The Waikato Argus. GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. THUSDAY, JUNE 22, 1899.

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 451, 22 June 1899, Page 2

The Waikato Argus. GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. THUSDAY, JUNE 22, 1899.

This norning we record the most important event which has taken placo since the Anglo-Saxon race commenced the colonisation of Australasia. The people of New South Wales have decided that Australasia shall become a commonwealth by 102,200 votes, 79,G70 having been recorded against Federation. The people of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania had previously endorsed the action of their Parliament, and there is little reason for fear that Queensland will not follow in tho

footsteps of her sister colonies Western Australia stands aloof as yet, but there is every reason to hope that this will only be for a short time. The division of thp Continent into separate colonies, each with its own laws and its own tariff, often antagonistic to the interests of its neighbours, has been matter for astonishment to every Statesman who has studied the position. Up to this time, there have been five sets of people all sprung from (he same source, all acknowledging the Queen as their sovereign, yet each, to use a colloquialism, playing a lone hand and exhibiting such a selfish style of play as might be expected were each the hereditary enemy of the others. Each division will still exercise control of its local affairs, but the policy of the new nation will be directed by a Federal Council. There will be an uniform tariff throughout the Federation and free trade between all the divisions.

We are firmly convinced that if New Zealand does not join the Federation before it is too late she will suffer in her material interests. The people embraced in tho union will naturally study their own interests, and when the trade of any other country is successfully antagonistic to that of any section of their population, will take measures to equalise matters, if not to exclude the merchandise of the competitor. We have, however, long ago pointed all this out, and we have not been alone. The danger has been and is appreciated by many. It is a matter, however, which must be taken in hand by our leading political men. There are so many branches to the question that, unaided by trained and experienced men, the people are not likely to rise to a true appreciation of the importance of the question, Parliament is about to m*et, and it is to be hoped that some members will raise the question of joining the Federation, thus eliciting the opinion of those in office and a statement of the reasoning by which that opinion is arrived at. The matter should be threshed out ere it is too late.