FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 423, 27 November 1889, Page 3

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA.

Lord Carrincton was present last Saturday week at a banquet giyen by the Mayor of Melbourne. In responding to the toast of his health His Excellency, who was repeatedly and loudlycheered,said :—"lhav^e: — "Ihav^e bo thank the Mayor for his splendid hospitality, and this distinguished company, for the welcome they have given to New South, Wales. In Melbourne, as in Adelaide and in Sydney, the spirit of federation is in the air. It seems to be the happy destiny of individuals as well' as of nations. It a fleets, families ]&s „well as countries. My own brother this week- has been accepted, to my great satisfaction, by the daughter of one of our most respected citizens, and hardly more than a month ago a fine specimen of an Australian baby has joined my own family circle. From all sides we hear of a steadily-increasing desire for colonial federation. Hpw or When that is to be accomplished or of its internal advantages.it is not tor me to speak, but all would rejoice if only on account of its effect on the relations between England and Australia which .must follow.. Sir Henry Loch on his outward journey must have been struck by the difference of the position of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in British North America and in Australasia. Though in British North America .perhaps not one man in ten thousand knows the name of the Secretary of State.JCanadians recogni&e that through him the Dominion speaks to England and through him England sends her answer. No one can say that there is more unanimity of opinion or more general national feeling in Federated- Canada than there is here ; but in the Dominion provincial Parliaments speak on provincial subjects, while the voice of Canada is heard .through the Central Parliament and Federal Government, and the voice is the voice of the general majority of the entire people. On the other hand! in Australia Lord Knutsfoi'd's name is as well known as the names of Sir Henry Parkes, Mr Gillies, or Sir Thomas Mcllwraith. At present each colony has its own independent Government, and the majority in one colony may differ from the majority in another ; as, for instance, in the appointment of Governors, New Hebrides and naval defence, and sometimes the defeated minority in local questions actually appeals to the Secretary of State for an interference, which, under ordinary conditions, they would bitterly resent. This makes our expressions of opinion somewhat discoidant and hard to average, since wo have no common organ for expressing that opinion, and the consequence is the position ot the Secretary of State with regard to Australia sometimes becomes a very delicate and difficult one, and misunderstandings avioe between the two countries which ought never to exist at all. Still, as to all questions on which the colonies are agreed, we have always had England's support. Last year Chinese immigration from Hong Konjgr and the Straits Settlement was at once stopped at the reque&t of the Sydney conference, and had we been abletogo a step further and to introduce uniform legislation there is but little doubt that a treaty would have by this time been arranged with re gard to this country and. the great Chinese Empire, on terms which probably no other power in the world would be able to obtain. I gladly hail the advent of inter-prcvincial union as a step towards that larger federation of equal rights of common citizenship and of the due allotment of responsibility in all dealings with other nations which will give permanent security- to the future relations between Great Britain and Australia."