THE FEDERATION QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 214, 3 November 1900, Page 2

THE FEDERATION QUESTION.

TO TUE EDTTOn. Sir,—Ee Federation with Australia. I toad with considerable iatireet your article on this question in the Dvlt News of tho 29th irjst, Having landed in Auofclat-d in 1848, p.nd pissx! the great,a- portion of my life hare, with j tho oj;cfj/'.io:i of soma yeirs upaat in Nw South Wata>, I ghdly claim tho i cii'ht to call mygslf aa old Now Z in- i tender. While on the other side I hi <) many opportunities rf masting and coavuniug with representative meu from tho other colonies, and I came j back en ore convinced than ever (if tha | were possible) that there is no like .New Zjalnni, As a member of j th" Fodom'.iou .'.i-wgus in the scu'hern distrioc of Nov South Wales, I w.v e'io3?n us one of t;h<s speakers in favour 1 of Federation, and I would ask spacj in j your cjliiaiii.i io .-■ju.u' a noto of waru- i i)ig to my follow colon Uta. Federation j |of the coijuio? in the Austiaiiun Oon-j 'tinoufc is a good tiling. New B„ui;U for n;id nil to g.iin [ jand practically nothing ta lueo b; 1 Federation. \Vhe:» pp-Kikiiig ow-i j theio I repeatedly said t'uat th.-, inelu-j sion of New Zahu'd raid T".su>mk j •caK a ;:o;>i thirg, ai-.htv j Uijotu eohsias oi: '*r rfea J vitsaM* f jOotAtlbOawCiUk \ Wi a P. JVul Oom-J fe sbfl-ifi be m jftji

{nil;-- 't f 'j this jtten'.l.-n; 1 hcvm great aim «>ll bo 'iECicii; ■<! ii cl*out>in|< the members, and to sea that they are gentlemen who will, at all cast or personal Hacrifiee, be loyal to oar own ooloty. Federation means ha&ding over eur independence—giving to the Commonwealth Parliament the right to make laws, which we Khali have to obey. It means handing over thn control of our navigation, rthippi",', foreign at;d jf.iterntato trade and commerce, State railways, Customs and excise, post and telegraph, lighthouses, light-ships, beacons and buoys, and quarantine; also our Naval and Military Defence Departments. Ail the revenue of the Commonwealth iste be chargeable in the first instance to a deduction of 25 per cent., for the purpones or uae of the Australian Oommonwealth, the balance being returned to the States. The Governor-General is to receive a salary of .£IO,OOO per annum; there are to be two Houses of Legislature, the members receiving X4OO a year each for their servioes. The Governor-General appoints the Ministaru of State, seven in number, but they muat be members of either the Senate or House of Representatives, their joint or aggregate salaries mutt not exceed £12,000 a year. Representation is to be according to population, and in taking the census for thin purpo<o aboiiginala are not to be counted; and in colonics liko our own, whore tho women have a voto, only half the votes polled are to be counted, or taken as the basis for calculation—and in this connection it is worthy of nots that in the Federal House of Representatives, taking five of the federating colonies, the representation will bo as follows: New Seuth Wales, 25 members; Victoria, 22; South Australia, 7; West Australia, 5; Tasmania, 5. These numbers may bo slightly altered by increase or deorease of population, but the above is comet taking the last census a? a guide in each case. 1 have not mentioned Queensland, as I am not quite sure of its representation. The interests of New South Wales and Victoria are for all practical purposes identical, which means a block vote, if they choese to give it, of 47 as against 17 of the other three colonies mentioned. I think it wonld be wise for our colony to " make haßte slowly " on a question like this; we cannot lose, and may gain considerably by waiting 5 or even 10 years and watching the course of events. It may be—nay, I believe it is—a good and natural thing for the colonies of the Australian Continent to unite, but I fail to see any advantage our colony would gain by joining the " Australian Oommonwealth. " Zeilandia " and her Islands will need all our brains and revenue for some years.—l am, etc., T. Jacksoh Besnett, Bell Blook, October 30 ch, 1900.