The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 13, 1903. THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1046, 13 November 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, NOVEMBER 13, 1903. THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.

The fight concerning the Federal capital can be calmly, contemplated in New Zealand, but in Australia every little interest is deeply agitated and parochialism of the worst description is being resorted to. An idea of the position is thus given by a recent Sydney paper When the Australian Parliament set to work to select an Australian capital, it adhered strictly, to the conditions .which .George Reid, during his pathetic struggles to “ save his face ” at the Premiers’ Conference of February [(1899) had succeeded in getting imposed- Reid had succeeded in getting Sydney disqualified, so the Parliament ignored Sydney of necessity,. H? had made a brilliant arrangement by which the Australian Parliament might demand 300,0011 square miles of New South Wales—all New South Wales, in fact, outside the 100 miles limit from Sydney—as a. Federal territory ; the Australian Parliament was studiously moderate, and the largest area that was even mentioned was 5000 square miles, while the area demanded was only 1000 square miles. The New South Wales Government had appointed a Commissioner of its own to select a site, and he selected Eden-Bombala as far the best one available. .The Senate, in which the N.S.W.. vote is far .weaker than in the House of Representatives, accepted the New South Wales Commissioner’s report in full, and voted for the site the New South Wales authority had recommended. . And the deadlock arose because the New South Wales members ,in the House of Representatives voted almost solidly against the acceptance of their own State Commissioner’s report, and against the site which he declared to be by iar: the best. Also a section of the New South Wales press howled in the background because Sydney, which its own Premier had so carefully got disqualified, was not chosen ; because the condition which he had so carefully got inserted, that the capital must be over 100 miles from Sydney, w,as strictly adhered to ; because the Australian Parliament demanded one three-hundredth part of the area .that he had managed, with so much trouble, to authorise it to demand. Also, wild attempts were made to depart from the letter of JJie compact, on the.ground that the “intentions of the framers of the Constitution ” tvere that the 100 miles distance from Sydney, and the 100 square miles area, though each described as a minimum, were meant to represent a .maximum—which, considering that 15 out of the 50 “framers of the Constitution ” weren’t even consulted about the 'new clause, was distinctly a failure. And Reid himself raged somewhere in the backblocks of the battle, denouncing his own arrangement as a “ Victorian conspiracy." Altogether It has been a curious complication. At all events something has been done- A joint sitting of the two Houses of the 'Australian Parliament must lead to a decision. Before that joint sitting can be held, there must be two deadlocks ; then a dissolution of both Houses, then another deadlock.; One stage of the business has been got over—the first deadlock is finished gild done with. Id a State Parlia-i i

incnt,- the time spent over the abortive Bill of last session would be lost ; in the Australian Parliament, it isn't lost—it is a definite step towards settlement. Meanwhile, the capital question will figure largely in the coming election. The party which favors Eden-Bombaia is adhering strictly to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and is also paying New South Wales the compliment of adhering to the site which that own special Commissioner ■ has selected as being the best avail- ■ able. The Tumut and Lyndhurst parlies rave wildly about the conditions that the New South Wales Pre- j mier exacted as the price at which his State would federate and the recommendations of the New South Wales Commissioner, as being in some wild, weird fashion p, “ Victorian conspiracy.” A great eiiort is obviously preparing to wallop, into fury the old parish pump animosities, and the importers of Sydney have a pitiable but incoherent tale of wrong to tell. But, meanwhile, the Australian Parliament sits in Melbourne, as the result of George Reid’s hideously clumsy gerrymandering of the original Constitution .Bill five years ago ; it will sit in Melbourne solely by reason of George Reid’s doings, till a capital is decided upon ; it won’t come to Sydney at any time, solely by reason of George Reid’s- brilliant muddling and if the Tumut “ push ” and tlvo Lyndhurst “ push ” keep the deadlock going, and if the State Parliament starts a deadlock of its own by refusing to give a reasonable area to build the capital upon, the slay of the Australian Parliament in Melbourne may be a very long one. Such comment as the foregoing is not, perhaps, of the solid-going order '—but it contains the facts bearing on the situation. If parochial politics were cast aside and the national aspect of the question only considered, there would he really no choice • as to the most suitable site, the one standing ‘out sp much superior to all others ; but apparently there wilt he a lot of squabbling yet before a linal decision is made.