THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2336, 29 September 1881, Page 3

THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES

At the banquet given by the Lord Mayor of London in honor of the coloniee, the Dnke of Manchester spoke as follows :—“ I should have felt great reluctance in the presence of so many noble lords who take a much more prominent and much more efficient part in the discussions of the House of Peers than I have ever pretended to do to have attempted to thank you, my Lord Mayor, and the distinguished company present, for drinking to the prosperity of that august assembly had you not given a reason why 1 should be selected for that honor. It is an honor for which I am extremely obliged. One army has been already toasted here to-night j I hare to make allusion to what I will take the liberty of calling another army which has greatly served the empire. It is not an army which ia obliged to attain its purpose by inflicting wounds and death, or by appropriating provinces which already belong to a civilised race; but it is an army which has added to the empire a dominion as magnificent as any portion of the realms over which your Koval Highness in the course of Nature will one day be called upon to rule. [Hear, hear,] That army has accomplished great things ; it has peacefully conquered territory nearly equal in size to Europe. New Zealand itself is nearly as large as the United Kingdom. Sir George Bowen, since I came into the Mansion House, has reminded me that Queensland is three times the size of the French Republic. [Cheers.] Perhaps your Eoyal Highness will allow mo in a few words, and with a few figures, to give to this assembly some idea of the magnificent territory which I have lately visited. [Hear, hear.] In size it is 3,181,089 square miles, and the gold it has produced already amounts to 271 millions sterling. In the last year nearly six millions sterling have been produced. The imports for one year are 50j millions, and the exports 44 millions, and the shipping entered and cleared seven millions of tons. [Cheers,] There is one item which I must say is not so agreeable to English landlords, and that is that Australasia produced last year 3G million bushels of wheat. As to its wool, it has beaten English wool altogether out of the market, both in amount and in its value, which is 16f millions. Not only have the colonists done so much, but as consumers they have benefited English manufacturers to an enormous extent. It is calculated that Australians and New Zealanders per head—man, woman, and child—consume £8 10s worth of British goods, while France only rates at the rate of 7s 8d per head, and the United States only at the rate of 7s per head. [Cheers.] These are facts showing that —if for no other reason—there are very forcible financial reaaons why we should consolidate, encourage, and promote in every way the prosperity of the British colonies. [Hear, hear.] Your lordship proposed this toast in very flattering terms, in a way to make it clear that your lordship appreciates as well as any person in the empire the enormous advantage of our colonies. It is that which makes the British Empire great, and which prevents the British Empire being no more than what Burke called “ A whale stranded on the shores of the Atlantic.” Tin manner in which this toast has been receiv'd, or rather the manner in which you, gentlemen, greeted me when I rose, recalled to my mind the hearty and friendly reception! met with in every colony I visited. I have often thought since if I, a humble loyal subject of Her Majesty, was so honored, wiat would have been the reception y>ar Royal Highness would have met with had you been able to visit the; meet magnificent territory, inhabited by a most gallant and loyal people—[sheers] —who delight to call themselves the sub] sets of Queen Victoria, and who, though perhaps they and their parents were born in Australis, still look upon England as, and call it, their home, [Cheers.] lam gl.-d your lordenip has given me this early opportunity of thanking all Australians for their friendship, and of expressing my admiration of l Enr great countries, and of congratulating Melbourne—unfortunately I was not in time to see the Exhibition at Sydney—upon the tuccecs of its Exhibition. If my recollection serves me, it was quite to our first Exhibition in London in ISSL [Cneera,] I sincerely hope that those colonies will continue to prosper us they huvo done. If they do, they will, in a short time, become by fur the most important part of the empire. I sincerely wish them that eu'cocs. I thank them for their reception cf me, and I thank your lordship for the terms ia which you have coupled my name w.th this toast. [Cheers.],