THE EARL OF BELMORE, in rising to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there is any Correspondence in his Department on the subject of Australian Federation, and, if so, whether it can be laid before the House without public inconvenience, said: My Lords, before putting this question, I would like to say a few words on the subject of Australian Federation. I have great pleasure in expressing my gratification at the progress which has been made so far at the Conference, or by whatever name it may be called, which has within the last week been sitting upon this question. It is very gratifying to me, both in its results and in the lines upon which it has proceeded. Sir Henry Parkes, the Prime Minister of New South Wales, a gentleman with whom I at one time had the pleasure of working when he filled a very important office, though not the first office in the Government there, has gone upon the lines not only of a Federal Parliament, but also of a Federal Executive, and I have long been strongly of opinion that it is only upon those lines that what is desired can be effectively carried out. I recollect as long ago as 1871, on the occasion of opening a railroad, when I had, of course, to make a speech, venturing to dive into futurity and prophesying that some day or other something of this sort would come about. But this subject had engaged people's minds at an earlier period than that. Sir Henry Parkes has told us that 35 years ago, before what is called Responsible Government was conceded to the colonies, he had advocated this measure, and I have lately learned that the late Mr. Wentworth also advocated for the future something of the sort. My noble Friend near me (Lord Norton) will remember Mr. Wentworth. He is probably not well-known in this country to the present generation, but he was certainly a 406 foremost statesman in New South Wales, and without disrespect to anybody else, I may say with truth he is, perhaps, the foremost statesman they ever had in Australia. Mr. Wentworth was in his earliest days one of the pioneers of the colony; he was one of the first to penetrate the Blue Mountains and to find the plains of the interior; he was afterwards engaged in public life; he took a very active part in the abolition of transportation, and he may be called the father of the Constitutions of the Australian Colonies. I believe the shape in which those Constitutions now exist is very much the creation of his own mind. Mr. Wentworth never, I believe, held ministerial office; after accomplishing the great work of his life he very soon retired from public life, and he ended his days in this country. To come, my Lords, to the more immediate question before us. In the subject which is under consideration, the colonies will have to deal, in the first instance, with three important questions. The first question will be, supposing that a Federal Parliament and Executive is established, whether there shall be a Federal capital. It might be arranged that the Federal Parliament should meet alternately in some of the existing capitals, but I see it has been suggested by Sir Henry Parkes that the town of Albury on the River Murray would make a suitable metropolis. I remember the town of Albury. It is situated in the colony of New South Wales, on the banks of the Murray; it is within about a mile of the border of the colony of Victoria; it is nearer to Melbourne than. Chester is to London; it is on the main line of railway which runs up through the continent; and it is a most delightful and healthful place of residence. Not very far from the mountains, it is in a rich country abounding in vineyards and with every advantage for being constituted the town where a Federal Parliament might hold its sittings. My Lords, the next queston which would have to be considered would be the question of contributions by the different colonies for defence. That is a very important, question. I well remember the time, when Her Majesty's troops were withdrawn from the Australian Colonies about 19 years ago. I need not go into 407 what is now an old story, but personally I regretted that that step was taken. Probably it was inevitable, but I always felt that in case of a war breaking out very great difficulties would arise from the want of some directing mind and some General Officer to direct operations. Fortunately, a period of profound peace has existed since that time. But we cannot always count upon a profound peace, and if we were to go to war with Russia or some other great Power we might be for a time entirely cut off from our Australian Colonies. There is nothing like taking time by the forelock, and I am extremely glad to find that this great and important question is now in a fair way of being settled. My Lords, the remaining point which will present itself for the consideration of those who have to deal with this matter will be the question of a common tariff. It is not necessary that this question should be decided before a Federal Parliament is brought into existence; indeed, one of the first things that that Parliament would have to do would be to revise the tariffs. It is very desirable to have some system of Inter-Colonial Free Trade, so that the vexatious lines of posts between the colonies might be abolished. At one time that object was effected in a way by the Colony of Victoria, for instance, handing over a certain sum to the Colony of New South Wales, and at the time I left the colony there was considerable popular excitement. All the great excitement and strong Party feeling which unfortunately existed at that moment was caused by the first arrangement having come to an end, whilst the efforts which had been made for its renewal had failed. I have always thought that the difficulties might have been overcome which led to the re-instating of the line of Custom houses. My Lords, if they abolish the collection of duties between the different colonies they must necessarily sooner or later have a uniform tariff, because where tariffs vary so much as they do in Australia, of course it must be obvious that as regards all foreign trade everything would be landed at the ports where the duties were lowest, and would find their way overland to the other parts of the group of colonies. This would sooner or later necessitate a uniform tariff. My Lords, I will not at this time pursue the subject further. 408 Having been for a time connected with these great colonies, although it is nearly 18 years ago since I left them, and. although it is quite possible I may never see them again, I cannot help taking a great interest in them, and feeling great gratification that what I have always looked upon as so desirable is likely now to come to pass. I beg now, with those few remarks, to ask my noble Friend whether any correspondence has passed in his Department which can be laid on the Table of your Lordships' House?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Lord KNUTSFORD)My Lords, with respect to the special question which the noble Earl has asked me, I have to say that we have no public despatches or information which could be laid before the House. With respect to the general observations of my noble Friend, he has expressed a feeling which is shared by the great majority, if not by all people in this country. Her Gracious Majesty, in the Speech from the Throne, assured us of the lively interest with which she awaited the result of the Conference which was being held to discuss the important question of the federation of the Australian Colonies; and how warmly and keenly Her Majesty's subjects in these great colonies appreciate that interest is well shown by the loyal terms of the Address, which was unanimously agreed to by the Members of the preliminary Conference. With your Lordships' leave, I will read a few words from that Address:—
We, your Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects assembled at Melbourne to consider the question of creating for Australasia one Federal Government, desire to approach your Most Gracious Majesty with renewed expression of our devoted attachment to your Majesty's Throne and person on behalf of your Majesty's subjects throughout Australasia.The results of the Conference will be accepted as most satisfactory by all who believe, as I do, and as I am sure my Colleagues do, that the prosperity, the welfare, the strength and importance of these great colonies will be materially increased and secured by a closer union amongst themselves under some form of Federal Government, which will be for them to decide upon, leaving full powers to the local Legislatures. The different colonial Legislatures will now be asked to sanction the holding of a second Conference, at which not mere than 409 seven Members will attend from each responsible self-governing colony, and four from each Crown colony. That difficult questions will be raised before that Conference I have no doubt. Some of those questions have been pointed at by the noble Earl, who speaks with experience on this subject, but I would not even deal with them so far as he has done, because I think no good purpose would be gained now by our offering any opinion on those questions which are essentially for the Members of the Conference to decide. I am quite satisfied that the difficulties of those questions will be overcome by the tact and the judgment of the statesmen who are to take part in that Conference. I will conclude by saying that we do in this country most heartily wish success to their work.
§ EARL GRANVILLEMy Lords, I do not think it is necessary for me, after the satisfactory statement of the noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to add anything to what I had the opportunity of saying the other day on the Motion for the adoption of the Address; that is, to express on behalf of myself and my friends our entire sympathy with the feelings of the Government on this subject. I think the noble Lord has followed a judicious course in not going into the details of this matter. There is no doubt he is right in saying there are very great difficulties to be contended with, but they are difficulties which ought to be solved, and, 1 believe, will be solved. On behalf of those with whom I act I can only say that, in the most hearty agreement with him in what has been and is being done, we look forward to what is going to be done in the future, and I cannot help anticipating that there will be exactly the same success in regard to these colonies uniting themselves as attended the federation of our North American Colonies.