and the name of Fernando de Quiros is the first that can be authentically associated with it in the ninth year of the seventeenth century. After de Quiros comes Hartog, who discovered the south-western district in 1616. Although the dis- covery of Australia cannot be credited to an Englishman, it is no small satisfaction to find that it was an English- man who first touched upon its coast. This was Dampier. In the course of a cruise against the Spaniards towards the end of the seventeenth century, Dampier, after rounding Cape Horn, set his course in that direction, and fell in with Australia. Dampier made an accurate survey of its shores, and for that service was rewarded with the patronage of William HI. on his return to England. It was in 1770 that its eastern shores were traced by Captain Cook during his first voyage, and again in 1777, when he visited Australia for the last time. As Tasmania and New Zealand will be dealt with in this volume, it is convenient to give a short account of their discovery. With regard to the former, all historians are agreed that the credit of its discovery belongs to Captain Abel Jansen Tasman in the year 1633. It is stated that New Zealand was first seen by the same navigator in 1642, but as Tasman never landed on its shores, the honour of discovering New Zealand is claimed for Captain Cook, who actually landed from the Endeavour in 1769, and spent some time on the shores of Queen Charlotte’s Sounds and some localities in the north island, leaving Cape Farewell in March, 1770, and 22 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW revisiting New Zealand in 1773 and 1774. Tasmania was known as Van Diemen's Land from the period of its discovery by Tasman until 1854, when the authorities thought a change of name desirable ; and when making the alteration due regard was paid to the memory of the man who discovered the island. Its present name was considered to be more euphonious, but the main reason for the change was that the name Van Diemen's Land had brought the country into a too unenviable notoriety on account of its connection with the convict system, and that upon the abolition of convictism it was a reflection to perpetuate the memory of that system by the retention of the name originally conferred upon the island by the celebrated Dutch navigator. Consequently Tasmania took the place of Van Diemen's Land, and the civic authorities followed the example by calling their capital Hobart instead of Hobart Town. Many of the “ old hands," as they are called, have not even yet become reconciled to the modern nomenclature, but adhere steadfastly to names which are so closely associated with the clang of prison chains and brutal punishments. To the younger generation, however, the new terms are more acceptable, and they never by any chance apply the original ones even when referring to events which happened when Van Diemen's Land was a penal settlement under the administration of New South Wales, when it was nothing but a gaol upon a large scale, and when, as was the case for many years, no free emigrant was allowed to settle there. The transition through which this beautiful island has passed will be shown in a later chapter. CHAPTER IV THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT AND THE NATIVE RACE HERE is this to be said in connection with the X early settlement of Australia — that the pioneers of that movement had no such difficulties to contend with as those brave and adventurous spirits who went forth to reclaim the wildernesses of North America or South Africa. The Australian pioneers set out upon their long voyage to the other end of the earth with the knowledge that when they got there no hostile native population was to be encountered. They were under no dread of the scalping knife of the North American Indian or of the assegai of the ferocious tribes of Southern Africa. Cook’s writings had assured them of the docility and friendliness of the Australian aboriginal. The land was to be theirs for the taking of it, and no opposition was offered to their enterprise. It was certainly the most bloodless conquest in history, and if some of the natives made use of their poisoned spears and deadly-aimed boomerangs in after-times, the whites had themselves to thank for these racial conflicts. These were never of so serious a nature, however, as to materially retard the progress of settlement in anything like the same way as it was interfered with in New Zealand before the final subjugation of the Maoris. 24 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW The Australian pioneers were allowed to land without the slightest semblance of molestation, and they might, if they had so chosen, have remained in unbroken friendly relations and intercourse with the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, and secured absolute posses- sion of the whole of it without the sacrifice of a single life. But, finding the natives so little disposed to dispute the encroachments of the white man, advantage was taken of their complacent attitude, and the whites were not slow to show them that they were their masters in every way. The lack of intelligence displayed by the Australian blacks and their incapacity to appreciate the civilising methods of the new-comers, impressed the latter with the uselessness of attempting any of those assimilating processes which had been brought to bear upon dark races in other lands. They soon grew to despise the Australian natives and to treat them more like dogs than human beings. As settlement extended the cruelties increased, and the black man’s life was esteemed at no higher value than that of a kangaroo or ’possum. Indeed in Australia and afterwards in Van Diemen’s Land the gun was used indiscriminately upon blacks and kangaroos, and a day’s sport frequently consisted of a mixed destruction of man and animal. Some monsters even went farther in this inhuman and devilish process of extermination, for it has been established beyond the possibility of successful contra- diction that one of the practices often resorted to at the end of the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century was to lay poisoned food in places where the natives were certain to find it. It has been advanced in extenuation of these hideous practices that the administration was not so perfect or powerful in those days as to detect and punish the offenders, that it was one of the deplorable results of convictism, and that the majority of these crimes were THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 25 committed by the desperate characters who were set free upon the completion of their terms of transporta- tion or liberated under the ticket-of-leave system. But, if the truth must be told, there were others besides liberated convicts who were either guilty of these atrocities themselves or winked at the perpetration of them by others. The black man was not considered where grazing ranches were to be established in the interior. If he persisted in remaining he was soon disposed of He was given the choice of two alterna- tives, either to retire with his tribe into the backwoods or arid prairies as yet not under the white man’s grasp, or remain and take the consequences of his persistence. Backwards and backwards he was driven, each time accompanied by fewer numbers of his race, until it has now become the merest remnant of what it was at the period of Cook’s advent amongst the black men of Australia. Even making the biggest allowances for diminution through periodical epidemics, infanticide and internecine strife, these will not in themselves account for the extraordinary decimation that has occurred since colonisation began in Australia ; and, however reluc- tantly we may feel inclined to do so, we must look to other and more painful causes for an explanation of the native depopulation of that Continent. What are the evidences of this process of unnatural extinction presented to-day? All that is left of the native race in the Colony of Victoria are gathered into two or three compounds, one of which at a place called Corranderrck was visited by the author some years ago. In New South Wales a very marked decrease has taken place ; almost the same thing can be said of Queensland and of South Australia. They are to be found in greater numbers in Western Australia and the Northern territory, where, as in the case of Northern and Western Queens- land, climatic reasons have saved them from the rapid 26 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW encroachments of a white population. The semi-tropical sun is an element of safety to the black man in those regions, and it is probable he will still be found there when his countrymen in the more temperate latitudes of the South have disappeared altogether. But he is fated to extinction, and the probability is that before the first half of the new century has passed not a single native will be found living throughout the whole of Australia. In the adjoining island of Tasmania, where the aboriginal inhabitants were known to be pretty numerous at the beginning of the last century, neither man, woman, nor child of them has been left. The last of them was seen by the author in the seventies, but that last survivor of his race has been dead for nearly a quarter of a century, and the black man’s “ coo-ee ” no longer resounds through forests where thousands of aborigines roamed in undisturbed possession only a century ago. Just think of it! It has taken only three-quarters of a century to wipe a whole race out of existence ! The record speaks for itself. Writing upon the destruction of the Tasmanian natives as far back as 1835, a resident of that colony made the following comment: ‘‘These poor, bewildered creatures have been treated worse than ever were any of the American tribes by Spaniards. Easy, quiet, good- natured, and well-disposed towards the white population — [the total free white population in that year numbered 25,000] — they could no longer brook the treatment they received from the invaders of their country. Their hunting-grounds were taken from them, and they them- selves were driven like trespassers from their favourite spots. The stock-keepers may be considered as the destroyers of nearly the whole of the aborigines, the proper and legitimate owners of the soil. These mis- creants so imposed upon their docility that at length they thought little or nothing of destroying the men for THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 27 the sake of carrying to their huts the females of the tribes, and if it were possible to record but a tithe of the mur- ders committed on these poor, harmless creatures, it would make the reader’s blood run cold at the bare recital.” It would, however, be going too far to place the responsibility for this result, or for the decrease of the native population of Australia, upon the shoulders of those who occupied positions of authority from time to time since the landing of Governor Phillip in New South Wales. In several instances there were Governors and other high officials in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land who had the greatest solicitude for the welfare of the native people, and did everything they could to prevent their extermination; but there were others not quite so mindful of their interests. The administration of justice was beset with many difficul- ties, and acts of lawlessness and inhumanity were often committed with impunity. This was a natural outcome of the peculiar system under which Australian colonisa- tion was started. At its initial stage, the total number of free persons conveyed to the new settlement amounted to only half the number of convicts, and subsequent shipments were for a long time in like proportions. Out of such disproportioned elements of bondmen and free, it was hopeless to expect the same respect for law and order as would prevail in communities formed out of more desirable material, and the consequence was that the early governors and officials had difficulties to contend with which would not be encountered under circumstances more favourable to settlement ; but it is beyond question that some of these governors and Crown officials paid no regard whatever to the pre- servation of the native races on the Continent and in Van Diemen’s Land, and made no effort to bring the perpetrators of outrages upon them to justice. In Tasmania, as in Australia, the natives were remorse- 28 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW lessly hunted down, the men foully murdered, and their women carried off for purposes narrated by the writer already quoted ; and the record cannot be challenged that in 1830 an extraordinary attempt was made by Governor Arthur to catch and pen up in Tasman's Peninsula, with the ostensible object of transporting to Flinder's Island the whole of the aboriginal population of Van Diemen's Land. Upwards of 3,500 whites, including thirty soldiers, turned out for the exciting operation of clearing Tasmania of their presence by means of a cordon across the island. The attempt proved a total failure. Only two natives were captured, and the cost of the expedition amounted to no less a sum than ;^35,ooo. After the failure of this attempt to deport the natives from their own country, the original process of extermination went on apace, and we have already seen how in the short period of thirty-five years the whole Tasmanian race dwindled to a vanishing point by the demise of its solitary survivor. No reliable estimate has ever been made of the number of aborigines who inhabited Australia and Tasmania when the whites first took up their abode in these countries. The number in the whole of Australia has been set down at 3,000,000, and Governor Phillip esti- mated that in his time New South Wales contained 1,000,000. The first settlers at Port Phillip believed the total population there was about 5,000. When Victoria become an independent colony in 1851 the number was officially stated to be 2,69^. In South Australia in 1876 the number was said to be^2,203 males and 1,750 females. In Queensland and Western Australia the aboriginal population was never ascertained with any degree of certainty. The estimate of 3,000,000 for the whole of Australia may be an exaggerated one, or it may be even below what the aboriginal population actually was. There were too many difficulties in the way of correct THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 29 data being arrived at ; the only thing certain is that from the numbers seen in the vicinity of the settlements in early times, the race must have been a numerous one both on the Continent and in Van Diemen’s Land when colonisation began. In his book upon South Australia, Mr. James Dominick Woods contributes much valuable information upon the aborigines of Australia. Like most other people, how- ever, Mr. Woods is unable to fix the region from which the Australian aborigines originally came. He supposes, like most other writers on the subject, that they are of Malaysian origin, and that they found their way to the continent of Australia from some of the islands which are not far distant from the northern shores. The habits and customs of the native people all over the continent, says Mr. Woods, exhibit a great uniformity. Such diver- gences as have been noticed amongst them are not so distinctive as to establish the fact that there were origin- ally more races than one. Science, however, throws a little light on one part of the question. At a meeting of the Congress for the Advancement of Social Science, held not long since in Adelaide, in a paper upon “ Pre-historic Man,” by Dr. E. C. Stirling, lecturer on physiology in the University of Adelaide, it was stated that the prevailing type of Australian skull has a remarkable resemblance to the Neanderthal skull. Pro- fessor MacAlister, of Cambridge, one of the leading anatomists and anthropologists of the day, to whom a cast of King Billy Rufus’ skull was presented, said it was the most Neanderthaloid skull he had seen. There are other skulls in the Adelaide museum very similar to it, and it may be taken as typically Australian. Another curious point of resemblance between paleolithic man and the modern Australian aboriginal is the fibula, or outer bone of the leg below the knee. In each case it was remarkably flattened or fluted. 30 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW There is another point of resemblance, continues Mr. Woods, in the weapons used by the aborigines. They are of wood and stone. None of the tribes have shown any knowledge of iron or other metals, or of their uses, and whatever they may have learned respecting them has been gained from their intercourse with white men. In time to come more evidence may be brought to light which may tend to connect the Australian savage with the paleolithic stage of human progress. Caves are abundant in various parts of the Continent, where large accumulations of the bones of animals (some of them extinct) have been discovered. In 1842 Dr. Moorhouse, Protector of Aborigines, estimated that there were about 3,000 aborigines in South Australia (the Northern Territory not being included). Those who inhabited the Northern Terri- tory amounted to 20,655, of whom 12,849 were males and 7,806 females. In 1891 the census showed that in South Australia proper the aborigines numbered 3,134, comprising 1,661 males and 1,473 females. There is nothing to enable it to be determined whether the aborigines in the Northern Territory have increased or decreased since that part of the country was taken up by the whites. In all probability they have greatly diminished in number, because the excess of males over females is so great as to render an increase scarcely possible. The proportion between the sexes in the whole colony stands thus : males, 61 per cent. ; females, 39 per cent. In the Northern Territory taken alone there are 62*21 per cent, of males to 3779 per cent, of females ; and in South Australia proper the relative proportions are: males, 53 per cent; females, 47 per cent The number of children belonging to the tribes of the Northern Territory could not be ascertained with sufficient exactness to be of much use. In the southern portion of the colony there are no more than 506 THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 31 children. The number of adults of both sexes is given as 2,628, so that the fact is established that they out- number the children in the proportion of five to one. Since the males in the Northern Territory preponderate over the females in a much greater ratio than they do in the southern part of the colony, it is highly probable that the disproportion between the adults and the children in the north is even more marked than it is in the south. Mr. Woods throws considerable light on this branch of the subject by stating that, whatever effect the dispro- portion between the sexes may have in checking increase amongst the natives, the arbitrary and unequal distribu- tion of the marriageable women emphasises it more strongly. Polygamy is a custom common to all of the tribes, and whilst the old men may possess two, three, or more wives, most of the other men, and especially the young ones, have none at all. Under such circum- stances it cannot be surprising that immorality and licentiousness are everywhere prevalent, and are not regarded as circumstances of any great moment. Such conditions of life cannot fail to operate adversely against the multiplication of the progeny of the blacks. The practice of infanticide, especially the destruction of female infants, is universal throughout Australia. None of the tribes which have been met with in any portion of the Continent are untainted with it. Mr. Eyre, who was Protector of the Aborigines at Morrandi, whose account of the tribes amongst whom he was stationed is the most complete that has been written about them, states that each of the aboriginal women has on the average five children, nine being the greatest number known, but that each mother rears on the average not more than two of her offspring. Some of them, it is clear, must occasionally be taken off by natural causes, and the remainder that are not put out of the way is all 32 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW that can be depended on for the continuance of the race. One reason why infanticide is so prevalent is that the women are the absolute slaves of their husbands. They are literally beasts of burthen, and have to do all the hard work that can be imposed upon them. Dereliction of duty or disobedience is visited by the most brutal personal chastisement, inflicted with heavy sticks. Sometimes the wives are speared by their owners or husbands, and at times fatally. Children, especially the females, are intolerable burthens to the women, and to some extent drags upon their fathers. The fewer of them, therefore, the better. There is less toil and drudgery for the women, and less trouble for the men as fathers of families ; thus the smallest number of unpro- fitable mouths to tax the resources of the tribe is secured. It must not be concluded from this that the natives are devoid of affection for their children. In his book, ‘‘The Native Tribes of South Australia,’’ Dr. Moorhouse, Protector of Aborigines in Adelaide, remarks on this subject as follows : “ In their dispositions they display strong affection for each other, great fondness for children, and attachment to persons who are kind to them. On the other hand, they indulge in every evil passion to excess, and, estimating human life as of low value, do not hesitate to sacrifice it for a trivial insult. As their women are obtained from other tribes, by theft or otherwise, female infants at birth are not infrequently put to death for the sake of more valuable boys, who are still being suckled, though three or four years old, or even more. A female infant just born was thus about to be destroyed for the benefit of a boy about four years old, whom the mother was nourishing, while the father was standing by ready to commit the deed. Through the kindness of a lady to whom the circum- stances became known, and our joint interference, this one life was saved, and the child was properly attended THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 33 to by its mother, although she at first urged the neces- sity of its death as strenuously as the father/' In other parts of the country the women do the horrible work themselves. One instance is recorded by Mr. W. H. Willshire, in his Aborigines of Central Australasia," in which a native woman killed her child, cooked and ate it. More instances could be mentioned of a like nature, but one is sufficient. Other practices are followed by some of the tribes which must interfere largely with the continuance of the race. Rites are performed on the youth of either sex, but particularly in Central Australia, which destroy the possibility of procreation by those who are subjected to them. In the case of males the result is inevitable ; in the case of females it is not so certain, though the rite inflicts permanent physical injury upon them. Wars, epidemics and other diseases, dearth of food, accidents, and cannibalism must be reckoned amongst the causes which make continual inroads upon the numerical strength of the native popu- lation, and will ultimately lead to its extinction. As far as statistics go, it seems that the blacks are fading away in the settled country at the rate of about i J per cent, per annum, so that in another half-century the probability is that there will not be a solitary black- fellow left. Wars, want of food, and cannibalism must be eliminated from the causes which operate against the survival of the aborigines in the settled districts. On the subject of infanticide nothing can be said except that the proportion of children to mothers and fathers remains about the same now as it was fifty years ago, when Mr. Eyre was Protector of Aborigines. It must be borne in mind that probably not one-fourth of the natives who wander about the country are under the control or influence of the institutions which have been established for their benefit, and not a great deal is known of their actions when they are by themselves in 4 34 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the bush. Old men of the tribes are tenacious of their early customs, and cannot be induced to relinquish them. The mutilations which are inflicted, upon males especially, are not known in the extreme north, nor in the south. They are mostly practised in Central Australia. Unfortunately, so little has been brought to light with regard to the aborigines of that large tract of country, that it is at present impossible to define the limits within which the usage is confined. The irruption of the whites (says Mr. Woods) into the territories of the blacks has contributed to some extent towards the disappearance of the native races. The territories were theirs, and they were sufficient to sustain the wild animals on which, for the most part, they fed. The occupation of the land drove the game away, and the cultivation of the soil, as it went on, exterminated the roots which formed some portion of their food. They thus became by degrees entirely dependent on the settlers, and by so doing fell into some of the habits of white people — harmless perhaps to them, but highly detrimental to the natives. Clothing, unsuitable food, the use of strong drinks (for which they very rapidly formed a liking), the loss of their wonted free life, and the contraction of diseases not previously existing amongst them, did their work. Whilst the practice of infanticide, the disproportion of women to men, and the rites previously referred to on the youth of both sexes, account for a considerable diminution of the blacks in Australia, it cannot be denied that the decimation of the aboriginal inhabitants is very largely due to acts of violence on the part of the whites. The author is desirous, however, of showing that other causes have likewise contributed to it, and in order that the case might be fairly stated, he has taken the opportunity of showing that by their own rites and customs the blacks are themselves in a great measure THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 35 responsible for the decrease which will probably termi- nate in their own extinction years before the end of the present century. At the same time the irruption of the white race upon the Australian Continent has been the means of hastening the eventual extermination of the aboriginal inhabitants, and that fact is absolutely incontrovertible. CHAPTER V JUST IN TIME — THE FIRST SHIP— DOCILE NATIVES — VAN DIEMEN’S I.AND — JOPIN MITCHEL, WILLIAM SMITFI O’BRIEN, JOHN MARTIN, AND OTPIER POLITICAL OFFENDERS I T SO happened that Governor Phillip and the pioneer settlers and convicts under his charge did not reach Botany Bay many days too soon, for very shortly after his arrival the French navigator. La Perouse, made his appearance in that historic arm of the sea a few miles to the southward of Port Jackson. It was clearly the intention of La Perouse to take possession of Australia in the name of the French Government, which, unknown to the navigator himself, was then tottering to its fall. La Perouse had no conception that in the very year afterwards France would be plunged in the most sanguinary revolution the world has ever seen. Little did he know how near the master he was serving was to the scaffold, how speedily the French Monarchy was to be overthrown, and a Republic set up in its place, to be followed by a Reign of Terror which deluged his nation in blood. Robespierre, Marat, Desmoulins and others, who figured conspicuously in that terrible upheaval, were then too obscure to be known even by reputation to La Perouse, and the great Napoleon was yet to appear upon the horizon and make himself famous. 36 JUST IN TIME 37 It was fortunate, perhaps, for La Perouse that he did not live to be contemporaneous with the thrilling episodes which render French history such a fascinating study from 1789 to the death of the captive Bonaparte at St Helena. When La Perouse set forth from France upon the last voyage of discovery he was destined to make, the monarchy seemed to be absolutely secure ; in the Court and amongst the aristocracy there was not the remotest suspicion of the events which were so soon to overwhelm them and consign thousands of their number to the scaffold. Under the patronage of Louis XVI., La Perouse sallied out in a well-appointed ship upon a mission to the other ends of the earth to discover new possessions for his royal master, and the seizure of Australia formed a portion of the project. It was not recognised by France that the mere hoisting of the British flag by Captain Cook at Botany Bay in 1770 made it a British possession, especially as nothing had been done by the British Government in the meantime to utilise the Continent in any way. Therefore, it was part of La Perouse's scheme to secure Australia for France. How near he came to accomplishing his object may be realised when it is stated that Governor Phillip forestalled him by only a few days. When La Perouse reached Botany Bay and dropped anchor there, he was much chagrined to find the British already in possession. The British colours were flying upon a flagstaff on shore, and Phillip’s newly-arrived fleet was still there, making preparations for moving round to Port Jackson. Thus Australia narrowly escaped becoming a French colony. Disappointed and annoyed at this unexpected issue of events. La Perouse soon took his departure, to make other explorations in the Pacific, and was never heard of again. The real history of Australian colonisation, therefore, begins with the arrival at Botany Bay, and later on at 38 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NFAV Port Jackson, of the 1,044 souls, conveyed there in Governor Phillip’s fleet of eleven sail, which left Eng- land in May, 1787, and reached its destination eight months afterwards. The same distance can now be covered by steamers, calling at the Cape of Good Hope outwards, in five or six weeks. It will thus be seen that for many decades distance was the principal cause, coupled with convictism, which retarded the expansion of Australian settlement : not because it did not offer exceptional advantages for founding new homes so far across the sea, but because it took too long a time to get there, and the conveniences and conditions of transit were far from inviting. The cost, too, was also beyond the means of most people of the class which desired to emigrate, and consequently they turned their eyes westward, and became settlers in the United States. Australia in those days had none too good a reputation. The taint of convictism was upon it, and it had no attraction for the thousands of free men and women who preferred crossing the Atlantic. Therefore, for many years the progress of settlement in Australia was exceedingly slow. But distance has since been annihi- lated by regular and rapid means of communication ; the transportation of criminals to its shores has ceased long ago ; and if, after the lapse of one hundred and twelve years, the white population of the Australian Continent still falls considerably short of five millions, that slowness of growth must not be accepted as an indication of what its development will be in the years to come. According to the calculations of the late Mr. Hayter, the eminent Statist of Victoria, at the end of the first fifty years of the present century, the popula- lation of Australia should be 32,782,290, and in the year 2001 it should be no less than 189,269,688. If Mr. Ilayter’s estimate of prospective increase proves correct, there will be ample room for the whole of them. JUST IN TIME 39 No apology is needed for this apparent digression from the consecutive narrative of events, because Australia has begun to claim a very large share of public attention in Great Britain, and people are interested in knowing what the probabilities are, now that United Australia has entered upon a new era of its existence, and gives fair promise of a rapid march onward under conditions eminently conducive to advancement. When the pioneers of Australian settlement reached Botany Bay and disembarked some days later at Port Jackson, they found Captain Cook’s description of the natives exact in most particulars. When he saw them at Botany Bay eighteen years previously, the men and women were quite naked. The former had the gristle of their noses bored and long pieces of bird’s bone run through them as ornamental decorations to the face. The ends protruded crossways beyond the cheeks, and gave these naked wild men an appearance most grotesque. But they were harmless, and even friendly, and docile to an unexpected degree. No change in their appearance and demeanour was notice- able when Governor Phillip’s mixed freight of free settlers and convicts went amongst them. These pioneers had other advantages favourable to settlement, besides those arising from the presence of a native population whose docility and simple-mindedness were obvious. They went to settle in a land whose plains and forests were free from any of those beasts of prey formidable to man in North America and South Africa. This fact undoubtedly favoured the occupation of the country. Snakes were, unfortunately, abundant, and snake-bite was frequently the cause of death, as it is to this day in various parts of Australia. But if the early settlers had no hostile race to contend with, and no beasts of prey as a source of danger to them, on the other hand the dryness of the climate and 40 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the scarcity of watercourses were no ordinary perils to be encountered. Distance from the great centres of population and the markets of the outer world was a serious disadvantage from the start. For some years the extension of settlement was a slow process, notwithstanding that grants of land were made to industrious couples. The white population, however, increased at a satisfactory rate, and when Governor Phillip returned to England at the end of 1792, it stood at 3,500, including those on Norfolk Island, which had become a branch convict settlement under Lieutenant King. In January, 1793, the first batch of free settlers, mostly farming men, arrived and settled on Liberty Plains ; but they afterwards emigrated to the Hawkesbury, and henceforward the stream of free emigration continued to flow but slowly. When Governor Hunter left the colony in 1800, the white population numbered 5,547, besides 91 1 on Norfolk Island. Van Diemen’s Land was the next place in which a settlement was formed, and the first party of settlers landed there in 1803. It consisted of twenty-one persons only, of whom ten men and six women were convicts. The locality chosen by Captain Bowren was Risdon Cove, on the left bank of the Derwent, but it was abandoned shortly afterwards, and the convicts were moved about twelve miles farther up the river. It was Colonel Collins who was in charge of the second batch, which consisted of thirteen officers, forty-four marines, and three hundred and sixty-seven convicts. The site he selected for this penal settlement was what he named Hobart Town, in honour of Lord Hobart, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was under these unfavourable auspices that the settlement of Van Diemen’s Land began. A penal station for the worst class of offenders was afterwards JUST IN TIME 41 established at Macquarie Harbour. Free colonists who committed crimes of a grave nature were also sent there; and what with the vilest type of imported felon and the colonial product included in the same order of classifica- tion, Macquarie Harbour, as a chronicler of the time describes it, became a “ hell upon earth.” And such it undoubtedly was. Speaking of convicts who were not of this type, the same writer adds “that the British convict on his arrival, if he behaves himself well, is better off than millions of his countrymen at home ; but if he once offends the laws in the colony, misery follows.” This has evident refer- ence to the opportunities that were offered him after he became an “ assigned servant.” After being established and kept going for about ten years, Macquarie Harbour was abandoned, and then Port Arthur next came into notoriety as a penal station, followed by the establishment of another at Maria Island. It was not until the year 1821 that the first free emi- grants arrived at Hobart, if the few are not to be reckoned who went there at various times between then and 1803. In 1820 the convict population numbered 5,908, and in 1838 it stood at 18,133 ; but in 1832 Van Diemen's Land became a place of transportation for convicts from New South Wales, and between 1846 and 1850 more than 25,000 convicts were brought into Van Diemen's Land from New South Wales and Great Britain. Three years afterwards the Duke of Newcastle decided, after re- peated protests from the colonists, that no more convicts should be sent to Van Diemen's Land. Transportation to New South Wales came to an end in 1839. The total number of convicts sent to that colony from its foundation to the arrival of the last convict ship, the Eden, in November, 1839, was 59,788 — SL082 males and 8,706 females ; but the system was 42 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW continued, so far as Van Diemen’s Land was concerned, until 1853, up to which period 67,665 convicts had been sent to that island — 56,042 males and 1 1,613 females. From that period until 1868, convicts were sent from Great Britain to Western Australia, that colony receiv- ing 9,718, all of the masculine sex. These included a number of Irish political prisoners, who had been con- victed for their connection with the Fenian movement and the plot to seize Chester Castle. So far as political offenders are concerned. Van Diemen’s Land possesses far more historical interest than any of the other penal settlements in Austra- lasia. Here it was that John Mitchel found himself after leaving Bermuda and the Cape. Mr. Mitchel had been the proprietor of the United Irishman^ and for certain articles in that paper he was sentenced to fourteen years’ transportation in May, 1848. He arrived at Hobart Town in April of the following year. He was offered a ticket-of-leave enabling him to reside at large in some police district in the interior, subject to no restriction save the necessity of reporting himself to the district police magistrate once a month. After ten months’ confinement in the hulks at Bermuda, and eleven months and seventeen days on board the Neptujie, Mr. Mitchel was in very shattered health — he suffered terribly from asthma — when he reached Hobart Town, and he accepted the ticket-of-leave, promising not to escape so long as he should enjoy the compara- tive liberty of the ticket. Others of his countrymen had reached Van Diemen’s Land before him, includ- ing William Smith O’Brien, John Martin, Meagher, MacManus, and O’Doherty. At his special request, permission was given to John Mitchel to go and reside with his old friend John Martin at the village of Both- well. They procured a farm of two hundred acres of land and worked there for some time, Mr. Mitchel’s JUST IN TIME 43 wife and family arriving in the meantime. Friends of Mr. Mitchel in New York determined upon rescuing him and carrying him to America, and with that object despatched an agent who could be safely entrusted with such a mission, and with adequate funds at his disposal for the purpose. A considerable time elapsed before this agent could perfect his plans, and in order that he could not be charged with breaking his parole Mr. Mitchel, on the 8th of June, 1853, sent a note to the Lieutenant - Governor, resigning the ticket -of- leave, withdrawing his parole, and stating that he would forthwith present himself before the police magistrate at Bothwell at his office, show him a copy of the note, and offer himself to be taken into custody. Mr. Mitchel was as good as his word, for on the following day he and the agent from New York went to the office of the police magistrate, and gave him a copy of the note. The magistrate (whose name was Davis) was perfectly dazed and irresolute, and after observing that his parole was at an end from that moment, Mr. Mitchel and the American agent walked out, got on their horses, and were soon lost to sight in the woods. After several weeks of hiding and adventure, Mr. Mitchel reached Hobart Town, lay concealed in a friend’s house down the Sandy Bay Road, and was taken on board a vessel in the Derwent bound for Sydney. The American agent had managed matters so well that Mrs. Mitchel and her children were on board also, but, of course, they dared not recognise each other. They got to Sydney, and thence to New York. Mr. Mitchel had an eventful life in America, and during the Civil War he was attached to the ambulance depart- ment, and had the misfortune to lose two of his sons in that fratricidal strife. Finally, returning to Ireland, he died on the 20th of March, 1875, at Drumolain, near Newry. On his return to Ireland, Mr. Mitchel was 44 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW elected to the House of Commons for Tipperary. Mr. Disraeli had the election declared null and void because of Mr. Mitchel’s sentence of transportation. A new writ was issued, and Tipperary again returned Mr. Mitchel by a still greater majority than before. But he was then on his death-bed. Mr. John Martin, the companion of his exile near Bothwell, after being amnestied, returned to Europe, lived for a considerable time in Paris, and, eventually going to Ireland, died in the same house on the ninth day after his friend Mr. Mitchel had passed away. During a recent visit to Ireland the author was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of the lady who was Mr. MitcheFs sister and Mr. Martin’s wife, and quite recently he had the pleasure of again seeing Mrs. Mitchel Martin in London. She is a lady very highly esteemed and honoured by large circles of acquaintances, all of whom are con- versant with the disinterested patriotism and sacrifices of her brother and husband. Mrs. Mitchel has a most interesting and historic personality, and she was deeply affected when, courteously complying with the author’s request, she gave him some particulars concerning the two men whose names will ever occupy an honoured place in Irish history. Some years ago Mrs. Mitchel Martin made a pilgrimage to Nant Cottage, near Bothwell, Tasmania, in order that she might see the place where her husband and brother had lived in exiled companion- ship. She found the cottage partially in an advanced stage of dilapidation, and was cautioned against going upstairs because, as the shepherd occupant of the lower portion of Nant Cottage informed her, “the banisters have been carried to Ireland,” thereby implying that they had been taken piece by piece as mementos. As to Win. Smith O’Brien (whose splendid statue now stands on the Westmoreland Street end of O’Connell Bridge in Dublin), Van Diemen’s Land was JUST IN TIME 45 where he spent many years in exile. For their connec- tion with the abortive rising at Ballingarry, Tipperary, in 1848, Wm. Smith O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and O’Donoghue were sentenced to death. The death sentence was commuted to transportation for life. They were sent to Van Diemen's Land and arrived there in the Swift about the same time that Martin and O'Doherty also reached Hobart Town in the Elphin- stone. All except Wm. Smith O'Brien were allowed to live at large there, but each within a limited district, and no two of them nearer than thirty or forty miles. Each was required to promise that he would not make use of his liberty under these conditions to effect his escape. O'Brien refused the ticket-of-leave, and was therefore sent to Maria Island, a penal station off the coast, where he was subjected to most rigorous, capricious and insolent treatment by the Comptroller- General of Convicts and his subordinates. The Deputy- Assistant Comptroller of Convicts was none other than Balfe, one of the Government informers of 1848, and once an ultra-revolutionary member of the Irish Confederation. After remaining in his dungeon at Maria Island until his health became quite shattered, Mr. O'Brien was persuaded by his fellow-exiles and others to accept a ticket-of-leave, and he went to reside at New Norfolk. Terence Bellew MacManus effected his escape to America in 1851. Maria Island, Bothwell, Lake Sorrell, Campbelltown, New Norfolk, and other localities in Van Diemen's Land possess historical associations of a kind which make them specially interesting to Irish travellers, and very few will come away without visiting them because of their close con- nection with those who figured most prominently during the troublous times of '48. CHAPTER VI EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT— BUCKLEY “ THE WILD WHITE MAN I T will be convenient at this stage to devote a chapter to the progress and extension of settlement not only in New South Wales, but in other portions of the Australian Continent. In the parent colony in the early days, notwithstanding the obstacles already re- ferred to, settlement was carried on prosperously under a system of freehold grants issued on nominal terms. These grants were surveyed, and grazing privileges were allowed outside these surveyed areas. This system was superseded and one of sale by auction set up in its place. The growth of population, the increase of stock, and the desire to acquire land upon free con- ditions soon led to the transgression of the official boundaries of settlement and to the unauthorised occu- pation of the territories beyond. The authorities, on account of the extensive character of the movement, were obliged to give it official recognition, and permits to occupy were issued on payment of an annual fee of ;^^io. After this system had been tried and had de- veloped unsatisfactory results, the system of leases was introduced, and a great portion of the Crown lands in occupation is so held up to this date. Of course, enormous areas of freehold land have been acquired from time to 46 EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 47 time, but the leasehold system still holds good with regard to vast tracts devoted to purely pastoral pur- poses in all the colonies. These tracts are generally known as the back blocks, and are far removed from closely-settled districts. A great spurt was given to settlement in New South Wales in 1815, when Governor Macquarie built a road across the Blue Mountains and opened up a highway for the squatters on the now highly-cultivated Bathurst Plains and the regions north, south, and west of them. Most people know to what a vast extent wool production has been conducted in Australia, but few are aware of the small beginnings from which this great staple industry originated. It was an officer named Macarthur who started wool- growing at Camden, during Governor King's term of office, with a couple of Spanish merino sheep presented to him by George III. about 1803. Wine production is another industry in Australia which has attained huge proportions, and it is interesting to know that the first grape vines in that Continent were planted at Parra- matta in 1791. The first quarter of a century was noted for the ex- plorations of such men as Oxley, Cunningham, Hume, Howell, Sturt, Macleay, and Mitchell, and the accounts they published of their discoveries in the interior were a great incentive to colonising enterprise. In 1802 Port Phillip was discovered by Lieutenant Murray, and in the following year Mr. Grimes, the Surveyor-General of New South Wales, sailed up the Yarra. This was probably the first trip made up that river by any white man, and thirty-three years elapsed before the second white man penetrated as far as the site upon which the city of Melbourne now stands. Shortly after Murray's discovery of Port Phillip there sailed from England a youth, who was afterwards to be known as the ‘‘ father of the colony of Victoria," John Pascoe Fawkner. Born 48 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW in London in 1792, Fawkner sailed with his parents for the distant colonies in 1803, arrived at Port Phillip in October of the same year. Not satisfied with their prospects in that then outlandish neighbourhood, Fawkner and his parents migrated to Van Diemen's Land, where he entered into business, and in 1829 started the Launceston Advertiser, In 1835 Fawkner and others set out from Hobart Town to Port Phillip, and on the 29th July of that year they carried their vessel up the Yarra and tied her to the tea-tree growing on the banks of the river. The part of the river they came to is where the Queen's wharf now stands, and Fawkner so became the founder of Melbourne. In 1838 Fawkner started the first written newspaper in that place, and in 1839 he commenced the Port Phillip Patriot^ which he afterwards made into a daily paper. But Fawkner was not the pioneer of journalism either in Van Diemen's Land or Australia, because the first newspaper published was the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser^ printed by George Howe, and issued for the first time on the 5th of March, 1803. It ceased publication on December 23, 1843. Diemen's Land the first newspaper was the Derwent Star, published on the 8th of January, 1810, and P'awkner was in no way connected with the issue of that publication. Neither was he the pioneer settler of Victoria, for in 1834 the initial attempt at settlement was made by the Hentys, of Launceston, who estab- lished a wool station at Portland Bay. In the year following, John Batman formed a settlement on the western shore of Port Phillip, and Melbourne practically commenced its existence from that date. Batman, who was born in 1800 at Parramatta, New South Wales, went to Van Diemen's Land in 1820, at a time when what was described as “ active warfare " was going on between the colonists and the natives. Proceeding to EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 49 Victoria in 1835, he purchased 600,000 acres of land from the natives. For this enormous area he delivered over in payment to the eight chiefs who possessed the whole of the territory near Port Phillip, 20 pairs of blankets, 30 knives, 10 looking-glasses, 12 tomahawks, some beads, 12 pairs of scissors, 50 lbs. of flour, 50 handkerchiefs, 12 red shirts, 4 flannel jackets, and 4 suits of clothes. The chiefs were satisfied with the transaction, and no doubt Batman was equally pleased. Although it is generally conceded that John Pascoe Fawkner was the father of the city of Melbourne, it is not correct to designate him ‘'the founder of the colony of Victoria,” because he was only eleven years old when he first set foot upon the shores of Port Phillip towards the end of 1803, and remained there only a few months. Others had been there before him, and in the year prior to taking up his location on the banks of the Yarra, facing Emerald Hill (now known as South Melbourne), the Hentys had established themselves at Portland Bay. Batman also settled on the shores of Port Phillip in the same year that Fawkner sailed up the Yarra, and had possessed himself of an enormous tract of land for the ridiculous price already stated, and the stipulation that he was to give the chiefs an annual tribute in the shape of rent. This rent or tribute was to consist of 50 pairs of blankets, 50 knives, 50 tomahawks, 50 pairs of scissors, 50 looking- glasses, 20 suits of slops or clothing, and two tons of flour. The agreement was drawn up in legal phrase- ology, and was signed with their marks by the three principal chiefs, who were brothers, all rejoicing in the name of Jagajaga, and the other chiefs calling them- selves Cooloolook, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Moomarmalar, as well as by Batman and the two witnesses he brought with him for that purpose, and to assist with others of the party in the exploration of 5 50 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the country surrounding the site upon which Melbourne now stands. Ignorant upon the subject of the real value of what they bartered away in this fashion, the natives, always a tractable and inoffensive race when treated with kindness, made numerous concessions of a similar character to numbers of the first settlers in Australia, and it was because of their docility that they were even- tually deprived of the whole of their possessions, in accordance with — ^^The good old rule, the simple plan, That he shall take who has the power, And he shall keep who can.” The early records show that Fawkner and Batman were not upon very amiable terms with each other, and possibly it is due to their rival claims to the distinction that their respective champions compromised matters by recognising Fawkner as “ the founder of Melbourne,” and Batman as “ the founder of Victoria.” The latter died in May, 1840, but Fawkner Ijved till the 4th of September, 1869, after holding many public offices, including membership of the Legislative Council. The settlement of Victoria was begun under better auspices than most of the other colonies on the Australian Continent. It was the only one amongst them, except South Australia, which escaped the taint of convictism. No penal establishment was ever formed there for the reception of criminals transported either direct from England or from the adjoining colony of New South Wales, but the colony only escaped this contamination because, curiously enough. Port Phillip was considered unfit for habitation. When Captain Collins arrived at Port Phillip in 1803 with a batch of convicts his intention was to establish a penal settlement on the shores of the Bay, but he EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 51 entertained such an unfavourable opinion of the locality that he abandoned the idea and took them on to the Derwent in Van Diemen's Land. It was a fortunate thing that this early opinion was formed of it, as otherwise convicts would have been sent there as readily as to other parts of Australia and to Van Diemen's Land. The settlers, pioneered by the Hentys, Batman, and Fawkner, soon proved how erroneous the impression was, and its removal exposed Victoria to the danger from which it had already escaped, because it remained under the administration of New South Wales until 1851, when Victoria became a separate colony with a Government of its own, and Mr. Latrobe as its first Governor. Some years previously it was decided by the Home Govern- ment to scatter its convicts over several of the colonies and not confine transportation solely to Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia, but the settlers of Victoria made a strong resistance to the scheme. It was attempted, however, but public opinion was so strong against it that when the ship Randolph appeared at Port Phillip Heads with convicts on board the captain was forbidden to enter. In Sydney, where the vessel next sailed to, the same opposition was offered, for by this time the colonists of New South Wales were quite as determined as their Victorian neighbours to exclude any more shipments of the kind, and the upshot was that Western Australia had to take them in. The original plan of settlement adopted in New South Wales was applied to all other portions of Australia except Victoria and South Australia, and they remained for many years nothing more nor less than huge penal establishments. They offered little attraction to free men, and the consequence was to impede anything in the shape of real bond fide settle- ment. Cook had sailed up Moreton Bay in 1770, but it 52 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW was not until 1823 that it became a convict station. Moreton Bay continued to receive regular batches of convicts until 1841, when transportation to that part of Australia ceased, and immediately afterwards the colony made rapid progress. Separation from New South Wales was urged with such successful persistence that in 1859 Moreton Bay became Queensland, with a Government of its own. Sir George Bowen had the honour to be its first Governor under a constitution which conferred upon it all the rights and privileges of self-government. From that moment a new and vigorous life was imparted to Queensland. Settlement extended in all directions, and emigrants poured in by thousands under the liberal conditions which invited them to her shores. The settlement of South Australia dates from 1836. Captain John Hindmarsh, R.N., arrived in December of that year with a considerable number of free emigrants and entered into formal possession of the colony as its first Governor. The conception of settling this portion of Australia upon a totally different basis from that upon which New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land, and Western Australia were founded, originated with Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who, in later years, played the most prominent part in the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. His project for the settlement of South Australia was given effect to by associations formed for the purpose, and a constitution was granted to it under which no convict could set foot upon its shores. Another most important feature of the con- stitution was that the land was to be sold at a fixed price, and the revenue accruing from its sale applied to the introduction of labour by gratuitous transport. As far as possible, adults of both sexes in equal proportions, their ages not exceeding thirty years, were brought out from Great Britain, and the South Australian Associa- EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 53 tion subsequently extended its scheme of emigration by accepting a batch of very desirable people from Germany. This accounts for the great number of Germans who are to be found in South Australia at the present day, and a splendid class of colonists they have proved them- selves. In deciding that the land was to be sold at a fixed price, the South Australian Association followed a very wise course. They had in their minds the great abuses which had happened with regard to the land question in New South Wales and elsewhere, under which the relatives and proteges of English Cabinet Ministers and Colonial officials were allowed to monopo- lise extensive areas without paying much, and sometimes nothing, for them. Therefore, all land in South Australia was to be sold at the fixed price of ;£’i an acre, afterwards reduced to twelve shillings, and again restored to the original figure. Under this liberal land system, free emigration and the absolute exclusion of convict contamination, the settlement of South Aus- tralia progressed with great rapidity. There was the further incentive to progress that, under its constitution. South Australia could claim the government of its own affairs as soon as its population reached 10,000. Western Australia was founded as a convict settle- ment in 1825, and it continued the system years after all the other colonies established under the same baneful influences had put an end to it. Curiously enough, it was the one colony that desired convict labour, and in 1850 the colonists of Western Australia actually for- warded a petition to the British Government requesting it to make Swan River a convict settlement. The Home authorities readily acceded to their request, and during the ensuing eighteen years sent out no less than 10,000 convicts. In 1868, however, in deference to the unanimous wish of the whole of Australia, transportation from England to Western Australia was stopped. Until 54 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW this was done the colony made no material progress. Indeed, it remained far behind any of the other colonies both in respect to increase of population and expansion of settlement ; and different climatic conditions and the non-discovery of gold within its boundaries, until recent years, do not entirely account for the stagnation which prevailed in Western Australia prior to the stoppage of the convict system. There are few students of Australian history who are not familiar with the story of William Buckley, “ the wild white man of the Australian Bush,'’ whose career was a most adventurous and romantic one. When Captain Collins called at Port Phillip in 1803 found a penal settlement there, Buckley was one of the convicts on board the fleet. Accounts differ as to the reason of his transportation. It is stated that theft was the cause of his conviction, whilst another version is that he had been put on his trial for complicity in the plot amongst the soldiers at Gibraltar to take the Duke of Kent’s life. What he was transported for, however, is of no importance. On the arrival of the convict ships at Port Phillip, Buckley and several others saw a chance to escape and took it. They were never seen afterwards by any one on board, and if they reached the shore they had evidently gone into the bush. Pursuit of them was out of the question. Captain Collins made up his mind to abandon the idea of forming a penal settlement there, and sailed from the place two days afterwards, leaving Buckley and his companions to their fate. There is no record of what became of Buckley’s companions ; they must either have been drowned whilst escaping, were murdered by the blacks, or died from natural causes as years rolled on. As to Buckley himself, he penetrated the woods and met with a tribe of blacks shortly after the departure of the convict ships. They treated him in the most friendly way, and he became EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 55 one of themselves. He adopted all their habits and customs and lived the same savage and nomadic life. For thirty-two years he was constantly with the aborigines ; in fact, he became nothing more nor less than a savage in all respects, and when he disclosed himself to the first white settlers who, in 1835, took up a permanent location 017 the shores of Port Phillip he was naked like the blacks themselves, with spear, boomerang and all the rest of the wild man’s accoutrements. Soon after joining the tribe the savages made him a chief — his fine physical proportions evidently impressed them — and at once he became possessed of the usual number of ‘‘ gins ” allotted, as a matter of course, to one in his position and authority. They liked Buckley and feared him, too, and he exercised a powerful control over his own tribe and others in the surrounding country. It was a startling revelation to the whites when first he presented himself. Tanned brown though he was by constant exposure, the outlines of his features showed that he did not belong to the same race as the blacks. Closer examination convinced them that he was a European, but when they spoke to him he did not under- stand what they said and uttered words which to them were equally incomprehensible. Extraordinary as it may appear, Buckley had absolutely forgotten his own language, and it was some time before it came back to him after his return to civilisation. Then the early settlers found him most useful to them as an interpreter. He stayed at Port Phillip for some time, and then went to Hobart Town, where he died in 1856. He was about twenty-three years old when he escaped from the convict vessel and went to live amongst the savages. The fact of Buckley forgetting his own language recalls to mind the Tichborne cause celebre. During the trial of that case it was contended as one of the points proving the imposture attempted by the burly claimant 56 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW from Wagga Wagga that, as he could not speak or write French, and the real Sir Roger could do both fluently, therefore the claimant could not be Sir Roger. Had Dr. Kenealy known Buckley’s history, he might have argued that inability on the part of his client to speak or write French proved nothing against him ; for here was an instance where a man had actually forgotten his mother tongue, and not an acquired language. CHAPTER VII WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM I T must not be supposed that all the thousands of men and women who were transported to Australia and Van Diemen’s Land were sent there because they had been convicted of the most heinous crimes. Many there were amongst them, it is true, who had been guilty of the highest offences known to the criminal law, and upon whom death sentences had been passed which, on account of certain extenuating circumstances, were after- wards commuted to penal servitude for life, or for a term of years long enough to give little hope that their libera- tion, if it ever should come, would be of much use to them in advanced age and infirmity. The prospect for these offenders was one of perpetual gloom, in chains and prison cells for the remainder of their existence, far away from every one belonging to them. They felt that they were consigned to a living tomb, and it was upon this account that transportation had worse terrors for many of them than death itself. They abandoned themselves to despair, and their misery was intensified once they found themselves on board a convict ship bound for southern seas. There was nothing whatever in the convict system of olden times which was calculated to exercise a 57 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 5 ^ reforming influence upon those who became subject to its rigorous and unhumanising application. Their transit from England to the penal establishments of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land, protracted in those days for many long months, was a period of un- speakable misery and wretchedness. Huddled together in numbers out of all proportion to the available accommodation, and chained and manacled as so many wild beasts might be in a travelling menagerie, these convicts endured tortures and agonies which it would be impossible to exaggerate. They could not look to their jailors for one gleam of sympathy or commiseration, because, as a rule, men were chosen to guard them who were brutal by nature, and did not hesitate to enforce a system of discipline and punish- ments which not only aroused all the worst passions of the convicts, but brutalised them and made them despe- rate. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that during these voyages many of the convicts availed themselves of the first opportunity that presented itself to revenge themselves upon their goading and merciless guards. Murders were by no means uncommon occurrences, and many of these convict ships were nothing more nor less than floating hells. Revolting against the systematic cruelties they were subjected to, it sometimes happened that the convicts obtained the mastery and used their short-lived power with unsparing vengeance before they could be subdued. It was, of course, all the worse for them in the long run ; but they could not restrain their passions when the moment for individual or preconcerted retaliation arrived. These periodical outbreaks, however, made their condition less endurable than ever, and their experiences on the convict ship, bitter as they might be, were as nothing compared with the barbarous treatment that was in store for them at the penal stations to which they were afterwards consigned. THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 59 No greater mistake could have been made than to carry on a system of transportation according to the plan upon which it was originally conducted. Punish- ment instead of reformation was the one thing aimed at by the administrators of the criminal establishments in those days, and the moral regeneration of the convict was not attempted. Under a more enlightened system, the good work that might have been accomplished on board these convict ships would have been fruitful of the best results, not alone upon the convicts them- selves, but upon the social conditions of the colonies years afterwards. As it was, the average long-term convict disembarked a more irreclaimable and desperate man than he was at the time of his embarkation at an English port. The class of vessel provided for the conveyance of these convicts from England to her penal colonies in the Southern Pacific fell far short of actual requirements. These vessels were, as a rule, of small tonnage. A large amount of the available space was required for the ship’s officers and those officers also who were in charge of the soldiers who were there to keep watch over the convicts and guard against mutiny and escape. These soldiers and guards had to be accommodated between decks, and they, too, were very often miserably provided for. Heavily chained, the convicts were packed below the main hatch- way without any regard whatever to the cubic air-space essential to healthy conditions. This marine prison extended from one side of the vessel to the other. The partitions at each end were loopholecj, so that the convicts, in any attempt to overpower their guards, might be placed between two fires below, and the arrangements were such also that, if extreme measures of the kind were necessary, the whole compartment could be swept with grape-shot from end to end. Then, from the deck above, the prison could be fired into at 6o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW various points, and guards were constantly on duty at the top and bottom of the ladder leading to the deck. All these precautions were necessary, of course, but, complete as they were, and strict as the discipline amongst the guards and soldiers undoubtedly was, there were occasions upon which serious attempts were made to overpower the guards and take possession of the vessel. Occasionally plots of this description were disclosed by some of the convicts themselves before they could be put into execution, but in some instances the guards were surprised and the mutiny came perilously near a successful termination before the mutineers could be subdued — not, however, before some of them had lost their lives, as well as two or three of the guards and soldiers also. These mutinies might easily have been averted if better treatment had been accorded to the convicts. But they were treated more like dogs than human beings ; the cruelties inflicted upon them, even for the smallest breach of regulations, were greater than can be conceived nowadays, and they were threatened with punishments upon arrival in Australia or Van Diemen's Land which prompted them to conspire against their jailors and attempt the seizure of the vessel, in order that they might effect their escape to some foreign land. The barbarity of their guards was such that, failing in their preconcerted mutiny, they would gladly welcome death as a release from a con- tinuance of the misery they endured. As a matter of fact, some of them took their own lives before reaching their destination because life in these floating prison hells had become intolerable to them. Others lost their reason, and, if they survived the passage, were incurable lunatics for the remainder of their existence. It was in the tropics that these convict ships passed through their most terrible experiences. Very fre- quently tliey were becalmed for weeks at a stretch. THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 6i The sun’s rays pouring down upon the vessel with great fierceness day after day made the prison between decks a place fearful to contemplate. Insufficient to accom- modate half its number of occupants, the stench became abominable, without any adequate means being taken to improve it. The condition of things grew rapidly from bad to worse, and fevers and other contagious diseases broke out and terrorised every one. Whilst convicts stricken down raved in their delirium, those who were not yet victims heaped imprecations upon the Government, upon the ship, and upon every one who was responsible for what had happened through over- crowding and the absence of proper sanitary pre- cautions. What with the ravings of the stricken, and the blasphemies and profanities of that heterogeneous mass of criminality confined within such narrow limits, it would be difficult to describe the shocking reality of the situation when a convict ship, overtaken by a terrible epidemic, had the misfortune to lie becalmed for any length of time under a scorching tropical sun. Yet that was the fate of more than one vessel of the kind, and then it was that a mutiny of the convicts was most to be feared. There was always present the danger of the contagion spreading to those in command and the crews, soldiers, and guards, under their control, and it is easy to conceive the dreadful sensations and apprehensions that an outbreak of disease gave rise to. Even under circumstances like these, the brutal treat- ment of the convicts went on without appreciable abate- ment, and the wonder is that the transportation system was not responsible for even greater calamities than it produced, and those that happened were by no means inconsiderable. Imagine in these more enlightened times a system under which there was no pretence at classification. The blood-stained murderer and the burglar, who would have been equally callous of the 62 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW sacrifice of human life if the necessity of taking it to save him from arrest and identification presented itself as the only loophole of escape, were brought into direct contact, night and day, with first-offenders of recent gentility and respectability, who, in moments of, to them, irresistible temptation, had sacrificed all their prospects by one fatal deviation from honest paths, and abused the trust reposed in them. Still, for this one departure from a hitherto unblemished record, they found themselves on board a convict ship herding con- stantly with those whose whole lives constituted an almost uninterrupted catalogue of crime, graduating from small beginnings as juvenile chevaliers cT industrie in Fleet Street to daring highwaymen on the King's high-road, and ultimately homicidal burglars of the most reckless type. Pickpockets there were, too, amongst the company who had never progressed beyond that initial stage of dishonesty ; and as for forgers and embezzlers, whose reputations had been wrecked by a single transgression, they were quite as numerous as any other class of offender on board these convict vessels. Worse still, there were also many young fellows who had been sentenced to various terms of transportation for offences which ought to have been summarily disposed of if the authorities of the period had been inspired with more intelligent ideas about the fitness of things and the salutariness of reformatorial methods. In noway, however, were punishments made to fit the crimes of lesser magnitude ; and, no classifica- tion being attempted on board these convict ships, all were huddled together indiscriminately. The less vicious were contaminated by the more hardened, and became willing listeners to the romantic and ex- aggerated recital of their exploits, which these ex-high- waymen and burglars lost no opportunity of narrating to their juvenile associates. Before very long the effect THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 63 of this enforced companionship, however obnoxious and disagreeable it might have been at the commencement, manifested itself in a way to demonstrate plainly enough that a sort of criminal fraternity had been established amongst all who came under the common designation of ‘‘prisoners of the Crown.” With an all-absorbing interest and attention, these young people never tired of hearing about deeds and hairbreadth escapes, which were oftentimes mere inventions ; gradually they came to regard the narrators as heroes, whose past exploits were worthy of imitation in the lands which were to afford such ample scope for their criminal enterprises. There was a degree of fascination about these accounts of daring episodes which they could not resist. These sensational stories made deep impressions on their minds, and they longed for the time to come when they could effect their escape after landing, and become highwaymen themselves. During the passage out conspiracies of this nature were formed which were afterwards carried into successful execution. If their treatment on board was but the avant-gout of what was afterwards in store for them during a prolonged period of captivity, then they must liberate themselves at all hazards on the first occasion that made escape possible, and they resolved to carry out their object at all risks. Thus the foundations were laid of what was afterwards to be known as bushranging, so called because the con- victs who effected their escape from the penal establish- ments took to the woods, or “ bush,” as timbered areas in the colonies are called, to prevent recapture, and carried on a career of highway robbery and outrage so replete with thrilling and tragic situations as to throw into comparative insignificance the adventures of Turpin, Robert Macaire, and Claude Duval. But the subject of bushranging must be reserved for a later chapter, CHAPTER VIII FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION — GIBBET HILL — DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION C oncurrently with the scheme for ridding Great Britain of large numbers of its very worst class of criminals, the Government also resolved to experiment- alise upon the less hardened offenders, young men and women who brought themselves within the operation of the transportation laws for offences comparatively trivial — offences which a Bow Street magistrate would now consider sufficiently expiated by the imposition of a few days’ imprisonment. Less than two centuries earlier, however, crimes of the same nature, trivial as they were, would have been considered of sufficient gravity to carry the death penalty upon conviction. In his History of Halifax, published in 1775, Watson says that a strange old law, relinquished in 1650, known as the Halifax Gibbet Law, was enacted here at the early period of the woollen manufacture. For the protection of the manufacturers against the thievish propensities of persons who stole the cloth when stretched all night on racks or wooden frames to dry, the Gibbet Law provided that all persons within a certain circuit who had stolen property of or above the value of I3^d. were to be tried by the I'rith of Burghers within the Liberty, and if found guilty they were handed over to the 64 FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 65 magistrate for punishment and were executed on the first market day following by means of an instrument similar to the guillotine. If any readers of this volume should happen to visit Halifax, in Yorkshire, they will see a mound on Gibbet Hill into which have been collected the remains of fifty- three malefactors who suffered decapitation between the years 1541 and 1650 for offences which nowadays would be amply punished by a few hours’ detention in a police court lock-up. The remains of the Halifax Gibbet within the enclosure were discovered in the year 1840 under a mound of earth known as the Gibbet Hill, and were enclosed by the trustees of the town. The public records preserve the names of the fifty-three persons beheaded on this spot between the years 1541 and 1650. The first on the list is Richard Bentley, of Sowerby, executed March 20, 1541, and the two last were John Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchell, both of the same township, beheaded April 30, 1650. In the Harleian MS. (British Museum), written in a sixteenth-century hand, the following description of the Halifax Gibbet is given : “ There is and hath been of ancient time a law or rather a custom at Halifax that whosoever doth commit any felony, and is taken with the same or confess the fact, upon examination, if it be valued by four constables to amount to the sum of thirteen pence halfpenny, he is forthwith beheaded upon the next market day — which usually falls upon the Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays — or else upon the same day that he is so convicted, if market be then holden. The engine wherewith the execution is done is a square block of wood of the length of four foot and a half, which doth ride up and down in a slot, rabet or regalt, between two pieces of timber that are framed and set upright, of five yards in height. In the nether end of the sliding block is an axe keyed or fastened with 6 66 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW iron into the wood, which being drawn up to the top of the frame is there fastened with a wooden pin — the one end set on a piece of wood which goeth cross on the two rabets, and the other end being let into the block holding the axe, with a notch made into the same, after the manner of a Sampson’s post — unto the midst of which pin there is a long rope fastened that cometh down among the people, so that when the offender hath made his confession, and hath laid his neck over the nether- most block, every man there doth either take hold of the rope, or putteth his arm so near to the same as he can get in token that he is willing to see true justice executed, and pulling out the pin in this manner, the head block wherein the axe is fastened doth fall down with such violence that, if the neck of the transgressor were so big as that of a bull, it should be cut in sunder at a stroke, and roll from the body by an huge distance. If it be so that the offender be apprehended for an ox or oxen, sheep, kine, or horse, or any such cattle, the self beast, or other of the same kind, hath the end of the rope tied somewhere unto them so that they draw out the the pin whereby the offender is executed. And thus much of Halifax law, which I set down only to show the custom of that country in this behalf.” It will be seen from the foregoing account that the guillotine was no new thing, and that the French doctor of that name can lay no claim to having invented the machine two centuries later. Probably he had read of the Halifax Gibbet, and improved upon it. The public records show the nature of the offences for which these fifty-three men were executed on Gibbet Hill, Halifax, between the years 1541 and 1650, and there is one amongst the number — the last of them, if the author’s memory is not at fault — who lost his head for stealing a piece of cloth of the value of nine- pence ! Now, the law provided that the stolen property FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 67 should be of the value of or above thirteen pence half- penny; but evidently there was no legal hair-splitting in those days, because the fact that it was only worth nine- pence did not prevent decapitation. What cruel times these must have been, to be sure, and what a shocking fate was the culprit’s who was proved to have com- mitted a petty larceny of this nature ! The Halifax Gibbet is mentioned here to show what barbarous punishments were inflicted far into the seventeenth century. Whilst the degrees of punishment were modified and reduced as time went on, still larceny was a trans- portable offence when the penal system was resorted to in New South Wales, and later on in Van Diemen’s Land, Moreton Bay, and Western Australia. Young men and women, convicted on comparatively minor charges, were sent across the seas by thousands for various terms, some of them of short duration. They had the hope held out to them that good conduct would ensure their liberation, because the Government wanted to have the places settled by a young and sturdy population whose labour would supply the requirements of such as went out there upon their own account. These young convicts were not irretrievably vicious, and many of them gained their liberty not long after their arrival, either upon the completion of their sentences or by pro- curing tickets-of-leave before these sentences expired. By good conduct also some of the long-term criminals were eventually allowed to go forth as “ assigned servants ” on condition that they remained within a particular district and reported themselves to the prison authorities at stated intervals. But woe betide them if they were ever afterwards guilty of transgressing the laws of the colony. Some of these liberh relapsed into crime, and the severity of their treatment was worse than what they had previously endured ; but as a rule the 68 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW ticket-of-leave system worked tolerably well. The liberated convicts supplied the needs of the labour market, and their services were available to the free settlers at rates of wages far below what would have prevailed had the settlement been founded upon free emigration principles. Low as the wages were, how- ever, these ticket-of-leave men saved money. Even- tually, they were able to send home for their relatives and friends. From the position of “assigned servants they gradually became their own masters, secured holdings which by hard industry they were enabled to convert into profitable grazing and agricultural farms ; some of them took to trading and commercial pursuits, and prospered as they never could have done in England. They even owned newspapers, and during the remainder of their lives many of these “ old hands,’' as they were called in whispers to indicate to the uninitiated what their previous career had been, were amongst the wealthiest and most influential people in the community. If Barrington’s couplet could be applied to them — True patriots we, for, be it understood, We left our country for our country's good ” — they had the satisfaction of knowing that, after all, enforced expatriation had proved an unlooked-for bless- ing to themselves, for there they were surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries that wealth could bring them, their past history condoned by unrestricted social inter- course with those to whom the clang of prison chains was a sound unknown, and the flagellator’s lash an unfelt mortification and torture. At the same time, it must be admitted that the ticket- of-leave system failed as a reforming process in number- less instances. It let loose upon early Colonial society large numbers of men — and women, too — who gave FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 69 infinite trouble to the authorities, and made these penal settlements such hotbeds of crime and immorality that free emigration was very materially hindered for many years. Australia and Van Diemen's Land were looked upon as countries which it was very undesirable for decent, law-abiding people to go to, and a long period had to pass before the stigma was removed. Outrages of the most diabolical kinds were committed not only upon free settlers, but also upon the helpless and unoffending natives, who were shot down in the most ruthless manner by these hardened criminals, whose records terrorised the community and rendered life and property exceedingly insecure. It was a bad beginning for British colonisation in those distant latitudes, and it was mainly because of the infamous reputation thus attained that the early growth of those far-off posses- sions was so retarded. The penal settlements in those days offered no inducements to free people who found opportunities to emigrate elsewhere. Their social con- ditions were such as to repel settlement rather than attract it, and the consequence was that for very many years the arrivals of convicts far exceeded those who went out there with the object of founding homes for themselves on the virgin soil of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. In communities where the criminal class so largely predominated, it may be safely inferred that their social conditions were not of a very high standard ; and if the predisposition to crime may be regarded as a hereditary misfortune, then the convict system of early times must be held responsible for a large propor- tion of the crimes which were committed in Australia and Van Diemen's Land all through the earlier half of the last century and for years after the abolition of that system. If the theory as to the hereditary transmission of criminal instincts holds good, it is clear that the taint of convictism made itself manifest for several decades after 70 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the original sources of contamination were wiped out in accordance with the ordinary laws of nature. It would be unreasonable to suppose that, because Australian colonisation was begun under auspices so unfavourable, therefore nearly the whole of its popu- lation to-day has sprung from convict sources. No idea could be more erroneous ; it certainly prevails not only amongst the vulgar and uninformed classes of Great Britain, but amongst some of those from whose natural intelligence and education more enlightened impressions might be expected. Since his arrival in England the author has found occasion more than once to set people right upon the subject. One lady even went so far as to suppose that Australians would not care to be questioned too closely about their grand- fathers, thereby insinuating that their past history was necessarily associated with convictism. No greater fallacy could exist ; but it certainly existed even in the mind of Lord Beauchamp when he went to Australia a year or two ago to assume the Governorship of New South Wales. In one of his earliest speeches after landing his Lordship made the extraordinary faux pas of declaring that the people of New South Wales had redeemed the faults of their forefathers. It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and, as might be ex- pected, the people were greatly incensed at the implica- tion that they were all the descendants of those who had been taken to the Colony free of charge, accompanied by strong detachments of soldiery and gaol officials to see that they were safely conveyed to their destination. It was a regrettable commencement of his high office, and probably accounts for the fact that Lord Beauchamp was never so popular as many of his predecessors, notably Lord Carrington, Even in earliest times many good families of Great Ih'itain emigrated to Australia and Van Diemen's Land, FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 71 and the numbers that followed them increased as years rolled on, and the administration of law and justice was established upon a more solid basis. The natural advantages offered in the land of their adoption were so great that they determined to become permanent settlers. Many of them brought capital with them which they invested with success, and their descendants afterwards reaped great benefits from the colonising enterprise of their parents. Such favourable accounts were sent home of the productiveness of these lands in the far South, that a steady stream of emigration to their shores at last set in, and years before the first half of the century had closed the free population of Aus- tralia and Van Diemen’s Land assumed considerable proportions. The discovery of gold in 1851, however, proved the greatest of all incentives to free emigration — that is, the influx of free people — and the stream was so large that soon the convict element and the descendants of convicts were placed in a vast minority. Gold- seeking was the precursor to permanent settlement, to the occupation of vast areas of country which had hitherto remained in their primitive state, and such a general impetus was given to settlement that the popu- lation of Australia is considerably over four millions to-day. There are very few of the old lags ” left to remind one of the days of convictism, and the descen- dants of these people are infinitesimal in number com- pared with the millions who have no reason to blush at their pedigrees. What absurd nonsense, therefore, it is to say that Australians do not care to talk about their grandfathers, when their family records are quite as clean and irreproachable as the genealogical tracings of those who so ignorantly calumniate them upon the subject of their descent. The danger to the national life which was likely to spring from the transportation system was perceived by 72 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the free settlers of Australia long before the tide of free emigration and legitimate settlement set in and removed any apprehensions for the future well-being of the colonies. Years prior to the removal of that danger, however, the trend of public opinion was in the direction of getting rid of transportation altogether, and a league was ultimately formed with that object. Still, there was a large section of the various Colonial communities in favour of its continuance. They preferred it because it placed at their disposal hired convict labour at lower rates of remuneration than they could hope for if this source of supply were stopped. Therefore they were anti-abolitionists, and the agitation against convictism encountered much strenuous opposition from such employers as did not trouble themselves about the antecedents of those whom they took into their service. One of these employers, writing from Van Diemen’s Land at the period referred to, throws light upon the question at issue between the abolitionists and the sup- porters of transportation by referring to the difficulty experienced in getting freemen to work at the rates of pay then current in that island. These are his words : Freemen find so many ways of making money here that they will not take service, and so the convicts — or, as they are delicately called, the prisoners — supply all demands of this nature, and if the histories of every house were made public you would shudder. Even in our small menage, our cook has committed murder, our footman burglary, and our housemaid bigamy.” The writer might have gone farther and stated with equal candour and outspokenness, what was absolutely true, namely, that one effect of the hiring of prisoner servants at lower wages than the free men who were available for employment were willing to accept, was to force hundreds of them to leave the Colony, much to its loss and to the advantage of other colonies where the hiring FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 73 of prisoners did not prevail, and within whose boundaries even ticket-of-leave men were not allowed to land under laws specially passed by the local legislatures with that object, notably in South Australia, Victoria, and New Zealand. To be known as an ex-convict at large in these colonies subjected him to arrest and deportation whence he came ; but often persons of this description escaped detection until the commission of some offence disclosed their antecedents to the authorities. Those who were unknown, and did nothing to bring themselves again within the meshes of the criminal law, became peaceable, orderly, and sometimes prosperous settlers in the exclusive colonies referred to. The movement against transportation began in the late thirties. In New South Wales in 1839 a Par- liamentary Committee recommended its cessation, and a counter agitation was immediately begun for its con- tinuance. The supporters of this agitation were for the most part well-to-do colonists in New South Wales, who employed a considerable amount of labour, and who wished for the continuance of the system in order that they might have convicts assigned to them at low rates of pay. At the same time they wanted to have their own burdens of taxation reduced, and coolly pro- posed that the colony should be relieved of the cost of police and gaols to the extent of one-half, and that the British Government should contribute that proportion. These utterly selfish proposals aroused great indigna- tion, the result being that, in obedience to popular opinion, the report of the Parliamentary Committee was given effect to by an order of the Queen in Council in August, 1840, that no more convicts were to be sent to New South Wales. The British Government still kept pouring them into Van Diemen's Land, however, and New South Wales itself was threatened once more with an undesirable influx such as that colony had 74 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW already succeeded in putting a stop to. It was con- sidered that the time had come to make an effort to put an end to the transportation of convicts to any part of Australasia at all ; the feeling entertained by the aboli- tionists was that there was no real security for exemp- tion anywhere so long as the system was maintained in part, and the efforts of the colonists were now directed towards obtaining the complete exclusion of convicts from the whole, and not from any particular portions only, of the colonies. This they were unable to accom- plish for many years, owing to the attitude of the colonists in Western Australia ; but the immediate out- come of the movement was to stop transportation to any other part of the continent except Western Australia, and later on to Van Diemen’s Land itself. The question of capital and labour was thus early associated with a movement in which the social, political, and moral improvement of Australian com- munities was so deeply concerned. Many employers for selfish reasons preferred existing conditions, and did their best to render the agitation abortive. But there were others, and happily they were in a majority, who placed a greater value than what affected them- selves personally upon the future good name of Australia, and the patriotic as well as philanthropic motives which animated them ensured the eventual success of their crusade against the perpetuation of that great stain of convictism upon the national life and character of Australia and the penal island adjacent to it What brought matters to a head was the arrival of a vessel in Sydney harbour, in the June of 1849, having between two and three hundred convicts on board. The colonists were taken by surprise, because nine years previously the British Government had under- taken to send no more convicts to New South Wales and other colonies, and many who had since come to FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 75 reside in the colony had emigrated to it on the faith of the British Government's assurance that transporta- tion had ceased for ever. In spite of this, however, it was the intention of the authorities to land this fresh shipload at Sydney. Public indignation ran high, and an immense meeting of citizens was held to protest against their disembarkation and generally against the transportation of British criminals to the colony of New South Wales. The resolutions passed at that meeting affirmed that continued transportation was in violation ) 3 yy 32 )) 4 )) 95 }) 4 II )} 5 )) 49 )) 5 yy 3 )) 6 )) 19 )> 6 ,, I )) 7 )> 13 )) 7 II )) 8 „ 4 y) 9 I yy II „ I yy 12 „ Thus beyond those who could vote in one electorate only, there were 735 electors who exercised 1,682 votes for the Council, and 1,553 electors who possessed 3,853 votes amongst them for the House of Assembly. Doubtless Tasmania will soon follow the example of other colonies and allow one vote only to each qualified elector for both Houses. REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 153 There are four paid Ministers of the Crown in Tas- mania, the Premier and Attorney-General receiving ;^i,ooo a year, and the three other Ministers £ 7^0 each. There is also a Minister without portfolio or pay. Members of Parliament receive ;^ioo each per annum. In Western Australia the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly are elective. From the Council, members retire in succession according to seniority, and the duration of membership of the Legislative Assembly used to be four years (unless dissolved in the meantime), but the triennial system has now been introduced. Members are not paid for their services. The only reimbursement they receive is a free railway pass over all Government lines, and by courtesy the same privilege is extended to them on lines belonging to private com- panies. The number of members in the Legislative Council is thirty, and of the Legislative Assembly forty- four, but the latter has been increased to fifty. The franchise for the Legislative Council is upon an extended basis, and for the Legislative Assembly every adult man who has resided in Western Australia for one year is entitled to be registered as a voter. The Ministry consists of seven, six of whom are paid, and the seventh is without portfolio. The Premier gets £ 1,200 a year, and the five other Ministers 1,000 each. In Queensland the system of a nominated Legislative Council still prevails. The number of members is un- limited, and the present number is forty-one. The Governor, besides appointing the President, summons to the Council such persons as he thinks fit, provided that not less than four-fifths consist of persons not holding any office of emolument under the Crown, except officers of his Majesty’s sea and land forces on full or half pay, or retired officers on pensions. The tenure of seats in the Legislative Council is life. Mem- bers receive no reimbursement ; they get a free railway 154 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW pass. The Legislative Assembly consists of seventy- two members, who are each paid ;^^300 per annum, with free railway pass and travelling expenses to and from the Session. The duration of the Legislative Assembly is three years, and adult suffrage is the qualification of electors after six months’ residence in an electoral dis- trict. Elections are conducted by ballot. The Chamber elects its own Speaker. Queensland has eight paid Ministers and one without portfolio. The Premier gets ^1,300 a year, and the rest of the Ministers ^1,000 each. In Victoria the Legislative Council comprises forty- eight members, and the membership of the Lower House is ninety-five. Legislative Councillors receive no payment, and the members of the Legislative Assembly are paid £;\oo a year each. Ministers are voted a lump sum, and they divide it amongst themselves in certain proportions. One-third of the Legislative Council retires every two years. The tenure of seats in the Legislative Assembly is three years. The New South Wales Parliament consists of 66 members of the Legislative Council and 125 in the Assembly. The former get no pay, but are allowed a free railway pass, and the members of the Legislative Assembly receive ;£^300 a year each, with free railway pass. New South Wales has nine Ministers of the Crown and one without portfolio, who is Vice-President of the Legislative Council. Two of the nine draw £1,820 of salary per annum, and the salaries of the other seven are fixed at ^1,370. Democracy has been marching steadily ahead all over Australia. The example set by Victoria has led to the extension of the franchise in other colonies, and they are all gradually approaching that point when it can be truly said of them that in their State affairs no less than in their P'edcral concerns they have government of the REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 155 people, by the people, and for the people. The only relics of Conservatism that still remain in two of them are those which confer upon the Government of the day the right to call whomsoever it pleases to the Upper House. As the author has before indicated, a strong current of public feeling has set in against these nomi- nated Chambers in New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand. Many there are who advocate that there should be no Upper Houses at all, and that, with the Referendum in force, one House is all that is required. That would certainly be the simplest method of effecting a reform which would bring parliamentary institutions into greater popularity, whilst lessening the cost very considerably. The functions of individual States, now that a Federal Government has been established, will not be so varied or important as they have been in the past, and this is a very strong argument in favour of the State parliamentary system being remodelled either upon the lines of the Referendum and one Chamber, or two elec- tive Houses with a greatly reduced membership in each. In the past there has been a far too slavish observance of the English parliamentary system under conditions vastly different ; the number of members in each branch of the Colonial Legislatures has been out of all propor- tion to the population, and the cost has been heaped up tremendously. To people in Great Britain it must seem absolutely ridiculous that the parliamentary system should be pushed to the extreme length it is in Colonies where the whole of the people only number a few hundred thousand, and in others even where the population is about a fifth or sixth of that of London. They will realise the absurdity of this by reference to the statistics at the end of this volume, and by reading the chapter devoted to the subject in that portion of the book which deals with New Zealand as the place par ex- cellence of over-government, parliamentary and otherwise. CHAPTER XV AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY CONTINENT settled as Australia was at the IJL beginning of its history, and peopled since by persons from most quarters of the globe, presents elements of cosmopolitanism very similar, although, of course, upon a very much smaller scale, to those of the United States. There is a free-and-easy style about Australia and Australians which is absent from older countries, and the conventionalities of the latter are not observed with anything like the same adherence to punctilious details in social intercourse. People out there mix more freely with one another than they do in England ; there are not the same class distinctions nor the frigid stiffness that is encountered in the old world, no titled aristocracy to impress other mortals with their superiority or of their assumed creation from a different kind of clay ; no bourgeoisie to look down in its turn upon those who are inferior to them in social position or wealth. Mix with any crowd you like, ride in trains or tramcars, travel on steamboats or walk through the streets of any colonial city, the same spirit of manly independence and equality as men and women strikes you as the main characteristic of colonial society. It is true enough that sometimes you will find people giving themselves airs, either because they are richer or do not AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 157 soil their hands in earning a livelihood. Women are more prone to do this than men, and to form little exclusive cliques or sets amongst themselves ; but as a rule people of this description are the parvenus of colonial society, and they only get laughed at. In the theatres the artisan and his wife sit alongside the Supreme Court Judge and his wife, or the opulent squatter and his lady ; their pews may be side by side in church ; and you will find them travelling in the same class by rail or steamboat. At public functions there is no distinction of classes. You attend a Governor’s levee, and the chances are that you will meet the barber who has shaved you that morning, or the tailor who has made your clothes. You don’t con- sider either of them a bit out of place ; they consider they are as good as you are, and the chances are that morally and physically they are your superiors. No one except a cad would say that they had no right to present themselves at these functions. You may not see them at other functions where the Governor, like anybody else, has a right to select his own company ; but at the levees all sorts and conditions of men are to be seen, as all sorts and conditions of womenfolk flock to the receptions of the Governor’s lady. A sense of equality brings them there — a feeling on the part of Mrs. Brown that she is just as good as Mrs. Jones, and that Mrs. Jones has not been modelled out of better clay than herself Self-esteem and self-respect will not allow her to suppose that she is inferior as a woman to any- body else more fortunate in worldly possessions, or whose husband has been more successful in business, speculation, or official promotion than her own. The colonial woman tolerates no nonsense of that sort ; and just as Jack thinks himself as good as his master in the colonies, so the respectable woman recognises no individual superiority in her sex, arising from mere 158 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW birth or better opportunities. She may recognise superior natural gifts or educational acquirements ; may feel that she would like to be as well off as Mrs. Jones, but there will be no admission beyond that — no conces- sion of a kind to suggest any acknowledged inequality in their origin, any class distinction placing Mrs. Jones on a higher plane of womanhood, as a woman. This attitude of original equality is everywhere to be observed amongst men and women alike, and that it is which constitutes the great difference there is between communities of the old world and the new. Birth rank counts for nothing ; honour, fair-dealing and respectability for everything. And that is how it should be. Of course, there are some people, men and women alike, who consider themselves better than others, because they are in more affluent circumstances than their neighbours, and it not infrequently happens that persons of this description are amongst the most vulgar in the community. Like beggars mounted, they ride their horse to death, and render themselves contemptible in many ways. As a rule, they have had very humble beginnings, but opulence turns their heads, and, like all upstarts, they are invariably found putting on side,’' as the colonial saying goes, and making themselves generally ridiculous. This self-assertiveness on the part of some colonials who have acquired wealth renders them very objectionable ; and the most intolerable specimen of colonial you can possibly meet with is the woman who has graduated from the washtub or the kitchen to a big mansion in a fashionable suburb, and lolls about in her well-cushioned landau, and has a liveried footman to open the carriage door when she drives out to do some shopping, or to call at Govern- ment House, as the case may be. Women of this description are by no means few all over the Colonies, AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 159 and they only earn for themselves the contempt of others who are familiar with their antecedents. There is no form of aristocracy so objectionable as the aristocracy of wealth, and the nouveaux riches of the Colonies are the most contemptible creatures one can possibly encounter at the Antipodes. Sometimes the fluctuations of fortune inseparable from colonial life put a sudden stop to their arrogance and pride and assump- tion of superiority, without education or refinement to sustain them, in the rdles of purse-proud parvenus. It has been generally found that those who have made a sudden transition from poverty to wealth become in- tensely conservative in their ideas. They will worship any one with a title whom they chance to come in contact with, and will move heaven and earth, and all the political influence which wealth gives them, to secure titles for themselves. The author has frequently heard Australian democracy jibed at, because titles were apparently so highly appreciated out there ; but the fact of the matter is that the mass of the Australian people do not care a snap of the fingers for titles, and have a very poor opinion of those who accept them. There- fore, it is not right to blame Australian democracy, or to declare that it belies its professions, because a few would dearly like to have titles conferred upon them, and are constantly laying themselves out for the supposed “ distinction.'^ Its indiscriminate bestowal has brought the institution more into contempt than otherwise, and little wonder it is that be-knighted Australia " has formed the subject of so much ridicule amongst those who consider that titles are altogether out of place on that democratic Continent. What must be most obnoxious to men who have seen Imperial service is the great tendency of colonial volunteer officers to prefix “Captain” or “Major” or “ Colonel ” to their names in their ordinary civilian life. i6o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW America is always cited as the country where every one you meet is a Captain or a Colonel ; but, after being in the United States, the author can truly say that in the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, in proportion to their population, one will hear more people captained and majored and coloneled than anywhere else on the earth’s surface. Men who have never smelt powder, whose daily life is behind a counter or in an office, make no scruple of eternally calling themselves captains and majors if that is their rank in a volunteer corps ; and it is really sickening to find ex-linen drapers anc} the like, when they get into Parliament, insisting upon these volunteer prefixes being placed before their names in the official records. People at a distance who don’t know them naturally conclude that they are retired captains and majors of the Imperial Army, whereas they are nothing but ex-drapers and other civilians pure and simple. This is a practice which the Australian democracy should put down by heaping torrents of ridicule upon it In New Zealand the democracy is of a sort too spurious to do anything in that way. City life in Australia, say in such capitals as Mel- bourne and Sydney, is full of gaiety and enjoyment. They are an amusement-loving people, and, whether it be a race-meeting, a bicycle championship, a cricket match, a football match, theatre, circus or concert, they flock in large numbers to them all. The author has seen as many as twenty-five thousand people assemble at a football match between local clubs, that number and more at a game of cricket, more still at a bicycle championship, and at the principal race-meetings the attendances are very large. Melbourne and Sydney are the two great nurseries of cricket in Australia, and both cities have turned out some phenominally good men in all branches of the game — batters, bowlers, fielders, and wicket-keepers. South Australia has also AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY t6i produced some excellent cricketers, and Tasmanian men have occasionally come to the front. Cricket is, undoubtedly, the national game of Australia, and the men there have a great advantage over Englishmen because the climate permits of a far longer season than in England. The sending of Australian cricketers to Great Britain and America from time to time has proved a great incentive to Australian cricket, as well as the return visits of English teams. Three games of football are played there ; namely — the Victorian, the Association, and Rugby. In the Rugby game Colonial Clubs have benefited much from the visit of the first English team some years ago. All outdoor sports are well patronised in Melbourne ; and bicycle racing has come wonderfully well to the front because of the improved conditions under which they are held and the liberal stakes offered. The Austral wheel-race is a great event, and the man who wins it need do nothing more for his support during the remainder of the year ; the prize is big enough to keep him well provided for all that time. But the greatest of all sights in Australia is Cup Week at Flemington. It is a carnival in every sense of the word, and people flock to it from all parts of the Colonies and many places beyond. That is the time to see the people turn out in gayest attire, and the author has seen as many as from one hundred and twenty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand assemble at Flemington on Cup day. He has not yet seen the Derby, but he has been told by one who has that there is no racecourse in the world, except Montreal, in Canada, which comes up to Flemington on the day the Cup is run. The lawn presents one of the gayest and liveliest sights to be seen anywhere. The costumes are magnificent and costly ; some of them are expressly imported from Worth's for the occasion, and for months 12 i 62 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW before the event comes off — the first Tuesday in November — all the big shops of Melbourne and Sydney are taxed to the utmost in executing the orders of their lady customers for the great carnival which stretches over an entire week — the Derby on Saturday, the Cup on Tuesday, the Oaks on Thursday, and the steeple- chase on the Saturday following. Flemington is a splendidly-appointed racecourse ; the Club is a wealthy one, gives big stakes, and has always a sound balance to carry forward from year to year, the bulk of which goes to the improvement of the property, under the able supervision of Mr. Byron Moore. What a spectacle Flemington is on Cup day especially, its hill and stands crowded in every part, the grand stand and lawn imme- diately below and in front of it, filled to overflowing and the Flat a sea of heads. Yet that great multitude of people is conveyed to and from the course by rail with clockwork regularity, almost always without accident and with a despatch that is marvellous to behold, and without crushing or disorder of any kind. The author has never seen anything to equal that piece of railway management anywhere. Speculation is very brisk at Flemington, as it is upon most Australian race- courses, and vast sums of money are lost and won. The gambling spirit seizes hold of most people, and it is surprising the number of small boys and girls who take an interest in Australia’s greatest racing event. They talk about it months before it comes ofif, and it is safe to say that the majority of them will take a risk of some sort upon a probable winner ; these youthful speculators generally pin their faith on the popular favourite, and when there is a “ boil over ” their small losses do not trouble them a great deal. Perhaps there is no part of the world where general public interest gets centred upon a horse-race to the extent it does upon the Melbourne Cuj;. Abbot’s leviathan “sweeps” AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 163 and their tempting possible returns for an investment of ten shillings and a pound encourage the general interest which is taken in the event by old and young. These sweeps ” are got up in Hobart, because they are unlawful on any part of Australian soil or New Zealand, and Abbot derives a splendid income from his opera- tions. The public have confidence in him, and remit their money freely. He employs quite a large staff of clerks, as his ‘‘sweeps’' are drawn upon all the important racing events throughout the season. Sometimes a poor man gets back as much as ^15,000 for his ^i, but as a rule the big prizes fall to people who are well off. Syndicates are formed to purchase a great many tickets and they often get nothing, while the holders of single tickets occasionally come in for big prizes. The author knows of two telegraph clerks who divided £7^000 between them, and of an invalid in straitened circumstances who came in for i^i 3,000 from Abbot, but did not survive long enough to derive much benefit from his windfall. Horse-racing is quite a passion with Australians, and it is only a comparative few who do not enjoy it. Opportunities for indulging the national propensity are plentiful enough ; and, as Mark Twain facetiously expresses it in his “More Tramps Abroad,” an Australian can have a church next door and a racecourse across the road. Mark goes very near the truth. If you want to see Melbourne people enjoy them- selves of an evening, go to the theatre, especially on a Saturday night, which is the fashionable evening in the Victorian metropolis. A packed house everywhere, and the dress circle an array of brilliancy and colour — costly dresses and sparkling diamonds all around — dresses not quite so decollete^ perhaps, as those which one sees at the Grand Opera House in Paris, but low enough never- theless to display a considerable portion of the human i 64 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW anatomy. And how that audience, which can rarely be accused of hypercriticism, enjoys itself and applauds those who contribute to their enjoyment ! Once a star becomes a favourite in Melbourne, that star never loses hold of their good opinion and support. Even when old favourites get to the passe stage and beyond it, the Melbourne people never forget what those favourites once were, and they will stick to them to the end. This is a particularly noticeable trait of the theatre- going public of Melbourne, whose generous feelings never get blunted because their old favourites are no longer what they used to be. The instances are many where actors, actresses, and singers have been able to keep their heads well above water in Melbourne, when they would experience chilling receptions elsewhere because of failing capacity to come up to the required standard of strange, less tolerant, and more exacting audiences. All honour, therefore, to Melbourne play- goers for their loyalty and attachment to their old favourites in sunshine and shadow alike — in the zenith of their fame and in the decline of their histrionic or lyric powers which is the prelude to their retirement from the stage. If you want to see what Melbourne city life is in the daytime, do the block ; that is to say, stroll round Collins Street from its intersection with Elizabeth Street, then into Swanson Street, down Bourke Street, then into Elizabeth Street and back to the corner in Collins Street, from which you have originally started. That is the Melbourne block, but Collins and Swanson arc the two sides of it where the promenade is more crowded and fashionable. Between three and five o’clock in the afternoon is the time to see the block in all its glitter and glory, or between eleven and one on a Saturday. At these hours you will behold troops of fashionably-attired ladies '‘doing the block” as regularly AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 165 as people go to church on Sundays. The Melbourne ladies know how to dress neatly and effectively without overdoing it, and in this respect they outshine the ladies of any other Australasian city ; that is to say, that in their daily promenades along this favourite resort, you will see better taste displayed by the ladies of Melbourne than in any other city south of the Line, and the author feels sure they would hold their own in any of the fashionable promenades in Great Britain. One other trait of the Melbourne and Victorian people must not be overlooked, because it deserves the fullest recognition. They are genuine patrons of the fine arts. Proof of this is to be found in their admirable picture gallery and in the statuary which adorns their public gardens and streets. Painters and sculptors find Mel- bourne a congenial and prosperous place to live in, as the numbers of its painters and sculptors will testify. Their studios are well patronised, and those who can afford it and have cultivated tastes do not scruple to give the local talent liberal commissions for what they want. Musically, too, Melbourne people are not slow in the bestowal of their appreciation upon anything really good that is submitted to them for their encourage- ment and support. How handsomely they have acted in the case of Miss Amy Castles, a young lady who was discovered to possess a voice of phenomenal range and sweetness. A fund was raised in Victoria to send this budding prima donna to Europe for tuition and study. About £%ooo was raised without any difficulty, and at this moment Miss Castles is pursuing her studies in Paris. Victoria is proud of Amy Castles, and some of these days, according to reliable accounts, this lady will make a name for herself second to none amongst the soprano stars who have shone before her. Proud, too, they are of Madame Melba, also a native-born Australian ; and what a reception will be hers when she visits her AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NFAV 1 66 native land ! It was in the Melbourne Town Hall» on the occasion of her first appearance there, that the author had the pleasure of hearing this accomplished artiste, before she took Europe and America by storm in classic opera. Australians are anxiously looking forward to the treat she will afford them on her return, and a most successful tour awaits her under Austral skies. In their homes, the people of Melbourne, and indeed of Victoria generally, will be found entertaining and hospitable, without the least stiffness. Most colonial ladies play and sing, and your Melbourne hostess and her daughters know how to make an evening enjoyable to their guests. There is no stint to their hospitality ; they can converse well and freely, and their guests are made to feel quite at home. It is one of the greatest pleasures of life to enjoy the acquaintance of a nice circle of friends in Melbourne, where stupid and irksome con- ventionalities are ignored, and people comport themselves towards one another with a kindliness, naturalness and freedom which must be highly appreciated by those who have been accustomed to the frigid formalities of Europe, and find that at last they are associating with people who do and say things in a natural and common-sense sort of way. No European artificialism obtrudes itself into Australian homes. Mark Twain is quite correct in saying that the Australians do not seem to him to differ noticeably from Americans. And neither do they. One can detect a peculiarity in the pronunciation of some words. They will say “te-yown” for town, “che-urch” for church, and so on, and they are given to a rapid utterance which converts blue gum into bloogum,'' sea-gull into “cgill,” and half-past into “hapast'' ; but they are never guilty, except in mimicry, of such Cockney atrocities of speccli as “ply the gimc” for play the game, “ piper ’’ AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 167 for paper, ‘Mydy for lady, “tyble” for table, or “wyter” for waiter. An Australian merely substitutes i or y for a when he is mimicking a London costermonger. That chambermaid in Sydney referred to by Mark Twain must have been a newly-arrived Cockney, or, if Australian-born, the daughter of a London costermonger from whom she inherited the pronunciation. She was not a typical Australian, and her Cockney pronunciation of words was simply the result of association. If Australians can be accused of doing anything out of the common with their native speech, it is to drawl slightly, but never to the extent Americans do ; and perhaps they are a little too much given to the use of slang. But that is an Anglo-Saxon characteristic all the world over, and not peculiarly Australian. Melbourne has, of course, its seamy side, and in some of its slums misery, crime, and debauchery exist in just the same way as they are to be found in other large cities. The ‘‘ Larrikin evil is a very pronounced one both in Melbourne and Sydney, and these young black- guards have no respect either for age or sex. They will knock down a decrepit old man, rob, and maltreat him as soon as they will attack and rob younger people, and in the same way a woman's grey hairs and helplessness will not protect her. These larrikins are the scum of Melbourne and Sydney, and nothing but the use of the lash will effectually get rid of them, just as garotting was suppressed in Melbourne by the exemplary sentences passed upon the garotting fraternity by Mr. Justice Williams some time ago. These larrikins hound to- gether in what are called pushes," and terrorize whole neighbourhoods by their acts of violence upon old and young. Larrikinism has been allowed to get a firmer hold than it could ever have obtained if the magistracy had done its duty at the commencement of the organisa- tion, and inflicted salutary punishments when cases were i68 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW brought before them in the courts by the police. They were dealt with too leniently at the start, and so larri- kinism grew apace. Than the Melbourne or Sydney larrikin, no viler, more brutal or cowardly scoundrel haunts the streets of any city, and nothing short of the most drastic measures will ever get rid of him. Of Australian youth generally, it is only fair to say that they are sober and well-behaved, law-abiding and orderly. Their sobriety is one of the many excellent traits they possess, and this fact must come under the notice of any one who visits the Colonies for the first time. And in this connection it must be observed that London itself might take a leaf out of Australia’s book considerably to its advantage. In Australia no drinking shop is allowed to open its doors on Sundays. The bars are closed on the Sabbath, and heavy penalties are inflicted if landlords are found breaking the law. How different things are in London ! where the glare and glitter of public-houses on Sunday evenings invite people to spend their money and take more drink than is good, and certainly not necessary, for them. If London reformers seriously desire to get rid of a great evil, here is one ready at their hand to tackle with all their might. The ups and downs of colonial life are sometimes most extraordinary. Over-speculation and bad invest- ments, droughts, floods, and other misfortunes are known suddenly to make rich men poor ; and other men rise as they come down. These fluctuations of fortune afford a striking illustration of what may happen to a man in the Colonies any day, and wise is he who, when he acquires sufficient for his wants through life, is satisfied with what he has and sticks to it. But there are men who develop such a passion for money- making that they wear out their lives in the process, without social enjoyments of any kind or severance AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 169 from their businesses except for nightly rest. There are many such men in Australia ; but there are a great many more who take life philosophically, and if a turn of adversity comes, they are too full of energy to lie quietly under the weight of ill-fortune that has assailed them. They find ways to extricate themselves from awkward positions without damaging their credit, and it is this buoyancy of Australian commercial life and enterprise which pulls through many a man who has been upon the verge of disaster through unforeseen and unavoidable eventualities. The brain of the average Australian commercial man is active ; perhaps the brightness of Australian skies and the cheerfulness of his surroundings have something to do with it ; but, be that as it may, the fact remains that he never meets trouble half-way, but tries manfully to avert it, and in doing this he is full of resource, and seldom fails. There is also a feeling of camaraderie amongst Australian com- mercial men which comes to one's assistance in time of need and helps him to surmount temporary embarrass- ments ; and, taken altogether, ups and downs in the Colonies are varying stages in people's careers which are accepted as they come in that spirit of philosophy which implies that everything has happened for the best, and the best must therefore be made of it. Although the author has been referring to Melbourne in this chapter upon Australian society, his observations apply equally to Sydney in most particulars. He has lumped them both together, because there is really no material difference in the public and private life of these two great cities. The Sydney people are proverbial for their hospitality and for the encouragement they give to the arts and sciences, to the drama, to music, and to all sports and amusements out of doors. Kindly disposed and open-hearted as the Sydney people undoubtedly are, they will go to no end of trouble in entertaining 170 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW any one who is the bearer of introductions to them, and the visitor will carry the best impressions away with him. Although Randwick has not the same great reputation that Flemington has, still a big meeting on that course will well repay a visit. It is curious to note that the horses run round Randwick in the reverse order to Flemington, and that the inside running is on the left at Flemington and on the right at Randwick. Private benevolence is a prevalent virtue amongst the Sydney people, as indeed it is amongst the Melbournites and the people of Australia generally, and no deserving appeal is ever made to them without a cheerful and liberal response. The author believes that, so far as the benevolent spirit of the people is concerned, Australia will compare favourably with any part of the world. Local disasters are not the only ones they provide for ; they contribute as readily to relief funds in connection with calamities which occur at great distances away, and in this manner a system of mutual assistance has been introduced which reflects infinite credit upon the Colonies and helps largely to consolidate them as a nation. The average colonial girl is not only well educated from an intellectual point of view, but in every way which is calculated to make a useful woman of her. Mothers as a rule bring up their daughters in a practical, common-sense sort of way, and the result is that the typical colonial girl can adapt herself almost to any cir- cumstances in life. Indeed, she prides herself upon her proficiency in household affairs. The girls of a family rival each other in the production of the most dainty dishes, and great care and attention are paid to the arrangement and carrying out of the various social functions in their households. Often the whole of the cooking and planning of a pleasant luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner or su])per party will be done under the direct supervision of the daughters of the hostess, and they will AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 171 with perfect aplomb take their full share in the enter- tainment of their mother's guests. Tennis, hockey, golf, and sometimes bowls, camping-out, walking parties, cycling, riding, and driving provide them with plenty of outdoor exercise and recreation. Although colonial girls are just as appreciative of the opposite sex as their sisters in any other land, they are not at all dependent upon them as escorts, and can have what their American cousins would call a very good time without them, as their upbringing has made them self-possessed and self- reliant to a degree which renders them independent. While the frank and easy manners of the colonial girl contrast pleasantly with the rather cold reserve of her English cousin, she is quite able to maintain her dignity and self-respect. She is natural, vivacious, and com- panionable. CHAPTER XVI EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES AND TASMANIA I N dealing with this subject it is necessary to set forth the measures which were adopted for the education of children in the Mother Colony before anything like a State system was resorted to, and then to give a brief outline of the systems which are now working in the colonies of Australia and Tasmania, as follows : — New South Wales. During the period, dating from its early settlement, up to the year 1848, New South Wales had a system of purely denominational education, and the various religious denominations were assisted by the Govern- ment in proportion to the amount which each expended for educational purposes. In 1839, a grant was made for the purpose of imparting non-sectarian instruction to the children of those parents who objected to the denominational system. In 1848, two separate boards were established — one for the administration of denomi- national education, and the other for the control and management of the undenominational or national schools, as they were called. This dual system existed for eighteen years, when it was abolished by the Public Schools Act of 1866. This Act continued these two distinct classes of schools, but all schools receiving State 172 EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 173 aid were placed under the control of the Council of Education, a body appointed by the Government. Under the provisions of this Act the public schools were entirely administered by the Council, and the denomi- national schools were governed in conjunction with the various religious bodies who had founded them. In 1880, another change took place, and State aid to denominational schools was abolished. The Act of that year provided for the establishment and maintenance of public schools to afford primary instruction to all children without sectarian or class distinction. Provision was also made for superior public evening schools, and for high schools for boys and girls in which students might be prepared for the University. It was likewise pro- vided that all these schools should be strictly non- sectarian ; but, at the same time, an hour each day beyond the four hours for secular instruction exclusively might be set apart for religious instruction, to be given in a separate class-room by a clergyman or religious teacher of any persuasion, to children of the same persuasion whose parents had no objection to their receiving such religious instruction. To some extent this permission has been taken advantage of by some of the religious denominations, but not by Roman Catholics. Under the New South Wales system of public education it is compulsory for parents to send their children between the ages of six and fourteen years to school for at least seventy days in each year, unless just cause of exemption can be shown, and penalties are provided for a breach of this provision. Although education is com- pulsory, it is not altogether free. Parents are required to pay a weekly fee of threepence per child, but not exceeding one shilling in all for the children of one family. Power is given to remit the fees where it is shown that the parents are unable to pay. School children are allowed to travel free by rail to the nearest 174 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW public or private primary school, and also to the superior and high schools. Parents are not compelled to send their children to the public schools, but the State insists that all children must be educated somewhere, and therefore a certain standard of education must be attained, whether that secular instruction be received at public or private schools. When the census of i88i was taken, it was found that out of 751,468 persons enumerated, 195,029, or very nearly 26 per cent., were unable to read ; the census of 1891 showed that out of 1,123,954 persons enumerated, only 244,938, or 217 per cent, were unable to read. Included in this number were 165,781 children of four years of age and under ; so that there were only 78,617 persons, or 7 per cent of the population five years of age and over, who were unable to read. This 7 per cent included Chinese, Polynesians, and others, but not aborigines. Of 5,804 persons married during 1857, 1,646, or 28*4 per cent, were unable to sign the marriage register. There was a vast difference in 1898, when only 17 per cent of those married in that year could not sign the marriage register except by their marks. In that year, according to the table given by Mr. T. A. Coghlan, the eminent statistician of New South Wales, the following are the percentages of the various Colonies of those who could not sign the marriage registers : — Percentage signing with marks. New South Wales 17 Victoria 07 Queensland 3*1 South Australia i'8 Western Australia ... ... ... ... i*o Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... 5*9 New Zealand 07 Although the compulsory school age in New South Wales is six to fourteen, children five years of age are EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 175 received at the public schools, and a considerable number of those who have passed the school age are also to be found in State and private schools. From the time of the withdrawal of aid from denomi- national schools, up to the end of 1898, the increase in the average quarterly enrolment at State schools was 51*2 per cent. In 1898, the proportion of the population enrolled at State schools was 1 5*3 per cent. The following table (also from Mr. Coghlan's most interesting volume, “The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales”), shows the number of State schools in each of the Australasian Colonies in 1898, together with the number of scholars in average attendance : — Colony, Schools. Teachers. Scholars in average attendance. Average attend- ance of Pupils per school. New South Wales 2,602 4759 141,723 54 Victoria i >877 4,618 134,976 72 Queensland 843 1,904 58,296 69 South Australia . . . 671 1755 39,128 5^ Western Australia 167 391 10,915 ^^5 Tasmania ... 296 547 12,015 41 New Zealand 1,624 3,664 110,256 68 Australasia 8,080 17,138 1 507,309 i 63 The gross cost of each child in average attendance at the public schools of the seven Colonies in 1898, exclusive of the expenditure on buildings, was as follows : — New South Wales Victoria Queensland South Australia ... Western Australia Tasmania New Zealand Cost per child in average attendance. £ s. d. ... 4 8 2 • 3 14 I . 4 10 o . 2 16 4 . 4 o 10 176 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW The total expenditure upon public education in New South Wales in 1898, was £72g,g22, and of this amount the contributions of parents amounted to only ^73,093. In that year the number of private schools in the Colony was 956, and scholars 58,179. The gross enrolment of distinct pupils at the State schools was 277,561. Victoria. When a State system of education was established in this Colony it was made free, non-sectarian, and com- pulsory. No teacher was permitted to impart religious instruction, but after school hours the ministers of various denominations were allowed the privilege, if they chose to avail themselves of it, of giving religious instruction to the children of various denominations whose parents desired to have them so instructed. Out of school hours it was found that children did not feel inclined to present themselves for religious instruction, and ministers realised that this concession was practically of no avail to them. Attempts have, therefore, been made from time to time to have religious instruction included in the ordinary school curriculum, and failing this the Bible in schools party have endeavoured to get such amendments of the Act as would permit of portions of the Scriptures being read daily. Quite an agitation upon the subject has been going on for years past, and last year a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into and report upon the subject. That Commission presented its report last year. It was determined by this Commission that a series of lessons should be selected from the Holy Scriptures, and after long and careful consideration it was unanimously decided to recommend the adoption of certain lessons. While some members of the Commission would have pre- ferred to eliminate a number of the lessons adopted, the Commission, as a whole, was glad to unite in EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 177 recommending the scheme submitted. The members of the Commission were of opinion — in which they were confirmed by the evidence of the experts examined — that these lessons should be given during the first hour of the day, that they should not exceed half an hour, and that the teachers might be trusted to explain the lesson as they would any other subject without obtruding personal or sectarian views. The lessons were to be from the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament series of lessons was carefully prepared to meet the views of Jewish fellow-colonists, should they see fit to accept the system, no reference to New Testa- ment passages occurring therein. In their report the Commission said : “We have carefully striven to provide lessons of an absolutely unsectarian character, and as simple as is compatible with an elementary knowledge of religious truth. No attempt has been made to introduce any theological system, and controversial doctrine has been carefully avoided. It is confidently hoped, therefore, that these lessons will find general acceptance. The general plan followed has the double advantage, that if the lesson be merely read it will accomplish very much of what is desired, while if, as we hope, the lesson be carefully taught, the key to the moral instruction therein will be readily found by the teacher. The unanimous testimony of the witnesses was in favour of teaching as distinct from mere reading, that the lessons would be far more valuable and interesting if treated in this way, and that the teachers could be trusted loyally to teach the lessons as they would any other.” The Commission recommended a conscience clause for such teachers as conscientiously objected to give the lessons, and also a clause to meet the case of parents who objected to their children receiving religious instruction. “ The Commission recommends that these Scripture lessons should form part of the ordinary school T3 178 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW curriculum. Prayers and hymns have also been pre- pared by the Commission which may be used before or after the Scripture lesson. If they are not used, we recommend that the devotional passages usually appended to each lesson should be read by all together, to be followed by the Lord’s Prayer. We believe that the hymn would be a valuable adjunct to our scheme. We have made a selection of a varied and general character, which may be used in connection with the lessons. While the voluntary religious instruction of the children has proved to be utterly inadequate to the necessities of the country, we view with great approval the efforts being made to provide religious instruction by voluntary agents, whose work, we hope, will be greatly assisted by the instruction it is now proposed to give through the trained teachers as a part of the school curriculum. Having completed the preparation of this manual of Scripture instruction, the Commission hope that measures will be taken as early as possible to remit this question to a direct vote of the people, and in order that an intelligent vote may be given, and also to avoid putting the country to unnecessary expense, we very earnestly recommend that three specimen lessons in each division, with a prayer and hymn attached, be sent to every elector in Victoria.” That was the report presented to Parliament last year, but no action was taken in regard to it. The fact is, that politicians in Victoria are afraid to deal with the question, owing to the great diversity of opinion which prevails there as to whether religious instruction should be introduced into the State schools or not. Consequently, the system still remains free, compulsory, and absolutely non-sectarian. South Australia. Prior to 1847 there was no State education in South EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 179 Australia. Before that year the private schools were conducted without Government interference or control. In 1847 ordinance was passed under whose pro- visions a capitation grant was paid by the Government to schools established by private persons ; but in 1851 this ordinance was repealed and an Act was substituted for the purpose of establishing public schools in which good secular instruction, based on Christian principles, apart from sectarian differences of belief or opinion, should be imparted. The Act created a Central Board of Education, which was empowered to grant licenses to teachers and to pay them salaries varying from £40 to ^100 per annum. Inspectors were appointed who periodically visited the schools and reported the results of their inspection to the Central Board. The school buildings were erected by means of local subscriptions, which were subsidised by the Government according to the circumstances of each case by amounts not exceeding £200. In 1875 a new Education Act was passed, transferring the management of the public schools from the Education Board to a Council of Education, under the presidency of an officer paid by the State. Three years later another Act was passed, which placed the control of the schools directly under the Minister of Education. This last Act introduced the system of compulsory and free education. At the same time provision was made by which the Bible might be read by a teacher to any pupils who attend for that purpose, for not more than half an hour before 9.30 a.m., but no religious instruction was per- mitted, nor was attendance at this time compulsory. The Minister of Education has power to require such Bible-reading in any school, on receiving a written request to that effect from the parents of not less than ten children. When the census was taken in 1891, it was found that i8o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the total population of the Colony was 320,431. Of these 246,085 persons were able to read, 236,514 were also able to write, and 74,346 were not able to read. Those who could read and write formed 73*81 per cent, of the population ; those who could read only, 2-99 per cent. ; and those who could neither read nor write, 23*20 per cent. In arriving at these figures the children under five years of age have been considered as being unable to read or write; they numbered 45,281, and formed 14*13 per cent, of the population. Of the persons of five years of age and upwards (275,150), 236,514, or 85*96 per cent., could read and write ; 9,571, or 3*48 per cent., could read only, and 29,065, or 10.56 per cent., could not read. If the number of children under five years of age were deducted from the total popula- tion, the proportion of persons who could read and write in 1891 was 85*96. In South Australia parents are not bound to send their children to the State schools, but the State insists that they must attend some school. The Roman Catholics decline to avail themselves of the public schools, because they hold that religious instruction is a fundamental and indispensable part of the education of the young, and, as a matter of conscience, they can have nothing to do with any schools in which their children cannot be instructed in their own faith. The State, however, recognises no religious or sectarian teaching in schools, and subsidises no religious body either for school purposes or otherwise. State educa- tion is free and unsectarian, and the public schools are open to all children without distinction. The Roman Catholics make no objection to the inspection of their schools by the State, in order that the authorities may be satisfied that the elementary instruction imparted | in them is equal to that which has been fixed by the regulations. They consider that they are entitled to EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES i8i participate in the public expenditure on education in proportion to the number of children in their schools who come up to the Government standard, but no con- cession of this kind has been granted to them. The Anglican Church has also established a large number of schools of its own connected with its parishes in the country districts. They have also a collegiate school, and they have a school in Adelaide where higher-class education is provided. The Wesleyan body owns Prince Alfred College and the Bible Christians Way College, and the Christian Brothers and Dominican Nuns and Sisters of Mercy have educational establish- ments of their own. The system of public education at the present time in force in South Australia is free, secular, and com- pulsory. No religious teaching whatever ; but the teacher may, if he likes, and must if requested by ten parents of pupils, read out a portion of the Scriptures for half an hour before school begins. Expenditure upon public education in South Aus- tralia (including Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery), from 1889-90 to 1898-9 — out of loans, ;^i 16,559 5s. lod. ; out of revenue, ;^i,4i8,370 15s. 4d. ; total, ^1,534)930 is. 2d. Western Australia. Under the provisions of the Public Education Act, 1899, payment of fees was abolished in Government schools, but provision was left whereby the Minister may determine the fees to be paid by those of fourteen years of age and over. The law relating to compulsory attendance was made more drastic, as every-day atten- dance till fourteen is now required, subject to certain discretionary powers in the hands of the minister. Teachers of private schools may apply to have their schools found efficient by a Government inspector, and, i 82 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW if found efficient, what is called monetary compensation is given to them, the total amount for that purpose being 15,000. The teaching in the Government schools is purely non-sectarian, but half an hour is devoted to general religious teaching ; the text books on this subject are the Irish National series. Ministers of religion are permitted, under certain regulations, to teach the children of their own denominations for half an hour during school hours. The number of Government schools in operation at the end of 1898 was 167, and the number of children upon the rolls was 14,424, with an average attendance of 10,915. In Western i\ustralia, as in all other colonies, the Roman Catholics, and some congregations of Anglicans, Presbyterians, and other denominations, have each a number of schools of their own, and each of these obtains a certain proportion of the ;^i 5,000 grant as compensation when their schools come up to the required standard. Queensland. In this Colony the State Schools are free, secular, and compulsory, and no religious teaching is given in them. In 1899 there were 188 primary schools in Queensland, and the total cost of primary education that year was ^248,899, and higher education ^^25,225 additional. Tasmania. The system in this Colony is also non-sectarian, but not altogether free, as the teachers are empowered to levy small fees to supplement the salaries they receive from the Government. A proposal is now under con- sideration to make the system free and compulsory. EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 183 Ministers are allowed to give religious instruction under certain regulations. During 1899 ;^46,720 was appro- priated for educational purposes, and the amount on this year’s estimates is .^52,755. CHAPTER XVII THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA W HAT time could be more opportune than that which marks the close of a century we have lived in, and the advent of the new, to give some account of the Press in our distant possessions in the South Pacific, and its progress from small beginnings to great achieve- ments in the comparatively few years that have elapsed since colonisation in that remote part of the world was begun and carried out upon systematic principles ? For it must be remembered that during the first few decades in the life of Australasia, those far-off lands only served the purpose of mere receptacles for Great Britain's worst class of offenders against the laws. Although it was a fallacy to suppose that these expatriated criminals were taken to Botany Bay — as a fact none ever settled there — still they were conveyed by the thousand to Port Jack- son, Tasmania, and later on to Western Australia; and under the ticket-of-leave system these transported men and women, and those who went there to guard them, really became the pioneers of settlement on the Australian Continent and the adjacent island of Tasmania, which the late Mr. Marcus Clarke has made famous by the thrilling story of “ His Natural Life." liven in those primitive times, and under conditions which, to say the least of them, were exceedingly 184 THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 185 outlandish, the printing press was introduced into the convict settlements of Tasmania and New South Wales, and the student of colonial history will find much to interest him and to repay research in the newspaper literature of that remote period. How small those sheets were, and how crude they seem, compared with the newspapers of the present day ! But they served their purpose, and can now be profitably referred to as chroniclers of events which would other- wise have been hopelessly concealed from the ordinary historian. The exigencies of space unfortunately prevent any detailed reference to the newspaper Press of convict days, and one is reluctantly compelled, within the confines of this chapter, to avail himself of the space at his command for the purpose of showing what that Press has grown to within the period which dates from the inauguration of Constitutional Government in the various Colonies of the Australasian group. In dealing with the Australasian Press as we find it to-day, it would be idle to suppose that it would have attained its present somewhat astounding dimensions, or indeed that the Colonies themselves would be occupying the important position they now do, had it not been for the gold discoveries in New South Wales a few months after the rush to California, later on in Victoria, and subsequently in New Zealand. Under other circum- stances, the settlement of the Australian Colonies would have been a slow process, owing mainly to their remote- ness from Great Britain ; but with the marvellous discoveries of the precious metal, especially in Victoria, an enormous flow of population set in from all corners of the globe ; a new phase was imparted to Australasian colonisation, and the newspaper Press, like most other things, grew apace with this unlooked-for and extra- ordinary development. Newspapers came into life here, there, and everywhere, and, what is more, a great i86 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW many of them survive till this day and are paying handsomely. The greatest advantages were gained, of course, by the organs of journalism in such cities as Sydney and Melbourne, and their immediate expansion was one of the earliest outcomes of the phenomenal rush of people which set in to the shores of Victoria and New South Wales in the early fifties. After the lapse of scarcely half a century, let us speak of the Press as we find it to-day in Melbourne and Sydney, taking them in their respective orders, with apologies to the much older city of the two for giving precedence to its more go- ahead and enterprising rival, the Victorian capital. This is as it should be, because the Press of Melbourne has shown far greater enterprise than that of the fore- most city in the adjacent Mother Colony, and because the man who is unquestionably the central figure of Australasian journalism is proprietor of the newspaper which to-day stands far away at the head of any other journal in the whole of the Colonies in social and political importance and circulation. It is needless to say that reference is here made to Mr. David Syme, whose able management and powers of organisation have placed the Age in the enviable position it now holds amongst its competitors. Mr. Syme has achieved his triumph by sheer hard work and a determination to excel in the path of journalistic enterprise. When he took the paper over, in partnership with his brother, the late Mr. Ebenezer Syme, he had anything but an abundant exchequer to work from. For years it was a hard, uphill fight against the Argus, a firmly-established and very superior paper to the Age in those days ; but Mr. Syme kept pegging away against his conservative rival, run mainly in the interests of the wool kings, and bit by bit the Age made headway, and eventually surpassed the circulation of the Argus. The uncompromising advocacy of democratic principles, coupled with Mr. Syme’s THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 187 conspicuously able management alike in the literary and commercial departments of his establishment, ensured a success that has been truly phenomenal in its completeness. With a circulation of over one hundred thousand copies per day, with its ten broad pages every morning, and twelve or sixteen on Saturdays, each day’s issue half filled with close-set advertisements, it may easily be imagined what a powerful influence the Age exercises upon the public mind of Australia, which we know for the most part is strongly democratic in senti- ment and aspirations. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the Age can, at its own sweet will, make and unmake Governments in the Colony of Victoria, and its influence permeates also throughout Australia and the adjacent Colonies of Tasmania and New Zealand. The revenue which Mr. Syme derives from the Age is enormous, and he must rank amongst the richest men in that part of the world. Some idea of the value of the paper, as a going concern, may be gathered from the fact that when he bought out his nephew’s share some years ago — and the nephew’s interest was only a quarter one — Mr. David Syme paid ^^247,000 to get the paper into his own hands. The annual profits run into big figures ; and it is one of the Melbourne sights any even- ing of the week, from six to nine or ten o’clock, to behold the continuous stream of advertisers which sets in to the advertising department of this great newspaper. Mr. Syme has from time to time been most judicious in the selection of his literary helpers. The editorial chair has been very ably filled by Mr. Windsor for a long series of years. The commercial editorship has also long been held by Mr. Robinson, who visited London a year or two ago, and Messrs. Stevens and Schuler are old servants of the firm, who have done good service in their respective capacities. The Age has a reportorial staff of about twenty, all good picked men, and i88 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW its corps of leader-writers and special correspondents is a very strong one. In fact, Mr. Syme all through his very successful career has borne strictly in mind the adage that what is worth doing is worth doing well,” and he will spare no expense in securing the best talent available and all sorts of information which will interest those he caters for. This is the real secret of his success ; and although sometimes exacting with the various members of his staff, generally speaking he is what may be termed a good employer. Mr. Syme is not a man who will turn adrift any one who has served his paper well, but whose infirmity renders him no longer capable of further active employment on his staff. He at once grants him a competent pension, and the author is acquainted with several of these gentlemen who are on the regular pension list of the Age. Indeed, Mr. Syme has even gone farther, and awarded either pensions or compensation to long-service compositors who have lost their frames through the introduction of the linotype. Although priority of position and influence must be accorded to the Age^ its contemporary the Argus is undoubtedly a great credit to colonial journalism. In its palmiest days, even the Sydney Morning Herald would not stand comparison with the Argus from a literary standpoint, or from the variety of its news columns and spirit of enterprise. Those were the days when democracy and radicalism had no appreciable hold upon the public mind, and when squatterdom was in the zenith of its power in Victoria and most other parts of the great Australian Continent. The Wilsons and Mackinnons certainly made it a great paper, even judged from the standpoint of English metropolitan journalism ; and although the topsy-turveydom of altered political thought has since placed the Argus in a minority and deprived it of its former prestige, it THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 189 IS still a journal that any colonial can refer to with pardonable pride as showing what the Australians are capable of turning out in the journalistic line. It is true that its circulation has receded because of its conserva- tism, and does not approach within many thousands the circulation of its contemporary, but nevertheless it retains a numerous circle of supporters, although Con- servatism, as we know it in England, is a rapidly- vanishing political creed at the Antipodes. But the Argus is so wound up with the earliest associations of colonisation in Victoria, and maintains such a high standard of literary excellence, that numbers of people take it in and advertise freely in its columns, notwith- standing that they are themselves in direct opposition with its politics. Hence it is that any expert glancing at its columns will see that it should be a paying property. Of course its expenditure is very great, as it endeavours to be at least on terms of equality with its rival in the literary material it supplies its readers with from day to day, and no niggardliness is ever displayed either in the amount of remuneration paid to the members of its staff or expended in quarters far removed from Melbourne itself in order to obtain good reading matter for those who support it. The proprietary made a good selection in London many years ago when they entrusted Mr. Haddon with the editorship, and his regime was a particularly brilliant one. Advanced age has since removed him from the chair and made him the recipient of a handsome pension from well-served and grateful employers. He has been succeeded by Mr. Willoughby, a gentleman of very ver- satile talents, who has risen to his present position step by step from the reporting staff, and has shown since his promotion that Mr. Haddon’s mantle has fallen upon com- petent shoulders. Like the Age^ the Argus maintains a very numerous staff in all its departments, and notwith- 190 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW standing its great outlay, its income, judging from the general appearance of the paper, ought to leave a con- siderable margin of profit. The two greatest Melbourne weeklies are the Austra- lasian (edited by Mr. D. Watterston) and the Leader (of which Mr. Short is editor). They are issued respectively from the Argus and the Age offices. Both have an extensive intercolonial circulation. The former is a great authority on sporting matters, and is in all respects a first-class weekly. So also is the Leader, which obtains most of its support from the agriculturalist portion of the community. The illustra- tions in both papers are, as a rule, very superior. The popular evening paper in Melbourne is the Herald, It enjoys an extensive circulation, is full of advertisements, and has made Mr. Winter a very wealthy man indeed. One highly commendable feature about the Herald is, that it likes fair play, and invariably opens its columns to the representation and discussion of both sides of a question ; but sometimes in its news columns it displays a tendency towards yellow journalism which is scarcely in keeping with Anglo- Saxon traditions of newspaper products ; and with the Herald, as indeed with several other news- papers in Australasia, it must be regretfully confessed that there is needlessly a too obvious desire to imitate the lower-class organs of the United States by making everything else subservient to sensationalism and pan- dering to tastes which by no means represent those who form the majority of the community. This degenerate departure is all the more to be deplored when it is remembered that the general public out there are not what could be termed a reading or studious public, and that newspaper literature is the only kind which a great mass of the population provides itself with. Indeed, the reading of good standard works is indulged in by a THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 191 comparative minority. The reading of magazine litera- ture, it is true, is making headway in the Colonies, but with the majority of the lower and a large sprinkling of even the middle classes, the daily broadsheet constitutes everything that is looked for in the shape of literary pabulum. Hence it is that this incipient introduction of yellow journalism is all the more to be deplored and resisted by those who wish to see Australasians gener- ally become a well-read, well-informed, and cultured people. Sydney is well provided with newspapers. Its big- gest is the Morning Herald, which may be pronounced the leader of Conservative journalism in Australasia. Brought to its present high standard of tone and relia- bility by the Fairfax Brothers, the Herald is perhaps the best-paying organ in the South Seas. Because of its unvarying adhesion to old lines and principles, it is considered rather “ grandmotherly ” by those who would like to see it launch forth into greater and more up-to- date activity ; but it adheres tenaciously to its original course, and in appearance and policy there is no essential difference in the Herald of to-day and the Herald of a quarter of a century ago. Its contemporary on the opposite side of politics is the Daily Telegraphy which is run upon similar lines to the Melbourne Age^ and has made great headway since the Democratic and Labour parties have become such a powerful political factor in New South Wales as to subvert, as they have done in the adjoining Colony of Victoria, the influence of the opposite party, which so long controlled the public affairs of the Mother Colony. Here, too, in Sydney they have a newspaper which is more far-reaching in its circulation throughout the whole of the Colonies than any other journal published on that side of the globe. I refer to the Bulletin y which has made its proprietor, Mr. Archibald, a very wealthy man. It is smartly 192 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW written and strongly Republican in its tendencies, and it may be said to have caught on better than any other weekly publication in those parts. Go where one may in any of the Colonies, whether it be in the cities, towns, hamlets, or the backest blocks on the fringes of civilisation, one is certain to encounter the Bulletin everywhere. True enough, it got somewhat of a set- back for its strenuous opposition to the South African War, but it is fast making up for lost ground, and its subscribers’ list and advertising clientele assure Mr. Archibald that the unpopularity of his paper was merely a temporary ordeal through which it had to pass as a punishment for being in a minority on the occasion of what seemed to the majority to be a national crisis. In Sydney two good weeklies are issued — Town and Country and the Sydney Mail^ which are very suitable for a general class of readers, especially those in country districts, for whom the week’s news is judiciously con- densed. John Norton has also his weekly paper, called Truths which is Radical and Republican, and enjoys a good circulation because of the fearless attitude it takes up on all public questions of the day. As a consequence, threats of libel actions are not infrequent, and sometimes they are brought, but John Norton seems to flourish, notwithstanding the litigation in which he gets involved from time to time. In Queensland the Brisbane Courier \\o\As the sway; in South Australia the Register just keeps ahead of the Advertiser, which is associated with the Melbourne Age and Sydney Daily Telegraph so far as the cable services are concerned. These three papers being conducted upon the same democratic principles, they find it to their interest to pool the expense, just as the Argus, Sydney Morning Herald, and other Con- servative newspapers combine in the same way for THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 193 their mutual advantage. Western Australia, the last of the group to have Constitutional Government con- ferred upon it, already boasts of a very creditable newspaper Press at Perth, Freemantle, the goldfields, and in many scattered communities in that arid region. The periodical and magazine literature of Australasia is yet in its infancy, and a great improvement must ensue before much in the way of commendation can be bestowed upon it. Of the reviews, the Review of Reviews^ edited by Dr. Fitchett, is a most creditable production, and circulates extensively throughout the Colonies. It is the best monthly compendium at the Antipodes from a literary standpoint, and gives a clear nsight into all the important happenings in various parts of the world. The several religious denominations have each their representative organs, and these are well supported, as a rule,- and interesting to their readers. Sydney and Melbourne are also well represented by weeklies on the lines of London Punch, Alike in area and population, Tasmania is too small to have many newspapers. The principal of them are to be found at Hobart in the south, and at Launceston in the northern part of that beautiful island. The oldest is the Hobart Mercury^ which was founded by Mr. John Davis in the early part of the last century, and is still owned by his descendants. The Launceston Examiner^ at the other end of Tasmania, is in all respects equal to its southern contemporary. It will be interesting to readers of this chapter to know that the first newspaper published in Australia was the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,, printed by George Howe. It began publication on March 5, 1803, and continued until December 23, 1843. The Derwent Star^ the first newspaper in Van Diemen’s Land, started on January 8, 1810. The Morning 14 194 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Herald began as a weekly on April i8, 1831, was con- verted into a bi-weekly in May, 1832, into a tri-weekly in July, 1838, and in 1840 it became a daily newspaper, and has continued its career as such ever since. The Melbourne Argus was first issued on June 2, 1846; the was established on October 17, 1854, and two years later the Leader was founded. For its size and population there is no country in the world which has been so fruitful of newspapers as New Zealand. They abound everywhere, and the principal dailies amongst them are the Wellington Evening Post (edited with conspicuous ability by Mr. Gresley Lukin), the Christchurch Press (where Mr. W. H. Triggs, once an English journalist, so ably fills the editorial chair vacated by the late Mr. John Steele Guthrie), the New Zealand Herald, published at Auckland, and the Otago Daily Times, which in the gold-digging times of that portion of New Zealand was conducted by the late Sir Julius Vogel, in partnership with Mr. B. L. Farjeon, the well-known novelist. Some idea of what can be made out of journalistic enterprise in New Zealand may be gathered from a brief recital of some particulars con- cerning the foundation and progress of the Wellington Evening Post, Started upon very modest dimensions by the late Mr. John Blundell in the early sixties, for a time it had a very precarious existence ; but Mr. Blundell and his three sons were never disheartened. They kept plodding away so successfully that when Mr. Blundell died he left the Post as a legacy to his sons, and the success of that paper has been so great that the Blundell family now share a net income of something like ^9,000 or ^10,000 a year. It is little wonder, therefore, that a year or two ago they refused an offer of ^40,000 for the Evening Post as a going concern. The best of the weekly publications in the Colony are the Christchurch Weekly Press, the Auckland Weekly Herald, and the THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 195 Otago Witness. The first-named particularly challenges for premier place such publications as the Australasian and Melbourne Leader^ and its illustrations are equal to anything in the same line produced in England. Proximity to the large centres and rapid communi- cation in no way discourage the establishment of newspapers in country districts, and they are therefore extraordinarily numerous, and more or less successful speculations. Conspicuous amongst these are Mr. Pirani’s paper at Palmerston North (the Manawatu Evening Standard')^ the one edited by Mr. Richardson Rae at Carterton (the Observer^ another published at Waimate (the Times), and Mr. Taylor's Manukau Chronicle, which is brought out within seven miles of the city of Auckland, and bears a very healthy appearance. What encourages the multiplicity of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand is the habit of advertising, which has become so general. The colonial public rush to the advertising columns of their local prints more freely than they do in Great Britain. They have a keener appreciation of the value of advertising, and hence it is that so few newspapers in the Colonies ever succumb for lack of support This will strike the atten- tion of any Britisher setting his foot there. At the same time, except in regard to the great metropolitan dailies of Australia, he will find that colonial newspapers, as a rule, are of a too local character, and that they devote far too much of their space to sport, particularly football. He will find, too, that even in cities with populations ranging from 40,000 to 50,000, the news- papers do not lead public opinion, but, like opportunist politicians — and men of this class abound at the Anti- podes — they are too prone to wait and see “how the cat jumps." There are a few exceptions, of course, and the two most notable of these are the Wellington 196 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Evening Post and the Christchurch Press^ both of which never hesitate to express their opinions fearlessly upon all the public questions of the day. With some New Zealand newspapers, however, a change of policy and principles is quite an easy matter. You may be taking in a newspaper, for instance, which has been going all its might against the Government for months past. All at once you discover a marked change of tone, and you look to see if you have not got hold of the wrong paper. No ; indeed you have not. You are surprised to find that the sheet you had so much faith in has gone quite upon the opposite tack. The explanation is not far to seek. Previously the paper contained no Government advertisements ; now it is full of them, headed with the Royal Arms, and the effect of these advertisements upon the editorial columns and general tone of the paper has been electrical. It has thrown a journalistic somersault. What it condemned most scathingly but a few days before, it now fulsomely praises and supports with that excess of zeal characteristic of apostasy. That is how they do things in New Zealand. In small colonial communities newspapers are careful, in most instances, not to express opinions or publish reports that might have the effect of alienating the support of an esteemed circle of advertisers. It is population alone which will place these newspapers in a position of independence, and enable them to lead, and not merely to follow, public opinion. With the establishment of the Australian Common- wealth a great future lies before the Press of that continent, and also of New Zealand, when that colony sees fit to abandon its present retrograde policy of isola- tion. With newspapers, as with statesmen, loftier ideals will present themselves ; and thus conducted upon higher lines the Press generally will become an ornament to the new nation whose birth has been so recently celebrated. CHAPTER XVIII THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA— POETRY AND PROSE HAN Dr. J. Laurence Rentoul, M.A., D.D., of X Ormond College, Melbourne University, there is no man in Australia more competent — indeed, so competent — to deal with the subject of Australasian literature. Besides being one of the Professors at Ormond College, Dr. Rentoul is a lecturer on litera- ture, history, &c., under the Melbourne University Extension system. His lecture on “ Tennyson’s Message to His Age,” was years ago published in extenso in the Melbourne press, and a report of it reached Lord Tennyson. The great poet conferred on Dr. Rentoul the honour of writing to him, and stating that he regarded that gentleman’s criticism and estimate as ‘‘the best, or one of the best, characterisations that had been made of him and his Message.” Dr. Rentoul was interviewed a short time ago by a representative of the Perth West Australian^ and his interviewer says, “ It would be difficult to describe the charm of Dr. Rentoul’s society, when he gives expression and scope to his literary thoughts and criticisms, or to reproduce all his utterances during what were, to the visitor, two exceedingly pleasant hours ; but his views on Australian literature, which 198 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW formed the object of the interview, will be read with interest/’ ‘‘ As to Australian literature,” says Dr. Rentoul, “and the prospects of a great school of Australasian poetry and prose literature, in the first place it is often overlooked that there are three main factors necessary to any great literature and any school of poetry. One factor is the theme ; another is the age, or time ; a third is the national conditions and environment. One of these conditions, of course, must be climate and the physical circumstances of the country. The great literatures have arisen mainly in lands of varied scenery — mountain and valley, and river and sea. Again, the great literatures were bound up with the history of a nation’s struggles and sufferings. In fact, the great literatures arose out of the heart, as well as the mind, of the people. “ I may illustrate this by pointing to the literature called the Bible, which arose mainly out of the little land of Palestine, and out of the struggles and woes of its people, under the inspiring force of trust and hope in God. It was the land, as Scripture says, of brooks and fountains, and of streams that flow amongst the hills. Snow-clad Hermon rose like a vision to the north, and the great sea washed it to the westward ; and the scenery of that little land so impressed itself upon the imagination and heart of the people that it has given inspiration to the literature of all modern nations. Take, similarly, little England, little Scotland, little Switzerland, little Italy. All our modern English poetry and highest literature have been influenced, and in a large measure inspired, by the thinkers, and singers, and writers of ancient tiny Greece, and of medieval little Italy. Through both ran great mountain chains, round which clung the glamour of cloud and mist, and in their glens were beauty and the song of rivers. THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 199 “ The one drawback of Australia as a literary centre is perhaps that it is too huge, and its scenery and natural surroundings too monotonous. Again, the day is perhaps too bright, and all things too definite and hard-lined. The hard sun shines clear into the Australian gullies, and in Australia there are no ghosts. Every- thing is so clear, matter-of-fact, and definite. You must recognise that much of Browning's best was made amongst the Apennines of Italy, and Tennyson's best was made, some of it amidst the fogs of London, some of it amongst the wet and clouds and gleams of bright- ness and of shadow that mark the British Islands. The glamour of beauty that haunts, for example, ‘ The Princess,' was due to his visit to the lakeland of Killarney, in the south of Ireland, with its softness of climate, its lingering twilight of sunset, its ‘rain, sun, and rain,' as he sings himself in ‘The Idylls of the King.' “ Again, in Australia we must not be, as the Yankees say, ‘ too previous.' We must become a nation before we can expect a great national literature. It was only when the English people were drawn into a passion of unity by the sufferings of the people and by the struggle of the great French war under the Plantagenets, that the English language, which had been till then a language of the yeoman and the churl, became, on the lips and pen of Chaucer, a great literary voice. You must give Australia time. “ Taking these things for granted, however, the Australians have already, I venture to think, given good promise of distinct literary power. They have also already, I think, shown that Australian poetry and literature will ultimately possess a distinctive speciality of tone, spirit, and theme. Of course, the Australian people are as yet so British — so English, so Irish, so Scotch — that Australian literature, whether it take the form of poetry or prose, must for a long time be largely 200 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW an echo of the great poets and literary writers of the old lands. This is, indeed, the main charge of a hostile character that has been brought against Australian poetry and prose. ‘‘Thus, Adam Lindsay Gordon is, indeed, not an Australian. He was born in the old country, and his influences were largely drawn from the old country. So with various other writers in Australia. At the same time, take even Adam Lindsay Gordon himself. Though much of his singing is imitative of Browning or, in quite other moods, of Swinburne, yet there is a distinctive note in Gordon’s poetry that is characteristi- cally Australian. There is in it the clink of the stirrup and the gallop of the Australian cross-country hurdle- jumper. There is in it the crack of the stockman’s whip, and there is also in it the subtle, penetrating influence of the Australian bush — the sense of lone- ness, and widths of space, and monotony of existence only to be broken by the wild gallop, or the rounding up of the rushing cattle. Take, as an example, ‘ The Sick Stockrider.’ “Take, again, ‘How we Beat the Favourite.’ Here there is a distinct something quite apart from the mere theme, that marks the utterance as one distinctively Australian in spirit. Of course the ‘ Lay of Britomarte,’ as a mere story, could have been written in England, and yet even here probably it could not have been written by any man except one who had himself galloped across Australian bush country. Much of the sadness in Gordon’s verse (a sadness finding its anodyne only in the wine-cup) is not necessarily Australian, though there seems a marked tendency to that sort of thing in much of Australian writing. It is due, I should say, more to Gordon’s consciousness that by his career he had closed the gates of Opportunity behind him, apd that there was no returning. THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 201 ‘‘May I tell you a story here about Gordon which I know to be true ? It came from the clergyman who married him, one of our Presbyterian clergymen, who was himself a literary student. Gordon, as you know, was a gentleman’s son. He married in Victoria a domestic, a pure-minded, but uneducated girl ; and he did so, according to this clergyman, largely to indicate that the past was past, and that there was no going back. But, though much of Gordon’s verse is irreverent, he could not endure lewd and impure talk ; and this is the story I want to tell. Gordon was invited by a wealthy squatter to dinner. He accepted the invitation, but after the ladies had retired, when, over the wine, the conversation and the jokes had begun to take a coarse and lewd turn, Gordon immediately rose and retired from the room. He always carried about with him this memory of having once been brought up in a pure English home, and of being a British gentleman. “ Kendal, again, the greatest as yet of our Australian singers, is far too much an echo of Wordsworth, Keats, and others. It is a very sweet echo, with a true sense for nature and the true feeling of humanity ; but, except in its picture of Australian scenery, it cannot be called distinctively Australian. “ Australian poetry and literary prose must neces- sarily, I think, be for a long time considerably dependent upon the poetry and literature of the old lands. Thus, for example, in what is sometimes ambitiously styled the ‘ new Australian School,’ repre- sented by writers like Lawson, ‘ Banjo ’ Paterson (‘ The Man from Snowy River,’ the poet of the ‘ Never, Never Country,’ and so forth), the imitation of Kipling, and of some features of Swinburne, is too palpable. These writers seem to know only one resource against the ennui or dreariness of existence, and the result is the devil-may-care life of the rouseabout (as the New 202 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Zealanders call it), or the gallop on horseback across country, or the hip-hip-hurrah ! of the ‘ jolly good fellow ’ over the tankard of beer or the brandy and soda. This is the danger and the weakness at present of much of Australian verse. It is only due to these and many other writers to point out, however, that there is a deeper element in their feeling and sympathy, and at times a nobler note in their singing. They are catching more and more of the spirit that is distinctively Australian — or Australasian, one should say, because we must remember that New Zealand, with her great snow-clad mountain chain, her rush of rivers, and her quite different flora, will afford conditions for a quite distinctive note in poetry and in higher literary prose. “ In all Australasian writing of the more distinctive kind I think one may observe elements or features — characteristic features — such as these : A desire to throw off conventionalities, a love of physical and mental freedom, even to the over-assertion of individual force perhaps, a passionate desire for an out-of-doors, un- trammelled kind of existence, a love of dash, of breeziness, and movement and action in life, with all the while a besetting sense of the vast level flatness of the country and of the monotony of human existence. “ As an illustration of this, I may draw attention to the young cluster of poets and verse writers that have been brought into prominence by the brilliant Bulletin^ the satirical weekly in Sydney. Some of these writers possess a singing voice of great sweetness, and at times of surprising power. Daly, perhaps, is the sweetest and most mystic in spirit amongst them. He is at times near to the mood of Wordsworth or of Keats. Ogilvie, again, has a splendid ring of manhood and forcefulness in his verse, and his spirit breathes intense love for, and loyalty to Australia ; but there is a besetting and recurrent reminiscence oi the fact that, after all (and THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 203 this, perhaps, is seen especially in Daly), the Damocles sword of fate hangs by a hair over our heads as we feast and sing, and the sobbing of the sea is heard through the song of the upland rivers. “ It is a curious thing, too, that the stories presented in the Bulletin have a prevailingly sad tone. This, of course, will necessarily be the case if men and women leave the quickening and inspiring hope that the divinity in God and in a victorious Christ brings to man. The late R. H. Hutton, of the Spectator^ in London, the foremost literary critic of his time, pointed out that George Eliot’s literary and artistic creative power loosened and lost fibre just in proportion as she abandoned more and more a definite Christian faith. Her earliest creations, such as ‘ Adam Bede,’ have an artistic unity and power that are not at all displayed in the much later ‘Daniel Deronda.’ If that be so, it may account at once for the depressing tone and the lack of the highest creative power in Australian novels. So far as they are not mere stories of wild adventure or of bushrangers ; so far as they are stories of social life and of individual character, the prevailing tone of them seems rather sad and depressing. “ Of course, a supreme instance of this in romance is Thomas Hardy. In proportion as he has abandoned all faith in God and hope for the progress of humanity, in proportion (as evidenced by ‘Jude the Obscure’) has his creative artistic power become loosened and deteriorated. “It should be said, however, in contrast with all this, that a good deal of the best poetry produced of late has a quite different ring. Take, for example, the ‘Songs of the South,’ and other poems by Mr. J. B. O’Hara, of the South Melbourne College (formerly a distinguished student of our Ormond College, though he himself is a Roman Catholic). His best poems possess fine sweet- 204 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW ness of cadence and rhythm, a true sense of the varying moods of nature, a sympathy with the heart throb of humanity, and an inspiring hope for human progress, because he has trust in God. Many of his verses are marked by a fine felicity and a beauty of artistic touch. If the thought is not very profound, yet, at any rate, it is true to the heart's instinct and to humanity's hope, as well as out of nature, and the fine thing is that it is always pure. “ Perhaps the finest work done recently in Australian verse is the sonnets of the late William Gay, of Bendigo. Though a great thinker, and for the most part always confined to his couch of pain, his sonnets exhibit a very high order of feeling and of artistic workmanship. His fine sonnet on Australian Federation, so often recited at Federation assemblies by Mr. Deakin recently, rises perhaps nearer the voice of the true national Australian poet than any other single poem that has been written in our country. I may mention, in a quite different mode, the poems of Mr. Alexander Sutherland, and the poems of John Sandes, better known by his nom de plume of ‘ Oriel,' in the Argus, Mr. Sutherland's poems are at times philosophic, at times remind one of Wordsworth, at times have upon them the mood or echo of Shelley. ‘ Oriel's,' of course, are in a distinctly lighter vein, but sometimes in the mock heroic they have in their own way an excellent quality. Some so-called ‘ patriotic ' poems produced recently by Sutherland, on the one hand, and by ‘ Oriel ' on the other, are distinctly good of their kind. It is a kind for which I myself have no great respect, but I simply speak of these, recognising their literary merit. ‘‘ Then one could gladly go back into a higher vein to speak of Sladen and Stephen, and of some of the Sydney poets identified with the Bulletin, But I THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 205 think I have said enough. I do not doubt that there are already evidences sufficient to warrant the belief that when Australia becomes unified, begins to feel the pulse of a large common national life and national destiny, becomes impressed with the deeper spirit which age and long experience and the weight of a nation’s burdens bring ; in short, when it reaches forward out of the immature transition stage into mature national life, there will be an Australian literature both in poetry and in prose, possessing its own unique characteristics. The life of the Australian people, by the sheer conditions of climate and of manifold environment, will be a distinc- tive life, having characteristics of its own, and Australian poetry and literature will necessarily be also in many respects characteristic and unique. Still, we must remember that the old, old fashion will always abide as the central motive force of litera- ture : the old, old fashion of love and loss, of struggle and endurance, of self-sacrifice and of burden-bearing, of laughter and tears, of love and of death. Literature is a language of emotion. As my great master, George Lillie Craik, said, ‘ Wherever, under the strong impulse of emotion, language grows and burns, wherever it has the effect of glow and colour, it is literature ; and wher- ever that literature falls into cadence and rhythm it is poetry.’ There will always abide the human emotions of love and yearning, of pity and sympathy of the heart thrilled under the touch of Nature’s voices, and of the spirit called upward by the voice of God while other voices call and lure downward. These voices, as Tennyson called them, will always abide, and the strong force of that struggle in the human soul will always make the central element of literature, whether the literature be poetry or prose. The Australian, though his skies be changed and the land around be all different from other lands, will always be a human soul. The 2o6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW element that made Shakespeare — the love and the tempting and the tragedy of life — will be in Australia as much as in England, and this will always be the real creative force making a literature. Wherever a people is gathered together into a nation we may look for the literature as a certain result.” In closing the interview, Dr. Rentoul said that an Australian writer that should be very honourably men- tioned was Miss Ethel Turner, of Sydney. She had undoubtedly, to use a Yankeeism, ‘‘struck ile ” in Australian prose. She had given a quite distinct presentment of an aspect of Australian life, and had treated in her own line childhood and young boyhood and girlhood with inimitable felicity ; but even here was found a proof of the tendency of sadness which marked Australian romance as yet. The scene created by Miss Turner that lived imperishably in the memory was — might he not say? — the death of Judy. It was evidently because she is his daughter that Dr. Rentoul, when dealing with the poetry of Australia, omitted any reference to the poems of Miss Annie R. Rentoul, who is fast coming into prominence as one of Australia’s most charming songstresses. Miss Rentoul, who is only in her seventeenth year, is a cousin of Mrs. Rentoul-Esler, the well-known novelist. Four of Miss Rentoul’s most recent productions are here given : — ^‘THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SWANS” I Do you hear them softly singing by the swiftly rushing waters ? Wildly sweet their song is, and full of untold woe ! Hear, oh, hear the singing of the dark chief’s lovely daughters. Mourning for the happy long ago. II Once their laughter rang as gladly as the ripple of the river. When they drooped their dusky faces down, with golden wattles crowned. THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 207 To watch the bright reflections upon the waters quiver, Where the scented lilies blossomed round. III Sad the day when thro’ the lilacs called the hungry water- witches, — Chief, we want your lovely daughters, the maidens fair and gay. Or, we will starve your cattle, and steal away your riches. And destroy your shining grass-lands in a day.” IV I will never give my daughters, little maids of all my loving. Like the merry, merry bell-birds, their voices sound to me ! I will never give my daughters, in the wild woods they are moving. Like the lissom grasses swaying free ! ” V Rose the river in the night-time, when the summer stars were gleaming. And the water-witches clapped their hands, and said : Oh ! maidens three. Do you hear the night-wind moaning, and the darkling waters streaming ? Maidens, lift your dusky lids and see ! ” VI Beneath the scented gum-trees swiftly crept the cruel river. Where the sisters lay a-sleeping, their slender arms en- twined ; The moon-beams kissed their faces, and the night sounds murmured ever. With the eerie sighing of the wind. VII Little maidens, hear the voices of the great and strong gods calling — We lend the dusky storm-clouds to you for saving wings ! ” And they soared above the waters, their voices rising, falling. In the ’trancing song the wild-swan sings. 2o8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW VIII When the sun has flush’d the Heaven, and the wind has ceased its sighing, And the black-man’s guides, the shining stars, begin to blink, Hear the swans, the little daughters, like the lonely Bunyip crying. At the lapping water’s brink. NOBODY KNOWS I Nobody knows, but I know. Deep where the heart-love lies Why, at the scent of the violet The tears spring to my eyes. II Away in the dusky woodlands Mourneth a lonely thrush ; The sun is red in the beeches. The shades of evening hush. Ill Nobody knows, but I know. She is sleeping soft and sound, Her quiet hands are folded. Her golden hair is bound. IV Far off in the quiet valley Murmurs a homing dove. His music can tell his meaning. But I cannot tell my love. V Nobody knows, but I know. Maybe she hears my song. For the grasses bending over her Whisper it all day long. THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 209 THE LOST LOVES I Oh, the green lanes, the green lanes. The mossy lanes of maying. Where we used to wander, my little Love and I. Oh ! bluer were her sweet eyes than all the violets straying. And softer was her soft voice than meadow-grasses’ sigh. Little lost Love, goodbye ! II Oh ! the woodlands, the woodlands. The shining woods of June-time, Where we used to wander, my happy Love and 1. Oh ! redder were her soft cheeks than roses in their bloom- time, And clearer was her calling voice than mavis’ summer cry. Happy lost Love, goodbye ! III Oh ! the gray wolds, the gray wolds. The night, — the dreary high wolds. Where we used to wander, my great strong Love and I. Oh ! truer was his true heart than all the stars the sky holds. And stronger was his strong right arm than night winds rushing by. Oh ! my strong Love, goodbye ! IV Oh ! the dreamland, the dreamland. The land of shadowy meeting. Where we often wander now, my dear lost Loves and I : I see their longing faces in the moonlight passing, fleeting. And hear their voices calling me, but I can only cry, Dear and lost Loves, goodbye ! DREAMLAND I Sky — where the Sun, evanishing, has blushed. When one pale Star first heralded the Moon, Wrapped in her mystic robes, while evening hushecl To her approach eftsoon. IS 210 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NFAY II Fields — where all day the nodding poppies kissed, And Sleep has sent his messengers from far, The winged winds, who wander as they list Where secret fancies are. Ill Shadows — where woven vasts of thought- webs lie, Melodies wondrous from a waveless sea. Mysterious chantings, leaves that, rustling, die. Echoes from Faerie. IV Time — like a rosebud’s span, yet like the sky. Mist-clouded, weird, a magic unknown deep. Where Thought, in Dream’s dim-shrouded Treasury, Wanders with sleep. Neither in romance nor in the realms of poetry has New Zealand been fruitful of so many writers as Australia. As yet, it has produced no Marcus Clarke, or Rolf Boldrewood (Mr. Brown), or any authors whose books have gained nearly so much popularity as “His Natural Life'' and “ Robbery under Arms." Its poets are few in number, and Thomas Bracken is perhaps the only one who has soared to any distinction. His volume, “ Land of the Moa," contains many excel- lent specimens of versification, and “Not Understood" is unquestionably one of his best efforts. Poor Bracken, afflicted with a painful and prolonged illness, died at Dunedin a few years ago — the author is sorry to say in reduced circumstances. CHAPTER XIX AUSTRALIA A NATION A lthough nttle more than a decade has passed since the movement for the federation of the Australasian Colonies was taken seriously by the public men and people of Australia, it must not be supposed that the idea was not entertained at a very much earlier period of Australian history. Indeed, as far back as 1857 a Select Committee of the Legislative Council of New South Wales recommended that a meeting should be held of delegates from the Legislatures of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, with a view of devising a plan for a General Assembly for all the Colonies, which should deal with all matters of federal importance and concern. It unfor- tunately happened, however, that very little attention was paid to this recommendation, because the Council who promulgated it accompanied it with a proposal to establish a hereditary aristocracy. This proposal brought the Council into very bad odour with the public, who, while they laughed the hereditary nobility idea to scorn, allowed the federation question practically to lapse altogether. From that period up to the seventies it remained almost entirely forgotten, and its revival was due to Sir Henry Parkes. At first Australian federation met with little encouragement ; generally speaking, its advocates were subjected to a great deal 212 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW of ridicule ; they were called dreamers, and “ fadera- tion ’’ was the nickname which was applied to the project, and its advocates were called “ Faderationists.” This ridicule did not dishearten those who had em- braced the faith of an united Australia, and the movement derived a great impetus from a very able speech in support of Australian federation which was delivered by Sir Hercules Robinson, then Governor of New South Wales, at the border town of Albury in 1876. From that time the movement took practical shape, and its supporters pushed the question to the forefront of Australian politics. They had still to work for ten years before they could succeed in bringing their agitation to a stage when the various Colonies interested could be induced to take united action. The British Parliament passed an Act providing for the formation of a Federal Council, and in January, 1886, the first meeting of the Federal Council was held at Hobart, Tasmania. Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Fiji sent delegates to this Federal Council. Strange to say, the Colony which first gave birth to the idea of federation (New South Wales) was unrepresented, and New Zealand and South Australia also declined to join in the deliberations of the first Federal Council, but South Australia sent representa- tives to the Council at a subsequent period. The greatest advance towards federation was made at the conference which assembled in Melbourne in 1890, under the presidency of Sir Henry Parkes. Resolutions were passed affirming the desirableness of an early union of the Australian Colonies on principles just to all ; that the remoter Australasian Colonies should be entitled to admission upon terms to be afterwards agreed upon ; and that steps should be taken for the appointment of delegates to a National Australasian Convention to consider and report upon an adequate AUSTRALIA A NATION 213 scheme for a Federal Constitution. Accordingly, on March 2, 1891, the National Australasian Convention, consisting of delegates appointed by the various Colonies, assembled at Sydney, under the presidency of Sir Henry Parkes. This Convention was representa- tive of all the Colonies in the Australasian group, and one of the first delegates sent by New Zealand was the late Sir George Grey. At this Convention a series of resolutions were moved by Sir Henry Parkes, and these, after discussion and amendment, were adopted in the following form, affirming — 1st. The powers and rights of existing Colonies to remain intact except as regards such powers as it may be necessary to hand over to the Federal Government. 2nd. No alteration to be made in States without the consent of the Legislatures of such States, as well as of the Federal Parliament. 3rd. Trade between the federated Colonies to be absolutely free. 4th. Powers to impose Customs and Excise Duties to be in the Federal Government and Parliament. 5th. Military and Naval Defence Forces to be under one command. 6th. The Federal Constitution to make provision to enable each State to make amendments in its Con- stitution if necessary for the purposes of Federation. Further resolutions were passed for the framing of a Federal Constitution which should establish a Senate and House of Representatives, the latter to possess the sole power of originating money Bills ; also a Federal Supreme Court of Appeal, and an Executive consisting of a Governor-General, with such persons as might be appointed as his advisers. One would have supposed that when the movement had got so far as this the federation of the Colonies was close at hand, but somehow or other no action was 21 ^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW taken by their Parliaments to give effect to the resolu- tions of the Sydney Convention. The apathy evinced upon the subject was most surprising, and for three or four years the federal movement remained practically in abeyance. Ultimately, Mr. G. H. Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, came to its rescue, and to that gentleman's action must be attributed the successful march of federation onward from 1 894. At his invita- tion the Premiers of the other Colonies met in conference at Hobart in 1895. All Australasian Colonies were represented at this conference except New Zealand, which had withdrawn from the federation movement at an early period, and has ever since maintained a policy of isolation in regard to it. At this Hobart Conference of 1895 it was decided to ask the Parlia- ment of each Colony to pass a Bill enabling the electors who were qualified to vote for members of the Lower House in each Colony to choose ten persons to repre- sent the Colony on a Federal Convention, whose work would be the framing of a Federal Constitution to be afterwards submitted to the people for approval by means of the Referendum. It was this thoroughly democratic principle in Mr. Reid’s scheme which led to such satisfactory results. During 1896 what were called Enabling Acts to give effect to Mr. Reid’s pro- posals were passed by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Queensland eventually joined. All the Colonial Parliaments except Western Australia passed these Enabling Bills, and at the Referendum the P'ederal Constitution was adopted by large majorities in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. Western Australia held aloof for some time, but at the eleventh hour its Parliament passed the Enabling Bill, and the Referendum gave the electors’ sanction to it by a large majority. AUSTRALIA A NATION 2IS Consequently the whole Continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania are now comprised within the Australian Commonwealth. It is difficult to understand New Zealand's attitude on the federation question, except that it does not possess any men in power who can be called states- men. By these politicians distance has been urged as a reason against federation ; but distance counted for nothing when annexation of the Cook and other islands was recently made by that Colony. These islands are all farther away from New Zealand than New Zealand is from Australia, and while the men now in power did not relish the idea of being governed from Australia, they were ready themselves to govern islands which were more remote ; and seeing what has taken place in New Zealand with regard to the Maoris and their lands, it is quite easy to understand the action of Sir Thomas O’Brien, the Governor of Fiji, in warning the natives of those islands against annexation by New Zealand. Sir Thomas O’Brien’s action does him great credit, and he has rendered signal service to the Fijian natives by warning them against submitting themselves to be governed by a colony so remote as New Zealand is from Fiji. It is essentially to the best interests of the Fijian islanders that they should not submit to being governed from New Zealand. In the matter of Australian federation it is just as well to point out that there will be portions of the Aus- tralian Continent even more remote from its seat of Government than New Zealand will be; therefore the plea of distance as an excuse for isolation counts for very little. Distance was not really the great objection it has been represented to be. The real fact of the matter is that New Zealand abounds in politicians who are incap- able of grasping the situation, whose ideals are not of a very lofty kind, and who fear, above all things else, that 2i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW New Zealand’s inclusion in the Commonwealth would carry with it their own political extinction. Better, abler, and more truly representative men would require to be sent to the Federal Parliament, and, as they know that they would have no chance in any national competition of the kind, self-interest urges them to allow New Zealand to retain only the status of a province whilst a great nation exists a little more than twelve hundred miles from their shores. Amongst public men who are not in power there are many who foresee that the time will come when New Zealand cannot afford to remain outside the Australian Commonwealth. Foremost among them is Sir Robert Stout, one of the very few real states- men New Zealand can now unfortunately boast of, and the leading spirit of true democracy in that part of the world. Sir Robert Stout has been strongly in favour of federation all along ; and Mr. Gresley Lukin deserves special mention for the many excellent articles he has written in support of the federation propaganda. Already New Zealanders are taking alarm at the policy of isolation which has hitherto been pursued on the subject ; but it is alarm of a selfish kind. As the fiscal policy of the Australian Commonwealth will be one of free trade amongst the federating Colonies and of pro- tection against the outside world. New Zealanders are beginning to see that the Commonwealth’s tariff may seriously affect their interests, more especially as the producers of that Colony have hitherto been doing a very large amount of trade with New South Wales, Victoria, and other portions of the Continent. Under the circumstances, the Federal Parliament cannot be expected to frame a Customs tariff specially favourable to New Zealand, and therefore the inhabitants of that Colony see when it may be too late that by standing so frigidly aloof from the federation movement their own interests may have been seriously endangered, and it AUSTRALIA A NATION 217 was this feeling which prompted the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the whole subject and report to Parliament at its session during the present year. That Royal Commission is composed of men who, for by far the most part, are known to be opposed to federation, and the probability is that they will report against it. Nothing else can be expected from a Commission so constituted. But their report will not stop the movement in favour of federation which is taking place in that Colony. The pity of it all is that New Zealand did not join the Commonwealth as an original State. The Federation Act passed by the Imperial Parlia- ment gives to the Australian Commonwealth the most extensive powers of self-government, while retaining to the various States of the Union absolute control over their own local and internal affairs. It is in all essential particulars the measure adopted by over- whelming majorities of the people in Australia and Tasmania, and their mandate to the delegates taking the measure to Westminster was ‘‘the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill.” With one exception, these delegates loyally adhered to their trust — a trust confided to them by the voice of a free and enlightened people desiring the fullest measure of self-government ; and well for them it was that they had two such representative men as Mr. Barton and Mr. Deakin to safeguard their interests, and to contend so manfully and steadfastly for what they were sent to London to obtain. The public of Great Britain and of Australia are fully acquainted with the persistent attempts which were made by Mr. Chamberlain and others to emasculate that measure of self-government, and how these attempts were defeated one after another by the uncompromising attitude of Mr. Barton, of New South Wales, Mr. Deakin, of Victoria, and some of the other delegates. Had they 2i8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW not been successful, a very awkward position might have resulted, because the people of Australia were determined upon having their Bill, and they viewed with considerable indignation the efforts which were made in the Imperial Parliament to emasculate it in a way which would have so materially curtailed their rights and powers of self-government. For the defeat of these efforts the Australian people must ever look back with feelings of thankfulness to men like Mr. Barton and Mr. Deakin, to whose firmness and consistent action they undoubtedly owe the Act which has elevated them to the proud position which Australia now holds amongst the nations of the world. It is much to be regretted that anything should have happened to cause friction at the installing stages of the Commonwealth. Everybody in Australia was pleased more orless when Lord Hopetounwas appointed as itsfirst Governor-General. Lord Hopetoun had been Governor of Victoria for a term, and was very popular with the people there. It was, therefore, believed that he would be equally successful and popular in the higher position to which the British Government appointed him ; but no one was prepared for the initial mistake he made when he reached Australia to enter upon his new functions. Opinion was unanimous that Mr. Barton, by his strenuous exertions on behalf of federation, and his loyalty to the wishes of the people while in London, had established a claim far above that of any one else to be entrusted with the formation of the first Federal Government. It was decreed otherwise, and it will take a great deal of explanation to remove the impression in Australia that he was purposely passed over because of the uncompromising attitude he had taken up during the passage of the Commonwealth Bill through the Imperial Barliamcnt. Be that as it may, and whether or not Lord Hopetoun acted upon his own motion or by instructions AUSTRALIA A NATION 219 from the Colonial Office, the public were taken altogether by surprise when Lord Hopetoun sent for Sir William Lyne, and entrusted him with the task of forming the first Federal Ministry. Sir William Lyne had been one of the greatest opponents of federation, and why he should be the first one sent for to form a Cabinet no one could understand, except for the reasons already stated. It is true that he happened at the time to be the Premier of the Mother Colony, as New South Wales is called, and that fact is urged as an ample justification of Lord Hopetoun's action in the matter. Probably if Sir William Lyne had been a supporter of the federation cause his preference would have caused neither comment nor sur- prise ; but it was his opposition to it, and Mr. Barton s strenuous advocacy of federation which made the selec- tion of Sir William Lyne all the more surprising, and called forth such a vigorous protest against Mr. Barton having been passed over for political reasons. It is fair to Sir William Lyne to say that he had no hand in the business. He recognised at once that Mr. Barton’s claims were superior to his own, and lost no time in recommending Lord Hopetoun to send for that gentle- man. Mr. Barton was sent for accordingly, and soon he succeeded in forming the first Federal Ministry, and a strong one too. It was composed as follows : — Rt. Hon. Edmund Barton, Prime Minister and Exterior Affairs. Hon. Sir W. Lyne, Home Affairs. Hon. Alfred Deakin, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. Rt. Hon. G. Turner, Treasurer. Rt. Hon. C. C. Kingston, Trade and Customs. Rt. Hon. Sir J. Forest, Postmaster-General. Hon. Sir J. R. Dickson, Minister for Defence. Unfortunately the Hon. Sir J. R. Dickson died a week or two after the formation of this first Federal Ministry. The Hon. J. G. Drake, Queensland’s Post- master-General and Minister of Education, has been appointed as Federal Postmaster-General, and in con- 220 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW sequence of the rearrangement of portfolios Sir J. Forest becomes Minister for Defence. In forming his Cabinet Mr. Barton selected two Ministers from New South Wales (himself and Sir William Lyne) ; two from Victoria (Right Hon. Sir G. Turner and the Hon. Alfred Deakin), one from South Australia (Right Hon. C. C. Kingston), one from Queens- land (Hon. Sir J. R. Dickson, since deceased), and one from Western Australia (Right Hon. Sir J. Forest). The Hon. N. E. Lewis, Premier of Tasmania, was included in the Cabinet, without portfolio. It might have been better if provision had been made for allotting a Cabinet Minister with a portfolio to each State, as the whole number could not exceed nine in the event of New Zealand coming in at a later period ; but this is a detail which can easily be provided for. It is obvious that no single State like Tasmania will relish the idea of not having a full-fledged representative in the Cabinet ; and it is only reasonable to assume that a colony of the population and importance of New Zealand would insist, as a condition precedent to joining the Commonwealth, that it should have Cabinet representation. There would then be a total number of seven States in all, and, two Ministers being allotted to Victoria and New South Wales, the remaining five seats would give one each to Queensland, South Aus- tralia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, when the last-mentioned Colony joins the Common- wealth, as most likely it will do before long, despite the expected report of the Royal Commission to the contrary. The birth of the Australian Commonwealth was celebrated amid great rejoicings at Sydney on the 1st of January last — one hundred and twelve years after the arrival of Governor Phillip in Botany Bay. The elections for the Senate and House of Representatives have taken place in the various States in accordance AUSTRALIA A NATION 221 with the electoral laws in force in each of them. The first Parliament will meet in Melbourne at the beginning of May, and Melbourne will be the place of meeting until a Federal Capital is established. The Act provides that the capital shall not be situate less than one hundred miles distant from Sydney, and speculation is rife as to the place which will be fixed upon for the capital. A Commissioner has been travelling round the Colonies making inquiries and collecting information, and his report will be submitted to the Federal Parliament when it meets. It is believed that the town of Orange in New South Wales stands a good chance of being selected. It was Mr. Barton’s intention to postpone considera- tion of the fiscal policy until a later period, but the free traders of New South Wales, led by Mr. G. H. Reid, forced the issue, and consequently the first elections, which took place on the 29th and 30th of last month, were fought upon the question of protection and free trade. Mr. Reid favoured a free trade policy, and an arrangement of the tariff for revenue purposes only. Mr. Barton supported a policy of moderate protection, for the establishment and encouragement of local industries as well as those already in existence. Mr. Barton also advocated a white Australia ; that is to say, that it should be settled by a white population, and that the importation of coloured labour from the islands should be discontinued after sufficient notice of its intended discontinuance has been given to ‘ the planters in Queensland and other parts of the Continent. This declaration secured for him the support of the Labour Party ; but it is difficult to see how white men will be able to work in the tropical portions of Australia, where the heat in summer is very intense. In analysing the results of the recent Federal elections, it would appear that in the Senate the Government has a majority of about five, In the House of Represent 222 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW tatives Mr. Barton has secured a solid majority of about a dozen. Even in the free-trade stronghold (New South Wales) the low-tariff members are only six more than those who support a high tariff ; while in Victoria (the protectionist State par excellence) the victory of the high- tariff candidates has been very pronounced, only four out of the twenty-three seats being secured by the free-traders. The most remarkable feature of the elections is the suc- cess of the Labour Party. For the Senate its candidates have won eight seats out of a total of thirty-six, and for the House of Representatives sixteen seats out of seventy-five stand to its credit. While the Melbourne Argus (low-tariff organ) gives Mr. Barton a majority of only five in the House of Representatives, the Age (pro- tectionist) sets his majority down at fifteen. Between these two estimates of the position of parties, made by low and high-tariff organs respectively, it is clear that Mr. Barton’s majority is a substantial one in the Lower House. He is confronted, however, by a very strong man in Opposition, Mr. Reid, and it is likely that the tariff will be a matter of compromise, of give-and-take, between the representatives of the various States, with a preponderance in favour of a moderate measure of protection against the outside world, because revenue must be obtained, and the Commonwealth’s own industries must be protected up to a certain limit, probably not exceeding an average of 12 or 15 per cent. There will be free trade, of course, amongst all the States of the Union. The Australian Commonwealth has been established under conditions which give promise of a marvellous development and prosperity, and its record will be a truly wonderful one by the time the first half of the new century is reached. The natural resources of Australia are so great and varied, and its mineral wealth apparently so inexhaustible, that it cannot fail to progress by leaps AUSTRALIA A NATION 223 and bounds. It offers such an extensive field for settle- ment, for farming and pastoral pursuits, and for indus- trial and commercial enterprise in all their branches, that its present population of four millions and a half is certain to be trebled in half the time it has taken it to reach these figures ; and, no matter from what stand- point it is regarded, Australia is destined to become one of the greatest nations of the earth. What stands Australia in good stead on setting out upon its new career of practical independence is, that a great spirit of colonial patriotism animates its people ; that its public men are able, broad-minded and progressive, well quali- fied in every way to assist in the work of nation-building which has been commenced so auspiciously. There is no conceivable limit to the things which may be expected to result from federation. In the first place, it will inspire the public men of the Commonwealth with far loftier and nobler ideals than could have prevailed under the confined limitations of provincialism ; it will conduce to a superior standard of public and political life ; it will extend the opportunities of those who have con- spicuous ability and laudably ambitious aims ; it will encourage the arts and sciences and place learning upon a higher plane than it has yet reached ; it will do what has hitherto been too much neglected — it will hold out an encouraging hand to inventive genius, as America has done, with such astounding results ; it will exercise a refining and elevating influence upon all sections of the community ; it will improve the social conditions under which they live ; it will increase general knowledge and the scope of literature ; in a word, it will do all that a people imbued with the true sentiments and aspirations of nationality are capable of accomplishing. Who can think of the vast heritage that is theirs to-day without contemplating the great destiny that lies before the Australian people of our own time and in future genera- 224 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW tions, when its millions and millions of acres will be covered by a population like that of the United States of America at the present moment? Everybody knows how small the population of that country was when it began to shape its own destinies ; and it requires no stretch of imagination to foresee what will be the eventualities in that great island Continent in the far South. Let those who indulge in dreams of Imperial Federation and of a great Confederacy of the Anglo- speaking nations of the earth ponder over the subject more profoundly than they appear to do, and if they can convince themselves that Australia has not em- barked upon a course which will ultimately end in its political independence as a nation, the author will find great difficulty in reconciling their conclusions with the strong undercurrent of opinion and sentiment which he knows is running out there, or with the natural causes which render the supposition untenable that Australia will not become a great and independent Democracy. And surely no common-sense man or woman can imagine that when the Commonwealth arrives at that epoch of maturity in its growth, any statesmen will be found so foolhardy and obstinate as to refuse Australia what it asks. The Commonwealth has made a good start ; it has a great and glorious future before it ; a future full of promise and brightest hopes, of great prosperity and marvellous development, and from the bottom of his heart the author exclaims. Advance, Australia! [For statistical information about Australia and Tasmania, sec Tables at end of volume.] PART II NEW ZEALAND i6 CHAPTER XX SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND— DISCOVERY— FIRST ACQUAINT- ANCE WITFI THE NATIVES — PHYSICAL FEATURES HERE are comparatively few people in Great X Britain who could answer the question if it were put to them — How big is New Zealand ? The prevailing notion is that it is a little spot, at the extreme ends of the earth, inhabited for the most part by a race of semi- civilised natives and a few thousand whites. On both points they are quite in the dark, and it will no doubt surprise them to be told that New Zealand is only about one-seventh less in extent than the area of Great Britain and Ireland, that it has a population of nearly 800,000 souls, and that of this number the native race consists of less than 40,000 men, women, and children. The Middle Island alone is larger than the combined areas of England and Wales by 214 square miles. The total area of the three islands which constitute New Zealand proper — the North Island, Middle Island, and Stewart's Island — is 103,658 square miles, and the Chatham and other islands which belong to it (exclusive of the Cook Islands recently annexed) brings up the total area to 104,471 square miles. It is quite a common error to suppose that New Zealand was discovered by Captain Cook ; but, as a matter of fact, Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navi- 228 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW gator, was the first white man who is known to have found that these islands had an existence. This was nearly one hundred and thirty years before Captain Cook made his acquaintance with New Zealand. Tasman sailed from Batavia on the 14th of August, 1642, and discovered the island which he named Van Diemen's Land, in honour of Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies. Afterwards, directing his course eastward, Tasman, on the 13th of December, 1642, sighted the Middle Island of New Zealand, which he described as a high mountainous country, as indeed it is upon that part of its coasts. It was Tasman’s belief that this high mountainous country belonged to a great polar continent, but in this belief Tasman was found to be mistaken. Tasman sailed along the coast and anchored in a bay, where an attack was made upon a boat’s crew, and four of his men were killed by the natives. Tasman called it Murderers’ Bay, and thence he steered along the west coast of the North Island, and gave to the north-west extremity of it the name which it still bears — Cape Maria Van Diemen, in honour of the aforesaid Governor’s daughter, for whom, as the story goes, he had formed a strong attachment. There is no record which shows that Tasman ever set his foot upon the shores of New Zealand, and Captain Cook is therefore supposed to be the first white man who landed therein. This was in 1769, on the shores of Poverty Bay. Cook’s description of the native inhabitants of New Zealand, whom he saw for the first time in 1769, is very interesting. He says that “many of the Indians — as he called them — wore pieces of greenstone round their necks ; that these greenstone pieces were transparent and resembled emeralds. The form of some of their faces was agreeable. Their noses were rather prominent than flat, and their language nearly resembled that of SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND 229 Otaheite. The women paint their faces with a mixture of red ochre and oil which, as they are very plain, renders them in appearance more homely. This kind of daubing, being generally wet upon their cheeks, was easily transferred to those who saluted them, as was frequently visible upon the noses of our people. The young ones, who were coquettes, wore a petticoat under which was a girdle made of the blades of grass, strongly perfumed, to which was appended a small bunch of the leaves of some fragrant plant. The faces of the men were not in general painted, but they were daubed with dry red ochre from head to foot, their apparel not excepted. Though in personal cleanliness they were not equal to our friends at Otaheite, yet in some particulars they surpass them. Among the females chastity was lightly esteemed. They resorted frequently to the watering places, where they freely bestowed every favour that was requested. An officer meeting with an elderly woman, accompanied her to her house, and, having presented her with some cloth and beads, a young girl was singled out with whom he was given to understand he might retire.” Cook, after rounding the North Cape and sailing to Queen Charlotte's Sound (1770), found evidences that cannibalism was practised in New Zealand, but adds “ they never eat any but their enemies. A decisive conquest or victory occasions the entire depopulation of the district, as it is not only the vanquished who are killed that are eaten, but the prisoners likewise are devoured by the victors.” Even then Cook must have had the possibilities of British colonisation in his mind, for he adds : “ Notwithstanding the custom of eating their enemies, the circumstances and temper of these people are in favour of those who might settle amongst them as a colony.” When Cook next visited New Zealand, in 1773, his own ship, the Endeavour^ got parted from the 230 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Adventurer^ and Cook put into Queen Charlotte’s Sound. After lying there for some time he set sail again on the very day before the Adventurer followed him into the same place. While the latter was lying in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, full evidence was afforded of the existence of cannibalism. One of her boat’s crews was attacked by the natives, and every member of the crew was killed and eaten by the savages. Cook’s last visit to New Zealand was in 1777. The physical features of New Zealand are very striking. The North Island is generally hilly and in parts moun- tainous, but there are large areas of plain and sloping country eminently adapted for agriculture. It has been roughly estimated that in this part of the colony there are 13,000,000 acres of level or undulating land fit for farming purposes, and the area of pastoral land is set down at 14,200,000 acres. Of course, these estimates include the country which is at present covered with forest. The North Island is splendidly watered, and several large rivers empty into the ocean on both sides. The principal mountains in the North Island are Mount Egmont, an extinct volcano, rising to a height of 8,260 feet ; the Tongariro Mountains, the highest peak of which (Ngauruhoe) attains an elevation of 7,515 feet; and Ruapehu, which rises to an altitude of 9,008 feet. Eruptions take place at intervals in the Ruapehu and Tongariro Mountains, and Ngauruhoe is constantly emitting steam from its summits. In 1868 the last discharge of lava took place from Ngauruhoe, but its three craters are still active, steam and vapour issuing from them with considerable noise and force. The author last saw these craters in 1898, and they were then very active. The North Island abounds with hot springs and geysers, notably at Wairakei, Rotorna, Tokaanu, and other localities, and the ground is quite warm all around the pools of boiling mud and water. SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND 231 The author is reserving for another volume a detailed description of the physical features of New Zealand and the extraordinary phenomena to be seen in various parts of it, as to set these things forth in this book would unduly swell its proportions. Cook Strait divides the North from the Middle Island, and the width of this channel varies from sixteen to ninety miles. For almost its entire length the Middle Island is intersected by the range of mountains known as the Southern Alps. Mount Cook, the highest peak of these Alps, rises to a height of 12,349 feet. There are other high mountains in the Middle Island, and, generally speaking, the scenery is magnificent. The lakes are numerous, and several rivers flow east and west of the Southern Alps. Although in the north, part of the Middle Island, in the west and south the country is mountainous, there are plains, downs, and undulating areas of vast extent, and agricultural and pastoral pursuits are carried on very extensively. It is estimated that there are about 15,000,000 acres available for agriculture in the Middle Island, and that about 13,000,000 acres are suitable for pastoral purposes. The area of barren land and mountain tops is estimated at about 9,000,000 acres. There are numerous lakes in the Middle Island, and many rivers flow east and west of the dividing range. Stewart's Island is separated from the Middle Island by Foveaux Strait ; it has a total area of 425,390 acres. Most of the island is rugged and clad with forest. As New Zealand extends from north to south for a distance of ten or eleven hundred miles, the climate and temperature vary accordingly. It is hotter in the north than in the south, but all through the climate is splendid and the rainfall satisfactory. New Zealand is never subject to the droughts that are experienced in Aus- tralia ; but sometimes very destructive floods happen in 232 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Hawke’s Bay, Otago, and in some of the low-lying country in other districts. There are no snakes in New Zealand. The only venomous thing known to exist there is the Katipo spider, and a bite from this small insect has occasionally proved fatal. Altogether, Nature has been most bountiful in her gifts to New Zealand — a good climate, excellent soil, abundance of water, timber, coal, gold, and other minerals, and that Colony possesses all the essential elements to make it one of the most prosperous countries on the face of the earth. It is capable of supporting a very large population, and with good government the day will yet come when it can be truthfully described as ‘‘ God’s own country.” CHAPTER XXI IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS — THE EARLIEST MISSION- ARIES — THE BOYD MASSACRE — SYSTEMATIC SETTLEMENT— THE TREATY OF WAITANGI I T was many years after Cook’s first visit to New Zealand that it was regarded as a suitable place for colonising purposes. Notwithstanding the fact that he had written very favourable accounts of New Zealand as a country to settle in, the people of Great Britain could not forget that it was inhabited by a race of can- nibals, fierce and warlike, who had not only massacred but cooked and eaten a whole boat’s crew of the vessel attached to his own in the second voyage he made into southern latitudes. Indeed, the general belief was that all the islands in the South Seas were peopled by can- nibalistic races, and therefore the thought of colonising any of these distant lands was not seriously entertained until it was actually forced upon the British Government, as an outcome of the American War of Independence. Other fields had to be resorted to for getting rid of its criminal classes, and Cook’s accounts of Australia turned the eyes of the Government in that direction, with the results that have already been described in the first portion of this volume. New Zealand eventually became a dependency of New South Wales, and being so connected the wonder is that the Governor 234 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW never entertained the notion of sending two or three drafts of his convicts to the Bay of Islands. Close trading relations were established between New Zealand and New South Wales, and the former became a great whaling station. As early as 1803 some Maoris visited Sydney, and in 1804 we hear of an English sailor, George Bruce, marrying the daughter of a Maori chief (Te Pahi) and settling at the Bay of Islands. Bruce was therefore the first white man who had gone to live amongst the Maoris. After the whalers came the missionaries. A York- shire blacksmith, named Samuel Marsden, became a chaplain at the penal station in New South Wales, being located at Parramatta, where he was general superintendent of convicts. Mr. Marsden conceived the idea of sending a band of missionaries amongst the Maoris, with the view of converting them to Chris- tianity. The scheme was matured, and twenty-five persons left England for New Zealand via Sydney. Before their arrival news was received in Sydney of the massacre of the captain, crew, and passengers of the ship Boyd at Whangaroa, a harbour some miles to the north of the Bay of Islands. The event is thus recorded in the author’s own book entitled, ‘‘ His Island Home, and Away in the Far North”: — “The massacre on Peach Island is not the only one of which the harbour of Whangaroa has been the theatre. Here it was that in the year 1809 occurred the murder of the crew and passengers of the ship Boyd. This vessel sailed from Sydney for England, with the intention of calling at Whangaroa for spars. She carried seventy Europeans and five New Zealand natives, who were shipped at Sydney to work their passages to their own country. Of the latter, Tara (or George, as he was called on board ship) was the son of a Whangaroa chief. During the voyage he refused to work, because he was sick, for IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 235 which the captain stopped his food, and flogged him twice at the gangway with much severity. When the vessel arrived at Whangaroa, and Tara and his four shipmates went amongst their friends, they related how cruelly Tara had been treated on the passage from Sydney, and Tara bared his back to afford ocular proof of the sort of treatment he had been subjected to. The vessel had come there for spars, and the natives, after a council of war, resolved to turn this circumstance to advantage, in order that they might have revenge upon those on board the ship. One day, by appointment with the natives, and in total ignorance of the plot, the captain and doctor of the Boyd were rowed ashore by some of the crew. On the captain's landing, the natives agreed to supply the spars, and a price was fixed upon. In order to satisfy him as to the quality of the spars they intended to supply, they asked the captain to follow them into the bush, and they would point them out to him. He assented to the proposition, and the doctor accompanied the captain. In order not to arouse the suspicions of the boat's crew, the natives allowed their women to remain with the sailors until they might return. Having penetrated the bush a sufficient dis- tance, the natives despatched the captain and doctor, and, returning to the water's edge and taking the sailors by surprise, they murdered them also. ‘‘ The assassins now proceeded in their canoes to where the Boyd was lying at anchor, and, not knowing their designs, those on the ship allowed them to board her without opposition. Once there, they resumed their revengeful work, and only four souls amongst the crew and passengers escaped this sanguinary slaughter. Having no more lives to take, the natives at once set to work to pillage the ship, and there are natives still alive who can tell you everything about it ; they were either youths at the time, and are living witnesses of 236 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW what happened, or they have been told of what occurred by those who took an active part in the affair. Before commencing to pillage the ship, lines were stretched across the deck from the starboard to the port side, and whatever was found in each partition from the deck to the bottom of the ship was to belong to the respective chiefs. In their ignorance many of the natives seized bars of brown soap and commenced eating them in the most ravenous manner ; but they soon discovered its dis- tasteful qualities and threw the soap away, frightened out of their wits at the amount of froth which the eating of the soap had produced. That circumstance is thoroughly well remembered ; but such of them as are living would sooner have you knock them down than suspect them of having taken part in the massacre or in the feast on shore. They rummaged the ship from stem to stern, and some of them became intoxicated. Hap- pening to go into the magazine, they were experi- mentalising with the flint guns, when a spark got amongst the powder, and the ship and all the natives who remained on board were blown up. It is believed that a mere handful of those who had assisted in the massacre escaped, and these were on shore at the time, participating in the feast which the women had prepared with the bodies of those who had fallen there in the morning. What remained of the Boyd drifted further up the harbour, and came aground on a mud flat. When I visited this part of the world in the beginning of the present year (1879), the remains of the Boyd were still to be seen at low water, and by rolling your trousers up as far as the knees you could stand on the ribs of the ill-fated vessel. Mr. Ratcliffe, a most courteous and obliging gentleman, whom it was our good fortune to meet at Whangaroa, once ventured to place a flag on the hull of the ship, in order to indicate where she lay to strangers visiting the harbour, but an aged chief the IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 237 next day pulled off to the spot and tore the flag down. Then he went to Mr. Ratcliffe and begged of him not to re-erect it, because the natives had no desire to have perpetuated the recollection of an event which occurred in bygone days, when the hearts of the Maoris were dark. This is an expression commonly used by the native people when they wish to prove their repentance for acts committed at a time when civilisation had not reached them, and when their hearts were guided in accordance with their savage notions of revenge and dis- regard of human life. Mr. Ratcliffe has respected the old chiefs feelings, and the curiously inclined will have to find out the spot where the hull of the Boyd now lies by making personal inquiries on the subject. Several articles which belonged to the vessel have been dis- covered at various times, and during a pleasant hour or two which I spent at Mr. Ratcliffe's house, he showed me a silver spoon, shell pattern, with the word ‘ Boyd ’ engraved upon it. He assured me that he dug it up himself three or four feet below the surface, and there is not the slightest doubt that it was a portion of the plunder which the natives succeeded in getting ashore before the explosion took place. It seemed but an act of retributive justice that most of those who had cruelly put to death so many innocent persons in the forenoon should in the afternoon of the very same day be them- selves blown to atoms. The four Europeans who escaped death when the vessel was boarded were a woman, two children, and a cabin-boy. The latter was saved by Tara (the cause of the massacre) in gratitude for a trifling kindness. The four survivors were rescued subsequently from the natives by Te Pahi and Mr. Berry, the supercargo of the ship, who was then at the Bay of Islands.” This dreadful massacre was of so terrorising a nature that it prevented the twenty-five persons who had sailed 238 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW from England continuing their voyage to New Zealand, and it was not until five years later that missionary enterprise began in that country. In 1814 Mr. Marsden, accompanied by Messrs. Kendall, Hall, and King, their wives and several mechanics, with some sheep and cattle, embarked at Sydney for New Zealand in a brig manned by convicts. The missionaries were well received by the natives, from whom they purchased two hundred acres of land on which to form a mission station, the price paid being twelve axes. It required no small amount of courage to go amongst the Maoris at this first period of missionary enterprise ; but Mr. Marsden and his companions soon established the most friendly relations between themselves and the native tribes. They had a good deal to contend against from the bad examples which were set the natives by the rough sailors who frequented the Bay of Islands in those days. They introduced drink amongst the natives, and contaminated them in various ways. Some of these runaway sailors married Maori wives, and not only adopted Maori habits and customs themselves, but induced the natives to adopt all the vices of civilisation they carried with them amongst the tribes. These were the worst influences which the missionaries had to contend with in the early period of their mission to New Zealand, and matters did not improve much for many years. The missionaries secured a good many converts to Christianity, however, and succeeded to a great extent in checking tribal wars and cannibalism. The mission- aries acted as intermediaries between traders and the natives, and even in the sale of their land, and one of these latter transactions had a singular development in after-times. In 1822, Baron de Thierry bought through Mr. Kendall 40,000 acres of land on the Hokianga for thirty-six axes. In 1835 Baron de Thierry claimed to have purchased for these thirty-six axes all the territory IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 239 north of Auckland, and informed the British Resident of his intention to establish there in his own person inde- pendent sovereignty. He accordingly issued a pro- clamation signed ‘‘ Charles de Thierry, Sovereign Chief of New Zealand and King of Muhuhewa.” He landed in his dominions with ninety-three men from Sydney, unfurled a silken banner, ordered his subjects to back out of his presence, and offered to create the captain of the ship which conveyed him to his kingdom an Admiral. Funds running short, however, his subjects deserted him. The British Resident refused to recognise his claim to the land, and Baron de Thierry afterwards retired to Auckland, where he lived for the remainder of his life. This was only one of many strange happenings associated with the early colonisation of New Zealand. As soon as it was found that people could trust their lives amongst the native New Zealanders, a good number of adventurous spirits found their way to New Zealand from New South Wales, and the practice became quite common for Europeans to marry Maori women, and for others to cohabit with them without going through that ceremony. Once they went amongst the Maoris, they led free, easy, and idle lives, and never afterwards thought of returning to the civilised conditions of life. They became what were afterwards known as Pakeha- Maoris, and exercised an amount of influence over the Maori people which was anything but conducive to the true interests of the latter. Rum indulgence was one of the worst habits to which the natives became addicted, and gambling was the next vice which seized upon them. They became more and more demoralised by contact with these characterless adventurers, and were taken advantage of in every way. Large tracts of their lands were filched from them for mere trifles ; and they were imposed upon right and left. A big trade was done with them in liquor ; they could obtain it 240 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW when and wherever they liked, and the desire for drink grew upon them just as it is known to do upon coloured races all the world over. This was long before grog- shops were known in New Zealand, and the first of them was not opened until 1830, by a man named Benjamin Turner. Five years previously an attempt was made to colonise New Zealand. In 1825 a company was formed in London with that object, and an expedition was sent out under the command of Captain Herd, who bought two islands in the Hauraki Gulf and a strip of land at Hokianga, which is also known as Herd’s Point. Owing to the savage character of the inhabitants, and their opposition to the encroachment of the white race, this first attempt at colonisation was abandoned. The Bay of Islands had in the meantime been made a whaling station, and as many as forty whaling vessels used to rendezvous there at certain periods. A settlement was therefore formed at Kororareka for trading purposes. The Governor of New South Wales appointed Mr. Busby as British Resident in 1833, some sort of law and order being established, the idea of colonising New Zealand was revived in London. In 1838 the New Zealand Company was formed to establish settlement upon systematic principles. The moving spirit of this organisation was Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield. A preliminary expedition was despatched from England in 1839, under the command of Colonel William Wake- field. This expedition reached New Zealand in the following August ; and, having purchased land from the natives. Colonel Wakefield selected the shore of Port Nicholson (Poneke) as the site of the first settle- ment. The first body of emigrants arrived on January 22, 1840, and founded the town of Wellington, which was made the capital of the colony more than twenty years afterwards. On January 29, 1840, Captain IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 241 Hobson, R.N., arrived at the Bay of Islands, empowered to proclaim the sovereignty of the Queen over New Zealand and to assume the government thereof. Captain Hobson brought a treaty with him, which was as follows : — After reciting that Her Majesty Queen Victoria, regarding with her Royal favour the native tribes and chiefs of New Zealand, and anxious to protect their just rights and property, and to secure to them the enjoyment of peace and good order, has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of Her Majesty’s subjects who have already settled in New Zealand and the rapid extension of emigration both from Europe and Australia which is still in progress,” &c. Article the First, “ The Chiefs of the Confederation of the united tribes of New Zealand and the separate and in- dependent Chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation, cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said Confederation or individual Chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or possess, over their respective territories, as the sole Sovereign thereof. '‘''Article the Second, Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and tribes of New Zealand and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession ; but the Chiefs of the united tribes and the 17 242 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW individual Chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate at such price as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf. Article the Third, In consideration thereof Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the natives of New Zealand her Royal protection, and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects. “W. Hobson, “ Lieut-Governor.” Then there is a declaration that, having been made fully to understand the provisions of the Treaty, the signatories enter into the same in the full spirit and meaning thereof Such was the Treaty of Waitangi, about which so much has been said and written, and which has been the cause of so much conflict from time to time between the natives and the Colonial Government. Readers will bear its terms in mind when later events come to be dealt with. The first meetings at which this treaty was presented to the northern chiefs for their approval and adoption were held at Mr. Busby’s station, at Waitangi, on the 5th and 6th of February, 1840. In his report to Sir George Gibbs (Governor of New South Wales), Lieut.-Governor Hobson stated that the Chiefs seated themselves upon the ground in the centre of the tent, leaving a space around them for the liuropcans. Lieut.-Governor Hobson explained the object of the meeting, and assured them in the most fervent manner that they might rely implicitly on the IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 243 good faith of Her Majesty’s Government in the transaction. Mr. H. Williams, of the Church Missionary Society, acted as interpreter. “Twenty or thirty chiefs addressed the meeting, five or six of whom opposed me with great violence, and at one period with such effect and so cleverly that I began to apprehend an unfavourable impression would be produced. At this crisis the Hokianga Chiefs under Nene and Patuone made their appearance, and nothing could have been more seasonable. It was evident from the nature of the position that some underhand influence had been at work. The Chiefs Rewa and Ihakara, who are followers of the Catholic Bishop, were the principal opposers, and the arguments were such as convinced me they had been prompted. Rewa, while addressing me, turned to the chiefs and said : ‘ Send the man away ; do not sign the paper ; if you do, you will be reduced to the condition of slaves and be obliged to break stones for the roads. Your land will be taken from you, and your dignity of chiefs will be destroyed.’ ” Rewa was a true prophet. Lieut.-Governor Hobson continues : “ At the first pause Nene came forward and spoke with a degree of natural eloquence that surprised all the Europeans, and evidently turned aside the temporary feeling that had been created. He first addressed himself to his own countrymen, desiring them to reflect on their own condition, to recollect how much the character of New Zealand had been exalted by their intercourse with Europeans, and how impossible it was for them to govern themselves without frequent wars and bloodshed, and he concluded his harangue by strenuously advising them to receive us and to place confidence in our promises. He then turned to me and said : ‘ You must be our father, you must not allow us to become slaves ; 244 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW you must preserve our customs, and never permit our lands to be wrested from us/ The Treaty was afterwards signed by those present on February 6th, and trifling articles were given to the chiefs. Agents were sent to other parts of New Zealand to obtain signatures, and in less than six months the Treaty bore 512 names or marks of those agreeing to sign. (See records in British Museum.) New Zealand was proclaimed a separate Colony on the 3rd of May, 1841. The seat of Government had been previously established at Auckland, where a settlement had been formed. The New Zealand Company decided to form another settlement named Nelson, and about the same time a number of pioneers arrived in Taranaki under the auspices of the New Plymouth Company, a colonising company which had been formed in England, and which had purchased 50,000 acres of land from the New Zealand Company. In 1848 Otago was settled by persons belonging to or in sympathy with the Free Church of Scotland. The Canterbury Association was formed, the intention of the promoters being to establish a settlement complete in itself and composed entirely of members of the then United Churches of England and Ireland. The first emigrant ship despatched by the Canterbury Association arrived at Port Cooper (Lyttelton) on December 16, 1850. Of course, the idea of founding a purely Church of England settlement in Canterbury was soon exploded. People of all creeds and classes found their way to Canterbury in due course, and the population became just as mixed there as in the adjoining Free Church of Scotland settlement in Otago. The fact is mentioned merely to show the absurdity of organising schemes of colonisation upon exclusively religious principles which IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 245 prescribe that members of one particular Church only shall participate in the advantages of settlement in a new country. It will be seen that the settlement of New Zealand was first begun from New South Wales upon no systematic basis, and that the settlement from Great Britain which followed later on was due mainly to the initiative of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield. CHAPTER XXII MAORI WARS — THE LAND QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THEM — BROKEN PROMISES — THE SOUTH ISLAND NATIVES CLAIM THREE MILLIONS STERLING I N early times the Maoris, like all other savage races, were easily imposed upon. They were fond of anything that sparkled or was high-coloured. The brighter a piece of cloth or calico was the better they liked it, and beads were especially attractive to them. Knives and axes they highly prized, and an old blunder- buss, gun or pistol of any kind they always set a high value on. In fact, they were like children in these matters, and the various trifles which were brought under their notice by traders and others took their fancy amazingly. The land seemed as nothing com- pared with the wares the pakeha was possessed of ; and just as the Port Phillip blacks disposed of 600,000 acres of land for a few axes, looking-glasses and other articles of equal value, so the Maoris were quite ready to part with strips of their possessions for an equally paltry consideration. Much of their possessions they alienated in this way ; but discovered their mistake when they began to realise the value of things more correctly. Then there arose amongst them an indisposition to barter away their inheritance upon terms so one-sided ; 2^6 MAORI WARS 247 they were not so easily got at by the land sharks ; they became too knowing for the unscrupulous traffickers in the soil to get round them ; but they acquired this know- ledge at great cost to themselves, for immense areas had slipped through their hands absolutely for nothing in the shape of price. So we see that when the Treaty of Waitangi came to be submitted to them for acceptance, some of the assembled chiefs were not a little suspicious in regard to it. Rewa, for instance, warned his countrymen that if they signed the treaty their land would be taken from them and their dignity as chiefs would be destroyed. What an intelligent fellow Rewa must have been, and how prophetic his words have proved ! The Maori people ought always to venerate Rewa’s memory. Their lands have been taken from them, and their dignity as chiefs has been destroyed. A true prophet was Rewa. The origin of all the wars that have taken place in New Zealand can be traced directly to the question of land. The Maoris saw that it was slipping away from them, and they were driven into rebellion, as it was called, because they thought so, and wished to put an end to the system of spoliation that had been resorted to. The Treaty of Waitangi expressly stipulated that the Queen of England confirmed and guaranteed to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective families and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries and other properties which they might col- lectively or individually possess, so long as it was their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession. All that those signing the Treaty yielded was the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as the proprietors thereof might be disposed to alienate, at such price as might be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her 248 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Majesty to treat with them in that behalf. Many of the most important chiefs in New Zealand did not sign that treaty. Potatau, at that time the principal chief of Waikato, refused to sign it, and Te Waharoa, the great warrior and chief of Ngatihaua, never signed it, and large numbers of the most influential chiefs in various parts of the country were no parties to it. In after-years they or their descendants refused to recognise it, and counselled their people not to sell their land. What were Wiremu Tamihana’s arguments with regard to the Treaty of Waitangi? “ I am chief of Ngatihaua, which is an indepen- dent tribe. My father, Te Waharoa, was chief before me. Neither he, I, nor any of my people signed this treaty. Therefore we are not bound by it.” William Thompson was opposed to the selling of the land, and so also was Wiremu Kingi. The Taranaki war arose from the resistance of Wiremu Kingi to the sale of land. Wiremu Kingi opposed the sale of the Waitara block, and the persistence of the Government in selling it brought war about. Mr. J. E. Gorst, M.A., in his book, The Maori King,” published in 1864, says : The result of our government of the Maoris, thus seen in New Zealand, was marvel- lously inconsistent with the story usually told in England. It had always been said that the Maoris possessed remarkable capacities for civilisation ; that they had been treated with singular kindness and perfect justice, and were happy and prosperous under British rule.” Mr. Gorst found out for himself that the position of matters was very different — that the Maoris wanted control of their own affairs, particularly with regard to their lands. The King movement was the upshot of this feeling amongst the Maoris in the Waikato and Taranaki, and the Waitara and Waikato wars were the direct outcome of their resistance to the sale of their lands. They refused to sell to the Govern- MAORI WARS 249 ment under the right of pre-emption set forth in a treaty which neither themselves nor their ancestors had been parties to. After representative and responsible government was conferred upon New Zealand, of course the Colonial Government virtually took the place of the Queen so far as the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi were concerned, but laws were passed in direct violation of that treaty. The Government was always tinkering with native land legislation, and there never was any fixity about it from one year to another. Sometimes the right of pre-emption was maintained, then the law was altered and free trade in native lands became the order of the day ; then it was altered back to pre- emption ; but it mattered not under which system, the natives were always cheated. If the Government exercised the right of pre-emption, they took blocks from the natives at prices far below their value ; and if free trade prevailed, then the natives were robbed right and left by the land-shark class. The land was secured by these people at ridiculous prices — not for occupation, be it remembered, in most cases, but for mere purposes of speculation. And what irritated the native mind after- wards was to see the land which they had been induced to part with for a song sold again by the Government and private individuals at prices which should have been paid to themselves in the first instance. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the King movement was promoted for the purpose of putting an end to a system which was so insidiously depriving them of their possessions. That was the attitude of the Waikato and Taranaki tribes before war ensued. They wanted home rule, and claimed that home rule was assured to them under the Treaty of Waitangi so far as their land, fisheries, &c., were concerned. These wars might easily have been averted ; but unfortunately the circumstances 250 , AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW lend too much colour to the belief that the natives were encouraged into rebellion for the confiscations which would follow. And wholesale these confiscations were, too, although upon the West Coast considerable areas were returned to the native owners and are now held in trust for them and their survivors. It was the most creditable act that was ever performed towards the natives by the Colonial Government, and as such deserves to be recorded. In subduing the Maoris who fought for their lands from time to time, the Govern- ments — Imperial and Colonial alike — were always aided by what were called “ friendly Maoris. That was always one of the most reprehensible features of Maori warfare — employing Maoris to fight against their own flesh and blood. Referring to this subject, Mark Twain makes the following comment with regard to one of the two monuments which he saw at Wanganui : — The other monument cannot be rectified. Except with dynamite. It is a mistake all through, and a strangely thoughtless one. It is a monument erected by white men to Maoris who fell fighting with the whites and against their own people in the Maori war. ‘ Sacred to the memory of the brave men who fell on the 14th of May, 1864/ &c. On one side are the names of about twenty Maoris. It is not a fancy of mine. I saw it. It is an object-lesson to the rising generation. It invites to treachery, disloyalty, unpatriotism. Its lesson in frank terms is, ‘ Desert your flag, slay your people, burn their homes, shame your nationality — we honour such.’ ” (“ More Tramps Abroad,” p. 221.) Perhaps Mr. Clemens is not aware that Maori mercenaries have always been employed in all the wars against their own countrymen, beginning with Hone Heke’s war in the Bay of Islands in 1845 ; and if he should ever visit Russell he will see in the churchyard a monument there to the memory of Tamati Waka Nene, and in the cemetery of Trinity MAORI WARS 251 Church, Devonport, North Shore, another monument erected to the memory of Patuone, Tamati Waka Nene's elder brother. Tamati Waka Nene was one of the chiefs who fought against his countrymen in the war of 1845. Hone Heke believed that the British soldiers (the redcoats, as he called them) had been brought into the country to take the land from the natives and make them taurekareka (slaves). Consequently, Hone Heke, the great Ngapuhi warrior, determined to drive the redcoats into the sea. He surprised the soldiers at Flagstaff Hill, Kororareka, at daylight on the morning of the nth of March, 1845, cut down the flagstaff which had been erected to indicate the Queen’s sovereignty over the land, and drove the detachment of the 96th regiment down the hill. Simultaneously with this movement, 200 natives, under one of Hone Heke’s fighting generals named Kawiti, attacked Captain Robertson’s position on the hill domineering the Matawai Pass at the rear of the mission house erected by Bishop Pompallier. Seeing the soldiers running precipitately down the flagstaff hill, Captain Robertson spiked his gun and likewise fell back. After some hard fighting, it was decided by the military authorities to evacuate the town, and accordingly the whole of the soldiers and inhabitants embarked on board H.M.S. Hazard^ the United States corvette St. Louis ^ the whaling ship Matilda^ and the schooner Dolphin. Hone Heke and Rawiti entered the town, and, one of the houses catching fire, the whole town was consumed. Bishop Pompallier’s mission house, the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, and one or two other buildings alone escaping destruction. Thus began the first Maori war in New Zealand, and it owed its origin to the belief amongst the Maoris that the Europeans intended to deprive them of their possessions. The same feeling was at 252 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW the bottom of the Taranaki and Waikato wars. Wiremu Kingi, Wi Tamihana, Potatau Te Wherowhero and their people were strongly opposed to the sale of land, and under the treaty of Waitangi they had a perfect right to say that no more land should be sold, for the words of that treaty are : So long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession.” Why did i,6oo natives under Te Heu Heu assemble at Taupo in 1857? It was to protest against the sale of land, and the platform adopted at that meeting was “ Look to the land.” Therefore, it will be seen that the origin and object of the King movement was the reten- tion of their lands by the natives and resistance to the wholesale purchases which were being made at prices which were so palpably inadequate. The Treaty of Waitangi had not, as it was claimed it would do, pro- tected their just rights and property nor secured to them the enjoyment of peace and order ; for, as Mr. Gorst says, For years after the treaty tribal wars were so common that Tamihana describes them as ‘a river of blood flowing through the land.’ ” On his first visit to the Waikato Mr. Gorst wrote : “ In all outward signs of civilisation the Maoris proved to be extremely back- ward ; their houses, clothing, food, and way of eating were of the most barbarous description ; but in reason- ing, especially on political topics, in making provision for their own government and for the education of their children, they exhibited unexpected cleverness and good sense.” They wanted home rule : they desired the management of their own affairs, and Mr. Gorst bears testimony to the fact that they were quite capable of governing themselves ; but the Government thought differently, because the land purchase system must go on ; and because the Taranaki and Waikato natives objected to the sale of their lands they were driven into rebellion. That is the plain English of the matter. MAORI WARS 253 and no twisting or distortion of facts, no resort to the usual subterfuge that ‘‘ certain ignorant and ill-informed persons say so,” will get rid of the truth which these facts reveal — that land-grab and confiscation are the real explanation of the wars that have taken place in New Zealand. Mr. Gorst says ‘G.t was determined to purchase by presents and pensions the goodwill of the principal native chiefs.” That was always the policy pursued by the Government, and it is that which accounts for “friendly natives” taking the field against their own countrymen in all the outbreaks that occurred from Hone Heke’s time to the end of the Waikato War, and subsequently upon the east and west coasts of the North Island. The poor South Island natives were always incapable of resistance. The Wairau massacre was the only show of direct opposition they ever made to the settlement of the Europeans. The South Island natives were few in number — a comparative handful. The southern tribes had been decimated, nearly wiped out of existence by the onslaughts upon them by powerful warrior tribes from the North Island, the last of them led by that bloodthirsty old savage Te Rauperaha, who butchered the southern natives right and left and carried large numbers of them away as slaves. Other North Island chiefs and their tribes paid similar visits of conquest and extermination to the South Island, and carried off slaves to the far north. That is why so many descen- dants of these slaves, the remnant of whose tribes are still in the far south, are to be found now intermingled with the Ngapuhi and other tribes in the North Island, and they are still regarded as taurekareka (slaves), and have no tribal rank amongst the descendants of their conquerors. It was in consequence of these periodical visitations from the warlike tribes of the North Island 254 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW that the native population of the South Island got so much reduced that they were never numerically strong enough to resist the encroachments of the whites, and as a consequence the appropriation of their lands was an easy process. They were bought from them, it is true, but at what prices ? The whole of the Otakou block (Otago) was purchased from them for ^600 or £ 700 , and the Murimutu block (Southland) was also alienated for an equally ridiculous sum, with all sorts of promises that hospitals, schools, &c., would be pro- vided specially for the native people. Some years afterwards the descendants of the chiefs who thus bartered away their inheritance realised the cruel injustice that had been inflicted upon them, and at the instigation of the southern chief Taiaroa they sent in a claim for three millions sterling. A Royal Com- mission was appointed twenty-two years ago to inquire into the case, and the author happened to be attached to that Commission. That is how he knows of the injustice which was done to the native people by the agents who were sent amongst them by the Govern- ment to effect these purchases. The Commission took evidence in Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Wellington, Auckland, and other places, and it was clearly proved that the natives had been most shamefully imposed upon with regard to their lands, and that promises which were made to them at the times of these purchases were never fulfilled. The Commission sent in its report with certain recommendations, but nothing came of it. At last, after their patience was exhausted, attention was called in Parliament to the fact that numbers of South Island natives were absolutely land- less, and after repeated applications Parliament found it necessary, as an act of bare justice, to provide land for those natives who were actually without a patch they could call their own. It is monstrous in face of MAORI WARS 255 these facts to hear people in official positions declare that the natives of New Zealand have been well treated. What are the facts ? When the Europeans first came amongst them the natives of the North Island were the sole possessors of 28,459,520 acres ; those of the Middle Island, 37,456,000 acres ; those of Stewart's Island, 425,390 acres ; these areas added together give a total of 66,340,910 acres originally possessed by the native New Zealanders. Of these sixty-six million acres, how many do they possess to-day? Not long ago it was announced by the Premier, who apparently believed that the record was a most creditable one to the Colony, that the Maoris still own five million acres. Five million out of nearly sixty-six and a half million acres, and the eyes of the country picked ! The figures tell, their own story. But this is not all. The list is a long one of aged and pauperised natives whose circum- stances have forced them to apply for State aid under the Old Age Pensions Act. In this connection here is a paragraph from the New Zealand Budget delivered in Committee of Supply on August 17, 1900 : — ‘‘The amount asked for old-age pensions, namely, Z^200,000, may appear large, and more than was anticipated by some. The number of pensioners of the Maori race is a factor not contemplated, and was not ascertainable at the time the Act was passed." What more is required to show the wholesale acquisition of Maori lands and the impoverished condition to which too many of them have been unfortunately reduced ? That they still retain five million acres — less than a thirteenth part of what was theirs not a century ago, and the greatest part still belonging to them when the Treaty of Wai- tangi was submitted to them by Lieutenant-Governor Hobson in 1840 — is a poor thing to boast of, or to advance as an argument that the Maori race has been fairly and justly dealt with. The facts are only too 256 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW abundant to prove that the contrary has been the case. It is needless for the Maori people to talk, as they now do, of sending delegations to London to lay their case before the Imperial Government with a view to obtain- ing redress for past wrongs. They will be told by the Imperial Government that they have nothing to do with the matter, and that they must look to the Colonial authorities for a redress of grievances, as the administra- tion of the internal affairs of the Colony had been left entirely to them under the Act which conferred repre- sentative and responsible government upon the Colony. Therefore, these delegations to London would be a mere waste of time and money, and the Maoris might as well abandon the idea once and for all. CHAPTER XXIIi THE MAORIS — THEIR CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION — CANNIBALISM AND TRIBAL WARS HE Maoris are physically a fine race of people. X Asa rule, the men are much above the average height of the whites who have settled amongst them, and generally speaking they may be described as a tall race, broad-shouldered, stout-limbed and muscular. In colour they are a dark brown, and their features are large and usually regular, but of various types. You may see a face which resembles in its general outlines that of the best specimen of an American Indian ; some of them are almost Jewish in appearance, and occasion- ally one sees a face of the Grecian cast. But as a whole they are what can be described as a fine-looking race of men. They have full dark-brown eyes, and their heads are covered with a thick growth of dark hair, in some instances straight, and curled in others. The expression of their countenances is open and well-disposed, and one can see at once that they are very intelligent — a phrenologist would say intellectual. They speak their language with great volubility, and when the occasion calls upon them to harangue a meeting of their country- men, they are forcible, argumentative, and witty. They are born orators, every one of them, and the similes they apply are those that might be expected from people who have been civilised for ages. Biblical AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW quotation is a strong point with the Maori orator, and he knows exactly when to introduce it to illustrate the fitness of its application to the tenor of his discourse. He can be serious and pathetic, wildly declamatory or humorous just as the whim seizes him. Language never fails him to give utterance to his thoughts, and there is always a good deal of downright common-sense in what he says. That is why the speeches of the Maori members of Parliament compare so favourably with those of European members upon any subject that may be discussed. Oratory is quite characteristic of them. They are a good-tempered people, and when they are amongst themselves their peals of laughter show that they derive a good deal of enjoyment from mutual intercourse and conversation. They like com- panionship, and are never lost for agreeable company, for their whares are all close together in the settlements where they reside. The women, like the men, are strongly built, and many of them very tall. They have good and pleasing features, lovely soft, dark-brown eyes, and fine heads of dark, glossy hair. Their figures they don’t pay much attention to ; their garments are loosely thrown about them, and they therefore present an appearance rather slovenly. They marry young and rear a numerous progeny in many cases. Generally speaking, Maori women take life easy, like the men. They are not an active race of people ; in fact, they are rather inclined to indolence ; in their settlements they seldom cultivate the soil further than is necessary for their own subsistence in the way of kumaras, maize, water-melons, rock- melons, and soon, and fish constitutes a large portion of their natural food. Any surplus they can readily dis- pose of in the adjoining settlements. Of course, in localities near European townships they till their land more extensively and raise all kinds of crops; and there THE MAORIS ^59 are places where they own flocks of sheep and cattle and carry on farming operations besides, in accordance with the most improved European methods. In the remote portions of the country they live altogether in their old Maori style, in small whares ; but there are well-to-do chiefs and others who have erected houses for themselves and assimilate themselves to European customs as much as possible. But so far as the great bulk of the Maori population is concerned, there is little difference between their mode of life and what it was in early times. They are an affectionate people, and parents are fond of their offspring and look carefully after them. The Maori woman is not a slave to her husband in the sense that an Australian gin ” is to hers. She has all the liberty she wants, and the instances are exceptional where she is not treated well and kindly by her husband. They have a great respect and regard for the aged amongst them, and when death removes any of their relatives, their grief is poignant, though demonstrative. An old-fashioned Irish wake is a mere circumstance compared with a Maori tangi. The tribe or hapu assembles in great numbers : the wailing is general for several days, and the feasting goes on for a week or more. If the departed happens to be a chief, the con- course of mourners is swelled to enormous proportions by tribes from great distances, and the amount of victuals consumed is prodigious, dried shark being one of the delicacies which is never absent on these occasions. It scents the whole neighbourhood with a fragrance peculiarly its own, and on that account is not appre- ciated by European visitors as jugged hare might be in a similar stage of putrefaction. But it is a Maori delicacy nevertheless, and is consumed in large quantities at these post-mortem ceremonies, which are a strange admixture of grief and gluttony. 26 o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW When mothers move about from place to place they carry their youngest children on their backs, securely fixed there by the skirt being drawn across the shoulders of the mother and fastened in front ; and where many of these mothers are together it is quite a picture to see all these little dark-eyed brownskins peering over their mothers’ shoulders as they walk along. The Maori women are very fond of gay colours, and when they go into a township the shop which has the brightest display of clothing and other articles is the one which is certain to attract them. They spend their money freely, but generally try to beat the prices down. That is one of the lessons of civilisation they have derived from the pakeha, and when their own turn comes they try it on too. Since native apparel in the shape of feather and flax-woven mats has been dispensed with, the women attire themselves in European dress ; but they have a good deal yet to learn, as may be supposed, before they can set themselves off to advantage in styles to which they have not been accustomed. Many of the half-caste girls and women, of whom there are a good number in the Colony, are really hand- some, and stylish, too, if they have mixed much amongst Europeans. As they advance in years, however, they lose their good looks, and accumulate flesh just as full- bloods do, and longevity is not a characteristic of the half-caste race — generally speaking they die before they attain advanced womanhood, and lung trouble assails a large proportion of them. It has been observed too, that where half-castes marry each other, the dura- tion of their children’s lives is shorter still. In earlier times, Europeans in good stations of life have married full-blooded Maori women, and the latter have reared numerous children, and been surrounded with every comfort that good homes could provide them with. Some day these Maori women take it into THE MAORIS 261 their heads to return to their old habits and customs, and they have been known to go back to their tribes after long years of absence. The author is personally acquainted with instances of this kind, and nothing could induce these women to return to civilised modes of life. There is only one case he knows of where a European woman has married a Maori, and in that instance the experiment was not encouraging. The Maoris are big-hearted and hospitable to those for whom they form a liking, but cold and suspicious towards those whom they distrust. But once you gain their confidence, they will treat you to the best they have to give. Hospitality is a trait of the Maori character, and, when you get upon good terms with them, nothing pleases them better than when you sit on the ground around a steaming copper Maori — in which the food is cooked by means of hot stones — and help your- self to whatever it contains, Indian corn, flounders, eels, sweet potatoes (kumaras) and other edibles. Forks, knives and plates are not in evidence upon these occasions ; you dine strictly d la Maori. Travelling on one occasion through a part of the country where the Maoris had not been much in contact with Europeans, the author was regularly supplied with grapes, water- melons, rock-melons and other commodities in great abundance all the time he was amongst them, and they refused to take any payment for these articles. It is dif- ferent with Maoris who have been in the habit of mixing much with Europeans. When that happens, all the best traits in their character seem to vanish. Their natures have not improved by this intercourse, and they have not the same keen sense of honour they used to possess. The time was in New Zealand when a Maori’s word was as good as his bond ; not now, for he has been contaminated, and “ civilisation ” is responsible for the change that has come over most of the Maori 262 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW people, especially those living adjacent to European settlements. It will surprise most people in Great Britain to learn that the Mormons have sent missionaries to New Zea- land. Several elders have been there for some years now, seeking to make converts amongst the Maoris, and they have succeeded in securing a good number. One chief has actually gone to Salt Lake City, but the author is not aware that many others have followed his example. Their conversion, however, is undeniable. A very superstitious race are the Maoris, and in some tribes witchcraft is believed in. Not very long ago the life of a Maori woman was sacrificed because the people of the hapu felt convinced that she had bewitched and caused the death of a child. They believe also in faith- healing, and their tohungas exercise a powerful influence over them. Many of them place great faith in prophets, and that is why the followers of Tohu and Te Whiti have continued their allegiance to them for so many years past. These people reside at Parihaka, and num- bers of them have undergone terms of imprisonment for going upon the land of settlers and ploughing up the soil to assert their ownership of it. They contend that they were wrongfully dispossessed of this land, and believe that their prophets will restore it to them ; but that is more than Te Whiti will ever be able to accom- plish. They labour under the delusion that he will. Dancing is one of the amusements indulged in by the Maori people, and they sing also, sometimes melodiously. Their war-dances and hakas are very imposing per- formances, awe-inspiring when they act as if they were about to make an attack upon a hostile tribe. Then their yells, and contortions, and gesticulations are awful to hear and see, and the songs of defiance are given out with great vigour, while the movements of their bodies keep time with the words, and make the ground shake THE MAORIS 263 as they hurl their fierce taunts at their imaginary foes. Whenever a new Governor lands in New Zealand these war-dances and hakas are promoted for his entertain- ment. They are handed down from generation to generation, and are just the same now as they used to be in war times long ago. There is one dance per- formed by the Maoris which it is a great pleasure to see. It is called the poi dance, and men, women, youths, girls, and children take part in it. They sing the accompany- ing air with wonderful precision, and go through a number of evolutions with clock-work regularity. They take their cue from a leader, and keep perfectly accurate time both in song and dance, their manipulation of the poi being a really wonderful performance. The poi consists of two balls of coloured flax or grass fibre, connected to each other by a short cord, and these they twirl about with great dexterity so as to make them act in harmony with the united action of the dancers. It requires a great deal of practice before the poi dancers can attain perfection, and when it is performed by experts it forms a good entertainment and lasts for a considerable time. Various evolutions are gone through, with a short rest at each change, and by the time it is finished the performers have well earned the collection which is made in their behalf Sometimes the poi dance is given for an amount stipulated before- hand, and when performed in one of their runangas or meeting-houses the place is always crowded by such Europeans as may be in the locality and all the Maori members of the community. Tourists can see the poi dance at Rotorua and other show places, but these resorts are not the best places in which to form an estimate of the Maori people. To do this one requires to spend some days with them in their pahs in the remote parts of the country. Proud of race, the Maoris of the interior look down upon those who locate them- 264 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW selves around the show places, and importune visitors for money and press their wares upon them with such persistency that visitors find it difficult to get rid of the swarms of vendors and mendicants that assail them at every turn. That is why these Maoris are held in poor estimation by their countrymen in the interior, who forget that they are better off than the natives who are to be found in tourist tracks, and who have to resort to these methods to gain the most part of their livelihood. The educational establishment at the Three Kings and the Maori College at Te Ante have turned out some well-educated Maori youths, generally the sons of chiefs, and some of these young fellows have become so Europeanised as to enter the legal profession, merchants' offices, and so on. It is now quite a common thing to see well-dressed Maoris in the various cities, and the tall silk hat and frock-coat are occasionally worn even by old tattooed chiefs when they come down from their settlements. The custom of tattooing the face is rapidly going out, although you will still see many young Maori women with their chins and lips tattooed in a way to denote the particular tribe or hapu they belong to. Amongst the young men, however, tattooing of the face is rarely resorted to nowadays. The mode of salutation is still the same. When friend meets friend, male or female, they grasp each other by the hand and rub noses, muttering words in the meantime in low tones to ex- press how gratified they are ; they keep their noses in contact for several seconds, and then back from one another. This greeting seems rather comical to Euro- peans who behold it for the first time ; but after all it is no more ridiculous, and it is oftener more sincere, than the habit of kissing which Europeans indulge in on meeting relatives or old acquaintances and friends. Therefore, there is nothing to laugh at when you see a THE MAORIS 265 young Maori rubbing noses either with a young or an old woman, or a tattooed old warrior going through the same performance with a plump young Maori girl just budding into womanhood. It is only an old custom of theirs, just as kissing is an old habit of ours. In olden times carving was much practised amongst the Maoris, and very artistic and skilful they were at it ; but that, too, is fast dying out, and will soon become a lost art. Very few Maori carvers are to be found nowa- days ; it is little practised in any part of the Colony, and the young natives do not appear to appreciate it as their forefathers did. War-canoe building has also ceased, and that accounts in a great measure for the few speci- mens of modern carving which are now to be seen. Some old canoes are to be seen in museums and other institutions, and the carvings upon them show the extent to which carving must have been cultivated. Mr. Nelson, who has lived amongst the natives all his life, conceived the notion of building a Maori house after the style of olden days, and for that purpose assembled all the most skilled carvers he could find at Whakarewarewa. The house was built with the intention of sending it to the Paris Exhibition, and a magnificent piece of workman- ship it was ; but for some reason it never got to Paris. The German Government purchased it, and this house, which is one of the finest specimens of Maori art to be seen anywhere, has been taken to Berlin. Cannibalism has entirely disappeared from New Zealand. The last instance of the kind occurred on the East Coast in 1865, when the band of Pai Mairiris led by Kereopa killed the Rev. Mr. Volkner, a mis- sionary, and cooked and ate portions of his remains. Kereopa himself scooped the eyes out of the head of his victim, and fanatically swallowed them in front of his band of Hauhau murderers. Some time afterwards (November, 1871), Kereopa was captured, and on 266 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW January, 5, 1872, he was executed at Napier for this shocking outrage. Altogether, there are about 38,000 Maoris left in New Zealand. It is, of course, a mere remnant of the native population which was there in Captain Cook’s time or at the beginning of the century; but the tribal wars which have since ensued account for most of the decrease which has taken place. Infanticide is not practised amongst the Maoris as it is amongst the blacks of Australia, and the Maoris have never been shot down like the unfortunate aborigines of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land. Therefore, other causes must be looked to for the decimation which has taken place. The Maoris were a fierce and warlike race when Cook made his acquaintance with them, and tribal wars were frequent from that period till throughout nearly the first half of the last century. The efforts of the missionaries and the spread of settlement brought about a better state of feeling amongst the natives, and no tribal war of any magnitude has happened since Rangihaeata’s forces were finally defeated and dispersed by the friendly Maoris under Wiremu Kingi on August 23, 1846. In the month of June previously, that bloodthirsty old savage, Te Rauperaha, who deluged the south island with blood, was captured, and Rangihaeata’s defeat in August not only terminated tribal warfare, but secured the safety of the European settlements on Cook’s Strait. With Te Rauperaha and Rangihaeata at large, not only were weaker tribes constantly subject to attack and massacre, but the European settlements themselves were menaced with destruction. As already indicated, cannibalism and tribal wars in New Zealand are now things of the past ; but, to show the extent to which they were carried on in former times, the author will quote another extract from his book. His Island Home and Away in the Far North ” He THE MAORIS 267 IS describing Whangaroa harbour : “ The harbour is full of lovely indentations, and numerous islands dis- close themselves to view as the steamer proceeds to her destination. Among them the most notable is that known as Peach Island, so called on account of the peach orchards that at one time flourished upon it. There, in the coldest blood, and in the most cowardly manner, were put to death about three hundred natives who had become the captives of a bloodthirsty old chief of the Ngapuhi. The victims of this butchery were tied hand and foot, and placed in rows by other natives, who dared not to disobey any command which their chief had given. Everything being in readiness, the old cannibal went across to the island in his canoe one morning, and with his own hand he despatched the whole of his captives, totally regardless of age or sex. There was then a horrible feast, the choicest of the bodies being selected to appease the cannibalistic appe- tites of the chief and his followers. ... At the present day (1879) there are living amongst the Ngapuhi tribe several old natives who have eaten the flesh of those of their enemies who had fallen in the tribal battles which took place from time to time for the sake of conquest, the acquisition of larger territory, and the extension of what amongst the natives are termed mahinga kai, or places from which the natural products of the country, such as Ti (cabbage-tree), fern-root, &c., were obtained. At Kororareka I remember meeting with an old native who informed our party, when questioned on the sub- ject, that he had been in the habit of eating human flesh till he was a grown-up lad. We shuddered at the idea, but the old man did not appear to think that he had committed anything dreadful, seeing that it was the custom of his countrymen.’' CHAPTER XXIV THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE I T is not perhaps too much to say that the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand will bear favourable comparison with any coloured race upon the earth's surface. In physical strength, manly and womanly proportions and development, comeliness of feature, intellectual attributes and general intelligence, it must be admitted that they are even superior to the Red Indian of North America, and infinitely above the level of the nomadic tribes to be encountered in the semi- tropical regions of the great Australian Continent. The difference is so striking between the latter people and themselves as to suggest that if they ever had a common origin, it dates far into the background of pre-historic times. Altogether dissimilar in language, customs, physique, depth of colour, and intelligence, there is nothing whatever to encourage the belief that the Maori of New Zealand and the black man of Australia ever belonged to the same family. The black man, in a word, is a type of humanity which approaches more nearly to Darwin's conception of the origin of species than perhaps any other inhabitant of the globe, including those who have been found by the most adventurous of travellers into the darkest recesses of Africa. The Australian black man, in 208 THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 269 contradistinction with the aboriginal of New Zealand, has neither history nor traditions, and his conditions and surroundings, and all that is or can possibly be known of him, are strongly suggestive of the belief that the Australian Continent has been his own happy hunting-ground for all time. It is not so with the New Zealander. Inquiry into the subject has revealed the fact that for ages after the Creation New Zealand was destitute of inhabitants, and that the people who were originally found to inhabit it by Cook and other great explorers were the descendants of a race which had migrated to it from afar — how long ago being a matter of the purest conjecture. Historians have as yet been unable to fix definitely upon the exact corner of the globe they came from, and it unfortunately happens that the Maoris themselves, in the absence of any reliable data, cannot assist them in the solution of the problem. They have a tradition, it is true, that they originally belonged to a place called Hawaiki, but its exact location they are puzzled to explain, and the whole question is still involved in mystery and doubt. The only point established with any degree of certainty is that they must have voyaged for thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean before reaching their resting- place, within thirteen hundred miles of the Australian Continent. That this migration must have set in from somewhere to the eastward is obvious, because upwards of two thousand miles away, namely, in the Hawaii islands, we find a race strongly resembling the Maoris in most particulars. In colour they are exact proto- types, and there is no material difference in their language, intonation, and general characteristics. So forcibly, indeed, is the traveller convinced of this, that, except for the tropical features of Hawaii, he would remain under the impression that he was still in Maoriland. 270 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Whilst there is this similarity between the inhabi-. tants of Hawaii and New Zealand, it is somewhat curious to note that almost midway between them another type of humanity is to be found in the islands of Samoa. The inhabitants of the latter are not nearly so dark in colour. They are what may be described as a light bronze race, whose skins sparkle with remarkable brilliancy under the tropical sun. They are gentler in manners than the native inhabitants of either New Zealand or Hawaii, and more graceful and manly in carriage. They have a suppleness of movement which the Hawaiians and New Zealanders do not possess, and walk with a gracefulness and activity which one might reasonably suppose had been acquired by a regular course of physical training. So far as natural intelligence goes, they stand upon an equality with the Maoris on the one hand and the Hawaiians on the other ; generally speaking, I would say they are superior to either, without having had the same oppor- tunities for advancement. Certainly, the conditions under which I saw the Samoans deeply impressed me with that belief. I only refer to them here for the purpose of showing that a different race exists between two other peoples widely distant from each other, and this fact renders it still more difficult to decide with certainty the origin of those who inhabit the various islands of the mid and southern Pacific. But whether or not the Samoans can claim superiority, and no matter what his origin may be, we see in the Maori a splendid type of coloured humanity. That, at all events, was the impression formed of him by most of those who beheld him for the first time. In the days of Cook, and for generations subsequently, he was wild, fierce, and warlike, and tribal warfare was of frequent occurrence. Not content with their own vast possessions, the stronger tribes from time to time set out upon THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 271 expeditions against tribes numerically weaker, and in this way the population became greatly decimated ; for it was the recognised reward of superior prowess that not only did the territories of the conquered tribes become by right of conquest the property of the victors, but the vanquished were either killed and eaten, or carried into slavery. These wars of conquest and subjugation were continued even far into the century which has just closed, and only ended with the whole- sale butcheries of Te Rauperaha some years after British colonisation had actually begun. The initial efforts of missionary enterprise date as far back as 1814, and in those days the Rev. Samuel Marsden and other missionaries carried their lives in their hands. But dangerous as the enterprise was, they gradually succeeded in curbing the warlike and ferocious spirit of the native inhabitants. Internecine strife diminished, and cannibalism decreased, and through the exertions of the early missionaries the Maoris were induced to embrace Christianity. There was, however, an element operating against the good work of these courageous men which retarded their progress in rescuing the native tribes from idolatry, and inducing them to assimilate themselves to the altered conditions of life which the exemplary teachings of these mis- sionaries imposed upon their converts to the Christian faith. The fact must be noted, because it marks the starting-point of the process of demoralisation which subsequently seized upon the native people with a firm hold, and has continued till this day, with all its deplorable consequences. It unfortunately happened that New Zealand in the early part of the last century became attractive as a whaling ground. Whaling stations were established on various parts of its coasts, and the greatest of them all was in the very locality where missionary enterprise first 1L^2 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW began. There, indeed, as many as forty whaling-vessels have been known frequently to rendezvous at particular seasons, and to this fact the early contamination of the Maori race must be ascribed. Rum was introduced. Runaway sailors — generally men of low character — sought refuge amongst the natives, adopted Maori customs, took wives unto themselves, and introduced all the vices and none of the virtues of the white race. Despite all the efforts of the missionaries to counteract its progress, drunkenness became an increasing vice. As Rochefoucauld so tersely expresses it in regard to other immoral tendencies — quand le premier pas est fait^ les autres vont si vites ^^ — and so it was with the demoralisation of the native New Zealanders from this source of contamination. It is unnecessary to detail its developments from that early period of European contact until to-day. It is sufficient to say that the vice of drunkenness amongst the natives, unknown before the advent of the white man, is the most deplorable outcome of civilisation that presents itself. It is upon no hearsay evidence that I make this assertion. It is not upon what others have seen and recorded that I base my conclusions, but upon the testimony of my own eyes. I have travelled through the whole of New Zealand — north, south, east, and west — not once, but often. In official capacities and otherwise, I suppose I have come into contact with almost every native tribe in that land of surpassing loveliness and natural attractiveness, a part of the world which should be God’s own country in every respect ; and I must declare that often and often I have been moved to pity at the thought of a fine race being degraded to the extent the Maoris have been by the alarming increase of drinking habits amongst them. Successive govern- ments are almost equally to blame for the temptations which have been placed in their way, none more THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 273 so than the present regime^ politically supported and maintained in power as it is by the assistance of those engaged in the liquor traffic. Instead of absolutely prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor to people of the native race, houses are licensed in districts where the coloured population far exceeds that of the whites, and even now strong efforts are being made to extend the sale within the confines of the King Country, where such undesirable houses have not hitherto existed. The advocates of prohibition, aided by some of the more enlightened Maoris who see plainly that the drink traffic means the impoverishment and gradual extinction of their race, are doing all they can to resist this extension of the traffic ; but they have powerful hostile influences to overcome before they can succeed in the commendable and philanthropic crusade they have engaged in, know- ing as they do that if the native race is to be preserved, that can only be secured by the imposition of laws which will render it a criminal act, punishable by heavy fine and even imprisonment, to supply any native man, woman, or child with drink. When one thinks of the enormous amount of money which the natives have squandered in its purchase, the consequent disorders, crime, and mortality which have resulted from its immoderate use and the facilities for obtaining it, one cannot help endorsing the platform of those who are working so strenuously to put down the vice alike by moral suasion and prohibitory legislation. Leaving confiscations of territory as the sequel of rebellious outbreaks out of the question — and these form but a moderate portion of the lands that have been alienated — what do we actually find ? That out of a heritage of over sixty-six millions of acres, there remain only five million acres in the possession of the native people, and they have little or nothing to show for what they have parted with. By far the largest portion of the purchase- 19 274 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW money has been absolutely thrown into the pockets of the liquor ring ; and if the system of land-grab goes on, and the drink curse remains unchecked, the end will assuredly be that the Maori race will dwindle to a mere remnant, and that this remnant of a people, endowed with many good natural qualities, will have to look to those who have despoiled them for the actual means of support. Such will be their fate if nothing is done to arrest their degeneracy and ultimate extinction, through causes which are in no way irremediable or hopeless of removal. It is the invariable experience of civilising nations that subject-peoples are more apt in acquiring the vices than the virtues of those who go ostensibly to civilise them, and the native New Zealander is no exception to the rule. Neither has it been demonstrated that he is a whit more capable of resisting harmful temptations than the native who belongs to a coloured race which, from no point of view, is upon a level with himself, and under these circumstances every care should be taken of his interests. But unfortunately that has not been, and is not, the case. Temptations of all kinds are thrown in his way, as a journey undertaken through almost every Maori district will testify. Let any one visit the district of Taranaki, for example, or those on the east coast in proximity to European settlement, or in the far north in the vicinity of Russell, Hokianga, Whangaroa, or Mongonui, and he will have too ample opportunities of observing the strong hold which drink has got of the natives. In fact, drink has been forced upon them under the modus operandi of the native land court system, and the ultimate payment of the purchase- money for the tracts they part with. It rarely happens that a native land court is held in localities where licensed houses do not abound. This is the first step after the natives have agreed to sell a block of land. THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 275 The Court sits for the individualising of the native titles, and the whole tribe comes in — men, women, and children — to substantiate their joint ownership in the block that is to be disposed of. This done to the satisfaction of the native land court judge, upon whose decision rests the individualisation of the titles, the next stage in the process of acquisition is that a Government agent assembles the owners together and pays each the portion of money to which he or she may be entitled. The distribution is made, and then the licensed houses in the neighbourhood reap a golden harvest. The common bar and every available apartment is crowded with natives of all ages and sexes. For days together scenes of revelry are continued. They are supplied with liquor of the worst sort, and even whole cases of so-called champagne are consumed ; for the inebriated Maori, in his innocence, is easily imposed on. He has seen Europeans drinking champagne in some of the larger townships he has visited, and, having the money in his pocket, he readily parts with it, and likes to imitate European practices. In this way matters go on for days and nights at a stretch ; the public-house is one continuous scene of drinking and uproar, and the general bout only terminates when most of the Maoris discover that they have no more money to spend. Then they return to their settlements, minus their land and with empty pockets besides ; and the same scene is renewed whenever they have another strip of their possessions to pass through the native land court. I take the responsibility of declaring that I have witnessed similar occurrences, not once, but often, and that I have bitterly deplored the existence of a system whose effects are not only to deprive the natives of their possessions, bit by bit, but to demoralise them in a variety of ways. Now, if the Government is desirous of pursuing its policy of land acquisition, it might be 276 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW accomplished without impoverishing and degrading the Maori people. That can easily be done by absolutely prohibiting the sale of liquor to them, and by holding these native land courts and money distributions in places remote from licensed houses. If the Government has that solicitude for the welfare of the Maori race which it pretends to have, there is no easier way of showing it than by the adoption of the plan here indicated, and there will at least be hope of the Maoris receiving some benefit from the sales decided on. The drink question is the one which, above all others, deeply involves either the preservation or the extinction of the native race in New Zealand, and is a question which the Aborigines Protection Society (whose headquarters are in London) might very properly take in hand. Its assistance would be joyfully welcomed by those in the Colony who are striving all they know to combat the worst evil which has assailed the Maori people, and help of this kind cannot be given one moment too soon if the Maori people are to be rescued from the ravages of a terrible vice. CHAPTER XXV REPRESENTATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT LTHOUGH, as has been shown, considerable trading relations existed between New Zealand and Australia, and settlement had been gradually pro- gressing all through the beginning of the last century, it was not until 1840 that British sovereignty was proclaimed over New Zealand, and in the following year it became a separate Colony. Auckland was the seat of Government, and the Executive included the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, and the Attorney-General. The government of the Colony was vested in the Governor, who was responsible only to the Crown. In 1852, however, an Act was passed by the Imperial Legislature granting representative institu- tions to the Colony. Under this constitution provision was made for a Parliament or General Assembly, consisting of a Legislative Council, the members of which were to be nominated by the Governor, and an elective House of Representatives. The first session of the General Assembly was opened on May 27, 1854, but at that time the members of the Executive were not responsible to Parliament. By the Act of 1852, the Colony was divided into six provinces, each presided over by a Superintendent. An elective Provincial Council was provided for each of these provinces, and 278 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW these Councils were empowered to pass ordinances except on certain specified subjects which were to be dealt with exclusively by the General Assembly. The Superintendents were elected by the whole body of electors in these provinces and the members of the Councils by the electors in particular districts. The number of provinces was afterwards increased to nine, and this dual system of government — by the General Assembly and Provincial Councils — existed until 1876, when, by an alteration of the Constitution, the provinces were abolished by an Act promoted by the late Sir Julius Vogel. By this Abolition of Provinces Act, Superintendents and Provincial Councils gave place to a system of local county government, which has worked more or less satisfactorily ever since. What turned public opinion against the Provincial Government system was this. The Colony had not only a Central Government, but also nine Provincial Govern- ments and Parliaments. The Superintendent of each province had his executive, and the Provincial Council met regularly in session once a year to pass ordinances and vote supplies. These Provincial Parliaments had their speakers, their Government and Opposition benches, their votes of want of confidence, their protracted debates, select committees, turning out of executives, appointment of successors from the Opposition side of the chamber, and altogether there was quite a slavish observance of all the parliamentary procedure of West- minster. Members sat in these Provincial Councils with their hats on and off, just as they do in the House of Commons, divisions were called, and the sandglass applied to denote the time before the doors were locked, people were brought to the bar, attention was called to the presence of strangers, and the galleries were cleared ; Government crises were announced, the fall of this Govern- ment or that duly chronicled in big cross headings by the REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 279 local prints, and the assumption of office by a fresh set of men heralded forth to the local world. These Pro- vincial Councils tookjthe House of Commons as a model for their guidance, and usages and old musty precedents were observed with the same degree of punctiliousness as if they had regard to the affairs of a great nation. Even in the matter of prayers the author has known the Dean of Christchurch — dear, good old soul that he was — to attend the Canterbury Provincial Council, attired in his clerical robes, day after day for years, to do nothing else than perform the prayerful preliminary to the open- ing of each day’s proceedings. Really, when one looks back at this distance of time upon the modes of pro- cedure in these Provincial Legislatures, he wonders how it was possible for men of common-sense to have been such slavish imitators of the Mother of Parliaments at St. Stephen’s. Remember, too, that this system of Provincial Government existed from the early fifties until the 1st of November, 1876, and that five years before its abolition, namely, in 1871, the population of the whole Colony, exclusive of Maoris, numbered only 267,000 souls ! What an absurdity, to be sure ! ” will be the natural exclamation of people in England who may now hear of it for the first time. The population was in a ridiculous disproportion to the cost of governing it. Apart, however, from this provincial parliamentary frivolity and aping of things at the other end of the earth, its excessive costliness, and extensive machinery, it cannot be denied that the Provincial Government system accomplished much good and useful work in the promotion of settlement, and if these institutions had been less pretentious the probability is that Sir Julius Vogel would never have succeeded in abolishing them. If the boundaries of these provinces had been extended so as to absorb at least four of them, and leave three for the South and two for the North Island, the provincial 28 o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW system might have been in existence to-day ; but no such arrangement was ever promoted, although it was often suggested that one Government and Parliament should be established in each island and the Central Government itself done away with. At one period, indeed, the separation of North and South was seriously entertained, as the South complained that it was nothing but a milch cow for the North. The proposal came to nothing, however, and the nine provinces took no steps in the direction of amalgamation. The costly and cumbrous system went on without curtailment of its cost or functions until public feeling encouraged Sir Julius Vogel to make his wholesale assault upon it, and, the question being relegated to the electors, the abolitionists carried the day by a large majority, and the provinces were accordingly wiped out. Let us see now what the General Government and Parliament were doing. From the starting point of representative and responsible government in New Zealand, many very able men took part in public affairs. But the Government was of an essentially conservative character because it was founded upon a basis of conser- vatism. A more conservative chamber than the Upper House could not be conceived ; it only differed from the English House of Lords because it was not hereditary, but it was as near an approach to the latter as nomina- tion of its members for life by the Governor could make it. It was nothing more nor less than an exclusive club, within whose sacred portals none but the creme de la creme could find admission. The Lower House was in a great measure composed of the same select material. Although its constitution was elective, the franchise was upon a basis which excluded large numbers of people from the electoral rolls. There was no one-man-one- vote in those days ; the mere suggestion of it spelt rank republicanism. As the result of this narrow franchise, REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 281 the inconvenience and expense of attending Parliament, and the smallness of the reimbursement for parlia- mentary service, only wealthy men could aspire to seats in the lower branch of the Legislature. It was conser- vatism all round, and class interests, it may be sure, were well looked after in a Parliament so composed. The squatters or runholders were in the ascendancy, and there was nothing to prevent them shaping legislation in a way to suit their own interests best. And they did, like the good old conservatives they were. As an out- come of their preponderance, governing families were established, and the see-saw of political strife always found men of the same class either in or out of office. The surrender of office by one set of men and the assumption of it by another set of men was a sort of family arrangement which did not necessarily carry with it any material change of policy. The predominant idea was to found a landed aristocracy in New Zealand, and to that one great object the early legislators devoted themselves with unwavering persistency and with much success. The land laws were framed in a way to render these laws exceedingly accommodating to the purposes of those who placed them on the Statute Book. Large estates were acquired here, there, and everywhere, and these estates were extended as opportunity offered from time to time. The lands of the native people became common prey, and these landed aristocrats helped them- selves without stint or qualms of conscience. In those parts of the Colony where the native lands had passed into the possession of the Provincial Governments, the land-grab system was no less conspicuously at work. Vast areas were gridironed, so that eventually the whole of them might become the properties of a few individuals, and altogether it looked as if the original idea of estab- lishing a landed aristocracy in New Zealand could not be successfully resisted. They were the class who 282 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW governed — the class who largely preponderated in both Houses of Parliament, and consequently the legislation was of a character to suit themselves. If any reform was made in the land system, this reform took the shape of rendering it more difficult for men in poorer circum- stances to obtain a footing on the soil. To extend the franchise was the one thing farthest from their intention, and as for social legislation scant attention was paid to it. The majority at their back always ensured the defeat of proposals of a liberal tendency, and they stuck to their conservative creed most tenaciously and with great unanimity of purpose. Concession was a word unknown in their vocabulary so far as their own selfish control of public affairs was concerned. They had a splendid innings, but in the end they overreached themselves, and, grabbing at too much, lost hold of much they had already secured by class legislation. The first event that sounded the death-knell of con- servatism in New Zealand was the gold-rush which set in to New Zealand in 1862, through the discovery of the precious metal by Gabriel Reed in a gully close to the township of Tokomairiro, and called, after its discoverer, Gabriel’s Gully ; then further rushes to various parts of Otago, then to Wakamarino and the West Coast, and afterwards to the Thames Goldfield. These influxes increased the population enormously ; and a further great impulse was given to the progress of the whole country by Sir Julius Vogel’s public works and immi- gration policy of 1870. Under that great scheme Sir Julius successfully floated a ten-million loan for the purpose of carrying out works in advance of settlement. Railways, roads, water-races, and other large public works, were constructed, and immigration was con- ducted upon a large scale. From all these causes the population increased rapidly, so much so, indeed, that in the ten years between 1871 and 1881 it rose from REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 283 267,000 to 501,000, and then to 743,463 in 1898, without including Maoris in the count. Colonial experience has shov/n that there is no influence so democratising as that which springs from the influx of a large gold- mining population, and so it proved in New Zealand. Then followed the additions under the immigration provisions of Sir Julius Vogel's scheme, and the two contributing forces brought about a complete alteration in the political outlook. Conservatism was doomed; that was quite obvious. Land reform, extension of the franchise, labour and social legislation, free and com- pulsory education, and other questions, began to agitate the public mind. Mr. Robert Stout, Mr. Ballance, and others, worked strenuously to secure a reform of the land laws, and they were ably assisted by Sir George Grey, who added his one-man-one-vote to the liberal programme, and kept pegging away at his proposal until it reached the statute-book. The author will not further anticipate the course of events, or show how much the Colony is indebted to Sir Robert Stout and the late Mr. Ballance, except to draw a contrast between the Parliament which once existed in New Zealand and the Parliament as it exists to-day. It will be seen from this narration of events that the New Zealand Parliament has passed through a transi- tion which is most extraordinary— from a stage of ultra-conservatism to a condition of personal control and obsequious subserviency which renders it utterly con- temptible in the eyes of people who desire to see an honest, unselfish, and pure democracy established in New Zealand. CHAPTER XXVI THE '‘SUGAR AND FLOUR POLICY '' — NATIVE SCHOOLS — SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE NATIVES — MAORI REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT W ITH the view of coping with the native difficulty and securing the permanent peace of the country, recourse was had to what is known in New Zealand history as the " sugar and flour policy.” The then Government, as Mr. Gorst puts it, " determined to purchase by presents and pensions the goodwill of the principal native chiefs.” Offices of various kinds were created for them, and pensions were granted to those who had taken a leading part in assisting the forces to fight against their own countrymen. The " sugar and flour policy ” had its effects upon the native population, and although it did not prevent subsequent outbreaks, still it succeeded in bringing about a state of things which gave every assurance that the Maoris were a conquered race, and that no further wars would happen in the country on a scale such as those which it had already passed through. One other feature in the Government’s policy for the permanent restoration of peace was the establishment of schools in native districts, and these were certainly the means of doing a vast amount of good amongst the native people, and of improving the relations between 284 THE SUGAR AND FLOUR” POLICY 285 the Europeans and themselves. The author visited many of these establishments in the North Island, and is able to bear testimony to the excellent effect they had upon the native mind. The Government also gave assistance towards the maintenance of boarding schools for the education of the daughters of Maori chiefs. In an illustrated work entitled ‘‘ His Island Home and Away in the Far North,” published by him in 1879, the author wrote as follows upon the subject of Maori education : — “ Some time prior to the death of Sir Donald McLean, one of the measures which he adopted, with a view to the permanent pacification of the country, was the establishment of native schools in various districts of the North ; but in adopting this course the then Native Minister was only following in the footsteps of Sir George Grey, at whose instigation, when he occupied the position of Governor, many very excellent schools were founded in certain centres of native population. Amongst the native boarding schools established and maintained under the fostering care of his Excellency during the period of Sir George Grey's first Governor- ship of New Zealand, the following may be mentioned : There were three excellent institutions on the Wai- kato kept by Archdeacon Maunsell, Mr. Ashewell, and Mr. Morgan, of the Church Missionary Society. Mr. Ashewell's was a girl’s school, conducted by Mrs. Ashe- well, and was a perfect model of what such a school should be. It and the other two on the Waikato had each about 120 pupils. There was another fine school at the Three Kings, kept by the Wesleyans, with upwards of 1 50 children as boarders ; a very efficient girls’ school at St. Stephen’s, Auckland, under the direction of the Anglican Bishop of New Zealand ; a large boarding school at Otaki, kept by Archdeacon Hadfield, the present Bishop of Wellington ; another at 286 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Taranaki, conducted by Mr. Turton, a Wesleyan mis- sionary ; there was a girls' orphan asylum and school at Wellington, kept by the late R. C. Bishop-Viard ; an admirable school at Napier, conducted by two Catholic priests ; also two boarding schools at Auckland under the direction of the late Bishop Pompallier ; and throughout other parts of the Colony similar institutions were in existence. All these were in a state of the highest efficiency in the year 1853, but they unfortu- nately fell into decay when the native war came on. In resuscitating the native school system, the late lamented Native Minister adopted one of the most certain measures that could be devised towards a reconciliation of the races, and the wisdom of such a course must be apparent to all those who have seen that system in operation in the North Island. During my tour in that part of the Colony I visited several of these institutions. There was none of them with which I was so highly pleased as with the select boarding school established at a place called Taumarere, three miles distant from Kawa Kawa. This excellent school is one which the Native Department may well feel proud of. It is con- ducted by Mrs. Tautari, than whom a more accomplished mistress is not in the service of the Government. Mr. Commissioner Kemp took a great interest in the found- ing of this school, and in a conversation I had with him on the subject he was exceedingly pleased to find that my opinion coincided with his own respecting the high- class character of the school at Taumarere. There are upwards of twenty female pupils in constant attendance — Europeans, Maoris, and half-castes. Mrs. Tautari obtains from the Government a certain capitation allow- ance, but I do not consider the amount anything like adequate remuneration for the valuable services she renders to the Native Department. She imparts to the children entrusted to her care an excellent English THE SUGAR AND FLOUR” POLICY 287 education, besides instrumental music and singing ; and Europeans visiting the school for the first time would be surprised to see how far advanced several of the Maori girls are in the latter accomplishments. Mrs. Tautari is assisted by a highly-cultured governess, Miss Copeland ; and what struck me very much was the entente cordiale existing between the mistress and her assistant and the girls under their charge. In point of discipline Mrs. Tautari is necessarily strict, but she is loved by all the girls on account of her kind and amiable disposition. At our express desire, Mrs. Tautari assembled her school for inspection, with a result that was as surprising to ourselves as it must have been gratifying to her. Several of the girls sang to Miss Copeland’s accompani- ment, while others displayed their abilities on the pianoforte. Part-singing was a prominent feature in the programme, and the choruses were sung with marked precision. The room was then cleared, and dancing was kept up with spirit for an hour or so. The Maori girls and half-castes are exceedingly fond of dancing ; and music, too, both vocal and instrumental, is another of their specialities. At Mrs. Tautari’s estab- lishment they are also instructed in household duties, in order that they may be Europeanised as much as possible, and in all respects rendered fit to become the wives of settlers in the country. In some instances, but I am happy to say few, Mrs. Tautari’s exertions are in a great measure lost, in consequence of some of the parents at a distance taking their children away just at the time when their progress in English instruction gives promise of very satisfactory results. Some Maori parents do not sufhciently appreciate the benefits derived from education, and if their children go home for the holidays, they do not allow them to return ; but instances of this kind are exceptional. Children are sent to the Taumarere school from very long distances, 288 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW on account of the high reputation it enjoys, and the time will soon arrive when a larger schoolhouse will require to be erected. A school such as this must effect a wonderful amount of good in establishing a better understanding between the two races, and I think the lady who is instrumental in doing this is clearly entitled to a sufficient recompense for her pains. I trust, there- fore, that she will be dealt with in a liberal spirit by the Native Department. There are several other schools in the northern district — amongst others one at Te Ti, near the mouth of the Waitangi river, presided over by Mrs. Hickson ; another at Kaikohe, under the direction of a Europeanised Maori named Hirini Taiwhanga — Hirini was married to a European wife ; and a third (a very creditable establishment), conducted by the Misses Lundon, at the Lower Waihou, on the Hokianga river, a few miles below Herd’s Point.” Then follows a list of other native schools, about twenty in number, open at the time of the author’s tour through the northernmost portions of New Zealand in 1879. There are also given by the author of this volume in “ His Island Home and Away in the Far North” some particulars concerning early missionary enterprise in New Zealand, extracts from which may now be of interest : — “ On our way down from the Kawa Kawa we called in at a small settlement named Paihia, where I observed a monument erected in front of the church to the memory of the late Venerable Archdeacon Williams. Paihia was one of those places where the Church of England missionaries established themselves. In fact, the Bay of Islands was the first scene of their labours, for it was on December 22, 1814, that the Rev. Samuel Marsden arrived in the ship Active and anchored off Rangihoua Tepuna, just inside the north head of the Bay of Islands, where he landed and settled Messrs, Kendall, Hall, and King, the first THE SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 289 missionaries. On Christmas Day, 1814, the Rev. Samuel Marsden preached there for the first time the Gospel in New Zealand, which was interpreted to the natives by a chief named Ruatara, who had been to England. The text was very appropriate, being Luke ii. 10, ‘ Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy,^ &c. In August, 1819, Mr. Marsden brought Messrs. Butler and Kemp, and established a mission station at Keri- keri, at the head of the Kerikeri river. In August, 1823, Mr. Marsden brought the Rev. Henry Williams and family, and formed the mission station at Paihia. On January 25, 1826, the schooner Herald, the first vessel built in New Zealand, under the direction of Mr. Henry Williams (who had been a lieutenant in the Royal Navy) was launched on Paihia beach, and was navigated by Mr. Williams to Sydney, where he met his brother, the Rev. William Williams, the late Bishop of Waiapu, on his way to New Zealand, and on March 5th in the same year they arrived together in the George Osborne and landed at Paihia. Bishop Selwyn arrived at Paihia on June 20, 1842, and on the following Sunday, to the surprise of everybody, his Lordship preached a sermon to the natives in the Maori language, of which he had become a proficient master on the voyage out. On December 8, 1842, at a time of the greatest apprehension for the safety of the young Colony, consequent on the murder of the Robinson family and a half-caste girl (granddaughter of the chief Rewa) on an island in Paroa Bay, by Maketu, a young chief of noble connection, who was hanged for the crime at Auckland, the famous helmet that had been presented by King George the Fourth to Waikato, a Ngapuhi chief residing at Tepuna, was delivered up to Mr. Williams as a token of his fidelity to the English, just before the great meeting at Paihia, when the principal Ngapuhi chiefs, with the exception 20 290 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW of Hone Heke (who withdrew) signed an address to Governor Hobson professing their allegiance. . . . The Veil. Archdeacon Williams died at his residence at Pakaraka on July i6, 1867, at the ripe age of 75 years. ... I am indebted for most of the foregoing information to the widow of the Archdeacon, who, far advanced in years (1879) still resides at Pakaraka. . . . Mrs. Williams has kept a diary with great regularity ever since her arrival in New Zealand in 1823, and the journal is a most interesting one. Many things recorded there are of great public value. ... A great many people condemn the missionaries and declare that they have done more mischief than good in the country. On that subject I shall abstain from expressing any opinion. All I know is, that they showed great pluck in coming to New Zealand at a time when cannibalism was in full swing, when tribes fought against tribes, and the survivors devoured the bodies of the slain. ... A little distance further down the Bay brought us to a place rendered famous in the history of New Zealand. It is named Waitangi, and here it was that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1840, in a large marquee a little in front of Mr. Busby's house. The spot is unmarked, but Mr. Busby will show it to any one visiting his homestead. . . . The celebrated Darwin occupied a room in Mr. Busby's house when, in the capacity of naturalist, he visited the Bay of Islands many years ago in the Beagled There is no part of New Zealand so full of historical associations as the Bay of Islands. It was there that settlement first began ; there it was also where the conversion of the Maoris to Christianity was first attempted, and it was the scene of the outbreak of the first Maori war. The British troops lost heavily at several battles fought in the surrounding country, especially in their attack upon Hone Heke's strong- THE SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 291 hold at Ohaeawae, where the old trenches, which are still visible, bear testimony to the wonderful skill in warfare displayed by the Maoris in their earliest conflicts with British soldiers. Internecine strife had previously instructed them in methods of attack and defence, and enabled them to inflict such serious losses upon the troops sent against them during Hone Heke's war of 1845. After their subjugation at that time the conciliatory policy of Sir George Grey ensured peace to the Colony for a lengthened period, and his native school system and kindly treatment of the natives gained their confidence and esteem. He was the best friend the Maoris ever had, and was very popular amongst them. Kawana Hori Kerei had more influ- ence with the Maori people than any other European in the country during his first and second periods of governorship and throughout his subsequent private and political life, and if the policy he inaugurated had been adhered to, without interference by persons inside and outside the Colony, the permanent pacification of the Maoris might have been secured after the first outbreak had been put down. It was a bad day for the Maori people when he was transferred to Cape Colony, and they felt that they had lost a true friend, because they knew that Sir George Grey had their best interests always at heart. His whole career shows that he was exceptionally gifted in the manage- ment of native and alien races, and that his knowledge of how to deal with them was superior to that of most other men in the positions he was called upon to fill in South Australia and New Zealand and at the Cape. Such is the tribute now paid to the memory of this distinguished statesman and pro-consul. Allied to the “ sugar and flour policy, and the system of presents and pensions to secure the good- will of the principal native chiefs, was the proposal to 292 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW give the Maori race representation in both Houses of Parliament, nominative and elective. This proposal was given effect to, and Maoris sat in Parliament for the first time in 1866. The author believes this is the only instance where parliamentary representation has been given to a native race in any self-governing colony in the possession of Great Britain. The system has prevailed till this day, and, as it is carried out, two Maori members occupy seats in the Upper House and four in the Lower, the Colony being divided into four Maori electorates — three in the North Island and one in the Middle Island, the preponder- ance being given to the former because of its very much larger native population. For electing their representa- tives to the House, adult suffrage is given, and as a rule the elections are keenly contested, a whole string of candidates generally presenting themselves at the polls triennially or when any bye-election takes place. Maori members of both Houses have the same privileges as European members. They are paid the same salaries — ^^"150 a year in the Upper House and £240 in the Lower, with free railway passes and other privileges — and have the same opportunities afforded them to take part in the discussions. Interpreters sit alongside them for that purpose, and when a Maori member rises to speak the interpreter rises with him and interprets his speech sentence by sentence. Their speeches are reported in Hansard, and a special Hansard in the Maori language is also issued at the end of each session for circulation amongst the Maori people, so that they may read what their members have been saying during their absence at Wellington. Maori representation in Parliament was a portion of Sir Donald McLean's scheme to conciliate the native race after the termination of the last great Maori war, and the resuscitation of Sir George Grey's system of THE SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 293 native schools was another step in the same direction. Both answered their purpose to some extent in the way of establishing better relations between the two races, but as for any real benefits which parliamentary repre- sentation for a long time conferred upon the Maori people it was very questionable whether they derived any advantages of a material kind from this new departure in the management of a subject race which was taken by the late Sir Donald McLean when that gentleman was at the head of native affairs in New Zealand. It is true they could express their views freely upon any native legislation which was submitted, and could watch and scrutinise the passage of these measures through the Native Affairs Committee and afterwards through the House and Legislative Council ; but where there were only four members in one branch of the Legislature and two in the other, their efforts to have these measures passed as they would like to were practically of little avail. Four members in a House of seventy-four — and it used to be ninety-five~was not a proportion which was capable of effecting much, and therefore for a considerable period it was impotent, as a rule, in obtaining what the native people really wanted. The representation of the Maori race in the New Zealand Parliament sometimes brought about rather curious developments. Occasionally, but not for many years past, it happened that European parties were so equally divided that the Maori members actually held the balance of power in their hands, and the defeat of a Ministry was either secured or averted by these four votes. Thus, Governments which possessed neither the confidence of the majority of European members nor of the country were able to retain office through the success of their negotiations to induce the Maori members to follow them into the Ministerial lobby. In that case 294 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NFAV the practical outcome was that these four votes, repre- senting about 40,000 natives, controlled the policy and legislation which affected over 700,000 Europeans. It was during crises of this character that the Maori vote became an important factor in deciding the fate of Ministries, and the way in which it was cast depended upon the party from which it could exact the best terms and the side which it could look to with most confidence for a fulfilment of its promises. It was when parties were so unequally divided as to give an inde- pendent preponderance upon one side or the other that the native vote counted for little, and from a Maori standpoint was practically ineffective. That was the case, with the periodical exceptions referred to, for many years after this special concession was granted to them ; but in recent years they have been holding Parliaments of their own, and agitating for control of their own affairs, more especially in regard to their lands ; and last session a measure was passed which conferred upon the native race a considerable measure of home rule. They have displayed undoubted capacity for the management of their own concerns, and there is every reason to believe that they will make the best use of their opportunities in that direction. They have arrived at a stage when they see how valuable the possession of the land is to them, and are not likely to part with any more of it except on fair terms, much less to dispose of it indiscriminately without calculating how much it is necessary to retain as an inalienable heritage for those coming after them. In that determination, and in the absolute suppression of the drink traffic amongst them, lies the only hope of the preservation of the Maori race. CHAPTER XXVII SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND — SIR ROBERT STOUT, MR. BALLANCE, SIR JULIUS VOGEL EW ZEALAND owes a great deal to Sir George 1 \ Grey. He was unquestionably the most dis- tinguished statesman who has yet been connected with that Colony. The greatest and most important portion of his career is intimately associated with it ; his love for it was strong and enduring ; he loved its people, and they worshipped him. Twice its Governor, at periods of perplexity and even peril, his skilful and humane statesmanship brought the Colony safely through the difficulties which beset it, and laid the foundations of that peace, prosperity, and progress which have since made New Zealand what she is to-day. No man had so clear an insight into the temperament, disposition, and requirements of the native inhabitants as Sir George Grey ; he recognised their rights, and strove all his might to make that recognition the groundwork of colonial policy in its treatment of them. In this desire to solve the native question in a way fair and equitable to both races. Sir George Grey had much to contend against ; inside and outside influences were constantly employed to checkmate his plans ; he was too pro- Maori to please many people who not only had the ear of the Colonial Office, but had power also with the 296 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Colonial Legislature, and exerted that power to neutralise his efforts in what Sir George Grey honestly believed to be the true solution of the native question. If he did not succeed to the full extent he could have wished, it was no fault of Sir George Grey’s ; still, he accomplished a great deal as the true friend and protector of the Maori people, whose gratitude is now evidenced by the reverence they pay to the memory of their benefactor ; and viewed in the light of subsequent events, it is much to be regretted that Sir George Grey was not allowed a free hand in dealing with native affairs after the suppres- sion of the first Maori war. What the author wrote of Sir George Grey and his island in 1879 is even more appropriate of that dis- tinguished man now that he is no longer of this earth. In His Island Home and Away in the Far North,” the author wrote : — “ Years hence, when the present generation shall have passed away, and personal and political prejudices shall have been obliterated by the lapse of time ; when men can calmly review the history and associations of the past with intelligence and impartiality, unmoved by party considerations and private animosities, then must the historian, in describing the principal features of the land he lives in, devote a considerable portion of his descriptive narrative to the island about which I have been asked to furnish a few particulars that may prove at least interesting, if not instructive, to a very large section of the population to whom the Kawau, except by repute, is practically unknown. He will find it incumbent upon him to do this, not only on account of the manifold natural attractions of this lovely spot, which Nature has endowed so copiously with her most precious gifts, and the good taste and wealth of our Premier have helped to beautify and make more lovely still, but because there is associated with it a name that SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 297 will for ever hold a prominent place in the history of the past, so long as New Zealand has an existence, and its records are preserved. In writing this sketch it is not my intention to refer to Sir George Grey in his public and political capacity, but rather to speak of him as I found him — a private gentleman, retired after the fatigues and turmoils of the session to a place which for loveli- ness is not to be surpassed, nay, equalled, by any other which it has been my good fortune to visit in this Colony. ... I need hardly say with what feelings of pleasure I accepted an invitation to visit Kawau ; and these were enhanced when I discovered that I should have the privilege of being escorted over the place by its owner, and by him shown the various objects most interesting to behold. . . . “ On our starboard side lay the Kawau, fringed here and there by bush growing down to the water's edge. Taking a general glance at the island as we passed along its shores, we could not help being strongly impressed with its beauty and situation. It is rather hilly than mountainous ; here it dips into the ocean in the form of abrupt cliffs, and at other points terminates in a succes- sion of gentle slopes, which relieve the scene of all monotony. The surface had a very emerald appearance about it for this advanced period of the season, and we are all pleased with the picture presented to us. We still go on, finding it difficult to determine which is the most lovely nook that discloses itself to view, when with a suddenness almost magical we emerge from troubled waters, and find ourselves in a beautiful cove, where the surface of the water is as placid as a mill-pond. The transformation is effected so rapidly that we can hardly realise the fact that but a moment before we were being rudely tossed by the angry billows which continue to play as angrily still only a cable's length from where we lie in smooth water. Overhead there is not a cloud to 298 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW be seen ; the sun sends forth his joyous rays with uninterrupted brilliancy, and imparts a truly grand and gladdening effect to everything around us. The atmo- sphere is pure and still ; the water beneath us composed and transparent ; the distant islands clothed with a beautiful bluish tint ; the land in front and on both sides of us decked out in its gayest holiday attire. There is an air of calm serenity and repose about the place which is peculiarly fascinating, and, resist the inclination as we may, the mind is disposed to travel back into the distant past, to the days of our boyhood when tales and pictures of fairyland formed our sole literary treasures. The ripple on the shore is scarcely loud enough to be perceptible, and the continual buzzing of the locusts, which tells us it is summer, and the sing- ing of native and imported birds, are the only sounds which disturb the reigning tranquillity. Large native trees overhang the shores and rear themselves in majestic stateliness to the hill-tops which overshadow the cove into which we have been conducted as if by some magic agency. The lark is already sending forth its joyous notes, and the birds indigenous to the island and those which its owner has imported, vie with each other as though they were engaged in a competitive chorus for supremacy. The gentle zephyr there is wafts to us from the shore scents of the richest fragrance, and our delight at the whole prospect is unbounded. Gaze where we may, there is something to please and interest us, something to enlist our admiration. At the toe of the horse-shoe, which in shape best describes the natural formation of the cove, a nice sandy beach forms the foreground. Behind this beach, on which stands a well- appointed boat-shed, are magnificent gardens, in the midst of which the residence of Sir George Grey rears its stately dimensions. The picture is rendered com- plete by the rich curtain of foliage which surrounds it, SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 299 and the undulating space in the background, on which the tall English grass rolls wavelike submissively to the gentle breeze. This clearing is surmounted by several native trees and pines of various descriptions, which have been planted in such positions as to produce a most artistic effect. Viewed from the deck of the Hinemoa^ the whole scene presented a coup d'ceil of most enchanting magnificence, to which it would require the descriptive powers of a Sir Walter Scott or a Lamartine to do ample justice. ‘‘ Many months had elapsed since Sir George Grey had been to Kawau, and on shore there were evident indications of joy at his return. . . . Acting as our guide, Sir George Grey showed us over his residence, which is a truly beautiful mansion, built of permanent materials, the rooms large, lofty, and cheerful, admirably furnished, and the walls hung with paintings of great antiquity and value. Once again in the open air, we followed Sir George in our excursion through the grounds and gardens surrounding his residence. These are replete with the choicest shrubs and plants ; there is hardly a country under heaven from whence Sir George has not obtained a plant of some kind or other, and they are now all to be seen growing at Kawau with as much health and vigour as though they were indigenous to the soil. For variety of colour and species I have never seen anything to equal the flower-beds at Kawau, which struck me as being remarkably well cared for. As the gardens are encompassed by hills, except on the harbour side, they are well protected from the prevailing winds, and the soil being good and warm, every delicacy is fit for the table many weeks before they make their appearance in the South. As I passed through the gardens, finding so much to rivet my attention, it was rather difficult to say what pleased me most, until I came to the orange and lemon trees, which thrive here 300 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW to astonishing perfection, bearing latitudinal considera- tions in mind. The trees were laden with fruit, and Sir George told his visitors to help themselves freely to it. The summer oranges were very large, but tasted some- what bitter compared with those we get from Fiji ; but a finer fruit than the lemons I pulled at Kawau, alike as to size and flavour, I have never seen. Any of them would make two or three of the ordinary lemons which people buy in the shops. From the gardens, by a series of zigzag pathways. Sir George conducted us to spots on the island from which some splendid views could be obtained, and in the course of our progress we could not help reflecting on how bountiful Nature had been to this gem of the Southern Pacific, and how much art had done to adorn Nature with the lovely mantle she now wears so gracefully at the Kawau. . . . Our verdict is unanimous as to the beauty and serenity of the whole scene, as the eye wanders over hill and dale, over beauti- fully undulating slopes and meadow land, and rests on the surrounding waters of the Pacific, which lend a majestic charm to the whole picture, as seen through the rows of lofty pines which stand between us and the ocean. Those who have the honour of a personal acquaint- ance with Sir George Grey can see at once that he is an extensively read man, well versed in every department of literature. His knowledge of men and books is not of that superficial kind which begets pedantry, but is deep, penetrating, and reliable. Like most really well- learned men, he does not bore you with a display of his superior learning and intelligence ; but to him a literary conversation is at all times irresistible, and he will join in it with the ardour of an enthusiast. He is brimful of anecdote, and crop up what subject there may, you will hear from him something that is always d propos^ and either instructive or amusing, according to the nature of SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 301 the matter under discussion. To a man of such strong literary tastes a good library is an absolute necessity. This essential is also to be found at Kawau, and Sir George can with truth declare that he possesses the finest private library in the Colony. It contains, not one or two, but dozens of works which the British Museum would like to have, besides a number of original manu- scripts of which facsimiles even do not exist. There you will see the handiwork of the monks done centuries ago, long before Caxton had discovered the art of print- ing. You take up the ponderous volumes one after another, and as you turn over the leaves and trace the marvellous uniformity of the characters : as you pause in breathless admiration of the brilliancy of the illumina- tions which ages have not sufficed to tarnish or make dim, or behold with reverential eyes the artistic illustra- tions with which the pages abound, you wonder at the patience with which these holy men must have laboured, at the time it must have taken to produce these works, and feel how deeply grateful succeeding generations ought to be to men who have done so much to promote the cause of learning and to preserve our literature. You restore these volumes reluctantly to their shelves, and take down one of the very first books issued from Caxton's printing press, which is, of course, a curiosity worth seeing. You afterwards trace the improvements made in printing by an examination of several most valuable works issued from the press at various dates from the discovery of the art down to the present day. The library comprises all kinds of literature, and the linguist will find in it ample materials wherewith to while away the time. Leaving the books, which are far too numerous for systematic examination. Sir George next showed me a large portfolio containing many original manuscripts of the Cromwellian period of almost incalculable value, amongst others several letters written 302 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW by Sir Philip Meadovves and the poet Milton. A little book has recently been issued, which alleges that a certain epitaph written by Milton has only just been discovered ; but on making a comparison of the fac- simile of the original with the handwriting of Sir Philip Meadowes in his possession, Sir George Grey arrived at the conclusion that the authorship of the epitaph had been wrongly attributed to the immortal poet. To myself and the gentleman who accompanied me on my visit to the library. Sir George pointed out the great similarity existing between the facsimile of the epitaph and the handwriting of Sir Philip Meadowes ; we examined the formation of the characters with a critical scrutiny by means of a powerful glass, and arrived at the same conclusion as Sir George — that there were general and particular proofs by the comparison we made that the epitaph was written, not by the Latin secretary (Milton), but by the general secretary of the Commonwealth, Sir Philip Meadowes. Other manu- scripts equally interesting were brought under our notice, and our only regret was that time would not permit of a more lengthened inspection. Sir George Grey has maintained a correspondence with many of the greatest statesmen and scholars of the day, and when the time comes that no objection can be raised against the publication of the letters which his library contains, the public will reap a great advantage by having the collection submitted to them for perusal. I noticed quite a heap of letters which Sir George Grey had received from Dr. Livingstone, and these will no doubt hereafter prove of intense interest, as affording an insight into the motives and aspirations of the greatest of modern explorers. Before leaving the library I ran my eye casually along the shelves containing hundreds of volumes of general modern literature, and I pulled out a book which appeared to be most expensively and SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 303 elaborately bound. It was entitled/ The Early Years of the Prince Consort/ and on opening it I discovered that the volume had been presented to Sir George Grey by her Most Gracious Majesty, that fact being recorded in the Queen’s own handwriting. A visitor to the Kawau could spend quite a month in the library, and by the end of that time he would find that he had not exhausted all the objects of interest and curiosity which it contains, and which must contribute in no small degree to make a sojourn at the Kawau particularly instructive and agreeable. “ The area of Kawau is between five and six thousand acres. The island was originally Crown-granted to an Aberdeen company, who for several years worked the copper mines there, and the locality of their operations is plainly visible as you pass along the southern shore of the island. Kawau contains a variety of minerals, including gold, specks of which are to be found almost everywhere, but the precious metal does not exist in payable quantities. Copper ore is abundant, and in reply to my question as to why he did not work it. Sir George told me that he had no desire to see mining going on and the privacy of his island home disturbed. Sir George Grey purchased the island from the Aberdeen Company, and about eleven years have now elapsed since he first took up his residence there. In purchasing Kawau Sir George Grey was instigated by motives of a purely philanthropic character. It was his intention to convert it into a kind of acclimatisation depot for the introduction of foreign plants, animals, and birds for subsequent distribution throughout the Colony. He incurred a considerable expense in this direction, and in his early efforts he was even more successful than he believed he could be. A large number of foreign plants, birds, and animals were accordingly introduced to the Kawau, and to the acclimatising exertions of Sir George 304 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Grey the Colony, and more especially the northern portion of it, is in no small degree indebted for a great deal of the game and rare plants which it now contains. Deer stalk over the Kawau at the present day, and game of various kinds abounds upon it in all directions ; the waters which encompass it are alive with fish of all sorts, and oysters cling to the rocks in millions, not more than a hundred paces from where Sir George resides. The gardens surrounding the mansion produce most luscious fruits — all combining to make the Kawau what it really is, an earthly paradise. With such attractions as these it is little wonder that Sir George Grey should take up his abode at the Kawau, for here indeed one could retire without regret, and live at peace with all mankind. “ There are no fewer than three harbours leading into it, in all of which there is deep water and excellent shelter for the small sailing traders which frequently take refuge there. . . . The Kawau is not the solitude which some people imagine it is. There are, generally speaking, from eighty to one hundred inhabitants on the island, including the wives and families of those to whom Sir George Grey gives employment during the year. Their cottages are dotted all over the island, and each family has a patch of its own to cultivate for its particular use. The residents of the island are a happy and contented lot of people, and they all appear to have a deep regard and affection for Sir George. The monotony of their lives is relieved by a series of enter- tainments, which are held once a week, and these terminate with a dance, in which all take part as though they were one happy family. They are at liberty to invite the settlers on the mainland to these entertain- ments, and the latter return the compliment by inviting their Kawau friends occasionally to similar entertain- ments on the opposite shore. There are many children who have been born on the island and have never yet SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 305 left it. They think a great deal of their native place, as an anecdote which Sir George related to me will show. It is Sir George’s custom on fete days to invite the citizens of Auckland to visit Kawau, and hundreds avail themselves of the opportunity. The influx of so many people of course arouses the curiosity of the Kawau youth, and leaves various impressions on their minds. It was on one fine morning, shortly after a visitation of this kind, that Sir George was proceeding up one of the roads leading to the high ground. A little boy, who walked before him at some distance, suddenly stopped as if to take an admiring survey of the whole scene, and as soon as Sir George reached the point where he was standing the boy exclaimed, ‘ Oh, Sir George, what a beautiful place our island is ! ’ as though he had a partnership interest in it. ‘ What makes you think so ? ’ Sir George demanded. ‘ Because,’ readily answered the , boy, ‘so many people come to see our place and we never go to see theirs.’ There was so much innocent reasoning in what the boy said, and such an apparent feeling of contentment with his island habitation in the sentiments he uttered, that the lad’s words will never be forgotten by him to whom they were addressed. “The Kawau for the most part is laid down in English grass, and about 2,000 sheep depasture upon it, besides a number of cattle. A portion of the land is cultivated every year, and a sufficient quantity of corn, potatoes, turnips, carrots, &c., grown to meet the requirements of those living on the island. The cause of education has not been neglected at Kawau. . . . “ Sir George Grey, during a sojourn at the Kawau, has plenty of material at disposal to occupy his mind and attention. He is an early riser, and frequently indulges in long rambles through the island. He takes a personal interest and pride in everything that goes on 3o6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW in the shape of improvements, and exercises a sort of general supervision over them, offering suggestions to his workmen, and at other times giving way to them in matters as to which he supposes they ought to know better than himself. A great deal of his time is occupied in his library and in the inditing of private corre- spondence which has fallen into arrears by reason of the demands of public duty. At home, he is in all respects the true type of an English gentleman — kind, hos- pitable, and considerate. His love of children is proverbial, and there is no nurse living whose tongue can command so many nursery rhymes. “ When I now sit down to write this hurried sketch of the Kawau, and what came under my observation during my visit, I am puzzled to understand how any human being can give up the repose that is to be found there in exchange for the cares and troubles inseparable from active public life. Politics may have their attrac- tions, but to my mind the amount of happiness to be derived from a residence at this sublunary paradise far outweighs all other considerations.” Such was Kawau when the author visited the island in 1879. Sir George Grey was then Premier of New Zealand. After his second term of office as Governor, Sir George Grey proceeded to England, but did not remain long in the Old Country. He returned to New Zealand, so great was his love of the Colony, with the intention of retiring into private life for the rest of his days. He therefore sought the seclusion of Kawau, but was not allowed to remain long there without being asked to enter the arena of politics. The people of Auckland brought strong pressure to bear upon him, and at last he consented to become a candidate for that city in the House of Representatives. Of course he was elected ; and thus the unusual spectacle was presented of one SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 307 who had been its Governor becoming a member of the representative branch of the Colony's Legislature. He soon showed that he was the greatest orator within its walls, and the House and galleries were always packed when it was known that he was to speak. Sir George Grey's entry into active politics had the effect of strengthening and consolidating the Liberal party, which had a very precarious and impotent existence before he assumed the leadership of it. The Conservatives had it all their own way, but Sir George Grey infused new life and vigour into the Liberal ranks. He had as lieutenants such men as Mr. Stout, Mr. Ballance, and Mr. Sheehan, and the party grew so strong that in 1877 it was able to turn out the Ministry and to take its place on the Treasury Benches. Sir George Grey's Ministry lasted until 1879, when the Conservatives had another turn at the helm, under the Premiership of Sir John Hall, until the 21st of April, 1882. Sir Frederick Whittaker became Premier on that date, and was succeeded on the 25th of September, 1883, by Sir Harry Atkinson, but the Ministries of which Sir John Hall, Sir Frederick Whittaker, and Sir Harry Atkinson were successive Premiers from 1879 to 1884 were Conservative Ministries. The Stout-Vogel Ministry assumed office on the i6th of August, 1884, but only lasted until the 28th of the same month, when it was succeeded by Sir Harry Atkinson, whose new Cabinet only survived until the 3rd of September. Thus three Ministries had been turned out of office between the i6th of August and the 3rd of September, 1884, less than a month, so hard and determined was the struggle at that time between the Liberal and Conservative parties. The Liberal Party won, and the Stout-Vogel Ministry came into power on the 3rd of September, 1884, and kept in office until the 8th of October, 1887. On that date Sir Harry Atkinson again assumed the reins of 3o8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW office, as the result of an appeal to the constituencies, and he was Premier until the 24th of January, 1891. The general election of 1890 brought Mr. Ballance into power with an overwhelming majority. Sir Robert Stout had been out of politics in the meantime, and abstained from presenting himself at the 1890 elections in order that his great personal and political friend, Mr. Ballance, might obtain his well-earned reward of the Premiership. But if Sir Robert Stout kept out of active participation in politics, he continued to exercise great influence upon the course of events, and cheerfully rendered his old friend and colleague, Mr. Ballance, every assistance in forming the policy of that gentleman's Administration. The result of their consultations was that a most attractive programme was submitted to the electors. It was far more liberal than anything that had ever been placed before them ; it was a statesmanlike and well-constructed policy which bore the hall-mark of true Liberalism upon it, and the result was that Mr. Ballance and his followers swept the country. His was the truest Liberalism compared with the shoddy samples of it which have been presented since his untimely death, and it is scandalous to find that other people are constantly taking credit for the reforms which he foreshadowed at the 1890 elections, and proceeded to give effect to one after another until his death on the 27th of April, 1893. Mr. Ballance was a statesman beloved by the people, and the splendid statue to his memory erected in Wangauni testifies the hold he had upon the public heart. It was to him far more than to those who have succeeded him that the people of New Zealand owe most of the great reforms, at all events the best of them, that have been brought about in that Colony, and it is shameful to find other people claiming the credit of conferring benefits upon the Colony which are the outcome of the programme SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 309 which Mr. Ballance carried out in part, and would have continued to completion had he lived long enough. True Liberalism in New Zealand will always be asso- ciated with the names of Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Stout, and Mr. Ballance — statesmen all of them — and not with the opportunist politicians without constructive ability who have since come into prominence. Their bluster and self-advertising has served them for a long while, but there will be an end of it some day, and then we shall see public and political life in New Zealand restored to something like its old form, and true Liberal- ism take the place of that sham democracy which has been productive of some of the worst features of political corruption and tammanyism, as everybody knows who has watched the progress of events in that Colony. There is one other name besides those of Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Stout, and Mr. Ballance which will always be associated with New Zealand prosperity and progress: it is that of Sir Julius Vogel, whose public works and immigration policy gave it a great push onward. It is to be regretted that Sir Julius Vogel did not adhere strictly to his original scheme ; but it must not be forgotten that there were ten millions of money to be scrambled for, and the result was that ‘‘ political ’’ railways and other works were put in hand which ought never to have been undertaken because of their certain unproductiveness. It mattered not who was in office, political pressure in this respect would have been irresistible when there were so many people in Parlia- ment who placed personal and local advantages above Colonial interests, and exerted themselves to that end as long as there were borrowed millions to be voted from year to year. It would have been a wise provision, under the circumstances, if the expenditure of that money had been removed from Parliamentary appro- 310 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW priation and placed in the hands of a Board of Works which would have been beyond the reach of political influence and control. As it was, large sums were frittered away upon works of an unreproductive cha- racter, and to that extent the administration of the scheme was unsatisfactory, costly to the country, and burthensome to the general body of taxpayers. There are two institutions for the founding of which Sir Julius Vogel deserved the Colony’s best thanks : the Post Office Savings Bank and the Government Life Insurance Department. Both of these encouraged great thrift amongst the people, and have been successful to an astonishing degree, as anybody will find who takes the trouble to inquire into the operations of both de- partments. To show this it is only necessary to state here that at the end of 1898 the total number of accounts open at the Government Post Office Savings Banks was 169,968 ; that the deposits during that year amounted to ;^3, 279,61 1 ; the withdrawals to ^3,191,893, the excess of deposits over withdrawals being ^684,7 17. The total sum standing at the credit of all accounts on December 31, 1898, was ;64,957,77i 5s. 5d., which gave an average of £ 2 g 3s. 5d. to the credit of each account. Then as to the Government Life Insurance Depart- ment, at the end of 1898 there were 37,848 policies in force, and the sum assured amounted to ^^9, 304,742. CHAPTER XXVIII MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER — HIS LIBERAL POLICY — CREATION OF A LABOUR DEPARTMENT — LAND FOR THE PEOPLE— STATE ASSISTANCE TO SETTLERS HE defeat of the Conservatives in 1890 and the X overthrow of Sir Harry Atkinson's Government was easily accounted for. Prior to that time successive Governments neglected almost everything in the shape of domestic and social legislation. The unemployed question was one that was frequently cropping up, but no Government had as yet attempted to deal with it except by temporary expedients in the shape of what were called relief works. The cry of ‘‘ unemployed " was a constantly recurring one, but the Conservatives seemed either unwilling or incapable of suggesting a remedy. Then came the great maritime strike of 1890, and feeling against Sir Harry Atkinson's Government was very strong. The result was that at the General Election of that year, the Government was defeated by an overwhelming majority, and Mr. Ballance took office on the 24th of January, 1891, as leader of the Labour- Liberal party. It was a part of Mr. Ballance's policy to deal with the labour question without delay, and he therefore determined to establish a Labour Department, with a Minister of Labour at the head of it. In June, 1891, that Department was created, and Mr. W. P. 31 ^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Reeves, the present Agent-General for the Colony, was the Minister upon whom the new portfolio was con- ferred. Mr. Reeves had identified himself very consider- ably with labour interests, and had complained bitterly that the industrial classes had been scandalously neg- lected by successive Administrations and Parliaments. Consequently, it was considered that no better selection could have been made, and Mr. Reeves justified the confidence reposed in him by the general mass of the people. Labour enactments followed in rapid succes- sion, and besides this the Labour Department became a real live and useful institution of the State. While Mr. Ballance lived and Mr. Reeves remained at the head of this Labour Department, an immense amount of good was done on behalf of the industrial classes ; but, after Mr. Ballance’s death and Mr. Reeves’ departure for London, abuses soon manifested themselves, and it is therefore much to be regretted that Mr. Reeves did not continue to control the Labour Department, as he would never have permitted the scandalous use that has since been made of it for political purposes. These abuses will be referred to later on. Another great reform introduced by Mr. Ballance was that of the Land Laws. The main principle of his policy was “ the land for the people,” or State owner- ship of the soil, with a perpetual tenancy in the occupier, and the restriction in area of the land which any one individual might hold. Under the Land Act of 1892, most of the Crown lands are now disposed of under the lease in perpetuity system for 999 years, which practi- cally means freehold tenure. The choice of selection is by ballot, and the quantity of land which a selector may hold is so fixed as to encourage the small-farmer class. The amount of land which any one may select (subject to his chance at the ballot) is 640 acres of first-class land or 2,000 acres of second-class land, inclusive of any MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER 313 land he may already hold. There are three tenures provided for by the Act of 1892: (ist) for cash, in which one-fourth of the purchase-money is paid down at once, and the remainder within thirty days : the title does not issue until certain improvements have been made on the land; (2nd) lease with a purchasing clause, at a 5 per cent, rental on the value of the land, the lease being for twenty-five years, with the right to purchase at the original upset price at any time after the first ten years ; and (3rd) lease in perpetuity, at a rental of 4 per cent, on the capital value. The Act and its subsequent amendments also provided for settlement by small-farm associations, village settlements, im- proved farm settlements, and for small grazing runs, and pastoral runs. Small grazing runs are divided into two classes: first-class not exceeding 5,000 acres; second- class not exceeding 20,000 acres. The rental in both cases is not less than 2J per cent, of the capital value per acre, but such capital value cannot be less than five shillings per acre. Small grazing runs are leased for terms of twenty-one years, at a rental of 2 ^ per cent, with right of renewal for other twenty-one years at a rent of 2J per cent on the then value of the land. No holder of a pastoral run, and no holder of freehold or leasehold land of any kind whatever over 1,000 acres in extent, exclusive of the small grazing run applied for, can be a selector under this system, and only one small grazing run can be held by any one person. The lease entitles the holder to the grazing rights and to the cultivation of any part of the run, and to the reservation of 150 acres round his homestead through which no road may be taken, but the runs are subject to the mining laws. Residence is compulsory under certain stipulated conditions, and improvements also, and these runs may be divided, after three years’ compliance with the conditions, amongst the members of the selector’s 314 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW family. Pastoral country is let by auction for various terms not exceeding twenty-one years, and, excepting in extraordinary circumstances, runs must not be of a greater extent than will carry 20,000 sheep or 4,000 head of cattle. No one man can hold more than one run, but in the case of any one holding a run of a carrying capacity less than 10,000 sheep, he may take up additional country up to that limit. One other important feature of Mr. Ballance’s policy of “ land for the people was that of affording relief to a numerous class of colonists who were struggling under the burden of high rates of interest and heavy legal expenses of mortgages. He did not live long enough to see that portion of his programme introduced, but the year after his death, namely, in 1894, Mr. John McKenzie, the Minister of Lands, carried his Advances to Settlers Act. This Act authorised the raising of three million pounds sterling for the purpose of assisting settlers by loans from the Advances to Settlers Board. The Act provided for loans on mortgage, repayable by 73 half-yearly instalments, or at any time, and the amending Act of 1896 provided also for fixed loans on freehold lands only, for any term not exceeding ten years. These fixed loans are repayable at the end of the term for which they are granted ; they must not exceed in amount one-half of the estimated value of the security, and bear interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum. The Board, under the instalment repayable system, has power to advance up to 60 per cent, of the estimated realisable value of freehold securities, and up to 50 per cent, of the lessee’s interest in the case of leasehold securities. Loans must not be for a less amount than £ 2 ^, nor a greater amount than £ 1 , 000 . Instalment loans are repayable (principal and interest) in 36J years by half-yearly instalments. These instalments are calculated at the rate of 6 per MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER 31S cent. So much of each instalment as is required to pay 5 per cent, on the balance of principal owing at the time of payment is charged for interest, and the remainder of the instalment is applied to the reduc- tion of the principal. As every payment made reduces the amount of principal owing, the charge for interest becomes less every six months, and an ever-increasing proportion of the instalment is available for paying off the debt. Up to the 31st March, 1899, the Advances to Settlers Board had authorised 7,050 advances, amounting to ;^‘2, 073,425. The total amount applied for in the 7,050 applications granted in full and par- tially was ;£’2,400,I35. Eight hundred and twenty-eight applicants declined the partial grants offered to them, amounting to ;£'374,28o, so that the net advances authorised at 31st March, 1899, numbered 6,222 and amounted to 1,699, 145. The security for the net authorised advances was valued as .^3,759,399- The number of applications received up to 31st March, 1899, was 9,032, for an aggregate amount of 959,5 28, and 63 per cent, of the total amount applied for was wanted for the purpose of paying off existing mortgages at rates of interest higher than 5 per cent. (“New Zealand Official Year Book, 1899.”) Whether or not it is to be attributed to this particular legislation or to the fall of interest rates in Great Britain and elsewhere, the fact remains that a general decline in the rates of interest in New Zealand set in from the moment the Advances to Settlers Department came into existence, and it is also a fact worth mentioning that the scheme has benefited thousands of settlers and increased the area of settlement. It can therefore be claimed that to Mr. Ballance's land and advances to settlers policy, and the conspicuously able manner in which that policy has been administered by Mr. John McKenzie, the ex-Minister of Lands, 3i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW a great deal of the prosperity which now prevails in New Zealand is due. Mr. McKenzie deserves also to be congratulated upon the success of his compulsory sale of land system, which has been the necessary sequel to Mr. Ballance's policy of ‘‘the land for the people.” Under the legislation carried to the Statute-book by Mr. McKenzie, it is in the power of the Government to compel the owners of big estates to sell these estates to the Government, in order that they may be subdivided for purposes of closer settlement. Many large estates have been pur- chased in this way, and divided amongst thousands of settlers under the various tenures of the Land Act. On large tracts of country which were formerly in the hands of one individual, and which were devoted to pastoral purposes, thousands of prosperous farmers are now settled, and the Cheviot estate is a conspicuous example of the wisdom and splendid results of the compulsory sale of land system. This legislation, coupled with the restrictions as to the area of the various classes of land which any one individual may hold, has been the death- blow to the establishment of a landed aristocracy in New Zealand, and posterity will revere the names of Mr. Ballance and Mr. McKenzie for the origination and administration of reforms which have secured the “ land for the people ” in the broadest and most liberal appli- cation of the term. CHAPTER XXIX SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND I T is now many years since the various Colonies of the Australasian group adopted free, secular, and com- pulsory systems of public education ; and those systems having advanced far beyond their experimental stages, it is opportune to take a retrospective glance at their successes and failures — in the first place so far as the spread of general secular knowledge is concerned, and in the next in so far as the social and moral conditions of the rising generation are involved in the undoubted effects of these systems upon Antipodean communities. But before entering upon a comparison between the results of the old system and the new, it is necessary to give a brief outline of the progress of education in those distant lands before denominationalism received its coup de grace by legislative enactments which transferred the conduct of public instruction from the various religious bodies to the State. In countries which from the earliest periods of colonisation refused to recognise the para- mountcy of any particular church, a healthy rivalry, in educational as in other affairs, was the natural outcome of this freedom of individual and collective effort. The various religious communities vied with each other in their exertions for the moral and intellectual advance- ment of the children. Schools were provided not only in the large centres of population, but in outlying 317 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 3i« districts within the limits of settlement ; and, aided by annual grants from the State, these religious bodies pro- vided a sound course of instruction, not merely in the primary institutions they established, but in the higher paths of worldly teaching, and some of them were enabled to found colleges, which to this day are doing good and effective work. Religious instruction was, of course, a prominent feature of the daily routine at these primary and secondary establishments, and young men and women emerged from them not only well-grounded in those subjects essential to their material fitness in worldly affairs, but solidly impressed with moral precepts without whose possession really good citizenship is impossible. The measure of State assistance, however, was not large enough to permit of these religious bodies throwing open their schools free of charge. They were compelled to levy school fees, and it is just possible that they were a little too exacting in the enforcement of these weekly charges. It is undeniable that, either through the care- lessness of some parents or inability to send their children regularly to school, many children were grow- ing up in absolute ignorance, although not in such numbers as to justify the howl that was raised against the inefficiency of the denominational system. Any of its apparent defects could have been easily remedied by a more liberal display of State aid; but Governments showed no desire to increase their grants, and denomina- tionalism was doomed. It suited the politicians of the time to proclaim loudly against it, and the offer of free education was the bait devised for its destruction. The masses swallowed it readily, and as a consequence the denominational system was ruthlessly destroyed, without even as much as a grateful acknowledgment of the good work it had done, and was capable of doing if it had been assisted to the extent it ought to have been by those who controlled the public funds. SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 319 The interpretation of the ‘‘secular'^ system varies some- what in the different Colonies. In New South Wales, Scripture lessons are given as part of the regular school curriculum ; and facilities are also afforded to clergymen to impart religious instruction within specified school hours to children whose parents belong to their denomina- tion and desire that such instruction should be given. In Victoria, religion has been strictly forbidden to be taught during school hours, and at no time has a State school teacher been permitted to give instruction therein. Experience has shown, however, that State schools conducted upon principles so exclusively non- religious have retrograded in popularity, and that a serious falling-off in the attendance has occurred. Secu- larists attribute this appreciable diminution to the general scheme of retrenchment given effect to in recent years to restore the financial equilibrium in that colony ; but much of it is due to the exclusion of religious teaching, with its consequential effects upon the rising generation, so noticeable also in New Zealand. It was mainly for this reason, and because of the efforts of the Scripture Edu- cation League, that a Royal Commission was recently appointed in Victoria for the purpose of preparing such Scripture lessons as might be acceptable to all denomina- tions. In Tasmania opportunities are offered for giving religious instruction out of school hours ; and in South Australia religious instruction is not allowed to be given except out of ordinary school hours. Practically speak- ing, these “ after school hours stipulations are no concessions at all, because it is most distasteful to children to attend religious instruction either after the schools have closed for the day, or during any other time when their schoolmates may be enjoying their games in the playgrounds or elsewhere. One need not go outside New Zealand to adduce facts and draw comparisons and conclusions from the 320 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW adoption of the new system for the old. It was In 1877 that the Minister for Education (the Hon. C. C. Bowen) propounded his scheme for the complete secularisation of all the public schools in that Colony. Briefly stated, it meant the establishment of primary and secondary schools under the control and management of the State, the absolute withdrawal of all assistance from the denominational schools already in existence, the exclu- sion of religious teaching, the support of the newly- created establishments from the revenues of the country, and the opening of their doors to all children free of charge. The acceptance of these proposals was the death-blow of denominationalism. The religious com- munities were to be starved out by the process of throwing them entirely upon their own resources, and private schools were also to suffer by these measures of extinction. It was, naturally enough, concluded by the enemies of denominationalism that the religious bodies could never keep their schools open and make a charge whilst the State schools were free to all, and the result was only what might have been expected. In most instances, the attendance at the denominational schools almost immediately dwindled down to vanishing point ; they were without funds for the payment of their teachers ; in vain they protested against the unfairness of having themselves to contribute to the support of schools they did not conscientiously believe in, whilst they were denied any participation in the State funds. All protests were futile, and they were reluctantly com- pelled to bow to the inevitable and retire from educa- tional work as a general rule. The Roman Catholics, however, have absolutely refused to come under the State system, and some Anglican, Presbyterian, and other congregations have succeeded till this day in supporting good schools of their own. But, however efficient these Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 321 and other schools may be, they suffer the disability of being denied the privilege of State inspectorship, and as certificates are necessary before any scholars can put themselves forward for examination as candidates for the Civil Service, they have either eventually to go to these schools against their will or surrender their chance of employment in the public service of the Colony. They are quite willing, in fact have time and again requested, that their schools should be inspected regularly by the Inspectors employed by Education Boards, fully convinced that they will be found to comply with all the requirements of the State so far as the standards of secular instruction and general efficiency are concerned, but these requests have been systema- tically refused. Thus it happens that the Roman Catholics, some congregations of Anglicans, Presby- terians, and other religious bodies have schools equal in all secular respects to those entirely supported by the State — schools which they cannot conscientiously avail themselves of — and yet they contribute in equal proportion per head to the general taxation of the Colony, without having a single penny returned to them to assist in the maintenance of their own establishments. Such self-denial and continuous endeavour, because of their scruples of conscience, are worthy of recognition and better treatment. When it is considered that the State expends some- thing like half a million annually — for the current year the amount for general and technical education is £ 462 ^ 64 ^ — out of its consolidated revenue upon education, some idea may be formed of the amount of that large sum which comes out of the pockets of those who, for conscience^ sake, are opposed to the secular system ; and surely, in the name of equity and justice, they have a right to demand that the schools they are so voluntarily and cheerfully supporting should 22 322 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW be included in this distribution of the yearly grant for education purposes. If their schools were not main- tained upon the same level of efficiency as the State schools, there would be some excuse for the exception- ally bad treatment they are subjected to ; but they challenge comparison, and are powerless to demonstrate publicly what is privately known to be the case when the State Inspectors are told by Education Boards that the inspection of denominational schools does not come within the scope of their duties. At the very least, the right of public inspection should not be so steadfastly denied them when they clamour for it and feel perfectly confident of the result. But this denial of public inspection is part and parcel of the plan to secularise the whole growing generation. The education question in New Zealand, as in other Colonies, has degenerated into a great political factor, which obtrudes itself upon all occasions of electioneering warfare in that Colony. When parliamentary candidates present themselves to the electors, the first desideratum is that they are sound upon, the education question, their soundness consisting in the pledge demanded of them that they will oppose any disturbance of the secular system. No evasive answer will do if a candidate hopes to be successful at the poll. Whether he conscientiously believes so or not, the average parliamentary candidate will not sacrifice his chances of £240 a year, with other pickings, by declaring that the case of the denomina- tionalists deserves to be considered in the way of State aid to their schools. He must be an out-and-out secularist, in most of the electorates at all events, if he hopes to be returned, even at the cost of sacrificing his own honest convictions. Time and again the question of State aid crops up ; but, despite the persistency of the Roman Catholic Church and other religious bodies in that direction, tliere is no immediate hope of the system SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 323 being interfered with to that extent. State aid, depen- dent upon the result of public inspection, is what the Roman Catholics limit their claims to ; but, failing to obtain both these concessions, the opponents of the system who belong to other denominations desire at the very least to have Bible-reading permitted in the public schools. But they are at once confronted with the cry that Bible-reading in schools means the insertion of the thin end of the wedge of denominationalism, and this is the bogey which is always advanced to suit political ends. The masses are assured that a return to denomi- nationalism means the destruction of the free system, and the poorer classes do not see — they are generally blind in these matters — that under a reformed system religious teaching does not necessarily imply that they will have to pay for the secular instruction their children receive at schools which may be either public or denominational upon a fair basis of financial assis- tance from the State. In that case the selection of particular schools to send their children to would be in their own hands. It cannot be denied that, under the State school system, the spread of education has been very great, and that the returns of children upon the rolls show an astounding increase when compared with the number receiving education at the period when denominational schools were wiped out of existence. But it must be borne in mind that the population of New Zealand has increased enormously since that time, and therefore a comparison of the returns then and now cannot be advanced as a conclusive argument in favour of the secular system. It must also be remembered that the denominational schools received very niggardly assis- tance from State funds, and there is no real ground for supposing that they would not have made equal head- way if they had been endowed as liberally as the State 324 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW schools have been ever since they came into existence. Therefore, it is unfair to suppose that with adequate endowments the denominational system would not have accomplished quite as much as the secular system has done during the two last decades. The difference between them is, that the one was practically starved out, while the other has been fattened with a liberality which has known no stint, as a reference to the annual appropriations by Parliament will testify. New South Wales affords a striking illustration of the healthy rivalry which was created in that Colony under the mixed system of national and denominational schools which prevailed there until 1866, when the National and Denominational Boards were swept away. At that date there were 259 National schools in New South Wales, with an attendance of 19,641 pupils. The Denominational schools numbered no less than 317, with an attendance of 27,986 pupils; and there were also 604 private schools giving instruction to 15,556 children, boys and girls. In December of that year the National and Denominational Boards were abolished, as the forerunner of what happened in 1882, when aid to denominational schools was withdrawn. But a consideration of the foregoing statistics establishes the fact that a preference existed for denominational and private schools as against those of a purely national character ; and the same preference would again assert itself if denominational and private schools had the opportunity of establishing their claims to State assistance upon the basis of periodical inspection which is now denied them. One must, of course, recognise that it is the duty of the State to see that all its children are educated up to a certain standard ; but there the State’s obligation ceases, after making adequate provision for the highest possible educational achievements by all poorer children SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 325 of conspicuous ability. New Zealand goes several steps in this direction, but as a rule its scholarships are not of sufficient value to enable the children of poorer parents to take advantage of them. Besides, it generally happens that these children have to be withdrawn from school in order to assist in the maintenance of the family; whereas the children of people in good positions are enabled to advance from the primary to the secon- dary schools and onward to their University course. Despite these obvious inequalities, the masses have it constantly dinned into their ears that the free and secular system of education in New Zealand is entirely for their own benefit, and that a return to denomi- nationalism would deprive them of advantages specially conferred upon themselves. It is by this method of political trickery that the votes of the masses are recorded for the maintenance of a system which only requires a little reflection to show that the lion's share of advantages are reaped by people in the higher positions of life. And, apart altogether from secular teaching, it must be admitted that the necessity for religious instruction is more apparent in the case of the children of the poor than of the rich. Obviously, from their very surroundings, the former incur greater risks from its exclusion, and hence it is that in all schools it should at least be optional with those attending them. Although the efforts of New Zealand denominational- ists have hitherto been unavailing, they have no reason to be discouraged in their agitation against the godless system which has prevailed there for more than twenty years. It is satisfactory to think that their ranks are gradually swelling, and that a greater number of children than formerly are being attracted to their schools and private institutions because of the growing objections to a purely secular system. Without for one moment desiring to pose as a purist or moralist, my 326 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW observation of the working of that system convinces me that the future well-being of the Colony demands a change, and that the exclusion of religious teaching has been a mistake in the past. No observant person can fail to be struck with the utter want of reverence on the part of very many of the children attending these State schools, their general lack of good manners and of respect for their seniors and superiors. Let any one go in the vicinity of a State School at times when the children are dismissed, especially in the larger cities and towns, and his ears will be assailed by the coarsest language and profanity from the lips of children of the earliest school age upwards. What a difference he will observe in the demeanour and language of those children who, fortunately for themselves, are the regular attendants of denominational establishments ! The contrast is greater than can be conceived by those who have not had the opportunity of witnessing for them- selves this deplorable outcome of the purely secular system in State schools. Under these circumstances, how is it possible for a generation to grow up with those loftier ideals which will enable them to lead good and honourable lives, and to be exemplary in all their dealings and intercourse with their fellow-men? No purely secular system of State education will conduce to this, and it is gratifying to think that so many people in New Zealand are beginning to find that out. My contention is that any system is imperfect which does not provide for the moral as well as the material instruction of the young. For all the 3^ears it has been in existence the State school system of New Zealand has ignored this obligation, and the recommendations of Anglican Synods and Presbyterian Assemblies have been systematically unheeded. The ministers of these two great branches of the Christian Church are only too willing to visit the public schools, at any times that may SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 327 be considered most convenient, to impart religious instruc- tion to their own children, but their offers have been re- fused. Bible-reading even, without the least approach to dogmatic teaching, has been resisted under the flimsy pretext that the tendency of this innovation would be to place free education in jeopardy. In this manner the religious bodies are kept outside the threshold of all public schools, and at the same time are denied any participation in the enormous amount which is annually applied to educational purposes, and to which they contribute under the taxation which is imposed upon all alike. If the majority insists upon the maintenance of State schools, surely the reading of portions of the Holy Scriptures from day to day will not make them less free than they now are ; and, in the absence of that concession, surely some respect should be shown for the conscientious scruples of the minority. They should receive their fair proportion of the public funds, that they may be enabled to establish and maintain schools in accordance with their own conceptions of what is right and proper for the spiritual and material wel- fare of the children who attend them. These denomi- national schools, sufficiently subsidised, may be as free as any others in the land, and regular inspection will ensure the required standard of efficiency which entitles them to financial assistance from the State. It may be argued that this recognition of the claims advanced by the denominationalists might have the effect of encouraging the growth of religious animosities amongst the people of the Colony. The best and com- pletest answer to that bogey is that no such animosity existed during all those years when denominationalism with regard to education was in full swing in New Zealand, and none need therefore be apprehended from a return to that system. The truth is that in the Colonies religious toleration prevails to an extent that 328 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW is not to be observed in some older countries ; each Church stands upon its own merits, all of them working without friction towards the same end, and people are none the less neighbourly, helpful, or charitable in disposition because they do not worship in the same edifice. CHAPTER XXX NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS PAST AND PRESENT — ‘‘SPOILS TO THE VICTORS” — A REIGN OF TERROR HE first Ministry under a system of responsible X Government was appointed on the i8th of April, 1856, and it was then that the Parliamentary system was really introduced into New Zealand. The great mistake which was made in the Constitution was that it did not provide for an elective Upper House. The Legislative Council was created as a nominated body, whose members were summoned to it from time to time by the Governor, or practically by the Government of the day. Its establishment upon this basis of life membership necessarily imparted to it a conservative composition, and when the other branch of the Legisla- ture was conservative also there was little fear of a serious conflict between them — none absolutely where the legislation was acceptable to both, as it generally was. But occasions happened, nevertheless, when differences did arise between the two Houses upon other measures, and if they experienced any difficulty in getting their bills through the Legislative Council, either because they were thought to be hasty and ill-considered legislation or for any other reason, then all the Government had to do was to summon a fresh batch 329 330 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW of their particular friends and supporters to the Upper House, and by this means convert a minority into a majority. And so the end was achieved without the electors having a say in the matter one way or another. This is why a nominated Upper House is objection- able. It places far too much power in the hands of a Government, and the whole Parliament may become a mere machine to give legislative sanction to the measures that are submitted to it. It is true that, when a popular and liberal Lower House has obstacles thrown in its way by a Council which contains a Conservative majority, the Government which is its mouthpiece can, by the same process of fresh nominations, carry its measures through ; but at the same time it confers an amount of power upon the Government which it is very undesirable it should possess. After the Conservatives were turned out of office as the result of the elections of 1890, the Liberal Party in New Zealand had a splendid opportunity of placing the Legislative Council upon an elective basis. Not only did they neglect to do this, but a far more objectionable system was introduced. The Constitution was amended in a way which has since brought the Legislative Council into great and well-deserved discredit. Under the amending Act, existing members of that body were allowed to retain their membership for life, but all fresh appointments were to be only for seven years, members upon the expiration of this term being eligible for re-appointment. This latter provision was a great mistake. It not only preserved to the Govern- ment their control over the Upper House by the process of “ swamping,” but threw the door wide open to the political corruption which has ensued with regard to the composition of the Legislative Council. For years past, ever since 1893, it has become nothing more nor less than NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 331 the dumping ground of political touts of the right colour, and people have been summoned to it in the most bare- faced manner who have stood as Government candidates for the House of Representatives and been defeated by candidates standing in Opposition interests. One after another these people, rejected at the polls, have been called by the Government to the Upper House, and thus the will of the electors has been disregarded. When the Government appoints its particular friends to seats in this Council for a term of seven years, of course they must be obedient to the Government, or they will have no chance of re-appointment at the expiration of the term. The will and behests of the Government must be obeyed, or out they go, and that is the degrading position to which the Legislative Council of New Zealand has been reduced. Under a system such as this, where dis- obedience can be punished by a refusal to renew Councillors’ appointments, it can easily be seen the corruption that is possible, and no stretch of imagination is required to realise the shocking abuses which the system has been productive of during the past seven or eight years. They have been too glaring to escape the observation of visitors to the Colony, not to speak of those who have been so utterly disgusted as to proclaim loudly for the abolition of the Upper House. Under existing conditions it is absolutely under the dictation of the Government, and is no check whatever upon any legislation which may be passed by the other branch of the Legislature. The Government, by the process already pointed out, has a majority there, and woe to any of those holding seven-year appointments who dare to vote against the Ministry. Out they go as soon as their term expires. Occasionally, a member of the Council, who owes his seat to the Government, will have spunk and manliness enough to assert his freedom of action and vote against them ; in that event the Council 332 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Chamber sees the last of him when his seven years’ term is up. But in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, these seven-year-term gentry have a keen eye to re-appoint- ment, a salary of ;^'i 50 a year, a free railway pass over the railways and other privileges, and last but not least the prefix of the word Honourable ” to their names so long as they are members of the Council. These con- siderations ensure obedience to Governmental dictation, and their ‘‘ loyalty,” as it is misnamed, is duly rewarded when the question of their reappointment crops up. There are still several of the old life-members left, but their number is diminishing year by year ; and unless the system is changed, as it ought to be, and the Council made elective, the time will soon come when the Government will be able to control every vote in the Legislative Council. They will be all seven-year-term men, ready to do what they are told by a Government which abuses its powers so shamelessly and holds a rod continually over their heads to remind them of the penalty of disobedience to its commands. And yet they have the impudence to proclaim themselves democrats, when in truth they are greater autocrats than Kaiser William or the Czar of Russia, in that little Colony which they have managed to get so completely under the lash of personal domination and control. What, then, is to be said of the Lower House under this autocratic regime? No possible command of invective could sufficiently describe the state of degra- dation to which it has fallen. For a long series of years it was New Zealand’s proud boast that it possessed the finest Legislature in the South Seas. It had able men within its walls in those days — men whose eloquence would have shone lustre on any representative assembly in the world ; men who were statesmen in every sense of the word, big-brained, educated men whose utterances it was always a pleasure to listen to. They are all out of NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 333 it now. You search vainly for men like Weld, Stafford, Domett, Crosbie Ward, Fitzgerald, Fox, Featherston, Fitzherbert, Richmond, Gisborne, Sewell, Vogel, Atkin- son, Grey, Macandrew, Ballance, Stout, Bell, Sheehan, Carleton, Reacher Wood and many others whose recorded speeches show the stamp of men they were. And what an array of Speakers presided over both Houses ! — Sir Charles Clifford, Sir David Munro, Major Richardson, Sir Francis Dillon Bell, Sir Harry Atkinson, and Sir William Fitzherbert. With what dignity they filled the high office to which they were all called in turn ! One can imagine what any one of these men would have done if any Government had dared, as it never did, to ride roughshod through standing orders or to encroach upon the privileges and prerogatives of Parliament. A Government which attempted to do anything of this kind would have been brought to book pretty sharply and reminded that Parliament was supreme, and that the Government, as its servants and the servants of the people, must not dare to constitute themselves the dictators of Parliament and the custodians of its privileges and rights. To pursue this branch of the subject further would be absolutely painful to the author, and therefore he leaves it at this point. But as to the House itself, what has it come to? With comparatively few exceptions, it is a collection of time-serving, self-seeking, uneducated, and thick-skinned mediocrities. Its decadence began in 1890; but ever since the lamented death of the late Mr. Ballance, who was a real statesman and a true, upright, and honest democrat, its rush downwards has been torrential. The plain truth of the matter is that public and political life has become so degraded in New Zealand that few men of respectability and good social position can now be induced to present themselves as candidates. To be a member of the New Zealand Parliament is no longer 334 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW accounted an honour, and men of integrity and principle, as a rule, decline to wade through the sea of slush that lies between them and the portals of Parliament House. The unclean thing has no attraction for them, and the associations of membership are far from inviting to men of self-respect and honesty and independence of pur- pose. That is why the Opposition and Left Wing ranks are so thin to-day ; that is why the great Liberal Party,” as it is nicknamed in derision with particularly strong emphasis on the ‘‘ great,” finds itself so much in the ascendency ; that, too, is why the late Mr. Ballance’s death was what it was so truly described at the time to be — a national calamity. New Zealand has felt his loss ever since. Had he lived, this deplorable decadence of its Parliament could never have ensued with such a man as he was at the head of affairs. As things have un- fortunately happened, lower it cannot get. It has reached that stage of degradation when a reaction, sure and swift, must soon set in ; and, for the sake of New Zealand's credit, let us hope that its Parliament will shortly be restored to something like the position it enjoyed before the reign of personal government was allowed to crush the spirit of manly independence out of it, and to impose upon the people themselves with a degree of autocratic overbearance and assurance that has made abject cravens and political cowards of the great bulk of them. Just imagine how anything of the kind can be possible in any young country where free institutions are supposed to exist! But the case of New Zealand demonstrates that it is possible, because there it is. It is no fiincy of the author's ; he knows it is there. He has seen it in full swing since 1893, and he knows the reign of terror that exists throughout the length and breadth of the land at this moment. How has it been brought about ? is the question that will naturally be asked. In the first place, it has resulted NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 335 from the adoption of President Jackson’s policy of “ spoils to the victors,” of punishments and rewards, of espionage which permeates through every branch of the public service, and has demoralised and disorganised the Civil Service to an extent which has interfered seriously with its efficiency. There are, in the Civil Service of New Zealand, numbers of civil servants as high-minded, honourable, conscientious in the per- formance of their duties, and as capable and efficient as are to be found in any Civil Service in any part of the world ; but there are in it also some crawling and cringing creatures who are not over-scrupulous in their methods to secure promotion, and, as a matter of fact, promotions have been made over the heads of older and more efficient officers, who bask not in the sunshine of political favour and preference. Another way in which the Civil Service has been de- moralised has been the introduction of a system by which outsiders, through political influence, are intro- duced into the service by methods which remove all obstacles interposed by the Civil Service regulations. These are avoided by what are called “ expert ” appointments ; and it often happens that a youth, who says he can write shorthand or mechanically manipulate a typewriter, is provided with an appoint- ment as an “expert,” no less. One can safely wager that he is the son or, if it be a female, the daughter or some relative or friend of a member of Parlia- ment ; or the son, daughter, niece, nephew, relative, or friend of some political tout of the “ great ” Liberal party, who makes himself busy at election times. Spies abound everywhere, inside the Civil Service and out of it, and no man is safe who talks politics in a way which shows that he is not of the right colour. If he does, he places his bread and butter in jeopardy, and never knows the moment that punish- 33 ^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW ment may come upon him. At afternoon teas it is positively dangerous for any woman, whose husband is in the New Zealand Civil Service, to let fall an expres- sion that can be construed into a declaration of hostility to the powers that be. Mrs. Somebody-else is certain to be there, who will carry the tittle-tattle somewhere else, and the husband wonders why he has not obtained his well-earned promotion, if indeed some excuse is not found for dispensing with his services altogether. He may count himself lucky if he escapes with merely being kept where he is without advancing another step up the ladder. The whole system is such that the Civil servant has not a soul to call his own, no security of position, is afraid to open his mouth upon subjects out- side his daily official routine, and the consequence is that the Civil servant is robbed of his manhood and exists under a reign of terror that is truly appalling to contemplate. In fact, the Civil Service of New Zealand has become so demoralised and disorganised that the opportunity is anxiously watched for to get out of it. This accounts for so many of its best men leaving it and transferring their services to Western Australia and else- where, or striking out in other avocations of life because the Civil Service has become so utterly distasteful to them and destructive of their true manhood. The time was when permanent under-secretaries and other heads of departments were allowed to select those whom they considered to be the most efficient officers for particular positions, and their recommendations as to advances of salaries and promotions were given effect to without question. All that is altered now, and not only arc under-secretaries and other permanent heads deprived of these opportunities to do what they think is in the best interests of the public service, but they are forced to employ most incompetent people be- cause they are ordered to find work for political proti^ges^ NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 337 and they must obey this peremptory mandate or take the consequences of non-compliance with what is nothing more nor less than a “ command/' And what risks the unfortunate Civil servant runs if he is ‘‘ spotted " in the street conversing with the leader of the Opposition or any other member on that side of the House ; or, worse still, with any member of that gallant little band known as the Left Wing, who are constantly engaged in the battle of fearless criticism in the hope of restoring purity of administration and a pure democracy. He is no longer of the right colour and becomes a marked man. And all this goes on, and has gone on for years now, in a country which is supposed to be independent and free, and where people are supposed — how erroneous the supposition is ! — to breathe the untainted atmosphere of political freedom and to enjoy the full rights of citizen- ship. The reign of terror which prevails there makes this an impossibility, and it is as well the people of Great Britain should know it. No doubt they will be surprised at the revelation that in what is generally sup- posed to be a free, enlightened, and self-governing Colony, freedom of thought and speech has been more than muzzled ; it has been crushed absolutely, and is non- existent. And yet that species of political blasphemy is constantly indulged in which misapplies the word democracy to autocratic conditions so completely at variance with what could possibly exist in any com- munity where the principles of pure democracy are faithfully observed and given effect to. Democracy, indeed ! Let its name not be sullied by connecting it with the things that have been going on in New Zealand since Mr. Ballance's death. Democracy has no connection with them. It is not only in the ranks of those who are in Government employment that this reign of terror pre- vails. Doctors, lawyers, and other public men have 23 338 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW been affected by the contagion, and have been duly impressed with the “ indiscretion — what a constant reproach it must be to their inmost minds ! — of saying fearlessly what they feel and think. Sometimes they are to be seen at social laudatory functions to the powers that be, slinking timidly out of one room into another, as though their consciences and inner manhood told them they had no right to be there, giving involuntary countenance to politically worked-up manifestations, which they detest in their hearts. But it would not ‘‘ pay to absent themselves ; and so the whole com- munity has been blighted by this reign of terror, by this policy of “spoils to the victors, of punishments and rewards,” until feelings of personal interest have domi- nated all classes, sapped their manliness, and made them what they are — either arrant hypocrites or dumb, unresisting spectators of a system which should be fear- lessly condemned by every honest man who has the real interests of a pure and untarnished democracy at heart. If South Africa has been aptly termed a land of lies, with equal appropriateness New Zealand can be described politically as a land of cravens. Their spirit- less toleration of abuses, constitutional and otherwise, has no parallel even in autocratic Russia. CHAPTER XXXI MORE REMARKS UPON PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE IN NEW ZEALAND HE author would not fulfil his task, disagreeable X to him as it is, if he did not throw some additional light upon the subject of parliamentary decadence referred to in the previous chapter, in order that his readers may thoroughly realise the pass to which parliamentary government in New Zealand has been reduced. He has already pointed out the period at which this decadence began and the causes to which it can be ascribed. He has also drawn attention to the system of nomination to the Upper House under which the Government has secured to itself an enormous amount of power and patronage altogether repugnant to the principles of democracy and the ideas of govern- ment of the people, by the people, and for the people. He has drawn the picture of that subservient Chamber as it now exists ; and he has also shown, with regard to the House of Representatives, why it is that so comparatively few men of standing and character will consent to present themselves before constituencies for election. He will now continue his sketch of the Lower House, and has no doubt it will both surprise and interest many readers in Great Britain. Upon one thing they may positively rely — that, astounding as the 340 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW portrayal may appear, it is presented without the least exaggeration of the facts. It is no product of the imagination. He has seen it and felt ashamed of a body which has become an object of public derision and scorn, and if any one doubts the contemptible position it has got itself into, let him peruse the files of New Zealand newspapers at and immediately after the end of last year’s session ; let him go through the files of these newspapers throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, and he will see the howl of indignation which was raised in their editorial and correspondence columns over what they called ‘‘The £40 steal from the Treasury”; in other words, the voting to themselves of a sessional allowance of £40 in addition to the salary of ^240 a year which each of them draws by monthly instalments of £20. But the author must not anticipate by any digression here upon a subject which he intends to deal with later on. He merely mentions the circumstance to direct the reader’s attention to sources of information which give a clear indication of what most of the members of the New Zealand House of Representatives are capable of doing — for themselves ! Outside the Opposition and Left Wing ranks, with a few other exceptions, the average member of the New Zealand Parliament is a prince of cadgers. He is a past-master in the art of getting as much as he can “on the never,” which is the expressive slang of the Colonies to indicate that he never parts with anything for what he gets — if he can possibly help it. He receives a salary of £240 a year, has a free railway pass which enables him to travel through every part of the Colony all the year round, and by means of a complimentary ticket this deadhead can go backwards and forwards on the Wellington and Manawatu Company’s line — the only private company’s PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 341 line open in New Zealand — while Parliament is in session, which is generally from three to four months in the year. He is allowed his expenses to and from Wellington to attend the session ; in addition to this, the Union Steamship Company allows him to travel to and fro on its steamers at half fares at any time during the sitting of Parliament, and a like privilege is allowed his wife. Now, one would suppose that a salary of £240 a year and the other privileges which have been enumerated would satisfy him, because they are vastly in excess of what the average member of Parliament is worth. But no ; his maw is too rapacious to be satisfied. He must have more still ; so at the commencement of last year’s session a con- siderable number of them actually had the audacity to suggest that a round-robin should be presented to the Government to the effect that all members’ wives and unmarried sons and daughters should be allowed to travel free of charge upon all Government railways and steamers carrying mails. There were other members of Parliament, to their credit be it recorded, who were roused to indignation by this monstrous proposal, and therefore it came to nothing ; but the mere suggestion of such a thing shows the lengths to which the average member on a particular side of the House is capable of going to secure advantages for himself at the public expense. They have not yet gone so far as to propose that they should be supplied with liquid and other refreshments and Havannas to smoke at the Parliamen- tary Bellamy’s ; but it has often happened that scores have been run up at that establishment which have never been wiped off the slate, and the House Com- mittee has been driven to the necessity of placing these scores in the list of bad debts, and of directing Mr. Letham, the Custodian of Parliamentary Buildings, to insist upon accounts being paid weekly. 342 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW The member of Parliament has more privileges still. He has a magnificent library placed at his disposal, and boxes of books are mailed to him periodically during the recess ; he can also secure the loan of books for his friends. He lolls upon sumptuously upholstered benches and capacious armchairs which he has never before in his life been accustomed to ; he can use stationery without stint, get letters and telegrams franked through the post, and has the unrestricted run of hot and cold baths at the public cost. Free billiards have not yet come within his grasp — they may some day ; but to compensate him for this deprivation he has tennis lawns, balls and rackets placed at his disposal. He has public-paid messengers to run errands for him, and altogether finds himself in clover pastures which in his wildest dreams he never could have hoped to enter but for the parliamentary decadence which has come about. Then he has pleasure excursions upon Govern- ment steamers here, there, and everywhere to look forward to, with party - organised banquets, smoke concerts, and other sources of jollification. Still he wants more, and gets it. A Royal Commission is appointed — New Zealand is the most fruitful country in the world of Royal Commissions, which generally end in smoke — and the member of “ the great Liberal party ’’ finds himself accommodated with a seat upon it at a pound a day and free travel all round the compass. It is an enjoyable pleasure-trip for him, and the pound a day makes a nice little addition to his salary of ^240 a year. In a House of which this average member of Parlia- ment is a fair sample of the majority, what are the tone and character of the debates? Need the question be asked? But, as it has been put, here is the answer to it. Any one who takes the trouble to peruse Hansard Debates before and since this Parliamentary decadence PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 343 set in will soon perceive the vast difference between the two periods. Formerly, the proceedings of the House were dignified, and the speeches of its members, in most instances, clear, argumentative, and frequently eloquent. What are they now ? Occasionally a good speech is made which is well worth listening to, but it does not come from the benches on which the average represen- tative type of member sits. The ear of the listener is generally assailed by torrents of flatulent declamation and inane drivel, full of atrocious English in which the eighth letter of the alphabet gets roughly handled. And the most curious point of all is, that the most uneducated and rough-spoken are generally those who bore ” the House with their balderdash. Some thick- skinned and soi-disant labour leader, with more im- pudence than brains, will undertake to lecture the opposite side with all the vehement stump oratory at his command, and will make himself ridiculous by a sing-song dissertation upon social and political problems when it is quite evident that he has not the remotest acquaintance with the most elementary treatise upon social and political economy. Some other equally illiterate member will inflict an hour’s speech, if the House is debating the Address in reply or discussing a no-confidence motion, brimful of noisy platitudes, in- coherency, and unintelligibleness. And so the afternoons and evenings succeed each other, with an almost con- tinuous stream of talk, which serves only to exhibit the ignorance, incapacity, and servility of the average member of the New Zealand Parliament. How a man like John Burns would despise such men as these, who have the presumption to call themselves democrats ! Taking down this deluge of twaddle is a positive degradation of Pitman’s winged art, as it is called by shorthand enthusiasts, but it must be done ; these vapid utterances must be reported verbatim in the first person. 344 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW because Parliament maintains an official Hansard to do the work at a cost of something like £ 6,000 a year. Of course, the reporters turn out the speeches in readable English, but the illiterate member is not satisfied with that. He must be supplied with the type-written copy of his speech, and, with the assistance of some educated friend or brother member, he sets to making what he calls “corrections,” introducing new matter and excising other portions until the original becomes another speech altogether. This privilege to make corrections is shamefully abused, and that is why Hansard is said by the outside public to contain, not what members said, but what they intended to say. The time limit has been tried, and is now in force in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Mem- bers are allowed to speak for an hour each upon the Address in Reply and in the Budget discussion — they cannot be dignified by the word debates — and for half an hour when speaking on a Bill ; four turns of ten minutes each upon any question in Committee, and so on. Ministers are allowed an hour in moving the second reading of a Bill and in replying. There is no closure. The time limit was introduced in the hope that it would shorten discussion and prevent stone- walling tactics, but it has failed in both particulars. It has increased the flood of talk, because everybody speaks now ; and it will be seen that there is far more discussion than when the House, without the time limit regulations, consisted of ninety-five members. Now it consists of seventy-four members, and with the time limit in operation it has been proved that in the same number of months Hansard volumes contain one- third more printed matter than they used to do in the same type when the House consisted of ninety-five members and the time limit was not thought of. Therefore, this interference with free speech in Parlia- PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 345 ment has not been attended with successful results either in curtailing the quantity of printed matter or in shortening the duration of a Session. Its results have been in quite the opposite direction. It will doubtless be asked how it comes about that the party in power have been able to retain office so long, and how it is they came back from the elections of December, 1899, with such a large majority? That can easily be explained. At the bedrock of that explanation lies the fact that with them it has been admittedly all along a policy of “ spoils to the victors.” As a result of that policy came the reign of terror, and there are several other factors which have conduced to the general result. First of all, the system of co- operative works could be manipulated for political purposes, simply by sending large numbers of un- employed to swell the rolls in electorates where Government candidates were weak. Then another great factor was the Old Age Pensions Act, which it was declared the Opposition would repeal if it got into power, although there was no foundation for the statement. Then, again, the Government party was well organised, whilst there was no attempt at organisa- tion on the other side, and Captain Russell, the Opposition leader, was stricken down with illness during the whole of the election campaign. Leagues of various kinds, consisting mostly of political touts and billet-seekers, were hard at work for the Govern- ment, registering the names of those who would not take the trouble to go to the registrar’s office them- selves, and keeping off others who happened to let slip to these house-to-house canvassers the information that they were opposed to the Government. Added to all these causes, the Government and their supporters had facilities which the Opposition had not for getting about the country here, there, and everywhere, and 34 ^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW delivering electioneering addresses. Besides, the wives and daughters of some Ministers were sent into Opposi- tion and Left Wing strongholds — Palmerston North, for example — to organise and canvass, though in Mr. Pirani^s case so unsuccessfully, against candidates opposed to the Ministry. Special trains and steamers were availed of all through the campaign, at the country’s expense. The reason has already been given why the best class of men refuse, as a rule, to come forward as Parliamentary candidates nowadays ; there- fore there was a limited choice of candidates. Another thing favoured the chances of the Ministry. The country was in a state of prosperity, and times had been prosperous for some years : not that the Govern- ment had been instrumental in any way in bringing that about. That prosperity sprang from other causes in which they had no hand : good seasons, good crops, satisfactory wool clips, expansion of the frozen meat trade, gold-dredging in Central Otago, and fair prices generally for the country’s products. It is the experi- ence of all countries that at times when things are prosperous there is a disposition to let matters remain as they are. It is in times of adversity that people get stirred up politically and are more alert, not when they are doing well, as was the case in New Zealand at the elections of 1899. And last, but by no means least, it must be remembered that Colonial politics means to a great extent roads and bridges. For years the repre- sentatives of some constituencies had been vainly struggling to secure for these electorates their fair proportion of the public expenditure. These electo- rates were starved because their representatives were on the wrong side of the House, until at last the electors sickened of the starving process, and deter- mined, very much against the grain, to put in other members who could accomplish more for them in the PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 347 shape of public expenditure in their districts. Now, let the reader total up all these contributory factors in the Parliamentary campaign of December, 1899, and he will at once get the explanation of how it was the present obedient and subservient majority finds itself at the back of the Government. It is a remarkable coincidence that in New Zealand a Government which calls itself Liberal and democratic, without the least claim to the distinction, is supported by the liquor party, at the same time that an ultra- Tory Administration in England receives support from what arrogantly calls itself “ the trade,” whatever that may mean. They are both supported by the party of liquor — by brewers, wine and spirit merchants, hotel and tavern keepers. New Zealand has unfortunately come under that degrading influence as Great Britain has also done, and that is one very potential reason why the Colony should endeavour to extricate itself from this baneful infliction of liquor domination in its political affairs. Only a few months ago a Christ- church brewer was “ called ” to the Legislative Council of New Zealand. There are signs in New Zealand of a reaction setting in. The public seem to be at last awakening from their lethargy and want of public spirit in political affairs. The “ Forty-pound steal from the Treasury,” so univer- sally condemned by the Press, has opened their eyes a little wider, and by and by they will begin wondering why they have allowed so many glaring abuses to go on unchecked. This last shameful instance of legislators helping themselves to the people’s money by voting £40 as a ‘‘ sessional allowance ” or “ honorarium ” — not by a straightforward amendment of the Payment of Members Act, but by the insertion of certain words in the Public Revenues Act — has aroused public indigna- tion, and that is a hopeful sign. It was a Session of 348 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW increases. The Governor's salary was increased by ;^2,5oo ; the Premier’s was raised from iJ*i,oco to ;£'i,6oo — a big jump — that of the Minister of Railways from £Soo to ^1,300 — another big jump — and the salaries of all the other Ministers from .£’800 to ^1,000. In addition to these salaries they have always been receiving ^200 a year as House allowance, and 30s. a day and other Ministerial allowances when absent from Wellington, as they very frequently are for considerable intervals. The Speaker’s salary was raised also, so was the Chairman of Committees’. It was a Session of all-round rises, and if members voted for these increases, why should they not be considered also ? Why not ? ” they said to themselves, and accordingly the forty pounds apiece was voted. It is fair to say, however, that some members were not in the House at the time the thing was passed, and they and others declined to accept the money. But a big lot of them got it and stuck to it. These were of the “ on the never ” stamp of humanity — those to whom Number One is the guiding star of their lives and actions. One of the leading newspapers plainly told them that their ;^40 steal was an act which might be expected from dele- gates to Tammany Hall.” And so it was. Since the decline of Parliament and the very marked inferiority of its personnel which has resulted from the degradation of public and political life in New Zealand, a practice has sprung up which cannot be too strongly reprobated by every man and woman in the community who likes fair play and manliness and detests both moral and physical cowardice and falsehood on the part of those who sit in Parliament, and set people wondering, in the same way as with regard to the fly in amber, how they got there. Without a shred of character left, and with antecedents that will not bear inquiring into, some of these despicable creatures, PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 349 shielding themselves behind the cowardly hedge of parliamentary privilege, are in the habit of making personal attacks upon people of good reputation and standing outside the House, who have no opportunity of defending themselves, and the lying statements of these members are published to the world, and bound up in the official Debates, without any redress at law for the punishment of the authors of the vilest and most foundationless slanders and libels upon decent, upright, and honest citizens. These statements are privileged by a law which is a disgrace to the statute-book of any country, and ought to be repealed. What sense of justice and fair play is there in a law which specially protects members of Parliament when they attempt to damage the characters of honest people, under this cowardly shelter of Parliamentary privilege, by statements which are absolutely devoid of truth ? If the practice goes on much longer in New Zealand, it will surprise nobody to find some day that a member has been soundly and most deservedly horsewhipped, or an ounce of lead sent through his head as the reward of his vindictiveness and cowardice. And the popular verdict will be, that it served him right. Although fisticuffs have never yet been resorted to in the Chamber itself, some very discreditable scenes have been enacted there from time to time, amongst the most painful being one which occurred between the Speaker and the late Sir Julius Vogel on Novem- ber IS, 1887. Many other scenes have taken place at intervals; but the most disgraceful of them all was the one which happened only a couple of sessions ago, when the lights had to be lowered in order that a member in a helpless state of drunkenness might be carried out and the process of his removal screened as much as possible from the public in the galleries. But if physical conflicts have not occurred between 350 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW members in the Chamber itself, in Bellamy’s and in the lobbies personal encounters have occasionally happened, with blackened eyes and bleeding noses as the consequence, to those most conspicuous in the fray, and much commotion and wrangling amongst their respective sympathisers. O tempora ! O snores ! CHAPTER XXXII OLD AGE PENSIONS I T was in 1898 that an Act was passed to provide old age pensions in New Zealand. Under the provisions of that Act the following conditions must be complied with before any pension is granted. In the first place he or she must be sixty-five years of age, and must be residing in the Colony when the claim to the pension is established. Secondly, the applicant must have resided in the Colony continuously for not less than twenty-five years immediately preceding, provided that continuous residence in the Colony shall not be deemed to have been interrupted by occasional absences there- from unless the total period of all such absence exceeds two years, nor in the case of a seaman by absence there- from while serving on board a vessel registered in and trading to and from the Colony, if he establishes the fact that during such absence his family or home was in the Colony ; and also that during the twelve years immediately preceding such date he has not been imprisoned for four months, or on four occasions, for any offence punishable by imprisonment for twelve months or upwards, and dishonouring him in the public estimation ; and also that during the period of twenty- five years immediately preceding such date he has not been imprisoned for a term of five years, with or 351 352 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW without hard labour, for any offence dishonouring him in the public estimation ; and also that the claimant has not at any time for a period of six months or upwards, if a husband, deserted his wife, or without just cause failed to provide her with adequate means of maintenance, or neglected to main- tain such of his children as were under the age of fourteen years ; or, if a wife, deserted her husband or such of her children as were under that age. It is provided that, if the pension certificate is issued, the petitioner’s rights thereunder shall not be affected by any disqualification unless the fact of such disqualifi- cation is established at any time to the satisfaction of a stipendiary magistrate ; and also that he is of good moral character and is, and has for five years imme- diately preceding such date, been leading a sober and reputable life ; also that his yearly income does not amount to £^2 or upwards, that the net capital value of his accumulated property does not amount to £2^0 or upwards ; that he has not directly or indirectly deprived himself of property or income in order to qualify for a pension. Aboriginal natives of New Zealand are eligible for pensions, but not aliens, Chinese or other Asiatics, whether naturalised or not. Naturalised subjects are eligible where they have been naturalised for the period of five years next preceding the date on which they establish their pension claims. The full pension is ;^i8 a year, payable in twelve monthly instalments ; but for each ;^i of income above Z^34, also for each Z^i5 of accumulated property above £^o, £\ is deducted from the amount of the pension. The total number of pensions granted up to March 31, 1899, was 7,487, representing a yearly pay- ment of 28,082, the average pensions being about £\y 2s. The number of pensions granted since that OLD AGE PENSIONS obo time has considerably increased, and the amount now required is ;^200,000. (Budget 1900, p. 14.) It will be seen that under the New Zealand system a man or woman must have attained the age of sixty-five years before they can establish a claim to a pension of 6s. I id. a week, and that one of other numerous con- ditions is that before an applicant can be successful in establishing his or her claim to a pension, it must be shown that they have resided in the Colony for twenty- five years immediately preceding the application, with an allowance for occasional absences unless they exceed two years. The money required for these old-age pensions is taken out of the consolidated revenue of the General Government without any contribution by the pensioners. In other words, if there was a deficit — and many a time there have been deficits in New Zealand, but not of late years — the amount required for old-age pensions would have to be provided by means of deficiency bills, the diversion of revenue from other objects of expendi- ture, direct loan for the purpose, or further taxation. It will be seen, therefore, that old-age pensions in New Zealand rest upon no solid or sure foundation, because there is no knowing when a period of depression may come about, or how long the Colony will be able to bear the annually-increasing demand upon its revenues for these pensions. Therefore no political economist will be found to admit that the scheme is a financially sound one, or is deserving of being called a scheme at all. The Treasurer simply says, “ I have a surplus ; I will take so much of it for old-age pensions,” and he takes it, just as he would take any other number of thousands to do anything else with. But if there were no surplus, and the revenue was not sufficient to pay interest upon the enormous public debt and to carry on the necessary services of Government, what then ? 24 354 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Sir Harry Atkinson had all these contingencies in his mind when he suggested a system of compulsory life insurance to provide for people in their old age. It is obviously right and proper that old age should be pro- vided for in some way or other, and Sir Harry Atkin- son’s idea was that this could best be done by a system of universal contribution, under which, at the qualifying age, any man or woman in the community could claim a pension as a right, not as a charity contribution from the State. That is what a New Zealand old-age pension now is, and the system at work there is not a solution of the problem ; it is out-door relief pure and simple, with the high-sounding title of old-age pensions applied to it. It is therefore absurd to claim that New Zealand has shown the whole world how to deal with its aged poor, and given it an object lesson in social economics which it can profit by. There is nothing whatever of a statesmanlike character in the haphazard plan which has been adopted in that Colony, nothing which imparts to it any measure of permanence or an assured finance. Such a scheme has yet to be devised, and the solution of the problem will not be achieved until right, and not charity, is made the basis of these old-age pensions. There is one particular feature in connection with the administration of the Act in New Zealand which makes that measure repugnant to a large section of its aged poor — people who have been in good positions and been reduced to want through causes altogether unavoidable. The Act provides that all persons applying for pensions must appear in a stipendiary magistrate’s court and state their circumstances publicly before every Tom, Dick and Harry who chooses to go there. Now, many highly respectable and deserving poor have a pardonable abhor- rence to such an ordeal as this, and therefore abstain from sending in applications when they are in sore need OLD AGE PENSIONS 355 of assistance. They would rather want than go into open court and relate their family histories and the reasons of their impecuniosity. The majority of people are not, of course, so sensitive, and have no inward feelings of pride to contend against when they submit themselves for examination to substantiate their claims. Respect is always due, or ought to be, to reduced gentility, and therefore it would be better if these examinations were conducted in camera by those who are appointed to decide as to whether or not the appli- cants have succeeded in establishing their claims to pensions out of the Consolidated Fund. Under that system the feelings of sensitive people would be respected in their old age and reduced circumstances, and there would be no more chance of fraud or imposition than there now is by insisting that these applications must be sustained in open court. Until the system is altered in that way, a considerable number of most deserving people will be excluded from participation in this provision for out-door relief which is misnamed old-age pensions. CHAPTER XXXIII WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE N ew ZEALAND was the first British possession to grant the franchise to women at Parliamentary elections, the next to follow being South Australia a year afterwards, namely, in 1894. In New Zealand the Legislative Council passed the Bill conferring the franchise on women on the 8th of September, 1893. was carried by a majority of only two votes, and one of these was cast in its favour inad- vertently by an aged Councillor who found afterwards that he had voted on the wrong side. However, it passed and was placed on the statute-book very shortly afterwards, and in full time to allow of its being brought into operation at the general election on the 28th November, 1893. Female franchise was previously brought forward in Parliament by Sir John Hall, who did not succeed in passing it. Amongst the women of New Zealand there was never anything in the nature of a general demand for this piece of legislation. The agitation in its favour was confined to a comparatively small section of New Zealand’s woman- kind, mostly composed of women agitators of the hysterical type, and those who had direct personal and political interests to serve. Nothing is more certain than that if the question had been relegated to a Referendum - 350 WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 357 of New Zealand's womankind, the proposal to confer the franchise upon them would have been rejected by an overwhelming majority. They did not want it ; they had no desire to take part in politics ; they con- sidered that men only should engage in that sort of thing ; and as a matter of fact thousands of the best class of women absolutely refused to register their votes, or to record them, if registered, at the general election. Afterwards they found it necessary to do so in self- defence, but they did it very much against their inclinations. The movement for female franchise outside of Parlia- ment was never a strong one ; it never ‘‘ caught on," as they say of a play, and it was the apathy of the great bulk of women themselves which enabled the compara- tively few agitators amongst them to have the proposal submitted to Parliament. And when it got there in 1893 what was the spectacle presented ? In its reception and treatment by the Lower House many members supported it absolutely against their opinions and convictions, and walked into the ayes lobby under the certain belief that the Legis- lative Council, as it had done before, would throw the Bill out when it reached that branch of the Legislature for final acceptance or rejection. Had these members known that there was a possible chance of the Bill passing that Chamber, the division upon it in the House of Representatives would have shown a considerable majority against the Bill. They were deceived, how- ever, in their reliance upon the Upper House to throw it out, and they were mad with themselves that they had not honestly and straightforwardly assisted in strangling the measure before it got there. Of course, their hypocrisy and insincerity were properly punished by the unexpected course of events in the Legislative Council, and so the Bill came to be passed there by a 358 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW majority of two votes, one of which was given under a misapprehension. Such is the true history connected with the passing of the Act conferring the franchise upon adult women in New Zealand. Let us see how far that measure has justified the prog- nostications of its advocates and supporters. One of the arguments used in support of it was that the admis- sion of women to a participation in political affairs would not only improve the tone of public and political life in New Zealand, but would improve the character, reputa- tion and standing of its House of Representatives. It was argued that women’s influence would be exerted in the selection of men of unsullied reputation, and that none but candidates of good and unblemished character and honesty of purpose could ever hope to enter the elective branch of the Legislature. Has female franchise ensured these results? No one with a spark of honesty and candour can say that it has. Not only has it not fulfilled any one of the improving and refining services which were claimed for it when the measure was before Parliament, but as an absolute fact public and political life, and the personnel of Parliament itself, have degen- erated to a most deplorable degree ever since the introduction of female franchise at parliamentary elections in that Colony. The author does not say that this is solely owing to the franchise per se^ but it is responsible in a large measure for the degeneracy and decadence which have happened ever since it came into operation in New Zealand. Account for it as the supporters and apologists of the system may, the fact remains that the course has been a downward one ever since its introduction. Three general elections have taken place since then, at intervals of three years between each of them, and what do we find ? That the character of the House elected in 1893 was of a lower grade than the House of 1890, that the House chosen WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 359 in 1896 was inferior even to that of 1893, that the one returned in 1899 is of a kind which must render it exceedingly irksome to men of character, honesty and independence to sit in it in such company. Such is the result after the female franchise has been in operation ever since the general election of 1893. It shows that character has had absolutely nothing to do with the choice of candidates at these three general elections, and that fact is emphasised by the circumstance of one member being re-elected at the 1 899 election who in the session previously had to be carried out of the House in a state of helpless intoxication, with lights specially lowered to conceal his identity and the process of removal Other men equally characterless were re-elected also in the same year. These are facts which cannot be denied. Now, it cannot be advanced on behalf of female franchise in New Zealand that it is in an experimental stage, because it has been in operation for over seven years, with abundant opportunities in the meantime to justify its existence. This it has utterly failed to do. Whilst exercising no influence or control in the selec- tion of good men to represent them, let us see now the other things that female franchise has done. It has brought into existence a number of organisa- tions for purely personal and party purposes, whose only aim is to keep a certain set of men in power and to get men returned to the House, it matters not who they may be so long as they pledge themselves to vote in a certain way and to kennel up at the cracking of the party whip. These organisations are for the most part composed of an unintelligent and illiterate class of people who are the dupes of leaders who have personal interests to serve — political touts who display great activity, especially at election times, in order to secure billets either for themselves or their friends ; and in the case of men either to get billets for themselves, their sons, 360 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW daughters, or other relatives. And they invariably succeed. Perhaps it is their ambition to be subsequently selected as candidates of the party or to be called to the Upper House as shining lights of the “great liberal’^ confraternity. Everything comes to the man who waits, and the rewards come to these political touts some day ; that can safely be reckoned on. They are supposed to have a Corrupt Practices Pre- vention Act in New Zealand, but a coach and four is constantly driven through it, and things are done which would not be tolerated in any other part of the world. A favourite device of these party organisations is for its members to set out on canvassing expeditions from house to house. They produce claims to vote to those who have not been sufficiently interested in politics to take the trouble of going to the"^ registrar’s office to register their claims. They induce them to fill up these forms, taking care to wheedle out of them v/hat their political views are. If they are antagonistic, these claims never reach the registrar’s office. They are taken away with the assurance that they will be registered, but they are cast into the fire, and when the men or women go to the booths on election day they find that their names are not upon the rolls. Hundreds of people are cheated of their votes in this way, and yet the system is allowed to go on from one election to another. One thing more the female franchise has done. It has swelled the electoral rolls immensely and added pro- portionately to their cost. In the majority of cases the sons and daughters of a household will vote as their fathers and mothers vote, but there are numbers of instances where the female franchise is the cause of great family dissension. Wives vote for one candidate? or candidates in the case of city electorates, whilst their husbands vote for those of an opposite party, and sons and daughters differ from their parents and each other WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 361 in the same way. The whole family circle is divided against itself, and it is easy to conceive what the result is ; in some instances serious trouble is the consequence. The franchise is conferred upon every female in the Colony as soon as she attains her twenty-first year. As with the men, so with the women, it is practically womanhood suffrage, with the one-man-one-vote prin- ciple allied to it. The cook or parlourmaid has the same voice as her mistress in the selection of members of the House of Representatives, just as the employer of hundreds of men has no more “ say ” than any one of them on election day. As applied to men, the author holds the view that manhood suffrage with conditions and with the one- man-one-vote principle, should be the prevailing system in any country at all parliamentary elections. The theory is good, but the practice, as he has seen it in New Zealand, is not altogether satisfactory. It does seem not quite the proper thing that a mere bird of passage who has qualified himself by a twelve months’ residence in the Colony and three months in the electoral district he registers in, who may be a very worthless fellow — one who is prepared to sell his vote for a pint of beer — should have the same voice in the selection of candidates as the man who is permanently settled in the place and has a very large stake in the country, and a real interest in the proper government of it. When one sees the worthless pint-of-beer elector going into the polling booth with the same amount of power as the biggest employer of labour in the community, one must confess that he beholds one of the worst features in the theory and practice of universal suffrage. But how is it to be remedied so as to justify its existence in countries where it prevails and its extension to other countries where it has not yet been adopted ? Surely it is possible to impose character and intelligence conditions which will 362 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW divest universal suffrage of what is so plainly objection- able in the system, and causes thinking men to hesitate before they will be parties to its adoption. What applies to manhood applies equally to woman- hood suffrage in New Zealand — some women are allowed to vote there who should never be permitted to enter a polling booth. The author, in order that he might write from his own knowledge about the female franchise and the exercise of it, has stood at the central polling booth in the city of Wellington at three general elections, and has seen political touts return from the slums oft Taranaki Street, with numbers of female voters belong- ing to the demi-monde class, and these women have recorded their votes just as respectable women in the community would do. There the process of expurgation might be very legitimately applied, just as worthless men should be deprived of electoral privileges they are incapable of exercising in the true interests of the country. It will be seen on reference to the statistics at the end of this volume that at each succeeding general election which has taken place since the female franchise came into operation, a smaller percentage of women on the electoral rolls have recorded their votes. This is owing to the well-ascertained fact that the franchise is distasteful to a great number of the better class of women, many of whom, after their names are placed upon the rolls, absent themselves from the polling booths on election day because of the limited choice of eligible candidates which has resulted from the de- generacy of parliamentary institutions in the colony. The author has no hesitation in declaring that female franchise in New Zealand has failed utterly in producing any beneficial results, and if any one is doubtful of his verdict, let him go there and see for himself. He will have his eyes opened, not only with reference to the low WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 363 status to which Parliament has been reduced, but with regard also to the abuses and corrupt practices which are the products of that system. If his inquiries be as searching as the author's, and his opportunities for obser- vation equally extensive, he will return to England a most uncompromising opponent of female franchise. CHAPTER XXXIV INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION— COST OF GOVERNMENT — PAYMENT OF MEMBERS I N 1890, a great maritime strike occurred in the Colonies, and whilst it lasted trade was to a con- siderable extent paralysed, and a large number of men were thrown out of employment. Capital in the end proved too strong for them, and to the workers this strike was little short of disastrous, as many of them were never reinstated, and had to seek employment else- where, or in other avocations of life. That strike demonstrated the necessity there was for the introduc- tion of laws to prevent strikes and lock-outs for the future, and to place the relations of workmen and their employers upon such a footing as would secure industrial peace and goodwill amongst them. When the Hon. W. P. Reeves was Minister of Labour, that gentleman, in 1894, carried through the New Zealand Parliament his Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Mr. Reeves was actuated by a sincere and laudable desire, not only to make strikes and lock-outs impossible occurrences in that country, but to provide lawful remedies for the peaceful settlement of all industrial disputes upon a basis which would be equitable and fair to both sides. This was evident from the fact that on the conciliation boards which he proposed to establish, 3 ^ INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 363 as well as in the Court of Arbitration itself, labour and capital should have an equal amount of representation. Therefore there was everything that was commendable in Mr. Reeves’ plan for the solution of the difficulty as between employers and employed, and great hopes were held out that the Act which Mr. Reeves was instru- mental in placing upon the Statute Book would serve all the purposes it was intended to provide for. Un- fortunately, Mr. Reeves did not continue at the head of the Labour Department, and ever since his withdrawal from the Colony to London, his Act has been adminis- tered in such a way as to render it nothing more nor less than a piece of machinery for party purposes. It was Mr. Reeves’ idea that when a dispute arose between the employers and workers in any particular trade, that dispute should be referred first of all to a conciliation board, consisting of two representatives of employers and two of labour, with a chairman appointed from outside by the board, or, when the board did not choose a chairman, then he was to be appointed by the Governor, which of course means the Government of the day. This was a mistake, for it has since been shown that where a board fails to elect its chairman, the Government has invariably placed a staunch party sup- porter in that position. This was not all. Since con- ciliation boards have been in existence, the labour organisations have in very few instances placed the best men that could be found upon these boards ; on the contrary, political hangers-on have worked them- selves into the position of representatives, and the result is that the conciliation boards have not fulfilled the purpose for which they were intended. The system of remunerating them is a bad one. They are each paid a guinea a day ; it is a case of more days more dollars, and the result is that the proceedings of these boards are protracted to the most unconscionable lengths. 366 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW This, however, is not the worst that can be recorded against them. It has been proved beyond denial that in some instances the members of these boards (labour representatives) have gone amongst trades unions and fomented disputes between the men and their employers in order that cases might be brought before these boards. For confirmation of this fact readers are referred to the howl of indignation which was raised last year by the newspapers. In fact, the scandal became so great that these papers advocated that unless the personnel of conciliation boards was improved they should be wiped out of existence altogether. It has been shown times out of number that em- ployers have been cited before conciliation boards when, as a matter of fact, the relations between themselves and their men were most harmonious and satisfactory to both. The working of these conciliation boards has been so mischievous and ineffectual as to demonstrate quite clearly that they ought to be done away with. What is the result of their existence? Continuous warfare between employers and employed from one end of the Colony to the other, and pages of newspapers con- tinually filled with the protracted proceedings of these boards as an outcome of the more days more dollars principle of paying for their services. From the author's observation of these procq^ings he is convinced that it would be proper policy to abolish these boards ; they are unnecessary, costly, and irritating, and effect no good purpose, because the number of disputes they are instrumental in settling is ridiculously small compared with those which are carried beyond them to the Arbi- tration Court. It would be far better if all trade dis- putes were taken direct to that Court ; but conciliation boards are maintained because of the use that is made of them for political purposes. INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 367 It is different with the Arbitration Court. This body has done really good service to the country. It consists of a Supreme Court Judge and two other members, one of them elected by employers' associations and the other by the trades unions. Mr. Justice Williams and Mr. Justice Edwards have both recognised that capital and labour have each their responsibilities, and they have been ably assisted in upholding that principle by the two other members of the Court, Mr. Samuel Brown and Mr. Slater. Both these gentlemen have always acted upon the policy of give and take in the settlement of industrial disputes, with the result that when their awards have been pronounced — and these can be en- forced by law — they have given satisfaction to both sides. Not only this, but the sound and common-sense nature of their decisions has tended to prevent indus- trial contention between men and their employers. Why ? Simply because the Arbitration Court is beyond the reach of political influence or control. Not so the conciliation boards ; they foment rather than discourage industrial disputations, and apart from the party uses they are put to, there is this other feature about them which shows what useless bodies they are. They are composed of one set of men for a definite period. During their term of office, industrial disputes of all kinds are referred to them. Their members may belong to two particular trades, with the technicalities of which they may be familiar, but there are numbers of other cases in which they are grossly ignorant of the nature of these trades or the principles and processes under which they are conducted. How, therefore, can they give an intelligent judgment in cases where they possess no expert knowledge ? Labour representatives upon conciliation boards act generally upon the prin- ciple that capital must be saddled with all the obliga- tions and responsibility, whilst labour should go scot free. 368 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW They are encouraged in this by what labour repre- sentatives in Parliament say upon the subject. A few sessions ago one of these parliamentarians, a working compositor, who had been pitchforked from his frame at the Government Printing Office into the Legislative Council, declared from his place in that Chamber that he considered it was the duty of every working man to obtain the highest wages he could, and to do as little work as possible for it. The man who talked this nonsense is a typical labour representative in the New Zealand Parliament to-day, and it is men of this description who are doing so much harm in industrial affairs at the Antipodes. They are going from one extreme to another, and unless trades- unionists get men of more brains and common-sense to lead them, trades-unionism will fall to pieces. What has been the result of such men being chosen on con- ciliation boards and sent into Parliament? To keep up a continuous state of industrial warfare, to prevent the expansion of industrial enterprise upon the scale it would otherwise advance, and to lock up in the banks the millions of capital now lying there at short rates of interest, because capitalists are frightened to embark in industrial undertakings of any kind in the existing con- dition of affairs. The failure of the Act may be attributed to that portion of it which relates to boards of conciliation, which are nothing in the nature of what their name implies. These boards are a constant source of irri- tation to employers, and the cost and loss of time entailed upon employers and employed are enormous. Therefore, let conciliation boards be abolished, and the next step that should be taken is to insist that every registered union shall belong to a central council of unions, that it shall contribute per capita to a central fund to meet awards. No union should be able to go INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 369 to the Arbitration Court without the consent of the federal council. Such a system as this would greatly reduce the smaller issues which are now raised in these abortive boards of conciliation. The Arbitration Court would sit three or four times a year at Wellington, consisting of a Supreme Court Judge and associates chosen in this way ; every year each union would appoint its representative on the Federal Council, and this representative would act as the representative of that union if a dispute in which it was immediately concerned were taken to the Arbitration Court. The result would be that the unions would select their most able men to represent them on the Federal Council, and that the President of the Arbitration Court would have the assistance of two experts at all times, one repre- senting labour and the other the employers concerned in each dispute. Days would suffice for the weeks it now takes the Arbitration Court to transact the busi- ness before it, the duplication of disputes under the conciliation board system would be avoided, each side would pay its own costs, and all the heat and irritating surroundings of these boards would be obviated. Had such a system been in force. New Zealand unions would have fared far better than they have done under the present plan of conciliation boards, and an Arbitration Court consisting of a judge and two permanent asso- ciates who may not be conversant with the techni- calities of the large variety of trade disputes now referred to the Court. The author has been absolutely astounded at the statements which have found their way into print about New Zealand being a land of industrial peace. These statements are made by persons who have taken a run of a few weeks through the Colony, and have got their information from quarters upon which no reliance can be placed. These birds of passage appear to 25 370 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW throw themselves straight into the arms of those who wilfully mislead them, and the result is that New Zealand is misrepresented as a land of industrial pe^ce when in point of fact it is a land of industrial warfare of a very acute type. Let any one who wants to see what is happening there go through the files of New Zealand newspapers, and he will have his eyes opened as to the true state of affairs so far as employers and employed are concerned. The total number of industrial disputes referred to Conciliation Boards since the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act came into operation (namely, from April, 1896, to March, 1900), was 90. Of these 90 disputes 29 — not quite a third — were settled by the Boards, 3 were partly settled by them, and one case was settled apart from the Board before which it was taken. Thus it appears (according to the official return laid before the Legislative Council last session) that the Board of Conciliation failed to effect settlements in no less than 57 industrial disputes, which had therefore to be sent on to the Court of Arbitration. The Conciliation Boards took 134 days to dispose of the 29 cases they settled between the employers and employed, and were engaged for eight days on the three cases they partly settled, and one day upon the case of the Wellington linotypists, which was settled apart from the Board. The total number of industrial disputes arising from April, 1896, to March, 1900 (90) were brought by trade unions, representing tailoresses, bakers, painters, plumbers, carters, furniture trades, butchers, carriers, bootmakers, carpenters, coalminers, seamen, builders, saddlers, gold-miners, linotypists, drivers, moulders, coach builders, tailors, engineers, tinsmiths, grocers, tramway employees, pastry cooks, and wharf labourers. Yet in the face of these official facts we have people INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 371 who have visited the colony for a few weeks grandilo- quently describing New Zealand as ‘‘ a land of in- dustrial peace ! In hearing the 57 other cases which the Conciliation Boards failed to settle, and which had therefore to be sent on to the Court of Arbitration, these Conciliation Boards took a total of 289 days. It will be at once conceded, from the extensive range of industrial disputes dealt with, that the system of appointing members of Conciliation Boards for definite periods is a bad one, because they cannot possibly possess the requisite expert knowledge to enable them to deal intelligently with all the disputes coming before them. How, for example, can a compositor or a baker know anything of the technicalities involved in a dis- pute between shipmasters and a seamen's union ? In all probability they could not tell you the port from the starboard side of a ship. The opinion has always been held by the author that in no department of labour should any man be called upon to work more than eight hours a day. In fact, to quote the doggerel on the subject, in New Zealand the principle has always been recognised of — Eight hours’ work, Eight hours’ play, Eight hours’ rest, and Eight bob a day.” Therefore the position of the working man — and this term embraces the whole of the industrial classes — has always been a good one in New Zealand, and capital has never imposed upon him to the extent it has done in older countries. But there is reason in all things ; and when one hears blatant labour leaders talk in Parliament about reducing the working hours to six, and when he knows that employers are harassed and 372 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW dictated to as they are in New Zealand as to the manner in which they shall conduct their business ; when they are constantly being cited before conciliation boards when their men are thoroughly well satisfied with their treatment of them ; then it is right that he should speak out and tell the people of Great Britain that all they are told by birds of passage about New Zealand being “a land of industrial peace is the purest moonshine. Industrial peace does not exist there, and never will so long as the blight of party politics dominates and degrades almost every institution in the land. If trades unionism is true to its own interests, it will get rid of the army of self-seeking men who have been fattening upon it ever since that fatal mistake was made of attaching itself so blindly to a party of political mediocrities who make use of it for their own advantage. Until that is done, it will be hopeless to expect that amicable relations can be re-established between em- ployers and employed, or that labour will recognise that it has its obligations and responsibilities as well as capital. Surely in time they must see that the irritation which prevails amongst themselves and those who em- ploy them is encouraged for the sake of the political capital that is made out of it. New Zealand is a truly wonderful country. Its natural resources are so great that it has defied bad and extravagant government to ruin it. Its prosperity is due to no Government that has ever been in office, but solely to its own productiveness. How much better, however, might be its position if it were governed upon the principles of a pure democracy ? Then millions of people might be induced to emigrate to its shores, and capital would flow in for investment ; but that will not be the case so long as the present feeling of insecurity prevails in regard to its legislation and the management of its affairs, INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 373 That New Zealand has always been an over-governed Colony cannot be denied. What is the position to-day ? Its Governor costs it ^10,000 a year in salary, household allowances, and expenses — the President of the United States is modest in comparison ; he gets a salary of only 1 0,000 as the head of nearly eighty millions of people. New Zealand, with its 800,000 inhabitants, has seven paid Ministers of the Crown — one at ^1,600 a year, another at ^1,300 and five more at 1,000 each ; all these Ministers get a house allowance of £200 each and 30s. a day while away from Wellington, which is often and for long periods, and other ministerial allowances. Then it has a House of Representatives of 74 members at £20 a month each, travelling expenses, and free railway passes, 8z:c. ; the Speaker and Chairman of Committees get far more than that — ^800 and ;^500 respectively for sixteen weeks ! Between 40 and 50 members of the Legislative Council at ;^’i50 a year each, travelling expenses and free railway passes, and its Speaker at a big salary. All this money spent on its Governor, ministers, and members of Parliament, and the population numbering less than 800,000 souls — just as many people as are in one corner of London, and that not the most populous ! And now as to the public debt of the Colony, what do we find? That on March 31, 1900, the gross public debt amounted to ;^*47,874,452, or an increase of £g^ 6,\^6 for the year ; but deducting accrued sinking funds to the amount of ;^944,376 the net public debt of the Colony on March 31, 1900, was ^^^46,930,076. The annual charge for interest on the debt is ;6’i,8i6,592 and sinking fund ^^47,146; total annual charges for interest and sinking fund ^1,863,738. The public debt so stated does not include Treasury Bills amounting to £^ 00 , 000 . (Budget, 1900, and Returns by the Secretary and the Accountant of the Treasury, laid before the House of Representatives July 26, 1900.) 374 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW It would astound English readers if the various de- partments of Government and their cost were enume- rated, not to say anything of the fourteen hundred local governing bodies which exist all over the country dis- charging various functions. The cost of its ministers and Parliament is an outrage. Just imagine giving such men salaries ranging from ^i,ooo to ;^i,6oo, besides other additions, and members of Parliament £20 a month and other pickings. The thing is mon- strous, as any one will admit who knows who the men are that draw these salaries. There are five Supreme Court Judges who draw salaries of only ^^’1,500 a year, except the Chief Justice, who gets ;£*i, 750 . Now, if ministers get from ^1,000 to ;^’i,6oo each, a puisne judge of the Supreme Court is worth at least 5,000 and the Chief Justice £ 6 f^oo or £jf) 00 ^ but professional learning and ability are not paid for in the Colony as they ought to be. And so it IS that judges get such inadequate salaries, while ministers would still get more than most of them are worth or could earn at any other occupation if they were paid ^250 a year. And as for the average run of members of Parliament, £'i a week would be the utmost that any one of them could earn at his trade. Yet the shoe- maker, the carpenter, the coal-heaver, the printer, and so on, gets his £20 a month all the year round, a free railway pass always, and travelling expenses for being in Wellington about sixteen weeks in the year! Could anything be more absurd ? The author believes in the payment of members of Parliament, but not upon a scale which brings into existence the very worst type of public man — the professional politician. New Zealand abounds with them now, and always will, so long as public money is frittered away in this fashion upon men who are in no respect qualified for parliamentary life, and who seize INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 375 upon the first chance that offers to vote themselves still more money out of the public funds, as witness ‘‘ the £40 steal from the Treasury’^ of last session by way of ‘‘ sessional allowance.” The Colonial press has scourged them unmercifully for that. Will it continue its con- demnation of the gross abuses that are going on in New Zealand until the Augean stable is thoroughly cleansed and purified, and public and political life are restored to something like decency and honesty of purpose? It lies with the Press and people to do this cleansing. The question is. Will they arouse themselves from their lethargy and do it in the thorough way it requires to be done, or will they meekly submit to the continuance of a condition of things which has brought the Colony into disrepute amongst people who have obtained some in- sight into the conduct of affairs there? We shall see. CHAPTER XXXV THE LOSS OF SAMOA— NATIVES SATISFIED WITH GERMAN ANNEXATION T here was never an instance in which to a greater extent circumstances can be said to have altered cases so much as with regard to the partition of the Samoan Islands between Germany and America. For many years the Australian Colonies had regarded with some alarm the current of events which led to the presence of Germany in New Guinea, situated so closely to the northern shores of the great island Continent. It was hoped and believed that foreign encroachment would end there, and that the islands in the Pacific other than those which had already been acquired by France would be safeguarded against annexation by any other European power except Great Britain. The Colonies, as the sequel showed, were living in a fool’s paradise upon that subject. They had seen, it was true, the unsatisfactory condition of affairs at Samoa under triple management, and they had been witnesses of the sanguinary outcome of the international jealousies and rivalries which culminated in the outbreak of war between the two great sections of the native people in those islands. They had allowed the Samoan question to drift too long ; there was no united Colonial opinion on tlie subject, because New South Wales on the one THE LOSS OF SAMOA 377 hand, and New Zealand on the other, wanted Samoa for itself. Each was as determined as the other that the prize should be its own, because of the commercial advantages which were expected to result from annex- ation. They resembled two dogs fighting for a bone and a third one coming along and depriving both of them of it. That third dog was Germany. That power knew all along of the feelings of jealousy and dissension which existed between New South Wales and New Zealand with reference to Samoa, and from the moment that Germany obtained a foothold there she exerted herself in every possible way to establish her supremacy. For the loss of Samoa the Colonies have themselves to thank. Nearly three years before the dissolution of the triple arrangement, the author, in the columns of the Melbourne Age^ warned the Governments of Australasia of the designs of Germany upon Samoa. The substance of that warning was immediately cabled back to New Zealand and was published in the newspaper press of that Colony. On being interviewed by a local press representative, the New Zealand Premier pooh-poohed the idea, and declared that there was nothing in it. The author pointed out in the Age that there could not be the slightest doubt, from information in his possession, that Germany meant to acquire Samoa. That intention was only postponed through the outbreak of the Spanish- American War. So far from there being nothing in the warning, there was, unfortunately, too much in it, and the surrender of Samoa and its partition between Germany and America came about exactly as the author described in the Age nearly three years previously. The author feels convinced that but for the laissez-faire attitude of New Zealand's Premier and similar inactivity on the part of the Governments of Australia, this regret- table consummation would not have happened. A combined and vigorous protest on the part of the 378 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW Governments of Australasia at that time would have upset the intentions of Germany, because England would never have dared to disregard the wishes of combined Australasia upon a question of such vital importance to those Colonies. As it is, they have now an undesirable neighbour like Germany at their very doors, and to the apathy and want of foresight of those in authority must be attributed this lamentable issue of events. In an article contributed by the author to the New York Tivies of December 24, 1899, he made the following observations upon the Samoan question : — ‘‘No more unwelcome tidings could have been wafted to Australasia than that Great Britain had come to an arrangement with Germany to hand over to that power the control and management of the lion's share of Samoa. The transfer has occurred at a time when there is little disposition to call into question the wisdom of Great Britain in surrendering Samoa without taking the Colonies into her confidence on the question. The out- break of the Transvaal War has brought with it a tidal wave of imperialism all over the Colonies of Australasia, and the feeling is so intense that for the moment the Colonies generally are blind to the danger of having a great European power like Germany brought into such close proximity to their shores. Had the proposal been put before them in a time of peace, there would have been a howl of indignation from all the British dependencies in these seas, and a stubborn diplomatic effort to prevent Germany from obtaining the foothold she has gained in Samoa. “ Powerless as the Colonies now are, without any hope of getting the thing undone, a strong undercurrent of feeling {prevails that Great Britain has not treated the Australasian Colonies as she ought to have done, and this sense of injustice will become intensified with the THE LOSS OF SAMOA 379 restoration of peace and a more thorough realisation of the danger to which Germany’s presence as a close and powerful neighbour exposes us. It is well known that Germany’s interference in Samoan affairs has always been repugnant to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of that country, and no less to Australasians, whose chief desire has always been to keep foreign European control out of the Southern Pacific as much as possible. To this end, resistance has always been offered against the acquisition of the New Hebrides by France, and, in spite of this, Samoa has been quietly surrendered to Germany, as an expedient of British policy to cultivate the friendship of that nation in a fleeting emergency. The only atom of consolation we can discover in the arrangement is, that Tutuila is to be American, and that an alliance between the two great English-speaking nations of the world can at any time minimise the dangers arising from such an undesirable Germanic proximity to our coasts. One immediate effect of the handing over of Samoa to Germany will be this : it will impress the Colonies with the necessity of inaugurating and gradually perfecting a combined system of defence on land and sea, as well for internal safety as for the protection of their commerce with the outside world, and the insuring of a greater influence in the councils of the Mother Land.” The author has visited Samoa since German rule has been established there, and he must express surprise at the splendid relations which exist between the German authorities and the natives of that country. He was anxious to ascertain what the feeling between them really is, and found from his inquiries both from pro- minent natives and residents of the Anglo-Saxon race that the natives feel thankful that Germany is in posses- sion. This state of feeling has been brought about by the wise policy which has been pursued by Germany 38 o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW towards the native race. The authorities have given to the natives a system of home rule under which they are to have the management of their lands, and this is ex- actly what the natives wanted. They feel confident that Germany has no intention of taking the land from them, and this accounts for their cheerful acceptance of Ger- man rule. They are quite content with the new order of things, and if Germany continues to act towards then as she has commenced there will be no fear of native outbreaks in Samoa. The author ascertained that the natives always dreaded the possibility of being placed under the con- trol of New Zealand. They know all about the treatment of the natives in that Colony, and the way in which they have been deprived of their lands, and they feared that if New Zealand obtained control over Samoa their pos- sessions would no longer be assured to them. They are thankful, therefore, that connection with New Zea- land is no longer possible, and to hear them refer to the subject one would suppose that their escape from annexation by that Colony was esteemed by them as one of the greatest blessings that could have been bestowed upon them. The Fijians are evidently of the same opinion with reference to themselves. Probably this feeling on the part of the Samoans against New Zealand has been embittered by the knowledge that whilst New Zealand was anxious to annex Samoa, it was not out of any consideration for its native inhabitants, but because of the material advantages which would result from trade and the acquisition of territory. New Zealand showed her hand too plainly when its authorities cabled to Mr. Chamber- lain that they were prepared to send down a strong force of men to assist in quelling the disturbances which arose there by force of arms. The Samoans saw clearly tlirougli the whole business, and were determined that, THE LOSS OF SAMOA 381 SO long as they could prevent it, they would never consent to be governed from New Zealand. The feeling amongst the Samoans is very decided upon that point. They are a magnificent race of people, proud, intelligent, and intellectual, and it is satisfactory to find that they are so happy and contented with the system of govern- ment which Germany has conferred upon them. It is but just to Germany that this fact should be made known to the outside world, and the author has all the more pleasure in recording it because of his previously expressed objection to the presence of a foreign power so close to Australasia. But because the Germans are managing affairs so much to their credit and to the satisfaction of the native inhabitants in Samoa, that does not alter the fact that such a power located there may in the future become a serious menace to Australasia. It might have added somewhat to their security if Samoa had been made a Crown Colony of Great Britain, but it would certainly have been worse for the Samoans themselves if they had been annexed to any of the self-governing Colonies, especially New Zealand. It was one of the late Sir George Grey’s ideals that Samoa, Fiji and other islands in these latitudes should be grouped together under one great confederation ; but it was never a portion of his scheme that any of the self-governing Colonies should exercise control over them. The author is glad to find that the following letter has been sent to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, by the Aborigines Protection Society : — Aborigines Protection Society, Broadway Chambers, Westminster, S.W. April 3, 1901. Sir, — I have the honour, by direction of the Com- mittee of the Aborigines Protection Society, to address 382 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW you with reference to suggestions that have been publicly made in favour of transference of the Fiji Islands from the direct rule ol the Crown to the control of the New Zealand Government. 2. As this Society took an active part in urging that Her late Majesty's Government should accord to the Fijians the protection which led to their islands being taken over as a Crown Colony in 1875, it is especially incumbent on our Committee that it should now appeal against any measures being adopted that will violate the conditions under which the inhabitants invited and accepted British Sovereignty, and that will expose them to the risk of their interests being thereby prejudiced. I am to submit to you that those conditions will be violated, and that, to say the least, grave risk will be incurred if the proposed transfer is made, and that the dangers incident to it will not be limited to this portion of His Majesty's dominions in the Western Pacific. 3. Although exception has been taken to some details in the carrying out of the policy initiated under the governorship of Lord Stanmore — and continued by his able successors. Sir G. W. Des Voeux, Sir J. B. Thurstin, and Sir G. T. M. O’Brien — that policy has been both acceptable and beneficial to the natives. While equit- able and generous towards them, moreover, particularly in its recognition of their rights to ownership of land and maintenance of local institutions, it has also secured such reasonable and substantial development of the resources of the colony, and of their legitimate com- mercial value to European and other traders, as affords satisfactory assurance as to its future progress under existing arrangements. Appeal is now made to His Majesty's Government that it will do nothing which may weaken the present safeguards against injustice to the natives, even with the expectation of rendering Fiji more profitable to New Zealand and its colonists. THE LOSS OF SAMOA 383 4. Our Committee has viewed with considerable alarm the encroachments of recent years on the rights of natives in New Zealand, which have been supplementary to much larger encroachments prior to the pacification of 1871. But these events occurring in a self-governing colony, it was considered that there would be no advan- tage in representations on the subject being made to His Majesty’s Government. I am to submit, however, that they afford strong grounds for not entrusting to the New Zealand Government the protection of natives in Fiji, which now devolves on the Crown. 5. I am further to submit that the surrender of direct Imperial control in Fiji could scarcely fail to imperil and complicate arrangements for protection of natives in other islands of the Western Pacific which, in the opinion of our Committee, ought to be strengthened rather than weakened. So long as the Governor of Fiji is also High Commissioner for the Western Pacific Islands, his duties in the latter capacity, and those of his subordinates, may be carried on far more conveniently and economically than would be practicable if a separate establishment were provided for them. Our Committee cannot suppose that, if Fiji were handed over to New Zealand, His Majesty’s Government would also hand over to it superintendence of the numerous and widely parted groups of islands whose inhabitants have been brought under the guardianship of the British Crown by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1872 and sub- sequent legislation. But the difficulties under which the High Commissioner now labours would be greatly increased if he were deprived of Fiji as a base of operations and of the assistance he derives from its administrative machinery. 6. As regards the Western Pacific Protectorate, our Committee invites your attention to the growing import- ance of the duties of the High Commissioner being 3^4 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW efficiently performed under the immediate direction of, and responsibility to, His Majesty's Government. Recent extensions of territorial hold, political influence and commercial activity in this part of the world by France, Germany, and the United States, appear to render it necessary that preservation of the legitimate interests of Great Britain should not be abrogated by its central administrators ; and, apart from the danger of international complications arising from the delegation of Imperial duties to a subsidiary part of the Empire, there is more imminent danger of injury to natives of the Pacific Islands resulting from such a course. 7. The demand for Kanaka labour, more or less forced and stolen, in foreign possessions as well as in Queens- land, continues, and the evils incident to it can only be aggravated by the increasing difficulty of obtaining it in sufficient quantity and at a cost low enough to make it remunerative. Our Committee, therefore, earnestly appeals to His Majesty's Government to render more effective than heretofore, instead of in any way impair- ing, the provisions of the Pacific Islanders Protection Acts, and, as a part of its general policy in this respect, to adhere to the promises made to the Fijians when their offer to become British subjects was complied with. I have the honour to be. Sir, Your most obedient Servant, H. R. Fox Bourne, Secretary. The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Office. No reply to the foregoing communication has yet been received from the Colonial Office ; but the author has the best authority for stating that no annexation of P'iji by New Zealand will be permitted by the Imperial THE LOSS OF SAMOA 385 Government, _and that if any change in the Government of Fiji should hereafter be decided on that change will be the result of negotiations between the British Govern- ment and the Australasian Commonwealth. [Since the foregoing was in type a reply has been received from the Colonial Office, stating that the New Zealand Government has been informed that the Imperial Government does not intend to sanction any change in the administration of Fiji.] As in the case of the Samoans, so also in that of the Fijians — they dread the idea of annexation to New Zealand. They, too, fear that annexation would mean the loss of their lands. It is quite reasonable and natural that their thoughts and fears should run in that direction ; and, viewed from the native standpoint, it is inimical to their best interests that they should be brought under the control of the New Zealand Govern- ment. They will have reason to congratulate them- selves, therefore, if they escape that misfortune, and Sir Thomas O’Brien is to be commended, rather than condemned, for the efforts he is making on their behalf to avert it. 26 APPENDICES a APPENDICES STATISTICAL INFORMATION. POPULATION OF AUSTRALASIA. Colony. i860. 1870. 1880. 1890. 1899. Persons. Persons. Persons, Persons. Persons. New South Wales 348,546 498,659 747,950 1,121,860 1,356,650 Victoria 537,847 726,599 860,067 1,133,266 1,163,400 Queensland 28,056 115,567 226,077 392,965 482,400 South Australia 124,112 183,797 267,573 319.414 370,700 Western Australia 15,227 25,084 29,019 46,290 171,030 Tasmania 87,775 100,765 114,762 145,290 182,300 New Zealand 79,711 248,400 484,864 625,508 756,505 Australasia 1,221,274 1,898,871 2,730,312 3,784,593 4,482,980 These figures are exclusive of Australian aborigines and New Zealand Maoris. It is impossible to arrive at an estimate of the former. The Maoris, at the census in 1896, numbered 39,854 — 21,673 males and 18,181 females. In the estimated population (exclusive of Maoris) on December 31, 1899, the males in New Zealand are put down at 398,679, and the females at 357,826. PUBLIC DEBT OF AUSTRALASIA. {From Official Sources.) Public Debt. Colony. Date. Fixed Debt. Floating Debt. Total. Queensland New South Wales Victoria South Australia Western Australia Tasmania New Zealand Dec. 31, 1898 June 30, 1899 June 30, 1899 Dec. 31, 1898 June 30, 1899 Dec. 31, 1898 Mar. 31, 1899 £ 33,598,414 61,580,082 49,264,277 24,672,810 8,938,363 7,721,420 46,938,006 £ 2,181,584 1.115.000 243,500 1.550.000 691,484 £ 33,598,414 63,761,666 50,379,277 24,916,310 10,488,363 8,412,904 46,938,006 389 390 APPENDICES The Secretary and the Accountant of the New Zealand Treasury have since furnished a return to Parliament showing that on March 31, 1900, the gross public debt was £^7,^74,^S^, and that the annual charge for interest amounted to ;£i,8i6,592 ; sinking fund, £/^7,i^6. The sinking funds accrued amounted to £944)37^- Net public debt, ^£46, 930,076. New Zealand has just issued a half-million loan locally at par and 4 per cent, for three years. A table attached to the New South Wales Budget for 1900 shows that on June 30th of last year the public debt of New South Wales amounted to £6^,232,gg2 3s. 8d., bearing an annual charge for interest of £2,36g,3gi 13s. sd. Appendix No. 17 to the Victorian Budget for 1900 shows that on June 30th of that year the public debt of Victoria amounted to ;£49,324,884 los. 2d., bearing an annual interest charge of ii, 887, 354 9s. 9d. The Financial Statement of the Tasmanian Treasurer for 1900 shows that at the end of 1899 the funded public debt totalled ;£8,253,9i2. This included £2gS,23S, the amount of loans to local bodies, but excluded 141,726 of local inscribed stock and Treasury Bills issued to provide for the temporary deficiency and needs of the Treasury. In his 1900 Budget the Queensland Colonial Treasurer states that on December 31, 1899, the public debt of that Colony was £37,000,000. Appendix 12 to the last Financial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer of South Australia shows that on June 30, 1900, the public debt of that Colony was ;£26,i56,i8o, and the annual interest thereon £Sgg,373. On June 30, 1900, Western Australia’s gross public debt stood at 1 1,674,640, or £63 8s. per head of population. TAXATION IN AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. {From Advance Sheets of New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900 .) The following were the rates of General Government taxation per head of population in the Australasian Colonies for 1898-9, APPENDICES 391 specifying the proportions derived from Customs and other taxes : — Colonies. Rate of Taxation per Head of Mean Population. Proportion of Taxation from Ratio of Taxation by Customs to Value of Imports. Customs and Excise. Other Taxes. Total. Customs and Excise Duties. ^ s. d. £ s. d. ^ s. d. Per Cent. Per Cent. Queensland 303 0 10 0 3 10 3 8579 21-44 New South Wales ... I 4 I 0 13 II I 18 0 63-38 5-11 Victoria I 18 0 0 13 II 2 II II 73-19 11-38 South Australia I 14 2 0 17 I 2 II 3 6673 9-24 Western Australia ... 532 079 5 10 II 92 98 17-10 Tasmania 290 0 12 II 3 I II 7911 24-58 New Zealand (exclu- ding Maoris) 2 15 3 0 18 0 3 13 3 * 75-40 23.83 TRADE OF THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. The follovdng table gives the value of the imports and exports of the Australasian Colonies for the year 1898. The figures include the value of goods produced in one Colony and taken into another ; in other words, they include the intercolonial as well as the foreign trade : — Colony. Total Value of Excess of Exports over Imports. Excess of Imports over Exports. Imports. Exports. Queensland 6,0^,266 £ 10,856,127 4,848,861 £ New South Wales 24,453,560 27,648,117 3,194,557 Victoria 16,768,904 15,872,246 896,'658 South Australia 6,184,805 6,795774 610,969 Ditto, Northern Territory 113,960 182,596 68,636 Western Australia 5,241,965 4,960,006 281,959 Tasmania 1,650,018 1,803,369 153,351 New Zealand 8,230,600 10,517,955 2,287,355 * Or, including the Maoris, ;^3 los. 5d. 392 APPENDICES IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES FOR THE YEAR 1899. {From ihe respective Budgets of 1900 .) Colony. Imports. Exports. £ Queensland 6,764,097 11,942,858 New South Wales 25.594,000 28,445,000 Victoria 18,370,873 18,827,506 South Australia 6,472,305* 7.197.375* Western Australia 4.473,532 6,985,642 Tasmania 1,769,324 2,577.475 New Zealand 8.739,633 11.938.335 EXTERNAL TRADE OF AUSTRALASIA. The following table represents the total external trade of Australasia from 1885 to 1898, the intercolonial trade being excluded : — Year. Total Trade. Imports. Exports. Excess of Imports. Excess of Exports. 1885 £ 72,220,444 £ 41,136,038 £ 31,084,406 10,051,632 £ 1890 75,143,818 38,451,160 36,692,658 1,758,502 1891 84,565,778 41,325,033 43,240,745 1,915,712 1892 75.325.933 34,529.501 40,796,432 6,266,931 1893 67,788,738 27,925,990 39,862,748 11,936,758 1894 65,192,202 26,063.630 39,128,572 13,064,942 1895 67,624,317 27,425,725 40,198,592 12,772,867 1896 74,511,262 34,420,596 40,090,666 5,670,070 1897 83,569.568 37,862,741 45,706,827 7,844,086 1898 85,600,442 37.310,583 48,289,859 10,979,276 MINERAL PRODUCTION (VALUE) OF AUSTRALASIA TO END OF 1898. The total value of mineral production in the Australasian Colonies to the end of the year 1898 is shown in the following * For the year endin^j June 30, 1900, South Australia’s imports were £7.401)831, and exports, £8,892,025. APPENDICES 393 table. The figures, except those for New Zealand, are taken from Mr. Coghlan’s Statistics of the Seven Colonies of Austra- lasia, i86i to 1898 ” : — Colony. Gold. Silver and Silver- lead. Copper. Tin. Coal. other Minerals. Total. New S’th Wales Victoria Queensland ... South Australia W’st’n Australia Tasmania New Zealand ... £ ^ 45,794.198 250.738,820 44,499.955 2,133,746 10,659,716 3,954,647 54,453,325 25,812,340 845,689 697,418 105,643 250 1,547,790 235,831 4,624,029 206,395 2,022,927 21,529,746 172,115 874,516 17,938 £ 6,292,056 695,100 4,448,800 26,142 76,227 6,612,442 £ 34,321,205 680,046 2,282,692 1,625 368,295 6,705,802 £ 3,010,101 218,244 239.496 430,281 369,944 10,777 9,332,384* £ 119,853,929 253,384,294 54,191,288 24,225,558 11,279,877 13,368,467 70,745,280 Australasia ... 412,234,407 29,244,961 22,447,666 18,150,767 44,359,665 13,611,227 547,048,693 EXPENDITURE ON AUSTRALASIAN RAILWAYS. {From Advance Sheets of New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900 .) The following table shows the cost of railway works, the mileage, the average cost per mile, the population, and the cost per head of the population in the several Colonies referred to : — Colony. Year ended Cost of Con- struction of Open Lines. No. of Miles of Line open. Average Cost per Mile. Estimated Popula- tion. Cost per Head of Popula- tion. Queensland Dec. 30, 1898 £ 18,455,317 2,742 £ 6,731 498,500 £ s. d. 37 0 5 N e w South Wales ... June 30. 1899 37,992,276 2,707 14,035 1,351,500 28 2 3 Victoria June 30, 1898 38,593,205 3,113 12,397 1,169,400 33 0 I South Australia f ... June 30, 1898 13,919,258 1,870 7,443 369,300 37 13 10 Western Australia ... June 30, 1899 6,427.370 1,355 4,743 169,600 37 17 II Tasmania Dec. 31, 1898 3,585,040 438 8,185 177,300 20 4 5 New Zealand Mar. 31, 1899 16,404,676 2,090 7,849 746,700 21 19 5 * Including kauri-gum valued at ;£9,099,6i9. I Including Northern Territory. 394 APPENDICES LIVE-STOCK IN AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. {From Advance Sheets of New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900.) The following gives the number of the principal kinds of live stock in the several Australasian Colonies in the years 1898-99 : — Colonies. Sheep, Cattle. Horses. Pigs. Queensland 17,552,608 5,571.292 480,469 127,081 New South Wales 41,241,004 2,029,516 491,553 247,061 Victoria 13,180,943 1,833,900 431,547 337,588 South Australia 5,012,620 260,343 161,774 60,132 South Australia (Northern Territory) 64,076 353,551 15,406 1,710 Western Australia 2,244,888 245,907 62,442 39,284 Tasmania' 1493,638 148,558 29,797 45,274 April, 1898. Nov!, 1898. Nov., 1898. Nov., 1898. New Zealand 19.673,725 1,203,024 258,115 193,512 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES DURING FINANCIAL YEAR 1899-1900. (From the respective Budgets,) Colony. Revenue. Expenditure. New South Wales £ 10,223,391 £ 10,341,293 Victoria 7,450,676 7,318,945 Queensland 4,588,207 4,540,418 South Australia 2,780,858 Western Australia 2,875,396 2,615,675 Tasmania 1,040,107 926,364 Totals for Commonwealth 28,958,635 28,522,012 New Zealand 5,580,386 5,140,128 Totals Australasia ;^34,539,02I ;^33,662,i40 ESTIMATED REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES DURING CURRENT FINANCIAL YEAR 1900-1901. (From the respective Budgets.) Colony. Estimated Revenue. Estimated Expenditure. New South Wales p pfeh 00 £ 10,436,170 Victoria 7,482,350 7,481,263 Queensland 4,594,370 4,571,738 South Australia 2,869,377 2,862,317 Western Australia 721,758“ 480,1521 Tasmania 1,046,650 973,239 New Zealand 5,463,000 5,441,523 * First three months only. I First two months only. Kest of estimates not yet available. APPENDICES 395 WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE IN NEW ZEALAND. From advance sheets of the New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900, received by last mail, the author finds that the number of women who voted in 1899 (119,550) is 7570 per cent, of the females on the rolls (163,215) ; while in 1896 there were 108,783 who voted out of 142,305, giving the higher proportion of 76*44 per cent. ; so that (assuming the figures to be correct) there is no evidence of a greater willingness now on the part of the females to go to the poll — quite the contrary. The following table shows the results at the three general elections since the female franchise came into operation : — Date of General Election. Estimated Total Adult Females. Number on Rolls. Proportion of Adult Females registered as Electors. Number who Voted. Proportion of Females on Rolls who Voted. 1893 139471 109,461 78-48 90,290 85-18* 1896 159.656 142,305 89-13 108,783 76-44 1899 171,378 163,215 9524 119,550 75-70* * Excluding figures for three electorates in which there was no contest. Out of 163,215 women on the rolls 119,500 recorded their votes at the general election of 1899, leaving 43,665 who did not vote. The total adult females in the colony was estimated at 171,378, so that 8,163 1^^^ i^ot registered. The total number of females on the rolls of the three electorates in which there was no contest was 5,386, made up as follows : — Hawke’s Bay, 1,878 ; Westland, 1,598 ; Waihemo, 1,810. These 5,386, added to 43,665 makes a gross total of 49,051 women on the rolls who did not vote at the general election in December, 1899. THE TOTALISATOR. This is the machine which legalises betting on horse-racing in New Zealand, Queensland, and South Australia. In New Zealand, as the subjoined table shows, the Government derives a considerable amount of revenue from the use of the machine on the racecourses in that Colony. The table is taken from the advance sheets of the New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900. 396 APPENDICES Year. No. of Totalisa- tor Licenses Issued. Days. Percentage paid to Treasury. Total Amount Invested by the Public. 1889-90 187 241 £ £ 1890-91 219 278 1891-92 234 300 7,591 506,078 1892-93 240 307 10,800 720,029 1893-94 247 318 10,375 621,673 1894-95 207 268 10,446 696,456 1895-96 170 256 11,156 743,763 1896-97 158 250 11,911 794,096 1897-98 155 268 13,297 886,567 1898-99 144 250 13,695 912,969 1899-1900 154 178 15,983 1,065,583 N.B. — The years used for purposes of the table are financial years, not the racing years. This accounts for the number of licenses issued in some of the periods being over the legal limit for one year. The Colonial Secretary issues to Jockey Clubs permits to use the totalisator. The Clubs charge investors lo per cent, on their investments. These two shillings in the pound are deducted from the total sum invested in the totalisator ; 2^ per cent, of this goes to the Government, and is included in the general revenues of the Colony. UNWIN UROTUKRS, THE GKESlIAM TRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.