Skip to main content

Full text of "Australasia, old and new"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on Hbrary shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http : //books . google . com/| 




0' 



I- 



or- V 



I 



AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIERARY 

ASTOR. LFNOX 
TiLDFN Ff/I M>AI ICNI 






• H. I. 



« t 



\ • : ' 



\ f 



. K 



1 . 



AUSTRALASIA 



OLD AND NEW 



jr Gi 



BY 



GRATTAN GREY 

\ — 

AUTHOI or **HIt ISLAND HOMB,'* BTC. 



LONDON 

HODDER AND STOUGHTON 

27, f»ATERNOSTBR ROW 
1901 



• • • • < 



A'n 



34860 A 

ACTOR. l-««??,i!L!-| 
1«M 



« • • • 



• » 

. •• • 
. » . 



I>eDication 

TO 

MY WIFE 

WHO HAS RENDERED MUCH 

VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN ITS PRODUCTION 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY 

INSCRIBED 



PREFACE 

IN presenting this volume to the public, it is only 
necessary to explain briefly some of the reasons 
which have called it forth. In the first place, no time 
could be more opportune than the present for the pub- 
lication of a book of this kind. The first day of the 
century witnessed the birth of the Australian Common- 
wealth, and by the time my book appears the first 
Parliament of Federated Australia will have been 
opened in the presence of the Heir to the British 
Throne and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of 
Cornwall. That event will be the second one of great 
importance which marks the new era in Australian 
history ; and, as my book brings the reader up to that 
point from earliest times, it will, I trust, prove a welcome 
and timely addition to the stock of literature which 
has already been devoted to that distant part of the 
world. 

Having spent a very large portion of my life in 
Australasia, and possessing that intimate knowledge 
of its people and affairs which long residence and travel 
under Austral skies give me, my undertaking a literary 
task of this kind will not, I hope, be considered pre- 
sumptuous, more especially when I tell my readers that 
during the whole period of my prolonged absence from 

▼ii 



viii PREFACE 

Great Britain I have been actively engaged in jour- 
nalism, and that from the very nature of my profession 
I have had exceptional opportunities of studying public 
men and events at the Antipodes. I mention this fact 
to show that I should at all events be qualified for my 
task — ^how far I have succeeded it will be for my readers 
to decide. 

It has been my especial care to endeavour to present 
them with a clear narrative of Australasian affairs, in 
order that they may become familiar with a part of the 
world which is destined to attract greater attention than 
has yet been paid to it by the people of other countries, 
now that the Australian Continent and the adjacent 
Colony of Tasmania have attained the status of a 
nation. I wish I could also add that New Zealand 
was included in that great Commonwealth. 

One thing which prompted me to write this book 
was the ignorance — I may be pardoned for saying 
the illimitable ignorance — which prevails in Great 
Britain with regard to most matters colonial. It may 
be that hitherto the people of these islands have felt no 
interest in the Australasian Colonies, and therefore have 
not taken the trouble to master any details connected 
with them, not even as to their geographical position, 
size, distance from each other, population, and so on; 
and there are many persons to be met with in my 
own experience who are quite in a fog as to whether 
Australia is part of New Zealand or the latter a portion 
of the former. It is a common occurrence to be asked 
about persons and places in Australia and New Zealand 
as if no greater distance separated them than St. Paul's 
from Westminster Abbey, and the Post-office authori- 
ties could supply countless examples of the prevailing 
want of knowledge on the part of some people who 



PREFACE ix 

address their letters " Australia, New Zealand," or vice- 
versa, I trust my book will have the effect of arousing 
a greater interest in the Australasian Colonies, and that 
its perusal will help to dispel the hazy notions about 
them which appear to exist in the minds of a great 
number of the general public on this side of the 
globe. 

Unfortunately, too much of the literature which has 
been published about Australasia has been of an 
ephemeral sort. A considerable portion of it, too, has 
been written either by interested politicians or by those 
coming under the designation of "globe-trotters." I 
belong to neither class. I have never been in politics, 
and have no political interests to advance or party to 
subserve or placate in what I write. Neither have I 
been a mere bird of passage, visiting Australia, Tas- 
mania, and New Zealand for a few weeks, picking up 
scraps of information from unreliable and interested 
sources, and then returning to England or America 
and writing a book which can only excite the ridicule 
of those who have a personal knowledge of the sub- 
jects it pretends to deal with. It is like a man who 
has never been to Japan spending a couple of months 
in the British Museum, and then issuing a work on 
that country, only for Sir Edwin Arnold and Pierre 
Loti to laugh at. 

My readers will perceive that, with regard to the 
future of the Australian Commonwealth, I hold views 
that are certain to be unpopular amongst those who 
indulge in dreams of Imperial Federation or a con- 
federacy of all the English-speaking nations of the 
earth. Neither of these ideals, in my humble judgment, 
will ever come to anything ; and just as certain as I feel 
upon that point, so also am I convinced that long before 



X PREFACE 

this century draws to an end Australia will be an inde- 
pendent nation, politically and in all other respects. 
The grounds upon which I base this opinion will be 
ascertained by the reader in due course. 

I desire to acknowledge the courtesy of the Editors 
and Proprietors of The Bookman^ The Leisure Hour^ 
and Sunday at Home in allowing me to transfer to 
this volume articles which I contributed to those 
periodicals upon subjects which are dealt with in 
Chapters XVII., XXIV., and XXIX. 

J. GRATTAN GREY. 
London, Aprilt 1901. 



CONTENTS 



PART I. 



AUSTRALIA AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND (TASMANIA). 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

General Observations upon Australia . . . 3 



CHAPTER H. 

Discovery of Australia — Cook's Wonderful Voyages— 
What the American War of Independence had to 
DO with the Colonisation of Australia— Off to 
Botany Bay ....... 10 



CHAPTER III. 

Cook's Impressions of the Native Race— Earlier Navi- 
gators—What Cook Thought of Australia as a Land 
FOR British Settlement . . . . .17 

xi 



xii CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

The Pioneers of Australian Settlement and the Native 

KACE ••••• ••• 23 



CHAPTER V. 

Just in Time— The First Ship— Docile Natives— Van 
Diemen's Land — John Mitchel, William Smith O'Brien, 
John Martin, Terence Bellew MacManus, and other 
Political Offenders . . . .36 



CHAPTER VI. 

Extension of Settlement — Buckley, the "Wild White 
Man" ........ 46 



CHAPTER VII. 
What Happened under the Transportation System . 57 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Further Remarks upon Transportation— Gibbet Hill — 
Discontinuance of Transportation . .64 



CHAPTER IX. 
In Old Convict Days and After .81 



CONTENTS 



ziu 



BUSHRANGING 



CHAPTER X. 



PAOB 
92 



CHAPTER XI. 



The Golden Era 



102 



CHAPTER Xn. 

Natural Features of the Australian Continent and 
Tasmania .110 



CHAPTER Xni. 



Australia's Capitals and Principal Towns . 



123 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Representative and Responsible Government and De- 
mocracy -147 



CHAPTER XV. 



Australian Society 



156 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Education in the Australian Colonies and Tasmania . 172 



MV 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Press of Australasia 



PAGE 

184 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



The Literature of Australasia— Poetry and Prose 



. 197 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Australia a Nation 



. 211 



PART II. 



NEW ZEALAND. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Size of New Zealand — Discovery — First Acquaintance 
WITH the Natives — Physical Features . . .227 



CHAPTER XXI. 

In Old New Zealand Days^The Earliest Missionaries— 
The "Boyd" Massacre— Systematic Settlement— The 
Treaty of Waitangi. .... 233 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Maori Wars — The Land Question at the Bottom of 
Them— Broken Promises— The South Island Natives 
Claim Three Millions Sterling .... 246 



CONTENTS XV 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PAOB 

The Maokis— Their Character and Disposition— Canni- 
balism AND Tribal Wars -257 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
The Dbmorausation of a Noble Race . . 268 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Representative and Responsible Government . . 277 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The "Sugar and Flour" Policy—Native Schools— Sir 
George Grey and the Natives — Maori Representa- 
tion IN Paruament . . . . .284 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Sir George Grey and His Island — Sir Robert Stout, Mr. 
Ballance— Sir Julius Vogel . -295 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Mr. Ballance as Premier— His Liberal Policy — Creation 
OF A Labour Department— Land for the People- 
State Assistance to Settlers . .311 



xvi CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

PAGE 

Secular Education in New Zealand . -317 



CHAPTER XXX. 

New Zealand Paruaments Past and Present—'* Spoils to 
THE Victors"— A Reign of Terror . 329 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

More Remarks upon Parliamentary Decadence in New 
Zealand ........ 339 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
Old-Age Pensions . . . '351 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Womanhood Suffrage ...... 356 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration — Cost of 
Government— Payment of Members . 364 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Loss of Samoa— Natives Satisfied with German 
Annexation ....... 376 

Appendices— Statistical Information . .389 



\ 



PART I 

AUSTRALIA AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND 

(TASMANIA) 






CHAPTER I 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 

IT is not, in the strict sense of the term, a history of 
the Australian Continent, and of the two large and 
important colonies adjacent to it, that the author intends 
to present to the public on this occasion. To give any- 
thing like a detailed account of the rise and progress of 
those distant lands would require one, in addition to any 
large store of information he may himself possess on the 
subject, to devote months of research amongst whole 
files of almost forgotten literature on the shelves of the 
British Museum, and the result would be rather to 
confuse than to help a writer in the satisfactory accom- 
plishment of an object alike comprehensive and 
ambitious. 

The purpose which the author has in view is not so 
much to give a consecutive narrative of events which 
have been already placed on record, as to present his 
readers with a true insight into the condition of things 
as they now exist in what is destined to become the 
Greater Britain of the South. A continuous residence 
of nearly forty years in Australasia should enable him 
to perform such a task as this with satisfaction to the 
public and to himself. 

At the same time, it will be necessary to devote a 
considerable amount of space and attention to the main 

3 



4 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

features connected with the early days of colonisation, 
in order that the reader may acquire a fair grasp of the 
whole subject without being wearied by superfluous 
details of no actual interest or importance to any one. 

Following out this plan in strict accordance with its 
simplicity of conception, the author will not trouble his 
readers with any dull recital of geographical situations 
which can be obtained by a moment's reference to any 
of the authenticated maps now everywhere accessible to 
those who desire to inform themselves upon that branch 
of the subject ; but in order to show the vastness of 
Great Britain's possessions in that portion of the 
Southern Pacific, an epitome of the area comprised 
within each colony of the Australasian group will be 
found both interesting and instructive. The Australian 
Commonwealth, which the new century has brought into 
political existence, embraces the whole of the Great 
Island Continent and Tasmania. Before the Imperial 
Act of last year created it a nation, Australia was 
divided into five separate colonies, the areas of which 
are as follow: — 

New South Wales (the original colony of them all) 
contains 323,437 square miles, or 206,999,680 acres. 

Queensland, 678,600 square miles, or 434,304,000 acres. 

South Australia, 914,730 square miles, or 585,427,200 
acres. 

Victoria, 88,198 square miles, or 56,446,720 acres. 

Western Australia, 978,298 square miles, or 626,1 1 1,323 
acres. 

The island of Tasmania (also included in the 
Commonwealth), 26,215 square miles, or 16,778,000 
acres. 

New Zealand (which at present stands out of the 
Commonwealth) has a total area of 103,658 square 
miles, or 66,340,910 acres. 

It will thus be seen that the Australian Continent 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 5 

contains 2,983,253 square miles, and Tasmania 26,215 
square miles, and that these figures added together give 
a total square mileage of 3,009,468. But the enormous 
dimensions of the Australian Continent (leaving 
Tasmania out of the calculation, because it is an island 
nearly 200 miles away from it) can be more readily 
grasped when it is stated that if the areas of Austria- 
Hungary, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, 
Sweden and Norway, Portugal, Spain, Italy (including 
Sardinia and Sicily), Switzerland, Greece, Roumania, 
Bulgaria, Servia, Eastern Roumelia and Turkey in 
Europe, were grouped together, they would contain little 
more than half of the territory which now comes under 
the administration of the Australian Commonwealth. 

The total area in square miles of England and Wales, 
Scotland and Ireland, is 12 1,305, only about one-seventh 
more than the colony of New Zealand ; and when a 
comparison is made between the United Kingdom and 
the Australian Continent, some idea can be formed of 
the countless millions of people who will some day be 
found to live under Austral skies. What, therefore, can 
be more obvious to the most ordinary mind than that in 
the natural evolution of events Australia is destined to 
become one of the greatest and most progressive nations 
of the earth? It has already made a good beginning under 
the beneficent influences of self-government, and who 
can say that the time will not come when she will find 
herself of a growth sufficiently robust to take care of 
herself and shape her own destiny ? Federation is but 
the stepping-stone towards the ultimate realisation of 
that ideal, and it is just as well to recognise what must 
inevitably happen in the future when this new nation in 
southern seas attains a maturer stage of development 
and feels that she can walk alone. When that epoch in 
her career is reached, it is idle to suppose that any 
obstacles will be interposed against the accomplish* 



6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

ment of her legitimate aspirations. But the work of 
nation-building has just begun ; many decades must 
pass before Australia is in a position of self-reliance ; 
her present population, scarcely numbering five million 
souls, must increase to twenty or thirty millions of people ; 
and enormous sumsof money must be expended in perfect- 
ing a scheme of internal and external defence. But all 
these things will assuredly come to pass in the fulness of 
time ; her geographical position and conditions differing 
so greatly from those of the northern hemisphere will be 
special ai^uments to support her claims for complete 
control of her own affairs, external as well as internal, 
and no statesman will be found to resist those claims 
whenever they are advanced, as they certainly will be, 
years perhaps before the present century draws to a close. 
In saying this I am well aware that my prophecy will be 
challenged by those who indulge in dreams about 
Imperial federation and a confederacy of all the 
English-speaking nations of the earth ; but a close 
examination of the whole subject will convince even 
the most sceptical, that the tendency of peoples lies in 
the direction of national independence. To govern 
themselves in their own way, according to their own 
conceptions of what is best suited for the requirements 
of the countries they live in, is the idea which is fast 
taking possession of people's minds all the world over ; 
and it is a well-known fact that in the Australia of 
to-day there are thousands of men and women who are 
strongly impressed with the belief that events will so 
shape themselves in that part of the world as to result 
in complete independence eventually. Indeed, what Sir 
Wilfred Laurier so recently said about Canada may be 
applied to Australia : the present arrangements work 
very well and suit existing circumstances, but it would 
be going too far to say that they will last for ever. Sir 
Wilfred has only shown more candour than any of the 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 7 

statesmen of Australia on the subject, but the feeling is 
there nevertheless ; it is simply more diplomatic not to 
give expression to it until perhaps a more fitting oppor- 
tunity. Besides, it might appear somewhat ungrateful 
to intimate, at the very birth-time of the Commonwealth, 
that something more will be demanded later on ; but the 
strong stand made by Mr. Barton and Mr. Deakin against 
Mr. Chamberlain during the passs^e of the Federation Bill, 
and the way in which these gentlemen were backed up by 
the consensus of Australian public opinion, are straws 
which indicate clearly enough the trend of popular feeling 
and sentiment on a question which Sir Wilfred Laurier has 
touched upon so significantly so far as it relates to the 
Canadian Dominion. When the Australian Common- 
wealth has grown a little older, and its accumulating 
strength has given it greater confidence, probably its 
statesmen will be no less candid and courageous than 
the Premier of Canada, and will state with equal 
definiteness what their ultimate aims are as the natural 
and irresistible sequence of Federation. 

In considering the future destiny of Australasia, it 
would be a mistake to suppose that because of the 
enthusiasm which has been manifested there during the 
past sixteen months, it may therefore be assumed that 
the federating States will for all time be content with 
what they have already secured in the way of self- 
government There is a proneness on the part of too 
many people to attribute to that enthusiasm an import- 
ance and significance which do not really belong to it, 
for the reason that it has been more in the nature of a 
sentimental expression of feeling which sudden and 
extraordinary developments aroused in that part of the 
world. It therefore possesses no real or durable signifi- 
cance as to the future course of action in Australia with 
reference to its own affairs. No one acquainted with 
Australia, or with the strong and swelling current of 



8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

popular opinion which exists there on the subject, can 
shut his eyes to what the ultimate result of that opinion 
will be, and there is nothing to be gained by any 
attempted concealment of what Australia desires to 
achieve as the crowning point of her national aspirations 
and hopes. At the same time, it is premature to talk of 
" cutting the painter." Australia is not in a position to 
cut it even if she wished to do so, in her present circum- 
stances. It suits her to maintain the connection, and 
there will be no thought of cutting the painter until she 
is fully prepared to take care of herself; but the time 
will assuredly come when she will be in that position. 
Whether the period be long or short depends altogether 
upon two essential features in her progress and sense of 
self-reliance: population and defence. In neither one 
respect nor in the other is she prepared to stand alone at 
this moment, and before she can do that she will require 
a vastly larger population and such means of internal 
and external defence as will enable her to meet any 
possible contingency that may arise from an international 
point of view. At present she is without a fleet of her 
own ; the few boats she has would be of little avail in 
protecting her from attack by a fleet of the most modest 
dimensions sent out there specially for that purpose by 
any foreign nation, and her extensive coast lines could 
be assailed with impunity, except at Port Phillip, Port 
Jackson, and a few other places where defence works 
have been carried out Therefore Australia has much to 
do before she can dispense with the protection of Great 
Britain, and it would be madness to dream of doing that 
under existing circumstances. The danger of doing it 
is too evident for Australia to ignore her dependence 
upon the Mother Land. That she recognises the neces- 
sity of maintaining the connection is clear from the 
anxiety she displays with regard to the encroachment of 
foreign powers in the Pacific. On one hand, she regards 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON AUSTRALIA 9 

with apprehension the possibility of France getting 
possession of the New Hebrides ; and on the other she 
sees Germany permanently installed in New Guinea and 
Samoa. Left to herself just now, these two powers 
would be a constant source of uneasiness to Australia, 
and that danger would be intensified if she had not the 
protection and assistance of Great Britain to rely on. 
Complete national independence will not be sought for, 
therefore, until Australia feels absolutely sure of her 
position from being able to defend herself against 
foreign attack, and when that stage of her development 
is reached the leave-taking between Great Britain and 
Australia will be one of mutual friendliness and best 
wishes on the part of the old nation and the new. 



CHAPTER II 

DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA — COOK'S WONDERFUL 
VOYAGES— WHAT THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDE- 
PENDENCE HAD TO DO WITH THE COLONISATION 
OF AUSTRALIA — OFF TO BOTANY BAY 

LONG before the advent of Captain Cook, Tasman 
and other great navigators had penetrated so far 
into southern latitudes as to reveal to the world the 
existence of Terra Australis and the islands now known 
as Tasmania and New Zealand. To the former the 
name of New Holland was subsequently given, and 
from the time of Tasman's visit until the year 1854, 
Van Diemen's Land was the title under which 
Tasmania was popularly known, and claimed its 
rather unenviable notoriety under the convict system 
which prevailed there during a considerable portion of 
the nineteenth century. The sea which separates New 
Zealand from the Australian Continent, in width a little 
over 1,200 miles, still bears the name of the celebrated 
Dutch navigator, and there are places in New Zealand 
where the original nomenclature has never been departed 
from. Thus we find Tasman's Head and Cape Maria 
Van Diemen still applied to prominent headlands on its 
coasts. These particulars are mentioned for the purpose 
of showing that Cook was not the discoverer of these 
distant parts of the earth, although it must be admitted 



10 



DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA ii 

that nothing was done to bring them into prominence 
until the publication of " Cook's Voyages " aroused a 
degree of interest about them which ultimately resulted 
in their acquisition for purposes of British settlement 
and expansion. Cook was undoubtedly the most won- 
derful and heroic navigator of the age in which he lived. 
Any one now sailing along the coasts of Australia, 
Tasmania, and New Zealand cannot but be struck 
with the marvellous courage and intrepidity which 
must have marked the progress of this great man in 
southern seas. The dangers to which he was constantly 
exposed were indeed prodigious. Buffeted about in a 
sailing craft, which can be designated little more than a 
cockle-shell alongside the monster productions of marine 
architecture of our own time, without a chart of even 
the roughest outline to guide him from one point to 
another, it is incomprehensible how he averted destruc- 
tion upon the wild and barren coasts round which he 
was the first to sail ; and viewed from this distance of 
time, it is astounding to note the absolute correctness of 
his original survey. All the headlands and coastal inden- 
tations, as well as depths, distances, magnetic bearings 
and currents, have been set forth in his " Voyages " 
with a detailed accuracy which has withstood the test 
of subsequent research, and the stupendous nature of his 
task, and the manner of its successful accomplishment, 
must for all time impress the world with his exceptional 
genius and indomitable perseverance and courage. Cook 
was in every sense a true benefactor of mankind. He 
opened up a new world to relieve the congested con- 
ditions of the old one, just as the discoveries of Chris- 
topher Columbus and other navigators in earlier times 
provided the vast territories of America as outlets for 
the over-populated nations of Europe, When one thinks 
of the results that have flown from the colonisation 
of America and Canada, and the millions of people who 



12 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

are now settled in these countries, one naturally wonders 
what the consequences would have been if these lands 
had not been available — if they had remained in the 
primitive condition in which they presented themselves 
to the early pioneers of Virginia, or the later adventurous 
colonisers of the New England States, whose descen- 
dants constitute a large proportion of the seventy-six 
millions of souls who are included in the population of 
the United States. Even taking those who are of 
Anglo-Saxon origin, what room would there have been 
for them within the circumscribed limits of the British 
Isles? In the words of the American satirist, they 
would have been too numerous to maintain even a 
foothold upon the soil and would have squeezed each 
other into the surrounding waters through overcrowding. 
What the United States and Canada have done in the 
past to relieve that pressure, the Australian colonies 
have been doing in a lesser degree since 1788. In the 
latter case distance has always stood in the way of a 
more rapid development, and even the attractions of 
their goldfields have not been instrumental in augment- 
ing their population in the ratio that might have been 
expected. But the establishment of the Commonwealth 
is the dawn of a new era of progression, and when it 
becomes more generally known that Australia, Tasmania, 
and New Zealand offer inducements for settlement 
superior to those in any part of the world, a tide of 
emigration will set in which will increase the number of 
their inhabitants to tens of millions before the second 
century of their settlement draws to a close. 

It is not generally understood that the War of Inde- 
pendence in America, and the loss of the British colonies 
there, had much to do with the colonisation of Australia. 
It was, in point of fact, a direct factor in the origination 
and execution of the plan of Australian settlement. 
The settlement of Virginia had an exactly similar com- 



DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 13 

mencement, under the auspices of Lord Delaware. For 
a considerable period after taking possession of Virginia, 
it was the custom of Great Britain to send great numbers 
of her criminal classes across the Atlantic, and the 
practice existed for a century and a half before the War 
of Independence broke out. Most of these convicts, 
men and women, were sold to the Virginian planters, 
some of them for a term of years, others for life. The 
average price per head was £20, and for a long time 
England derived a considerable amount of revenue from 
this source, sometimes as much as £/^ojooo a year. 
Many of these convicts, after completion of their servi- 
tude or liberation upon ticket-of-leave, rose to positions 
of wealth and influence in Virginia, and their descendants 
are now to be found amongst some of the "first families," 
as they are ironically termed, in that highly aristocratic 
State of the Great Republic. 

When the War of Independence deprived England of 
her colonies in America, the despatch of convicts to Vir- 
ginia came to an end, of course, and the Government had 
to cast its eyes elsewhere for a dumping ground to which 
its criminal classes might be consigned, under the belief 
that the transportation system could not be dispensed 
with. Such an idea was exploded little more than half 
a century later, when the free people of Australia deter- 
mined that they would tolerate no more convict ships 
coming to their shores ; but transportation was the 
prevailing idea after the close of the American war, and 
Australia was decided upon when the American ports 
were closed against further consignments of law-breakers 
from Great Britain. The accounts furnished by Captain 
Cook about the Australian climate, the natural resources 
of that part of the world, and the apparent docility of its 
aboriginal inhabitants, were perused with increasing 
interest, and it was considered by the authorities that 
no better place than Australia could be selected for the 



14 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

continuance of the transportation system. The graphic 
descriptions of Botany Bay given by Cook, and the 
favourable account of his reception by the natives in 
that locality, induced the Government to try the experi- 
ment in that quarter. "Botany Bay" became ever 
afterwards associated with convict life at the Antipodes, 
and the words bore such a significance in those days 
and for many years afterwards, that to hear of a person 
being sent to Botany Bay meant nothing less than life- 
long suffering and expatriation. As a matter of fact, 
however, Botany Bay never became a convict establish- 
ment. It is true that Captain Arthur Phillip, the first 
Australian Governor, was entrusted with the task of 
founding a settlement there ; but upon arrival he found 
the place undesirable for the purpose, and after an 
examination of the Bay to the northward, he took formal 
possession of the country by hoisting the British colours 
on a flagstaff* erected on the site now occupied by Dawes' 
Battery. This was Port Jackson, the lovely harbour 
upon whose shores Sydney now stands ; and here it 
was that the first British settlement in Australia was 
founded. 

In 1787, the fleet which was to accompany Governor 
Phillip assembled at the Isle of Wight. It consisted of 
eleven sailing vessels of various tonnage. The precise 
number of persons who embarked on this pioneer fleet 
was 1,044, made up as follows: 10 civil officers, 212 
military (including officers), 28 women and 17 children 
(the wives and families of the military), 81 other free 
persons ; or a total of 348 persons who were free men, 
women and children, and 696 convicts. Of the total 
number 1,030 were safely landed in the colony. The 
women numbered altogether 220, 28 of whom were 
wives of the military, and the remaining 192 were 
women who had been sentenced to transportation for 
various offences. The prisoners, male and female, were 



DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 15 

mostly young persons from the agricultural districts of 
England, nine-tenths of them being natives of the south- 
western and midland counties, and the chronicler of the 
time relates that very few of them had been convicted 
of serious crimes. 

It was on the 1 3th of May, 1 787, that the fleet sailed 
from England, and on the i8th of January, 1788, the 
Supply y with Governor Phillip on board, was the first to 
drop anchor in Botany Bay. The other vessels arrived 
on the 19th and 20th ; and on the 26th of the month 
the whole fleet was riding at anchor in that portion of 
Port Jackson known as Sydney Cove. Neither at 
Botany Bay nor at Port Jackson did Governor Phillip 
encounter any opposition from the natives. Perfectly 
devoid of clothing, these wild inhabitants of Australia 
came down to the beach in considerable numbers, and 
gazed with wonderment and curiosity upon the new- 
comers, that being in all probability the first occasion 
on which they had seen a race so dissimilar to them- 
selves since Cook and his seamen made acquaintance 
with some natives many years previously, and it is 
quite likely there was not one amongst them old enough 
to remember the event The nomadic habits of the 
Australian black render it quite probable that the 
natives first seen by Governor Phillip belonged to a 
different tribe and were far away in the interior at the 
time Captain Cook landed on that historic spot in 
Botany Bay. 'Those met with by Governor Phillip 
evinced no spirit of hostility. On the contrary, they 
laid down their spears and other weapons as he 
approached them, and gleefully accepted presents of 
beads, pieces of red baize and other articles which were 
tendered as tokens of his desire to establish friendly 
intercourse between the two races. 

It was under these encouraging auspices that the 
first attempt at British colonisation was made in 



i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Australia. We shall see presently how the project 
succeeded, how settlement extended to other portions 
of the Continent under a mixed free and convict 
system, and how rapidly the supremacy of the white 
man asserted itself at a period when, through vastly 
inferior numbers, he was practically at the mercy of 
those whose possessions he had come to take as the 
pioneer of civilisation in that remote quarter of the 
globe. The conquest was an easy and bloodless one, 
and it is upon that account that the subsequent ruth- 
less decimation of the aboriginal inhabitants is all the 
more to be deplored and condemned. 



CHAPTER III 

cook's impressions of the native race— earlier 
navigators — what cook thought of austra- 
lia as a land for british settlement 

THE last of the continents to be discovered, 
Australia has likewise been the last to be 
colonised ; and although that vast territory is barren 
of any historical associations before the advent of the 
white man, that blank is more than compensated for by 
the stirring events that have happened there since 
the arrival of Governor Phillip and his mixed band 
of free and convict men and women, more than one 
hundred and twelve years ago, and the student of 
colonial history will find ample material both for his 
amusement and instruction in the fragmentary records 
of the earlier periods of settlement. 

More than a century had elapsed after the discovery 
of America when De Quiros and Torres, and some 
Dutch navigators, after skirting the New Hebrides, set 
foot on Australian soil. Torres gave it the name of 
Terra Australis, but beyond naming it, that great 
navigator apparently made himself very little acquainted 
with the country itself, for he left no records either as to 
its extent, its natural features, or the characteristics of 
its inhabitants. It is just as likely as not that he 
merely landed for the sake of saying he had been thgfe, 

3 '' 



i8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

and that he encountered none of the aborigines during 
his short stay on shore, the probability being that they 
retired to the dense forests upon his approach, and did 
not again venture to the seaboard until they felt assured 
of his departure. After De Quiros and Torres, more 
extensive examinations of the coasts were made by 
Dampier, Tasman, Pelsart, Carpenter and others ; but it 
was one hundred and thirteen years after Torres' time 
that Captain Cook took possession of Australia (so 
named by Flinders) for the British Crown. 

When Cook first landed at Botany Bay, he found the 
place inhabited by a strangely wild and unintellectual 
race. Men and women alike were in a state of absolute 
nudity. Exceedingly timid in demeanour, their first 
impulse was to rush into the woods, but he allayed their 
fears and eventually induced them by signs of friendship 
to return to the beach and to mingle with the new- 
comers without displaying any further symptoms of 
alarm. A mutual confidence was soon established 
between the aborigines and the crew of Cook's vessel. 
For a time they gazed with curiosity at each other, and 
the natives were peculiarly interested in all the strange 
objects which were brought under their notice. Beads, 
knives, rings, pieces of cloth, and other articles were 
liberally bestowed upon these wild creatures of the 
woods, and during the whole of Cook's sojourn at 
Botany Bay nothing occurred to upset the friendly 
relations which had been established between the two 
races. Cook subsequently described these natives as 
fine physical types of humanity, but it is hard to recon- 
cile that description with the remnant of the native 
population to be found in the Australia of to-day. One 
thing is obvious — either that Cook must have grossly 
exaggerated their physical characteristics, or that since 
his time an extraordinary d^eneracy of the aboriginal 
race of Australia has ensued ; for they are now a weak 



COOK'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE NATIVE RACE 19 

and small-limbed people, especially the females,and more 
than a century's intercourse with white men has failed 
to improve or civilise them, or to produce the smallest 
d^ree of intellectual development. It may be that 
they are incapable of improvement, or that the right 
methods have not been employed to elevate the race ; 
the fact remains that the aborigines of Australia have 
made no appreciable approach to civilisation since 
the time Cook first set his foot on the shores of 
Botany Bay. 

What appears to have made the most impression 
upon Captain Cook was their docility. They were so 
unlike the ferocious savages he had seen on some of the 
islands in the Pacific Ocean, that he had no reason to 
suppose hostilities would be resorted to in the event 
of Great Britain attempting the colonisation of the 
Australian continent He naturally enough concluded 
that the same friendly reception would be given to any 
body of colonising pioneers as had been accorded to 
himself, and what he saw in Australia must have con- 
vinced him that no better field could be selected for the 
purpose of colonial extension. He had experienced the 
attractiveness of its climate, and had witnessed the luxu- 
riance of its vegetation and the richness and fertility 
of its soil. Although more a sailor than a politician, he 
must have reflected, even in those days, upon the con- 
gested population of his native land, and compared the 
contracted area of England with the apparently 
illimitable region of virgin wastes which he had taken 
possession of in the name of the King under whom he 
served. True, it was but the fringe of the Continent 
he had touched, but he had seen enough to convince 
him ofthe enormous resources in the interior which only 
awaited development; and that he had a clear notion 
that some day Australia would become a colony of Great 
Britain is evident from the encouraging strain in which 



20 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

his impressions of it are recorded. They all seem to 
point to such an eventuality. He was familiar with the 
conditions under which Virginia had been settled, and 
with the heroic and successful settlement of the New 
England States by the Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower 
and their descendants. He knew what a blessing those 
colonies had proved to the thousands of his countrymen 
who had abandoned the old world for the new, and the 
avenues which those colonies opened up to a population 
at home whose growth was out of all proportion to the 
means of existence in their native land. It never, 
perhaps, entered his mind that the time was so near 
at hand when those colonies would be lost to Great 
Britain, and that America would become the hospitable 
refuge of the poor and oppressed of all nations of 
the earth. 

But if Captain Cook had not the prescience to 
observe the dawning of the American Revolution, it 
is abundantly evident that from his earliest acquaint- 
ance with it he regarded Australia as a most suitable 
field for colonising enterprise, and it was no fault of his 
if so little attention was paid to his recommendations 
until the loss of the American Colonies turned the eyes 
of British Statesmen in that direction. And then, too, 
as we have already seen, that enterprise was to be 
accompanied by the undesirable adjunct of convict 
contamination and the disorders inseparable from such 
an objectionable system of colonisation. 

From the perusal of the foregoing items of history it 
will be seen that the possession of Australia as a portion 
of the British dominions is due to Captain Cook ; but 
the uninformed reader must not suppose that he dis- 
covered that great island Continent. As a matter of 
fact, it was discovered in 1609 by Don Pedro Fernando 
de Quiros, a Spanish nobleman, who named it Australia 
of the Holy Spirit ; but it afterwards received the name 



COOICS IMPRESSIONS OF THE NATIVE RACE 21 

of New Holland from a number of Dutch navigators, 
by whom its southern and western coasts were explored 
at different times. Indeed, that portion of the Con- 
tinent which is now known as Western Australia is 
supposed to have been discovered in the sixteenth 
century ; but there is no distinct record either of the 
fact or of the name of the discoverer, and the name of 
Fernando de Quiros is the first that can be authentically 
associated with it in the ninth year of the seventeenth 
century. After de Quiros comes Hartog, who discovered 
the south-western district in 1616. Although the dis- 
covery of Australia cannot be credited to an Englishman, 
it is no small satisfaction to find that it was an English- 
man who first touched upon its coast. This was Dampier. 
In the course of a cruise against the Spaniards towards 
the end of the seventeenth century, Dampier, after 
rounding Cape Horn, set his course in that direction, 
and fell in with Australia. Dampier made an accurate 
survey of its shores, and for that service was rewarded 
with the patronage of William III. on his return to 
England. It was in 1770 that its eastern shores were 
traced by Captain Cook during his first voyage, and 
again in 1777, when he visited Australia for the last 
time. 

As Tasmania and New Zealand will be dealt with in 
this volume, it is convenient to give a short account 
of their discovery. With regard to the former, all 
historians are agreed that the credit of its discovery 
belongs to Captain Abel Jansen Tasman in the year 
1633. It is stated that New Zealand was first seen by 
the same navigator in 1642, but as Tasman never landed 
on its shores, the honour of discovering New Zealand is 
claimed for Captain Cook, who actually landed from the 
Endeavour in 1769, and spent some time on the shores 
of Queen Charlotte's Sounds and some localities in the 
north island, leaving Cape Farewell in March, 1770, and 



22 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

revisiting New Zealand in 1773 and 1774. Tasmania 
was known as Van Diemen's Land from the period of 
its discovery by Tasman until 1854, when the authorities 
thought a change of name desirable ; and when making 
the alteration due regard was paid to the memory of the 
man who discovered the island Its present name was 
considered to be more euphonious, but the main reason 
for the change was that the name Van Diemen's 
Land had brought the country into a too unenviable 
notoriety on account of its connection with the convict 
system, and that upon the abolition of convictism it was 
a reflection to perpetuate the memory of that system by 
the retention of the name originally conferred upon the 
island by the celebrated Dutch navigator. Consequently 
Tasmania took the place of Van Diemen's Land, and 
the civic authorities followed the example by calling 
their capital Hobart instead of Hobart Town. Many 
of the " old hands," as they are called, have not even 
yet become reconciled to the modern nomenclature, 
but adhere steadfastly to names which are so closely 
associated with the clang of prison chains and brutal 
punishments. To the younger generation, however, the 
new terms are more acceptable, and they never by any 
chance apply the original ones even when referring to 
events which happened when Van Diemen's Land was 
a penal settlement under the administration of New 
South Wales, when it was nothing but a gaol uppn a 
large scale, and when, as was the case for many years, 
no free emigrant was allowed to settle there. The 
transition through which this beautiful island has passed 
will be shown in a later chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT AND 

THE NATIVE RACE 

THERE is this to be said in connection with the 
early settlement of Australia — that the pioneers 
of that movement had no such difficulties to contend 
with as those brave and adventurous spirits who went 
forth to reclaim the wildernesses of North America or 
South Africa. The Australian pioneers set out upon 
their long voyage to the other end of the earth with the 
knowledge that when they got there no hostile native 
population was to be encountered. They were under 
no dread of the scalping knife of the North American 
Indian or of the assegai of the ferocious tribes of 
Southern Africa. Cook's writings had assured them 
of the docility and friendliness of the Australian 
aboriginal. The land was to be theirs for the taking 
of it, and no opposition was offered to their enterprise. 
It was certainly the most bloodless conquest in history, 
and if some of the natives made use of their poisoned 
spears and deadly-aimed boomerangs in after-times, the 
whites had themselves to thank for these racial conflicts. 
These were never of so serious a nature, however, as to 
materially retard the progress of settlement in anything 
like the same way as it was interfered with in New 

Zealand before the final subjugation of the Maoris. 

23 



24 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The Australian pioneers were allowed to land without 
the slightest semblance of molestation, and they might, 
if they had so chosen, have remained in unbroken 
friendly relations and intercourse with the aboriginal 
inhabitants of the country, and secured absolute posses- 
sion of the whole of it without the sacrifice of a single 
life. But, finding the natives so little disposed to dispute 
the encroachments of the white man, advantage was 
taken of their complacent attitude, and the whites were 
not slow to show them that they were their masters in 
every way. The lack of intelligence displayed by the 
Australian blacks and their incapacity to appreciate the 
civilising methods of the new-comers, impressed the 
latter with the uselessness of attempting any of those 
assimilating processes which had been brought to bear 
upon dark races in other lands. They soon grew to 
despise the Australian natives and to treat them more 
like dogs than human beings. As settlement extended 
the cruelties increased, and the black man's life was 
esteemed at no higher value than that of a kangaroo 
or 'possum. Indeed in Australia and afterwards in Van 
Diemen's Land the gun was used indiscriminately upon 
blacks and kangaroos, and a day's sport frequently 
consisted of a mixed destruction of man and animal. 
Some monsters even went farther in this inhuman and 
devilish process of extermination, for it has been 
established beyond the possibility of successful contra- 
diction that one of the practices often resorted to at 
the end of the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth 
century was to lay poisoned food in places where the 
natives were certain to find it 

It has been advanced in extenuation of these hideous 
practices that the administration was not so perfect or 
powerful in those days as to detect and punish the 
offenders, that it was one of the deplorable results of 
convictism, and that the majority of these crimes were 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 25 

committed by the desperate characters who were set 
free upon the completion of their terms of transporta- 
tion or liberated under the ticket-of-leave system. But, 
if the truth must be told, there were others besides 
liberated convicts who were either guilty of these 
atrocities themselves or winked at the perpetration of 
them by others. The black man was not considered 
where grazing ranches were to be established in the 
interior. If he persisted in remaining he was soon 
disposed of He was given the choice of two alterna- 
tives, either to retire with his tribe into the backwoods 
or arid prairies as yet not under the white man's grasp, 
or remain and take the consequences of his persistence. 
Backwards and backwards he was driven, each time 
accompanied by fewer numbers of his race, until it has 
now become the merest remnant of what it was at the 
period of Cook's advent amongst the black men of 
Australia. Even making the biggest allowances for 
diminution through periodical epidemics, infanticide and 
internecine strife, these will not in themselves account 
for the extraordinary decimation that has occurred since 
colonisation began in Australia; and, however reluc- 
tantly we may feel inclined to do so, we must look 
to other and more painful causes for an explanation 
of the native depopulation of that Continent. 

What are the evidences of this process of unnatural 
extinction presented to-day? All that is left of the 
native race in the Colony of Victoria are gathered into 
two or three compounds, one of which at a place called 
Corranderrck was visited by the author some years ago. 
In New South Wales a very marked decrease has taken 
place ; almost the same thing can be said of Queensland 
and of South Australia. They are to be found in greater 
numbers in Western Australia and the Northern territory, 
where, as in the case of Northern and Western Queens- 
land, climatic reasons have saved them from the rapid 



26 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

encroachments of a white population. The semi-tropical 
sun is an element of safety to the black man in t^ose 
regions, and it is probable he will still be found there 
when his countrymen in the more temperate latitudes of 
the South have disappeared altogether. But he is fated 
to extinction, and the probability is that before the first 
half of the new century has passed not a single native 
will be found living throughout the whole of Australia. 

In the adjoining island of Tasmania, where the 
aboriginal inhabitants were known to be pretty 
numerous at the beginning of the last century, neither 
man, woman, nor child of them has been left The last 
of them was seen by the author in the seventies, but 
that last survivor of his race has been dead for nearly a 
quarter of a century, and the black man's " coo-ee " no 
longer resounds through forests where thousands of 
aborigines roamed in undisturbed possession only a 
century ago. Just think of it! It has taken only 
three-quarters of a century to wipe a whole race out 
of existence ! The record speaks for itself. 

Writing upon the destruction of the Tasmanian natives 
as far back as 1835, a resident of that colony made the 
following comment : "These poor, bewildered creatures 
have been treated worse than ever were any of the 
American tribes by Spaniards. Easy, quiet, good- 
natured, and well-disposed towards the white population 
— [the total free white population in that year numbered 
25,000] — they could no longer brook the treatment they 
received from the invaders of their country. Their 
hunting-grounds were taken from them, and they them- 
selves were driven like trespassers from their favourite 
spots. The stock-keepers may be considered as the 
destroyers of nearly the whole of the aborigines, the 
proper and legitimate owners of the soil. These mis- 
creants so imposed upon their docility that at length 
they thought little or nothing of destroying the men for 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT rj 

the sake of carrying to their huts the females of the tribes, 
and if it were possible to record but a tithe of the mur- 
ders committed on these poor, harmless creatures, it would 
make the reader's blood run cold at the bare recital." 

It would, however, be going too far to place the 
responsibility for this result, or for the decrease of the 
native population of Australia, upon the shoulders of 
those who occupied positions of authority from time 
to time since the landing of Governor Phillip in New 
South Wales. In several instances there were Governors 
and other high officials in New South Wales and Van 
Diemen's Land who had the greatest solicitude for the 
welfare of the native people, and did everything they 
could to prevent their extermination; but there were 
others not quite so mindful of their interests. The 
administration of justice was beset with many difficul- 
ties, and acts of lawlessness and inhumanity were often 
committed with impunity. This was a natural outcome 
of the peculiar system under which Australian colonisa- 
tion was started. At its initial stage, the total number 
of free persons conveyed to the new settlement amounted 
to only half the number of convicts, and subsequent 
shipments were for a long time in like proportions. 
Out of such disproportioned elements of bondmen and 
free, it was hopeless to expect the same respect for law 
and order as would prevail in communities formed out 
of more desirable material, and the consequence was 
that the early governors and officials had difficulties 
to contend with which would not be encountered under 
circumstances more favourable to settlement ; but it is 
beyond question that some of these governors and 
Crown officials paid no regard whatever to the pre- 
servation of the native races on the Continent and in 
Van Diemen's Land, and made no effort to bring the 
perpetrators of outrages upon them to justice. 

In Tasmania, as in Australia, the natives were remorse- 



28 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

lessly hunted down, the men foully murdered, and their 
women carried off for purposes narrated by the writer 
already quoted ; and the record cannot be challenged 
that in 1830 an extraordinary attempt was made by 
Governor Arthur to catch and pen up in Tasman's 
Peninsula, with the ostensible object of transporting to 
Flinder's Island the whole of the aboriginal population 
of Van Diemen's Land. Upwards of 3,500 whites, 
including thirty soldiers, turned out for the exciting 
operation of clearing Tasmania of their presence by 
means of a cordon across the island. The attempt 
proved a total failure. Only two natives were captured, 
and the cost of the expedition amounted to no less a 
sum than £35jocx>. After the failure of this attempt to 
deport the natives from their own country, the original 
process of extermination went on apace, and we have 
already seen how in the short period of thirty-five years 
the whole Tasmanian race dwindled to a vanishing point 
by the demise of its solitary survivor. 

No reliable estimate has ever been made of the number 
of aborigines who inhabited Australia and Tasmania 
when the whites first took up their abode in these 
countries. The number in the whole of Australia has 
been set down at 3,000,000, and Governor Phillip esti- 
mated that in his time New South Wales contained 
1,000,000. The first settlers at Port Phillip believed the 
total population there was about 5,000. When Victoria 
become an independent colony in 1851 the number was 
officially stated to be 2,693. ^^ South Australia in 1876 
the number was said to be 2,203 males and 1,750 females. 
In Queensland and Western Australia the aboriginal 
population was never ascertained with any degree of 
certainty. The estimate of 3,000,000 for the whole of 
Australia may be an exaggerated one, or it may be even 
below what the aboriginal population actually was. 
There were too many difficulties in the way of correct 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 29 

data being arrived at; the only thing certain is that 
from the numbers seen in the vicinity of the settlements 
in early times, the race must have been a numerous one 
both on the Continent and in Van Diemen's Land when 
colonisation began. 

In his book upon South Australia, Mr. James Dominick 
Woods contributes much valuable information upon the 
aborigines of Australia. Like most other people, how- 
ever, Mr. Woods is unable to fix the region from which 
the Australian aborigines originally came. He supposes, 
like most other writers on the subject, that they are of 
Malaysian origin, and that they found their way to the 
continent of Australia from some of the islands which are 
not far distant from the northern shores. The habits and 
customs of the native people all over the continent, says 
Mr. Woods, exhibit a great uniformity. Such diver- 
gences as have been noticed amongst them are not so 
distinctive as to establish the fact that there were origin- 
ally more races than one. Science, however, throws a 
little light on one part of the question. At a meeting 
of the Congress for the Advancement of Social Science, 
held not long since in Adelaide, in a paper upon 
" Pre-historic Man," by Dr. E. C. Stirling, lecturer on 
physiology in the University of Adelaide, it was stated 
that the prevailing type of Australian skull has a 
remarkable resemblance to the Neanderthal skull. Pro- 
fessor MacAlister, of Cambridge, one of the leading 
anatomists and anthropol(^ists of the day, to whom a 
cast of King Billy Rufus' skull was presented, said it 
was the most Neanderthaloid skull he had seen. There 
are other skulls in the Adelaide museum very similar to 
it, and it may be taken as typically Australian. Another 
curious point of resemblance between paleolithic man 
and the modern Australian aboriginal is the fibula, or 
outer bone of the leg below the knee. In each case it 
was remarkably flattened or fluted. 



30 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

There is another point of resemblance, continues Mr. 
Woods, in the weapons used by the aborigines. They 
are of wood and stone. None of the tribes have shown 
any knowledge of iron or other metals, or of their uses, 
and whatever they may have learned respecting them 
has been gained from their intercourse with white men. 
In time to come more evidence may be brought to light 
which may tend to connect the Australian savage with 
the paleolithic stage of human prc^ess. Caves are 
abundant in various parts of the Continent, where lai^e 
accumulations of the bones of animals (some of them 
extinct) have been discovered. 

In 1842 Dr. Moorhouse, Protector of Aborigines, 
estimated that there were about 3,000 aborigines in 
South Australia (the Northern Territory not being 
included). Those who inhabited the Northern Terri- 
tory amounted to 20,655, of whom 12,849 ^^^^ males 
and 7,806 females. In 1891 the census showed that in 
South Australia proper the aborigines numbered 3,134, 
comprising 1,661 males and 1,473 females. There is 
nothing to enable it to be determined whether the 
aborigines in the Northern Territory have increased or 
decreased since that part of the country was taken up 
by the whites. In all probability they have greatly 
diminished in number, because the excess of males over 
females is so great as to render an increase scarcely 
possible. The proportion between the sexes in the 
whole colony stands thus : males, 61 per cent. ; females, 
39 per cent In the Northern Territory taken alone 
there are 62*21 per cent, of males to 3779 per cent, of 
females; and in South Australia proper the relative 
proportions are : males, 53 per cent ; females, 47 per 
cent The number of children belonging to the tribes 
of the Northern Territory could not be ascertained with 
sufficient exactness to be of much use. In the southern 
portion of the colony there are no more than 506 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 31 

children. The number of adults of both sexes is given 
as 2,628, so that the fact is established that they out- 
number the children in the proportion of five to one. 
Since the males in the Northern Territory preponderate 
over the females in a much greater ratio than they do 
in the southern part of the colony, it is highly probable 
that the disproportion between the adults and the 
children in the north is even more marked than it is in 
the south. 

Mr. Woods throws considerable light on this branch 
of the subject by stating that, whatever effect the dispro- 
portion between the sexes may have in checking increase 
amongst the natives, the arbitrary and unequal distribu- 
tion of the marriageable women emphasises it more 
strongly. Polygamy is a custom common to all of the 
tribes, and whilst the old men may possess two, three, 
or more wives, most of the other men, and especially 
the young ones, have none at all. Under such circum- 
stances it cannot be surprising that immorality and 
licentiousness are everywhere prevalent, and are not 
regarded as circumstances of any great moment. Such 
conditions of life cannot fail to operate adversely against 
the multiplication of the progeny of the blacks. The 
practice of infanticide, especially the destruction of 
female infants, is universal throughout Australia. None 
of the tribes which have been met with in any portion 
of the Continent are untainted with it. Mr. Eyre, who 
was Protector of the Aborigines at Morrandi, whose 
account of the tribes amongst whom he was stationed is 
the most complete that has been written about them, 
states that each of the aboriginal women has on the 
average five children, nine being the greatest number 
known, but that each mother rears on the average not 
more than two of her offspring. Some of them, it is 
clear, must occasionally be taken off by natural causes, 
and the remainder that are not put out of the way is all 



32 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

that can be depended on for the continuance of the race. 
One reason why infanticide is so prevalent is that the 
women are the absolute slaves of their husbands. They 
are literally beasts of burthen, and have to do all the 
hard work that can be imposed upon them. Dereliction 
of duty or disobedience is visited by the most brutal 
personal chastisement, inflicted with heavy sticks. 
Sometimes the wives are speared by their owners or 
husbands, and at times fatally. Children, especially the 
females, are intolerable burthens to the women, and to 
some extent drags upon their fathers. The fewer of 
them, therefore, the better. There is less toil and 
drudgery for the women, and less trouble for the men as 
fathers of families ; thus the smallest number of unpro- 
fitable mouths to tax the resources of the tribe is 
secured. It must not be concluded from this that the 
natives are devoid of affection for their children. In 
his book, " The Native Tribes of South Australia," Dr. 
Moorhouse, Protector of Aborigines in Adelaide, remarks 
on this subject as follows : " In their dispositions they 
display strong affection for each other, great fondness 
for children, and attachment to persons who are kind to 
them. On the other hand, they indulge in every evil 
passion to excess, and, estimating human life as of low 
value, do not hesitate to sacrifice it for a trivial insult. 
As their women are obtained from other tribes, by theft 
or otherwise, female infants at birth are not infrequently 
put to death for the sake of more valuable boys, who 
are still being suckled, though three or four years 
old, or even more. A female infant just born was thus 
about to be destroyed for the benefit of a boy about 
four years old, whom the mother was nourishing, while 
the father was standing by ready to commit the deed. 
Through the kindness of a lady to whom the circum- 
stances became known, and our joint interference, this 
one life was saved, and the child was properly attended 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 33 

to by its mother, although she at first urged the neces- 
sity of its death as strenuously as the father." In other 
parts of the country the women do the horrible work 
themselves. One instance is recorded by Mr. W. H. 
Willshire, in his " Aborigines of Central Australasia," in 
which a native woman killed her child, cooked and ate 
it. More instances could be mentioned of a like nature, 
but one is sufficient Other practices are followed by 
some of the tribes which must interfere largely with the 
continuance of the race. Rites are performed on the 
youth of either sex, but particularly in Central Australia, 
which destroy the possibility of procreation by those 
who are subjected to them. In the case of males the 
result is inevitable ; in the case of females it is not so 
certain, though the rite inflicts permanent physical 
injury upon them. Wars, epidemics and other diseases, 
dearth of food, accidents, and cannibalism must be 
reckoned amongst the causes which make continual 
inroads upon the numerical strength of the native popu- 
lation, and will ultimately lead to its extinction. As 
far as statistics go, it seems that the blacks are fading 
away in the settled country at the rate of about i^ per 
cent per annum, so that in another half-century the 
probability is that there will not be a solitary black- 
fellow left Wars, want of food, and cannibalism must 
be eliminated from the causes which operate against the 
survival of the aborigines in the settled districts. On 
the subject of infanticide nothing can be said except 
that the proportion of children to mothers and fathers 
remains about the same now as it was fifty years ago, 
when Mr. Eyre was Protector of Aborigines. It must 
be borne in mind that probably not one-fourth of the 
natives who wander about the country are under the 
control or influence of the institutions which have been 
established for their benefit, and not a great deal is 
known of their actions when they are by themselves in 

4 



J4 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the bush. Old men of the tribes are tenacious of their 
early customs, and cannot be induced to relinquish 
them. The mutilations which are inflicted, upon males 
especially, are not known in the extreme north, nor in 
the south. They are mostly practised in Central 
Australia. Unfortunately, so little has been brought to 
light with regard to the aborigines of that large tract of 
country, that.it is at present impossible to define the 
limits within which the usage is confined. 

The irruption of the whites (says Mr. Woods) into 
the territories of the blacks has contributed to some 
extent towards the disappearance of the native races. 
The territories were theirs, and they were sufficient to 
sustain the wild animals on which, for the most part, they 
fed. The occupation of the land drove the game away, 
and the cultivation of the soil, as it went on, exterminated 
the roots which formed some portion of their food. 
They thus became by degrees entirely dependent on the 
settlers, and by so doing fell into some of the habits of 
white people — Charmless perhaps to them, but highly 
detrimental to the natives. Clothing, unsuitable food, the 
use of strong drinks (for which they very rapidly formed 
a liking), the loss of their wonted free life, and the 
contraction of diseases not previously existing amongst 
them, did their work. 

Whilst the practice of infanticide, the disproportion of 
women to men, and the rites previously referred to on 
the youth of both sexes, account for a considerable 
diminution of the blacks in Australia, it cannot be 
denied that the decimation of the aboriginal inhabitants 
is very largely due to acts of violence on the part of the 
whites. The author is desirous, however, of showing 
that other causes have likewise contributed to it, and in 
order that the case might be fairly stated, he has taken 
the opportunity of showing that by their own rites and 
customs the blacks are themselves in a great measure 



THE PIONEERS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT 35 

responsible for the decrease which will probably termi- 
nate in their own extinction years before the end of the 
present century. At the same time the irruption of the 
white race upon the Australian Continent has been 
the means of hastening the eventual extermination of 
the aboriginal inhabitants, and that fact is absolutely 
incontrovertible. 



CHAPTER V 

JUST IN TIME — THE FIRST SHIP— DOCILE NATIVES — 
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND— JOHN MITCHEL, WILLIAM 
SMITH O'BRIEN, JOHN MARTIN, AND OTHER 
POLITICAL OFFENDERS 

IT SO happened that Governor Phillip and the pioneer 
settlers and convicts under his charge did not 
reach Botany Bay many days too soon, for very shortly 
after his arrival the French navigator, La Perouse, made 
his appearance in that historic arm of the sea a few 
miles to the southward of Port Jackson. It was clearly 
the intention of La Perouse to take possession of 
Australia in the name of the French Government, which, 
unknown to the navigator himself, was then tottering 
to its fall. La Perouse had no conception that in the 
very year afterwards France would be plunged in the 
most sanguinary revolution the world has ever seen. 
Little did he know how near the master he was serving 
was to the scaffold, how speedily the French Monarchy 
was to be overthrown, and a Republic set up in its place, 
to be followed by a Reign of Terror which deluged his 
nation in blood. Robespierre, Marat, Desmoulins and 
others, who figured conspicuously in that terrible 
upheaval, were then too obscure to be known even by 
reputation to La Perouse, and the great Napoleon was 

yet to appear upon the horizon and make himself famous. 

36 



JUST IN TIME 37 

It was fortunate, perhaps, for La Perouse that he did not 
live to be contemporaneous with the thrilling episodes 
which render French history such a fascinating study 
from 1789 to the death of the captive Bonaparte at St 
Helena. When La Perouse set forth from France upon 
the last voyage of discovery he was destined to make, 
the monarchy seemed to be absolutely secure ; in the 
Court and amongst the aristocracy there was not the 
remotest suspicion of the events which were so soon 
to overwhelm them and consign thousands of their 
number to the scaffold. Under the patronage of 
Louis XVI., La Perouse sallied out in a well-appointed 
ship upon a mission to the other ends of the earth to 
discover new possessions for his royal master, and the 
seizure of Australia formed a portion of the project It 
was not recognised by France that the mere hoisting of 
the British flag by Captain Cook at Botany Bay in 1770 
made it a British possession, especially as nothing had 
been done by the British Government in the meantime 
to utilise the Continent in any way. Therefore, it was 
part of La Perouse's scheme to secure Australia for 
France. How near he came to accomplishing his object 
may be realised when it is stated that Governor Phillip 
forestalled him by only a few days. When La Perouse 
reached Botany Bay and dropped anchor there, he was 
much chagrined to find the British already in possession. 
The British colours were flying upon a flagstaff on shore, 
and Phillip's newly-arrived fleet was still there, making 
preparations for moving round to Port Jackson. Thus 
Australia narrowly escaped becoming a French colony. 
Disappointed and annoyed at this unexpected issue of 
events. La Perouse soon took his departure, to make 
other explorations in the Pacific, and was never heard 
of again. 

The real history of Australian colonisation, therefore, 
begins with the arrival at Botany Bay, and later on at 



38 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Port Jackson, of the 1,044 souls, conveyed there in 
Governor Phillip's fleet of eleven sail, which left Eng- 
land in May, 1787, and reached its destination eight 
months afterwards. The same distance can now be 
covered by steamers, calling at the Cape of Good Hope 
outwards, in five or six weeks. It will thus be seen 
that for many decades distance was the principal cause, 
coupled with convictism, which retarded the expansion 
of Australian settlement : not because it did not offer 
exceptional advantages for founding new homes so far 
across the sea, but because it took too long a time to 
get there, and the conveniences and conditions of transit 
were far from inviting. The cost, too, was also beyond 
the means of most people of the class which desired to 
emigrate, and consequently they turned their eyes 
westward, and became settlers in the United States. 
Australia in those days had none too good a reputation. 
The taint of convictism was upon it, and it had no 
attraction for the thousands of free men and women 
who preferred crossing the Atlantic. Therefore, for 
many years the progress of settlement in Australia was 
exceedingly slow. But distance has since been annihi- 
lated by regular and rapid means of communication ; 
the transportation of criminals to its shores has ceased 
long ago ; and if, afler the lapse of one hundred and 
twelve years, the white population of the Australian 
Continent still falls considerably short of five millions, 
that slowness of growth must not be accepted as an 
indication of what its development will be in the years 
to come. According to the calculations of the late Mr. 
Hayter, the eipinent Statist of Victoria, at the end of 
the first fifty years of the present century, the popula- 
lation of Australia should be 32,782,290, and in the 
year 2001 it should be no less than 189,269,688. If 
Mr. Hayter's estimate of prospective increase proves 
correct, there will be ample room for the whole of them. 



JUST IN TIME 39 

No apology is needed for this apparent digression from 
the consecutive narrative of events, because Australia 
has begun to claim a very large share of public attention 
in Great Britain, and people are interested in knowing 
what the probabilities are, now that United Australia 
has entered upon a new era of its existence, and gives 
fair promise of a rapid march onward under conditions 
eminently conducive to advancement. 

When the pioneers of Australian settlement reached 
Botany Bay and disembarked some days later at Port 
Jackson, they found Captain Cook's description of the 
natives exact in most particulars. When he saw them 
at Botany Bay eighteen years previously, the men 
and women were quite naked. The former had the 
gristle of their noses bored and long pieces of bird's 
bone run through them as ornamental decorations to 
the face. The ends protruded crossways beyond the 
cheeks, and gave these naked wild men an appearance 
most grotesque. But they were harmless, and even 
friendly, and docile to an unexpected degree. No 
change in their appearance and demeanour was notice- 
able when Governor Phillip's mixed freight of free 
settlers and convicts went amongst them. These 
pioneers had other advantages favourable to settlement, 
besides those arising from the presence of a native 
population whose docility and simple-mindedness were 
obvious. They went to settle in a land whose plains 
and forests were free from any of those beasts of prey 
formidable to man in North America and South Africa. 
This fact undoubtedly favoured the occupation of the 
country. Snakes were, unfortunately, abundant, and 
snake-bite was frequently the cause of death, as it 
is to this day in various parts of Australia. But if 
the early settlers had no hostile race to contend with, 
and no beasts of prey as a source of danger to them, 
on the other hand the dryness of the climate and 



40 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the scarcity of watercourses were no ordinary perils 
to be encountered. Distance from the great centres 
of population and the markets of the outer world 
was a serious disadvantage from the start. For 
some years the extension of settlement was a slow 
process, notwithstanding that grants of land were 
made to industrious couples. The white population, 
however, increased at a satisfactory rate, and when 
Governor Phillip returned to England at the end of 
1792, it stood at 3,500, including those on Norfolk 
Island, which had become a branch convict settlement 
under Lieutenant King. In January, 1793, the first 
batch of free settlers, mostly farming men, arrived and 
settled on Liberty Plains ; but they afterwards emigrated 
to the Hawkesbury, and henceforward the stream of 
free emigration continued to flow but slowly. When 
Governor Hunter left the colony in 1800, the white 
population numbered 5,547, besides 911 on Norfolk 
Island. 

Van Diemen's Land was the next place in which a 
settlement was formed, and the first party of settlers 
landed there in 1803. It consisted of twenty-one 
persons only, of whom ten men and six women were 
convicts. The locality chosen by Captain Bowren was 
Risdon Cove, on the left bank of the Derwent, but it was 
abandoned shortly afterwards, and the convicts were 
moved about twelve miles farther up the river. It was 
Colonel Collins who was in charge of the second batch, 
which consisted of thirteen officers, forty-four marines, 
and three hundred and sixty-seven convicts. The site 
he selected for this penal settlement was what he 
named Hobart Town, in honour of Lord Hobart, the 
then Secretary of State for the Colonies. 

It was under these unfavourable auspices that the 
settlement of Van Diemen's Land b^an. A penal 
station for the worst class of offenders was afterwards 



JUST IN TIME 41 

established at Macquarie Harbour. Free colonists who 
committed crimes of a grave nature were also sent there ; 
and what with the vilest type of imported felon and the 
colonial product included in the same order of classifica- 
tion, Macquarie Harbour, as a chronicler of the time 
describes it, became a " hell upon earth." And such it 
undoubtedly was. 

Speaking of convicts who were not of this type, the 
same writer adds "that the British convict on his arrival, 
if he behaves himself well, is better off than millions of 
his countrymen at home ; but if he once offends the laws 
in the colony, misery follows." This has evident refer- 
ence to the opportunities that were offered him after he 
became an " assigned servant." 

After being established and kept going for about ten 
years, Macquarie Harbour was abandoned, and then 
Port Arthur next came into notoriety as a penal station, 
followed by the establishment of another at Maria Island. 

It was not until the year 1821 that the first free emi- 
grants arrived at Hobart, if the few are not to be 
reckoned who went there at various times between then 
and 1803. 

In 1820 the convict population numbered 5,908, and 
in 1838 it stood at 18,133 ; but in 1832 Van Diemen's 
Land became a place of transportation for convicts from 
New South Wales, and between 1846 and 1850 more 
than 25,000 convicts were brought into Van Diemen's 
Land from New South Wales and Great Britain. Three 
years afterwards the Duke of Newcastle decided, after re- 
peated protests from the colonists, that no more convicts 
should be sent to Van Diemen's Land. 

Transportation to New South Wales came to an end 
in 1839. The total number of convicts sent to that 
colony from its foundation to the arrival of the last 
convict ship, the Eden, in November, 1839, was 59,788 
r— 51,082 males s^nd 8,706 females ; but the system was 



42 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

continued, so far as Van Diemen's Land was concerned, 
until 1853, up to which period 67,665 convicts had been 
sent to tihat island — 56,042 males and 11,613 females. 
From that period until 1868, convicts were sent from 
Great Britain to Western Australia, that colony receiv- 
ing 9,718, all of the masculine sex. These included a 
number of Irish political prisoners, who had been con- 
victed for their connection with the Fenian movement 
and the plot to seize Chester Castle. 

So far as political offenders are concerned. Van 
Diemen's Land possesses far more historical interest 
than any of the other penal settlements in Austra- 
lasia. Here it was that John Mitchel found himself 
after leaving Bermuda and the Cape. Mr. Mitchel had 
been the proprietor of the United Irishfnan^ and for 
certain articles in that paper he was sentenced to 
fourteen years' transportation in May, 1848. He 
arrived at Hobart Town in April of the following 
year. He was offered a ticket-of-leave enabling him 
to reside at large in some police district in the interior, 
subject to no restriction save the necessity of reporting 
himself to the district police magistrate once a month. 
After ten months' confinement in the hulks at Bermuda, 
and eleven months and seventeen days on board the 
Neptune f Mr. Mitchel was in very shattered health — ^he 
suffered terribly from asthma — when he reached Hobart 
Town, and he accepted the ticket-of-leave, promising 
not to escape so long as he should enjoy the compara- 
tive liberty of the ticket. Others of his countrymen 
had reached Van Diemen's Land before him, includ- 
ing William Smith O'Brien, John Martin, Meagher, 
MacManus, and O'Doherty. At his special request, 
permission was given to John Mitchel to go and reside 
with his old friend John Martin at the village of Both- 
well. They procured a farm of two hundred acres of 
land and worked there for some time, Mr. Mitchel's 



JUST IN TIME 43 

wife and family arriving in the meantime. Friends of 
Mr. Mitchel in New York determined upon rescuing 
him and carrying him to America, and with that object 
despatched an agent who could be safely entrusted with 
such a mission, and with adequate funds at his disposal 
for the purpose. A considerable time elapsed before 
this agent could perfect his plans, and in order that he 
could not be charged with breaking his parole Mr. 
Mitchel, on the 8th of June, 1853, sent a note to the 
Lieutenant-Governor, resigning the ticket -of- leave, 
withdrawing his parole, and stating that he would 
forthwith present himself before the police magistrate 
at Bothwell at his office, show him a copy of the note, 
and offer himself to be taken into custody. Mr. 
Mitchel was as good as his word, for on the following 
day he and the agent from New York went to the 
office of the police magistrate, and gave him a copy of 
the note. The magistrate (whose name was Davis) was 
perfectly dazed and irresolute, and after observing that 
his parole was at an end from that moment, Mr. Mitchel 
and the American agent walked out, got on their 
horses, and were soon lost to sight in the woods. 
After several weeks of hiding and adventure, Mr. 
Mitchel reached Hobart Town, lay concealed in a 
friend's house down the Sandy Bay Road, and was 
taken on board a vessel in the Derwent bound for 
Sydney. The American agent had managed matters 
so well that Mrs. Mitchel and her children were on 
board also, but, of course, they dared not recognise each 
other. They got to Sydney, and thence to New York. 
Mr. Mitchel had an eventful life in America, and during 
the Civil War he was attached to the ambulance depart- 
ment, and had the misfortune to lose two of his sons in 
that fratricidal strife. Finally, returning to Ireland, he 
died on the 20th of March, 1875, at Drumolain, near 
Newry. On his return to Ireland, Mr. Mitchel was 



44 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

elected to the House of Commons for Tipperary. Mr. 
Disraeli had the election declared null and void because 
of Mr. Mitchel's sentence of transportation. A new 
writ was issued, and Tipperary again returned Mr. 
Mitchel by a still greater majority than before. But he 
was then on his death-bed. Mr. John Martin, the 
companion of his exile near Bothwell, after being 
amnestied, returned to Europe, lived for a considerable 
time in Paris, and, eventually going to Ireland, died in 
the same house on the ninth day after his friend Mr. 
Mitchel had passed' away. During a recent visit to 
Ireland the author was fortunate enough to make the 
acquaintance of the lady who was Mr. Mitchel's sister 
and Mr. Martin's wife, and quite recently he had the 
pleasure of again seeing Mrs. Mitchel Martin in London. 
She is a lady very highly esteemed and honoured by 
large circles of acquaintances, all of whom are con- 
versant with the disinterested patriotism and sacrifices 
of her brother and husband. Mrs. Mitchel has a most 
interesting and historic personality, and she was deeply 
affected when, courteously complying with the author's 
request, she gave him some particulars concerning the two 
men whose names will ever occupy an honoured place 
in Irish history. Some years ago Mrs. Mitchel Martin 
made a pilgrimage to Nant Cottage, near Bothwell, 
Tasmania, in order that she might see the place where 
her husband and brother had lived in exiled companion- 
ship. She found the cottage partially in an advanced 
stage of dilapidation, and was cautioned against going 
upstairs because, as the shepherd occupant of the lower 
portion of Nant Cottage informed her, "the banisters 
have been carried to Ireland," thereby implying that 
they had been taken piece by piece as mementos. 

As to Wm. Smith O'Brien (whose splendid statue 
now stands on the Westmoreland Street end of 
O'Connell Bridge in Dublin), Van Diemen's Land was 



JUST IN TIME 45 

where he spent many years in exile. For their connec- 
tion with the abortive rising at BaUingarry, Tipperary, 
in 1 848, Wm. Smith O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and 
O'Donc^hue were sentenced to death. The death 
sentence was commuted to transportation for life. They 
were sent to Van Diemen's Land and arrived there in 
the Swift about the same time that Martin and 
O'Doherty also reached Hobart Town in the Elphin- 
stone. All except Wm. Smith O'Brien were allowed to 
live at large there, but each within a limited district, 
and no two of them nearer than thirty or forty miles. 
Each was required to promise that he would not make 
use of his liberty under these conditions to eflTect his 
escape. O'Brien refused the ticket-of-leave, and was 
therefore sent to Maria Island, a penal station off 
the coast, where he was subjected to most rigorous, 
capricious and insolent treatment by the Comptroller- 
General of Convicts and his subordinates. The 
Deputy-Assistant Comptroller of Convicts was none 
other than Balfe, one of the Government informers of 
1848, and once an ultra-revolutionary member of the 
Irish Confederation. After remaining in his dungeon 
at Maria Island until his health became quite shattered, 
Mr. O'Brien was persuaded by his fellow-exiles and 
others to accept a ticket-of-leave, and he went to reside 
at New Norfolk. Terence Bellew MacManus effected 
his escape to America in 185 1. Maria Island, Bothwell, 
Lake Sorrell, Campbelltown, New Norfolk, and other 
localities in Van Diemen's Land possess historical 
associations of a kind which make them specially 
interesting to Irish travellers, and very few will come 
away without visiting them because of their close con- 
nection with those who figured most prominently during 
the troublous times of '48. 



CHAPTER VI 

EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT — BUCKLEY "THE WILD 

WHITE MAN" 

IT will be convenient at this stage to devote a 
chapter to the progress and extension of settlement 
not only in New South Wales, but in other portions of 
the Australian Continent. In the parent colony in the 
early days, notwithstanding the obstacles already re- 
ferred to, settlement was carried on prosperously under 
a system of freehold grants issued on nominal terms. 
These grants were surveyed, and grazing privileges 
were allowed outside these surveyed areas. This 
system was superseded and one of sale by auction set 
up in its place. The growth of population, the increase 
of stock, and the desire to acquire land upon free con- 
ditions soon led to the transgression of the official 
boundaries of settlement and to the unauthorised occu- 
pation of the territories beyond. The authorities, on 
account of the extensive character of the movement, 
were obliged to give it official recognition, and permits 
to occupy were issued on payment of an annual fee of 
;f lo. After this system had been tried and had de- 
veloped unsatisfactory results, the system of leases was 
introduced, and a great portion of the Crown lands in 
occupation is so held up to this date. Of course, enormous 

areas of freehold land have been acquired from time to 

46 



EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 47 

time, but the leasehold system still holds good with 
regard to vast tracts devoted to purely pastoral pur- 
poses in all the colonies. These tracts are generally 
known as the back blocks, and are far removed from 
closely-settled districts. A great spurt was given to 
settlement in New South Wales in 1815, when Governor 
Macquarie built a road across the Blue Mountains and 
opened up a highway for the squatters on the now 
highly-cultivated Bathurst Plains and the regions north, 
south, and west of them. Most people know to what a 
vast extent wool production has been conducted in 
Australia, but few are aware of the small beginnings 
from which this great staple industry originated. It 
was an officer named Macarthur who started wool- 
growing at Camden, during Governor King's term of 
office, with a couple of Spanish merino sheep presented 
to him by George III. about 1803. Wine production is 
another industry in Australia which has attained huge 
proportions, and it is interesting to know that the first 
grape vines in that Continent were planted at Parra- 
matta in 1791. 

The first quarter of a century was noted for the ex- 
plorations of such men as Oxley, Cunningham, Hume, 
Howell, Sturt, Macleay, and Mitchell, and the accounts 
they published of their discoveries in the interior were a 
great incentive to colonising enterprise. In 1802 Port 
Phillip was discovered by Lieutenant Murray, and in 
the following year Mr. Grimes, the Surveyor-General 
of New South Wales, sailed up the Yarra. This was 
probably the first trip made up that river by any white 
man, and thirty-three years elapsed before the second 
white man penetrated as far as the site upon which the 
city of Melbourne now stands. Shortly after Murray's 
discovery of Port Phillip there sailed from England a 
youth, who was afterwards to be known as the " father 
of the colony of Victoria," John Pascoe Fawkner. Born 



48 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

in London in 1792, Fawkner sailed with his parents for 
the distant colonies in 1803, and arrived at Port Phillip 
in October of the same year. Not satisfied with their 
prospects in that then outlandish neighbourhood, 
Fawkner and his parents migrated to Van Diemen's 
Land, where he entered into business, and in 1829 
started the Launceston Advertiser, In 1835 Fawkner 
and others set out from Hobart Town to Port Phillip, 
and on the 29th July of that year they carried their 
vessel up the Yarra and tied her to the tea-tree growing 
on the banks of the river. The part of the river they 
came to is where the Queen's wharf now stands, and 
Fawkner so became the founder of Melbourne. In 
1838 Fawkner started the first written newspaper in 
that place, and in 1839 he commenced the Port Phillip 
Patrioty which he afterwards made into a daily paper. 
But Fawkner was not the pioneer of journalism either 
in Van Diemen's Land or Australia, because the first 
newspaper published was the Sydney Gazette and New 
South Waks Advertiser ^ printed by George Howe, and 
issued for the first time on the sth of March, 1803. It 
ceased publication on December 23, 1843. In Van 
Diemen's Land the first newspaper was the Derwent 
Star^ published on the 8th of January, 18 10, and 
Fawkner was in no way connected with the issue of 
that publication. Neither was he the pioneer settler 
of Victoria, for in 1834 the initial attempt at settlement 
was made by the Hentys, of Launceston, who estab- 
lished a wool station at Portland Bay. In the year 
following, John Batman formed a settlement on the 
western shore of Port Phillip, and Melbourne practically 
commenced its existence from that date. Batman, who 
was born in 1800 at Parramatta, New South Wales, 
went to Van Diemen's Land in 1820, at ^ time when 
what was described as " active warfare " was going on 
between the colonists and the natives. Proceeding to 



EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 49 

Victoria in 1835, he purchased 600,000 acres of land 
from the natives. For this enormous area he delivered 
over in payment to the eight chiefs who possessed the 
whole of the territory near Port Phillip, 20 pairs of 
blankets, 30 knives, 10 looking-glasses, 12 tomahawks, 
some beads, 12 pairs of scissors, 50 lbs. of flour, 50 
handkerchiefs, 12 red shirts, 4 flannel jackets, and 4 suits 
of clothes. The chiefs were satisfied with the transaction, 
and no doubt Batman was equally pleased. 

Although it is generally conceded that John Pascoe 
Fawkner was the father of the city of Melbourne, it 
is not correct to designate him " the founder of the 
colony of Victoria," because he was only eleven years 
old when he first set foot upon the shores of Port 
Phillip towards the end of 1803, and remained there 
only a few months. Others had been there before him, 
and in the year prior to taking up his location on the 
banks of the Yarra, facing Emerald Hill (now known 
as South Melbourne), the Hentys had established 
themselves at Portland Bay. Batman also settled on 
the shores of Port Phillip in the same year that Fawkner 
sailed up the Yarra, and had possessed himself of an 
enormous tract of land for the ridiculous price already 
stated, and the stipulation that he was to give the chiefs 
an annual tribute in the shape of rent This rent or 
tribute was to consist of 50 pairs of blankets, 50 
knives, 50 tomahawks, 50 pairs of scissors, 50 looking- 
glasses, 20 suits of slops or clothing, and two tons of 
flour. The agreement was drawn up in legal phrase- 
ology, and was signed with their marks by the three 
principal chiefs, who were brothers, all rejoicing in the 
name of Jagajaga, and the other chiefs calling them- 
selves Cooloolook, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and 
Moomarmalar, as well as by Batman and the two 
witnesses he brought with him for that purpose, and 
to assist with others of the party in the exploration of 

5 



50 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the country surrounding the site upon which Melbourne 
now stands. 

Ignorant upon the subject of the real value of what 
they bartered away in this fashion, the natives, always 
a tractable and inoffensive race when treated with 
kindness, made numerous concessions of a similar 
character to numbers of the first settlers in Australia, 
and it was because of their docility that they were even- 
tually deprived of the whole of their possessions, in 
accordance with — 

"The good old rule, the simple plan, 

That he shall take who has the power, 
And he shall keep who can." 

The early records show that Fawkner and Batman were 
not upon very amiable terms with each other, and 
possibly it is due to their rival claims to the distinction 
that their respective champions compromised matters 
by recognising Fawkner as " the founder of Melbourne," 
and Batman as " the founder of Victoria." The latter 
died in May, 1840, but Fawkner lived till the 4th of 
September, 1869, after holding many public offices, 
including membership of the Legislative Council. 

The settlement of Victoria was begun under better 
auspices than most of the other colonies on the 
Australian Continent It was the only one amongst 
them, except South Australia, which escaped the taint 
of convictism. No penal establishment was ever formed 
there for the reception of criminals transported either 
direct from England or from the adjoining colony of 
New South Wales, but the colony only escaped this 
contamination because, curiously enough. Port Phillip 
was considered unfit for habitation. 

When Captain Collins arrived at Port Phillip in 1 803 
with a batch of convicts his intention was to establish 
a penal settlement on the shores of the Bay, but he 



EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 51 

entertained such an unfavourable opinion of the 
locality that he abandoned the idea and took them 
on to the Derwent in Van Diemen's Land. It was 
a fortunate thing that this early opinion was formed 
of it, as otherwise convicts would have been sent 
there as readily as to other parts of Australia and 
to Van Diemen's Land. The settlers, pioneered by 
the Hentys, Batman, and Fawkner, soon proved how 
erroneous the impression was, and its removal exposed 
Victoria to the danger from which it had already 
escaped, because it remained under the administration 
of New South Wales until 1851, when Victoria became 
a separate colony with a Government of its own, 
and Mr. Latrobe as its first Governor. Some years 
previously it was decided by the Home Govern- 
ment to scatter its convicts over several of the colonies 
and not confine transportation solely to Van Diemen's 
Land and Western Australia, but the settlers of Victoria 
made a strong resistance to the scheme. It was 
attempted, however, but public opinion was so strong 
against it that when the ship Randolph appeared at 
Port Phillip Heads with convicts on board the captain 
was forbidden to enter. In Sydney, where the vessel 
next sailed to, the same opposition was offered, for by 
this time the colonists of New South Wales were quite 
as determined as their Victorian neighbours to exclude 
any more shipments of the kind, and the upshot was 
that Western Australia had to take them in. 

The original plan of settlement adopted in New 
South Wales was applied to all other portions of 
Australia except Victoria and South Australia, and 
they remained for many years nothing more nor less 
than huge penal establishments. They offered little 
attraction to free men, and the consequence was to 
impede anything in the shape of real bond fide settle- 
ment. Cook had sailed up Moreton Bay in 1770, but it 



S2 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

was not until 1823 that it became a convict station. 
Moreton Bay continued to receive regular batches of 
convicts until 1841, when transportation to that part of 
Australia ceased, and immediately afterwards the colony 
made rapid progress. Separation from New South 
Wales was urged with such successful persistence 
that in 1859 Moreton Bay became Queensland, with a 
Government of its own. Sir George Bowen had the 
honour to be its first Governor under a constitution 
which conferred upon it all the rights and privil^es 
of self-government. From that moment a new and 
vigorous life was imparted to Queensland. Settlement 
extended in all directions, and emigrants poured in by 
thousands under the liberal conditions which invited 
them to her shores. 

The settlement of South Australia dates from 1836. 
Captain John Hindmarsh, R.N., arrived in December of 
that year with a considerable number of free emigrants 
and entered into formal possession of the colony as its 
first Governor. The conception of settling this portion 
of Australia upon a totally different basis from that upon 
which New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and 
Western Australia were founded, originated with Mr. 
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who, in later years, played 
the most prominent part in the systematic colonisation 
of New Zealand. His project for the settlement of 
South Australia was given effect to by associations 
formed for the purpose, and a constitution was granted 
to it under which no convict could set foot upon its 
shores. Another most important feature of the con- 
stitution was that the land was to be sold at a fixed 
price, and the revenue accruing from its sale applied to 
the introduction of labour by gratuitous transport. As 
far as possible, adults of both sexes in equal proportions, 
their ages not exceeding thirty years, were brought out 
from Great Britain, and the South Australian Assoqia- 



EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 53 

tion subsequently extended its scheme of emigration by 
accepting a batch of very desirable people from Germany. 
This accounts for the great number of Germans who arc 
to be found in South Australia at the present day, and 
a splendid class of colonists they have proved them- 
selves. In deciding that the land was to be sold at a 
fixed price, the South Australian Association followed a 
very wise course. They had in their minds the great 
abuses which had happened with regard to the land 
question in New South Wales and elsewhere, under 
which the relatives and protigis of English Cabinet 
Ministers and Colonial officials were allowed to monopo- 
lise extensive areas without paying much, and sometimes 
nothing, for them. Therefore, all land in South 
Australia was to be sold at the fixed price of ;^i an 
acre, afterwards reduced to twelve shillings, and again 
restored to the original figure. Under. this liberal land 
system, free emigration and the absolute exclusion of 
convict contamination, the settlement of South Aus- 
tralia progressed with great rapidity. There was the 
further incentive to progress that, under its constitution, 
South Australia could claim the government of its own 
affairs as soon as its population reached 10,000. 

Western Australia was founded as a convict settle- 
ment in 1825, and it continued the system years after 
all the other colonies established under the same baneful 
influences had put an end to it. Curiously enough, it 
was the one colony that desired convict labour, and in 
1850 the colonists of Western Australia actually for- 
warded a petition to the British Government requesting 
it to make Swan River a convict settlement. The 
Home authorities readily acceded to their request, and 
during the ensuing eighteen years sent out no less than 
10,000 convicts. In 1 868, however, in deference to the 
unanimous wish of the whole of Australia, transportation 
from England to Western Australia was stopped. Until 



54 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

this was done the colony made no material progress. 
Indeed, it remained far behind any of the other colonies 
both in respect to increase of population and expansion 
of settlement ; and different climatic conditions and the 
non-discovery of gold within its boundaries, until recent 
years, do not entirely account for the stagnation which 
prevailed in Western Australia prior to the stoppage of 
the convict system. 

There are few students of Australian history who are 
not familiar with the story of William Buckley, " the 
wild white man of the Australian Bush," whose career 
was a most adventurous and romantic one. When 
Captain Collins called at Port Phillip in 1803 to found a 
penal settlement there, Buckley was one of the convicts 
on board the fleet. Accounts differ as to the reason of 
his transportation. It is stated that theft was the cause 
of his conviction, whilst another version is that he had 
been put on his trial for complicity in the plot amongst 
the soldiers at Gibraltar to take the Duke of Kent's 
life. What he was transported for, however, is of no 
importance. On the arrival of the convict ships at 
Port Phillip, Buckley and several others saw a chance to 
escape and took it. They were never seen afterwards 
by any one on board, and if they reached the shore 
they had evidently gone into the bush. Pursuit of them 
was out of the question. Captain Collins made up his 
mind to abandon the idea of forming a penal settlement 
there, and sailed from the place two days afterwards, 
leaving Buckley and his companions to their fate. There 
is no record of what became of Buckley's companions ; 
they must either have been drowned whilst escaping, 
were murdered by the blacks, or died from natural 
causes as years rolled on. As to Buckley himself, he 
penetrated the woods and met with a tribe of blacks 
shortly after the departure of the convict ships. They 
treated him in the most friendly way, and he became 



EXTENSION OF SETTLEMENT 55 

one of themselves. He adopted all their habits and 
customs and lived the same savage and nomadic life. 
For thirty-two years he was constantly with the 
aborigines ; in fact, he became nothing more nor less 
than a savage in all respects, and when he disclosed 
himself to the first white settlers who, in 1835, took up a 
permanent location on the shores of Port Phillip he was 
naked like the blacks themselves, with spear, boomerang 
and all the rest of the wild man's accoutrements. Soon 
after joining the tribe the savages made him a chief — 
his fine physical proportions evidently impressed them 
— and at once he l>ecame possessed of the usual number 
of "gins" allotted, as a matter of course, to one in his 
position and authority. They liked Buckley and feared 
him, too, and he exercised a powerful control over his 
own tribe and others in the surrounding country. It 
was a startling revelation to the whites when first he 
presented himself. Tanned brown though he was by 
constant exposure, the outlines of his features showed 
that he did not belong to the same race as the blacks. 
Closer examination convinced them that he was a 
European, but when they spoke to him he did not under- 
stand what they said and uttered words which to them 
were equally incomprehensible. Extraordinary as it 
may appear, Buckley had absolutely forgotten his own 
language, and it was some time before it came back to 
him after his return to civilisation. Then the early 
settlers found him most useful to them as an interpreter. 
He stayed at Port Phillip for some time, and then went 
to Hobart Town, where he died in 1856. He was about 
twenty-three years old when he escaped from the convict 
vessel and went to live amongst the savages. 

The fact of Buckley forgetting his own language 
recalls to mind the Tichborne cause cilebre. During the 
trial of that case it was contended as one of the points 
proving the imposture attempted by the burly claimant 



56 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

from Wagga Wagga that, as he could not speak or write 
French, and the real Sir Roger could do both fluently, 
therefore the claimant could not be Sir Roger. Had 
Dr. Kenealy known Buckley's history, he might have 
argued that inability on the part of his client to speak 
or write French proved nothing against him ; for here 
was an instance where a man had actually forgotten his 
mother tongue, and not an acquired language. 



CHAPTER VII 

WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE TRANSPORTATION 

SYSTEM 

IT must not be supposed that all the thousands of 
men and women who were transported to Australia 
and Van Diemen's Land were sent there because they 
had been convicted of the most heinous crimes. Many 
there were amongst them, it is true, who had been guilty 
of the highest offences known to the criminal law, and 
upon whom death sentences had been passed which, on 
account of certain extenuating circumstances, were after- 
wards commuted to penal servitude for life, or for a term 
of years long enough to give little hope that their libera- 
tion, if it ever should come, would be of much use to 
them in advanced age and infirmity. The prospect for 
these offenders was one of perpetual gloom, in chains 
and prison cells for the remainder of their existence, far 
away from every one belonging to them. They felt that 
they were consigned to a living tomb, and it was upon 
this account that transportation had worse terrors for 
many of them than death itself. They abandoned 
themselves to despair, and their misery was intensified 
once they found themselves on board a convict ship 
bound for southern seas. 

There was nothing whatever in the convict system 
of olden times which was calculated to exercise a 

57 



58 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

reforming influence upon those who became subject 
to its rigorous and unhumanising application. Their 
transit from England to the penal establishments of 
Australia and Van Diemen's Land, protracted in those 
days for many long months, was a period of un- 
speakable misery and wretchedness. Huddled together 
in numbers out of all proportion to the available 
accommodation, and chained and manacled as so 
many wild beasts might be in a travelling menagerie, 
these convicts endured tortures and agonies which it 
would be impossible to exaggerate. They could not 
look to their jailors for one gleam of sympathy or 
commiseration, because, as a rule, men were chosen to 
guard them who were brutal by nature, and did not 
hesitate to enforce a system of discipline and punish- 
ments which not only aroused all the worst passions of 
the convicts, but brutalised them and made them despe- 
rate. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that during 
these voyages many of the convicts availed themselves 
of the first opportunity that presented itself to revenge 
themselves upon their goading and merciless guards. 
Murders were by no means uncommon occurrences, and 
many of these convict ships were nothing more nor less 
than floating hells. Revolting against the systematic 
cruelties they were subjected to, it sometimes happened 
that the convicts obtained the mastery and used their 
short-lived power with unsparing vengeance before they 
could be subdued. It was, of course, all the worse for 
them in the long run ; but they could not restrain their 
passions when the moment for individual or preconcerted 
retaliation arrived. These periodical outbreaks, however, 
made their condition less endurable than ever, and their 
experiences on the convict ship, bitter as they might be, 
were as nothing compared with the barbarous treatment 
that was in store for them at the penal stations to which 
they were afterwards consigned. 



THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 59 

No greater mistake could have been made than to 
carry on a system of transportation according to the 
plan upon which it was originally conducted. Punish- 
ment instead of reformation was the one thing aimed at 
by the administrators of the criminal establishments in 
those days, and the moral regeneration of the convict 
was not attempted. Under a more enlightened system, 
the good work that might have been accomplished on 
board these convict ships would have been fruitful of 
the best results, not alone upon the convicts them- 
selves, but upon the social conditions of the colonies 
years afterwards. As it was, the average long-term 
convict disembarked a more irreclaimable and desperate 
man than he was at the time of his embarkation at 
an English port. 

The class of vessel provided for the conveyance of 
these convicts from England to her penal colonies in 
the Southern Pacific fell far short of actual requirements. 
These vessels were, as a rule, of small tonnage. A large 
amount of the available space was required for the ship's 
officers and those officers also who were in charge of the 
soldiers who were there to keep watch over the convicts 
and guard against mutiny and escape. These soldiers 
and guards had to be accommodated between decks, and 
they, too, were very often miserably provided for. Heavily 
chained, the convicts were packed below the main hatch- 
way without any regard whatever to the cubic air-space 
essential to healthy conditions. This marine prison 
extended from one side of the vessel to the other. 
The partitions at each end were loopholed, so that the 
convicts, in any attempt to overpower their guards, 
might be placed between two fires below, and the 
arrangements were such also that, if extreme measures 
of the kind were necessary, the whole compartment 
could be swept with grape-shot from end to end. Then, 
from the deck above, the prison could be fired into at 



6o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

various points, and guards were constantly on duty at 
the top and bottom of the ladder leading to the deck. 
All these precautions were necessary, of course, but, 
complete as they were, and strict as the discipline 
amongst the guards and soldiers undoubtedly was, there 
were occasions upon which serious attempts were made 
to overpower the guards and take possession of the 
vessel. Occasionally plots of this description were 
disclosed by some of the convicts themselves before 
they could be put into execution, but in some instances 
the guards were surprised and the mutiny came perilously 
near a successful termination before the mutineers could 
be subdued — not, however, before some of them had lost 
their lives, as well as two or three of the guards and 
soldiers also. These mutinies might easily have been 
averted if better treatment had been accorded to the 
convicts. But they were treated more like dogs than 
human beings ; the cruelties inflicted upon them, even 
for the smallest breach of regulations, were greater than 
can be conceived nowadays, and they were threatened 
with punishments upon arrival in Australia or Van 
Diemen's Land which prompted them to conspire 
against their jailors and attempt the seizure of the 
vessel, in order that they might effect their escape to 
some foreign land. The barbarity of their guards was 
such that, failing in their preconcerted mutiny, they 
would gladly welcome death as a release from a con- 
tinuance of the misery they endured. As a matter of 
fact, some of them took their own lives before reaching 
their destination because life in these floating prison 
hells had become intolerable to them. Others lost their 
reason, and, if they survived the passage, were incurable 
lunatics for the remainder of their existence. 

It was in the tropics that these convict ships passed 
through their most terrible experiences. Very fre- 
quently they were becalmed for weeks at a stretch. 



THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 6i 

The sun's rays pouring down upon the vessel with great 
fierceness day after day made the prison between decks 
a place fearful to contemplate. Insufficient to accom- 
modate half its number of occupants, the stench became 
abominable, without any adequate means being taken 
to improve it. The condition of things grew rapidly 
from bad to worse, and fevers and other contagious 
diseases broke out and terrorised every one. Whilst 
convicts stricken down raved in their delirium, those 
who were not yet victims heaped imprecations upon the 
Government, upon the ship, and upon every one who 
was responsible for what had happened through over- 
crowding and the absence of proper sanitary pre- 
cautions. What with the ravings of the stricken, and 
the blasphemies and profanities of that heterogeneous 
mass of criminality confined within such narrow limits, 
it would be difficult to describe the shocking reality of 
the situation when a convict ship, overtaken by a 
terrible epidemic, had the misfortune to lie becalmed 
for any length of time under a scorching tropical sun. 
Yet that was the fate of more than one vessel of the 
kind, and then it was that a mutiny of the convicts was 
most to be feared. There was always present the 
danger of the contagion spreading to those in command 
and the crews, soldiers, and guards under their control, 
and it is easy to conceive the dreadful sensations and 
apprehensions that an outbreak of disease gave rise to. 
Even under circumstances like these, the brutal treat- 
ment of the convicts went on without appreciable abate- 
ment, and the wonder is that the transportation system 
was not responsible for even greater calamities than it 
produced, and those that happened were by no means 
inconsiderable. Imagine in these more enlightened 
times a system under which ,there was no pretence 
at classification. The blood-stained murderer and the 
burglar, who would have been equally callous of the 



62 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

sacrifice of human life if the necessity of taking it 
to save him from arrest and identification presented 
itself as the only loophole of escape, were brought into 
direct contact, night and day, with first-offenders of 
recent gentility and respectability, who, in moments of, 
to them, irresistible temptation, had sacrificed all their 
prospects by one fatal deviation from honest paths, and 
abused the trust reposed in them. Still, for this one 
departure from a hitherto unblemished record, they 
found themselves on board a convict ship herding con- 
stantly with those whose whole lives constituted an 
almost uninterrupted catalogue of crime, graduating 
from small beginnings as juvenile chevaliers dHndustrie 
in Fleet Street to daring highwaymen on the King's 
high-road, and ultimately homicidal burglars of the 
most reckless type. Pickpockets there were, too, 
amongst the company who had never progressed 
beyond that initial stage of dishonesty ; and as for 
forgers and embezzlers, whose reputatiens had been 
wrecked by a single transgression, they were quite as 
numerous as any other class of offender on board these 
convict vessels. Worse still, there were also many 
young fellows who had been sentenced to various terms 
of transportation for offences which ought to have been 
summarily disposed of if the authorities of the period 
had been inspired with more intelligent ideas about the 
fitness of things and the salutariness of reformatorial 
methods. In no way, however, were punishments made 
to fit the crimes of lesser magnitude ; and, no classifica- 
tion being attempted on board these convict ships, all 
were huddled together indiscriminately. The less 
vicious were contaminated by the more hardened, 
and became willing listeners to the romantic and ex- 
aggerated recital of their exploits, which these ex-high- 
waymen and burglars lost no opportunity of narrating 
to their juvenile associates. Before very long the effect 



THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 63 

of this enforced companionship, however obnoxious and 
disagreeable it might have been at the commencement, 
manifested itself in a way to demonstrate plainly enough 
that a sort of criminal fraternity had been established 
amongst all who came under the common desigpiation 
of "prisoners of the Crown." With an all-absorbing 
interest and attention, these young people never tired of 
hearing about deeds and hairbreadth escapes, which 
were oftentimes mere inventions ; gradually they came 
to regard the narrators as heroes, whose past exploits 
were worthy of imitation in the lands which were to 
afford such ample scope for their criminal enterprises. 
There was a degree of fascination about these accounts 
of daring episodes which they could not resist. These 
sensational stories made deep impressions on their 
minds, and they longed for the time to come when they 
could eifect their escape after landing, and become 
highwaymen themselves. During the passage out 
conspiracies of this nature were formed which were 
afterwards carried into successful execution. If their 
treatment on board was but the avant-gout of what was 
afterwards in store for them during a prolonged period 
of captivity, then they must liberate themselves at all 
hazards on the first occasion that made escape possible, 
and they resolved to carry out their object at all risks. 
Thus the foundations were laid of what was afterwards 
to be known as bushranging, so called because the con- 
victs who effected their escape from the penal establish- 
ments took to the woods, or " bush," as timbered areas 
in the colonies are called, to prevent recapture, and 
carried on a career of highway robbery and outrage so 
replete with thrilling and tragic situations as to throw 
into comparative insignificance the adventures of Turpin, 
Robert Macaire, and Claude Duval. But the subject of 
bushranging must be reserved for a later chapter. 



CHAPTER VIII 

FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION — GIBBET 
HILL — DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION 

CONCURRENTLY with the scheme for ridding 
Great Britain of large numbers of its very worst class 
of criminals, the Government also resolved to experiment- 
alise upon the less hardened offenders, young men and 
women who brought themselves within the operation of 
the transportation laws for offences comparatively trivial 
— offences which a Bow Street magistrate would now 
consider sufficiently expiated by the imposition of a 
few days' imprisonment. Less than two centuries 
earlier, however, crimes of the same nature, trivial as 
they were, would have been considered of sufficient 
gravity to carry the death penalty upon conviction. In 
his History of Halifax, published in 1775, Watson says 
that a strange old law, relinquished in 1650, known as 
the Halifax Gibbet Law, was enacted here at the early 
period of the woollen manufacture. For the protection 
of the manufacturers against the thievish propensities 
of persons who stole the cloth when stretched all night 
on racks or wooden frames to dry, the Gibbet Law 
provided that all persons within a certain circuit who 
had stolen property of or above the value of 1 3 Jd. were 
to be tried by the Frith of Burghers within the Liberty, 

and if found guilty they were handed over to the 

64 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 65 

magistrate for punishment and were executed on the 
first market day following by means of an instrument 
similar to the guillotine. 

If any readers of this volume should happen to visit 
Halifax, in Yorkshire, they will see a mound on Gibbet 
Hill into which have been collected the remains of fifty- 
three malefactors who suffered decapitation between the 
years 1541 and 1650 for offences which nowadays would 
be amply punished by a few hours' detention in a police 
court lock-up. The remains of the Halifax Gibbet 
within the enclosure were discovered in the year 1840 
under a mound of earth known as the Gibbet Hill, and 
were enclosed by the trustees of the town. The public 
records preserve the names of the fifty-three persons 
beheaded on this spot between the years 1541 and 1650. 
The first on the list is Richard Bentley, of Sowerby, 
executed March 20, 1 541, and the two last were John 
Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchell, both of the same 
township, beheaded April 30, 1650. 

In the Harleian MS. (British Museum), written in a 
sixteenth-century hand, the following description of the 
Halifax Gibbet is given : " There is and hath been of 
ancient time a law or rather a custom at Halifax that 
whosoever doth commit any felony, and is taken with 
the same or confess the fact, upon examination, if it be 
valued by four constables to amount to the sum of 
thirteen pence halfpenny, he is forthwith beheaded upon 
the next market day — ^which usually falls upon the 
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays — or else upon the 
same day that he is so convicted, if market be then 
holden. The engine wherewith the execution is done is 
a square block of wood of the length of four foot and a 
half, which doth ride up and down in a slot, rabet or 
regalt, between two pieces of timber that are framed and 
set upright, of five yards in height In the nether end 
of the sliding block is an axe keyed or fastened with 



"H 



(^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

iron into the wood, which being drawn up to the top of 
the frame is there fastened with a wooden pin — the one 
end set on a piece of wood which goeth cross on the 
two rabets, and the other end being let into the block 
holding the axe, with a notch made into the same, after 
the manner of a Sampson's post — unto the midst of which 
pin there is a long rope fastened that cometh down 
among the people, so that when the offender hath made 
his confession, and hath laid his neck over the nether- 
most block, every man there doth either take hold of 
the rope, or putteth his arm so near to the same as he 
can get in token that he is willing to see true justice 
executed, and pulling out the pin in this manner, the 
head block wherein the axe is fastened doth fall down 
with such violence that, if the neck of the transgressor 
were so big as that of a bull, it should be cut in sunder 
at a stroke, and roll from the body by an huge distance. 
If it be so that the offender be apprehended for an ox 
or oxen, sheep, kine, or horse, or any such cattle, the 
self beast, or other of the same kind, hath the end of 
the rope tied somewhere unto them so that they draw 
out the the pin whereby the offender is executed. And 
thus much of Halifax law, which I set down only to 
show the custom of that country in this behalf." 

It will be seen from the foregoing account that the 
guillotine was no new thing, and that the French doctor 
of that name can lay no claim to having invented the 
machine two centuries later. Probably he had read of 
the Halifax Gibbet, and improved upon it. 

The public records show the nature of the offences for 
which these fifty-three men were executed on Gibbet 
Hill, Halifax, between the years 1541 and 1650, and 
there is one amongst the number — the last of them, 
if the author's memory is not at fault — who lost his 
head for stealing a piece of cloth of the value of nine- 
pence ! Now, the law provided that the stolen property 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 67 

should be of the value of or above thirteen pence half- 
penny ; but evidently there was no legal hair-splitting in 
those days, because the fact that it was only worth nine- 
pence did not prevent decapitation. What cruel times 
these must have been, to be sure, and what a shocking 
fate was the culprit's who was proved to have com- 
mitted a petty larceny of this nature ! The Halifax 
Gibbet is mentioned here to show what barbarous 
punishments were inflicted far into the seventeenth 
century. 

Whilst the degrees of punishment were modified and 
reduced as time went on, still larceny was a trans- 
portable offence when the penal system was resorted to 
in New South Wales, and later on in Van Diemen's 
Land, Moreton Bay, and Western Australia. Young 
men and women, convicted on comparatively minor 
charges, were sent across the seas by thousands for 
various terms, some of them of short duration. They 
had the hope held out to them that good conduct would 
ensure their liberation, because the Government wanted 
to have the places settled by a young and sturdy 
population whose labour would supply the requirenjents 
of such as went out there upon their own account. These 
young convicts were not irretrievably vicious, and many 
of them gained their liberty not long after their arrival, 
either upon the completion of their sentences or by pro- 
curing tickets-of-leave before these sentences expired. 
By good conduct also some of the long-term criminals 
were eventually allowed to go forth as " assigned 
servants " on condition that they remained within a 
particular district and reported themselves to the prison 
authorities at stated intervals. But woe betide them if 
they were ever afterwards guilty of transgressing the 
laws of the colony. Some of these libMs relapsed into 
crime, and the severity of their treatment was worse than 
what they had previously endured ; but as a rule the 



68 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

ticket-of-leave system worked tolerably well. The 
liberated convicts supplied the needs of the labour 
market, and their services were available to the free 
settlers at rates of wages far below what would have 
prevailed had the settlement been founded upon free 
emigration principles. Low as the wages were, how- 
ever, these ticket-of-leave men saved money. Even- 
tually, they were able to send home for their relatives 
and friends. From the position of " assigned servants " 
they gradually became their own masters, secured 
holdings which by hard industry they were enabled to 
convert into profitable grazing and agricultural farms ; 
some of them took to trading and commercial pursuits, 
and prospered as they never could have done in England. 
They even owned newspapers, and during the remainder 
of their lives many of these " old hands," as they were 
called in whispers to indicate to the uninitiated what 
their previous career had been, were amongst the 
wealthiest and most influential people in the community. 
If Harrington's couplet could be applied to them — 

"True patriots we, for, be it understood, 
We leiFt our country for our countr^s good" — 

they had the satisfaction of knowing that, after all, 
enforced expatriation had proved an unlooked-for bless- 
ing to themselves, for there they were surrounded by all 
the comforts and luxuries that wealth could bring them, 
their past history condoned by unrestricted social inter- 
course with those to whom the clang of prison chains 
was a sound unknown, and the flagellator's lash an unfelt 
mortification and torture. 

At the same time, it must be admitted that the ticket- 
of-leave system failed as a reforming process in number- 
less instances. It let loose upon early Colonial society 
large numbers of men — and women, too — who gave 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 69 

infinite trouble to the authorities, and made these penal 
settlements such hotbeds of crime and immorality that 
free emigration was very materially hindered for many 
years. Australia and Van Diemen's Land were looked 
upon as countries which it was very undesirable for 
decent, law-abiding people to go to, and a long period 
had to pass before the stigma was removed. Outrages 
of the most diabolical kinds were committed not only 
upon free settlers, but also upon the helpless and 
unoffending natives, who were shot down in the most 
ruthless manner by these hardened criminals, whose 
records terrorised the community and rendered life and 
property exceedingly insecure. It was a bad beginning 
for British colonisation in those distant latitudes, and it 
was mainly because of the infamous reputation thus 
attained that the early growth of those far-off posses- 
sions was so retarded. The penal settlements in those 
days offered no inducements to free people who found 
opportunities to emigrate elsewhere. Their social con- 
ditions were such as to repel settlement rather than 
attract it, and the consequence was that for very many 
years the arrivals of convicts far exceeded those who 
went out there with the object of founding homes for 
themselves on the virgin soil of Australia and Van 
Diemen's Land. In communities where the criminal class 
so largely predominated, it may be safely inferred that 
their social conditions were not of a very high standard ; 
and if the predisposition to crime may be regarded as 
a hereditary misfortune, then the convict system of 
early times must be held responsible for a large propor- 
tion of the crimes which were committed in Australia 
and Van Diemen's Land all through the earlier half of 
the last century and for years after the abolition of that 
system. If the theory as to the hereditary transmission 
of criminal instincts holds good, it is clear that the taint of 
convictism made itself manifest for several decades after 



70 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the original sources of contamination were wiped out in 
accordance with the ordinary laws of nature. 

It would be unreasonable to suppose that, because 
Australian colonisation was begun under auspices so 
unfavourable, therefore nearly the whole of its popu- 
lation to-day has sprung from convict sources. No 
idea could be more erroneous; it certainly prevails 
not only amongst the vulgar and uninformed classes of 
Great Britain, but amongst some of those from whose 
natural intelligence and education more enlightened 
impressions might be expected. Since his arrival in 
England the author has found occasion more than once 
to set people right upon the subject One lady even 
went so far as to suppose that Australians would not 
care to be questioned too closely about their grand- 
fathers, thereby insinuating that their past history was 
necessarily associated with convictism. No greater 
fallacy could exist ; but it certainly existed even in the 
mind of Lord Beauchamp when he went to Australia a 
year or two ago to assume the Governorship of New 
South Wales. In one of his earliest speeches after 
landing his Lordship made the extraordinary faiix pas 
of declaring that the people of New South Wales had 
redeemed the faults of their forefathers. It was an 
unfortunate slip of the tongue, and, as might be ex- 
pected, the people were greatly incensed at the implica- 
tion that they were all the descendants of those who had 
been taken to the Colony free of charge, accompanied 
by strong detachments of soldiery and gaol officials to 
see that they were safely conveyed to their destination » 
It was a regrettable commencement of his high office, 
and probably accounts for the fact that Lord Beauchamp 
was never so popular as many of his predecessors, 
notably Lord Carrington. 

Even in earliest times many good families of Great 
Britain emigrated to Australia and Van Diemen's Land, 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 71 

and the numbers that followed them increased as years 
rolled on, and the administration of law and justice was 
established upon a more solid basis. The natural 
advantages offered in the land of their adoption were 
so great that they determined to become permanent 
settlers. Many of them brought capital with them 
which they invested with success, and their descendants 
afterwards reaped great benefits from the colonising 
enterprise of their parents. Such favourable accounts 
were sent home of the productiveness of these lands in 
the far South, that a steady stream of emigration to 
their shores at last set in, and years before the first half 
of the century had closed the free population of Aus- 
tralia and Van Diemen's Land assumed considerable 
proportions. The discovery of gold in 185 1, however, 
proved the greatest of all incentives to free emigration — 
that is, the influx of free people — and the stream was so 
large that soon the convict element and the descendants 
of convicts were placed in a vast minority. Gold- 
seeking was the precursor to permanent settlement, to 
the occupation of vast areas of country which had 
hitherto remained in their primitive state, and such a 
general impetus was given to settlement that the popu- 
lation of Australia is considerably over four millions 
to-day. There are very few of the " old lags " left to 
remind one of the days of convictism, and the descen- 
dants of these people are infinitesimal in number com- 
pared with the millions who have no reason to blush at 
their pedigrees. What absurd nonsense, therefore, it is 
to say that Australians do not care to talk about their 
grandfathers, when their family records are quite as 
clean and irreproachable as the genealogical tracings of 
those who so ignorantly calumniate them upon the 
subject of their descent. 

The danger to the national life which was likely to 
spring from the transportation system was perceived by 



72 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the free settlers of Australia long before the tide of free 
emigration and legitimate settlement set in and removed 
any apprehensions for the future well-being of the 
colonies. Years prior to the removal of that danger, 
however, the trend of public opinion was in the direction 
of getting rid of transportation altogether, and a league 
was ultimately formed with that object. Still, there was 
a large section of the various Colonial communities in 
favour of its continuance. They preferred it because it 
placed at their disposal hired convict labour at lower 
rates of remuneration than they could hope for if this 
source of supply were stopped. Therefore they were 
anti-abolitionists, and the agitation against convictism 
encountered much strenuous opposition from such 
employers as did not trouble themselves about the 
antecedents of those whom they took into their service. 
One of these employers, writing from Van Diemen's 
Land at the period referred to, throws light upon the 
question at issue between the abolitionists and the sup- 
porters of transportation by referring to the difficulty 
experienced in getting freemen to work at the rates of 
pay then current in that island. These are his words : 
" Freemen find so many ways of making money here 
that they will not take service, and so the convicts — or, 
as they are delicately called, the prisoners — supply all 
demands of this nature, and if the histories of every 
house were made public you would shudder. Even in 
our small ininage^ our cook has committed murder, our 
footman burglary, and our housemaid bigamy." The 
writer might have gone farther and stated with equal 
candour and outspokenness, what was absolutely true, 
namely, that one effect of the hiring of prisoner servants 
at lower wages than the free men who were available 
for employment were willing to accept, was to force 
hundreds of them to leave the Colony, much to its loss 
and to the advantage of other colonies where the hiring 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 73 

of prisoners did not prevail, and within whose boundaries 
even ticket-of-leave men were not allowed to land under 
laws specially passed by the local legislatures with that 
object, notably in South Australia, Victoria, and New 
Zealand. To be known as an ex-convict at large in 
these colonies subjected him to arrest and deportation 
whence he came ; but often persons of this description 
escaped detection until the commission of some offence 
disclosed their antecedents to the authorities. Those 
who were unknown, and did nothing to bring themselves 
again within the meshes of the criminal law, became 
peaceable, orderly, and sometimes prosperous settlers in 
the exclusive colonies referred to. 

The movement against transportation began in the 
late thirties. In New South Wales in 1839 a Par- 
liamentary Committee recommended its cessation, and 
a counter agitation was immediately begun for its con- 
tinuance. The supporters of this agitation were for the 
most part well-to-do colonists in New South Wales, 
who employed a considerable amount of labour, and 
who wished for the continuance of the system in order 
that they might have convicts assigned to them at low 
rates of pay. At the same time they wanted to have 
their own burdens of taxation reduced, and coolly pro- 
posed that the colony should be relieved of the cost of 
police and gaols to the extent of one-half, and that the 
British Government should contribute that proportion. 
These utterly selfish proposals aroused great indigna- 
tion, the result being that, in obedience to popular 
opinion, the report of the Parliamentary Committee was 
given effect to by an order of the Queen in Council in 
August, 1840, that no more convicts were to be sent 
to New South Wales. The British Government still 
kept pouring them into Van Diemen's Land, however, 
and New South Wales itself was threatened once more 
with an undesirable influx such as that colony had 



74 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

already succeeded in putting a stop to. It was con- 
sidered that the time had come to make an effort to 
put an end to the transportation of convicts to any part 
of Australasia at all ; the feeling entertained by the aboli- 
tionists was that there was no real security for exemp- 
tion anywhere so long as the system was maintained in 
part, and the efforts of the colonists were now directed 
towards obtaining the complete exclusion of convicts 
from the whole, and not from any particular portions 
only, of the colonies. This they were unable to accom- 
plish for many years, owing to the attitude of the 
colonists in Western Australia ; but the immediate out- 
come of the movement was to stop transportation 
to any other part of the continent except Western 
Australia, and later on to Van Diemen's Land itself. 

The question of capital and labour was thus early 
associated with a movement in which the social, 
political, and moral improvement of Australian com- 
munities was so deeply concerned. Many employers 
for selfish reasons preferred existing conditions, and 
did their best to render the agitation abortive. But 
there were others, and happily they were in a majority, 
who placed a greater value than what affected them- 
selves personally upon the future good name of 
Australia, and the patriotic as well as philanthropic 
motives which animated them ensured the eventual 
success of their crusade against the perpetuation of that 
great stain of convictism upon the national life and 
character of Australia and the penal island adjacent to it 

What brought matters to a head was the arrival of a 
vessel in Sydney harbour, in the June of 1849, having 
between two and three hundred convicts on board. 
The colonists were taken by surprise, because nine 
years previously the British Government had under- 
taken to send no more convicts to New South Wales 
and other colonies, and many who had since come to 



\ 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 75 

reside in the colony had emigrated to it on the faith 
of the British Government's assurance that transporta- 
tion had ceased for ever. In spite of this, however, it 
was the intention of the^ authorities to land this fresh 
shipload at Sydney. Public indignation ran high, and 
an immense meeting of citizens was held to protest 
against their disembarkation and generally against the 
transportation of British criminals to the colony of New 
South Wales. The resolutions passed at that meeting 
affirmed that continued transportation was in violation 
of the will of the majority of the colonists and incom- 
patible with their existence as a free colony desiring 
self-government, that it was in the highest degree 
unjust to sacrifice the social and political interests of 
the colony at large to the pecuniary profit of a fraction 
of its inhabitants, and that therefore they protested 
against the landing of British convicts on their shores. 
The Governor was asked to send the ship and her 
convicts back to England, which he declined to do. 
The convicts were disembarked, but none of them 
were actually landed in the city. Some were sent to 
Moreton Bay and Parramatta, and others were dis- 
tributed over various parts of the colony as " assigned 
servants " to prominent colonists who were not opposed 
to the continuance^ of the convict system. Amongst 
those who took a prominent part in vigorously con- 
demning it was Mr. Robert Lowe, who was afterwards 
destined to make a great name for himself in English 
political life. Mr. Lowe had emigrated to Sydney in 
1842, having been called to the English bar in 1836. 
At Sydney he became one of its most prominent prac- 
titioners, and, entering politics, he was elected for the 
city. In 1850 Mr. Lowe withdrew from colonial 
politics, and also gave up his practice at the Sydney 
bar. Returning to London in that year, two years 
afterwards saw him in the House of Commons as 



76 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

member for Kidderminster. In 1853 ^^ joined Lord 
Aberdeen's Ministry, and in 1855 he was included in 
Lord Palmerston's Cabinet. He got returned for Calne. 
From 1859 to 1864 he was President of the Education 
Board in the second Palmerston Ministry. He sub- 
sequently declined a seat in Lord Derby's Administra- 
tion. He supported the disestablishment of the Irish 
Church, and 1868 found him Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer in Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet. In 1873 he 
became Home Secretary, and in 1880 he took his 
seat in the Upper House as Viscount Sherbrook. 
His English career was always watched with great 
interest by colonial politicians, and his efforts to put 
a stop to transportation were never forgotten by 
those with whom he was associated in that beneficent 
movement. 

The protest against transportation was forwarded 
to the British Government, and in the meantime 
the agitation, which was kept up in New South Wales, 
extended to Victoria and Van Diemen's Land, and 
nearly two years later, namely, on February i, 1851, 
the delegates of the Australasian Conference assembled 
in the Queen's Theatre, Melbourne, and drew up the 
following protest: — 

"Whereas in 1840 the practice of transporting con- 
victs to New South Wales was abandoned by the 
Crown, and whereas the Government by divers pro- 
mises engaged not to send convicts from the United 
Kingdom to New South Wales, New Zealand, Victoria, 
or King George's Sound ; and whereas by Act of the 
British Parliament transportation to South Australia 
was positively prohibited ; and whereas the colony of 
Van Diemen's Land has been deeply injured by the 
pouring in of enormous masses of transported offenders ; 
and whereas divers attempts have been made to depart 
from the letter and spirit of these promises, we engage 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 77 

not to employ any person hereafter arriving under sen- 
tence of transportation for crimes committed in Europe. 

" 2nd. That they will use all the powers they possess, 
official, electoral, and legislative, to prevent the establish- 
ment of English prisons or penal settlements within 
their bounds ; that they will refuse assent to any project 
to facilitate the administration of such penal systems, 
and that they will seek the repeal of all r^ulations and 
the removal of all establishments for such purposes. 

"And, lastly, that they solemnly engage with each 
other to support by their advice, their money, and their 
countenance all who may suffer in the lawful promotion 
of this cause." 

There was no beating about the bush in this remon- 
strance. The Australasian League meant all it said, and 
gave convincing proof of its earnestness and determina- 
tion in the matter. The historical document just quoted 
was signed by J. West, minister of St. John's Square 
Chapel, Launceston, and W. P. Weston, gentleman, as 
delegates for Tasmania ; and by the Mayor of Mel- 
bourne (William Nicholson), William Westgarth, M.L.C., 
and William M. Bell, Alderman, as del^ates for Victoria. 
The agitation was vigorously maintained, because the 
colonists set themselves determinedly to work to force 
the English Government to stop the transportation of 
criminals to Van Diemen's Land, and in 1853 their 
efforts were rewarded with success, the Duke of New- 
castle intimating that their representations were acceded 
to. Transportation to New South Wales had ceased in 
1839 or 1840 (except the surprise shipment in 1849), 
and to Queensland (except the contingent in 1849 ^^^om 
Sydney harbour). Consequently, Western Australia was 
the only place left open for the reception of convicts, 
and that colony took them in until 1868, when the force 
of public opinion put an end to the system. 

Therefore, nearly three-and-thirty years have elapsed 



78 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

since the last transported convict from Great Britain set 
foot upon Australian soil. Grouping together all parts 
of Australia and Van Diemen's Land, the total number 
of British convicts landed on their shores since trans- 
portation to New South Wales began in 1788 until it 
ceased in Western Australia in 1868 was 137,161. Of 
these 116,842 were males and 20,319 females. The 
largest proportions of both sexes, as will be seen later 
on, were conveyed to Van Diemen's Land. 

In view of the thrilling events which have been taking 
place recently in South Africa, it will be interesting to 
know what was done by the colonists of Cape Colony 
to resist the attempt which was made to introduce the 
convict system into that part of Great Britain's posses- 
sions. Although two years previously it had been 
publicly declared by Earl Grey that no colony not 
heretofore a penal one should be made a receptacle for 
convicts without its own consent, by an Order in Council 
the Cape was proclaimed a penal colony in 1849, and 
on the 19th September of that year the ship Neptune 
arrived in Simon's Bay with several hundred convicts 
on board from the Bermudas. The ship took five 
months to get there, and in the meantime a strong 
anti-convict agitation arose over all South Africa. 
John Mitchel, the celebrated Irish exile, was amongst 
those on board the Neptune — of course, treated differ- 
ently from the rest as a political offender sentenced to 
fourteen years* transportation — and Mr. Mitchel records 
in his most interesting Jail Journal the position of affairs 
at the Cape as he found them on the arrival of the 
Neptune in Simon's Bay : " The people have forced 
the Legislative Council to dissolve itself ; the Governor, 
Sir Harry Smith, was compelled a month ago to pro- 
mise that when the Neptune should arrive he would not 
suffer one convict to land ; and the colonists themselves, 
tradesmen, merchants, butchers, bakers, innkeepers, and 



FURTHER REMARKS UPON TRANSPORTATION 79 

all, have combined to a man in an universal * Anti- 
Convict Association/ vowing that they will neither 
employ any convict, sell anything to any convict, give 
a convict a place to lay his head, or deal with, coun- 
tenance, or speak to any traitor who may so comfort or 
abet a convict, from the Governor down to the black 
coolies and boatmen. As we were so long at sea, the 
excitement and effective organisation had time to grow 
strong — ^newspapers, public meetings, pulpits had been 
loud and furious ; and so, when we, all unconscious, 
sailed up False Bay to-day, the Cape was fully ready 
for us. Before we made the harbour of Simon's Bay 
(which is a small basin inside False Bay, about twenty 
miles from Capetown) the Neptune was known by her 
signals, and a boat from the shore hailed us. It was 
the harbour-master of Simon's Bay bringing Dr. Dees 
a note from the Governor, ordering him to cast anchor 
in the bay, and neither to go ashore himself nor suffer 
any communication between the ship and the shore till 
further orders. The same gentleman brought a bundle 
of Cape newspapers, that we might see the doings of 
the * Anti-Convict Association,' and how impossible it 
is for the cargo of felony to be unloaded here. The 

harbour-master also handed me a letter from ; and 

a gentleman who came off* with him introduced himself 
to me as Dr. Steward, * Health Officer ' of the port ; 
gave me some newspapers which he had brought for 
me, and told me that, so far as I am concerned, there 
is no objection to my landing on the part of the people 
— that they understand quite well how I happen to be 
here, that none of this agitation, * of course,' has refer- 
ence to me, and so forth — adding something of an 
apologetic nature about the popular violence. I told 
him I was delighted to find the colonists so determined 
to resist the abominable outrage attempted by 'Govern- 
ment' — that they were completely in the right, and I 



8o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

hoped they would stand out to the last extremity — that 
as to myself, though everybody indeed knew I was no 
felon, yet I could not expect the people here to make 
any distinction in my favour ; they were engaged in a 
great struggle, involving the very existence of their 
society, and could not afford to attend to particular 
exceptions. He seemed surprised at my warmth ; but 
I was willing to let the first Cape man who spoke to 
me know what I think of the business. 

"The harbour-master informs me that every one at 
the Cape, knowing we had left Bermuda five months 
ago, had concluded that the ship must have gone down 
with all hands, and that so the Colony would be saved 
the struggle it has been preparing for. In fact, several 
Clergymen have been praying to God in their pulpits, to 
avert the infliction, and complacently remarking in their 
sermons upon the presumed loss of the Neptune with 
every soul on board as one of the most special provi- 
dences yet recorded." 

The agitation spread throughout Cape Colony and 
became of so serious a character that rebellion would 
unquestionably have been the result if the Government 
had insisted upon the unloading of the Neptun^s con- 
victs at the Cape ; but after the ship, with her living 
freight, had ridden at anchor in Simon's Bay from 
September 19, 1849, to February 13, 1850, despatches 
were received from Lord Grey stating that the Neptune 
was to proceed forthwith to Van Diemen's Land. She 
sailed on the 19th, and there were public rejoicings and 
illuminations in all the towns of Cape Colony on the 
night following her departure. Cape Colony was thus 
saved from the taint of convictism. 

It will be seen that the imitation against the Cape 
Colony being made a penal settlement was almost 
simultaneous with the movement in Sydney to resist the 
landing of any more convicts there. 



CHAPTER IX 

IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 

ANY ONE who is privileged, as the author has been, 
with recourse to the archives in Sydney and 
Hobart, will be able to form a tolerably accurate notion 
of the position of affairs in New South Wales and Van 
Diemen's Land at the periods when penal settlements 
were founded in the respective colonies. If he desires 
to study the subject with more than ordinary minuteness, 
he will have to wade through a mass of details which 
become somewhat monotonous by reiteration. Fusty 
parchments, and other manuscripts, printed gazettes and 
papers in various stages of mutilation and decay, will 
require to be scanned before he can hope to evolve from 
the abundant material placed at his disposal anything in 
the shape of a chronological narrative of events. To 
make researches of this description would dispose of far 
more time than the average mortal feels willing to devote 
to the task, and that was precisely the author's experi- 
ence when permission was courteously granted to him 
to peruse and examine the earliest and latest records of 
Van Diemen's Land under the convict system. Without 
imposing upon himself the extreme arduousness of such 
a gigantic undertaking, which would have consumed 
many months in the performance of it, the author was 
compelled to restrict his inquiries to such features of the 
earlier history of Van Diemen's Land as would enable 

7 8l 



82 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

him to disencumber his recital from details not only 
wearisome to his readers, but unnecessarily superfluous 
in a general -description of convict life and character. 
To render his work still more reliable, the author not 
only consulted the public records, but visited localities 
which had been the scenes of so much human misery, 
brutality, and vengeance. He saw many of the old 
prisons, which have become dilapidated ruins — enough of 
them still left to give one a fair idea of the plan of their 
construction with a view to afford the least degree of 
comfort to the unfortunate wretches who were sent there, 
and at the same time to provide the most effectual 
means and appliances for their punishment. But if one 
wishes to familiarise himself with what actually happened 
at these dreadful establishments from time to time, he 
must consult the newspaper literature of the period, such 
as it was ; for, although Press censorship was not an 
unknown institution in those days, exposures were some- 
times made which showed that a very revolting state of 
affairs existed for many years after the convict system 
was introduced into Van Diemen's Land. Despite all 
attempts at suppression on the part of the authorities, 
revelations of a most unpleasant kind found their way 
into print. Such of the convicts as managed to elude 
the vigilance of their jailors and procure their freedom 
at great risks, availed themselves of every possible 
opportunity to expose the brutal system ; and, to their 
credit be it said, some of the prison chaplains, shocked 
at the enormities which were perpetrated at these penal 
settlements, did not hesitate to remonstrate strongly 
against them. In later years. Bishop Wilson and other 
men equally humane and incensed, launched powerful 
indictments against the treatment of the convicts, and 
a perusal of the records of both Houses of the British 
Parliament will show that the charges against the system 
were unfortunately too well founded. 



IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 83 

It mattered little in earlier times whether the convict 
was located at Hobart Town, in the bleak and inhospit- 
able regions of Macquarie Harbour, or later still at Port 
Arthur or on Maria Island — there was no material 
difference in the nature of the punishments inflicted on 
him, and it would be a stretch of the imagination to 
suppose that worse things have ever happened in Siberia. 
Weighted down with heavy chains, which made walking 
exceedingly difficult, the convict was required to toil in 
the woods or in the immediate neighbourhood of his 
prison, from day to day and month to month, without 
hope of his fetters ever being removed or the exactions 
upon his powers of physical endurance made less irk- 
some or hard to bear. If he complained that he was 
too ill to continue with his gang, no relief was forth- 
coming. His physical weakness was called malingering, 
and his complainings only increased the brutality of his 
jailors and sent him to the triangle, where fifty lashes, 
and sometimes a hundred, upon his bared back and loins 
were applied as a preventive of any complaints in future. 
Flogging was resorted to for sometimes the most trivial 
breaches of prison discipline, and the cat was painfully 
in evidence upon many occasions when there was not 
the slightest justification for recourse to that method of 
punishment. Solitary confinement, for days and even 
weeks, upon the most inadequate sustenance, was fre- 
quently the sequel to the barbarous lash, and if the con- 
victs survived the trying ordeal, they emerged from it with 
a fixed determination to revenge themselves whenever 
they had the chance, by taking the lives of those whose 
cruelties had converted their hearts to stone and made 
them utterly reckless and desperate, careless of prolonged 
existence after the accomplishment of the deeds of ven- 
geance they had resolved to perpetrate upon their 
inhuman persecutors. Many of them succumbed before 
they had the opportunity, and straight from the triangle 



84 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

to the deadhouse was the last record of some who ceased 
to live before the full number of lashes could be inflicted 
upon them. It was an offence to some of the prison 
officials if a convict endured his flagellation unflinchingly 
and then the cat was applied more ferociously to break 
his spirit and ensure submissiveness. But the cruellest 
part of the proceedings at these penal establishments 
was when a man was called upon to flog a fellow convict, 
and, if he refused to comply, straight away he was 
fastened to the triangle and as many lashes administered 
as suited the whim of the monster whose odious com- 
mand had been disobeyed. Orders of this description, 
however, were sometimes given effect to by convicts of 
weaker spirit who dreaded the lash more than anything 
else, and if they displayed any merciful feelings by 
making their strokes lighter than it was considered 
they should be, they were instantly threatened with 
flagellation, and the force of their strokes was increased 
accordingly. 

The discipline was so rigorous and the punishments 
so severe at these penal establishments, that instances 
occurred where convicts took each other's lives so that 
they themselves might suffer death, and suicide was by 
no means infrequent. 

Incredible as it may seem, but only too well sub- 
stantiated by positive testimony, incidents of this kind 
sometimes happened. Convicts, maddened to despair, 
brooded over the sufferings inflicted upon them, and seeing 
no possible means of escape, resolved to face death as the 
only release from tortures and agonies which were truly 
revolting. Utterly careless of their lives, three or four of 
these men who were subjected to treatment so diabolical 
would conspire amongst each other to put an end to 
sufferings which were beyond endurance. How was this 
to be accomplished ? They decided the question in this 
way : they drew lots, and one of their number — the 



IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 85 

man who drew the shortest straw — was to be murdered 
by the others, so that they might be hanged for his 
murder. The man who drew the shortest straw was 
called the lucky one, and he was soon despatched out of 
his misery. There was no effort to deny how he had 
come by his death ; self-accusation served the purpose 
of his murderers, and they were executed for a crime 
which they had arranged amongst themselves to commit 
in order that the scaffold might claim its voluntary 
victims. " Anywhere, anywhere out of the world," it 
mattered not how ignominiously, was a welcomed 
termination to their miserable and brutalised existence 
in the penal prisons of Van Diemen's Land. The 
instruments of torture at these places were various, and 
always too ready at hand ; the iniquities of the Spanish 
Inquisition were perpetrated with impunity upon help- 
less victims, and the poor wretches courted death and 
met it voluntarily and unflinchingly, as though it had 
been a Heavert-sent deliverance from their dreadful 
trials. It is with shame one has to admit that such 
things were not only possible under the convict system, 
but that they actually took place in the penal establish- 
ments of Van Diemen's Land and Australia until the 
exposure of these inhuman outrages led to their discon- 
tinuance. Had the British Government and people of a 
past generation been sooner apprised of them, it is only 
just to their feelings of humanity to believe that drastic 
measures would have been taken at a much earlier 
period to punish those who were responsible for these 
atrocities, and to reform the transportation system. 

With other convicts, who thought neither of suicide 
nor of murder to ensure execution, escape was the one 
thing which was ever present in their minds, and months 
and years rolled by before they were able to emancipate 
themselves in that way. The most surprising thing of 
all is, that so many managed to get away. In the first 



86 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

place they were chained and weighted with irons to an 
extent that rendered flight an apparent impossibility. 
Secondly, they were so strongly guarded that to elude 
detection and pursuit seemed hopeless. The natural 
features of the localities were such that the prison 
officials had no misgivings about the absolute security 
of the convicts. Every avenue of escape was provided 
with its sentry, and watch dogs were kennelled at various 
points to raise the alarm if escapes were attempted. If 
he broke prison and succeeded in reaching the rockbound 
shores of his island prison, the runaway convict had next 
to swim across channels where sharks abounded before 
he could reach the mainland. Yet, in spite of all these 
precautions for their safe custody, and difficulties which 
seemed insurmountable, convicts were able to get away, 
sometimes by ones and twos, and occasionally in bands 
of half a dozen and upwards. They watched for their 
opportunity, and it came at last Some fortunate 
circumstance enabled them to secrete an instrument of 
some kind which served to file their fetters through, and, 
once one of their number was released from these impedi- 
ments, the liberation of his comrades from their chains 
was easily accomplished. Implicit confidence in the 
security of these convicts conduced to a laxity of 
vigilance on the part of their keepers, and by a sudden 
and unexpected rush the former were able to dispose of 
their immediate guardians before any alarm could be 
raised. Then they managed to get clean away, and 
surmounted every obstacle to their liberty. Some of 
these attempts failed utterly, and the convicts were 
either shot dead or they surrendered. One of the best 
chances of escape lay in their ability to seize a vessel and 
put to sea before they could be recaptured. When that 
opportunity did not present itself, then the mainland 
must be reached, and even then their liberty was of 
short duration. The inhospitable nature of the country. 



IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 87 

and the difficulty of procuring food, forced many of them 
to return to the beach and give themselves up, and 
pitiable was the plight which reduced them to this bitter 
necessity. Others, who were able to endure greater 
privations than their companions, penetrated far into the 
interior and became outlawed bushrangers, for whose 
arrest considerable rewards were offered by the Govern- 
ment from time to time. For years some of them 
baffled all the measures that were adopted for their re- 
capture ; but when this was effected their penalty was 
death on the scaffold at Hobart Town, unless it was 
clearly proved that their escape had been accomplished 
without murder, and that they had taken no one's life 
during the period of outlawry. Then they were sent 
back through " Hell's gates " to Macquarie Harbour, or 
Port Arthur, if that was the establishment they had 
absconded from subsequently to the abandonment of 
Macquarie Harbour, which was the original receptacle 
for the worst class of convicts. 

It would be wrong to imagine that convicts were 
treated with much less severity either at Moreton Bay, 
Cockatoo Island, or other penal establishments which 
were founded as portions of the system which was 
originally introduced into New South Wales. But more 
convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land than any- 
where else ; the stations there were more romantically 
situated and isolated to an extent that removed them 
from public supervision, and permitted abuses to exist 
which might have been checked if Macquarie Harbour, 
for instance, had been nearer to the capital. Van 
Diemen's Land gained a greater notoriety than any 
other colony in connection with the system of trans- 
portation, and the desperate escapes which were made 
from its prisons invested the colony with a degree of 
interest and attention specially its own. The capital 
itself was a hotbed of all sorts of crime and iniquity in 



88 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the days of Governor Sorell, and for years afterwards. 
It was quite a common thing for officers and others to 
keep female convicts as their mistresses, and vice and 
immorality were the outcomes to be expected from a 
system which allowed free settlers and military men to 
make their own selection of " assigned prisoners " as 
servants. Free and bond appear to have been tarred 
with the same brush, if reliance can be placed on the 
early chroniclers of existing social conditions. The 
written pictures of life in Hobart Town indicate pretty 
clearly that the military portion of the population could 
do exactly what they pleased, and, as may be inferred, 
the morals of the place did not improve from this 
unbridled license. Drunkenness was very rampant, and 
illicit intercourse between bond and free was too general 
to be regarded as a subject for remonstrance or reproach. 
In those days murders and other personal outrages were 
of frequent occurrence, and floggings and hangings were 
spectacles that could be witnessed at intervals which 
were neither few nor far between. Occasionally, as many 
as six or eight condemned prisoners were launched into 
eternity upon the same morning ; and, as far as floggings 
are concerned, the billets of the official flagellators were 
no sinecures. The victims were many, and the punish- 
ments unmercifully severe and sometimes fatal. In the 
prisons themselves, not only in Hobart Town, but at 
Macquarie Harbour, Port Arthur, and Maria Island, 
crimes were committed of a nature too revolting to be 
recounted in these pages. Any one desirous of perusing 
the unsavoury details need not go so far away as Sydney 
or Hobart to get nauseated with that kind of reading. 
All he has got to do is to refer to the evidence given 
before Select Committees of the House of Lords and 
House of Commons, and he will find that the convict 
system has never been too severely condemned, nor the 
brutalities and villainies practised under that system 



IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 89 

overdrawn for purposes of sensationalism. The wonder 
is that these penal stations were not broken up long 
before the mandate went forth to abolish them. Possibly 
if public opinion on the question in the colonies had not 
been so pronounced, their abolition would have been 
still further delayed. 

Between the years 1803 and 1853 the total number of 
convicts landed in Van Diemen's Land was 67,655, of 
whom 56,042 were males and 11,613 females. What an 
enormous proportion of the entire population of the 
colony was represented by these figures ! Nearly half a 
century has elapsed since the system was put an end to 
there, and a great alteration in the social conditions of 
the place has ensued in the meantime. So far as order- 
liness is concerned, Hobart will compare favourably with 
any other city of the same size in Australasia ; and from 
a moral standpoint it will likewise stand the test of 
comparison, whilst for downright, genuine and unstinted 
hospitality it is not to be surpassed. One would 
naturally expect a different state of things in a city 
which was the scene of so much outrage, disorder, and 
immorality little more than half a centur>' ago, and he is 
agreeably surprised when he finds the city of Hobart 
what it really is to-day. The fact is, that as soon as 
they were able to do so, the bulk of the worst criminal 
class in Van Diemen's Land migrated elsewhere, and 
the goldfields of California and Australia absorbed a 
large number of these undesirable people. It was a good 
riddance for Van Diemen's Land, and the consequence 
is that the population differs in no essential features 
from other Australasian communities. 

It is true that if the traveller wishes to see the last 
relics of convictism, and to hear thrilling stories of con- 
vict life, Tasmania is the place to go to. If the subject 
deeply interests him, trips to Macquarie Harbour, Port 
Arthur, and Maria Island, will supply him with abun- 



'N 



90 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

dant material for reflection, and in Hobart itself he will 
see the ruins of the old prison at The Cascades, where 
thousands of prisoners from time to time passed through 
some terrible ordeals. Probably dilapidation has not 
yet made sufficient headway as to have obliterated the 
general plan upon which the cells were constructed, with 
their double doors, between which a prisoner was made 
to stand for forty-eight hours at a stretch without the 
possibility of changing his position. They were specially 
constructed with that object. 

The average Tasmanian is by no means reticent upon 
a subject so delicate as convictism. He does not regard 
it as in any way a reflection upon his generation. If it 
has been a disgrace in the past, he considers that he is 
not affected by it now. Some " old hands " are still to 
be met with whose experiences have been bitter under 
the convict system, but they will not feel offended if you 
attempt to " draw " them on the subject. Indeed, they 
take a pleasure in referring to old times, and their eyes ^ 

will glisten with delight as they recount some of the 
daring exploits performed by themselves and some 
comrades who have passed away. During one of his 
visits to the island about twenty years ago, the author 
saw that some indefatigable advance agent had painted 
the city red with posters announcing the production of 
the " Ticket-of- Leave Man." Happening to be ac- 
quainted with the impresario, the author on meeting him 
expressed surprise that he should venture upon the 
staging of a melodrama like this in a place which had 
been the hotbed of convictism. 

" Don't you think the people here will regard it as a « 

reflection upon themselves, and may take measures to ' 

resent the insult?" ! 

" My dear boy, they will do nothing of the kind. 
They rather like this sort of thing. Just wait and see. 
Come along to the theatre to-night, and you will see 



IN OLD CONVICT DAYS AND AFTER 91 

how the place is packed. It is the very thing to scoop 
in the dollars ; the * Ticket-of- Leave Man ' is the trump 
card of my repertoire." 

It was as the impresario had foretold. When the 
author went to the theatre he found the house filled in 
every part. The gentleman who accompanied him was 
able, from his official position, to indicate some of the 
"old hands" amongst the audience. There was also 
present a numerous sprinkling of convict descendants. 
The applause was deafening as the curtain descended at 
the termination of each act, and quite an ovation was 
accorded to Bob Brierly and Hawkshaw, the detective. 

After that evening's experience the author had no 
feelings of compunction in pursuing his inquiries about 
convict life in Van Diemen's Land. 



y 



CHAPTER X 



BUSHRANGIN G 



ONE of the earliest products of convictism was 
bushrang^ng, a species of highway robbery and 
outrage upon a far greater scale than anything of the 
sort known in the old world. It was called bushranging 
from the fact that the forests of Australia and Van 
Diemen's Land afforded a safe harbour of refuge and 
concealment to those who engaged in the lawless enter- 
prise. The first to become bushrangers were those who 
had succeeded in making their escape from the penal 
establishments. In their wild and unsettled condition 
these countries gave the fullest scope for bushranging 
exploits, and the authorities were unable to secure the 
outlaws despite the large rewards that were offered from 
time to time for their capture. When a convict man- 
aged to get away, his first care was to penetrate as far 
into the forests as possible, so as to induce his pursuers 
to give up the chase. If he was able to procure food of 
any kind he kept away, but many instances occurred 
where escaped convicts returned and surrendered them- 
selves voluntarily because they were unable to sustain 
themselves and so prolong their liberty. In that event, 
floggings were administered of a severity to deter them 
from any future attempts at escape; their chains and 
fetters were doubled, and generally speaking they had 



•1 



92 



BUSHRANGING 93 

to submit to a course of prison treatment far more 
t rigorous and hard to bear than they had previously been 

subjected to. Knowing the fate that was in store for 
them, surrenders were only made to save themselves 
from starvation. They were pitiable objects to see 
when their jailors again got hold of them. Emaciated 
to an extent beyond recognition, they would certainly 
have died in the bush if they had not managed to crawl 
back to the vicinity of the prison stations, and they 
devoured, more like wolves than human beings, the food 
that was thrown to them after surrender. Those who 
gave themselves up had taken to the bush without arms 
or ammunition, and were unable therefore to procure 
any of the birds or animals with which the bush 
abounded, and tliey were absolutely without means of 
any kind to procure what food was necessary to their 
sustenance. Some of them died of starvation before 
they could get back to the penal stations. Other 
escapers were more fortunate. They managed to provide 
themselves ^^th arms and ammunition in their flight, 
and they had no reason to give back their liberty. 
They wandered about in these lonely forests for months 
in their own companionship, and by degrees managed 
to come upon the fringes of settlement in far outlying 
districts. Food was no longer all they cared for. They 
wanted clothing and money and horses to ride. They 
swooped down upon the unsuspecting settlers in these 
. isolated localities and took all they wanted. They 
formed themselves into gangs, with recognised leaders 
to each, and became more emboldened after each act of 
brigandage. They had always the dark recesses of the 
forest to retreat to if superior force threatened them, 
and they could carry on their depredations with im- 
punity. They were outlawed by proclamation, but that 
was about all the authorities could do in the matter. 
They could not get at them, and large rewards for their 



94 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

capture were for a long time of no avail. Outlying 
settlers were terrorised, but they had to submit to the 
demands of the outlawed men and surrender to them 
whatever they required. There was, of course, a good 
deal of the convict element in these far-off settlements — 
men and women who were there on ticket-of-leave, and 
they had a good deal of sympathy for the bushrangers, 
because they had all once belonged to the same family 
and had endured the same sort of rigorous treatment at 
the penal stations. Inform on them or assist in the re- 
capture of these bushrangers they certainly would not. 
The opposite was exactly what they did. From these 
sources the bushrangers always knew when and where 
danger lurked, and the officers of the law were baffled 
accordingly in their efforts to hunt them down. Some- 
times they came near effecting their purpose, and these 
conflicts between the bushrangers and police ended with 
a fatality or two on each side, and the rest of the gang 
got clean away. They were always assisted by settlers 
of their own class, and were never in want of anything 
it was in the power of these settlers to provide them 
with. Gradually evincing greater boldness, the bush- 
rangers took to such high-roads as then existed, and 
"stuck up" whomsoever they came across and eased 
them of everything they possessed — money, valuables, 
and even clothing. It fared worse with these victims if 
they offered any resistance, for in that event some of 
these desperadoes showed little regard for life, and 
added murder to their other crimes. Many of these 
bushrangers, however, never stained their hands with 
human blood, and were never known to harm a woman, 
although women frequently came within their power. 
Indeed, so far from maltreating them in any way, a 
bushranger has been known to shoot dead a companion 
who has attempted to take advantage of a woman's 
helplessness, and this record has saved many a bush- 



BUSH RANGING 95 

ranger from the scaffold after his recapture. But there 
were amongst these bushranging gangs men who would 
not hesitate to perpetrate the worst atrocities in cold 
blood. Society had outlawed them, and the nature and 
extent of their retaliation were to them matters of the 
smallest concern. They stopped at nothing, but robbed, 
outraged and murdered as their moods prompted them, 
and as considerations for their own safety suggested the 
removal of evidence against them by the despatch of 
their victims. With so many of these outlaws at large, 
the condition of things in the early days of New South 
Wales and Van Diemen's Land was far from pleasant 
Nobody's life was really safe, and as for property there 
was little or no security at all. Horses, cattle and sheep 
on the out-stations were practically at the mercy of 
these gangs, and mobs of them were seized and driven 
away to their fastnesses far beyond the bounds of 
civilisation. The impunity with which all these lawless 
acts were committed had an ill effect upon the rising 
generation. Lads budding into manhood regarded 
these bushrangers as heroes, and longed for a chance to 
imitate their exploits. It came, of course, and they 
became bushrangers, too — young fellows, even, whose 
people had gone to the colonies upon their own account, 
and whose sons had not the curse of heredity upon them 
to drive them into evil courses. But bushranging had 
such a fascination for these young colonials that they 
could not resist its temptations. And so bushranging 
grew apace. 

In later years it grew to such dimensions that the 
authorities were obliged to take the most vigorous 
measures to suppress it. The necessity for extirpating 
it became 'so pressing that tempting rewards were 
offered, and mixed parties of police and settlers 
organised to capture various gangs. These steps were 
required to be taken in Australia and Van Diemen's 



96 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Land, for alike on the Continent and in that island, 
bushranging had established a reign of terror. The 
discovery of gold in Australia gave it a fresh impetus, 
and gangs were formed in districts where the best hauls 
were to be expected. To rob the gold escorts was their 
highest ambition, and in some cases they succeeded in 
doing this and getting away with valuable booty. Going 
and returning diggers were stuck up and robbed, and 
their lives taken in many instances. Mounted troopers 
were shot down, and travelling upon the high-roads in 
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western 
Australia was at all times attended with considerable 
risks. Stations were bailed up, and the inmates held 
prisoners, while the bushrangers robbed them and the 
place of everything they could carry off. It was not an 
uncommon thing for these lawless men to compel the 
runholder's wife or daughter to sit down at the piano 
and play while they either sang or danced to the 
involuntary music. And they have been known to 
carry on their orgies for two or three days and nights 
before they decamped. Time and again they have 
stuck up banks in broad daylight, and got clean away 
with all the money they could lay their hands on, whilst 
the bank officials, gagged and tied, were unable to raise 
any alarm. The robbers, with loaded revolvers in their 
hands, bailed up any customers who might come in, 
and secured them likewise. They ransacked the place, 
took all the notes and gold that were available, and 
then rode off. They have been even known to bail 
up police stations and carry off all the arms and ammu- 
nition they wanted. There was no limit to their 
audacity, and when they chanced to get possession of 
a licensed house, as they often did, wild excitement 
followed, and the orgies were kept up for a whole night 
or two, no one daring to leave the premises all that time. 
The most noted of these bushrangers were Captain 



BUSHRANGING 97 

Melville, Daniel Morgan, Harry Power, Macgregor 
{alias the Wild Scotchman), John Dunn, John Gilbert, 
Ben Hall, Fred Ward {alias Captain Thunderbolt), 
Frank Gardiner (the hero of Rolf Boldrewood's novel, 
"Robbery Under Arms"), and the Kelly Gang. It 
took a long time to get the upper hand of these desperate 
characters and the gangs they directed, but by degrees 
they were shot down or captured, and either hanged or 
sentenced to penal servitude for lengthened terms. 
Boldrewood's hero got 32 years, but was released in 
1874 ^^ condition that he left the Colony. Gardiner 
went to America. The Kelly gang was the last of any 
magnitude that had to be disposed of, and its end was a 
very tragic one. The gang had sallied down from the 
Wombat Ranges, and in broad daylight stuck up a bank 
in Euroa, getting clean away with the booty. After- 
wards all the gang except its leader, Ned Kelly, took 
possession of the public«house at Glenrowan, making 
prisoners of all the inmates and carrying on scenes of 
the wildest dissipation, drinking and dancing, and 
occasionally threatening the inmates with their revolvers. 
Of course, no one dared to leave the premises ; but a 
schoolmaster, who had seen where the bushrangers had 
torn -up the rails in order to wreck a train, not only gave 
information in time to prevent that disaster, but to 
summon a strong force of police from Melbourne. These 
surrounded the public-house at Glenrowan — shortly 
afterwards visited by the author — and called upon the 
gang to surrender. No answer being made to the 
summons, the police fired into the building, and while 
doing so Ned Kelly emerged from the bush heavily 
armed, and began firing at the police. The latter 
returned his fire, but to their surprise none of the 
shots took effect. A closer examination showed that 
Kelly had on a suit of armour made out of plough- 
shares. An unprotected portion of his leg was then 

8 



98 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

aimed at, a bullet penetrated his leg, and he felL Then 
he was immediately surrounded and taken prisoner, 
tried shortly afterwards in Melbourne and executed. 
When the public-house was entered, it was discovered 
that all the members of the gang had been shot dead. 
Fortunately, none of the inmates had been injured, but a 
boy in the house opposite was struck by a bullet from 
the gang intended for the police. This tragic extinction 
of the Kelly gang may be said to have put an end to 
bushranging in Australia ; and, although many cases of 
highway robbery under arms have since occurred, still 
bushranging, as it was formerly known, is a dreaded 
institution of the past, and people can now travel about 
that country with as much safety as in any other part of 
the world. But in the suppression of bushranging many 
lives were lost, and the police and settlers often incurred 
great personal risks in the capture of the outlaws. 
Several signal acts of courage on the part of the police 
were rewarded by money grants and well-deserved pro- 
motions, and in most cases where civilians rendered 
valuable assistance, their co-operation was recognised in 
a liberal spirit by the authorities. But for the resolute 
policy of extermination determined on by the Govern- 
ments of the respective Colonies, and the help rendered 
to the police by colonists themselves, bushranging 
would have been going on till this day. It was one of 
the worst relics of the old convict system. 

In Van Diemen*s Land one of the most troublesome 
bushrangers of olden times was Michael Howe, who was 
shot dead in 1818. Others of less notoriety followed, 
and were either captured or shot; and in later years 
Martin Cash, who may be termed the Dick Turpin of 
Van Diemen's Land, was the hero of the most astound- 
ing enterprises and escapes* Later still, Mooney and 
Quigley were the reigning terrors of the island ; and 
when the author saw them nearly twenty years ago they 



BUSHRANGING 99 

were both inmates of the criminal lunatic asylum at The 
Cascades in Hobart. Mooney, white-headed and bed- 
ridden, never gave his tongue a rest from oaths and 
profanities of the vilest kind, and was most troublesome 
to his keepers. Quigley, uncommonly tall and of 
powerful frame, was not much better than the wretch 
in the adjoining cell, and as his mania was homicidal the 
keepers required to keep a vigilant watch over his 
movements. Mooney and Quigley were two of the 
most bloodthirsty scoundrels who had ever taken to the 
bush in Van Diemen's Land. Other bushrangers, who 
were known never to have taken life, either surrendered 
or were captured from time to time, and, after undei^oing 
sentences of penal servitude, became peaceable and 
prosperous settlers. In company with Inspector Pedder, 
the author once visited an ex-bushranger, for whose 
capture a substantial reward was at one time offered. 
He was now a well-to-do and peaceable farmer on a 
holding under the shadow of Mount Wellington. He 
conversed freely about scenes he had passed through in 
his bushranging days, and stated that nothing but the 
cruelties he had suffered in the penal stations would 
have induced him to escape and take to the bush. He 
had settled down on his farm and prospered, but nothing 
could induce the old man to abandon his old house and 
take up his quarters in the substantial edifice adjoining 
it which had been erected by his family. Rifle in hand, 
he made frequent excursions into the bush, and his only 
regret was that 'possums and other game had become so 
scarce. There were several others like him to be met 
with in Tasmania, ex-bushrangers for whose capture 
rewards had been offered, the afler parts of whose lives 
were as peaceable and prosperous as that old man's, and 
ending their days contented, comfortable and well-off. 
Since then most of them must have passed away ; but 
while they lived they made no effort to disguise their 



r^ft' 



PA\i 



100 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

antecedents ; on the contrary, they rather liked to talk 
about old times, and very entertaining their narrations 
were of events in which they took a prominent part 
during the period of their outlawry. Martin Cash's 
career must have been full of thrilling episodes and 
tragic situations, but he was dead before the author's 
first visit to Van Diemen's Land. For courage, dash 
and intrepidity, he is still remembered as a colossal 
figure amongst the bushrangers of the past, and the 
authorities are more blamed than himself for the turn 
given to his life. 

In New Zealand, bushranging never obtained any 
lasting foothold, although in the earlier days its natural 
features afforded many facilities for its existence. This 
exemption from gangs of this description must be attri- 
buted to the fact that no penal station was ever permitted 
on its shores. It was settled by a free population, and 
its early colonists lent their fellow-countrymen in 
Australia valuable help in the movement of the 
Australasian Alliance to put an end to transportation. 
A liberated felon from Victoria, named Henry Garrett, 
went to New Zealand and tried his hand at bushranging 
there, but his career was a short one. The Burgess and 
Kelly gang, also released felons from the " other side *' 
(as Australia is called) took to the roads and committed 
numerous robberies and murders before falling into the 
hands of justice; but the police were soon on their track, 
and arrested the whole gang at Nelson after the hideous 
tragedy of Maungatapu. One of them (Sullivan) turned 
Queen's evidence, and the four others were executed, 
the informer eventually being smuggled out of the 
colony. The fact that no New Zealander ever took 
to the bush as a desperado proves pretty clearly that 
bushranging in the other Colonies originated from 
convictism, and that if they had been kept clear of that 
taint they might have escaped the scourge in the same 



BUSHRANGING loi 

way as Maoriland. When liberated felons from other 
Colonies attempted to carry on similar practices, it is to 
New Zealand's credit to say that it made very short 
work of them. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE GOLDEN ERA 



ALTHOUGH at a very early period of the last 
century gold was positively known to exist in 
Australia, nearly fifty years elapsed before the outside 
world was made acquainted with the marvellous dis- 
coveries of the precious metal in New South Wales and 
Victoria. Long ago it was known to the prison 
authorities that gold was to be found by looking for it, 
but there were then excellent reasons for observing as 
much secrecy about the matter as possible, and therefore 
no attempt was made to prospect the country. They 
feared that if this were done and it was found that gold 
could be unearthed in payable quantities, they would 
have g^eat difficulty in keeping watch over the penal 
stations. Already numerous escapes had been made 
without any such incentive, and they reckoned that if 
their prisoners became aware that gold was to be had 
for the picking of it up, they would be unable to keep 
them in subjection without strongly reinforcing the 
number of guards, and even then numbers would 
manage to relieve themselves of their fetters. It was 
known also to some of the early settlers that gold had 
been found in several localities, but, like the prison 
officials, they had substantial reasons for secrecy. They 
had assigned convicts in their service. Their farms and 



102 



THE GOLDEN ERA 103 

grazing areas were yielding satisfactory profits, and they 1 
were content to leave well alone. They knew that once \ 
the cry of "Gold! Gold!" was raised, their assigned — V^TffZ£i£('/f j 
servants would immediately throw their tickets-of-leave 
to the winds and abscond to the places which they 
supposed would yield them endless riches. No one 
would be left to do the work on their farms and 
grazing runs, and how to carry them on under such 
circumstances was a condition of things which they had 
no desire to precipitate by revealing the information 
they possessed. There was little or no free labour 
available, and what there was would depart as soon as 
it became known that gold was found to exist in 
payable quantities. They knew also that if a goldfield 
were proclaimed, the population attracted from the 
outside world would make straight for it, and that 
consequently any influx of labour that might set in 
would not be available. The spectacle of farms 
untilled and stocks untended was one which they did 
not like to face, because it meant absolute ruin to 
themselves. For these recisons gold-seeking was not 
resorted to as an occupation by the early settlers, and 
the secret of its existence was well observed. It never 
struck them that a large increase of population would 
have its compensations ; that it would increase the 
value of their properties and the prices of produce, and 
that they would be certain to find plenty of labour at 
their disposal as soon as the first great rush was over 
and numbers found that they could do better for them- 
selves at other occupations than gold-seeking. But, 
ignorant of what the results were likely to be, because 
their experience had never demonstrated to them what 
a goldfield really meant, they dreaded such a discovery 
above all things, and kept their knowledge to them- 
selves. 

But a time was to co^le at last when their secrecy 



I04 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

would not avail them, when there was to be a rush from 
the Colonies instead of a strong inflow of population to 
their shores. The discovery of gold in California, and 
the accounts of the great finds in that country which 
were wafted to the Colonies, caused a great commotion 
in all colonial communities. Thousands wanted to be 
off, and all who could go took passage at the earliest 
opportunity. Amongst those who went to California 
were Mr. Hargreaves, from New South Wales, and Mr. 
J. W. Esmond, from Victoria, and a very serious 
denudation of colonial population had set in. Neither 
Mr. Hargreaves nor Mr. Esmond remained long in 
California, but long enough to convince them that the 
country and the soil where gold was found in California 
bore a very strong resemblance to the country and soil 
in New South Wales and Victoria; and, after seeing 
California, the author is not surprised that they were 
both so deeply impressed with their similarity. Both 
gentlemen returned to their respective Colonies, strong 
in the conviction that payable gold was to be found 
there. And soon this was proved to be the case. The 
emigration to California was immediately checked, and 
a rush took place to the Colonies as soon as the news 
got abroad, which had the effect of increasing the 
population enormously within a few months. This was 
in 1851. A new era, the golden era of Australian 
history, began. As successful rushes to Bendigo, 
Ballarat, Eaglehawk, Mount Alexander, Forest Creek, 
and other localities developed extraordinary discoveries 
of the precious metal, the scenes in Melbourne, Sydney, 
Brisbane, Adelaide, Tasmania, and New Zealand were 
wildly exciting. In the chief Australian cities and 
towns, lawyers abandoned their wigs and gowns and set 
off for the goldfields, to follow up what particular rush 
or rushes attracted them most. Most bank clerks, office 
clerks, lawyers' clerks, drapers' and grocers' assistants 



THE GOLDEN ERA 105 

threw up their situations and shouldered their swags, 
with shovels, tin pans, pannikins, and other utensils 
necessary for roughing it on the goldfields. Artisans 
and labourers of all descriptions went off with a bound ; 
while ships' crews deserted their ships, and ships' 
officers, and in some instances captains even, took 
French leave of their vessels. 

In fact, there was scarcely a person to be found of 
whom the gold fever had not taken a strong and unre- 
laxing grasp. Melbourne was almost deserted at the 
beginning of this astounding rush into the interior, and 
Sydney was little better, because the gold discoveries in 
New South Wales had the effect of rendering that city 
comparatively empty of those who were able to rough 
it. But it was Melbourne which was the focus of 
excitement Business of all kinds was paralysed for a 
time, and vessels were detained in the bay for several 
months because crews could not be found to man them, 
notwithstanding that the wages offered were most 
tempting. Everything that Bayard Taylor wrote of 
the rush to California might be repeated with regard to 
Victoria. Ships crowded with passengers soon began 
to arrive from every conceivable corner of the globe. 
What with returned and disappointed gold-seekers, and 
the arrivals from abroad, the housing accommodation 
was taxed beyond its capacity, and tents had to be 
resorted to. What a sight Emerald Hill presented 
in those days, with almost every bit of its available 
space covered with these canvas habitations of intending 
diggers whom the news had attracted to Victoria ! 
Gradually they moved off", and later arrivals located 
themselves temporarily on that same old Emerald Hill. 
Every article of use or consumption jumped to an 
enormous price; but, as abundance of gold was being 
unearthed in the interior, there was plenty of money in 
circulation, and few arrived without ready money in 



io6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

their pockets. Business being restored, rapid fortunes 
were made in the city, whilst on the diggings themselves 
money was made so fast that it was spent most lavishly. 
Improvidence and extravagance became general, and 
many there were who thought little of lighting their 
pipes with £$ notes. As an example of the extravagant 
folly indulged in, it may be mentioned as a positive fact 
that on one occasion a newly-elected member of parlia- 
ment for a goldfields constituency was sent down to 
Melbourne upon a horse which was shod with shoes of 
solid gold. It was also quite a common occurrence in 
dancing saloons, concert-halls and theatres, for diggers 
to throw upon the stage large sums of money and often 
gold nuggets to mark their appreciation of the per- 
formances of the ladies they admired most as dancers, 
singers, or actresses. 

Great nuggets were found, some of them exposed on 
the surface. The Victorian goldiields were poor men's 
diggings in those days, and many of the claims on the 
various rushes yielded magnificent returns. The gold 
was easily got then by those who were lucky enough to 
strike upon a good patch of ground, and a large pro- 
portion of the diggers were exceedingly fortunate. 
Most things were paid for in nuggets, or gold dust, even 
after the banks had established branches in the localities. 
Dancing saloons on these rushes could be counted by 
dozens, crowded nightly, everybody spending money as 
though they could not dispossess themselves of it fast 
enough. It was easily earned and parted with in the 
most reckless fashion by those who were intoxicated by 
the thought of this amazingly sudden acquisition of com- 
parative wealth. They gave no thought to the possibility 
of the supply coming to an end, and squandered it under 
the belief that they could never possibly become poor 
men again. What fortunes, to be sure, were scattered to 
the winds! and how many lived to repent bitterly of their 



THE GOLDEN ERA 107 

childish folly ! The gfreat majority of those who went 
poor men to the diggings came away poorer than ever 
— men who could have made enough to keep them even 
in luxury for the remainder of their days, if they had 
only known how to retain what they extracted from 
their claims. But in their wild delirium of excitement 
they literally threw it away. That has been the pre- 
vailing characteristic of all gold rushes — ^the few make 
rapid fortunes and the majority leave them without a 
penny. The Victorian alluvial diggings yielded abun- 
dantly for a long time ; but, when it came to quartz- 
reefing, the poor man's chances were past, and, although 
the gold returns of that Colony are still very considerable, 
as a rule, the poor man is only a wage-earner, his labour 
providing handsome dividends for the companies and 
syndicates who own the reefs. The total yield of gold 
in Australia between the years 1851 and 1885 was no 
less than 68,406,511 ounces, worth ;C267,99 1,293 ' 

Ballarat, Bendigo, and many other localities were still 
what could be termed poor men's diggings — in fact, 
they were at their zenith of productiveness at the time 
when an extraordinary event happened at Ballarat, in 
1854. Great dissatisfaction prevailed with regard to 
the goldfields regulations, which stipulated that each 
digger should pay a fee of 30s. a month for his license, 
and the diggers were also incensed at the way in which 
the authorities harassed them in their hunts after non- 
holders of these licenses. They considered that the 
charge should be an annual instead of a monthly 
one, and indignation meetings were held with a view 
to having their demands complied with. The diggers 
chose as their leader an Irishman of uncommonly high 
stature and powerful physique. His name was Peter 
Lalor, and, looking at him and knowing his tempera- 
ment and educational attainments, one would incline to 
the opinion that, while he was about, the choice of a 



io8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

leader in any agitation could fall upon no other man. 
The excitement became intense; the licenses were 
publicly burnt, and the upshot was that the miners 
erected a sort of stockade on Bakery Hill, and there 
defied the authorities. A conflict between the miners 
and the troops and police eventuated (Sunday morning, 
December 3rd), and in the miUe that ensued some lives 
were lost on both sides, and Peter Lalor was wounded 
near the shoulder of his left arm. He was carried away 
and concealed by his friends, but his wound was of such 
a serious nature that the arm had to be amputated. A 
reward was offered for his arrest, but no one was ever 
forthcoming to claim it. After a time matters cooled 
down ; satisfactory regulations were introduced, and the 
gold-mining industry progressed without further inter- 
ruption. Mr. Lalor afterwards became a Minister of 
the Crown in the twp Administrations presided over 
by Mr. Graham Berry, and wound up his career as a 
public man as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of 
Victoria. 

The discovery of gold in New South Wales by 
Mr. Hargreaves in 1851, and shortly afterwards by 
Mr. Esmond and other prospectors in Victoria, had 
wonderful effects upon Australian colonisation. The 
population increased to an enormous extent within a 
few years. Settlement extended in all directions, and 
the foundations were laid of what have since become 
large and permanently built cities in the interior. 
People generally are conversant with the gold dis- 
coveries in Queensland, and the subsequent develop- 
ments at Broken Hill and in Western Australia in 
recent years. All these rich finds have given an 
increased impetus to Australian colonisation, and owing 
to these causes the rate of progress has been so great 
during the last fifty years as to leave no doubt that the 
next half-century will show more wonderful develop- 



THE GOLDEN ERA 109 

ments still. Settlement is advancing so vigorously — 
that is, bond-fide occupation of the soil — and industries 
of various kinds have taken such root, that even if the 
gold output were to cease to-morrow — a most impro- 
bable contingency for generations to come — Australia 
would forge its way steadily ahead. But it cannot be 
denied that it is to gold that Australia owes the greater 
part of its present vigorous life and prosperity. With 
wool as its staple export, and without the gold rushes 
that began in 1 851, its progress would have been by 
slow degrees, and probably its population might now be 
counted by thousands instead of millions. 



CHAPTER XII 

NATURAL FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALIAN 
CONTINENT AND TASMANIA 

ANY one would undertake a task of great magnitude 
if he attempted to describe with detailed particu- 
larity the natural features of such an extensive continent 
as Australia and the adjacent island which from its 
northermost coast lies in close proximity to it ; because 
fifteen hours by steam will suffice to take the traveller 
from Melbourne to Launceston, and a good portion of 
the time is consumed in the passage from Low Heads 
to that beautifully-situated town many miles up the 
winding, and, in some parts, expansive Tamar. Any 
such elaborate description would swell this volume into 
somewhat unwieldy dimensions, and for that reason it 
must necessarily be curtailed. In this epitomised version 
the author will endeavour to convey such a general out- 
line of the physical features of both countries as will 
give a tolerably good idea of what Australia and 
Tasmania are really like, and demonstrate what vast 
advantages they offer for the support of millions and 
millions of people who at one time or another must be 
provided with outlets from the congested communities 
of the old world, especially those of Great Britain. 

Generally speaking, the greatest island continent of) 
the earth's surface is not what can be described as a 



110 



NATURAL FEATURES in 

very broken or mountainous country. Its flat expanses 
are most extensive, resembling in a great measure the 
rolling prairie to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains. 
There is this characteristic about the mountainous por- 
tions of Australia — that none of these elevations rise to 
anything like the altitude of the great, eternally snow- 
clad peaks of Mount Cook, Mount Egmont, or 
Ruapehu in New Zealand. What mountains there are 
in Australia of the greatest elevation are upon the eastern 
side of the Continent ; but not many of the peaks rise 
sufficiently high to penetrate the region of perpetual 
snow, if indeed any of them soar so high. In the Omeo 
district of Victoria the ranges are perhaps more snow- 
clad than in any other part of Australia, and there snow 
may be seen for several months, but not all the year 
round. There is nothing of the Alpine picturesqueness 
about Australian mountain scenery that is found to 
gratify the eye of the tourist through New Zealand. 
Besides, a large part of Northern Australia lies within 
the tropics, and a considerable portion of it is semi- 
tropical ; the remainder to the southward comes within 
the temperate zone, and there it is that most advantages 
are presented for settlement by people who have been 
accustomed to the climatic conditions of the northern 
hemisphere. Much of the territory in the north and 
north-west of the Continent will no doubt remain dreary 
and useless for all time ; but these arid wastes are after 
all infinitesimal compared with the illimitable areas that 
can be turned into profitable occupation as the progress 
o'f settlement by an ever-increasing population brings 
them into demand. The discoveries of Leichardt, of 
Burke, Wills and King, and other explorers have shown 
that the desert tracts of Australia are small in proportion 
to the extensive territories that will become quite as 
useful to mankind as those comprised within the exist- 
ing confines of civilisation, and one has only to think of 



112 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the enormous space that is available for close settlement 
to realise the great future that lies before Australia, 

The one great drawback to Australia is the remark- 
able absence of navigable rivers from its coasts into the 
interior, and the consequent difficulty of carrying out 
any general scheme of irrigation to compensate for 
natural deficiencies. In many districts irrigation will 
be possible — in such, for instance, as the Mallee, in Vic- 
toria, where it has been most successful ; but it must 
yet be left to man's ingenuity to devise a scheme for 
irrigating country lying at great distances from the one 
truly great river which Australia can boast of, and which 
may be called the Mississippi of the Continent, namely, 
the Murray. This is fed by numerous tributaries, but, 
owing to the evaporation that goes on during the long 
and hot summer months, most of these tributaries get 
dried up, and, of course, the depth of the Murray itself 
is visibly affected ; so much so, indeed, as to render it 
temporarily unnavigable in parts for weeks and even 
months at a stretch during seasons of drought. Rising 
in what are called the Australian Alps, the Murray runs 
across the Continent for a distance of 2,345 miles, and 
empties into Encounter Bay, in the Indian Ocean. For 
a very considerable distance its course is between New 
South Wales and Victoria — it is the dividing boundary, 
and custom-house offices are located on b©th sides of the 
river, but these will shortly disappear when the Common- 
wealth adopts its universal tariff ; then it passes through 
South Australia, and continues its course onward to the 
ocean through Lake Alexandrina. The Darling, in 
New South Wales, is one of its principal tributaries. 
The Goulburn, Loddon, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Barwan, 
Culgoa, and Warrego are big rivers which flow into the 
Murray, and it also absorbs all the northern streams 
from the mountains of Victoria, as well as all the south- 
western rivers from the highlands in the east. In 



NATURAL FEATURES 113 

Queensland the two most important streams are the 
Fitzroy and Budekin, but generally speaking the rivers 
to the east of the eastern hills are swift and shallow 
watercourses, useless for purposes of navigation. The 
Hawkesbury, in New South Wales, is one of the few 
rivers on the eastern coast which is navigable for a good 
distance, and the scenery upon it is amongst the most 
charming in the whole Continent Down in Gippsland 
two fine streams flow into the lakes, notably the Tambo 
and the Mitchell. These are two of the very few rivers 
in Australia whose waters are clear and bright, and the 
traveller in search of beautiful scenery will find much to 
interest him in a trip up the Tambo or up the Mitchell 
as far as Baimsdale. Nearly all the country adjacent to 
the rivers on the eastern side consists of grassy uplands, 
which afford excellent pasture, and the valleys intersect- 
ing them consist of the finest agricultural land to be 
seen in any part of the world. They may be classified 
as agricultural lands of the best quality. Detached 
mountains cross the northern portion of Western 
Australia. These run mostly east and west, and are 
intersected by valleys of remarkable fertility, known as 
the Ashburton, Gascoyne, and Upper Murchison. In 
the interior of Western Australia there are extensive 
mud steppes. This region is truly a desert, absolutely 
worthless for all time, because it is almost entirely 
destitute of fresh water. The southern part of Western 
Australia makes up for this by the fertility of the region 
drained by the Swan River and the Blackwood ; and in 
the northern parts also vast tracts are at disposal for 
settlement extension. Taking Australia as a whole, 
there is room for the support of a far larger population 
than that of the United States of America to-day, and 
the recent census tells us that it has approached to 
nearly eighty millions of people. The soil and climatic 
conditions of Australia are so variable that there is not 

9 



114 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

a product known to Europe or America that cannot be 
produced in some of its parts ; grain, fruits and crops of 
all descriptions can be raised there in great abundance, 
and there is no land under the sun which offers stronger 
inducements for emigration upon a large scale. Minerals 
of all kind abound there ; and the coal measures of New 
South Wales give great encouragement to industrial 
enterprise of all sorts. The wine industry of New South 
Wales, Victoria, and South Australia has grown into 
marvellous development The frozen meat trade has 
also grown apace, and there are many other branches of 
industry with regard to which Australia has entered into 
successful competition with the outside world. 

Wool will always form one of the most important 
staple products of Australia. There are enormous areas 
which must always be devoted to pastoral pursuits, and 
Australia owes much to the squatter portion of the 
community as the real pioneers of colonisation. Some- 
times their operations are conducted under conditions 
the most exasperating and sadly to their cost. Even 
so far south as the northern and western portions of 
Victoria, long seasons of drought set in ; the streams 
dry up, and the grass withers under the scorching sun. 
At those periods stocks of sheep and cattle suffer 
terribly, and on single runs the dead animals can be 
counted by the thousand. Seasons of drought may 
even succeed each other for two or three years, and then 
it means ruin to the unfortunate squatter. That was 
the unhappy fate of the late Mr. Hugh Glass, whose 
name was once a household word in Australia on 
account of the vastness of his operations, and, but for 
the two or three seasons of drought which overwhelmed 
him, his wealth would have been colossal. Droughts 
ruined him, however, as it has done hundreds of other 
men engaged in the same pursuit. These recurring 
seasons are the great drawback to many portions of 



NATURAL FEATURES 115 

Australia, and must ever surround pastoral pursuits 
with great risks. A man may be wealthy, and suddenly 
made poor, through the loss of stock occasioned by 
these much-dreaded droughts. If there were more 
rivers like the Murray flowing almost from one coast 
to another, and, like it, giving easy access to the far 
interior, the situation would be very different. Water 
could then be stored in abundance to meet emergencies 
of this kind, and similar previously arid and unwatered 
areas like the Mallee might be converted into smiling 
and prosperous settlements by the process of artificial 
irrigation. Unfortunately, in many parts of Australia 
the difficulties are apparently insurmountable, and 
pastoralists will require to go on taking their chances 
from year to year. It is one of the ups and downs of 
colonial life, and must be endured with that philosophy 
which is generally characteristic of Australian colonists. 
Adversity seldom crushes them ; indeed, it generally 
makes them try their hand at something else, which 
turns out better. 

If Australia is not such a well-watered country as 
could be desired, it certainly does not lack in timber. 
This is in great quantity and variety in all the Colonies, 
and almost everywhere it is at the hand of those who 
take up holdings to settle on. It is, of course, invaluable 
to them for building and fencing purposes, as well as for 
supplies of firewood for their dwellings. Timber is like- 
wise largely exported. The jarrah of Western Australia 
has made a great reputation for itself throughout the 
world on account of its durability. No other timber 
can compete with it in this respect, and it is largely 
used in the construction of bridges throughout the whole 
of the Colonies. It has also come into great demand for 
street-paving, and many of the streets of London and 
other large cities are now being paved with material 
taken from the great jarrah forests of Western Australia. 



n6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The eucalyptus, or blue gum, grows to great heights and 
dimensions in some parts of Australia, notably in Gioos- 
land. Of course, they do not rival the monster trees of 

""^inohidr species to be seen in the Yosemite Valley, but 
they are big, nevertheless ; and in the Gippsland bush 
it is quite a common occurrence to come across blue- 
gums soaring to an altitude of nearly four hundred feet, 
and of considerable diameter at the bottom. After some 
blue gums have been felled they have been known to 
measure over four hundred feet as they lay on the 
ground. Bush-felling is one of the most dangerous 
occupations in Australia, but the men who engage in it 
are experts at the business, and, except occasionally, 
come to no harm. The new bush settler runs great 
risks when, as he must often do, he starts bush-felling 
on his own account to clear the ground for his stock 
and begin farming ; but he soon gets his hand in, works 
cautiously, and keeps out of danger. Out in the back- 
woods of Australia there is a great charm about bush 
life, and many remain there for a whole year and longer, 
more happy and contented than if they were in large 

-cities. For parties of young fellows who chum well 
together there can be a no more healthful and invigo- 
rating occupation than bush-felling ; hard work it 
undoubtedly is, but the feeling of independence and 
freedom connected with it is such as to make life in 
the bush exceedingly agreeable. Country life inspires 
manliness and self-reliance, and this is why the average 
colonial can turn his hand to anything. He can cook, 
wash, bake, build, ride, drive, shoot, or do anything else 
that circumstances require him to perform. Self-reliance 
makes him independent of anybody else, and in this 
respect the average colonial differs most signally from 
the young men of older lands. 

The scenic attractions of Australia are considerable. 
What, for example, could repay one better than a trip 



MATURAL features 11^ 

up the Hawkesbury or across the Blue Mountains in 
New South Wales, where he will behold chasms to 
remind him of the weirdest pictures of Dor6 ; or to the 
Gippsland Lakes, and inland to the mountainous regions 
of the Omeo ? Go where he may — to Queensland, New 
South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, or 
Victoria — the traveller will find scenery of the loveliest 
kind in each of these Colonies. If it be sport he is in 
quest of, he will not run short of opportunities for pas- 
time in fishing or shooting ; and if ornithology be his 
hobby, he will find a wide field for its indulgence in 
studying the many varieties of the feathered tribe which 
inhabit the Australian bush. The habits of the laughing 
jackass cannot fail to interest him particularly. Their 
chorus of laughter is one of the most peculiar sounds of 
the Australian bush. Valuable birds they are, too, for 
they are very useful in destroying snakes, and that is 
why they are protected all the year round. When these 
birds " spot " a snake their habit is for one of them to 
lay hold of it in a part which renders the snake powerless 
to bite ; then the laughing jackass soars up into the air 
for a considerable distance with the snake in its beak, and 
lets it fall to earth from an altitude which instinct tells 
it is sufficient for the purpose. As soon as tiie snake 
reaches ground it is instantly seized by another of these 
courageous little birds which is patiently awaiting the 
opportunity. Up into the air the snake is again carried, 
and the same process is repeated as often as may be 
required to kill the snake. Then with a loud ringing 
chorus the laughing jackasses seem to compliment them- 
selves upon their achievement, and go off in search of 
fresh prey. Penalties are provided against any one who 
destroys these laughing jackasses, but no one would ever 
dream of doing such a thing, knowing what little heroes 
they are in attacking and destroying man's greatest 
enemy in the Australian bush. 



ii8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The climate of Australia, in that portion of it included 
in the temperate zone, may be generally described as 
hot, dry, and very salubrious. Within the tropics very 
little rain falls during the summer, and the heat is intense, 
but in the winter season very welcome rains set in 
occasionally. It has been observed that the rainfall is 
greater on the east than on the west side of the Con- 
tinent. South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales 
are frequently swept by hot, oppressive winds from the 
interior, but New South Wales is less subject to them 
than either South Australia or Victoria. These hot 
winds increase the temperature sometimes to 115° and 
120°, and when these are suddenly succeeded, as they 
generally are, by strong " southerlies " the thermometer 
falls to any point between 50° and 60^. The irregularity 
and uncertainty of the rainfall in all parts of Australia 
is very marked, and droughts are of frequent occurrence ; 
but when rains do set in heavily and continuously for 
any number of days together, then floods are to be 
looked for. A season of drought may in this way be 
followed by floods which are equally disastrous upon the 
lower levels. The unfortunate squatter is thus exposed 
to danger both from the want of and an excess of water. 

Tasmania is a land which diflers vastly in natural 
features from the great Continent it lies adjacent to. It 
is more mountainous, cooler in temperature, and blessed 
with an abundance of water. Two lovelier streams than 
the Derwent and Tamar are not to be found on the 
Australasian side of the Tasman Sea. In the South 
from Cape Pillar to the Iron Pot one sails up a great 
arm of the sea, but from the Iron Pot to Hobart the 
Derwent is a charming waterway to the colony's capital. 
Beyond Hobart the Derwent gives access to the interior 
for many miles, its banks sometimes wide apart and 
then narrowing to mere clefts in the towering rocks 
through which it finds a passage. Between Hobart and 



Natural features 119 

New Norfolk it is one continuous panorama of scenic 
loveliness, and beyond that, too, there are stretches of 
scenery which it would be difficult to describe without 
laying one's self open to a suspicion of exaggeration. 
The banks of the Derwent from the aforesaid Iron Pot 
to the city are likewise charming to behold. All the 
uplands from its shores to within the shadows of lofty 
Mount Wellington, with its organ pipes displaying them- 
selves in bold and distinct outline, are occupied by 
homesteads, and the lands themselves are in a high state 
of cultivation ; the houses look neat, cleanly, and com- 
modious as a rule, and the farms are evidently kept in 
a way to remind one of the most presentable of the 
rural districts in England itself. Go in any direction 
one may from Hobart, he will pass through scenery 
which delights the eye at every turn. The cascades are 
of course the first resort of most tourists ; then a trip up 
Mount Wellington to the Ploughed Field, as its rocky 
flats near the summit are called, down again to Fern 
Tree Bower at the base and back to the city— enough 
for one day. The next, a most enjoyable drive to 
Brown's River, up hill and down dale, and through 
occasional flat stretches heavily timbered on each side 
of the macadamised road which convict labour had a 
hand in constructing many decades back. And if the 
tourist desires to see still more of Tasmanian scenery to 
feast his eyes on, let him go to the Huon as far as 
Franklin, so named after Sir John of Arctic fame, who 
was Tasmania's Governor up to a period shortly ante- 
cedent to his ill-starred expedition to the North Pole. 
It is many years now since the author traversed the 
distance between Hobart and the Huon, and vivid are 
his recollections of how skilfully that drag, with its four 
spanking horses, was piloted there and back again in the 
darkness of night by Mr, Walter Webster at a rattling 
pace round a succession of sharp sinuosities which pre- 



I20 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

sented great elements of clanger even in broad daylight. 
Walter was a great whip, one of the very best amongst 
the drivers of old coaching days, and richly deserved all 
the praises which the author and the officers of the 
American man-of-war Iroquois bestowed upon him at 
the end of the homeward journey when they alighted 
at Hadley's. If Walter Webster be now dead, peace to 
his ashes and repose to his soul ; but if he be still in the 
land of the living, he has the author's assurance that 
neither himself nor the pleasant reminiscences of that 
day's trip to the Huon have ever been forgotten. Good 
old John Russell, too, whose genial companionship and 
hospitality made him one of the most popular men in 
Hobart : how the author wishes he could grip his hand 
again, as he hopes some day to do. And Mr. Pedder 
also, whose presence always added so much to the 
geniality of the group of friends who met so frequently 
tc^ether nearly a score of years ago to talk over old 
Tasmanian times and the startling incidents connected 
with its early history and life — will he be still there to 
greet the wandering one and join in a hot Scotch for 
the sake of auld lang syne? The author sincerely 
hopes so. 

In the northern part of the island Nature has also 
been lavish with her gifts. The Tamar, all the way 
from Low Heads to within two or three miles of 
Launceston, is a noble stream, serpentine in parts, with 
occasional straight stretches of considerable length, the 
banks now and then closing in, and again opening out 
wide enough to give it the appearance of a lake ; dense 
forest in places down to the water's edge when the 
author saw it, and then extensive clearings far back on 
either side where farming operations were in full swing. 
In the vicinity of Launceston there are many spots of 
exquisite picturesqueness, all of them so lovely that it 
is difficult to pronounce any material superiority of 



NATURAL FEATURES 121 

prospect So, indeed, it is with Tasmania all over, 
except in the west, where the coast is for the most part 
wild, barren, and inhospitable — piercingly cold in winter 
time, wet and uninviting. 

Tasmania has its fair share of mineral wealth. Its 
tin mines brought the Colony into special prominence 
many years ago and boomed it for a time, but the 
excitement was not of long duration, and speculation 
brought ruin to many confident investors. The progress 
of the Colony has not been so marked as in the case of 
others. The population does not increase as rapidly 
as might be expected from the quantity of good 
agricultural land which lies in its fertile valleys in the 
east, north, and south. The cause of this is, that the 
Colony does not afford so many opportunities for 
employment as the more progressive Colonies on the 
continent, and a large proportion of Tasmania's young 
men and women leave every year for the more exciting 
city life of Sydney and Melbourne, where they can 
command higher wages and procure steady occupa- 
tions more easily. That is why the population does 
not increase at a faster rate. Owing to its milder 
climate, large numbers of well-to-do Australians flock 
to Tasmania during the hot months, and then Hobart 
is a city of abnormal bustle and activity — that is, for 
Hobart, which is generally regarded as hum-drum to 
the last degree by the residents of the big cities on the 
other side of the straits. For all that, it is a most 
enjoyable place to reside in for those who have no 
ambitious aims, and to whom an easy-going and quiet 
existence is preferable to the noise and bustle in- 
separable from city life on the continent. The 
temperature is much cooler, and the cost of living 
less, and these are the two principal reasons which 
induce so many half-pay officers to make it their 
abiding-place. 



122 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The traveller cannot fail to be impressed with the 
excellent quality of most of the roads in Tasmania. The 
principal of these were constructed by convict labour, 
and no finer arterial highway can be found anywhere 
than the one which leads from Hobart to Launceston, 
a distance of about 1 20 miles, through the heart of the 
country. This journey discloses many beautiful land- 
scapes, and will give the tourist a good conception of 
what the natural configuration of Tasmania as a whole 
really is. This road is not used nearly so much as it 
was before railway communication was established 
between the northern town and the capital in the 
south ; but the railway trip is tedious and comparatively 
uninteresting until, coming from the north, the descent 
of the mountains is begun in the vicinity of Jerusalem. 
Then the view of the thickly-populated country districts 
stretching away from the base of the mountain steeps, 
and of the ranges in the far distance, is one of no 
ordinary grandeur. Altogether, Tasmania is a land of "i 

natural beauty and fertility ; and probably its inclusion 
in the Australian Commonwealth will enable it to 
march onward by more rapid strides. It certainly 
wants a push-on of some sort to make it more pros- 
perous and progressive, and the author is delighted to 
learn that this very desirable change in its affairs has 
already beg^n. 



I 



CHAPTER XIII 

AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 

SYDNEY, because it is older for one thing, and was 
for the first half of the last century the great focus 
of trade and commerce for Australian communities and 
the outside world, must claim precedence when one 
comes to describe the capital cities of the Continent 
Without doubt, Governor Phillip must have had a keen 
perception of the beautiful in nature when he selected 
the site on which Sydney now stands as the location for 
his first batch of convicts in 1788. The site consisted 
of low hills and gullies clothed with bush to the water's 
edge, and, as no attempt was made to lay out a town- 
ship upon any systematic plan, that accounts to-day for 
the narrowness, crookedness, and other irregularities to 
be observed in the Sydney of our own time. Carters 
followed the grades and windings up through and 
around those hills and gullies which their intelligence 
suggested as the best and most convenient to take, and 
in course of time through constant use these rude tracks 
came to be regarded as the leading thoroughfares of the 
new settlement. Had professional skill been allowed to 
have more of its way nearly a century and a quarter 
ago, Sydney might have been laid out more in accord- 
ance with modern ideas. It is now too late to repair 

old mistakes without involving the expenditure of an 

123 



124 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

enormous amount of money, and the civic authorities 
will not feel disposed to meddle with matters to that 
extent. However, with all these drawbacks, Sydney is 
a fine city, with a situation that is the envy of other 
places which do not possess equal natural advantages. 
George Street has become the main thoroughfare, some- 
what narrow at its commencement, but of a good width 
for the remainder of its length. Streets intersect it right 
and left, and the elevations they lead to afford magnifi- 
cent views of the city and its surroundings. Pitt Street, 
Elizabeth Street, and King Street are, like George 
Street, the scenes of great bustle and activity. Many 
grand and noble buildings are to be seen in Sydney, 
and the Post Office is a structure which the citizens are 
very justly proud of So they are of their public halls, 
banks, and churches, amongst the latter St. Mary's 
Roman Catholic Cathedral being a particularly noble- 
looking edifice both inside and out But, because so 
many of its best business premises and extensive ware- 
houses are located in narrow streets, Sydney cannot 
show off its architectural embellishments to the best 
advantage, and it is handicapped to that extent when 
it is brought into comparison with other cities of 
Australia and of lands beyond. Any one can see at 
once that it is a city of great wealth and commercial 
enterprise, and a stroll round Circular Quay and the 
numerous wharves jutting into the harbour will show 
at once the extensive nature of its trading intercourse 
with other parts of the world. Mail packets, ocean 
tramps of huge tonnage, and vessels of all sorts and 
sizes sailing under the flags of almost every nation in 
the civilised world, are to be seen there either dis- 
charging their inward cargoes or loading with the 
products of New South Wales for various intercolonial, 
American, Canadian, and European ports, besides those 
of South America, the South Sea Islands, Honolulu, 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 125 

New Caledonia, Tahiti, South Africa, China, and Japan. 
What a transition, to be sure, from things as they 
existed little more than a century ago ! Then the 
sounds were those of prison bolts and heavy chains, of 
orders peremptory and brutal, of floggings, tortures, 
lamentations, blasphemies, and profanities from the 
tongues of men who would gladly welcome death as a 
happy release from the brutalities of their penal exist- 
ence. No; the sounds that ring out from these same 
localities to-day are the voices of free men ; the hum — 
that of free industrial life and vigour, where none are 
bond, and the humblest toiler can command respect 
from other men who are only superior to him in social 
position because they are some degrees better off — 
higher up the ladder a rung or two. But he will 
tolerate no bullying, and will as readily tell an over- 
bearing superior to go— say to equatorial Africa, as 
look at him, if he thinks that superior is not treating 
him as he should do. Jack is as good as his master in 
that part of the world, and will stand bullying or brow- 
beating from nobody. In that respect, at all events, 
equality is a real good colonial institution, and older 
lands might take a leaf out of the colonial book with 
advantage. 

Sydney people are proud of their harbour ; no wonder 
they are, for it is a genuinely solid thing to boast of. 
"Seen the harbour?" is about the first inquiry made 
when it is discovered it is one's first visit to the place. 
"Charming, is it not?" 

" Indeed it is," will be the answer, which will at once 
place one upon the most friendly terms with his 
interrogator. But if the visitor does not fall into 
raptures over the subject of conversation, he is im- 
mediately suspected of being a Melbournite, and a 
coolness follows which it is an exceedingly comical 
sensation to experience. There is a great jealousy 



126 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

between Sydney and Melbourne, and not to praise 
the harbour is conclusive evidence that it is Melbourne 
you hail from. This jealousy and rivalry between 
Sydney and Melbourne remind the author of a story 
he heard in America of the strained relations existing 
between the inhabitants of St. Paul and Minneapolis. 
The river divides into two parts what should really be 
one and the same city, but they are separate com- 
munities, each with its own system of municipal 
government. "Do you know, sir," said an American 
who was going east, " the jealousy between these two 
towns is so great that the people on one side of the 
river will not allow a Bible within the boundaries of 
Minneapolis ? " " And why may that be ? " " Wall, 
sir, it's jest because St. Paul is mentioned in the Bible 
and Minneapolis isn't." It was a catch, of course, but 
nevertheless a neat and satirical comment upon the 
childishness of places getting jealous of each other. 
Sydney and Melbourne can take the hint and profit 
mutually by reflecting upon it There is, perhaps, an 
excuse for Melbourne regretting that Nature has not 
been equally generous in providing her with an 
approach such as Port Jackson confers upon the rival 
capital in New South Wales ; but Sydney need not 
" rub it in " by constantly reminding the great southern 
city of its comparative disadvantages in this respect. 

The Cove of Cork and Rio de Janeiro are accounted 
rivals of Sydney so far as the beauty of their respective 
harbours are concerned, but the latter comes well out of 
the comparison with either. Its cove-like indentations 
are more numerous, fringed as they are, from their sandy 
and gravelly beaches upwards, with foliage ever verdant 
and refreshing to gaze on, and the peculiar feature of 
Port Jackson is that you cannot take it in at a single coup 
dceil. You go from one headland to another only to 
find recurring wide expanses of deep and placid waters 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 127 

capable of accommodating the fleets of almost every 
power in the world. Go down to Middle Harbour, as it 
is called, and you imagine that it is a series of sounds you 
are sailing through. Or down to Manly, with its silvery 
ripples following each other with splashes that scarcely 
make themselves heard upon that gently-sloping beach 
in front, and immediately behind it the rollers of the 
Pacific breaking upon the shore with the noise of 
thunder. Or go to Lane Cove and dozens of other 
sheltered nooks, or for fifteen miles past the busy city 
up to Parramatta, and you will return with the con- 
viction that it will be hard to beat Sydney Harbour 
anywhere in the world. 

During the long spring, summer, and autumn months 
— ^long, compared with those of Great Britain — Sydney 
surpasses any other place the author knows for the 
delight its inhabitants take in marine outings here, there 
and everywhere around its land-locked shores. Hardly 
a day passes that one will not hear the strains of music 
from bands that are heading picnic parties to the ferry- 
boats for embarkation to favourite resorts ; and it can 
be said of the Sydney people that, if they possess a fine 
harbour, they make good use of it by excursions of this 
sort. They seem to be always moving about it in all 
directions, and the ferry steamers it would sometimes be 
difficult to count, they are so numerous while the season 
of out-door gaiety and recreation lasts. No visitor to 
Sydney should miss one of the constant opportunities 
he will have to proceed by water to Parramatta, the site 
of the old Government Farm of convict days. From 
Rose Hill the place changed its name to Parramatta in 
1 79 1, and now it is a township of considerable dimen- 
sions, with extensive orange-groves which give an idea 
of the success which has attended that particular branch 
of industry. 

Sydney has its drawbacks, of course. In the hot 



128 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

months the heat is hard to bear ; not only is it intense 
in the day time, but the nights are likewise oppressive, 
and the mosquitoes exceedingly troublesome, especially 
if one is foolish enough to retire without encircling his 
couch with fine netting to repel attack. What is worst 
about the Sydney heat is, that it is a moist heat, and 
that you feel in a kind of vapour bath, the flesh clammy, 
and one's clothes sticking to one's back to an extent 
that is far from comfortable. And strangest thing of 
all, great numbers of the population do not resort to 
seasonable clothing. Puffing, blowing, and wiping 
away the beads of perspiration from his forehead, 
face, and neck, the city man, as he would be called in 
London, would not, as a rule, ever dream of dispensing 
with his shining tall hat and black frock coat. He 
swelters along in these habiliments as though his good 
name and credit depended ever so much upon his 
looking intensely respectable, even when the ther- 
mometer stands at no degrees in the shade, or a 
degree or two beyond that record. It is, no doubt, 
owing to these atmospheric influences that the figures 
of New South Welshmen are generally so attenuated 
that they are called " cornstalks " ; and greater robust- 
ness is certainly observable amongst those who reside 
in the more temperate portions of Australia. The 
mean temperature of Sydney is 63 degrees. 

It is during the hot months that those who can afford 
the time and money clear out to Tasmania or New 
Zealand, or to the cooler altitudes of the Blue Mountains, 
passing en route through the broiling Penrith Plains, 
across the Nepean, and up to Mount Victoria, or 
dozens of other localities on their summits equally 
invigorating. The ascent and descent of these ranges 
is accomplished by means of a railway line — the Zig- 
Zag — which is a triumph of engineering skill only 
equalled south of the line, if one can really 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 129 

say so much, by the central gripping third-rail track 
across the Rimutaka in New Zealand. At any other 
season of the year the tourist would be tempted to 
make the descent of the Blue Mountains to Lithgow, 
and thence across the fertile Bathurst Plains to the 
quaint old town of that name which stands second in 
importance to Sydney ; but, if he be wise, he will remain 
on the Blue Mountains until the thermometer on the 
plains is more encouraging. 

Sydney is well provided with parks and public 
gardens, and the Domain, for the most part surrounded 
by water, is one of the finest possessed by any city — 
not nearly so extensive, it is true, as Golden Gate Park 
in San Francisco, Central Park in New York, or Phcenix 
Park in Dublin, but superior to them in point of 
situation and the time in which it can be reached from 
the centre of the city. 

Besides Bathurst, New South Wales has many 
other large towns, such as Albury on the northern 
bank of the Murray, Goulbourn, Deniliquin on the 
Edwards, Orange, Dubbo, and Newcastle. The last- 
named, on the coast, is famous for its coal mines, and 
does a large export trade in that commodity with almost 
every part of tfie world. The coal measures appear to 
be inexhaustible. Newcastle in New South Wales is 
in this respect akin to its English namesake. 

As a city, Melbourne takes first rank in Australia, 
and it would be difficult to find any other which has 
been laid out upon a better plan. Generally speaking, 
the streets run at right angles to each other on the block 
principle, and all its principal thoroughfares are of 
regular width. Collins Street, Burke Street, Swanson 
Street, Flinders Street, Elizabeth Street, Victoria 
Parade, Nicolson Street, and dozens of others could be 
mentioned as amongst the finest in the world for 
length and width. Collins, Burke, Swanson, Elizabeth, 

ID 



130 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

and Flinders are chief amongst them, and there the 
constant stir and bustle will surprise any new arrival 
from the biggest cities of the old world or America. 
They are full of life from early morning till late 
at night, and it is hard to realise that when Johnny 
Fawkner went there in 1835 the site upon which 
Melbourne stands was a primitive wilderness. He lived 
long enough to see it grow to considerable dimensions, 
but the man who really laid the foundations of the 
noblest city under Austral skies still survives. If not, 
he must have died quite recently, because it is only 
two or three years ago when the man who made the 
original survey of Melbourne was discovered in poor 
circumstances. The Government at once acknowledged 
its indebtedness to Mr. Russell by making adequate 
provision for the remainder of his days. Large-hearted 
generosity and gratefulness to their deserving public 
men are characteristics of the Melbourne and Victorian 
people generally, and these have been very fittingly 
bestowed upon the decrepit old gentleman to whose 
judicious professional skill Melbourne now ranks 
amongst the best laid-out cities of modern times. 

Melbourne abounds with handsome buildings, such as 
Parliament House at the top of Burke Street, the new 
Treasury Buildings looking down Collins Street, the 
Town Hall, Post and Telegraph Office, the Law Courts, 
Scots Church, the Anglican Cathedral in Swanson 
Street, and that enormous pile on Eastern Hill, St 
Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral. Begun in 1848, 
this monster edifice was completed only a few years ago, 
at a total cost, so the author has been informed, of over 
half a million sterling. No one can visit Melbourne 
without admiring its Public Library, which contains an 
immense collection of general literature and standard 
works of reference, and access to it can be obtained, 
whilst its doors are open, by simply walking in and 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 131 

reading any book that may be required. For many 
years the assistant librarian at this institution was Marcus 
Clarke, the versatile journalist and author of " For the 
Term of His Natural Life." For many years also most 
readable and interesting contributions from his facile 
pen appeared from week to week in The Australasian^ 
over the nam deplume of " The Peripatetic Philosopher." 
One is in doubt whether it is Mr. Clarke, for "His 
Natural Life," or Rolf Boldrewood (Mr. Brown), for his 
** Robbery under Arms," who should be awarded the 
premier place amongst Australian authors. A plibiscite 
on the subject would most likely divide the honours 
between them, so far as concerns the popularity which 
each of these clever productions enjoys amongst colonial 
readers. 

Public gardens and recreation grounds are numerous 
in and around Melbourne, and for the possession of most 
of these the citizens owe a debt of gratitude to Governor 
Latrobe. The Fitzroy Gardens, with their varied col- 
lection of statuary, the Exhibition Gardens, New Treasury 
Gardens, Zoological Gardens, Flagstaff Gardens, and 
Botanical Gardens, the last-named stretching a long 
way back from the Yarra's banks, afford extensive 
areas for recreation and exercise such as few cities can 
equal, much less excel, all of them maintained in 
splendid order the whole year round. These provide 
most enjoyable retreats from the hot and often dusty 
thoroughfares of the metropolis in summer time ; they 
are lung spaces which would be adequate for a far larger 
and more congested and insanitary city than Melbourne 
is, and therefore its future expansion is amply provided 
for in this respect. Albert Park, quite contiguous to 
the city, is a charming public reserve at all seasons of 
the year. Out of a lagoon or swamp, a lake of good 
extent has been formed in the centre, and swarms of 
yachts and boats are to be seen there all through the 



132 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

summer months. A short walk or ride on rail or tram 
takes you to St Kilda, a beautiful seaside suburb on the 
shores of Port Phillip. St Kilda serves the same 
purpose to Melbourne that Brighton does to London, 
and its esplanade and long pier are the places above all 
others where the Melboumites resort to on summer 
afternoons and evenings. 

It is Melbourne's greatest misfortune that the 
approach to it by water creates impressions the reverse 
of favourable — not the main waterway to it from the 
ocean, but after one has passed through the Heads at 
Queenscliffe, sailed for a distance of nearly forty miles 
over the great inland sea known as Port Phillip and 
reached the mouth of the Yarra ; thence to the city itself 
the passage up stream is most uninviting and malodorous. 
The Yarra is but a dirty ditch, narrow, serpentine, and 
difficult of navigation, in spite of the countless thousands 
that have been expended on its improvement It may 
be better now ; but when the author saw it last — and 
then the new canal to avoid Fishermen's Bend had been 
constructed for some time — s, passage up or down the 
muddy Yarra was a sensation which it was desirable to 
postpone indefinitely. Once the author had a rather 
disagreeable experience there. The steamship Rotoma- 
hana^ on which he happened to be a passenger bound 
for New Zealand, failed to answer her helm soon enough 
to successfully negotiate a sharp winding of the stream. 
Running her bows into one bank, the current brought 
her broadside on across the river, and she stuck fast in 
the mud. Her position was such that no other vessel 
could get up or down. They lightened her cargo, and 
tugboats came around and with heavy hawsers tried to 
drag her round so as to float and leave the channel 
clear ; but for two or three days all attempts were fruit- 
less, and just as long as she stuck there the whole traffic 
to and from Melbourne was paralysed. Captain Under- 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 133 

wood was furious over the mishap, and so were his 
passengers, for, besides being irritated by this unforeseen 
detention, they had to endure the noxious odours from 
soap works and other objectionable manufactories which 
were wafted to their nostrils by the hot winds then 
prevailing. The situation was not a pleasant one, 
but those on board had no option but to submit to it 
more or less philosophically. Little incidents of this 
description gave fresh opportunities to the Sydneyites to 
boast about their lovely harbour all the more energeti- 
cally, and to draw comparisons greatly to the disparage- 
ment of the rival city in the south ; and Melboumites 
paid them back by reminding them, as they truthfully 
could do, that Melbourne, as a model city, had a lead 
which Sydney could never possibly overtake, despite the 
fact that Victoria's capital did not spring into existence 
for nearly fifty years after the foundation of the capital 
of New South Wales. 

Like Sydney, Melbourne is by no means the 
pleasantest of places to be in when hot winds are 
blowing and the temperature standing for two or three 
days at 109 or 1 10 degrees in the shade ; but Melbourne's 
is a drier heat than Sydney's, and consequently less 
enervating and relaxing. These hot winds are atmo- 
spheric currents resembling those emitted from a 
baker's oven when its doors are opened, and the first 
waft of them is a signal for the closing of all doors 
and windows in people's residences. Somehow or other 
bush fires burst forth at this very time ; the smoke is 
wafted to the city from long distances, and the 
atmosphere becomes so thick and heavy that the sun 
from its rising to its setting looks like a ball of red fire 
and the moon at night a planet of blood. These 
hot-wind days and nights are periodical visitations 
which make one wish he was more adjacent to the 
Antarctic ; but it is the " new chum " who has not yet 



134 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

been acclimatised that is most to be pitied under these 
conditions. As often as not he will tumble about 
restlessly on his couch without as much as a sheet to 
cover him ; sometimes he will dispense with that or even 
more, or he will select an oil-cloth floor to lie down on ; 
or he will spend the night in his pyjamas on an open 
verandah or balcony ; go where he may, rest is out of 
the question ; mosquitoes are unremitting in their 
attentions, and white blisters, the size of pigeon's eggs, 
disfigfure his face and body. At last relief comes — 
always suddenly. The wind veers round to the south, 
and doors and windows are immediately thrown wide 
open, be it night or day, to give free admission to the 
ever-welcome cooling current which puts an end to his 
misery and his longings for regions of snow. These 
sudden changes of temperature are characteristic of the 
Melbourne climate, and a fall from i lo^ to 50° is no 
uncommon freak of the thermometer. The mean 
temperature of the city is 58°. 

In former days, Melbourne's water supply was not 
all that could be desired. It was collected into the 
Yan Yean from the watershed in the immediate 
locality, and when it was drawn for use in the city, 
whither it was conveyed through pipes, the water was 
of a very impure description, sometimes of an opaque 
colour, and again quite yellow and unpalatable. The 
necessity of going further back into the ranges and to 
higher altitudes became obvious to the authorities, and 
a scheme was propounded by Mr. Davidson, the per- 
manent executive head of the public works department, 
for the purpose of diverting the natural flow of the 
waters of the Plenty Ranges so that they might be 
conducted to the Melbourne side of these elevations 
instead of the whole of the waterflow being taken in 
a westerly direction. To do this, Mr. Davidson was 
required to tap these waters at the highest altitude of 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 135 

the Dividing Range, which he did at a place called 
Silvery Creek, at a distance of about sixty miles from 
the capital. Artificial channels were constructed through 
the mountain flats upon a principle providing against 
scour, and then by a series of waterfalls the water was 
taken from one elevation to a lower one, and so on 
downwards by alternating channels and waterfalls until 
it reached the bottom of the range, and found its way 
eventually into the Yan Yean reservoir. The author 
had the pleasure and privilege of accompanying Mr. 
Davidson to Silvery Creek on the special excursion 
that gentleman made for the purpose of opening this 
new source of water supply for Melbourne, and the 
scheme has been a splendid success — a great boon to 
the city and a lasting testimony of Mr. Davidson's 
engineering skill and judgment. It was a task of no 
small magnitude to interfere at such a high elevation 
with the natural flow of water from the summits of 
the dividing range, to tap it sufficiently for his require- 
ments, and to conduct the water thus diverted at such a 
great height to the level country on the Yan Yean side 
of the range in such a way as to provide effectually 
against scour in ordinary seasons and damage to the 
works in times of heavy rain and largely augmented 
impetus and flow. Mr. Davidson has every reason to 
feel proud of his work, one great feature of which has 
been to conduce largely to the improved health of the 
metropolis. 

Before it carried out its underground drainage scheme 
the sanitation of Melbourne was most imperfect, with 
the result that in the hot months the atmosphere 
became vitiated to an extent that not inappropriately 
earned for the place the jeering appellation of " Marvel- 
lous Smellbourne." But the condition of things has 
altered very much for the better since the completion 
of the underground system, and one's first impressions 



136 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

of the city are, that from a sanitary point of view its 
interests are well looked after by the municipal autho- 
rities. What hideous things those wide open channels 
used to be, with their miniature bridges at intervals to 
allow people to cross from one side of the street to the 
other ! And what floods, too, with offensive sewage 
matter flowing about, have not old residents seen in 
Swanson and Elizabeth Streets after tropical downpours 
of only a few hours' duration! And in these same 
street-floods lives have sometimes been lost. Compared 
with what it then was, Melbourne is now a paradise of 
sanitation, cleanliness, and health. It is besides a city 
of unceasing gaiety and high-spiritedness, and well it 
may be so, for most of its inhabitants are comfortably 
circumstanced, and one's heart is not saddened by 
spectacles of wretchedness and want such as come 
under his constant observation in the crowded cities of 
the old world. The same extremes of wealth and 
poverty, luxury and starvation, are non-existent in that 
city of marvellous expansion for its age under southern 
skies, and it is this more than anything else which 
renders daily life in Melbourne so agreeable. Of course, 
poverty will be found in most large cities, but in Mel- 
bourne the cases are comparatively few, and in most of 
these the people themselves are not altogether blame- 
less for the condition they are reduced to. In Australia 
the instances are exceptional where poverty is the 
result of sheer misfortune without improvidence con- 
tributing to its existence ; for in that land no one who 
is able and willing to work, and even moderately care- 
ful of what he earns, need ever be reduced to 
impecuniosity, or be without a good bed to lie on, 
clothes to wear, and food to eat It is only the 
spendthrift and worthless whom poverty overtakes ; 
and where old age and infirmity are the unavoidable 
causes, then the State and private benevolence step 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 137 

in with an open hand, and see that the deserving poor 
are properly cared for, without recourse to the hateful 
and d^rading workhouse system of the Mother Land. 
The very name of workhouse is repugnant to the 
free-hearted, benevolent, and philanthropic people of 
Australia, and the workhouse system is one which, 
thank Heaven, will never take root upon its soil. 

Of the inland cities of Victoria, Ballarat claims pre- 
eminence, and no one can dispute its right to that 
proud distinction. Taking its origin from that period 
in the early fifties when it was merely a conglomeration 
of canvas and weatherboard habitations scattered over 
its gullies and hillsides, Ballarat has become a city of 
beautiful proportions and solidity, where the mining 
industry still flourishes, and big yields of gold are 
obtained from quartz extracted from the workings 
hundreds, sometimes thousands, of feet below the 
surface-level. A place of great bustle and excitement 
Ballarat has always been from its alluvial period down 
to the quartz-reefing operations of the present day, 
and its local bourse, known as The Verandah, is always 
crowded by speculators in mining stocks, who watch 
the market fluctuations with keen interest, and either 
purchase or dispose of large parcels of scrip as they 
find opportunities to operate in that old place where 
so many fortunes have been made and lost. 

Situated at an altitude of fourteen hundred feet 
above sea-level, the general temperature of Ballarat is 
cooler and more invigorating than that of Melbourne, 
from which it is distant one hundred miles. Sturt 
Street is the Sackville Street of Ballarat, and a grand 
thoroughfare it is, with its town hall and other fine 
buildings on each side. A planted avenue runs 
through its centre and provides a shady promenade, 
which is gladly availed of in the summer season. 
" Been to the Lake ? " is asked the visitor just as the 



138 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

question, " Have you seen our Harbour ? " is addressed 
to him in Sydney. "Not yet" "Then don't leave 
Ballarat without seeing it;" and you don't Lake 
Wendouree is Ballarafs great show place, and it is 
well worth seeing. Here you find a long and broad »' 

expanse of water, of shallow depth,, which was for- 
merly nothing but a choked-up swamp of stagnant 
pools and islets of worthless and decaying vegetation. 
To clear this noxious waste was a work of magnitude 
and cost ; but they tackled it, and eventually trans- 
formed the locality into a lovely artificial lake of 
considerable dimensions. Steamers ply upon it now, 
besides a numerous flotilla of gondolas, yachts, and 
boats of all sizes and descriptions. At the far side 
of the lake Ballarat has its public gardens — pardonably 
proud they are of them — and a fernery such as is not 
to be equalled by anything of the kind in Australasia, 
or possibly anywhere else. Of course, one must not 
leave Ballarat without going to Bakery Hill, on which 
the historic stockade was erected where the miners 
defended themselves against the attack of the soldiery 
and police on that Sunday morning in the December of 
1854 — a conflict ever afterwards to be known as the 
Ballarat Riots. But if lives were lost on that occasion 
and rewards offered which were never claimed for the 
arrest of the concealed ringleaders of the agitation, this 
armed resistance against the exactions of the authorities 
hastened the reforms which the miners had been pre- 
viously clamouring for without much heed being paid to 
their remonstrances. 

Bendigo is also a big and thriving city in Victoria. 
Its municipal authorities were stupid enough to have 
the name changed to Sandhurst, but many years have 
elapsed since the old name was re-adopted. Bendigo 
is certainly more euphonious, and has the additional 
recommendation that it is derived from the language 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 139 

of the aborigines. It is the great centre of quartz- 
mining, and on that account is facetiously nicknamed 
" Quartzopolis." Bendigo was, and still is, a great 
money-making place, but its palmiest days were those 
of alluvial digging at Eaglehawk and the surrounding 
neighbourhood, when money was so plentiful that no 
great value was put upon it by those who came into its 
possession so easily. On the whole of the diggings 
there was no place more lively than Bendigo, and the 
diggers spent their money with lavish indifference. 
Many of them are alive to-day who flung their nuggets 
on the stage to the dancing of the celebrated LoUa 
Montez, and used never to miss a night at the theatre 
to see the great Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, first as 
" Othello " or " Richelieu," and then as " O'Callaghan on 
his Last Legs." Poor Brooke was always a great 
favourite in Bendigo, as indeed he was all over Aus- 
tralia, and the blank he left since going down in the 
ill-fated London in the Bay of Biscay has never been 
refilled by any other actor on the Australian stage. 
Just imagine so many years passing by without pro- 
ducing a successor to be compared with Brooke for 
dramatic power and versatility ; for where is the actor 
to-day who upon the same night could acquit himself 
in tragedy and comedy so marvellously well as Brooke 
did nearly forty years ago? In Australia Brooke is 
still remembered with affection, by none more so than 
by his old admirers on the goldfields. Bendigo also 
calls back to memory the versatile improviser Bob 
Thatcher, whose songs upon local persons and events 
used to convulse his crowded audiences. What old 
resident of Bendigo does not remember the Bulla 
Creek incident which Thatcher's impromptu genius 
turned into song, with a very taking air, descriptive of 
the picnic on that scorching day to Bulla Creek and its 
comical developments ; how the ladies, bent on bathing. 



I40 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

wandered to a secluded spot and plunged into the 
cooling water; and how their loud and continuous 
screams hastened their male companions to the spot 
to see what was amiss. It might be snakes ; it could 
not be alligators, because none were there. The cause 
of the commotion was soon to be discovered : a multi- 
tude of leeches had fastened upon the ladies' bodies, 
and in their fright and perplexity there was no help 
for it but to summon the male picnickers to their assis- 
tance. Thatcher got hold of the incident as soon as the 
picnic party returned to Bendigo, and that very night 
he brought the house down with " Bulla Creek." And 
then in the list of Bendigo's old favourites comes Joe 
Small, with his inimitable " Unfortunate Man " and 
numerous other contributions from an extensive reper- 
toire. Madame Carandini was a bright star among 
the vocalists of those old Bendigo days ; and Madame 
Simonsen used also to delight her audiences as the 
prima donna of Italian opera, for the Bendigo people 
did not mind how much they paid for the best lyric 
and dramatic talent they could secure from the metro- 
polis. Catherine Hayes and Anna Bishop have sung 
there. Sir William and Lady Don had always a good 
reception in Bendigo. They all made money there, yet 
of all these prime favourites not one survives to-day. 
Fred McCabe, the ventriloquist, went there, too, and 
met with good support ; Toole also paid it a visit ; and 
Santley has been the delight of big audiences in the 
same theatre-loving city of Bendigo. Under the pilot- 
age also of that prince of Australasian impresarios, Mr. 
R. S. Smythe, Mark Twain and Talmage have lectured 
in Bendigo ; the late Archibald Forbes has discoursed 
upon wars and kings he had met ; and the Rev. Charles 
Clarke has delivered his scholarly dissertations upon 
Dickens, Thackeray, Macaulay, Warren Hastings, and 
the Tower of London. 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 141 

What old surviving Bendigonian is there who does not 
remember the Shamrock and Billy HefTernan ? — once a 
man worth ;6^95,ooo, then losing it, making another " pile," 
losing that too by unlucky speculation, and so sliding 
up and down the ladder of alternating prosperity and 
adversity for years before he shook the dust of Bendigo 
off his feet and went to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he 
died several years ago worse off than when he set foot 
upon Australia from America in the early fifties. The 
author has seen this same Billy Heffeman put through 
the washing-pan a quantity of earth dug from his back 
premises in Bendigo, which yielded a good deal of 
nuggety and flakey gold. At one time gold could be 
obtained almost anywhere within the city boundaries, 
and Golden Square is the locality of quartz-reefing to 
a very large extent at this time. 

In one of the claims here located the author has 
descended to a depth of over two thousand feet from 
the surface, and seen the thick lead (pronounced "leed") of 
golden quartz which the miners (day wages men) were 
employed in picking out and sending above to the 
crushing battery. The atmosphere at this depth is 
exceedingly warm, and beads of perspiration ooze from 
every pore of the body. A visitor before descending 
the shaft will always act wisely by divesting himself of 
most of his clothes and clean linen and attiring himself 
in a suit of coarse overalls. If not, he will return to 
the surface a very grimy object. Besides at Bendigo, 
quartz-reefing is carried on extensively at Ballarat, 
Stawell, Maryborough and several other places in 
Victoria. Accidents frequently happen in this very 
dangerous branch of industry, and the author remembers 
a terrible one which occurred at Maryborough many 
years ago, at the Duke Mine. The cage with several 
men in it had reached the surface, but by some mistake on 
the part of those in the engine-house, instead of being 



142 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

stopped there, the cage ascended to the poppet heads 
with a force which broke the machinery, and the cage 
went down the shaft again with lightning speed. At the 
bottom every one of its occupants instantly became a 
mangled corps ; they had fallen more than a thousand 
feet 

Geelong, another of Victoria's most important towns, 
lies upon a bay which is an arm of Port Phillip. At one 
time Geelong came very near being made the capital, 
but the construction of the railway from there to 
Ballarat put an end to the proposal. This continuation 
of the line from Melbourne to Ballarat practically killed 
Geelong, and it stagnated accordingly. Geelong is 
beautifully situated, is a solid, well-built town with 
spacious thoroughfares, and is an agreeable resort for 
those who tire of the bustle of city life. Its public 
park is a special feature of recommendation. Geelong 
is a manufacturing town, and its tweeds are much worn 
and appreciated. 

It must not be supposed by those who know nothing 
to the contrary that gold-mining is the sole occupation 
in the mining cities and towns of Victoria. Various 
other industries have been established, and at Ballarat, 
for example, railway locomotive construction is exten- 
sively carried on. These cities and towns are surrounded 
by fine agricultural and pastoral districts, supporting 
numerous populations, and in those areas which are 
devoted to agricultural occupation, the soil is very fertile 
and the crops prolific. In fact, these goldfields have 
done more to extend settlement than anything else 
which could be imagined, and they have therefore served 
a double purpose : first, by drawing large communities 
to themselves ; and secondly, by inducing others to go 
upon the soil and supply them with the principal 
necessaries of life. That is why settlement has made 
such signal progress in Victoria. 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 143 

A beautiful city is Adelaide, the capital of South 
Australia. First settled in 1836, it was named in honour 
of Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV. As before 
explained, no convicts ever found a foothold here, as by 
Act of Parliament South Australia was specially excluded 
from the transportation system. The city is divided 
into two parts by the river Torrens, and numerous 
substantial bridges give access from one part of the city 
to the other. As a rule, the streets are wide and regular 
on the south side of the river, running at right angles, 
with rows of trees on either side. This is the business 
portion of the city, that on the northern bank of the 
Torrens being devoted chiefly to residential occupation. 
Adelaide is situated upon a large plain, with Mount 
Lofty Range not far distant from its eastern and 
southern sides. The shipping port is Port Adelaide, at 
the mouth of the Torrens, on St. Vincent Gulf, and a 
railway connects the city with this port. The city has 
an abundant water supply, and is a considerable 
manufacturing centre, principally of woollen goods, 
leather, iron, and earthenware. South Australia exports 
large quantities of wool, wine, wheat, flour, and copper 
ore. Many splendid buildings grace the streets of 
Adelaide, and the most conspicuous of them are 
Parliament House, Government Offices, post-office, 
town hall. South Australian Institute, &c. Its botanical 
gardens are of good extent and splendidly kept. 

South Australia has always been famed for the 
excellent quality of its wine production, and vineyards 
are to be seen in all directions. Few people in the 
colonies have not heard of the wines produced by 
Cleland, Penfold, Smith, of Yalumba, and other promi- 
nent vignerons. But the man who has done more than 
anybody else to bring South Australian wines into 
prominence is Mr. H. J. Scott, of New Brighton. To 
his untiring zeal must be attributed the foothold these 



144 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

wines have secured in London and other places in the 
United Kingdom as well as throughout Australia, 
Tasmania, and New Zealand. Victoria is a strong 
competitor with South Australia in wine production, 
and in parts of the former the vineyards extend farther 
than the eye can reach. The vineyards of Hubert and 
Paul de Castella are amongst the most extensive. 
Some years ago the author had the pleasure of visiting 
Mr. Paul de Castella's vineyards at Yarra Flats, and the 
wines of his oldest vintages were of a quality which 
left nothing better to be desired. The Chateau Tahbilk 
may be mentioned as another of Victoria's most exten- 
sive vineyards. New South Wales also produces capital 
wines, and really it is difficult to choose between the 
productions of these three colonies. The vineyards at 
Albury are well worth seeing, and no one should leave 
that border town without paying a visit to the very 
extensive wine cellars owned by Mr. Fallon, where wines 
of all descriptions are stored in immense quantities. 
Wine will for all time be one of the greatest staple 
products of Australia, and it only requires age to place 
it upon an equality with the old wine-producing 
countries of Europe. It has always struck the author 
as being very absurd that New Zealand, which will 
never be a wine-producing country upon a scale worth 
considering, does not throw its ports open to the free 
introduction of Australian wines upon some reciprocal 
arrangement mutually advantageous. 

Queensland's capital is Brisbane, which came into 
existence as a penal station in 1825. Eagle Farm, on 
which the city now stands, was the location of the first 
batch of convicts sent to Moreton Bay, and thousands 
of other convicts were conveyed to Queensland between 
1825 and 1839. After that year the only convicts sent 
there were some of those who arrived in the last convict 
ship at Port Jackson and were not allowed to disembark 



, 



AUSTRALIA'S CAPITALS AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS 145 

at Sydney. As in the case of Adelaide, so also in 
Brisbane, the city is divided into two parts by a river (the 
Brisbane), which falls into Moreton Bay at a distance of 
twenty-five miles from the city. Brisbane has broad, 
straight streets, well-built bridges span the river, and 
numerous fine buildings are to be seen upon either side 
of the city. It is well supplied with parks and botanical 
gardens, and Brisbane is a city of much greater 
dimensions than might be expected from its age as 
a free settlement. As in all the other capitals of 
Australia, industrial enterprise has launched out in 
various directions, and its manufactories give employ- 
ment to a large section of the commuuity. Queensland 
exports gold, wool, cotton, sugar, tallow, hides, and 
other commodities, and is generally speaking a pro- 
gressive colony. Brisbane being about five hundred 
miles to the northward of Sydney, the climate is much 
warmer, and very frequently in summer the heat is most 
oppressive. Like most other parts of the Continent, 
insect life abounds in Queensland, and the city is very 
much subject to these pests. Rockhampton and Charters 
Towers are two of Queensland's most important towns, 
but in neither of tiiem will any one live for choice, 
owing to the enervating nature of the climate. Indeed, 
with regard to all that portion of Northern Australia 
between certain parallels, it is difficult to see how they 
can be brought into profitable occupation without the 
employment of coloured labour. They are no places 
for white men to toil in. 

Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is the smallest 
on the Continent For one reason, this is because it 
was the last to remain a Crown colony; and in the 
next place the climate is too hot to attract population. 
Of late years a spurt has been given to Perth by the 
gold discoveries inland, and its population has increased 
considerably, mainly upon that account Perth is 

II 



146 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

situated on the north bank of the Swan river. Free- 
mantle is its port at the mouth of the Swan, twelve 
miles distant from Perth. The relics of convictism are 
still to be seen in these localities, and in later times a 
good many political prisoners connected with the 
Fenian organisation were sent there. A number of 
these escaped by an American whaler to the United 
States in 1875, and the rest either terminated their 
sentences or were amnestied. Many of them com- 
plained bitterly of the treatment they received in the 
Western Australian prisons ; but, cruel as that treat- 
ment undoubtedly was in some instances, none of the 
barbarities were practised like those which caused such 
a thrill of indignation and horror in r^ard to convict 
life at the penal stations of New South Wales and Van 
Diemen's Land in the early days. 



CHAPTER XIV 

REPRESENTATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, 

AND DEMOCRACY 

IT will simplify the study of the subject very con- 
siderably if this chapter is not encumbered with 
precise details about the way in which affairs were 
conducted during the continuance of the Crown colony 
system in New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land,' and 
later on in Western Australia. It is somewhat curious 
to find that, although the first Legislative Council was 
opened in Sydney in 1824, it was 1838 before the 
Press and public were admitted to its deliberations. 
The wealthy people of New South Wales had very 
lofty notions of their own importance, and regarded 
themselves as a class which should possess privileges 
which the humbler classes of the community should 
not enjoy. It will hardly be believed that when it was 
proposed to confer responsible government upon New 
South Wales, these ultra-conservatives actually desired 
that the Constitution should be modelled upon that of 
Great Britain in all essential particulars ; and the fact 
should neither be overlooked nor admitted from these 
pages that the preposterous and happily futile attempt 
was made to create a hereditary titled aristocracy in 
New South Wales, from whose ranks the membership of 
the Upper House should be supplied. One feels inclined, 



148 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

at this distance of time, to regard this absurd proposi- 
tion as a huge joke, but it was advanced in all earnest- 
ness and sincerity, and if they could have managed it, 
New South Wales would have had its House of Lords, 
only without the name. Honourable Councillors were 
to be members for life, and their heirs were to succeed 
them in Council membership. The proposal was 
carried even so far as to have it referred to a committee, 
and a Bill was actually drafted by that committee to 
have the hereditary idea given effect to. Outside, how- 
ever, a strong agitation was promoted against it ; the 
people declared in plain terms that they would tolerate 
no Council established on a basis similar to the English 
House of Lords, and when the Bill came on for con- 
sideration in the Council the clause which provided for a 
hereditary titled aristocracy was excised. 

The first Parliament under responsible Government 
was opened in Sydney on May 22, 1856. It consisted 
of two Houses ; the Legislative Council comprised 
twenty-one members, of whom not more than one-fifth 
might be persons holding office of profit under the 
Crown. The members of the Council were nominated 
by the Crown, and the appointment of its president was 
vested in the Crown also. The L^islative Assembly 
consisted of fifty-four members, none of whom, excepting 
the then recognised members of the Ministry or other 
Ministers, not being more than five, could hold offices of 
profit under the Crown. Qualified electors were required 
to be owners of a freehold of the value of ;f 100, ;f 10 
householders, occupiers or leaseholders, persons paying 
£4p a year for board and lodging, lodgers or sub- 
tenants paying ;^io per annum, persons in receipt of a 
salary of £iQO and over per annum, and holders of 
pastoral licenses. Persons qualified to be electors were 
qualified to be members of the House, with the ex- 
ception of ministers of religion, who were specially 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 149 

disqualified for membership. This was the basis upon 
which the system of representative or responsible 
Government was begun in Australia — one House 
nominated by the Crown, the other elected by such of 
the people as possessed the necessary qualification. On 
November 21, 1856, the first Parliament under respon- 
sible and representative Government met in Melbourne, 
and three years afterwards, namely, on October 13, 
1859, Victoria elected its Parliament for the first time 
under manhood suffrage. Queensland's first Parliament 
under responsible Goverment met on May 29, i860 ; 
South Australia's on April 22, 1859. 

Originally established as dependencies of New South 
Wales — New Zealand also b^^n its career as a 
dependency of the Mother Colony — the time came when 
the desire to manage their own affairs manifested itself 
in the other settled portions of Australia, Victoria 
separated from New South Wales, and Queensland also 
resolved to carve out its own destinies. Tasmania had 
freed itself from the connection, and South Australia 
had its own separate constitution. Western Australia 
still remained a Crown colony whilst all the others 
enjoyed the blessings of self-government, and as a con- 
sequence it lagged behind. No sooner were Victoria 
and Queensland left to take care of themselves than a 
wave of progression swept over them, and the Mother 
Colony also began to flourish from the moment that 
representative and responsible Government was conferred 
upon it. It was in Victoria, however, that the seeds of 
democracy may be said to have first taken root. Whilst 
it made both branches of its Legislature elective. New 
South Wales and Queensland adhered to the nomina- 
tive system for their Upper House, and men sum- 
moned to these Councils by the Crown were practically 
installed there for life, so long as they committed 
no act to nullify the continuance of their member- 



ISO AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

ship. Under this conservative system the Crown 
always exercised a strong control over the legis- 
lation submitted to Parliament for its consideration. 
Under the nominative system the Legislative Councils 
were independent bodies, in no way amenable to public 
opinion. Their members had no constituencies to face, 
and deadlocks between both branches of the Legislature 
were not infrequent. It has been argued against the 
elective system that, if it were applied to both Houses 
of Parliament, deadlocks would occur oftener, because 
one House would be in a position to declare itself to be 
equally as representative as the other. The history of 
Legislative Councils under the nominated system has 
proved the contrary to be the case, not even forgetting 
that historic period in Victoria when the conflict between 
the Council and Legislative Assembly led to such 
serious results and for a time paralysed the administra- 
tion of affairs. But, taken as a whole, these deadlocks 
have more rarely happened in the Colony whose 
Houses are both elective than in those which have 
adhered to the mixed elective and nominative principle. 
Although Councils which have not been amenable to 
public opinion, because of their creation by the Crown, 
have upon occasion rendered signal service by standing 
as an interposing obstacle against ill-considered or panic 
legislation ; and although an elective Chamber has put 
its veto upon the oft-repeated will of the Legislative 
Assembly, still the general experience of Colonial 
Parliaments shows that the elective system applied to 
both Chambers, besides being more suitable to colonial 
requirements, would be the system of Parliamentary 
Government most acceptable to the people. That is 
now clearly the trend of popular opinion and sentiment 
all through the Australasian Colonies, and the author 
has not the slightest doubt that if the various States 
of the Commonwealth continue their two Chambers, 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 151 

they will abolish the system of Governmental nomi- 
nations to the Upper House, 

Starting its career upon lines purely democratic, 
Victoria lost no time in pronouncing for manhood 
suffrage, and set the example of reform in many direc- 
tions. One of its earliest and most successful efforts 
was to obtain a very material reform of the land laws. 
Before it had representative and responsible government 
conferred upon it, the squatters were masters in Vic- 
toria. They held enormous areas of country without 
paying much for the privilege, and a system of land 
monopoly sprang up which was exceedingly detrimental 
to the Colony's progress. To put an end to this condi- 
tion of things the democratic statesmen of Victoria first 
directed their attention to that object The movement 
brought many men prominently to the front, amongst 
them Mr. Wilson Gray, and others equally earnest and 
persistent Population was then pouring into the Colony 
at a rapid rate, and the question that concerned these 
reformers was. What should be done with those who 
came amongst them, not to dig for gold, but to settle on 
the land ? Drastic reform of the land laws was the out- 
come of this agitation. Opportunities were afforded to 
the poor as well as to. the rich to obtain land for settle- 
ment, and from that day up till now the land system of 
Victoria has been passing through an amending process 
most conducive to the close settlement of the people 
upon the soil. 

In South Australia both Houses of Parliament are 
elective. The Legislative Council consists of twenty- 
four members, and the House of Assembly fifty-four. 
The qualification of electors for the Lower House is 
manhood suffrage — one man one vote — ^and the votes 
are recorded by ballot. The term of a Parliament for 
the House of Assembly is three years, and elections for 
the Legislative Council are held whenever vacancies 



152 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

occur by rotation. The members of both Houses are 
paid ;f 200 per annum each, besides travelling expenses 
and free passes on the railroads. In 1894 womanhood 
suffrage was introduced for House of Assembly elections 
only. 

In Tasmania both Houses are elective. The Legisla- 
tive Council consists of eighteen members elected for 
six years ; and the House of Assembly is elected for 
three years. The franchise is within the reach of every 
adult wage-earner for the House of Assembly, but 
as in South Australia, Western Australia, and Vic- 
toria, certain qualifications are required to enable per- 
sons to vote at elections for the Legislative Council. 
The principle of one man one vote has not yet been 
introduced into Tasmania ; the extraordinary anomaly 
still exists in its electoral system that some electors are 
entitled to vote in two or more electoral districts. Thus 
it happened that in the last elections held there electors 
were found voting as under : — 



For Council — 




For House of 


Assembly — 


500 electors had 


2 ' 


voles. 


1,2041 


electors had 2 votes 


98 


3 




156 


}f 


3 », 


32 


4 




95 


}f 


4 » 


II „ 


5 




49 


if 


5 „ 


3 


6 




19 


if 


6 „ 


I n 


7 




13 


tt 


I ;: 








II 


it 








4 


a 


9 » 








I 


>y 


II » 








I 


a 


12 „ 



Thus beyond those who could vote in one electorate 
only, there were 735 electors who exercised 1,682 votes 
for the Council, and i,SS3 electors who possessed 3,853 
votes amongst them for the House of Assembly. 
Doubtless Tasmania will soon follow the example of 
other colonies and allow one vote only to each qualified 
elector for both Houses. 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 153 

There are four paid Ministers of the Crown in Tas- 
mania, the Premier and Attorney-General receiving 
£ifioo a year, and the three other Ministers £7SO each. 
There is also a Minister without portfolio or pay. 
Members of Parliament receive ;f 100 each per annum. 

In Western Australia the Legislative Council and 
Legislative Assembly are elective. From the Council, 
members retire in succession according to seniority, and 
the duration of membership of the Legislative Assembly 
used to be four years (unless dissolved in the meantime), 
but the triennial system has now been introduced. 
Members are not paid for their services. The only 
reimbursement they receive is a free railway pass over 
all Government lines, and by courtesy the same privilege 
is extended to them on lines belonging to private com- 
panies. The number of members in the Legislative 
Council is thirty, and of the Legislative Assembly forty- 
four, but the latter has been increased to fifty. The 
franchise for the L^islative Council is upon an extended 
basis, and for the Legislative Assembly every adult man 
who has resided in Western Australia for one year is 
entitled to be roistered as a voter. 

The Ministry consists of seven, six of whom are paid, 
and the seventh is without portfolio. The Premier gets 
;f 1,200 a year, and the five other Ministers ;£^i,ooo each. 

In Queensland the system of a nominated Legislative 
Council still prevails. The number of members is un- 
limited, and the present number is forty-one. The 
Governor, besides appointing the President, summons 
to the Council such persons as he thinks fit, provided 
that not less than four-fifths consist of persons not 
holding any office of emolument under the Crown, 
except officers of his Majesty's sea and land forces on 
full or half pay, or retired officers on pensions. The 
tenure of seats in the Legislative Council is life. Mem- 
bers receive no reimbursement ; they get a free railway 



154 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

pass. The Legislative Assembly consists of seventy- 
two members, who are each paid ;£^300 per annum, with 
free railway pass and travelling expenses to and from 
the Session. The duration of the Legislative Assembly 
is three years, and adult suffrage is the qualification of 
electors after six months' residence in an electoral dis- 
trict. Elections are conducted by ballot The Chamber 
elects its own Speaker. 

Queensland has eight paid Ministers and one without 
portfolio. The Premier gets ;6^ 1,300 a year, and the rest 
of the Ministers ;^i,ooo each. 

In Victoria the Legislative Council comprises forty- 
eight members, and the membership of the Lower 
House is ninety-five. L^islative Councillors receive no 
payment, and the members of the Legislative Assembly 
are paid ^£^300 a year each. Ministers are voted a lump 
sum, and they divide it amongst themselves in certain 
proportions. One-third of the Legislative Council 
retires every two years. The tenure of seats in the 
Legislative Assembly is three years. 

The New South Wales Parliament consists of 66 
members of the Legislative Council and 125 in the 
Assembly. The former get no pay, but are allowed a 
free railway pass, and the members of the Legislative 
Assembly receive ;£^300 a year each, with free railway 
pass. New South Wales has nine Ministers of the 
Crown and one without portfolio, who is Vice-President 
of the Legislative Council. Two of the nine draw 
;f 1,820 of salary per annum, and the salaries of the 
other seven are fixed at ;f 1,370. 

Democracy has been marching steadily ahead all over 
Australia. The example set by Victoria has led to the 
extension of the franchise in other colonies, and they 
are all gradually approaching that point when it can be 
truly said of them that in their State affairs no less than 
in their Federal concerns they have government of the 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT i55 

people, by the people, and for the people. The only 
relics of Conservatism that still remain in two of them 
are those which confer upon the Government of the day 
the right to call whomsoever it pleases to the Upper 
House. As the author has before indicated, a strong 
current of public feeling has set in against these nomi- 
nated Chambers in New South Wales, Queensland, and 
New Zealand. Many there are who advocate that there 
should be no Upper Houses at all, and that, with the 
Referendum in force, one House is all that is required. 
That would certainly be the simplest method of effecting 
a reform which would bring parliamentary institutions 
into greater popularity, whilst lessening the cost very 
considerably. The functions of individual States, now 
that a Federal Government has been established, will not 
be so varied or important as they have been in the past, 
and this is a very strong ailment in favour of the State 
parliamentary system being remodelled either upon the 
lines of the Referendum and one Chamber, or two elec- 
tive Houses with a greatly reduced membership in each. 
In the past there has been a far too slavish observance 
of the English parliamentary system under conditions 
vastly different ; the number of members in each branch 
of the Colonial Legislatures has been out of all propor- 
tion to the population, and the cost has been heaped up 
tremendously. To people in Great Britain it must 
seem absolutely ridiculous that the parliamentary 
system should be pushed to the extreme length it is in 
Colonies where the whole of the people only number a 
few hundred thousand, and in others even where the 
population is about a fifth or sixth of that of London. 
They will realise the absurdity of this by reference to 
the statistics at the end of this volume, and by reading 
the chapter devoted to the subject in that portion of the 
book which deals with New Zealand as the plsice par ex- 
cellence of over-government, parliamentary and otherwise. 



CHAPTER XV 



AUSTRALUN SOCIETY 



A CONTINENT settled as Australia was at the 
beginning of its history, and peopled since by 
persons from most quarters of the globe, presents 
elements of cosmopolitanism very similar, although, of 
course, upon a very much smaller scale, to those of the 
United States. There is a free-and-easy style about 
Australia and Australians which is absent from older 
countries, and the conventionalities of the latter are not 
observed with anything like the same adherence to 
punctilious details in social intercourse. People out 
there mix more freely with one another than they do in 
England ; there are not the same class distinctions nor 
the frigid stiffness that is encountered in the old world, 
no titled aristocracy to impress other mortals with their 
superiority or of their assumed creation from a different 
kind of clay ; no bourgeoisie to look down in its turn 
upon those who are inferior to them in social position 
or wealth. Mix with any crowd you like, ride in trains 
or tramcars, travel on steamboats or walk through the 
streets of any colonial city, the same spirit of manly 
independence and equality as men and women strikes 
you as the main characteristic of colonial society. It is 
true enough that sometimes you will find people giving 
themselves airs, either because they are richer or do not 

156 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 157 

soil their hands in earning a livelihood. Women are 
more prone to do this than men, and to form little 
exclusive cliques or " sets " amongst themselves ; but as 
a rule people of this description are the parvenus of 
colonial society, and they only get laughed at In the 
theatres the artisan and his wife sit alongside the 
Supreme Court Judge and his wife, or the opulent 
squatter and his lady ; their pews may be side by side 
in church ; and you will find them travelling in the 
same class by rail or steamboat. At public functions 
there is no distinction of classes. You attend a 
Governor's lev^e, and the chances are that you will 
meet the barber who has shaved you that morning, or 
the tailor who has made your clothes. You don't con- 
sider either of them a bit out of place ; they consider they 
are as good as you are, and the chances are that morally 
and physically they are your superiors. No one except 
a cad would say that they had no right to present 
themselves at these functions. You may not see them 
at other functions where the Governor, like anybody 
else, has a right to select his own company ; but at the 
lev^s all sorts and conditions of men are to be seen, 
as all sorts and conditions of womenfolk flock to the 
receptions of the Governor's lady. A sense of equality 
brings them there — a feeling on the part of Mrs. Brown 
that she is just as good as Mrs. Jones, and that Mrs. 
Jones has not been modelled out of better clay than 
herself. Self-esteem and self-respect will not allow 
her to suppose that she is inferior as a woman to any- 
body else more fortunate in worldly possessions, or 
whose husband has been more successful in business, 
speculation, or official promotion than her own. The 
colonial woman tolerates no nonsense of that sort ; 
and just as Jack thinks himself as good as his master 
in the colonies, so the respectable woman recognises 
no individual superiority in her sex, arising from mere 



158 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

birth or better opportunities. She may recognise 
superior natural gifts or educational acquirements ; may 
feel that she would like to be as well off as Mrs. Jones, 
but there will be no admission beyond that — ^no conces- 
sion of a kind to suggest any acknowledged inequality 
in their origin, any class distinction placing Mrs. Jones 
on a higher plane of womanhood, as a woman. This 
attitude of original equality is everywhere to be 
observed amongst men and women alike, and that it is 
which constitutes the great difference there is between 
communities of the old world and the new. Birth 
rank counts for nothing; honour, fair-dealing and 
respectability for everything. And that is how it 
should be. 

Of course, there are some people, men and women 
alike, who consider themselves better than others, 
because they are in more affluent circumstances than 
their neighbours, and it not infrequently happens that 
persons of this description are amongst the most vulgar 
in the community. Like beggars mounted, they ride 
their horse to death, and render themselves contemptible 
in many ways. As a rule, they have had very humble 
beginnings, but opulence turns their heads, and, like all 
upstarts, they are invariably found " putting on side," as 
the colonial saying goes, and making themselves 
generally ridiculous. This self-assertiveness on the 
part of some colonials who have acquired wealth renders 
them very objectionable; and the most intolerable 
specimen of colonial you can possibly meet with is the 
woman who has graduated from the washtub or the 
kitchen to a big mansion in a fashionable suburb, and 
lolls about in her well-cushioned landau, and has a 
liveried footman to open the carriage door when she 
drives out to do some shopping, or to call at Govern- 
ment House, as the case may be. Women of this 
description are by no means few all over the Colonies, 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 159 

and they only earn for themselves the contempt of 
others who are familiar with their antecedents. There 
is no form of aristocracy so objectionable as the 
aristocracy of wealth, and the nouveaux riches of the 
Colonies are the most contemptible creatures one can 
possibly encounter at the Antipodes. Sometimes the 
fluctuations of fortune inseparable from colonial life put 
a sudden stop to their arrogance and pride and assump- 
tion of superiority, without education or refinement to 
sustain them, in the r61es of purse-proud parvenus. It 
has been generally found that those who have made a 
sudden transition from poverty to wealth become in- 
tensely conservative in their ideas. They will worship 
any one with a title whom they chance to come in 
contact with, and will move heaven and earth, and all 
the political influence which wealth gives them, to secure 
titles for themselves. The author has frequently heard 
Australian democracy jibed at, because titles were 
apparently so highly appreciated out there ; but the fact 
of the matter is that the mass of the Australian people 
do not care a snap of the fingers for titles, and have 
a very poor opinion of those who accept them. There- 
fore, it is not right to blame Australian democracy, or 
to declare that it belies its professions, because a few 
would dearly like to have titles conferred upon them, 
and are constantly laying themselves out for the supposed 
" distinction." Its indiscriminate bestowal has brought 
the institution more into contempt than otherwise, and 
little wonder it is that "be-knighted Australia" has 
formed the subject of so much ridicule amongst those 
who consider that titles are altogether out of place 
on that democratic Continent 

What must be most obnoxious to men who have seen 
Imperial service is the great tendency of colonial 
volunteer officers to prefix " Captain " or " Major " or 
" Colonel " to their names in their ordinary civilian life. 



_l 



i6o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

America is always cited as the country where every 
one you meet is a Captain or a Colonel ; but, after being 
in the United States, the author can truly say that in 
the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, in proportion 
to their population, one will hear more people captained 
and majored and coloneled than anywhere else on the 
earth's surface. Men who have never smelt powder, 
whose daily life is behind a counter or in an office, 
make no scruple of eternally calling themselves captains 
and majors if that is their rank in a volunteer corps ; 
and it is really sickening to find ex-linen drapers and 
the like, when they get into Parliament, insisting upon 
these volunteer prefixes being placed before their 
names in the official records. People at a distance who 
don't know them naturally conclude that they are retired 
captains and majors of the Imperial Army, whereas they 
are nothing but ex-drapers and other civilians pure and 
simple. This is a practice which the Australian 
democracy should put down by heaping torrents of 
ridicule upon it. In New Zealand the democracy is of 
a sort too spurious to do anything in that way. 

City life in Australia, say in such capitals as Mel- 
bourne and Sydney, is full of gaiety and enjoyment. 
They are an amusement-loving people, and, whether it 
be a race-meeting, a bicycle championship, a cricket 
match, a football match, theatre, circus or concert, they 
flock in large numbers to them all. The author has 
seen as many as twenty-five thousand people assemble at 
a football match between local clubs, that number and 
more at a game of cricket, more still at a bicycle 
championship, and at the principal race-meetings the 
attendances are very large. Melbourne and Sydney 
are the two great nurseries of cricket in Australia, and 
both cities have turned out some phenominally good 
men in all branches of the game — ^batters, bowlers, 
fielders, and wicket-keepers. South Australia has also 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY i6i 

produced some excellent cricketers, and Tasmanian 
men have occasionally come to the front. Cricket is, 
undoubtedly, the national game of Australia, and the 
men there have a great advantage over Englishmen 
because the climate permits of a far longer season than 
in England. The sending of Australian cricketers to 
Great Britain and America from time to time has 
proved a great incentive to Australian cricket, as well 
as the return visits of English teams. Three games of 
football are played there ; namely — the Victorian, the 
Association, and Rugby. In the Rugby game Colonial 
Clubs have benefited much from the visit of the first 
English team some years ago. All outdoor sports are 
well patronised in Melbourne ; and bicycle racing has 
come wonderfully well to the front because of the 
improved conditions under which they are held and the 
liberal stakes offered. The Austral wheel-race is a 
great event, and the man who wins it need do nothing 
more for his support during the remainder of the year ; 
the prize is big enough to keep him well provided for all 
that time. 

But the greatest of all sights in Australia is Cup 
Week at Flemington. It is a carnival in every sense of 
the word, and people flock to it from all parts of the 
Colonies and many places beyond. That is the time to 
see the people turn out in gayest attire, and the author 
has seen as many as from one hundred and twenty 
thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand assemble at 
Flemington on Cup day. He has not yet seen the 
Derby, but he has been told by one who has that there 
is no racecourse in the world, except Montreal, in 
Canada, which comes up to Flemington on the day the 
Cup is run. The lawn presents one of the gayest and 
liveliest sights to be seen anywhere. The costumes are 
magnificent and costly; some of them are expressly 
imported from Worth's for the occasion, and for months 

12 



i62 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

before the event comes off — ^the first Tuesday in 
November — all the big shops of Melbourne and Sydney 
are taxed to the utmost in executing the orders of their 
lady customers for the great carnival which stretches 
over an entire week — the Derby on Saturday, the Cup 
on Tuesday, the Oaks on Thursday, and the steeple- 
chase on the Saturday following. Flemington is a 
splendidly-appointed racecourse ; the Club is a wealthy 
one, gives big stakes, and has always a sound balance to 
carry forward from year to year, the bulk of which goes 
to the improvement of the property, under the able 
supervision of Mr. Byron Moore. What a spectacle 
Flemington is on Cup day especially, its hill and stands 
crowded in every part, the grand stand and lawn imme- 
diately below and in front of it, filled to overflowing and 
the Flat a sea of heads. Yet that great multitude 
of people is conveyed to and from the course by rail 
with clockwork regularity, almost always without 
accident and with a despatch that is marvellous to 
behold, and without crushing or disorder of any kind. 
The author has never seen anything to equal that piece 
of railway management anywhere. Speculation is very 
brisk at Flemington, as it is upon most Australian race- 
courses, and vast sums of money are lost and won. 
The gambling spirit seizes hold of most people, and it 
is surprising the number of small boys and girls who 
take an interest in Australia's greatest racing event. 
They talk about it months before it comes off, and it is 
safe to say that the majority of them will take a risk of 
some sort upon a probable winner; these youthful 
speculators generally pin their faith on the popular 
favourite, and when there is a " boil over " their small 
losses do not trouble them a great deal. Perhaps there 
is no part of the world where general public interest 
gets centred upon a horse-race to the extent it does 
upon the Melbourne Cup. Abbot's leviathan " sweeps " 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 163 

and their tempting possible returns for an investment of 
ten shillings and a pound encourage the general interest 
which is taken in the event by old and young. These 
" sweeps " are got up in Hobart, because they are 
unlawful on any part of Australian soil or New Zealand, 
and Abbot derives a splendid income from his opera- 
tions. The public have confidence in him, and remit 
their money freely. He employs quite a large staff of 
clerks, as his "sweeps" are drawn upon all the important 
racing events throughout the season. Sometimes a 
poor man gets back as much as ;£" 15,000 for his ;£*!, but 
as a rule the big prizes fall to people who are well off. 
Syndicates are formed to purchase a great many tickets 
and they often get nothing, while the holders of single 
tickets occasionally come in for big prizes. The 
author knows of two telegraph clerks who divided 
£7yO0O between them, and of an invalid in straitened 
circumstances who came in for ;£"i 3,000 from Abbot, but 
did not survive long enough to derive much benefit 
from his windfall. Horse-racing is quite a passion with 
Australians, and it is only a comparative few who do 
not enjoy it Opportunities for indulging the national 
propensity are plentiful enough ; and, as Mark Twain 
facetiously expresses it in his " More Tramps Abroad," 
an Australian can have a church next door and a 
racecourse across the road. Mark goes very near the 
truth. 

If you want to see Melbourne people enjoy them- 
selves of an evening, go to the theatre, especially on a 
Saturday night, which is the fashionable evening in the 
Victorian metropolis. A packed house everywhere, and 
the dress circle an array of brilliancy and colour — costly 
dresses and sparkling diamonds all around — dresses not 
quite so cUcolletiy perhaps, as those which one sees at the 
Grand Opera House in Paris, but low enough never- 
theless to display a considerable portion of the human 



164 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

anatomy. And how that audience, which can rarely be 
accused of hypercriticism, enjoys itself and applauds 
those who contribute to their enjoyment ! Once a star 
becomes a favourite in Melbourne, that star never loses 
hold of their good opinion and support Even when 
old favourites get to the pass/ stage and beyond it, the 
Melbourne people never forget what those favourites 
once were, and they will stick to them to the end. 
This is a particularly noticeable trait of the theatre- 
going public of Melbourne, whose generous feelings 
never get blunted because their old favourites are no 
longer what they used to be. The instances are many 
where actors, actresses, and singers have been able to 
keep their heads well above water in Melbourne, when 
they would experience chilling receptions elsewhere 
because of failing capacity to come up to the required 
standard of strange, less tolerant, and more exacting 
audiences. All honour, therefore, to Melbourne play- 
goers for their loyalty and attachment to their old 
favourites in sunshine and shadow alike — in the zenith 
of their fame and in the decline of their histrionic or 
lyric powers which is the prelude to their retirement 
from the stage. 

If you want to see what Melbourne city life is in the 
daytime, " do the block " ; that is to say, stroll round 
Collins Street from its intersection with Elizabeth 
Street, then into Swanson Street, down Bourke Street, 
then into Elizabeth Street and back to the comer in 
Collins Street, from which you have originally started. 
That is the Melbourne block, but Collins and Swanson 
are the two sides of it where the promenade is more 
crowded and fashionable. Between three and five 
o'clock in the afternoon is the time to see the block in all 
its glitter and glory, or between eleven and one on a 
Saturday. At these hours you will behold troops of 
fashionably-attired ladies "doing the block" as regularly 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 165 

as people go to church. on Sundays. The Melbourne 
ladies know how to dress neatly and effectively without 
overdoing it, and in this respect they outshine the 
ladies of any other Australasian city ; that is to say, 
that in their daily promenades along this favourite 
resort, you will see better taste displayed by the ladies 
of Melbourne than in any other city south of the Line, 
and the author feels sure they would hold their own in 
any of the fashionable promenades in Great Britain. 

One other trait of the Melbourne and Victorian people 
must not be overlooked, because it deserves the fullest 
recognition. They are genuine patrons of the fine arts. 
Proof of this is to be found in their admirable picture 
gallery and in the statuary which adorns their public 
gardens and streets. Painters and sculptors find Mel- 
bourne a congenial and prosperous place to live in, as 
the numbers of its painters and sculptors will testify. 
Their studios are well patronised, and those who can 
afford it and have cultivated tastes do not scruple to 
give the local talent liberal commissions for what they 
want Musically, too, Melbourne people are not slow 
in the bestowal of their appreciation upon anything 
really good that is submitted to them for their encourage- 
ment and support. How handsomely they have acted 
in the case of Miss Amy Castles, a young lady who was 
discovered to possess a voice of phenomenal range and 
sweetness. A fund was raised in Victoria to send this 
budding prima donna to Europe for tuition and study. 
About ;f 3,000 was raised without any difficulty, and at 
this moment Miss Castles is pursuing her studies in 
Paris. Victoria is proud of Amy Castles, and some of 
these days, according to reliable accounts, this lady will 
make a name for herself second to none amongst the 
soprano stars who have shone before her. Proud, too, 
they are of Madame Melba, also a native-born Australian ; 
and what a reception will be hers when she visits her 



i66 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

native land ! It was in the Melbourne Town Hall, on 
the occasion of her first appearance there, that the 
author had the pleasure of hearing this accomplished 
artiste, before she took Europe and America by storm 
in classic opera. Australians are anxiously looking 
forward to the treat she will aflford them on her return, 
and a most successful tour awaits her under Austral 
skies. 

In their homes, the people of Melbourne, and indeed 
of Victoria generally, will be found entertaining and 
hospitable, without the least stiffness. Most colonial 
ladies play and sing, and your Melbourne hostess and 
her daughters know how to make an evening enjoyable 
to their gfuests. There is no stint to their hospitality ; 
they can converse well and freely, and their guests are 
made to feel quite at home. It is one of the greatest 
pleasures of life to enjoy the acquaintance of a nice circle 
of friends in Melbourne, where stupid and irksome con- 
ventionalities are ignored, and people comport themselves 
towards one another with a kindliness, naturalness and 
freedom which must be highly appreciated by those who 
have been accustomed to the frigid formalities of Europe, 
and find that at last they are associating with people 
who do and say things in a natural and common-sense 
sort of way. No European artificialism obtrudes itself 
into Australian homes. 

Mark Twain is quite correct in saying that the 
Australians do not seem to him to difier noticeably 
from Americans. And neither do they. One can 
detect a peculiarity in the pronunciation of some words. 
They will say "te-yown" for town, "che-urch" for church, 
and so on, and they are given to a rapid utterance 
which converts blue gum into " bloogum," sea-gull into 
" cgill," and half-past into " hapast" ; but they are never 
guilty, except in mimicry, of such Cockney atrocities of 
speech as " ply the gime " for play the game, " piper " 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 167 

for paper, " lydy " for lady, " tyble " for table, or "wyter" 
for waiter. An Australian merely substitutes i or y 
for a when he is mimicking a London costermonger. 
That chambermaid in Sydney referred to by Mark 
Twain must have been a newly-arrived Cockney, or, if 
Australian-born, the daughter of a London costermonger 
from whom she inherited the pronunciation. She was 
not a typical Australian, and her Cockney pronunciation 
of words was simply the result of association. If 
Australians can be accused of doing anything out of the 
common with their native speech, it is to drawl slightly, 
but never to the extent Americans do ; and perhaps they 
are a little too much given to the use of slang. But that 
is an Anglo-Saxon characteristic all the world over, and 
not peculiarly Australian. 

Melbourne has, of course, its seamy side, and in some 
of its slums misery, crime, and debauchery exist in just 
the same way as they are to be found in other large 
cities. The " Larrikin " evil is a very pronounced one 
both in Melbourne and Sydney, and these young black- 
guards have no respect either for age or sex. They will 
knock down a decrepit old man, rob, and maltreat him 
as soon as they will attack and rob younger people, and 
in the same way a woman's grey hairs and helplessness 
will not protect her. These larrikins are the scum of 
Melbourne and Sydney, and nothing but the use of the 
lash will effectually get rid of them, just as garotting 
was suppressed in Melbourne by the exemplary sentences 
passed upon the garotting fraternity by Mr. Justice 
Williams some time ago. These larrikins hound to- 
gether in what are called " pushes," and terrorize whole 
neighbourhoods by their acts of violence upon old and 
young. Larrikinism has been allowed to get a firmer 
hold than it could ever have obtained if the magistracy 
had done its duty at the commencement of the organisa- 
tion, and inflicted salutary punishments when cases were 



i68 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

brought before them in the courts by the police. They 
were dealt with too leniently at the start, and so larri- 
kinism grew apace. Than the Melbourne or Sydney 
larrikin, no viler, more brutal or cowardly scoundrel 
haunts the streets of any city, and nothing short of 
the most drastic measures will ever get rid of him. 

Of Australian youth generally, it is only fair to say 
that they are sober and well-behaved, law-abiding and 
orderly. Their sobriety is one of the many excellent 
traits they possess, and this fact must come under the 
notice of any one who visits the Colonies for the first 
time. And in this connection it must be observed that 
London itself might take a leaf out of Australia's book 
considerably to its advantage. In Australia no drinking 
shop is allowed to open its doors on Sundays. The 
bars are closed on the Sabbath, and heavy penalties 
are inflicted if landlords are found breaking the law. 
How different things are in London! where the glare 
and glitter of public-houses on Sunday evenings invite 
people to spend their money and take more drink than 
is good, and certainly not necessary, for them. If 
London reformers seriously desire to get rid of a great 
evil, here is one ready at their hand to tackle with all 
their might 

The ups and downs of colonial life are sometimes 
most extraordinary. Over-speculation and bad invest- 
ments, droughts, floods, and other misfortunes are 
known suddenly to make rich men poor; and other 
men rise as they come down. These fluctuations of 
fortune afford a striking illustration of what may 
happen to a man in the Colonies any day, and wise is 
he who, when he acquires suflicient for his wants through 
life, is satisfied with what he has and sticks to it But 
there are men who develop such a passion for money- 
making that they wear out their lives in the process, 
without social enjoyments of any kind or severance 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 169 

from their businesses except for nightly rest. There 
are many such men in Australia ; but there are a great 
many more who take life philosophically, and if a turn 
of adversity comes, they are too full of energy to lie 
quietly under the weight of ill-fortune that has assailed 
them. They find ways to extricate themselves from 
awkward positions without damaging their credit, and 
it is this buoyancy of Australian commercial life and 
enterprise which pulls through many a man who has 
been upon the verge of disaster through unforeseen and 
unavoidable eventualities. The brain of the average 
Australian commercial man is active; perhaps the 
brightness of Australian skies and the cheerfulness of 
his surroundings have something to do with it ; but, be 
that as it may, the fact remains that he never meets 
trouble half-way, but tries manfully to avert it, and in 
doing this he is full of resource, and seldom fails. There 
is also a feeling of camaraderie amongst Australian com- 
mercial men which comes to one's assistance in time of 
need and helps him to surmount temporary embarrass- 
ments; and, taken altogether, ups and downs in the 
Colonies are varying stages in people's careers which are 
accepted as they come in that spirit of philosophy which 
implies that everything has happened for the best, and 
the best must therefore be made of it. 

Although the author has been referring to Melbourne 
in this chapter upon Australian society, his observations 
apply equally to Sydney in most particulars. He has 
lumped them both together, because there is really no 
material difference in the public and private life of these 
two great cities. The Sydney people are proverbial for 
their hospitality and for the encouragement they give to 
the arts and sciences, to the drama, to music, and to all 
sports and amusements out of doors. Kindly disposed 
and open-hearted as the Sydney people undoubtedly 
are, they will go to no end of trouble in entertaining 



I70 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

any one who is the bearer of introductions to them, and 
the visitor will carry the best impressions away with 
him. Although Randwick has not the same great 
reputation that Flemington has, still a big meeting on 
that course will well repay a visit It is curious to note 
that the horses run round Randwick in the reverse order 
to Flemington, and that the inside running is on the left 
at Flemington and on the right at Randwick. Private 
benevolence is a prevalent virtue amongst the Sydney 
people, as indeed it is amongst the Melboumites and 
the people of Australia generally, and no deserving 
appeal is ever made to them without a cheerful and 
liberal response. The author believes that, so far as the 
benevolent spirit of the people is concerned, Australia 
will compare favourably with any part of the world. 
Local disasters are not the only ones they provide for ; 
they contribute as readily to relief funds in connection 
with calamities which occur at great distances away, and 
in this manner a system of mutual assistance has been 
introduced which reflects infinite credit upon the Colonies 
and helps largely to consolidate them as a nation. 

The average colonial girl is not only well educated 
from an intellectual point of view, but in every way 
which is calculated to make a useful woman of her. 
Mothers as a rule bring up their daughters in a practical, 
common-sense sort of way, and the result is that the 
typical colonial girl can adapt herself almost to any cir- 
cumstances in life. Indeed, she prides herself upon her 
proficiency in household affairs. The girls of a family 
rival each other in the production of the most dainty 
dishes, and great care and attention are paid to the 
arrangement and carrying out of the various social 
functions in their households. Often the whole of the 
cooking and planning of a pleasant luncheon, afternoon 
tea, dinner or supper party will be done under the direct 
supervision of the daughters of the hostess, and they will 



AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 171 

with perfect aplomb take their full share in the enter- 
tainment of their mother's guests. Tennis, hockey, golf, 
and sometimes bowls, camping-out, walking parties, 
cycling, riding, and driving provide them with plenty 
of outdoor exercise and recreation. Although colonial 
girls are just as appreciative of the opposite sex as their 
sisters in any other land, they are not at all dependent 
upon them as escorts, and can have what their American 
cousins would call a very good time without them, as 
their upbringing has made them self-possessed and self- 
reliant to a degree which renders them independent. 
While the frank and easy manners of the colonial girl 
contrast pleasantly with the rather cold reserve of her 
English cousin, she is quite able to maintain her dignity 
and self-respect She is natural, vivacious, and com- 
panionable. 



CHAPTER XVI 

EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES AND 

TASMANIA 

IN dealing with this subject it is necessary to set forth 
the measures which were adopted for the education 
of children in the Mother Colony before anything like a 
State system was resorted to, and then to give a brief 
outline of the systems which are now working in the 
colonies of Australia and Tasmania, as follows : — 

New South Wales. 

During the period, dating from its early settlement, 
up to the year 1848, New South Wales had a system 
of purely denominational education, and the various 
religious denominations were assisted by the Govern- 
ment in proportion to the amount which each expended 
for educational purposes. In 1839, a grant was made 
for the purpose of imparting non-sectarian instruction to 
the children of those parents who objected to the 
denominational system. In 1848, two separate boards 
were established — one for the administration of denomi- 
national education, and the other for the control and 
management of the undenominational or national schools, 
as they were called. This dual system existed for 
eighteen years, when it was abolished by the Public 
Schools Act of 1866. This Act continued these two 

distinct classes of schools, but all schools receiving State 

172 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 173 

aid were placed under the control of the Council of 
Education, a body appointed by the Government 
Under the provisions of this Act the public schools were 
entirely administered by the Council, and the denomi- 
national schools were governed in conjunction with the 
various religious bodies who had founded them. In 
1880, another change took place, and State aid to 
denominational schools was abolished. The Act of that 
year provided for the establishment and maintenance of 
public schools to afford primary instruction to all children 
without sectarian or class distinction. Provision was 
also made for superior public evening schools, and for 
high schools for boys and girls in which students might 
be. prepared for the University. It was likewise pro- 
vided that all these schools should be strictly non- 
sectarian ; but, at the same time, an hour each day 
beyond the four hours for secular instruction exclusively 
might be set apart for religious instruction, to be given 
in a separate class-room by a clergyman or religious 
teacher of any persuasion, to children of the same 
persuasion whose parents had no objection to their 
receiving such religious instruction. To some extent 
this permission has been taken advantage of by some of 
the religious denominations, but not by Roman Catholics. 
Under the New South Wales system of public education 
it is compulsory for parents to send their children 
between the ages of six and fourteen years to school for 
at least seventy days in each year, unless just cause of 
exemption can be shown, and penalties are provided for 
a breach of this provision. Although education is com- 
pulsory, it is not altogether free. Parents are required 
to pay a weekly fee of threepence per child, but not 
exceeding one shilling in all for the children of one 
family. Power is given to remit the fees where it is 
shown that the parents are unable to pay. School 
children are allowed to travel free by rail to the nearest 



174 



AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 



public or private primary school, and also to the superior 
and high schools. Parents are not compelled to send 
their children to the public schools, but the State insists 
that all children must be educated somewhere, and 
therefore a certain standard of education must be 
attained, whether that secular instruction be received at 
public or private schools. When the census of 1881 was 
taken, it was found that out of 751,468 persons 
enumerated, 195,029, or very nearly 26 per cent, were 
unable to read ; the census of 1891 showed that out 
of 1,123,954 persons enumerated, only 244,938, or 217 
per cent, were unable to read. Included in this number 
were 165,781 children of four years of age and under ; 
so that there were only 78,617 persons, or 7 per cent, 
of the population five years of age and over, who were 
unable to read. This 7 per cent, included Chinese, 
Polynesians, and others, but not aborigines. Of 5,804 
persons married during 1857, 1,646, or 28*4 per cent, were 
unable to sign the marriage register. There was a vast 
difference in 1898, when only 17 per cent, of those 
married in that year could not sign the marriage register 
except by their marks. 

In that year, according to the table given by Mr. 
T. A. Coghlan, the eminent statistician of New South 
Wales, the following are the percentages of the various 
Colonies of those who could not sigfn the marriage 
registers : — 



New South Wales 
Victoria 

Queensland ... 
South Australia 
Western Australia 
Tasmania 
New Zealand ... 



Percentage 
signing with marks* 

17 
07 

rS 
1*0 

5-9 
07 



Although the compulsory school age in New South 
Wales is six to fourteen, children five years of age are 



i 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 175 

received at the public schcx>ls, and a considerable number 
of those who have passed the school age are also to be 
found in State and private schools. 

From the time of the withdrawal of aid from denomi- 
national schools, up to the end of 1898, the increase in 
the average quarterly enrolment at State schools was 
51*2 per cent. In 1898, the proportion of the population 
enrolled at State schools was 15*3 per cent. 

The following table (also from Mr. Coghlan's most 
interesting volume, " The Wealth and Progress of New 
South Wales"), shows the number of State schools in 
each of the Australasian Colonies in 1898, together with 
the number of scholars in average attendance : — 



Colony. 

1 


Schools. 


Teachers. 


Scholars in 

average 
attendance. 


Average attend- 
ance of Pupils 
per school. 


New South Wales 

Victoria 

Queensland 

South Australia ... 

Western Australia 

Tasmania 

New Zealand 


2,602 

1,877 

843 
671 

296 
1,624 


4,618 

1,904 

1,255 

391 

3,664 
17,138 


141,723 

134,976 

58,296 

39,128 

10,9x5 
12,015 

110,256 


54 
72 

i 

65 


Australasia 


8,080 


507,309 


63 



The gross cost of each child in average attendance at 
the public schools of the seven Colonies in 1898, exclusive 
of the expenditure on buildings, was as follows : — 







Cost per child 






in average attendance. 
£ 8. d. 


New South Wales 




482 


Victoria 

Queensland 




4 12 4 

3 18 8 


South Australia ... 




3 14 I 


Western Australia 




4 10 


Tasmania... 




2 16 4 


New Zealand 




4 10 



176 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The total expenditure upon public education in New 
South Wales in 1898, was ;f 729,922, and of this amount 
the contributions of parents amounted to only ;£^73,093. 
In that year the number of private schools in the Colony 
was 956, and scholars 58,179. The gross enrolment of 
distinct pupils at the State schools was 277,561, 

Victoria, 

When a State system of education was established in 
this Colony it was made free, non-sectarian, and com- 
pulsory. No teacher was permitted to impart religious 
instruction, but after school hours the ministers of 
various denominations were allowed the privilege, if 
they chose to avail themselves of it, of giving religious 
instruction to the children of various denominations 
whose parents desired to have them so instructed. Out 
of school hours it was found that children did not feel 
inclined to present themselves for religious instruction, 
and ministers realised that this concession was practically 
of no avail to them. Attempts have, therefore, been 
made from time to time to have religious instruction 
included in the ordinary school curriculum, and failing 
this the Bible in schools party have endeavoured to get 
such amendments of the Act as would permit of portions 
of the Scriptures being read daily. Quite an agitation 
upon the subject has been going on for years past, and 
last year a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire 
into and report upon the subject. That Commission 
presented its report last year. It was determined by 
this Commission that a series of lessons should be 
selected from the Holy Scriptures, and after long and 
careful consideration it was unanimously decided to 
recommend the adoption of certain lessons. While 
some members of the Commission would have pre- 
ferred to eliminate a number of the lessons adopted, 
the Commission, as a whole, was glad to unite in 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 177 

recommending the scheme submitted. The members 
of the Commission were of opinion — in which they were 
confirmed by the evidence of the experts examined — 
that these lessons should be given during the first hour 
of the day, that they should not exceed half an hour, 
and that the teachers might be trusted to explain the 
lesson as they would any other subject without obtruding 
personal or sectarian views. The lessons were to be 
from the Old and the New Testaments. The Old 
Testament series of lessons was carefully prepared to 
meet the views of Jewish fellow-colonists, should they 
see fit to accept the system, no reference to New Testa- 
ment passages occurring therein. In their report the 
Commission said : " We have carefully striven to provide 
lessons of an absolutely unsectarian character, and as 
simple as is compatible with an elementary knowledge 
of religious truth. No attempt has been made to 
introduce any theological system, and controversial 
doctrine has been carefully avoided. It is confidently 
hoped, therefore, that these lessons will find general 
acceptance. The general plan followed has the double 
advantage, that if the lesson be merely read it will 
accomplish very much of what is desired, while if, as we 
hope, the lesson be carefully taught, the key to the 
moral instruction therein will be readily found by the 
teacher. The unanimous testimony of the witnesses was 
in favour of teaching as distinct from mere reading, that 
the lessons would be far more valuable and interesting if 
treated in this way, and that the teachers could be trusted 
loyally to teach the lessons as they would any other." 
The Commission recommended a conscience clause for 
such teachers as conscientiously objected to give the 
lessons, and also a clause to meet the case of parents 
who objected to their children receiving religious 
instruction. " The Commission recommends that these 
Scripture lessons should form part of the ordinary school 

^3 



178 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

curriculum. Prayers and hymns have also been pre- 
pared by the Commission which may be used before 
or after the Scripture lesson. If they are not used, 
we recommend that the devotional passages usually 
appended to each lesson should be read by all together, 
to be followed by the Lord's Prayer. We believe that 
the hymn would be a valuable adjunct to our scheme. 
We have made a selection of a varied and general 
character, which may be used in connection with the 
lessons. While the voluntary religious instruction of 
the children has proved to be utterly inadequate to the 
necessities of the country, we view with great approval 
the efforts being made to provide religious instruction 
by voluntary agents, whose work, we hope, will be 
greatly assisted by the instruction it is now proposed to 
give through the trained teachers as a part of the school 
curriculum. Having completed the preparation of this 
manual of Scripture instruction, the Commission hope 
that measures will be taken as early as possible to remit 
this question to a direct vote of the people, and in order 
that an intelligent vote may be given, and also to avoid 
putting the country to unnecessary expense, we very 
earnestly recommend that three specimen lessons in 
each division, with a prayer and hymn attached, be sent 
to every elector in Victoria." 

That was the report presented to Parliament last 
year, but no action was taken in regard to it. The 
fact is, that politicians in Victoria are afraid to deal 
with the question, owing to the great diversity of 
opinion which prevails there as to whether religious 
instruction should be introduced into the State schools 
or not Consequently, the system still remains free, 
compulsory, and absolutely non-sectarian. 

South Australia. 

Prior to 1847 there was no State education in South 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 179 

Australia. Before that year the private schools were 
conducted without Government interference or control. 
In 1847 ^n ordinance was passed under whose pro- 
visions a capitation grant was paid by the Government 
to schools established by private persons; but in 1851 
this ordinance was repealed and an Act was substituted 
for the purpose of establishing public schools in which 
good secular instruction, based on Christian principles, 
apart from sectarian differences of belief or opinion, 
should be imparted. The Act created a Central Board 
of Education, which was empowered to grant licenses 
to teachers and to pay them salaries varying from £40 
to ;£^ioo per annum. Inspectors were appointed who 
periodically visited the schools and reported the results 
of their inspection to the Central Board. 'The school 
buildings were erected by means of local subscriptions, 
which were subsidised by the Government according 
to the circumstances of each case by amounts not 
exceeding £200, In 1875 a new Education Act was 
passed, transferring the management of the public 
schools from the Education Board to a Council of 
Education, under the presidency of an officer paid by 
the State. Three years later another Act was passed, 
which placed the control of the schools directly under 
the Minister of Education. This last Act introduced 
the system of compulsory and free education. 

At the same time provision was made by which the 
Bible might be read by a teacher to any pupils who 
attend for that purpose, for not more than half an hour 
before 9.30 a.m., but no religious instruction was per- 
mitted, nor was attendance at this time compulsory. 
The Minister of Education has power to require such 
Bible-reading in any school, on receiving a written 
request to that effect from the parents of not less than 
ten children. 

When the census was taken in 1 891, it was found that 



i8o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the total population of the Colony was 320,431. Of 
these 246,085 persons were able to read, 236,514 were 
also able to write, and 74,346 were not able to read. 
Those who could read and write formed 73*8 1 per cent, 
of the population ; those who could read only, 2*99 per 
cent ; and those who could neither read nor write, 23*20 
per cent. In arriving at these figures the children under 
five years of age have been considered as being unable 
to read or write; they numbered 45,281, and formed 
14*13 per cent, of the population. Of the persons of 
five years of age and upwards (275,150), 236,514, or 
85*96 per cent., could read and write ; 9,571, or 3*48 
per cent, could read only, and 29,065, or 10.56 per 
cent, could not read. If the number of children under 
five years of age were deducted from the total popula- 
tion, the proportion of persons who could read and 
write in 1891 was 85*96. 

In South Australia parents are not bound to send 
their children to the State schools, but the State insists 
that they must attend some school. The Roman 
Catholics decline to avail themselves of the public 
schools, because they hold that religious instruction is 
a fundamental and indispensable part of the education 
of the young, and, as a matter of conscience, they can 
have nothing to do with any schools in which their 
children cannot be instructed in their own faith. The 
State, however, recognises no religious or sectarian 
teaching in schools, and subsidises no religious body 
either for school purposes or otherwise. State educa- 
tion is free and unsectarian, and the public schools are 
open to all children without distinction. The Roman 
Catholics make no objection to the inspection of their 
schools by the State, in order that the authorities may 
be satisfied that the elementary instruction imparted 
in them is equal to that which has been fixed by the 
regulations. They consider that they are entitled to 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES i8i 

participate in the public expenditure on education in 
proportion to the number of children in their schools 
who come up to the Government standard, but no con- 
cession of this kind has been granted to them. The 
Anglican Church has also established a large number 
of schools of its own connected with its parishes in the 
country districts. They have also a collegiate school, 
and they have a school in Adelaide where higher-class 
education is provided. The Wesleyan body owns 
Prince Alfred College and the Bible Christians Way 
College, and the Christian Brothers and Dominican 
Nuns and Sisters of Mercy have educational establish- 
ments of their own. 

The system of public education at the present time 
in force in South Australia is free, secular, and com- 
pulsory. No religious teaching whatever; but the 
teacher may, if he likes, and must if requested by ten 
parents of pupils, read out a portion of the Scriptures 
for half an hour before school begins. 

Expenditure upon public education in South Aus- 
tralia (including Public Library, Museum, and Art 
Gallery), from 1889-90 to 1898-9 — out of loans, 
^ii6,SS9 5s. lod. ; out of revenue, ^^1418,370 15s. 4d. ; 
total, £iyS34y930 is. 2d. 

Western Australia. 

Under the provisions of the Public Education Act, 
1899, payment of fees was abolished in Government 
schools, but provision was left whereby the Minister 
may determine the fees to be paid by those of fourteen 
years of age and over. The law relating to compulsory 
attendance was made more drastic, as every-day atten- 
dance till fourteen is now required, subject to certain 
discretionary powers in the hands of the minister. 
Teachers of private schools may apply to have their 
schools found efficient by a Government inspector, and, 



i82 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

if found efficient, what is called monetary compensation 
is given to them, the total amount for that purpose 
being ;f 15,000. 

The teaching in the Grovemment schools is purely 
non-sectarian, but half an hour is devoted to general 
religious teaching ; the text books on this subject are 
the Irish National series. Ministers of religion are 
permitted, under certain regulations, to teach the 
children of their own denominations for half an hour 
during school hours. 

The number of Government schools in operation at 
the end of 1898 was 167, and the number of children 
upon the rolls was 14,424, with an average attendance 
of 10,915. 

In Western Australia, as in all other colonies, the 
Roman Catholics, and some congregations of Anglicans, 
Presbyterians, and other denominations, have each a 
number of schools of their own, and each of these 
obtains a certain proportion of the ;^i 5,000 grant as 
compensation when their schools come up to the 
required standard. 

Queensland. 

In this Colony the State Schools are free, secular, and 
compulsory, and no religious teaching is given in them. 
In 1899 there were 188 primary schools in Queensland, 
and the total cost of primary education that year was 
^^248,899, and higher education ;£'2S,225 additional. 

Tasmania. 

The system in this Colony is also non-sectarian, but 
not altogether free, as the teachers are empowered to 
levy small fees to supplement the salaries they receive 
from the Government. A proposal is now under con- 
sideration to make the system free and compulsory. 



EDUCATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 183 

Ministers axe allowed to give religious instruction under 
certain regulations. During 1899 ;^46720 was appro- 
priated for educational purposes, and the amount on 
this year's estimates is £s^i75S' 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 

WHAT time could be more opportune than that 
which marks the close of a century we have lived 
in, and the advent of the new, to give some account of 
the Press in our distant possessions in the South Pacific, 
and its progress from small beginnings to great achieve- 
ments in the comparatively few years that have elapsed 
since colonisation in that remote part of the world was 
begun and carried out upon systematic principles ? For 
it must be remembered that during the first few decades 
in the life of Australasia, those far-off lands only served 
the purpose of mere receptacles for Great Britain's worst 
class of offenders against the laws. Although it was a 
fallacy to suppose that these expatriated criminals were 
taken to Botany Bay — as a fact none ever settled there — 
still they were conveyed by the thousand to Port Jack- 
son, Tasmania, and later on to Western Australia ; and 
under the ticket-of-leave system these transported men 
and women, and those who went there to guard them, 
really became the pioneers of settlement on the 
Australian Continent and the adjacent island of 
Tasmania, which the late Mr. Marcus Clarke has made 
famous by the thrilling story of " His Natural Life." 
Even in those primitive times, and under conditions 

which, to say the least of them, were exceedingly 

184 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 185 

outlandish, the printing press was introduced into the 
convict settlements of Tasmania and New South 
Wales, and the student of colonial history will find 
much to interest him and to repay research in the 
newspaper literature of that remote period. How 
small those sheets were, and how crude they seem, 
compared with the newspapers of the present day ! But 
they served their purpose, and can now be profitably 
referred to as chroniclers of events which would other- 
wise have been hopelessly concealed from the ordinary 
historian. The exigencies of space unfortunately prevent 
any detailed reference to the newspaper Press of convict 
days, and one is reluctantly compelled, within the 
confines of this chapter, to avail himself of the space 
at his command for the purpose of showing what 
that Press has grown to within the period which dates 
from the inauguration of Constitutional Government in 
the various Colonies of the Australasian group. 

In dealing with the Australasian Press as we find it 
to-day, it would be idle to suppose that it would have 
attained its present somewhat astounding dimensions, or 
indeed that the Colonies themselves would be occupying 
the important position they now do, had it not been for 
the gold discoveries in New South Wales a few months 
after the rush to California, later on in Victoria, and 
subsequently in New Zealand. Under other circum- 
stances, the settlement of the Australian Colonies would 
have been a slow process, owing mainly to their remote- 
ness from Great Britain ; but with the marvellous 
discoveries of the precious metal, especially in Victoria, 
an enormous flow of population set in from all corners 
of the globe ; a new phase was imparted to Australasian 
colonisation, and the newspaper Press, like most other 
things, grew apace with this unlooked-for and extra- 
ordinary development. Newspapers came into life 
here, there, and everywhere, and, what is more, a great 



i86 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

many of them survive till this day and are paying 
handsomely. The greatest advantages were gained, of 
course, by the organs of journalism in such cities as 
Sydney and Melbourne, and their immediate expansion 
was one of the earliest outcomes of the phenomenal rush 
of people which set in to the shores of Victoria and New 
South Wales in the early fifties. After the lapse of 
scarcely half a century, let us speak of the Press as we 
find it to-day in Melbourne and Sydney, taking them in 
their respective orders, with apologies to the much older 
city of the two for giving precedence to its more go- 
ahead and enterprising rival, the Victorian capital. 

This is as it should be, because the Press of Melbourne 
has shown far greater enterprise than that of the fore- 
most city in the adjacent Mother Colony, and because 
the man who is unquestionably the central figure of 
Australasian journalism is proprietor of the newspaper 
which to-day stands far away at the head of any other 
journal in the whole of the Colonies in social and political 
importance and circulation. It is needless to say that 
reference is here made to Mr. David Syme, whose able 
management and powers of organisation have placed the 
Age in the enviable position it now holds amongst its 
competitors. Mr. Syme has achieved his triumph by 
sheer hard work and a determination to excel in the 
path of journalistic enterprise. When he took the paper 
over, in partnership with his brother, the late Mr. 
Ebenezer Syme, he had anything but an abundant 
exchequer to work from. For years it was a hard, 
uphill fight against the Argus y a firmly-established and 
very superior paper to the Age in those days ; but Mr. 
Syme kept pegging away against his conservative rival, 
run mainly in the interests of the wool kings, and bit by 
bit the Age made headway, and eventually surpassed the 
circulation of the y4f^j. The uncompromising advocacy 
of democratic principles, coupled with Mr. Syme's 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 187 

conspicuously able management alike in the literary 
and commercial departments of his establishment, 
ensured a success that has been truly phenomenal in its 
completeness. With a circulation of over one hundred 
thousand copies per day, with its ten broad pages every 
morning, and twelve or sixteen on Saturdays, each day's 
issue half filled with close-set advertisements, it may 
easily be imagined what a powerful influence the Age 
exercises upon the public mind of Australia, which we 
know for the most part is strongly democratic in senti- 
ment and aspirations. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to 
say that the Age can, at its own sweet will, make and 
unmake Governments in the Colony of Victoria, and its 
influence permeates also throughout Australia and the 
adjacent Colonies of Tasmania and New Zealand. The 
revenue which Mr. Syme derives from the Age is 
enormous, and he must rank amongst the richest men 
in that part of the world. Some idea of the value of the 
paper, as a going coqcern, may be gathered from the 
fact th^t when he bought out his nephew's share some 
years ago — and the nephew's interest was only a quarter 
one — Mr. David Syme paid ;^247,ooo to get the paper 
into his own hands. The annual profits run into big 
figures ; and it is one of the Melbourne sights any even- 
ing of the week, from six to nine or ten o'clock, to 
behold the continuous stream of advertisers which sets 
in to the advertising department of this great newspaper. 
Mr. Syme has from time to time been most judicious in 
the selection of his literary helpers. The editorial chair 
has been very ably filled by Mr. Windsor for a long 
series of years. The commercial editorship has also 
long been held by Mr. Robinson, who visited London 
a year or two ago, and Messrs. Stevens and Schuler 
are old servants of the firm, who have done good 
service in their respective capacities. The Age has a 
reportorial staff* of about twenty, all good picked men, and 



i88 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

its corps of leader-writers and special correspondents is 
a very strong one. In fact, Mr. Syme all through his 
very successful career has borne strictly in mind the 
adage that " what is worth doing is worth doing well," 
and he will spare no expense in securing the best talent 
available and all sorts of information which will interest 
those he caters for. This is the real secret of his success ; 
and although sometimes exacting with the various 
members of his staff, generally speaking he is what 
may be termed a good employer. Mr. Syme is not a 
man who will turn adrift any one who has served his 
paper well, but whose infirmity renders him no longer 
capable of further active employment on his staff. He 
at once grants him a competent pension, and the author 
is acquainted with several of these gentlemen who are 
on the regular pension list of the Age, Indeed, Mr. 
Syme has even gone farther, and awarded either 
pensions or compensation to long-service compositors 
who have lost their frames through the introduction of 
the linotype. 

Although priority of position and influence must be 
accorded to the Age^ its contemporary the Argus is 
undoubtedly a great credit to colonial journalism. In 
its palmiest days, even the Sydney Morning Herald 
would not stand comparison with the Argus from a 
literary standpoint, or from the variety of its news 
columns and spirit of enterprise. Those were the days 
when democracy and radicalism had no appreciable 
hold upon the public mind, and when squatterdom was 
in the zenith of its power in Victoria and most other 
parts of the great Australian Continent. The Wilsons 
and Mackinnons certainly made it a great paper, even 
judged from the standpoint of English metropolitan 
journalism ; and although the topsy-turveydom of 
altered political thought has since placed the Argus 
in a minority and deprived it of its former prestige, it 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 189 

is still a journal that any colonial can refer to with 
pardonable pride as showing what the Australians are 
capable of turning out in the journalistic line. It is true 
that its circulation has receded because of its conserva- 
tism, and does not approach within many thousands 
the circulation of its contemporary, but nevertheless it 
retains a numerous circle of supporters, although Con- 
servatism, as we know it in England, is a rapidly- 
vanishing political creed at the Antipodes. But the 
Argus is so wound up with the earliest associations 
of colonisation in Victoria, and maintains such a high 
standard of literary excellence, that numbers of people 
take it in and advertise freely in its columns, notwith- 
standing that they are themselves in direct opposition 
with its politics. Hence it is that any expert glancing 
at its columns will see that it should be a paying 
property. Of course its expenditure is very great, as 
it endeavours to be at least on terms of equality with its 
rival in the literary material it supplies its readers with 
from day to day, and no niggardliness is ever displayed 
either in the amount of remuneration paid to the 
members of its staff or expended in quarters far 
removed from Melbourne itself in order to obtain 
good reading matter for those who support it The 
proprietary made a good selection in London many 
years ago when they entrusted Mr. Haddon with the 
editorship, and his rigime was a particularly brilliant 
one. Advanced age has since removed him from the 
chair and made him the recipient of a handsome pension 
from well-served and grateful employers. He has been 
succeeded by Mr. Willoughby, a gentleman of very ver- 
satile talents, who has risen to his present position step by 
step from the reporting staff, and has shown since his 
promotion that Mr. Haddon's mantle has fallen upon com- 
petent shoulders. Like the Age, the Argus maintains a 
very numerous staff in all its departments, and notwith- 



I90 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

standing its great outlay, its income, judging from the 
general appearance of the paper, ought to leave a con- 
siderable mai^in of profit. 

The two greatest Melbourne weeklies are the Austra- 
lasian (edited by Mr. D. Watterston) and the Leader 
(of which Mr. Short is editor). They are issued 
respectively from the Argus and the Age offices. 
Both have an extensive intercolonial circulation. The 
former is a great authority on sporting matters, and is 
in all respects a first-class weekly. So also is the 
Leader^ which obtains most of its support from the 
agriculturalist portion of the community. The illustra- 
tions in both papers are, as a rule, very superior. 

The popular evening paper in Melbourne is the 
Herald. It enjoys an extensive circulation, is full of 
advertisements, and has made Mr. Winter a very 
wealthy man indeed. One highly commendable feature 
about the Herald is, that it likes fair play, and invariably 
opens its columns to the representation and discussion 
of both sides of a question ; but sometimes in its news 
columns it displays a tendency towards "yellow" 
journalism which is scarcely in keeping with Anglo- 
Saxon traditions of newspaper products ; and with 
the Herald^ as indeed with several other news- 
papers in Australasia, it must be regretfully confessed 
that there is needlessly a too obvious desire to imitate 
the lower-class organs of the United States by making 
everything else subservient to sensationalism and pan- 
dering to tastes which by no means represent those who 
form the majority of the community. This degenerate 
departure is all the more to be deplored when it is 
remembered that the general public out there are not 
what could be termed a reading or studious public, and 
that newspaper literature is the only kind which a great 
mass of the population provides itself with. Indeed, the 
reading of good standard works is indulged in by a 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 191 

comparative minority. The reading of magazine litera- 
ture, it is true, is making headway in the Colonies, but 
with the majority of the lower and a large sprinkling of 
even the middle classes, the daily broadsheet constitutes 
everything that is looked for in the shape of literary 
pabulum. Hence it is that this incipient introduction 
of yellow journalism is all the more to be deplored and 
resisted by those who wish to see Australasians gener- 
ally become a well-read, well-informed, and cultured 
people. 

Sydney is well provided with newspapers. Its big- 
gest is the Morning Heraldy which may be pronounced 
the leader of Conservative journalism in Australasia. 
Brought to its present high standard of tone and relia- 
bility by the Fairfax Brothers, the Herald is perhaps 
the best-paying organ in the South Seas. Because of 
its unvarying adhesion to old lines and principles, it is 
considered rather " grandmotherly " by those who would 
like to see it launch forth into greater and more up-to- 
date activity ; but it adheres tenaciously to its original 
course, and in appearance and policy there is no essential 
difference in the Herald of to-day and the Herald of a 
quarter of a century ago. Its contemporary on the 
opposite side of politics is the Daily Telegraphy which 
is run upon similar lines to the Melbourne Age^ and has 
made great headway since the Democratic and Labour 
parties have become such a powerful political factor in 
New South Wales as to subvert, as they have done in 
the adjoining Colony of Victoria, the influence of the 
opposite party, which so long controlled the public 
affairs of the Mother Colony. Here, too, in Sydney 
they have a newspaper which is more far-reaching in 
its circulation throughout the whole of the Colonies than 
any other journal published on that side of the globe. 
I refer to the Bulletin^ which has made its proprietor, 
Mr. Archibald, a very wealthy man. It is smartly 



192 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

written and strongly Republican in its tendencies, and 
it may be said to have " caught on '* better than any 
other weekly publication in those* parts. Go where one 
may in any of the Colonies, whether it be in the cities, 
towns, hamlets, or the backest blocks on the fringes of 
civilisation, one is certain to encounter the Bulletin 
everywhere. True enough, it got somewhat of a set- 
back for its strenuous opposition to the South African 
War, but it is fast making up for lost ground, and its 
subscribers* list and advertising clientele assure Mr. 
Archibald that the unpopularity of his paper was 
merely a temporary ordeal through which it had to 
pass as a punishment for being in a minority on the 
occasion of what seemed to the majority to be a 
national crisis. 

In Sydney two good weeklies are issued — ToTvn and 
Country and the Sydney Mail, which are very suitable 
for a general class of readers, especially those in country 
districts, for whom the week's news is judiciously con- 
densed. John Norton has also his weekly paper, called 
Truthy which is Radical and Republican, and enjoys a 
good circulation because of the fearless attitude it takes 
up on all public questions of the day. As a consequence, 
threats of libel actions are not infrequent, and sometimes 
they are brought, but John Norton seems to flourish, 
notwithstanding the litigation in which he gets involved 
from time to time. 

In Queensland the Brisbane Courier holds the sway ; 
in South Australia the Register just keeps ahead of the 
Advertiser y which is associated with the Melbourne 
Age and Sydney Daily Telegraph so far as the cable 
services are concerned. These three papers being 
conducted upon the same democratic principles, they 
find it to their interest to pool the expense, just as 
the ArguSy Sydney Morning Herald^ and other Con- 
servative newspapers combine in the same way for 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 193 

their mutual advantage. Western Australia, the last 
of the group to have Constitutional Government con- 
ferred upon it, already boasts of a very creditable 
newspaper Press at Perth, Freemantle, the goldfields, 
and in many scattered communities in that arid 
region. 

The periodical and magazine literature of Australasia 
is yet in its infancy, and a great improvement must 
ensue before much in the way of commendation can be 
bestowed upon it. Of the reviews, the Review of 
Reviews^ edited by Dr. Fitchett, is a most creditable 
production, and circulates extensively throughout the 
Colonies. It is the best monthly compendium at the 
Antipodes from a literary standpoint, and gives a clear 
nsight into all the important happenings in various 
parts of the world. The several religious denominations 
have each their representative organs, and these are well 
supported, as a rule, and interesting to their readers. 
Sydney and Melbourne are also well represented by 
weeklies on the lines of London Punch. 

Alike in area and population, Tasmania is too small 
to have many newspapers. The principal of them are 
to be found at Hobart in the south, and at Launceston 
in the northern part of that beautiful island. The oldest 
is the Hobart Mercury ^ which was founded by Mr. John 
Davis in the early part of the last century, and is still 
owned by his descendants. The Launceston Examiner^ 
at the other end of Tasmania, is in all respects equal 
to its southern contemporary. 

It will be interesting to readers of this chapter to know 
that the first newspaper published in Australia was the 
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser^ 
printed by George Howe. It began publication on 
March 5, 1803, and continued until December 23, 1843. 
The Derwent Star, the first newspaper in Van Diemen's 
Land, started on January 8, 18 10. The Sydney Morning 

14 



194 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Herald began as a weekly on April i8, 1831, was con- 
verted into a bi-weekly in May, 1832, into a tri-weekly 
in July, 1838, and in 1840 it became a daily newspaper, 
and has continued its career as such ever since. The 
Melbourne Argus was first issued on June 2, 1846 ; 
the -4^^ was established on October 17, 1854, and two 
years later the Leader was founded. 

For its size and population there is no country in the 
world which has been so fruitful of newspapers as New 
Zealand. They abound everywhere, and the principal 
dailies amongst them are the Wellington Evening Post 
(edited with conspicuous ability by Mr. Gresley Lukin), 
the Christchurch Press (where Mr. W. H. Triggs, once 
an English journalist, so ably fills the editorial chair 
vacated by the late Mr. John Steele Guthrie), the New 
Zealand Herald^ published at Auckland, and the Otago 
Daily TimeSy which in the gold-digging times of that 
portion of New Zealand was conducted by the late Sir 
Julius Vogel, in partnership with Mr. B. L. Farjeon, the 
well-known novelist. Some idea of what can be made 
out of journalistic enterprise in New Zealand may be 
gathered from a brief recital of some particulars con- 
cerning the foundation and progress of the Wellington 
Evening Post Started upon very modest dimensions 
by the late Mr. John Blundell in the early sixties, for a 
time it had a very precarious existence ; but Mr. Blundell 
and his three sons were never disheartened. They kept 
plodding away so successfully that when Mr. Blundell 
died he left the Post as a legacy to his sons, and the 
success of that paper has been so great that the Blundell 
family now share a net income of something like ;f 9,000 
or ;^io,ooo a year. It is little wonder, therefore, that a 
year or two ago they refused an offer of ;^40,ooo for the 
Evening Post as a going concern. The best of the 
weekly publications in the Colony are the Christchurch 
Weekly Press^ the Auckland Weekly Herald^ and the 



THE PRESS OF AUSTRALASIA 195 

Otago WttTtess. The first-named particularly challenges 
for premier place such publications as the Australasian 
and Melbourne Leader^ and its illustrations are equal to 
anything in the same line produced in England. 

Proximity to the large centres and rapid communi- 
cation in no way discourage the establishment of 
newspapers in country districts, and they are therefore 
extraordinarily numerous, and more or less successful 
speculations. Conspicuous amongst these are Mr. 
Pirani's paper at Palmerston North (the Manawatu 
Evening Standard)^ the one edited by Mr. Richardson 
Rae at Carterton (the Observer)^ another published at 
Waimate (the Times\ and Mr. Taylor's Manukau 
Chronicle^ which is brought out within seven miles of 
the city of Auckland, and bears a very healthy 
appearance. 

What encourages the multiplicity of newspapers in 
Australia and New Zealand is the habit of advertising, 
which has become so general. The colonial public rush 
to the advertising columns of their local prints more 
freely than they do in Great Britain. They have a 
keener appreciation of the value of advertising, and 
hence it is that so few newspapers in the Colonies ever 
succumb for lack of support. This will strike the atten- 
tion of any Britisher setting his foot there. At the 
same time, except in regard to the great metropolitan 
dailies of Australia, he will find that colonial newspapers, 
as a rule, are of a too local character, and that they 
devote far too much of their space to sport, particularly 
football. He will find, too, that even in cities with 
populations ranging from 40,000 to 50,000, the news- 
papers do not lead public opinion, but, like opportunist 
politicians — and men of this class abound at the Anti- 
podes — they are too prone to wait and see "how the 
cat jumps." There are a few exceptions, of course, 
and the two most notable of these are the Wellington 



196 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Evening Post and the Christchurch PresSy both of which 
never hesitate to express their opinions fearlessly upon 
all the public questions of the day. With some New 
Zealand newspapers, however, a change of policy and 
principles is quite an easy matter. You may be taking 
in a newspaper, for instance, which has been going all 
its might against the Government for months past. All 
at once you discover a marked change of tone, and you 
look to see if you have not got hold of the wrong paper. 
No ; indeed you have not. You are surprised to find 
that the sheet you had so much faith in has gone quite 
upon the opposite tack. The explanation is not far to 
seek. Previously the paper contained no Government 
advertisements ; now it is full of them, headed with the 
Royal Arms, and the efTect of these advertisements 
upon the editorial columns and general tone of the 
paper has been electrical. It has thrown a journalistic 
somersault What it condemned most scathingly but a 
few days before, it now fulsomely praises and supports 
with that excess of zeal characteristic of apostasy. 
That is how they do things in New Zealand. 

In small colonial communities newspapers are cafeful, 
in most instances, not to express opinions or publish 
reports that might have the effect of alienating the 
support of an esteemed circle of advertisers. It is 
population alone which will place these newspapers in a 
position of independence, and enable them to lead, and 
not merely to follow, public opinion. 

With the establishment of the Australian Common^ 
wealth a great future lies before the Press of that 
continent, and also of New Zealand, when that colony 
sees fit to abandon its present retrograde policy of isola- 
tion. With newspapers, as with statesmen, loftier ideals 
will present themselves ; and thus conducted upon higher 
lines the Press generally will become an ornament to the 
new nation whose birth has been so recently celebrated. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA — POETRY AND 

PROSE 

THAN Dr. J. Laurence Rentoul, M.A., D.D., of 
Ormond College, Melbourne University, there 
is no man in Australia more competent — indeed, so 
competent — to deal with the subject of Australasian 
literature. Besides being one of the Professors at 
Ormond College, Dr. Rentoul is a lecturer on litera- 
ture, history, &c, under the Melbourne University 
Extension system. His lecture on " Tennyson's Message 
to His Age," was years ago published in extenso in 
the Melbourne press, and a report of it reached Lord 
Tennyson. The great poet conferred on Dr. Rentoul 
the honour of writing to him, and stating that he 
regarded that gentleman's criticism and estimate as 
''the best, or one of the best, characterisations that 
had been made of him and his Message." 

Dr. Rentoul was interviewed a short time ago by a 
representative of the Perth West Australian^ and his 
interviewer says, " It would be difRcult to describe 
the charm of Dr. Rentoul's society, when he gives 
expression and scope to his literary thoughts and 
criticisms, or to reproduce all his utterances during 
what were, to the visitor, two exceedingly pleasant 

hours; but his views on Australian literature, which 

197 



198 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

formed the object of the interview, will be read with 
interest." 

"As to Australian literature," says Dr. Rentoul, 
"and the prospects of a great school of Australasian 
poetry and prose literature, in the first place it is 
often overlooked that there are three main factors 
necessary to any great literature and any school 
of poetry. One factor is the theme ; another is the 
age, or time; a third is the national conditions and 
environment One of these conditions, of course, 
must be climate and the physical circumstances of 
the country. The great literatures have arisen 
mainly in lands of varied scenery — mountain and 
valley, and river and sea. Again, the great literatures 
were bound up with the history of a nation's struggles 
and suflferings. In fact, the great literatures arose 
out of the heart, as well as the mind, of the people. 

"I may illustrate this by pointing to the literature 
called the Bible, which arose mainly out of the little 
land of Palestine, and out of the struggles and woes 
of its people, under the inspiring force of trust and 
hope in God. It was the land, as Scripture says, of 
brooks and fountains, and of streams that flow amongst 
the hills. Snow-clad Hermon rose like a vision to the 
north, and the great sea washed it to the westward ; and 
the scenery of that little land so impressed itself upon 
the imagination and heart of the people that it has 
given inspiration to the literature of all modern nations. 
Take, similarly, little England, little Scotland, little 
Switzerland, little Italy. All our modem English 
poetry and highest literature have been influenced, and 
in a large measure inspired, by the thinkers, and singers, 
and writers of ancient tiny Greece, and of medieval 
little Italy. Through both ran great mountain chains, 
round which clung the glamour of cloud and mist, and 
in their glens were beauty and the song of rivers. 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 199 

" The one drawback of Australia as a literary centre 
is perhaps that it is too huge, and its scenery and 
natural surroundings too monotonous. Again, the day 
is perhaps too bright, and all things too definite and 
hard-lined. The hard sun shines clear into the Australian 
gillies, and in Australia there are no ghosts. Every- 
thing is so clear, matter-of-fact, and definite. You must 
recognise that much of Browning's best was made 
amongst the Apennines of Italy, and Tennyson's best 
was made, some of it amidst the fogs of London, some 
of it amongst the wet and clouds and gleams of bright- 
ness and of shadow that mark the British Islands. 
The glamour of beauty that haunts, for example, * The 
Princess/ was due to his visit to the lakeland of 
Killarney, in the south of Ireland, with its softness of 
climate, its lingering twilight of sunset, its 'rain, sun, 
and rain,' as he sings himself in 'The Idylls of the King.' 

" Again, in Australia we must not be, as the Yankees 
say, * too previous.* We must become a nation before 
we can expect a great national literature. It was only 
when the English people were drawn into a passion 
of unity by the sufferings of the people and by the 
struggle of the great French war under the Plantagenets, 
that the English language, which had been till then a 
language of the yeoman and the churl, became, on the 
lips and pen of Chaucer, a great literary voice. You 
must give Australia time. 

"Taking these things for granted, however, the 
Australians have already, I venture to think, given 
good promise of distinct literary power. They have 
also already, I think, shown that Australian poetry and 
literature will ultimately possess a distinctive speciality 
of tone, spirit, and theme. Of course, the Australian 
people are as yet so British — so English, so Irish, so 
Scotch — that Australian literature, whether it take the 
form of poetry or prose, must for a long time be largely 



200 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

an echo of the great poets and literary writers of the 
old lands. This is, indeed, the main charge of a hostile 
character that has been brought against Australian 
poetry and prose. 

"Thus, Adam Lindsay Gordon is, indeed, not an 
Australian. He was bom in the old country, and his 
influences were lai^ely drawn from the old country. 
So with various other writers in Australia. At the 
same time, take even Adam Lindsay Gordon himself. 
Though much of his singing is imitative of Browning 
or, in quite other moods, of Swinburne, yet there is a 
distinctive note in Gordon's poetry that is characteristi- 
cally Australian. There is in it the clink of the stirrup 
and the gallop of the Australian cross-country hurdle- 
jumper. There is in it the crack of the stockman's 
whip, and there is also in it the subtle, penetrating 
influence of the Australian bush — ^the sense of lone- 
ness, and widths of space, and monotony of existence 
only to be broken by the wild gallop, or the rounding 
up of the rushing cattle. Take, as an example, * The 
Sick Stockrider.' 

"Take, again, *How we Beat the Favourite.' Here 
there is a distinct something quite apart from the mere 
theme, that marks the utterance as one distinctively 
Australian in spirit. Of course the * Lay of Britomarte,' 
as a mere story, could have been written in England, 
and yet even here probably it could not have been 
written by any man except one who had himself 
galloped across Australian bush country. Much of the 
sadness in Gordon's verse (a sadness finding its anodyne 
only in the wine-cup) is not necessarily Australian, 
though there seems a marked tendency to that sort 
of thing in much of Australian writing. It is due, I 
should say, more to Gordon's consciousness that by 
his career he had closed the gates of Opportunity 
behind him, and that there was no returning. 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 201 

"May I tell you a story here about Gordon which 
I know to be true ? It came from the clergyman who 
married him, one of our Presbyterian clergymen, who 
was himself a literary student Gordon, as you know, 
was a gentleman's son. He married in Victoria a 
domestic, a pure-minded, but uneducated girl ; and he 
did so, according to this clergyman, largely to indicate 
that the past was past, and that there was no going 
back. But, though much of Gordon's verse is irreverent, 
he could not endure lewd and impure talk ; and this 
is the story I want to tell. Gordon was invited by a 
wealthy squatter to dinner. He accepted the invitation, 
but after the ladies had retired, when, over the wine, the 
conversation and the jokes had begun to take a coarse 
and lewd turn, Gordon immediately rose and retired 
from the room. He always carried about with him this 
memory of having once been brought up in a pure 
English home, and of being a British gentleman. 

** Kendal, again, the greatest as yet of our Australian 
singers, is far too much an echo of Wordsworth, Keats, 
and others. It is a very sweet echo, with a true sense 
for nature and the true feeling of humanity ; but, except 
in its picture of Australian scenery, it cannot be called 
distinctively Australian. 

"Australian poetry and literary prose must neces- 
sarily, I think, be for a long time considerably 
dependent upon the poetry and literature of the old 
lands. Thus, for example, in what is sometimes 
ambitiously styled the ' new Australian School,' repre- 
sented by writers like Lawson, ' Banjo ' Paterson (* The 
Man from Snowy River,' the poet of the * Never, Never 
Country,' and so forth), the imitation of Kipling, and of 
some features of Swinburne, is too palpable. These 
writers seem to know only one resource against the 
ennui or dreariness of existence, and the result is the 
devil-may-care life of the rouseabout (as the New 



202 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Zealanders call it), or the gallop on horseback across 
country, or the hip-hip-hurrah! of the * jolly good 
fellow' over the tankard of beer or the brandy and 
soda. This is the danger and the weakness at present 
of much of Australian verse. It is only due to these 
and many other writers to point out, however, that there 
is a deeper element in their feeling and sympathy, and 
at times a nobler note in their singing. They are 
catching more and more of the spirit that is distinctively 
Australian — or Australasian, one should say, because 
we must remember that New Zealand, with her great 
snow-clad mountain chain, her rush of rivers, and her 
quite different flora, will aflford conditions for a quite 
distinctive note in poetry and in higher literary prose. 

" In all Australasian writing of the more distinctive 
kind I think one may observe elements or features — 
characteristic features — such as these: A desire to 
throw off conventionalities, a love of physical and mental 
freedom, even to the over-assertion of individual force 
perhaps, a passionate desire for an out-of-doors, un- 
trammelled kind of existence, a love of dash, of 
breeziness, and movement and action in life, with all 
the while a besetting sense of the vast level flatness 
of the country and of the monotony of human existence. 

" As an illustration of this, I may draw attention to 
the young cluster of poets and verse writers that have 
been brought into prominence by the brilliant Bulletin^ 
the satirical weekly in Sydney. Some of these writers 
possess a singing voice of great sweetness, and at times 
of surprising power. Daly, perhaps, is the sweetest and 
most mystic in spirit amongst them. He is at times 
near to the mood of Wordsworth or of Keats. Ogilvie, 
again, has a splendid ring of manhood and forcefulness 
in his verse, and his spirit breathes intense love for, and 
loyalty to Australia ; but there is a besetting and 
recurrent reminiscence of the fact that, after all (and 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 203 

this, perhaps, is seen especially in Daly), the Damocles 
sword of fate hangs by a hair over our heads as we 
feast and sing, and the sobbing of the sea is heard 
through the song of the upland rivers. 

" It is a curious thing, too, that the stories presented 
in the Bulletin have a prevailingly sad tone. This, 
of course, will necessarily be the case if men and women 
leave the quickening and inspiring hope that the divinity 
in God and in a victorious Christ brings to man. The 
late R. H. Hutton, of the Spectator^ in London, the 
foremost literary critic of his time, pointed out that 
George Eliot's literary and artistic creative power 
loosened and lost fibre just in proportion as she 
abandoned more and more a definite Christian faith. 
Her earliest creations, such as *Adam Bede,' have an 
artistic unity and power that are not at all displayed 
in the much later ' Daniel Deronda.' If that be so, it 
may account at once for the depressing tone and the 
lack of the highest creative power in Australian novels. 
So far as they are not mere stories of wild adventure or 
of bushrangers ; so far as they are stories of social life 
and of individual character, the prevailing tone of them 
seems rather sad and depressing. 

" Of course, a supreme instance of this in romance is 
Thomas Hardy. In proportion as he has abandoned all 
faith in God and hope for the progfress of humanity, in 
proportion (as evidenced by *Jude the Obscure') has 
his creative artistic power become loosened and 
deteriorated. 

" It should be said, however, in contrast with all this, 
that a good deal of the best poetry produced of late has 
a quite different ring. Take, for example, the ' Songs 
of the South,' and other poems by Mr. J. B. O'Hara, of 
the South Melbourne College (formerly a distinguished 
student of our Ormond College, though he himself is a 
Roman Catholic). His best poems possess fine sweet- 



204 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

ness of cadence and rhythm, a true sense of the varying 
moods of nature, a sympathy with the heart throb of 
humanity, and an inspiring hope for human progress, 
because he has trust in God. Many of his verses are 
marked by a fine felicity and a beauty of artistic touch. 
If the thought is not very profound, yet, at any rate, it 
is true to the heart's instinct and to humanity's hope, as 
well as out of nature, and the fine thing is that it is 
always pure. 

" Perhaps the finest work done recently in Australian 
verse is the sonnets of the late William Gay, of Bendigo. 
Though a great thinker, and for the most part always 
confined to his couch of pain, his sonnets exhibit a very 
high order of feeling and of artistic workmanship. His 
fine sonnet on Australian Federation, so often recited at 
Federation assemblies by Mr. Deakin recently, rises 
perhaps nearer the voice of the true national Australian 
poet than any other single poem that has been written 
in our country. 

" I may mention, in a quite different mode, the poems 
of Mr. Alexander Sutherland, and the poems of John 
Sandes, better known by his nam de plume of ' Oriel,' 
in the Argus. Mr. Sutherland's poems are at times 
philosophic, at times remind one of Wordsworth, at 
times have upon them the mood or echo of Shelley. 
' Oriel's,' of course, are in a distinctly lighter vein, but 
sometimes in the mock heroic they have in their own 
way an excellent quality. Some so-called 'patriotic' 
poems produced recently by Sutherland, on the one 
hand, and by * Oriel ' on the other, are distinctly good 
of their kind. It is a kind for which I myself have no 
great respect, but I simply speak of these, recognising 
their literary merit. 

" Then one could gladly go back into a higher vein 
to speak of Sladen and Stephen, and of some of the 
Sydney poets identified with the Bulletin. But I 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 205 

think I have said enough. I do not doubt that there 
are already evidences sufficient to warrant the belief 
that when Australia becomes unified, begins to feel the 
pulse of a large common national life and national 
destiny, becomes impressed with the deeper spirit which 
age and long experience and the weight of a nation's 
burdens bring ; in short, when it reaches forward out of 
the immature transition stage into mature national life, 
there will be an Australian literature both in poetry and 
in prose, possessing its own unique characteristics. The 
life of the Australian people, by the sheer conditions of 
climate and of manifold environment, will be a distinc- 
tive life, having characteristics of its own, and Australian 
poetry and literature will necessarily be also in many 
respects characteristic and unique. 

" Still, we must remember that the old, old fashion 
will always abide as the central motive force of litera- 
ture : the old, old fashion of love and loss, of struggle 
and endurance, of self-sacrifice and of burden-bearing, 
of laughter and tears, of love and of death. Literature 
is a language of emotion. As my great master, George 
Lillie Craik, said, ' Wherever, under the strong impulse 
of emotion, language grows and bums, wherever it has 
the effect of glow and colour, it is literature ; and wher- 
ever that literature falls into cadence and rhythm it is 
poetry.' There will always abide the human emotions 
of love and yearning, of pity and sympathy of the heart 
thrilled under the touch of Nature's voices, and of the 
spirit called upward by the voice of God while other 
voices call and lure downward. These voices, as 
Tennyson called them, will always abide, and the strong 
force of that struggle in the human soul will ^always 
make the central element of literature, whether the 
literature be poetry or prose. The Australian, though 
his skies be changed and the land around be all different 
from other lands, will always be a human soul. The 



2o6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

element that made Shakespeare — the love and the 
tempting and the tragedy of life — will be in Australia 
as much as in England, and this will always be the 
real creative force making a literature. Wherever 
a people is gathered together into a nation we may look 
for the literature as a certain result" 

In closing the interview, Dr. Rentoul said that an 
Australian writer that should be very honourably men- 
tioned was Miss Ethel Turner, of Sydney. She had 
undoubtedly, to use a Yankeeism, "struck ile" in 
Australian prose. She had given a quite distinct 
presentment of an aspect of Australian life, and had 
treated in her own line childhood and young boyhood 
and girlhood with inimitable felicity; but even here 
.was found a proof of the tendency of sadness which 
marked Australian romance as yet. The scene created 
by Miss Turner that lived imperishably in the memory 
was — might he not say ? — the death of Judy. 

It was evidently because she is his daughter that Dr. 
Rentoul, when dealing with the poetry of Australia, 
omitted any reference to the poems of Miss Annie R. 
Rentoul, who is fast coming into prominence as one of 
Australia's most charming songstresses. Miss Rentoul, 
who is only in her seventeenth year, is a cousin of Mrs. 
Rentoul-Esler, the well-known novelist. Four of Miss 
RentouFs most recent productions are here given : — 

"THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SWANS" 

I 

Do you hear them softly singing by the swiftly rushing waters ? 

Wildly sweet their song is, and full of untold woe ! 
Hear, oh, hear the singing of the dark chiefs lovely daughters, 

Mourning for the happy long ago. 

II 

Once their laughter rang as gladly as the ripple of the river, 
When they drooped their dusky faces down, with golden 
wattles crowned, 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 2207 

To watch the bright reflections upon the waters quiver, 
Where the scented lilies blossomed round. 



Ill 

Sad the day when thro' the lilacs called the hungry water- 
witches, — 
'Xhief, we want your lovely daughters, the maidens fair 
and gay. 
Or, we will starve your cattle, and steal away your riches. 
And destroy your shining grass-lands in a day." 



IV 

''I will never give my daughters, little maids of all my 
loving, 
Like the merry, merry bell-birds, their voices sound to me 1 
I will never give my daughters, in the wild woods they are 
moving, 
Like the lissom grasses swa3dng free ! " 



Rose the river in the night-time, when the summer stars were 
gleaming. 
And the water- witches clapped their hands, and said : "Oh! 
maidens three. 
Do you hear the night-wind moaning, and the darkling waters 
streaming ? 
Maidens, lift your dusky lids and see ! " 



VI 

Beneath the scented gum-trees swiftly crept the cruel river. 
Where the sisters lay a-sleeping, their slender arms en- 
twined ; 
The moon-beams kissed their faces, and the night sounds 
murmured ever. 
With the eerie sighing of the wind. 



VII 

Little maidens, hear the voices of the great and strong gods 
calling — 

"We lend the dusky storm-clouds to you for saving wings I" 
And they soared above the waters, their voices rising, falling. 

In the 'trancing song the wild-swan sings. 



2o8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

VIII 

When the sun has flush'd the Heaven, and the wind has 
ceased its sighing. 
And the black-man's guides, the shining stars, begin to 
blink, 
Hear the swans, the little daughters, like the lonely Bunyip 
crying. 
At the lapping water's brink. 



NOBODY KNOWS 



Nobody knows, but I know. 
Deep where the heart-love lies 

Why, at the scent of the violet 
The tears spring to my eyes. 



II 



Away in the dusky woodlands 
Mourneth a lonely thrush; 

The sun is red in the beeches. 
The shades of evening hush. 



Ill 



Nobody knows, but I know. 
She is sleeping soft and sound. 

Her quiet hands are folded. 
Her golden hair is bound. 



IV 



Far o£E in the quiet valley 
Murmurs a homing dove. 

His music can tell his meaning. 
But I cannot tell my love. 



Nobody knows, but I know, 
Maybe she hears my song, 

For the grasses bending over her 
Whisper it all day long. 



THE LITERATURE OF AUSTRALASIA 209 

THE LOST LOVES 



Oh, the green lanes, the ^een lanes, 
The mossy lanes of maying, , 

Where we used to wander, my little Love and I. 

Oh I bluer were her sweet eyes than all the violets straying. 
And softer was her soft voice than meadow-grasses' sigh. 

Little lost Love, goodbye I 

I 

II 

Oh ! the woodlands, the woodlands. 
The shining woods of June-time, 
Where we used to wander, my happy Love and I. 
Oh I redder were her soft cheeks than roses in their bloom- 
time, 
And clearer was her calling voice than mavis' summer cry. 
Happy lost Love, goodbye ! 

Ill 

Oh I the gray wolds, the grav wolds. 
The night, — ^the dreary high wolds, 
Where we used to wander, my great strong Love and I. 

Oh 1 truer was his true heart than all the stars the sky holds, 
And stronger was his strong right arm than night winds 
rushing by. 

Oh ! my strong Love, goodbye ! 

IV 

Oh t the dreamland, the dreamland. 
The land of shadowy meeting, 
Where we often wander now, my dear lost Loves and I : 

I see their longing faces in the moonlight passing, fleeting, 
And hear their voices calling me, but I can only cry. 
Dear and lost Loves, goodbye I 



DREAMLAND 



Sky — ^where the Sun, evanishing, has blushed, 
When one pale Star first heralded the Moon, 

Wrapped in her mystic robes, while evening hushed 
To her approach eftsoon. 

15 



2IO AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 



II 



Fields— where all day the nodding poppies kissed. 
And Sleep has sent his messengers from far, 

The winged winds, who wander as they list 
Where secret fancies are. 



Ill 



Shadows — ^where woven vasts of thought-webs lie, 
Melodies wondrous from a waveless sea. 

Mysterious chantings, leaves that, rustling, die. 
Echoes from Faerie. 



IV 



Time — ^like a rosebud's span, yet like the sky. 
Mist-clouded, weird, a magic unknown deep. 

Where Thought, in Dream's dim-shrouded Treasury, 
Wanders with sleep. 



Neither in romance nor in the realms of poetry has 
New Zealand been fruitful of so many writers as 
Australia. As yet, it has produced no Marcus Clarke, 
or Rolf Boldrewood (Mr. Brown), or any authors 
whose books have gained nearly so much popularity as 
" His Natural Life " and " Robbery under Arms." Its 
poets are few in number, and Thomas Bracken is 
perhaps the only one who has soared to any distinction. 
His volume, " Land of the Moa," contains many excel- 
lent specimens of versification, and " Not Understood " 
is unquestionably one of his best efforts. Poor Bracken, 
afflicted with a painful and prolonged illness, died at 
Dunedin a few years ago — the author is sorry to say in 
reduced circumstances. 



CHAPTER XIX 

AUSTRALIA A NATION 

ALTHOUGH little more than a decade has passed 
since the movement for the federation of the 
Australasian Colonies was taken seriously by the public 
men and people of Australia, it must not be supposed 
that the idea was not entertained at a very much earlier 
period of Australian history. Indeed, as far back as 
1857 a Select Committee of the Legislative Council 
of New South Wales recommended that a meeting 
should be held of delegates from the Legislatures 
of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and 
Tasmania, with a view of devising a plan for a General 
Assembly for all the Colonies, which should deal with 
all matters of federal importance and concern. It unfor- 
tunately happened, however, that very little attention 
was paid to this recommendation, because the Council 
who promulgated it accompanied it with a proposal to 
establish a hereditary aristocracy. This proposal brought 
the Council into very bad odour with the public, who, 
while they laughed the hereditary nobility idea to 
scorn, allowed the federation question practically to 
lapse altogether. From that period up to the seventies 
it remained almost entirely forgotten, and its revival 
was due to Sir Henry Parkes. At first Australian 
federation met with little encouragement ; generally 
speaking, its advocates were subjected to a great deal 



211 



212 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

of ridicule ; they were called dreamers, and " fadera- 
tion" was the nickname which was applied to the 
project, and its advocates were called " Faderationists." 
This ridicule did not dishearten those who had em- 
braced the faith of an united Australia, and the 
movement derived a great impetus from a very able 
speech in support of Australian federation which was 
delivered by Sir Hercules Robinson, then Governor of 
New South Wales, at the border town of Albury in 
1876. From that time the movement took practical 
shape, and its supporters pushed the question to the 
forefront of Australian politics. They had still to work 
for ten years before they could succeed in bringing 
their agitation to a stage when the various Colonies 
interested could be induced to take united action. The 
British Parliament passed an Act providing for the 
formation of a Federal Council, and in January, 1886, 
the first meeting of the Federal Council was held at 
Hobart, Tasmania. Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, 
Western Australia, and Fiji sent delegates to this Federal 
Council. Strange to say, the Colony which first gave 
birth to the idea of federation (New South Wales) was 
unrepresented, and New Zealand and South Australia 
also declined to join in the deliberations of the first 
Federal Council, but South Australia sent representa- 
tives to the Council at a subsequent period. 

The greatest advance towards federation was made at 
the conference which assembled in Melbourne in 1890, 
under the presidency of Sir Henry Parkes. Resolutions 
were passed aflSrming the desirableness of an early 
union of the Australian Colonies on principles just to 
all ; that the remoter Australasian Colonies should be 
entitled to admission upon terms to be afterwards 
agreed upon ; and that steps should be taken for the 
appointment of delegates to a National Australasian 
Convention to consider and report upon an adequate 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 213 

scheme for a Federal Constitution. Accordingly, on 
March 2, 1891, the National Australasian Convention, 
consisting of delegates appointed by the various 
Colonies, assembled at Sydney, under the presidency 
of Sir Henry Parkes. This Convention was representa- 
tive of all die Colonies in the Australasian group, and 
one of the first delegates sent by New Zealand was the 
late Sir George Grey. At this Convention a series of 
resolutions were moved by Sir Henry Parkes, and these, 
after discussion and amendment, were adopted in the 
following form, affirming — 

1st The powers and rights of existing Colonies to 
remain intact except as regards such powers as it may 
be necessary to hand over to the Federal Government 

2nd. No alteration to be made in States without the 
consent of the Legislatures of such States, as well as of 
the Federal Parliament 

3rd. Trade between the federated Colonies to be 
absolutely free. 

4th. Powers to impose Customs and Excise Duties 
to be in the Federal Government and Parliament 

5th. Military and Naval Defence Forces to be under 
one command. 

6th. The Federal Constitution to make provision to 
enable each State to make amendments in its Con- 
stitution if necessary for the purposes of Federation. 

Further resolutions were passed for the framing of a 
Federal Constitution which should establish a Senate 
and House of Representatives, the latter to possess the 
sole power of originating money Bills ; also a Federal 
Supreme Court of Appeal, and an Executive consisting 
of a Governor-General, with such persons as might be 
appointed as bis advisers. 

One would have supposed that when the movement 
had got so far as this the federation of the Colonies was 
close at hand, but somehow or other no action was 



U4 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

taken by their Parliaments to give effect to the resolu- 
tions of the Sydney Convention. The apathy evinced 
upon the subject was most surprising, and for three or 
four years the federal movement remained practically 
in abeyance. Ultimately, Mr, G. H. Reid, the Premier 
of New South Wales, came to its rescue, and to that 
gentleman's action must be attributed the successful 
march of federation onward from 1 894. At his invita- 
tion the Premiers of the other Colonies met in conference 
at Hobart in 1895. ^^^ ^^^ Australasian Colonies were 
represented at this conference except New Zealand, 
which had withdrawn from the federation movement 
at an early period, and has ever since maintained a 
policy of isolation in regard to it. At this Hobart 
Conference of 1895 it was decided to ask the Parlia- 
ment of each Colony to pass a Bill enabling the electors 
who were qualified to vote for members of the Lower 
House in each Colony to choose ten persons to repre- 
sent the Colony on a Federal Convention, whose work 
would be the framing of a Federal Constitution to be 
afterwards submitted to the people for approval by 
means of the Referendum. It was this thoroughly 
democratic principle in Mr. Reid's scheme which led 
to such satisfactory results. During 1896 what were 
called Enabling Acts to give effect to Mr. Reid's pro- 
posals were passed by New South Wales, Victoria, 
South Australia, Tasmania, and Queensland eventually 
joined. All the Colonial Parliaments except Western 
Australia passed these Enabling Bills, and at the 
Referendum the Federal Constitution was adopted by 
large majorities in New South Wales, Queensland, 
Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. Western 
Australia held aloof for some time, but at the eleventh 
hour its Parliament passed the Enabling Bill, and the 
Referendum gave the electors' sanction to it by a large 
majority. 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 215 

Consequently the whole Continent of Australia and 
the island of Tasmania are now comprised within the 
Australian Commonwealth. 

It is difficult to understand New Zealand's attitude 
on thjp federation question, except that it does not 
possess any men in power who can be called states- 
men. By these politicians distance has been urged as 
a reason against federation ; but distance counted for 
nothing when annexation of the Cook and other islands 
was recently made by that Colony. These islands are 
all farther away from New Zealand than New Zealand 
is from Australia, and while the men now in power did 
not relish the idea of being governed from Australia, 
they were ready themselves to govern islands which were 
more remote ; and seeing what has taken place in New 
Zealand with regard to the Maoris and their lands, 
it is quite easy to understand the action of Sir Thomas 
O'Brien, the Governor of Fiji, in warning the natives of 
those islands against annexation by New Zealand. Sir 
Thomas O'Brien's action does him great credit, and 
he has rendered signal service to the Fijian natives 
by warning them against submitting themselves to be 
governed by a colony so remote as New Zealand is 
from Fiji. It is essentially to the best interests of the 
Fijian islanders that they should not submit to being 
governed from New Zealand. 

In the matter of Australian federation it is just as 
well to point out that there will be portions of the Aus- 
tralian Continent even more remote from its seat of 
Government than New Zealand will be ; therefore the 
plea of distance as an excuse for isolation counts for very 
little. Distance was not really the great objection it has 
been represented to be. The real fact of the matter is 
that New Zealand abounds in politicians who are incap- 
able of grasping the situation, whose ideals are not of a 
very lofty kind, and who fear, above all things else, that 



2i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

New Zealand's inclusion in the Commonwealth would 
carry with it their own political extinction. Better, abler, 
and more truly representative men would require to be 
sent to the Federal Parliament, and, as they know that 
they would have no chance in any national competition 
of the kind, self-interest urges them to allow New 
Zealand to retain only the status of a province whilst 
a great nation exists a little more than twelve hundred 
miles from their shores. Amongst public men who are 
not in power there are many who foresee that the time 
will come when New Zealand cannot afford to remain 
outside the Australian Commonwealth. Foremost among 
them is Sir Robert Stout, one of the very few real states- 
men New Zealand can now unfortunately boast of, and 
the leading spirit of true democracy in that part of the 
world. Sir Robert Stout . has been strongly in favour 
of federation all along ; and Mr. Gresley Lukin deserves 
special mention for the many excellent articles he 
has written in support of the federation propaganda. 
Already New Zealanders are taking alarm at the policy 
of isolation which has hitherto been pursued on the 
subject ; but it is alarm of a selfish kind. As the fiscal 
policy of the Australian Commonwealth will be one of 
free trade amongst the federating Colonies and of pro- 
tection against the outside world, New Zealanders are 
beginning to see that the Commonwealth's tariff may 
seriously affect their interests, more especially as the 
producers of that Colony have hitherto been doing a 
very large amount of trade with New South Wales, 
Victoria, and other portions of the Continent. Under 
the circumstances, the Federal Parliament cannot be 
expected to frame a Customs tariff specially favourable 
to New Zealand, and therefore the inhabitants of that 
Colony see when it may be too late that by standing so 
frigidly aloof from the federation movement their own 
interests may have been seriously endangered, and it 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 217 

was this feeling which prompted the appointment of a 
Royal Commission to inquire into the whole subject 
and report to Parliament at its session during the 
present year. That Royal Commission is composed 
of men who, for by far the most part, are known 
to be opposed to federation, and the probability is 
that they will report against it Nothing else can 
be expected from a Commission so constituted. But 
their report will not stop the movement in favour of 
federation which is taking place in that Colony. The 
pity of it all is that New Zealand did not join the 
Commonwealth as an original State. 

The Federation Act passed by the Imperial Parlia- 
ment gives to the Australian Commonwealth the most 
extensive powers of self-government, while retaining to 
the various States of the Union absolute control over 
their own local and internal affairs. It is in all 
essential particulars the measure adopted by over- 
whelming majorities of the people in Australia and 
Tasmania, and their mandate to the delegates taking 
the measure to Westminster was "the Bill, the whole 
Bill, and nothing but the Bill." With one exception, 
these delegates loyally adhered to their trust — a trust 
confided to them by tiie voice of a free and enlightened 
people desiring the fullest measure of self-government ; 
and well for them it was that they had two such 
representative men as Mr. Barton and Mr. Deakin to 
safeguard their interests, and to contend so manfully 
and steadfastly for what they were sent to London to 
obtain. The public of Great Britain and of Australia are 
fully acquainted with the persistent attempts which were 
made by Mr. Chamberlain and others to emasculate that 
measure of self-government, and how these attempts 
were defeated one after another by the uncompromising 
attitude of Mr. Barton, of New South Wales, Mr. Deakin, 
of Victoria, and some of the other delegates. Had they 



2i8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

not been successful, a very awkward position might 
have resulted, because the people of Australia were 
determined upon having their Bill, and they viewed 
with considerable indignation the efforts which were 
made in the Imperial Parliament to emasculate it in 
a way which would have so materially curtailed their 
rights and powers of self-government For the defeat of 
these efforts the Australian people must ever look back 
with feelings of thankfulness to men like Mr. Barton 
and Mr. Deakin, to whose firmness and consistent action 
they undoubtedly owe the Act which has elevated 
them to the proud position which Australia now holds 
amongst the nations of the world. 

It is much to be regretted that anything should have 
happened to cause friction at the installing stages of the 
Commonwealth. Everybody in Australia was pleased 
more or less when Lord Hopetoun was appointed as its first 
Governor-General. Lord Hopetoun had been Governor 
of Victoria for a term, and was very popular with the 
people there. It was, therefore, believed that he would 
be equally successful and popular in the higher position 
to which the British Government appointed him ; but 
no one was prepared for the initial mistake he made 
when he reached Australia to enter upon his new 
functions. Opinion was unanimous that Mr. Barton, 
by his strenuous exertions on behalf of federation, and 
his loyalty to the wishes of the people while in London, 
had established a claim far above that of any one else 
to be entrusted with the formation of the first Federal 
Government. It was decreed otherwise, and it will take 
a great deal of explanation to remove the impression 
in Australia that he was purposely passed over because of 
the uncompromising attitude he had taken up during the 
passage of the Commonwealth Bill through the Imperial 
Parliament. Be that as it may, and whether or not Lord 
Hopetoun acted upon his own motion or by instructions 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 219 

from the Colonial Office, the public were taken altogether 
by surprise when Lord Hopetoun sent for Sir William 
Lyne, and entrusted him with the task of forming the first 
Federal Ministry. Sir William Lyne had been one of 
the greatest opponents of federation, and why he should 
be the first one sent for to form a Cabinet no one could 
understand, except for the reasons already stated. It is 
true that he happened at the time to be the Premier of 
the Mother Colony, as New South Wales is called, and 
that fact is urged as an ample justification of Lord 
Hopetoun's action in the matter. Probably if Sir William 
Lyne had been a supporter of the federation cause his 
preference would have caused neither comment nor sur- 
prise ; but it was his opposition to it, and Mr. Barton's 
strenuous advocacy of federation which made the selec- 
tion of Sir William Lyne all the more surprising, and 
called forth such a vigorous protest against Mr. Barton 
having been passed over for political reasons. It is fair 
to Sir William Lyne to say that he had no hand in 
the business. He recognised at once that Mr. Barton's 
claims were superior to his own, and lost no time in 
recommending Lord Hopetoun to send for that gentle- 
man. Mr. Barton was sent for accordingly, and soon 
he succeeded in forming the first Federal Ministry, and 
a strong one too. It was composed as follows : — 

Rt. Hon. Edmund Barton, Prime Minister and Exterior Affairs. 

Hon. Sir W. Lyne, Home Affairs. 

Hon. Alfred Deakin, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. 

Rt Hon. G. Turner, Treasurer. 

Rt. Hon. C. C. Kingston, Trade and Customs. 

Rt. Hon. Sir J. Forest, Postmaster-General. 

Hon. Sir ]. R. Dickson, Minister for Defence. 

Unfortunately the Hon. Sir J. R. Dickson died a 
week or two after the formation of this first Federal 
Ministry. The Hon. J. G. Drake, Queensland's Post- 
master-General and Minister of Education, has been 
appointed as Federal Postmaster-General, and in con- 



220 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

sequence of the rearrangement of portfolios Sir J. Forest 
becomes Minister for Defence. 

In forming his Cabinet Mr. Barton selected two 
Ministers from New South Wales (himself and Sir 
William Lyne) ; two from Victoria (Right Hon, Sir G. 
Turner and the Hon. Alfred Deakin), one from South 
Australia (Right Hon. C. C. Kingston), one from Queens- 
land (Hon. Sir J. R. Dickson, since deceased), and one 
from Western Australia (Right Hon. Sir J. Forest). The 
Hon, N. E. Lewis, Premier of Tasmania, was included 
in the Cabinet, without portfolio. It might have been 
better if provision had been made for allotting a Cabinet 
Minister with a portfolio to each State, as the whole 
number could not exceed nine in the event of New 
Zealand coming in at a later period ; but this is a detail 
which can easily be provided for. It is obvious that no 
single State like Tasmania will relish the idea of 
not having a full-fledged representative in the Cabinet ; 
and it is only reasonable to assume that a colony 
of the population and importance of New Zealand 
would insist, as a condition precedent to joining 
the Commonwealth, that it should have Cabinet 
representation. There would then be a total number 
of seven States in all, and, two Ministers being allotted 
to Victoria and New South Wales, the remaining five 
seats would give one each to Queensland, South Aus- 
tralia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, 
when the last-mentioned Colony joins the Common- 
wealth, as most likely it will do before long, despite the 
expected report of the Royal Commission to the contrary. 

The birth of the Australian Commonwealth was 
celebrated amid great rejoicings at Sydney on the 
1st of January last — one hundred and twelve years after 
the arrival of Governor Phillip in Botany Bay. The 
elections for the Senate and House of Representatives 
have taken place in the various States in accordance 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 221 

with the electoral laws in force in each of them. The 
first Parliament will meet in Melbourne at the beginning 
of May, and Melbourne will be the place of meeting 
until a Federal Capital is established. The Act provides 
that the capital shall not be situate less than one hundred 
miles distant from Sydney, and speculation is rife as to 
the place which will be fixed upon for the capital. A 
Commissioner has been travelling round the Colonies 
making inquiries and collecting information, and his 
report will be submitted to the Federal Parliament when 
it meets. It is believed that the town of Orange in New 
South Wales stands a good chance of being selected. 

It was Mr. Barton's intention to postpone considera- 
tion of the fiscal policy until a later period, but the 
free traders of New South Wales, led by Mr. G. H. Reid, 
forced the issue, and consequently the first elections, 
which took place on the 29th and 30th of last month, 
were fought upon the question of protection and 
free trade. Mr. Reid favoured a free trade policy, and an 
arrangement of the tariff for revenue purposes only. Mr. 
Barton supported a policy of moderate protection, for the 
establishment and encouragement of local industries as 
well as those already in existence. Mr. Barton also 
advocated a white Australia ; that is to say, that it should 
be settled by a white population, and that the importation 
of coloured labour from the islands should be discontinued 
afler sufficient notice of its intended discontinuance has 
been given to the planters in Queensland and other 
parts of the Continent This declaration secured for 
him the support of the Labour Party ; but it is difficult 
to see how white men will be able to work in the tropical 
portions of Australia, where the heat in summer is very 
intense. 

In analysing the results of the recent Federal elections, 
it would appear that in the Senate the Government has 
a majority of about five. In the House of Represen- 



222 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

tatives Mr. Barton has secured a solid majority of about 
a dozen. Even in the free-trade stronghold (New South 
Wales) the low-tariff members are only six more than 
those who support a high tariff; while in Victoria (the 
protectionist State par excellence) the victory of the high- 
tariff candidates has been very pronounced, only four out 
of the twenty-three seats being secured by the free-traders. 
The most remarkable feature of the elections is the suc- 
cess of the Labour Party. For the Senate its candidates 
have won eight seats out of a total of thirty-six, and for 
the House of Representatives sixteen seats out of 
seventy-five stand to its credit While the Melbourne 
Argus (low-tariff organ) gives Mr. Barton a majority of 
only five in the House of Representatives, the Age (pro- 
tectionist) sets his majority down at fifteen. Between 
these two estimates of the position of parties, made by 
low and high-tariff organs respectively, it is clear that 
Mr. Barton's majority is a substantial one in the Lower 
House. He is confronted, however, by a very strong 
man in Opposition, Mr. Reid, and it is likely that the 
tariff will be a matter of compromise, of give-and-take, 
between the representatives of the various States, with 
a preponderance in favour of a moderate measure of 
protection against the outside world, because revenue 
must be obtained, and the Commonwealth's own 
industries must be protected up to a certain limit, 
probably not exceeding an average of 1 2 or 1 5 per cent 
There will be free trade, of course, amongst all the 
States of the Union. 

The Australian Commonwealth has been established 
under conditions which give promise of a marvellous 
development and prosperity, and its record will be a 
truly wonderful one by the time the first half of the new 
century is reached. The natural resources of Australia 
are so great and varied, and its mineral wealth apparently 
so inexhaustible, that it cannot fail to progress by leaps 



AUSTRALIA A NATION 223 

and bounds. It offers such an extensive field for settle- 
ment, for farming and pastoral pursuits, and for indus- 
trial and commercial enterprise in all their branches, 
that its present population of four millions and a half 
is certain to be trebled in half the^time it has taken it 
to reach these figures ; and, no matter from what stand* 
point it is r^arded, Australia is destined to become 
one of the greatest nations of the earth. What stands 
Australia in good stead on setting out upon its new 
career of practical independence is, that a great spirit of 
colonial patriotism animates its people ; that its public 
men are able, broad-minded and progressive, well quali< 
fied in every way to assist in the work of nation-building 
which has been commenced so auspiciously. There is no 
conceivable limit to the things which may be expected 
to result from federation. In the first place, it will 
inspire the public men of the Commonwealth with far 
loftier and nobler ideals than could have prevailed under 
the confined limitations of provincialism ; it will conduce 
to a superior standard of public and political life ; it 
will extend the opportunities of those who have con- 
spicuous ability and laudably ambitious aims ; it will 
encourage the arts and sciences and place learning upon 
a higher plane than it has yet reached ; it will do what 
has hitherto been too much neglected — ^it will hold out 
an encouraging hand to inventive genius, as America has 
done, with such astounding results ; it will exercise a 
refining and elevating influence upon all sections of the 
community ; it will improve the social conditions under 
which they live ; it will increase general knowledge and 
the scope of literature ; in a word, it will do all that a 
people imbued with the true sentiments and aspirations 
of nationality are capable of accomplishing. Who can 
think of the vast heritage that is theirs to-day without 
contemplating the great destiny that lies before the 
Australian people of our own time and in future genera- 



224 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

tions, when its millions and millions of acres will be 
covered by a population like that of the United States of 
America at the present moment? Everybody knows 
how small the population of that country was when it 
began to shape its own destinies ; and it requires no 
stretch of imagination to foresee what will be the 
eventualities in that great island Continent in the far 
South. Let those who indulge in dreams of Imperial 
Federation and of a great Confederacy of the Anglo- 
speaking nations of the earth ponder over the subject 
more profoundly than they appear to do, and if they 
can convince themselves that Australia has not em- 
barked upon a course which will ultimately end in its 
political independence as a nation, the author will find 
great difficulty in reconciling their conclusions with the 
strong undercurrent of opinion and sentiment which he 
knows is running out there, or with the natural causes 
which render the supposition untenable that Australia 
will not become a great and independent Democracy. 
And surely no common-sense man or woman can 
imagine that when the Commonwealth arrives at that 
epoch of maturity in its growth, any statesmen will be 
found so foolhardy and obstinate as to refuse Australia 
what it asks. The Commonwealth has made a good 
start ; it has a great and glorious future before it ; a 
future full of promise and brightest hopes, of great 
prosperity and marvellous development, and from the 
bottom of his heart the author exclaims. 

Advance, Australia! 

[For statistical information about Australia and Tasmania, 

see Tables at end of volume.] 



PART II 



NEW ZEALAND 



i6 



CHAPTER XX 

SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND— DISCOVERY— FIRST ACQUAINT- 
ANCE WITH THE NATIVES — PHYSICAL FEATURES 

THERE are comparatively few people in Great 
Britain who could answer the question if it were 
put to them — How big is New 2^1^nd ? The prevailing 
notion is that it is a little spot, at the extreme ends of 
the earth, inhabited for the most part by a race of semi- 
civilised natives and a few thousand whites. On both 
points they are quite in the dark, and it will no doubt 
surprise them to be told that New Zealand is only about 
one-seventh less in extent than the area of Great Britain 
and Ireland, that it has a population of nearly 800,000 
souls, and that of this number the native race consists 
of less than 40,000 men, women, and children. The 
Middle Island alone is larger than the combined areas 
of England and Wales by 214 square miles. The total 
area of the three islands which constitute New Zealand 
proper — ^the North Island, Middle Island, and Stewart's 
Island — ^is 103,658 square miles, and the Chatham and 
other islands which belong to it (exclusive of the Cook 
Islands recently annexed) brings up the total area to 
1 0447 1 square miles. 

It is quite a common error to suppose that New 
Zealand was discovered by Captain Cook; but, as a 

matter of fact, Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navi- 

337 



228 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

gator, was the first white man who is known to have 
found that these islands had an existence. This was 
nearly one hundred and thirty years before Captain 
Cook made his acquaintance with New Zealand. Tasman 
sailed from Batavia on the 14th of August, 1642, and 
discovered the island which he named Van Diemen's 
Land, in honour of Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of 
the Dutch possessions in the East Indies. Afterwards, 
directing his course eastward, Tasman, on the 13th of 
December, 1642, sighted the Middle Island of New 
Zealand, which he described as a high mountainous 
country, as indeed it is upon that part of its coasts. It 
was Tasman's belief that this high mountainous country 
belonged to a great polar continent, but in this belief 
Tasman was found to be mistaken. Tasman sailed 
along the coast and anchored in a bay, where an attack 
was made upon a boat's crew, and four of his men were 
killed by the natives. Tasman called it Murderers' Bay, 
and thence he steered along the west coast of the North 
Island, and gave to the north-west extremity of it the 
name which it still bears — Cape Maria Van Diemen, in 
honour of the aforesaid Governor's daughter, for whom, 
as the story goes, he had formed a strong attachment 
There is no record which shows that Tasman ever set 
his foot upon the shores of New Zealand, and Captain 
Cook is therefore supposed to be the first white man 
who landed therein. This was in 1769, on the shores of 
Poverty Bay. 

Cook's description of the native inhabitants of New 
Zealand, whom he saw for the first time in 1769, is very 
interesting. He says that " many of the Indians — as he 
called them — ^wore pieces of greenstone round their 
necks ; that these greenstone pieces were transparent 
and resembled emeralds. The form of some of their 
faces was agreeable. Their noses were rather prominent 
than flat, and their language nearly resembled that of 



SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND 229 

Otaheite. The women paint their faces with a mixture 
of red ochre and oil which, as they are very plain, 
renders them in appearance more homely. This kind 
of daubing, being generally wet upon their cheeks, was 
easily transferred to those who saluted them, as was 
frequently visible upon the noses of our people. The 
young ones, who were coquettes, wore a petticoat under 
which was a girdle made of the blades of grass, strongly 
perfumed, to which was appended a small bunch of the 
leaves of some fragrant plant. The faces of the men were 
not in general painted, but they were daubed with dry 
red ochre from head to foot, their apparel not excepted. 
Though in personal cleanliness they were not equal to 
our friends at Otaheite, yet in some particulars they 
surpass them. Among the females chastity was lightly 
esteemed. They resorted frequently to the watering 
places, where they freely bestowed every favour that 
was requested. An officer meeting with an elderly 
woman, accompanied her to her house, and, having 
presented her with some cloth and beads, a young girl 
was singled out with whom he was given to understand 
he might retire." 

Cook, after rounding the North Cape and sailing to 
Queen Charlotte's Sound (1770), found evidences that 
cannibalism was practised in New Zealand, but adds 
" they never eat any but their enemies. A decisive 
conquest or victory occasions the entire depopulation 
of the district, as it is not only the vanquished who are 
killed that are eaten, but the prisoners likewise are 
devoured by the victors." Even then Cook must have 
had the possibilities of British colonisation in his mind, 
for he adds : " Notwithstanding the custom of eating their 
enemies, the circumstances and temper of these people 
are in favour of those who might settle amongst them 
as a colony." When Cook next visited New Zealand, in 
1773, his own ship, the Endeavour^ got parted from the 



230 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Adventurer^ and Cook put into Queen Charlotte's Sound. 
After lying there for some time he set sail again on 
the very day before the Adventurer followed him into 
the same place. While the latter was lying in Queen 
Charlotte's Sound, full evidence was afforded of the 
existence of cannibalism. One of her boat's crews was 
attacked by the natives, and every member of the crew 
was killed and eaten by the savages. Cook's last visit 
to New Zealand was in 1777. 

The physical features of New Zealand are very striking. 
The North Island is generally hilly and in parts moun- 
tainous, but there are large areas of plain and sloping 
country eminently adapted for agriculture. It has been 
roughly estimated that in this part of the colony there are 
13,000,000 acres of level or undulating land fit for farming 
purposes, and the area of pastoral land is set down at 
14,200,000 acres. Of course, these estimates include the 
country which is at present covered with forest The 
North Island is splendidly watered, and several large 
rivers empty into the ocean on both sides. The principal 
mountains in the North Island are Mount Egmont, an 
extinct volcano, rising to a height of 8,260 feet; the 
Tongariro Mountains, the highest peak of which 
(Ngauruhoe) attains an elevation of 7,515 feet; and 
Ruapehu, which rises to an altitude of 9,008 feet 
Eruptions take place at intervals in the Ruapehu and 
Tongariro Mountains, and Ngauruhoe is constantly 
emitting steam from its summits. In 1868 the last 
discharge of lava took place from Ngauruhoe, but its 
three craters are still active, steam and vapour issuing 
from them with considerable noise and force. The 
author last saw these craters in 1898, and they were 
then very active. The North Island abounds with hot 
springs and geysers, notably at Wairakei, Rotorna, 
Tokaanu, and other localities, and the ground is quite 
warm all around the pools of boiling mud and water. 



SIZE OF NEW ZEALAND 231 

The author is reserving for another volume a detailed 
description of the physical features of New Zealand and 
the extraordinary phenomena to be seen in various parts 
of it, as to set these things forth in this book would 
unduly swell its proportions. 

Cook Strait divides the North from the Middle Island, 
and the width of this channel varies from sixteen to 
ninety miles. For almost its entire length the Middle 
Island is intersected by the range of mountains known 
as the Southern Alps. Mount Cook, the highest peak 
of these Alps, rises to a height of 12,349 feet. There 
are other high mountains in the Middle Island, and, 
generally speaking, the scenery is ms^ificent The 
lakes are numerous, and several rivers flow east and 
west of the Southern Alps. Although in the north, 
part of the Middle Island, in the west and south the 
country is mountainous, there are plains, downs, and 
undulating areas of vast extent, and agricultural and 
pastoral pursuits are carried on very extensively. It is 
estimated that there are about 1 5,000,000 acres available 
for agriculture in the Middle Island, and that about 
13,000,000 acres are suitable for pastoral purposes. The 
area of barren land and mountain tops is estimated at 
about 9,000,000 acres. There are numerous lakes in the 
Middle Island, and many rivers flow east and west of 
the dividing range. 

Stewart's Island is separated from the Middle Island 
by Foveaux Strait ; it has a total area of 425,390 acres. 
Most of the island is rugged and clad with forest 

As New Zealand extends from north to south for a 
distance of ten or eleven hundred miles, the climate and 
temperature vary accordingly. It is hotter in the north 
than in the south, but all through the climate is splendid 
and the rainfall satisfactory. New Zealand is never 
subject to the droughts that are experienced in Aus- 
tralia ; but sometimes v^ry destructive floods happen in 



232 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Hawke's Bay, Otago, and in some of the low-l)dng 
country in other districts. There are no snakes in New 
Zealand. The only venomous thing known to exist 
there is the Katipo spider, and a bite from this small 
insect has occasionally proved fatal Altogether, Nature 
has been most bountiful in her gifts to New Zealand — a 
good climate, excellent soil, abundance of water, timber, 
coal, gold, and other minerals, and that Colony possesses 
all the essential elements to make it one of the most 
prosperous countries on the face of the earth. It is 
capable of supporting a very large population, and with 
good government the day will yet come when it can be 
truthfully described as " God's own country." 



CHAPTER XXI 

IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS — THE EARLIEST MISSION- 
ARIES — THE "BOYD" MASSACRE — SYSTEMATIC 
SETTLEMENT— THE TREATY OF WAITANGI 

IT was many years after Cook's first visit to New 
Zealand that it was regarded as a suitable place for 
colonising purposes. Notwithstanding the fact that he 
had written very favourable accounts of New Zealand 
as a country to settle in, the people of Great Britain 
could not forget that it was inhabited by a race of can- 
nibals, fierce and warlike, who had not only massacred 
but cooked and eaten a whole boat's crew of the vessel 
attached to his own in the second voyage he made into 
southern latitudes. Indeed, the general belief was that 
all the islands in the South Seas were peopled by can- 
nibalistic races, and therefore the thought of colonising 
any of these distant lands was not seriously entertained 
until it was actually forced upon the British Government, 
as an outcome of the American War of Independence. 
Other fields had to be resorted to for getting rid of its 
criminal classes, and Cook's accounts of Australia turned 
the eyes of the Government in that direction, with the 
results that have already been described in the first 
portion of this volume. New Zealand eventually 
became a dependency of New South Wales, and 
being so connected the wonder is that the Governor 

233 



234 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

never entertained the notion of sending two or three 
drafts of his convicts to the Bay of Islands. Close 
trading relations were established between New Zealand 
and New South Wales, and the former became a great 
whaling station. As early as 1803 some Maoris visited 
Sydney, and in 1804 we hear of an English sailor, 
George Bruce, marrying the daughter of a Maori chief 
(Te Pahi) and settling at the Bay of Islands. Bruce 
was therefore the first white man who had gone to live 
amongst the Maoris. 

After the whalers came the missionaries. A York- 
shire blacksmith, named Samuel Marsden, became a 
chaplain at the penal station in New South Wales, 
being located at Parramatta, where he was general 
superintendent of convicts. Mr. Marsden conceived 
the idea of sending a band of missionaries amongst 
the Maoris, with the view of converting them to Chris- 
tianity. The scheme was matured, and twenty-five 
persons left England for New Zealand vid Sydney. 
Before their arrival news was received in Sydney of 
the massacre of the captain, crew, and passengers of the 
ship Boyd at Whangaroa, a harbour some miles to the 
north of the Bay of Islands. The event is thus recorded 
in the author's own book entitled, " His Island Home, 
and Away in the Far North " : — " The massacre on 
Peach Island is not the only one of which the harbour 
of Whangaroa has been the theatre. Here it was that 
in the year 1809 occurred the murder of the crew and 
passengers of the ship Boyd. This vessel sailed from 
Sydney for England, with the intention of calling at 
Whangaroa for spars. She carried seventy Europeans 
and five New Zealand natives, who were shipped at 
Sydney to work their passages to their own country. 
Of the latter, Tara (or George, as he was called on 
board ship) was the son of a Whangaroa chief. During 
the voyage he refused to work, because he was sick, for 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 235 

which the captain stopped his food, and flogged him 
twice at the gangway with much severity. When the 
vessel arrived at Whangaroa, and Tara and his four 
shipmates went amongst their friends, they related how 
cruelly Tara had been treated on the passage from 
Sydney, and Tara bared his back to afford ocular proof 
of the sort of treatment he had been subjected to. The 
vessel had come there for spars, and the natives, after a 
council of war, resolved to turn this circumstance to 
advantage, in order that they might have revenge upon 
those on board the ship. One day, by appointment 
with the natives, and in total ignorance of the plot, the 
captain and doctor of the Boyd were rowed ashore by 
some of the crew. On the captain's landing, the natives 
agreed to supply the spars, and a price was fixed upon. 
In order to satisfy him as to the quality of the spars 
they intended to supply, they asked the captain to 
follow them into the bush, and they would point them 
out to him. He assented to the proposition, and the 
doctor accompanied the captain. In order not to arouse 
the suspicions of the boat's crew, the natives allowed 
their women to remain with the sailors until they might 
return. Having penetrated the bush a sufficient dis- 
tance, the natives despatched the captain and doctor, 
and, returning to the water's edge and taking the sailors 
by surprise, they murdered them also. 

*' The assassins now proceeded in their canoes to where 
the Boyd was lying at anchor, and, not knowing their 
designs, those on the ship allowed them to board her 
without opposition. Once there, they resumed their 
revengeful work, and only four souls amongst the crew 
and passengers escaped this sang^uinary slaughter. 
Having no more lives to take, the natives at once set 
to work to pillage the ship, and there are natives still 
alive who can tell you everything about it ; they were 
either youths at the time, and are living witnesses of 



236 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

what happened, or they have been told of what occurred 
by those who took an active part in the affair. Before 
commencing to pillage the ship, lines were stretched 
across the deck from the starboard to the port side, and 
whatever was found in each partition from the deck to 
the bottom of the ship was to belong to the respective 
chiefs. In their ignorance many of the natives seized 
bars of brown soap and commenced eating them in the 
most ravenous manner ; but they soon discovered its dis- 
tasteful qualities and threw the soap away, frightened 
out of their wits at the amount of froth which the eating 
of the soap had produced. That circumstance is 
thoroughly well remembered; but such of them as are 
living would sooner have you knock them down than 
suspect them of having taken part in the massacre or in 
the feast on shore. They rummaged the ship from stem 
to stern, and some of them became intoxicated. Hap- 
pening to go into the magazine, they were experi- 
mentalising with the flint guns, when a spark g^t 
amongst the powder, and the ship and all the natives 
who remained on board were blown up. It is believed 
that a mere handful of those who had assisted in the 
massacre escaped, and these were on shore at the time, 
participating in the feast which the women had prepared 
with the bodies of those who had fallen there in the 
morning. What remained of the Boyd drifted further 
up the harbour, and came aground on a mud flat 
When I visited this part of the world in the beginning of 
the present year (1879), the remains of the Boyd were still 
to be seen at low water, and by rolling your trousers up 
as far as the knees you could stand on the ribs of the 
ill-fated vessel. Mr. Ratcliffe, a most courteous and 
obliging gentleman, whom it was our good fortune 
to meet at Whangaroa, once ventured to place a flag on 
the hull of the ship, in order to indicate where she lay 
to strangers visiting the harbour, but an aged chief the 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 237 

next day pulled off to the spot and tore the flag down. 
Then he went to Mr. RatcHffe and begged of him not to 
re-erect it, because the natives had no desire to have 
perpetuated the recollection of an event which occurred 
in bygone days, when the hearts of the Maoris were 
dark. This is an expression commonly used by the 
native people when they wish to prove their repentance 
for acts committed at a time when civilisation had not 
reached them, and when their hearts were guided in 
accordance with their savage notions of revenge and dis- 
regard of human life. Mr. Ratcliffe has respected the 
old chief's feelings, and the curiously inclined will have 
to find out the spot where the hull <5f the Boyd now lies 
by making personal inquiries on the subject Several 
articles which belonged to the vessel have been dis- 
covered at various times, and during a pleasant hour or 
two which I spent at Mr. Ratcliffe's house, he showed 
me a silver spoon, shell pattern, with the word * Boyd ' 
engraved upon it He assured me that he dug it up 
himself three or four feet below the surface, and there is 
not the slightest doubt that it was a portion of the 
plunder which the natives succeeded in getting ashore 
before the explosion took place. It seemed but an act 
of retributive justice that most of those who had cruelly 
put to death so many innocent persons in the forenoon 
should in the afternoon of the very same day be them- 
selves blown to atoms. The four Europeans who 
escaped death when the vessel was boarded were a 
woman, two children, and a cabin-boy. The latter was 
saved by Tara (the cause of the massacre) in gratitude 
for a trifling kindness. The four survivors were rescued 
subsequently from the natives by Te Pahi and Mr. 
Berry, the supercargo of the ship, who was then at the 
Bay of Islands." 

This dreadful massacre was of so terrorising a nature 
that it prevented the twenty-five persons who had sailed 



238 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

from England continuing their voyage to New Zealand, 
and it was not until five years later that missionary 
enterprise began in that country. In 18 14 Mr. Marsden, 
accompanied by Messrs. Kendall, Hall, and King, their 
wives and several mechanics, with some sheep and 
cattle, embarked at Sydney for New Zealand in a brig 
manned by convicts. The missionaries were well 
received by the natives, from whom they purchased 
two hundred acres of land on which to form a mission 
station, the price paid being twelve axes. 

It required no small amount of courage to go amongst 
the Maoris at this first period of missionary enterprise ; 
but Mr. Marsden and his companions soon established 
the most friendly relations between themselves and the 
native tribes. They had a good deal to contend against 
from the bad examples which were set the natives by 
the rough sailors who frequented the Bay of Islands in 
those days. They introduced drink amongst the natives, 
and contaminated them in various ways. Some of these 
runaway sailors married Maori wives, and not only 
adopted Maori habits and customs themselves, but 
induced the natives to adopt all the vices of civilisation 
they carried with them amongst the tribes. These were 
the worst influences which the missionaries had to 
contend with in the early period of their mission to New 
Zealand, and matters did not improve much for many 
years. The missionaries secured a good many converts 
to Christianity, however, and succeeded to a great extent 
in checking tribal wars and cannibalism. The mission- 
aries acted as intermediaries between traders and the 
natives, and even in the sale of their land, and one of 
these latter transactions had a singular development in 
after-times. In 1822, Baron de Thierry bought through 
Mr. Kendall 40,000 acres of land on the Hokianga for 
thirty-six axes. In 1835 Baron de Thierry claimed to 
have purchased for these thirty-six axes all the territory 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 239 

north of Auckland, and informed the British Resident of 
his intention to establish there in his own person inde- 
pendent sovereignty. He accordingly issued a pro- 
clamation signed " Charles de Thierry, Sovereign Chief 
of New Zealand and King of Muhuhewa." He landed 
in his dominions with ninety-three men from Sydney, 
unfurled a silken banner, ordered his subjects to back 
out of his presence, and offered to create the captain of 
the ship which conveyed him to his kingdom an Admiral. 
Funds running short, however, his subjects deserted him. 
The British Resident refused to recognise his claim to 
the land, and Baron de Thierry afterwards retired 
to Auckland, where he lived for the remainder of his life. 
This was only one of many strange happenings 
associated with the early colonisation of New Zealand. 
As soon as it was found that people could trust their lives 
amongst the native New Zealanders, a good number of 
adventurous spirits found their way to New Zealand 
from New South Wales, and the practice became quite 
common for Europeans to marry Maori women, and for 
others to cohabit with them without going through that 
ceremony. Once they went amongst the Maoris, they 
led free, easy, and idle lives, and never afterwards 
thought of returning to the civilised conditions of life. 
They became what were afterwards known as Pakeha- 
Maoris, and exercised an amount of influence over the 
Maori people which was anything but conducive to 
the true interests of the latter. Rum indulgence was 
one of the worst habits to which the natives became 
addicted, and gambling was the next vice which seized 
upon them. They became more and more demoralised 
by contact with these characterless adventurers, and 
were taken advantage of in every way. Large tracts of 
their lands were filched from them for mere trifles ; and 
they were imposed upon right and left. A big trade 
was done with them in liquor; they could obtain it 



240 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

when and wherever they liked, and the desire for drink 
grew upon them just as it is known to do upon coloured 
races all the world over. This was long before grog- 
shops were known in New Zealand, and the first of 
them was not opened until 1830, by a man named 
Benjamin Turner. 

Five years previously an attempt was made to 
colonise New Zealand. In 1825 a company was formed 
in London with that object, and an expedition was sent 
out under the command of Captain Herd, who bought 
two islands in the Hauraki Gulf and a strip of land at 
Hokianga, which is also known as Herd's Point Owing 
to the savage character of the inhabitants, and their 
opposition to the encroachment of the white race, this 
first attempt at colonisation was abandoned. The Bay 
of Islands had in the meantime been made a whaling 
station, and as many as forty whaling vessels used to 
rendezvous there at certain periods. A settlement was 
therefore formed at Kororareka for trading purposes. 
The Governor of New South Wales appointed Mr. 
Busby as British Resident in 1833, and, some sort of law 
and order being established, the idea of colonising New 
Zealand was revived in London. In 1838 the New 
Zealand Company was formed to establish settlement 
upon systematic principles. The moving spirit of this 
organisation was Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield. A 
preliminary expedition was despatched from England 
in 1839, under the command of Colonel William Wake- 
field. This expedition reached New Zealand in the 
following August; and, having purchased land from 
the natives. Colonel Wakefield selected the shore of 
Port Nicholson (Poneke) as the site of the first settle- 
ment The first body of emigrants arrived on January 
22, 1840, and founded the town of Wellington, which 
was made the capital of the colony more than twenty 
years afterwards. On January 29, 1840, Captain 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 241 

Hobson, R.N., arrived at the Bay of Islands, empowered 
to proclaim the sovereignty of the Queen over New 
Zealand and to assume the government thereof. 

Captain Hobson brought a treaty with him, which 
was as follows : — After reciting that Her Majesty Queen 
Victoria, " regarding with her Royal favour the native 
tribes and chiefs of New Zealand, and anxious to 
protect their just rights and property, and to secure to 
them the enjoyment of peace and good order, has 
deemed it necessary in consequence of the great 
number of Her Majesty's subjects who have already 
settled in New Zealand and the rapid extension of 
emigration both from Europe and Australia which is 
still in progress," &c. 

'' Article the First 
"The Chiefs of the Confederation of the united 
tribes of New Zealand and the separate and in- 
dependent Chiefs who have not become members of 
the Confederation, cede to Her Majesty the Queen 
of England absolutely and without reservation all the 
rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said 
Confederation or individual Chiefs respectively exercise 
or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or possess, 
over their respective territories, as the sole Sovereign 
thereof. 

^^ Article the Second. 

" Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and 
guarantees to the Chiefs and tribes of New 2^aland and 
to the respective families and individuals thereof the 
full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands 
and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which 
they may collectively or individually possess so long as 
it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their 
possession ; but the Chiefs of the united tribes and the 

17 



242 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

individual Chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive 
right of pre-emption over such lands as the proprietors 
thereof may be disposed to alienate at such price as 
may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors 
and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with 
them in that behalf. 

« Article the Third. 

" In consideration thereof Her Majesty the Queen of 
England extends to the natives of New Zealand her 
Royal protection, and imparts to them all the rights 
and privileges of British subjects. 

«W. HOBSON, 

" Lieut-Governor." 

Then there is a declaration that, having been made 
fully to understand the provisions of the Treaty, the 
signatories enter into the same in the full spirit and 
meaning thereof 

Such was the Treaty of Waitangi, about which so 
much has been said and written, and which has been 
the cause of so much conflict from time to time between 
the natives and the Colonial Government. Readers will 
bear its terms in mind when later events come to be 
dealt with. 

The first meetings at which this treaty was presented 
to the northern chiefs for their approval and adoption 
were held at Mr. Busby's station, at Waitangi, on the Sth 
and 6th of February, 1840. 

In his report to Sir George Gibbs (Governor of New 
South Wales), Lieut.-Governor Hobson stated that 
the Chiefs seated themselves upon the ground in the 
centre of the tent, leaving a space around them for the 
Europeans. Lieut-Governor Hobson explained the 
object of the meeting, and assured them in the most 
fervent manner that they might rely implicitly on the 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 243 

good faith of Her Majesty's Government in the 
transaction. 

Mr. H. Williams, of the Church Missionary Society, 
acted as interpreter. 

" Twenty or thirty chiefs addressed the meeting, five 
or six of whom opposed me with great violence, and at 
one period with such effect and so cleverly that I began 
to apprehend an unfavourable impression would be 
produced. At this crisis the Hokianga Chiefs under 
Nene and Patuone made their appearance, and nothing 
could have been more seasonable. It was evident from 
the nature of the position that some underhand influence 
had been at work. The Chiefs Rewa and Ihakara, who 
are followers of the Catholic Bishop, were the principal 
opposers, and the arguments were such as convinced me 
they had been prompted. Rewa, while addressing me, 
turned to the chiefs and said : * Send the man away ; 
do not sign the paper ; if you do, you will be reduced 
to the condition of slaves and be obliged to break stones 
for the roads. Your land will be taken from you, and 
your dignity of chiefs will be destroyed.' " 

Rewa was a true prophet. 

Lieut-Governor Hobson continues : " At the first 
pause Nene came forward and spoke with a degree 
of natural eloquence that surprised all the Europeans, 
and evidently turned aside the temporary feeling that 
had been created. He first addressed himself to his 
own countrymen, desiring them to reflect on their own 
condition, to recollect how much the character of New 
Zealand had been exalted by their intercourse with 
Europeans, and how impossible it was for them to 
govern themselves without frequent wars and bloodshed, 
and he concluded his harangue by strenuously advising 
them to receive us and to place confidence in our 
promises. He then turned to me and said : * You must 
be our father, you must not allow us to become slaves ; 



244 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

you must preserve our customs, and never permit our 
lands to be wrested from us.* " 

The Treaty was afterwards signed by those present 
on February 6th, and trifling articles were given to 
the chiefs. 

Agents were sent to other parts of New Zealand to 
obtain signatures, and in less than six months the Treaty 
bore 512 names or marks of those agreeing to sign. 
(See records in British Museum.) 

New Zealand was proclaimed a separate Colony on 
the 3rd of May, 1841. The seat of Government had 
been previously established at Auckland, where a 
settlement had been formed. 

The New Zealand Company decided to form another 
settlement named Nelson, and about the same time a 
number of pioneers arrived in Taranaki under the 
auspices of the New Plymouth Company, a colonising 
company which had been formed in England, and which 
had purchased 50,000 acres of land from the New 
Zealand Company. In 1848 Otago was settled by 
persons belonging to or in sympathy with the Free 
Church of Scotland. The Canterbury Association was 
formed, the intention of the promoters being to establish 
a settlement complete in itself and composed entirely of 
members of tbe then United Churches of England and 
Ireland. The first emigrant ship despatched by the 
Canterbury Association arrived at Port Cooper 
(Lyttelton) on December 16, 1850. 

Of course, the idea of founding a purely Church of 
England settlement in Canterbury was soon exploded. 
People of all creeds and classes found their way to 
Canterbury in due course, and the population became 
just as mixed there as in the adjoining Free Church of 
Scotland settlement in Otago. The fact is mentioned 
merely to show the absurdity of organising schemes of 
colonisation upon exclusively religious principles which 



IN OLD NEW ZEALAND DAYS 245 

prescribe that members of one particular Church only 
shall participate in the advantages of settlement in a 
new country. 

It will be seen that the settlement of New Zealand 
was first begun from New South Wales upon no 
systematic basis, and that the settlement from Great 
Britain which followed later on was due mainly to the 
initiative of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield. 



CHAPTER XXII 

MAORI WARS — ^THE LAND QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM 
OF THEM — BROKEN PROMISES — THE SOUTH 
ISLAND NATIVES CLAIM THREE MILLIONS 
STERLING 

IN early times the Maoris, like all other savage races, 
were easily imposed upon. They were fond of 
anything that sparkled or was high-coloured. The 
brighter a piece of cloth or calico was the better they 
liked it, and beads were especially attractive to them. 
Knives and axes they highly prized, and an old blunder- 
buss, gun or pistol of any kind they always set a high 
value on. In fact, they were like children in these 
matters, and the various trifles which were brought 
under their notice by traders and others took their 
fancy amazingly. The land seemed as nothing com- 
pared with the wares the pakeha was possessed of ; and 
just as the Port Phillip blacks disposed of 600,000 acres 
of land for a few axes, looking-glasses and other articles 
of equal value, so the Maoris were quite ready to part 
with strips of their possessions for an equally paltry 
consideration. Much of their possessions they alienated 
in this way ; but discovered their mistake when they 
began to realise the value of things more correctly. 
Then there arose amongst them an indisposition to 
barter away their inheritance upon terms so one-sided ; 



MAORI WARS 247 

they were not so easily got at by the land sharks ; they 
became too knowing for the unscrupulous traffickers in 
the soil to get round them ; but they acquired this know- 
ledge at great cost to themselves, for immense areas had 
slipped through their hands absolutely for nothing in the 
shape of price. 

So we see that when the Treaty of Waitangi came to 
be submitted to them for acceptance, some of the 
assembled chiefs were not a little suspicious in regard 
to it Rewa, for instance, warned his countrymen that 
if they signed the treaty their land would be taken from 
them and their dignity as chiefs would be destroyed. 
What an intelligent fellow Rewa must have been, and 
how prophetic his words have proved! The Maori 
people ought always to venerate Rewa's memory. Their 
lands have been taken from them, and their dignity as 
chiefs has been destroyed. A true prophet was Rewa. 

The origin of all the wars that have taken place in 
New Zealand can be traced directly to the question of 
land. The Maoris saw that it was slipping away from 
them, and they were driven into rebellion, as it was 
called, because they thought so, and wished to put an 
end to the system of spoliation that had been resorted 
to. The Treaty of Waitangi expressly stipulated that 
the Queen of England confirmed and guaranteed to the 
chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective 
families and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive, and 
undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, 
fisheries and other properties which they might col- 
lectively or individually possess, so long as it was their 
wish and desire to retain the same in their possession. 
All that those signing the Treaty yielded was the 
exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as the 
proprietors thereof might be disposed to alienate, at 
such price as might be agreed upon between the 
respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her 



248 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Majesty to treat with them in that behalf. Many of 
the most important chiefs in New Zealand did not sign 
that treaty. Potatau, at that time the principal chief of 
Waikato, refused to sign it, and Te Waharoa, the great 
warrior and chief of Ngatihaua, never signed it, and large 
numbers of the most influential chiefs in various parts of 
the country were no parties to it In after-years they or 
their descendants revised to recognise it, and counselled 
their people not to sell their land. What were Wiremu 
Tamihana's arguments with regard to the Treaty of 
Waitangi ? " I am chief of Ngatihaua, which is an indepen- 
dent tribe. My father, Te Waharoa, was chief before me. 
Neither he, I, nor any of my people signed this treaty. 
Therefore we are not bound by it" William Thompson 
was opposed to the selling of the land, and so also was 
Wiremu Kingi. The Taranaki war arose from the 
resistance of Wiremu Kingi to the sale of land. Wiremu 
Kingi opposed the sale of the Waitara block, and the 
persistence of the Government in selling it brought 
war about. 

Mr. J. E. Gorst, M. A., in his book, " The Maori King," 
published in 1864, says : " The result of our government 
of the Maoris, thus seen in New Zealand, was marvel- 
lously inconsistent with the story usually told in 
England. It had always been said that the Maoris 
possessed remarkable capacities for civilisation ; that 
they had been treated with singular kindness and 
perifect justice, and were happy and prosperous under 
British rule." Mr. Gorst found out for himself that the 
position of matters was very different — that the Maoris 
wanted control of their own affairs, particularly with 
regard to their lands. The King movement was the 
upshot of this feeling amongst the Maoris in the 
Waikato and Taranaki, and the Waitara and Waikato 
wars were the direct outcome of their resistance to the 
sale of their lands. They refused to sell to the Govern- 



MAORI WARS 249 

ment under the right of pre-emption set forth in a treaty 
which neither themselves nor their ancestors had been 
parties to. 

After representative and responsible government was 
conferred upon New Zealand, of course the Colonial 
Government virtually took the place of the Queen so 
far as the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi were 
concerned, but laws were passed in direct violation of 
that treaty. The Government was always tinkering 
with native land legislation, and there never was any 
fixity about it from one year to another. Sometimes 
the right of pre-emption was maintained, then the law 
was altered and free trade in native lands became the 
order of the day; then it was altered back to pre- 
emption ; but it mattered not under which system, the 
natives were always cheated. If the Government 
exercised the right of pre-emption, they took blocks 
from the natives at prices far below their value ; and if 
free trade prevailed, then the natives were robbed right 
and left by the land-shark class. The land was secured 
by these people at ridiculous prices — not for occupation, 
be it remembered, in most cases, but for mere purposes of 
speculation. And what irritated the native mind after- 
wards was to see the land which they had been induced 
to part with for a song sold again by the Government 
and private individuals at prices which should have been 
paid to themselves in the first instance. It is not to be 
wondered at, therefore, that the King movement was 
promoted for the purpose of putting an end to a system 
which was so insidiously depriving them of their 
possessions. That was the attitude of the Waikato 
and Taranaki tribes before war ensued. They wanted 
home rule, and claimed that home rule was assured to 
them under the Treaty of Waitangi so far as their land, 
fisheries, &c., were concerned. These wars might easily 
have been averted; but unfortunately the circumstances 



250 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

lend too much colour to the belief that the natives were 
encouraged into rebellion for the confiscations which 
would follow. And wholesale these confiscations were, 
too, although upon the West Coast considerable areas 
were returned to the native owners and are now held in 
trust for th6m and their survivors. It was the most 
creditable act that was ever performed towards the 
natives by the Colonial Government, and as such 
deserves to be recorded. In subduing 'the Maoris who 
fought for their lands from time to time, the Govern- 
ments — Imperial and Colonial alike — were always aided 
by what were called " friendly " Maoris. That was 
always one of the most reprehensible features of Maori 
warfare — employing Maoris to fight against their own 
flesh and blood. Referring to this subject, Mark Twain 
makes the following comment with regard to one of the 
two monuments which he saw at Wanganui : — ^** The 
other monument cannot be rectified. Except with 
dynamite. It is a mistake all through, and a strangely 
thoughtless one. It is a monument erected by white 
men to Maoris who fell fighting with the whites and 
against their own people in the Maori war. * Sacred to 
the memory of the brave men who fell on the 14th of 
May, 1864,' &c. On one side are the names of about 
twenty Maoris. It is not a fancy of mine. I saw it. It 
is an object-lesson to the rising generation. It invites 
to treachery, disloyalty, unpatriotism. Its lesson in 
frank terms is, * Desert your flag, slay your people, burn 
their homes, shame your nationality — we honour such.* " 
(" More Tramps Abroad," p. 221.) Perhaps Mr. Clemens 
is not aware that Maori mercenaries have always been 
employed in all the wars against their own countrymen, 
beginning with Hone Heke's war in the Bay of Islands 
in 1845 ; and if he should ever visit Russell he will see 
in the churchyard a monument there to the memory of 
Tamati Waka Nene, and in the cemetery of Trinity 



MAORI WARS 251 

Church, Devonport, North Shore, another monument 
erected to the memory of Patuone, Tamati Waka Nene's 
elder brother. 

Tamati Waka Nene was one of the chiefs who fought 
against his countrymen in the war of 1845. Hone 
Heke believed that the British soldiers (the redcoats, 
as he called them) had been brought into the country 
to take the land from the natives and make them 
taurekareka (slaves). Consequently, Hone Heke, the 
great Ngapuhi warrior, determined to drive the redcoats 
into the sea. He surprised the soldiers at Flagstaff 
Hill, Kororareka, at daylight on the morning of the 
nth of March, 1845, cut down the flagstaff which had 
been erected to indicate the Queen's sovereignty over 
the land, and drove the detachment of the 96th regiment 
down the hill. Simultaneously with this movement, 200 
natives, under one of Hone Heke's fighting generals 
named Kawiti, attacked Captain Robertson's position 
on the hill domineering the Matawai Pass at the rear 
of the mission house erected by Bishop Pompallier. 
Seeing the soldiers running precipitately down the 
flagstaff hill, Captain Robertson spiked his gun and 
likewise fell back. After some hard fighting, it was 
decided by the military authorities to evacuate the 
town, and accordingly the whole of the soldiers and 
inhabitants embarked on board H.M.S. Hazard^ the 
United States corvette St, LoutSy the whaling ship 
Matilda^ and the schooner Dolphin. Hone Heke and 
Rawiti entered the town, and, one of the houses catching 
fire, the whole town was consumed. Bishop Pompallier's 
mission house, the Anglican and Roman Catholic 
churches, and one or two other buildings alone escaping 
destruction. Thus began the first Maori war in New 
Zealand, and it owed its origin to the belief amongst 
the Maoris that the Europeans intended to deprive 
them of their possessions. The same feeling was at 



252 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the bottom of the Taranaki and Waikato wars. Wiremu 
Kingi, Wi Tamihana, Potatau Te Wherowhero and their 
people were strongly opposed to the sale of land, and 
under the treaty of Waitangi they had a perfect right 
to say that no more land should be sold, for the words 
of that treaty are : " So long as it is their wish and 
desire to retain the same in their possession." Why 
did 1, 600 natives under Te Heu Heu assemble at 
Taupo in 1857? It was to protest against the sale 
of land, and the platform adopted at that meeting was 
" Look to the land." . Therefore, it will be seen that the 
origin and object of the King movement was the reten- 
tion of their lands by the natives and resistance to the 
wholesale purchases which were being made at prices 
which were so palpably inadequate. The Treaty of 
Waitangi had not, as it was claimed it would do, pro- 
tected their just rights and property nor secured to 
them the enjoyment of peace and order; for, as Mr. 
Gorst says, " For years after the treaty tribal wars were 
so common that Tamihana describes them as *a river 
of blood flowing through the land.' " On his first visit 
to the Waikato Mr. Gorst wrote : " In all outward signs 
of civilisation the Maoris proved to be extremely back- 
ward ; their houses, clothing, food, and way of eating 
were of the most barbarous description ; but in reason- 
ing, especially on political topics, in making provision 
for their own government and for the education of their 
children, they exhibited unexpected cleverness and good 
sense." They wanted home rule : they desired the 
management of their own affairs, and Mr. Gorst bears 
testimony to the fact that they were quite capable of 
governing themselves ; but the Government thought 
differently, because the land purchase system must go 
on ; and because the Taranaki and Waikato natives 
objected to the sale of their lands they were driven 
into rebellion. That is the plain English of the matter, 



\ 



9^ 



MAORI WARS 253 

and no twisting or distortion of facts, no resort to the 
usual subterfuge that " certain ignorant and ill-informed 
persons say so," will get- rid of the truth which these 
facts reveal — that land-grab and confiscation are the 
real explanation of the wars that have taken place in 
New Zealand. 

Mr. Gorst says "it was determined to purchase by 
presents and pensions the goodwill of the principal 
native chiefs." That was always the policy pursued 
by the Government, and it is that which accounts for 
"friendly natives" taking the field against their own 
countrymen in all the outbreaks that occurred from 
Hone Heke's time to the end of the Waikato War, and 
subsequently upon the east and west coasts of the 
North Island. 

The poor South Island natives were always incapable 
of resistance. The Wairau massacre was the only show 
of direct opposition they ever made to the settlement of 
the Europeans. The South Island natives were few in 
number — a comparative handful. The southern tribes 
had been decimated, nearly wiped out of existence by 
the onslaughts upon them by powerful warrior tribes 
from the North Island, the last of them led by that 
bloodthirsty old savage Te Rauperaha, who butchered 
the southern natives right and left and carried large 
numbers of them away as slaves. Other North Island 
chiefs and their tribes paid similar visits of conquest 
and extermination to the South Island, and carried off 
slaves to the far north. That is why so many descen- 
dants of these slaves, the remnant of whose tribes are 
still in the far south, are to be found now intermingled 
with the Ngapuhi and other tribes in the North Island, 
and they are still regarded as taurekareka (slaves), and 
have no tribal rank amongst the descendants of their 
conquerors. It was in consequence of these periodical 
visitations from the warlike tribes of the North Island 



254 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

that the native population of the South Island got so 
much reduced that they were never numerically strong 
enough to resist the encroachments of the whites, and 
as a consequence the appropriation of their lands was 
an easy process. They were bought from them, it is 
true, but at what prices? The whole of the Otakou 
block (Otago) was purchased from them for £600 or 
;£'700, and the Murimutu block (Southland) was also 
alienated for an equally ridiculous sum, with all sorts 
of promises that hospitals, schools, &c., would be pro- 
vided specially for the native people. Some years 
afterwards the descendants of the chiefs who thus 
bartered away their inheritance realised the cruel 
injustice that had been inflicted upon them, and at 
the instigation of the southern chief Taiaroa they sent 
in a claim for three millions sterling. A Royal Com- 
mission was appointed twenty-two years ago to inquire 
into the case, and the author happened to be attached 
to that Commission. That is how he knows of the 
injustice which was done to the native people by the 
agents who were sent amongst them by the Govern- 
ment to effect these purchases. The Commission took 
evidence in Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Wellington, 
Auckland, and other places, and it was clearly proved 
that the natives had been most shamefully imposed 
upon with regard to their lands, and that promises 
which were made to them at the times of these 
purchases were never fulfilled. The Commission sent 
in its report with certain recommendations, but nothing 
came of it At last, after their patience was exhausted, 
attention was called in Parliament to the fact that 
numbers of South Island natives were absolutely land- 
less, and after repeated applications Parliament found 
it necessary, as an act of bare justice, to provide land 
for those natives who were actually without a patch 
they could call their own. It is monstrous in face of 



MAORI WARS 255 

these facts to hear people in official positions declare 
that the natives of New Zealand have been well treated. 
What are the facts? When the Europeans first came 
amongst them the natives of the North Island were 
the sole possessors of 28459,520 acres ; those of the 
Middle Island, 37,456,000 acres ; those of Stewart's 
Island, 425,390 acres ; these areas added together give 
a total of 66,340,910 acres originally possessed by the 
native New Zealanders. Of these sixty-six million 
acres, how many do they possess to-day? Not long 
ago it was announced by the Premier, who apparently 
believed that the record was a most creditable one to 
the Colony, that the Maoris still own five million acres. 
Five million out of nearly sixty-six and a half million 
acres, and the eyes of the country picked ! The figures 
tell their own story. But this is not all. The list is a 
long one of aged and pauperised natives whose circum- 
stances have forced them to apply for State aid under 
the Old Age Pensions Act In this connection here is 
a paragraph from the New Zealand Budget delivered 
in Committee of Supply on August 17, 1900 : — "The 
amount asked for old-age pensions, namely, £200fi00y 
may appear large, and more than was anticipated by 
some. The number of pensioners of the Maori race is a 
factor not contemplated, and was not ascertainable at the 
time the Act was passed." What more is required to 
show the wholesale acquisition of Maori lands and the 
impoverished condition to which too many of them 
have been unfortunately reduced? That they still 
retain five million acres — less than a thirteenth part 
of what was theirs not a century ago, and the greatest 
part still belonging to them when the Treaty of Wai- 
tangi was submitted to them by Lieutenant-Governor 
Hobson in 1840 — is a poor thing to boast of, or to 
advance as an argument that the Maori race has been 
fairly and justly dealt with. The facts are only too 



256 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

abundant to prove that the contrary has been the case. 
It is needless for the Maori people to talk, as they now 
do, of sending delegations to London to lay their case 
before the Imperial Government with a view to obtain- 
ing redress for past wrongs. They will be told by the 
Imperial Government that they have nothing to do 
wilji the matter, and that they must look to the Colonial 
authorities for a redress of grievances, as the administra- 
tion of the internal affairs of the Colony had been left 
entirely to them under the Act which conferred repre- 
sentative and responsible government upon the Colony. 
Therefore, these delegations to London would be a 
mere waste of time and money, and the Maoris might 
as well abandon the idea once and for all. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE MAORIS — THEIR CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION — 
CANNIBALISM AND TRIBAL WARS 

THE Maoris are physically a fine race of people. 
As a rule, the men are much above the average 
height of the whites who have settled amongst them, 
and generally speaking they may be described as a 
tall race, broad-shouldered, stout-limbed and muscular. 
In colour they are a dark brown, and their features are 
large and usually regular, but of various types. You 
may see a face which resembles in its general outlines 
that of the best specimen of an American Indian ; some 
of them are almost Jewish in appearance, and occasion- 
ally one sees a face of the Grecian cast. But as a whole 
they are what can be described as a fine-looking race of 
men. They have full dark-brown eyes, and their heads 
are covered with a thick growth of dark hair, in some 
instances straight, and curled in others. The expression 
of their countenances is open and well-disposed, and 
one can see at once that they are very intelligent — a 
phrenologist would say intellectual. They speak their 
language with great volubility, and when the occasion 
calls upon them to harangue a meeting of their country- 
men, they are forcible, argumentative, and witty. They 
are born orators, every one of them, and the similes 
they apply are those that might be expected from 

people who have been civilised for ages. Biblical 

i8 357 



2S8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

quotation is a strong point with the Maori orator, and 
he knows exactly when to introduce it to illustrate the 
fitness of its application to the tenor of his discourse. 
He can be serious and pathetic, wildly declamatory or 
humorous just as the whim seizes him. Language 
never fails him to give utterance to his thoughts, and 
there is always a good deal of downright common-sense 
in what he says. That is why the speeches of the 
Maori members of Parliament compare so favourably 
♦with those of European members upon any subject that 
may be discussed. Oratory is quite characteristic of 
them. They are a good-tempered people, and when 
they are amongst themselves their peals of laughter 
show that they derive a good deal of enjoyment from 
mutual intercourse and conversation. They like com- 
panionship, and are never lost for agreeable company, 
for their whares are all close together in the settlements 
where they reside. 

The women, like the men, are strongly built, and 
many of them very tall. They have good and pleasing 
features, lovely soft, dark-brown eyes, and fine heads of 
dark, glossy hair. Their figures they don't pay much 
attention to ; their garments are loosely thrown about 
them, and they therefore present an appearance rather 
slovenly. They marry young and rear a numerous 
progeny in many cases. Generally speaking, Maori 
women take life easy, like the men. They are not an 
active race of people ; in fact, they are rather inclined to 
indolence; in their settlements they seldom cultivate 
the soil further than is necessary for their own subsistence 
in the way of kumaras, maize, water-melons, rock- 
melons, and so on, and fish constitutes a lai^e portion of 
their natural food. Any surplus they can readily dis- 
pose of in the adjoining settlements. Of course, in 
localities near European townships they till their land 
more extensively and raise all kinds of crops; and there 



THE MAORIS 259 

are places where they own flocks of sheep and cattle 
and carry on farming operations besides, in accordance 
with the most improved European methods. In the 
remote portions of the country they live altogether in 
their old Maori style, in small whares ; but there are 
well-to-do chiefs and others who have erected houses 
for themselves and assimilate themselves to European 
customs as much as possible. But so far as the great 
bulk of the Maori population is concerned, there is little 
difference between their mode of life and what it was 
in early times. 

They are an affectionate people, and parents are 
fond of their offspring and look carefully after them. 
The Maori woman is not a slave to her husband in the 
sense that an Australian " gin " is to hers. She has all 
the liberty she wants, and the instances are exceptional 
where she is not treated well and kindly by her husband. 
They have a great respect and regard for the aged 
amongst them, and when death removes any of their 
relatives, their grief is poignant, though demonstrative. 
An old-fashioned Irish wake is a mere circumstance 
compared with a Maori tangi. The tribe or hapu 
assembles in great numbers : the wailing is general for 
several days, and the feasting goes on for a week or 
more. If the departed happens to be a chief, the con- 
course of mourners is swelled to enormous proportions 
by tribes from great distances, and the amount of 
victuals consumed is prodigious, dried shark being one 
of the delicacies which is never absent on these occasions. 
It scents the whole neighbourhood with a fragrance 
peculiarly its own, and on that account is not appre- 
ciated by European visitors as jugged hare might be 
in a similar stage of putrefaction. But it is a Maori 
delicacy nevertheless, and is consumed in large quantities 
at these post-mortem ceremonies, which are a strange 
admixture of grief and gluttony. 



26o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

When mothers move about from place to place they 
carry their youngest children on their backs, securely 
fixed there by the skirt being drawn across the shoulders 
of the mother and fastened in front ; and where many 
of these mothers are together it is quite a picture to see 
all these little dark-eyed brownskins peering over their 
mothers' shoulders as they walk along. 

The Maori women are very fond of gay colours, and 
when they go into a township the shop which has the 
brightest display of clothing and other articles is the 
one which is certain to attract them. They spend 
their money freely, but generally try to beat the prices 
down. That is one of the lessons of civilisation they 
have derived from the pakeha, and when their own turn 
comes they try it on too. Since native apparel in the 
shape of feather and flax-woven mats has been dispensed 
with, the women attire themselves in European dress ; but 
they have a good deal yet to learn, as may be supposed, 
before they can set themselves off* to advantage in 
styles to which they have not been accustomed. 

Many of the half-caste girls and women, of whom 
there are a good number in the Colony, are really hand- 
some, and stylish, too, if they have mixed much amongst 
Europeans. As they advance in years, however, they 
lose their good looks, and accumulate flesh just as full- 
bloods do, and longevity is not a characteristic of the 
half-caste race — generally speaking they die before 
they attain advanced womanhood, and lung trouble 
assails a large proportion of them. It has been observed 
too, that where half-castes marry each other, the dura- 
tion of their children's lives is shorter still. 

In earlier times, Europeans in good stations of life 
have married full-blooded Maori women, and the latter 
have reared numerous children, and been surrounded 
with every comfort that good homes could provide 
them with. Some day these Maori women take it into 



THE MAORIS 261 

their heads to return to their old habits and customs, 
and they have been known to go back to their tribes 
after long years of absence. The author is personally 
acquainted with instances of this kind, and nothing 
could induce these women to return to civilised modes 
of life. There is only one case he knows of where a 
European woman has married a Maori, and in that 
instance the experiment was not encouraging. 

The Maoris are big-hearted and hospitable to those 
for whom they form a liking, but cold and suspicious 
towards those whom they distrust. But once you gain 
their confidence, they will treat you to the best they 
have to give. Hospitality is a trait of the Maori 
character, and, when you get upon good terms with them, 
nothing pleases them better than when you sit on the 
ground around a steaming copper Maori — in which the 
food is cooked by means of hot stones — and help your- 
self to whatever it contains, Indian corn, flounders, eels, 
sweet potatoes (kumaras) and other edibles. Forks, 
knives and plates are not in evidence upon these 
occasions ; you dine strictly d la Maori. Travelling on 
one occasion through a part of the country where the 
Maoris had not been much in contact with Europeans, 
the author was regularly supplied with grapes, water- 
melons, rock-melons and other commodities in great 
abundance all the time he was amongst them, and they 
refused to take any payment for these articles. It is dif- 
ferent with Maoris who have been in the habit of 
mixing much with Europeans. When that happens, 
all the best traits in their character seem to vanish. 
Their natures have not improved by this intercourse, and 
they have not the same keen sense of honour they used 
to possess. The time was in New Zealand when a 
Maori's word was as good as his bond ; not now, for he 
has been contaminated, and *' civilisation " is responsible 
for the change that has come over most of the Maori 



262 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

people, especially those living adjacent to European 
settlements. 

It will surprise most people in Great Britain to learn 
that the Mormons have sent missionaries to New Zea- 
land. Several elders have been there for some years 
now, seeking to make converts amongst the Maoris, and 
they have succeeded in securing a good number. One 
chief has actually gone to Salt Lake City, but the 
author is not aware that many others have followed his 
example. Their conversion, however, is undeniable. 

A very superstitious race are the Maoris, and in some 
tribes witchcraft is believed in. Not very long ago the 
life of a Maori woman was sacrificed because the people 
of the hapu felt convinced that she had bewitched and 
caused the death of a child. They believe also in faith- 
healing, and their tohungas exercise a powerful influence 
over them. Many of them place great faith in prophets, 
and that is why the followers of Tohu and Te Whiti 
have continued their allegiance to them for so many 
years past These people reside at Parihaka, and num- 
bers of them have undergone terms of imprisonment 
for going upon the land of settlers and ploughing up 
the soil to assert their ownership of it They contend 
that they were wrongfully dispossessed of this land, and 
believe that their prophets will restore it to them ; but 
that is more than Te Whiti will ever be able to accom- 
plish. They labour under the delusion that he will. 

Dancing is one of the amusements indulged in by the 
Maori people, and they sing also, sometimes melodiously. 
Their war-dances and hakas are very imposing per- 
formances, awe-inspiring when they act as if they were 
about to make an attack upon a hostile tribe. Then 
their yells, and contortions, and gesticulations are awful 
to hear and see, and the songs of defiance are given out 
with great vigour, while the movements of their bodies 
keep time with the words, and make the ground shake 



THE MAORIS 263 

as they hurl their fierce taunts at their imaginary foes. 
Whenever a new Governor lands in New Zealand these 
war-dances and hakas are promoted for his entertain- 
ment They are handed down from generation to 
generation, and are just the same now as they used to 
be in war times long ago. There is one dance per- 
formed by the Maoris which it is a great pleasure to see. 
It is called the poi dance, and men, women, youths, girls, 
and children take part in it They sing the accompany- 
ing air with wonderful precision, and go through a 
number of evolutions with clock-work regularity. They 
take their cue from a leader, and keep perfectly accurate 
time both in song and dance, their manipulation of the 
poi being a really wonderful performance. The poi 
consists of two balls of coloured flax or grass fibre, 
connected to each other by a short cord, and these they 
twirl about with great dexterity so as to make them act 
in harmony with the united action of the dancers. It 
requires a great deal of practice before the poi dancers 
can attain perfection, and when it is performed by 
experts it forms a good entertainment and lasts for 
a considerable time. Various evolutions are gone 
through, with a short rest at each change, and by the 
time it is finished the performers have well earned the 
collection which is made in their behalf. Sometimes 
the poi dance is given for an amount stipulated before- 
hand, and when performed in one of their runangas or 
meeting-houses the place is always crowded by such 
Europeans as may be in the locality and all the Maori 
members of the community. Tourists can see the poi 
dance at Rotorua and other show places, but these 
resorts are not the best places in which to form an 
estimate of the Maori people. To do this one requires 
to spend some days with them in their pahs in the 
remote parts of the country. Proud of race, the Maoris 
of the interior look down upon those who locate them- 



264 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

selves around the show places, and importune visitors 
for money and press their wares upon them with such 
persistency that visitors find it difficult to get rid of the 
swarms of vendors and mendicants that assail them at 
every turn. That is why these Maoris are held in poor 
estimation by their countrymen in the interior, who 
forget that they are better off than the natives who are 
to be found in tourist tracks, and who have to resort to 
these methods to gain the most part of their livelihood. 

The educational establishment at the Three Kings 
and the Maori College at Te Aute have turned out 
some well-educated Maori youths, generally the sons of 
chiefs, and some of these young fellows have become so 
Europeanised as to enter the legal profession, merchants' 
offices, and so on. It is now quite a common thing to 
see well-dressed Maoris in the various cities, and the tall 
silk hat and frock-coat are occasionally worn even by 
old tattooed chiefs when they come down from their 
settlements. 

The custom of tattooing the face is rapidly going out, 
although you will still see many young Maori women 
with their chins and lips tattooed in a way to denote the 
particular tribe or hapu they belong to. Amongst the 
young men, however, tattooing of the face is rarely 
resorted to nowadays. The mode of ^salutation is still 
the same. When friend meets friend, male or female, 
they grasp each other by the hand and rub noses, 
muttering words in the meantime in low tones to ex- 
press how gratified they are ; they keep their noses in 
contact for several seconds, and then back from one 
another. This greeting seems rather comical to Euro- 
peans who behold it for the first time ; but after all it is 
no more ridiculous, and it is oftener more sincere, than 
the habit of kissing which Europeans indulge in on 
meeting relatives or old acquaintances and friends. 
Therefore, there is nothing to laugh at when you see a 



THE MAORIS 265 

young Maori rubbing noses either with a young or an 
old woman, or a tattooed old warrior going through the 
same performance with a plump young Maori girl just 
budding into womanhood. It is only an old custom of 
theirs, just as kissing is an old habit of ours. 

In olden times carving was much practised amongst 
the Maoris, and very artistic and skilful they were at it ; 
but that, too, is fast dying out, and will soon become a 
lost art. Very few Maori carvers are to be found nowa- 
days ; it is little practised in any part of the Colony, and 
the young natives do not appear to appreciate it as their 
forefathers did. War-canoe building has also ceased, 
and that accounts in a great measure for the few speci- 
mens of modem carving which are now to be seen. 
Some old canoes are to be seen in museums and other 
institutions, and the carvings upon them show the extent 
to which carving must have been cultivated. Mr. Nelson, 
who has lived amongst the natives all his life, conceived 
the notion of building a Maori house after the style of 
olden days, and for that purpose assembled all the most 
skilled carvers he could find at Whakarewarewa, The 
house was built with the intention of sending it to the 
Paris Exhibition, and a magnificent piece of workman- 
ship it was ; but for some reason it never got to Paris. 
The German Government purchased it, and this house, 
which is one of the finest specimens of Maori art to be 
seen anywhere, has been taken to Berlin. 

Cannibalism has entirely disappeared from New 
Zealand. The last instance of the kind occurred on 
the East Coast in 1865, when the band of Pai Mairiris 
led by Kereopa killed the Rev. Mr. Volkner, a mis- 
sionary, and cooked and ate portions of his remains. 
Kereopa himself scooped the eyes out of the head of 
his victim, and fanatically swallowed them in front of 
his band of Hauhau murderers. Some time afterwards 
(November, 1 871), Kereopa was captured, and on 




2^ AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

January, 5, 1872, he was executed at Napier for this 
shocking outrage. 

Altogether, there are about 38,000 Maoris left in 
New Zealand. It is, of course, a mere remnant of the 
native population which was there in Captain Cook's 
time or at the beginning of the century; but the tribal 
wars which have since ensued account for most of 
the decrease which has taken place. Infanticide is 
not practised amongst the Maoris as it is amongst the 
blacks of Australia, and the Maoris have never been 
shot down like the unfortunate aborigines of Australia 
and Van Diemen's Land. Therefore, other causes must 
be looked to for the decimation which has taken place. 
The Maoris were a fierce and warlike race when Cook 
made his acquaintance with them, and tribal wars were 
frequent from that period till throughout nearly the first 
half of the last century. The efforts of the missionaries 
and the spread of settlement brought about a better 
state of feeling amongst the natives, and no tribal war 
of any magnitude has happened since Rangihaeata's 
forces were finally defeated and dispersed by the friendly 
Maoris under Wiremu Kingi on August 23, 1846. In 
the month of June previously, that bloodthirsty old 
savage, Te Rauperaha, who deluged the south island 
with blood, was captured, and Rangihaeata's defeat in 
August not only terminated tribal warfare, but secured 
the safety of the European settlements on Cook's Strait. 
With Te Rauperaha and Rangihaeata at large, not only 
were weaker tribes constantly subject to attack and 
massacre, but the European settlements themselves were 
menaced with destruction. 

As already indicated, cannibalism and tribal wars in 
New Zealand are now things of the past ; but, to show the 
extent to which they were carried on in former times, 
the author will quote another extract from his book, 
" His Island Home and Away in the Far North." He 



THE MAORIS 267 

IS describing Whangaroa harbour : " The harbour is 
full of lovely indentations, and numerous islands dis- 
close themselves to view as the steamer proceeds to her 
destination. Among them the most notable is that 
known as Peach Island, so called on account of the 
peach orchards that at one time flourished upon it. 
There, in the coldest blood, and in the most cowardly 
manner, were put to death about three hundred natives 
who had become the captives of a bloodthirsty old chief 
of the Ngapuhi. The victims of this butchery were 
tied hand and foot, and placed in rows by other natives, 
who dared not to disobey any command which their 
chief had given. Everything being in readiness, the old 
cannibal went across to the island in his canoe one 
morning, and with his own hand he despatched the 
whole of his captives, totally regardless of age or sex. 
There was then a horrible feast, the choicest of the 
bodies being selected to appease the cannibalistic appe- 
tites of the chief and his followers. ... At the present 
day (1879) there are living amongst the Ngapuhi tribe 
several old natives who have eaten the flesh of those of 
their enemies who had fallen in the tribal battles which 
took place from time to time for the sake of conquest, 
the acquisition of larger territory, and the extension of 
what amongst the natives are termed mahinga kai, or 
places from which the natural products of the country, 
such as Ti (cabbage-tree), fern-root, &c., were obtained. 
At Kororareka I remember meeting with an old native 
who informed our party, when questioned on the sub- 
ject, that he had been in the habit of eating human 
flesh till he was a grown-up lad. We shuddered at the 
idea, but the old man did not appear to think that he 
had committed anything dreadful, seeing that it was the 
custom of his countrymen," 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 

IT is not perhaps too much to say that the aboriginal 
inhabitants of New Zealand will bear favourable 
comparison with any coloured race upon the earth's 
surface. In physical strength, manly and womanly 
proportions and development, comeliness of feature, 
intellectual attributes and general intelligence, it must 
be admitted that they are even superior to the Red 
Indian of North America, and infinitely above the level 
of the nomadic tribes to be encountered in the semi- 
tropical regions of the great Australian Continent. 
The difference is so striking between the latter people 
and themselves as to suggest that if they ever had a 
common origin, it dates far into the background of 
pre-historic times. Altogether dissimilar in language, 
customs, physique, depth of colour, and intelligence, 
there is nothing whatever to encourage the belief that 
the Maori of New Zealand and the black man of 
Australia ever belonged to the same family. The 
black man, in a word, is a type of humanity which 
approaches more nearly to Darwin's conception of the 
origin of species than perhaps any other inhabitant of 
the globe, including those who have been found by 
the most adventurous of travellers into the darkest 

recesses of Africa. The Australian black man, in 

268 



THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 269 

contradistinction with the aboriginal of New Zealand, 
has neither history nor traditions, and his conditions 
and surroundings, and all that is or can possibly be 
known of him, are strongly suggestive of the belief 
that the Australian Continent has been his own happy 
hunting-ground for all time. 

It is not so with the New Zealander. Inquiry into 
the subject has revealed the fact that for ages after the 
Creation New Zealand was destitute of inhabitants, and 
that the people who were originally found to inhabit it 
by Cook and other great explorers were the descendants 
of a race which had migrated to it from afar — how long 
ago being a matter of the purest conjecture. Historians 
have as yet been unable to fix definitely upon the exact 
corner of the globe they came from, and it unfortunately 
happens that the Maoris themselves, in the absence of 
any reliable data, cannot assist them in the solution of 
the problem. They have a tradition, it is true, that 
they originally belonged to a place called Hawaiki, but 
its exact location they are puzzled to explain, and the 
whole question is still involved in mystery and doubt. 
The only point established with any degree of certainty 
is that they must have voyaged for thousands of miles 
across the Pacific Ocean before reaching their resting- 
place, within thirteen hundred miles of the Australian 
Continent. That this migration must have set in from 
somewhere to the eastward is obvious, because upwards 
of two thousand miles away, namely, in the Hawaii 
islands, we find a race strongly resembling the Maoris 
in most particulars. In colour they are exact proto- 
types, and there is no material difference in their 
language, intonation, and general characteristics. So 
forcibly, indeed, is the traveller convinced of this, that, 
except for the tropical features of Hawaii, he would 
remain under the impression that he was still in 
Maoriland. 



270 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Whilst there is this similarity between the inhabi- 
tants of Hawaii and New Zealand, it is somewhat 
curious to note that almost midway between them 
another type of humanity is to be found in the islands 
of Samoa. The inhabitants of the latter are not nearly 
so dark in colour. They are what may be described as 
a light bronze race, whose skins sparkle with remarkable 
brilliancy under the tropical sun. They are gentler in 
manners than the native inhabitants of either New 
Zealand or Hawaii, and more graceful and manly 
in carriage. They have a suppleness of movement 
which the Hawaiians and New Zealanders do not 
possess, and walk with a gracefulness and activity 
which one might reasonably suppose had been acquired 
by a regular course of physical training. So far as 
natural intelligence goes, they stand upon an equality 
with the Maoris on the one hand and the Hawaiians on 
the other ; generally speaking, I would say they arc 
superior to either, without having had the same oppor- 
tunities for advancement. Certainly, the conditions 
under which I saw the Samoans deeply impressed me 
with that belief. I only refer to them here for the 
purpose of showing that a different race exists between 
two other peoples widely distant from each other, and 
this fact renders it still more difficult to decide with 
certainty the origin of those who inhabit the various 
islands of the mid and southern Pacific. 

But whether or not the Samoans can claim superiority, 
and no matter what his origin may be, we see in the 
Maori a splendid type of coloured humanity. That, at 
all events, was the impression formed of him by most 
of those who beheld him for the first time. In the days 
of Cook, and for generations subsequently, he was wijd, 
fierce, and warlike, and tribal warfare was of frequent 
occurrence. Not content with their own vast possessions, 
the stronger tribes from time to time set out upon 



THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 271 

expeditions against tribes numerically weaker, and in 
this way the population became greatly decimated ; for 
it was the recognised reward of superior prowess that 
not only did the territories of the conquered tribes 
become by right of conquest the property of the victors, 
but the vanquished were either killed and eaten, or 
carried into slavery. These wars of conquest and 
subjugation were continued even far into the century 
which has just closed, and only ended with the whole- 
sale butcheries of Te Rauperaha some years after 
British colonisation had actually beg^un. 

The initial efforts of missionary enterprise date as 
far back as 18 14, and in those days the Rev. Samuel 
Marsden and other missionaries carried their lives in 
their hands. But dangerous as the enterprise was, they 
gradually succeeded in curbing the warlike and ferocious 
spirit of the native inhabitants. Internecine strife 
diminished, and cannibalism decreased, and through 
the exertions of the early missionaries the Maoris 
were induced to embrace Christianity. There was, 
however, an element operating against the good work 
of these courageous men which retarded their progress 
in rescuing the native tribes from idolatry, and inducing 
them to assimilate themselves to the altered conditions 
of life which the exemplary teachings of these mis- 
sionaries imposed upon their converts to the Christian 
faith. The fact must be noted, because it marks the 
starting-point of the process of demoralisation which 
subsequently seized upon the native people with a firm 
hold, and has continued till this day, with all its 
deplorable consequences. 

It unfortunately happened that New Zealand in the 
early part of the last century became attractive as a 
whaling ground. Whaling stations were established on 
various parts of its coasts, and the greatest of them all 
was in the very locality where missionary enterprise first 



272 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

b^an. There, indeed, as many as forty whaling-vessels 
have been known frequently to rendezvous at particular 
seasons, and to this fact the early contamination of the 
Maori race must be ascribed. Rum was introduced. 
Runaway sailors — generally men of low character — 
sought refuge amongst the natives, adopted Maori 
customs, took wives unto themselves, and introduced all 
the vices and none of the virtues of the white race. 
Despite all the efforts of the missionaries to counteract 
its progress, drunkenness became an increasing vice. 
As Rochefoucauld so tersely expresses it in regard to 
other immoral tendencies — ^^quand le premier pas est 
fait, les autres vont si vites^^ — and so it was with the 
demoralisation of the native New Zealanders from this 
source of contamination. It is unnecessary to detail its 
developments from that early period of European 
contact until to-day. It is sufficient to say that the vice 
of drunkenness amongst the natives, unknown before 
the advent of the white man, is the most deplorable 
outcome of civilisation that presents itself. It is upon 
no hearsay evidence that I make this assertion. It is 
not upon what others have seen and recorded that I 
base my conclusions, but upon the testimony of my own 
eyes. I have travelled through the whole of New 
Zealand — north, south, east, and west — not once, but 
often. In official capacities and otherwise, I suppose I 
have come into contact with almost every native tribe 
in that land of surpassing loveliness and natural 
attractiveness, a part of the world which should be 
God's own country in every respect; and I must 
declare that often and often I have been moved to 
pity at the thought of a fine race being degraded to the 
extent the Maoris have been by the alarming increase 
of drinking habits amongst them. Successive govern- 
ments are almost equally to blame for the temptations 
which have been placed in their way, none more 



THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 273 

so than the present rlgitne^ politically supported and 
maintained in power as it is by the assistance of those 
engaged in the liquor traffic Instead of absolutely 
prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor to people of 
the native race, houses are licensed in districts where 
the coloured population far exceeds that of the whites, 
and even now strong efforts are being made to extend 
the sale within the confines of the King Country, where 
such undesirable houses have not hitherto existed. The 
advocates of prohibition, aided by some of the more 
enlightened Maoris who see plainly that the drink traffic 
means the impoverishment and gradual extinction of 
their race, are doing all they can to resist this extension 
of the traffic ; but they have powerful hostile influences 
to overcome before they can succeed in the commendable 
and philanthropic crusade they have engaged in, know- 
ing as they do that if the native race is to be preserved, 
that can only be secured by the imposition of laws 
which will render it a criminal act, punishable by heavy 
fine and even imprisonment, to supply any native man, 
woman, or child with drink. When one thinks of the 
enormous amount of money which the natives have 
squandered in its purchase, the consequent disorders, 
crime, and mortality which have resulted from its 
immoderate use and the facilities for obtaining it, one 
cannot help endorsing the platform of those who are 
working so strenuously to put down the vice alike by 
moral suasion and prohibitory legislation. Leaving 
confiscations of territory as the sequel of rebellious 
outbreaks out of the question — and these form but a 
moderate portion of the lands that have been alienated 
— ^what do we actually find ? That out of a heritage of 
over sixty-six millions of acres, there remain only five 
million acres in the possession of the native people, and 
they have little or nothing to show for what they have 
parted with. By far the largest portion of the purchase- 

19 



274 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

money has been absolutely thrown into the pockets of 
the liquor ring ; and if the system of land-grab goes on, 
and the drink curse remains unchecked, the end will 
assuredly be that the Maori race will dwindle to a mere 
remnant, and that this remnant of a people, endowed 
with many good natural qualities, will have to look to 
those who have despoiled them for the actual means of 
support. Such will be their fate if nothing is done 
to arrest their degeneracy and ultimate extinction, 
through causes which are in no way irremediable or 
hopeless of removal. 

It is the invariable experience of civilising nations that 
subject-peoples are more apt in acquiring the vices than 
the virtues of those who go ostensibly to civilise them, 
and the native New Zealander is no exception to the 
rule. Neither has it been demonstrated that he is a 
whit more capable of resisting harmful temptations 
than the native who belongs to a coloured race which, 
from no point of view, is upon a level with himself, and 
under these circumstances every care should be taken 
of his interests. But unfortunately that has not been, 
and is not, the case. Temptations of all kinds are 
thrown in his way, as a journey undertaken through 
almost every Maori district will testify. Let any one 
visit the district of Taranaki, for example, or those on 
the east coast in proximity to European settlement, or 
in the far north in the vicinity of Russell, Hokianga, 
Whangaroa, or Mongonui, and he will have too ample 
opportunities of observing the strong hold which drink 
has got of the natives. In fact, drink has been forced 
upon them under the modus operandi of the native land 
court system, and the ultimate payment of the purchase- 
money for the tracts they part with. It rarely happens 
that a native land court is held in localities where 
licensed houses do not abound. This is the first step 
after the natives have agreed to sell a block of land. 



THE DEMORALISATION OF A NOBLE RACE 275 

The Court sits for the individualising of the native titles, 
and the whole tribe comes in — men, women, and children 
— to substantiate their joint ownership in the block that 
is to be disposed of. This done to the satisfaction of 
the native land court judge, upon whose decision rests 
the individualisation of the titles, the next stage in the 
process of acquisition is that a Government agent 
assembles the owners together and pays each the 
portion of money to which he or she may be entitled. 
The distribution is made, and then the licensed houses 
in the neighbourhood reap a golden harvest The 
common bar and every available apartment is crowded 
with natives of all ages and sexes. For days together 
scenes of revelry are continued. They are supplied 
with liquor of the worst sort, and even whole cases of 
so-called champagne are consumed ; for the inebriated 
Maori, in his innocence, is easily imposed on. He has 
seen Europeans drinking champagne in some of the 
larger townships he has visited, and, having the money 
in his pocket, he readily parts with it, and likes to 
imitate European practices. In this way matters go on 
for days and nights at a stretch ; the public-house is one 
continuous scene of drinking and uproar, and the 
general bout only terminates when most of the Maoris 
discover that they have no more money to spend. Then 
they return to their settlements, minus their land and 
with empty pockets besides ; and the same scene is 
renewed whenever they have another strip of their 
possessions to pass through the native land court. I 
take the responsibility of declaring that I have 
witnessed similar occurrences, not once, but often, and 
that I have bitterly deplored the existence of a system 
whose effects are not only to deprive the natives of their 
possessions, bit by bit, but to demoralise them in a 
variety of ways. Now, if the Government is desirous of 
pursuing its policy of land acquisition, it might be 



276 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

accomplished without impoverishing and d^frading the 
Maori people. That can easily be done by absolutely 
prohibiting the sale of liquor to them, and by holding 
these native land courts and money distributions in 
places remote from licensed houses. If the Government 
has that solicitude for the welfare of the Maori race 
which it pretends to have, there is no easier way of 
showing it than by the adoption of the plan here 
indicated, and there will at least be hope of the Maoris 
receiving some benefit from the sales decided on. The 
drink question is the one which, above all others, deeply 
involves either the preservation or the extinction of the 
native race in New Zealand, and is a question which the 
Aborigines Protection Society (whose headquarters are 
in London) might very properly take in hand. Its 
assistance would be joyfully welcomed by those in the 
Colony who are striving all they know to combat the 
worst evil which has assailed the Maori people, and help 
of this kind cannot be given one moment too soon if 
the Maori people are to be rescued from the ravages of 
a terrible vice. 



CHAPTER XXV 

REPRESENTATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 

ALTHOUGH, as has been shown, considerable 
trading relations existed between New Zealand 
and Australia, and settlement had been gradually pro- 
gressing all through the beginning of the last century* 
it was not until 1840 that British sovereignty was 
proclaimed over New Zealand, and in the following year 
it became a separate Colony. Auckland was the seat of 
Government, and the Executive included the Governor, 
the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, and the 
Attorney-General. The government of the Colony was 
vested in the Governor, who was responsible only to 
the Crown. In 1852, however, an Act was passed by 
the Imperial Legislature granting representative institu- 
tions to the Colony. Under this constitution provision 
was made for a Parliament or General Assembly, 
consisting of a Legislative Council, the members of 
which were to be nominated by the Governor, and an 
elective House of Representatives. The first session of 
the General Assembly was opened on May 27, 1854, 
but at that time the members of the Executive were not 
responsible to Parliament. By the Act of 1852, the 
Colony was divided into six provinces, each presided 
over by a Superintendent. An elective Provincial 
Council was provided for each of these provinces, and 

277 



278 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

these Councils were empowered to pass ordinances 
except on certain specified subjects which were to be 
dealt with exclusively by the General Assembly. The 
Superintendents were elected by the whole body of 
electors in these provinces and the members of the 
Councils by the electors in particular districts. The 
number of provinces was afterwards increased to nine, 
and this dual system of government — by the General 
Assembly and Provincial Councils — existed until 1876, 
when, by an alteration of the Constitution, the provinces 
were abolished by an Act promoted by the late Sir 
Julius Vogel. By this Abolition of Provinces Act, 
Superintendents and Provincial Councils gave place to 
a system of local county government, which has worked 
more or less satisfactorily ever since. 

What turned public opinion against the Provincial 
Government system was this. The Colony bad not only a 
Central Government, but also nine Provincial Govern- 
ments and Parliaments. The Superintendent of each 
province had his executive, and the Provincial Council 
met regularly in session once a year to pass ordinances 
and vote supplies. These Provincial Parliaments had 
their speakers, their Government and Opposition benches, 
their votes of want of confidence, their protracted 
debates, select committees, turning out of executives, 
appointment of successors from the Opposition side of 
the chamber, and altogether there was quite a slavish 
observance of all the parliamentary procedure of West- 
minster. Members sat in these Provincial Councils with 
their hats on and off, just as they do in the House of 
Commons, divisions were called, and the sandglass 
applied to denote the time before the doors were locked, 
people were brought to the bar, attention was called to 
the presence of strangers, and the galleries were cleared ; 
Government crises were announced, the fall of this Govern- 
ment or that duly chronicled in big cross headings by the 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 279 

local prints, and the assumption of office by a fresh set 
of men heralded forth to the local world. These Pro- 
vincial Councils took the House of Commons as a model 
for their guidance, and usages and old musty precedents 
were observed with the same degree of punctiliousness 
as if they had regard to the affairs of a great nation. 
Even in the matter of prayers the author has known the 
Dean of Christchurch — dear, good old soul that he was 
— to attend the Canterbury Provincial Council, attired in 
his clerical robes, day after day for years, to do nothing 
else than perform the prayerful preliminary to the open- 
ing of each day's proceedings. Really, when one looks 
back at this distance of time upon the modes of pro- 
cedure in these Provincial Legislatures, he wonders how 
it was possible for men of common-sense to have been 
such slavish imitators of the Mother of Parliaments at 
St. Stephen's. Remember, too, that this system of 
Provincial Government existed from the early fifties until 
the 1st of November, 1876, and that five years before its 
abolition, namely, in 1871, the population of the whole 
Colony, exclusive of Maoris, numbered only 267,000 
souls ! " What an absurdity, to be sure ! " will be the 
natural exclamation of people in England who may 
now hear of it for the first time. The population was 
in a ridiculous disproportion to the cost of governing it. 
Apart, however, from this provincial parliamentary 
frivolity and aping of things at the other end of the 
earth, its excessive costliness, and extensive machinery, 
it cannot be denied that the Provincial Government 
system accomplished much good and useful work in 
the promotion of settlement, and if these institutions had 
been less pretentious the probability is that Sir Julius 
Vogel would never have succeeded in abolishing them. 
If the boundaries of these provinces had been extended 
so as to absorb at least four of them, and leave three 
for the South and two for the North Island, the provincial 



28o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

system might have been in existence to-day ; but no such 
arrangement was ever promoted, although it was often 
suggested that one Government and Parliament should 
be established in each island and the Central Government 
itself done away with. At one period, indeed, the 
separation of North and South was seriously entertained, 
as the South complained that it was nothing but a milch 
cow for the North. The proposal came to nothing, 
however, and the nine provinces took no steps in the 
direction of amalgamation. The costly and cumbrous 
system went on without curtailment of its cost or 
functions until public feeling encouraged Sir Julius 
Vogel to make his wholesale assault upon it, and, the 
question being relegated to the electors, the abolitionists 
carried the day by a large majority, and the provinces 
were accordingly wiped out 

Let us see now what the General Government and 
Parliament were doing. From the starting point of 
representative and responsible government in New 
Zealand, many very able men took part in public affairs. 
But the Government was of an essentially conservative 
character because it was founded upon a basis of conser- 
vatism. A more conservative chamber than the Upper 
House could not be conceived ; it only differed from the 
English House of Lords because it was not hereditary, 
but it was as near an approach to the latter as nomina- 
tion of its members for life by the Governor could make 
it. It was nothing more nor less than an exclusive club, 
within whose sacred portals none but the crime de la 
crime could find admission. The Lower House was in 
a great measure composed of the same select material. 
Although its constitution was elective, the franchise was 
upon a basis which excluded large numbers of people 
from the electoral rolls. There was no one-man-one- 
vote in those days ; the mere suggestion of it spelt rank 
republicanism. As the result of this narrow franchise, 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 281 

the inconvenience and expense of attending Parliament, 
and the smallness of the reimbursement for parlia- 
mentary service, only wealthy men could aspire to seats 
in the lower branch of the Legislature. It was conser- 
vatism all round, and class interests, it may be sure, 
were well looked after in a Parliament so composed. 
The squatters or runholders were in the ascendancy, and 
there was nothing to prevent them shaping legislation in 
a way to suit their own interests best And they did, 
like the good old conservatives they were. As an out- 
come of their preponderance, governing families were 
established, and the see-saw of political strife always 
found men of the same class either in or out of office. 
The surrender of office by one set of men and the 
assumption of it by another set of men was a sort of 
family arrangement which did not necessarily carry with 
it any material change of policy. The predominant idea 
was to found a landed aristocracy in New Zealand, and 
to that one great object the early legislators devoted 
themselves with unwavering persistency and with much 
success. The land laws were framed in a way to render 
these laws exceedingly accommodating to the purposes 
of those who placed them on the Statute Book. Large 
estates were acquired here, there, and everywhere, and 
these estates were extended as opportunity offered from 
time to time. The lands of the native people became 
common prey, and these landed aristocrats helped them- 
selves without stint or qualms of conscience. In those 
parts of the Colony where the native lands had passed 
into the possession of the Provincial Governments, the 
land-grab system was no less conspicuously at work. 
Vast areas were gridironed, so that eventually the whole 
of them might become the properties of a few individuals, 
and altogether it looked as if the original idea of estab- 
lishing a landed aristocracy in New Zealand could not 
be successfully resisted. They were the class who 



28i AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

governed — the class who largely preponderated in both 
Houses of Parliament, and consequently the legislation 
was of a character to suit themselves. If any reform 
was made in the land system, this reform took the shape 
of rendering it more difficult for men in poorer circum- 
stances to obtain a footing on the soil. To extend the 
franchise was the one thing farthest from their intention, 
and as for social legislation scant attention was paid to 
it. The majority at their back always ensured the defeat 
of proposals of a liberal tendency, and they stuck to 
their conservative creed most tenaciously and with great 
unanimity of purpose. Concession was a word unknown 
in their vocabulary so far as their own selfish control of 
public affairs was concerned. They had a splendid 
innings, but in the end they overreached themselves, and, 
grabbing at too much, lost hold of much they had 
already secured by class legislation. 

The first event that sounded the death-knell of con- 
servatism in New Zealand was the gold-rush which set 
in to New Zealand in 1 862, through the discovery of the 
precious metal by Gabriel Reed in a gully close to the 
township of Tokomairiro, and called, after its discoverer, 
Gabriel's Gully ; then further rushes to various parts of 
Otago, then to Wakamarino and the West Coast, and 
afterwards to the Thames Goldfield. These influxes 
increased the population enormously; and a further 
great impulse was given to the progress of the whole 
country by Sir Julius Vogel's public works and immi- 
gration policy of 1870. Under that great scheme Sir 
Julius successfully floated a ten-million loan for the 
purpose of carrying out works in advance of settlement. 
Railways, roads, water-races, and other large public 
works, were constructed, and immigration was con- 
ducted upon a large scale. From all these causes the 
population increased rapidly, so much so, indeed, that 
in the ten years between 1871 and 1881 it rose from 



REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT 283 

267,000 to 501,000, and then to 743,463 in 1898, without 
including Maoris in the count. Colonial experience has 
shown that there is no influence so democratising as 
that which springs from the influx of a large gold- 
mining population, and so it proved in New Zealand. 
Then followed the additions under the immigration 
provisions of Sir Julius Vogel's scheme, and the two 
contributing forces brought about a complete alteration 
in the political outlook. Conservatism was doomed; 
that was quite obvious. Land reform, extension of the 
franchise, labour and social legislation, free and com- 
pulsory education, and other questions, began to agitate 
the public mind. Mr. Robert Stout, Mr. Ballance, and 
others, worked strenuously to secure a reform of the 
land laws, and they were ably assisted by Sir George 
Grey, who added his one-man-one-vote to the liberal 
programme, and kept pegging away at his proposal until 
it reached the statute-book. 

The author will not further anticipate the course of 
events, or show how much the Colony is indebted to Sir 
Robert Stout and the late Mr. Ballance, except to draw 
a contrast between the Parliament which once existed 
in New Zealand and the Parliament as it exists to-day. 

It will be seen from this narration of events that the 
New Zealand Parliament has passed through a transi- 
tion which is most extraordinary — from a stage of 
ultra-conservatism to a condition of personal control and 
obsequious subserviency which renders it utterly con- 
temptible in the eyes of people who desire to see an 
honest, unselfish, and pure democracy established in 
New Zealand. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE " SUGAR AND FLOUR POLICY " — NATIVE SCHOOLS 
— ^SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE NATIVES — MAORI 
REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT 

WITH the view of coping with the native difficulty 
and securing the permanent peace of the 
country, recourse was had to what is known in New 
Zealand history as the " sugar and flour policy." The 
then Government, as Mr. Gorst puts it, " determined to 
purchase by presents and pensions the goodwill of the 
principal native chiefs." Offices of various kinds were 
created for them, and pensions were granted to those 
who had taken a leading part in assisting the forces to 
fight against their own countrymen. The " sugar and 
flour policy " had its effects upon the native population, 
and although it did not prevent subsequent outbreaks, 
still it succeeded in bringing about a state of things 
which gave every assurance that the Maoris were a 
conquered race, and that no further wars would happen 
in the country on a scale such as those which it had 
already passed through. 

One other feature in the Government's policy for the 
permanent restoration of peace was the establishment of 
schools in native districts, and these were certainly the 
means of doing a vast amount of good amongst the 

native people, and of improving the relations between 

284 



THE "SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 285 

the Europeans and themselves. The author visited 
many of these establishments in the North Island, and 
is able to bear testimony to the excellent effect they had 
upon the native mind. The Government also gave 
assistance towards the maintenance of boarding schools 
for the education of the daughters of Maori chiefs. In 
an illustrated work entitled "His Island Home and 
Away in the Far North/* published by him in 1879, the 
author wrote as follows upon the subject of Maori 
education : — 

" Some time prior to the death of Sir Donald McLean, 
one of the measures which he adopted, with a view to 
the permanent pacification of the country, was the 
establishment of native schools in various districts of 
the North ; but in adopting this course the then Native 
Minister was only following in the footsteps of Sir 
George Grey, at whose instigation, when he occupied 
the position of Governor, many very excellent schools 
were founded in certain centres of native population. 
Amongst the native boarding schools established and 
maintained under the fostering care of his Excellency 
during the period of Sir George Grey's first Governor- 
ship of New Zealand, the following may be mentioned : 
There were three excellent institutions on the Wai- 
kato kept by Archdeacon Maunsell, Mr. Ashewell, and 
Mr. Morgan, of the Church Missionary Society. Mr. 
Ashewell's was a girl's school, conducted by Mrs. Ashe- 
well, and was a perfect model of what such a school 
should be. It and the other two on the Waikato had 
each about 120 pupils. There was another fine school 
at the Three Kings, kept by the Wesleyans, with 
upwards of 1 50 children as boarders ; a very efficient 
girls' school at St Stephen's, Auckland, under the 
direction of the Anglican Bishop of New Zealand ; a 
large boarding school at Otaki, kept by Archdeacon 
Hadfield, the present Bishop of Wellington ; another at 



286 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Taranaki, conducted by Mr. Turton, a Wesleyan mis« 
sionary ; there was a girls' orphan asylum and school at 
Wellington, kept by the late R. C. Bishop- Viard ; an 
admirable school at Napier, conducted by two Catholic 
priests ; also two boarding schools at Auckland under 
the direction of the late Bishop Pompallier; and 
throughout other parts of the Colony similar institutions 
were in existence. All these were in a state of the 
highest efficiency in the year 1853, but they unfortu- 
nately fell into decay when the native war came on. In 
resuscitating the native school system, the late lamented 
Native Minister adopted one of the most certain 
measures that could be devised towards a reconciliation 
of the races, and the wisdom of such a course must be 
apparent to all those who have seen that system in 
operation in the North Island. During my tour in that 
part of the Colony I visited several of these institutions. 
There was none of them with which I was so highly 
pleased as with the select boarding school established at 
a ' place called Taumarere, three miles distant from 
Kawa Kawa. This excellent school is one which the 
Native Department may well feel proud of It is con- 
ducted by Mrs. Tautari, than whom a more accomplished 
mistress is not in the service of the Government Mr. 
Commissioner Kemp took a great interest in the found- 
ing of this school, and in a conversation I had with him 
on the subject he was exceedingly pleased to find that 
my opinion coincided with his own respecting the high- 
class character of the school at Taumarere. There are 
upwards of twenty female pupils in constant attendance 
— Europeans, Maoris, and half-castes. Mrs. Tautari 
obtains from the Government a certain capitation allow- 
ance, but I do not consider the amount anything like 
adequate remuneration for the valuable services she 
renders to the Native Department. She imparts to the 
children entrusted to her care an excellent English 



THE "SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 287 

education, besides instrumental music and singing ; and 
Europeans visiting the school for the first time would 
be surprised to see how far advanced several of the 
Maori girls are in the latter accomplishments. Mrs. 
Tautari is assisted by a highly-cultured governess, Miss 
Copeland ; and what struck me very much was the entente 
cordiale existing between the mistress and her assistant 
and the girls under their charge. In point of discipline 
Mrs. Tautari is necessarily strict, but she is loved by all 
the girls on account of her kind and amiable disposition. 
At our express desire, Mrs. Tautari assembled her 
school for inspection, with a result that was as surprising 
to ourselves as it must have been gratifying to her. 
Several of the girls sang to Miss Copeland's accompani- 
ment, while others displayed their abilities on the 
pianoforte. Part-singing was a prominent feature in 
the programme, and the choruses were sung with 
marked precision. The room was then cleared, and 
dancing was kept up with spirit for an hour or so. The 
Maori girls and half-castes are exceedingly fond of 
dancing ; and music, too, both vocal and instrumental, is 
another of their specialities. At Mrs. Tautari's estab- 
lishment they are also instructed in household duties, in 
order that they may be Europeanised as much as 
possible, and in all respects rendered fit to become the 
wives of settlers in the country. In some instances, but 
I am happy to say few, Mrs. Tautari's exertions are in a 
great measure lost, in consequence of some of the 
parents at a distance taking their children away just at 
the time when their progress in English instruction 
gives promise of very satisfactory results. Some Maori 
parents do not sufficiently appreciate the benefits 
derived from education, and if their children go home 
for the holidays, they do not allow them to return ; but 
instances of this kind are exceptional. Children are 
sent to the Taumarere school from very long distances, 



288 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

on account of the high reputation it enjoys, and the 
time will soon arrive when a larger schoolhouse will 
require to be erected. A school such as this must effect 
a wonderful amount of good in establishing a better 
understanding between the two races, and I think the 
lady who is instrumental in doing this is clearly entitled 
to a sufficient recompense for her pains. I trust, there- 
fore, that she will be dealt with in a liberal spirit by the 
Native Department There are several other schools in 
the northern district — ^amongst others one at Te Ti, near 
the mouth of the Waitangi river, presided over by Mrs. 
Hickson ; another at Kaikohe, under the direction of a 
Europeanised Maori named Hirini Taiwhanga — Hirini 
was married to a European wife ; and a third (a very 
creditable establishment), conducted by the Misses 
Lundon, at the Lower Waihou, on the Hokianga river, 
a few miles below Herd's Point." Then follows a list of 
other native schools, about twenty in number, open at 
the time of the author's tour through the northernmost 
portions of New Zealand in 1 879. 

There are also given by the author of this volume in 
" His Island Home and Away in the Far North " some 
particulars concerning early missionary enterprise in 
New Zealand, extracts from which may now be of 
interest: — ^''On our way down from the Kawa Kawa 
we called in at a small settlement named Paihia, where 
I observed a monument erected in front of the church 
to the memory of the late Venerable Archdeacon 
Williams. Paihia was one of those places where the 
Church of England missionaries established themselves. 
In fact, the Bay of Islands was the first scene of their 
labours, for it was on December 22, 18 14, that the 
Rev. Samuel Marsden arrived in the ship Active 
and anchored off Rangihoua Tepuna, just inside the 
north head of the Bay of Islands, where he landed 
and settled Messrs. Kendall, Hall, and King, the first 



THE "SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 289 

missionaries. On Christmas Day, 18 14, the Rev. Samuel 
Marsden preached there for the first time the Gospel 
in New Zealand, which was interpreted to the natives 
by a chief named Ruatara, who had been to England. 
The text was very appropriate, being Luke ii. 10, 
'Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy,' &c. 
In August, 1819, Mr. Marsden brought Messrs. Butler 
and Kemp, and established a mission station at Keri* 
keri, at the head of the Kerikeri river. In August, 
1823, Mr. Marsden brought the Rev. Henry Williams 
and family, and formed the mission station at-Paihia. 
On January 25, 1826, the schooner Herald^ the first 
vessel built in New Zealand, under the direction of 
Mr. Henry Williams (who had been a lieutenant in 
the Royal Navy) was launched on Paihia beach, and 
was navigated by Mr. Williams to Sydney, where he 
met his brother, the Rev. William Williams, the late 
Bishop of Waiapu, on his way to New Zealand, and on 
March 5th in the same year they arrived together in 
the George Osborne and landed at Paihia. Bishop 
Selwyn arrived at Paihia on June 20, 1842, and on 
the following Sunday, to the surprise of everybody, 
his Lordship preached a sermon to the natives in the 
Maori language, of which he had become a proficient 
master on the voyage out On December 8, 1842, at 
a time of the greatest apprehension for the safety of 
the young Colony, consequent on the murder of the 
Robinson family and a half-caste girl (granddaughter 
of the chief Rewa) on an island in Paroa Bay, by 
Maketu, a young chief of noble connection, who was 
hanged for the crime at Auckland, the famous helmet 
that had been presented by King George the Fourth 
to Waikato, a Ngapuhi chief residing at Tepuna, was 
delivered up to Mr. Williams as a token of his fidelity 
to the English, just before the great meeting at Paihia, 
when the principal Ngapuhi chiefs, with the exception 

20 



igo AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

of Hone Heke (who withdrew) signed an address to 
Governor Hobson professing their all^iance. . . . The 
Ven. Archdeacon Williams died at his residence at 
Pakaraka on July i6, 1867, at the ripe age of 75 
years. ... I am indebted for most of the forgoing 
information to the widow of the Archdeacon, who, far 
advanced in years (1879) still resides at Pakaraka. . . . 
Mrs. Williams has kept a diary with great regularity 
ever since her arrival in New Zealand in 1823, and the 
journal is 3. most interesting one. Many things recorded 
there ar^ of great public value. ... A great many 
people.condemn the missionaries and declare that they 
have done more mischief than good in the country. 
On that subject I shall abstain from expressing any 
opinion. All I know is, that they showed great pluck 
in coming to New Zealand at a time when cannibalism 
was in full swing, when tribes fought against tribes, and 
the survivors devoured the bodies of the slain. ... A 
little distance further down the Bay brought us to a 
place rendered famous in the history of New Zealand. 
It is named Waitangi, and here it was that the Treaty 
of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1840, in a large 
marquee a little in front of Mr. Busby's house. The 
spot is unmarked, but Mr. Busby will show it to any 
one visiting his homestead. . . . The celebrated Darwin 
occupied a room in Mr. Busby's house when, in the 
capacity of naturalist, he visited the Bay of Islands 
many years ago in the Beagle'* 

There is no part of New Zealand so full of historical 
associations as the Bay of Islands. It was there that 
settlement first began ; there it was also where the 
conversion of the Maoris to Christianity was first 
attempted, and it was the scene of the outbreak of 
the first Maori war. The British troops lost heavily 
at several battles fought in the surrounding country, 
especially in their attack upon Hone Heke's strong- 



THE "SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 291 

hold at Ohaeawae, where the old trenches, which are 
still visible, bear testimony to the wonderful skill in 
warfare displayed by the Maoris in their earliest 
conflicts with British soldiers. Internecine strife had 
previously instructed them in methods of attack and 
defence, and enabled them to inflict such serious losses 
upon the troops sent against them during Hone Heke's 
war of 1845. After their subjugation at that time the 
conciliatory policy of Sir George Grey ensured peace 
to the Colony for a lengthened period, and his native 
school system and kindly treatment of the natives 
gained their confidence and esteem. He was the best 
friend the Maoris ever had, and was very popular 
amongst them. Kawana Hori Kerei had more influ- 
ence with the Maori people than any other European 
in the country during his first and second periods of 
governorship and throughout his subsequent private 
and political life, and if the policy he inaugurated had 
been adhered to, without interference by persons inside 
and outside the Colony, the permanent pacification of 
the Maoris might have been secured after the first 
outbreak had been put down. It was a bad day for 
the Maori people when he was transferred to Cape 
Colony, and they felt that they had lost a true 
friend, because they knew that Sir George Grey had 
their best interests always at heart His whole career 
shows that he was exceptionally gifted in the manage- 
ment of native and alien races, and that his knowledge 
of how to deal with them was superior to that of most 
other men in the positions he was called upon to fill in 
South Australia and New Zealand and at the Cape. 
Such is the tribute now paid to the memory of this 
distinguished statesman and pro-consul. 

Allied to the " sugar and flour " policy, and the 
system of presents and pensions to secure the good- 
will of the principal native chiefs, was the proposal to 



292 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

give the Maori race representation in both Houses of 
Parliament, nominative and elective. This proposal 
was given effect to, and Maoris sat in Parliament for 
the first time in 1866. The author believes this is the 
only instance where parliamentary representation has 
been given to a native race in any self-governing colony 
in the possession of Great Britain. 

The system has prevailed till this day, and, as it is 
carried out, two Maori members occupy seats in the 
Upper House and four in the Lower, the Colony being 
divided into four Maori electorates — three in the North 
Island and one in the Middle Island, the preponder- 
ance being given to the former because of its very much 
larger native population. For electing their representa- 
tives to the House, adult suffrage is g^ven, and as a rule 
the elections are keenly contested, a whole string of 
candidates generally presenting themselves at the polls 
triennially or when any bye-election takes place. Maori 
members of both Houses have the same privileges as 
European members. They are paid the same salaries — 
;fi50 a year in the Upper House and ;6^240 in the 
Lower, with free railway passes and other privileges — 
and have the same opportunities afforded them to take 
part in the discussions. Interpreters sit alongside them 
for that purpose, and when a Maori member rises to 
speak the interpreter rises with him and interprets his 
speech sentence by sentence. Their speeches are 
reported in Hansard, and a special Hansard in the 
Maori language is also issued at the end of each 
session for circulation amongst the Maori people, so 
that they may read what their members have been 
saying during their absence at Wellington. 

Maori representation in Parliament was a portion of 
Sir Donald McLean's scheme to conciliate the native 
race after the termination of the last great Maori war, 
and the resuscitation of Sir George Grey's system of 



THE "SUGAR AND FLOUR" POLICY 293 

native schools was another step in the same direction. 
Both answered their purpose to some extent in the way 
of establishing better relations between the two races, 
but as for any real benefits which parliamentary repre- 
sentation for a long-time conferred upon the Maori 
people it was very questionable whether they derived 
any advantages of a material kind from this new 
departure in the management of a subject race which 
was taken by the late Sir Donald McLean when that 
gentleman was at the head of native affairs in New 
Zealand. It is true they could express their views 
freely upon any native legislation which was submitted, 
and could watch and scrutinise the passage of these 
measures through the Native Affairs Committee and 
afterwards through the House and Legislative Council ; 
but where there were only four members in one branch 
of the Legislature and two in the other, their efforts to 
have these measures passed as they would like to were 
practically of little avail. Four members in a House of 
seventy-four — and it used to be ninety-five — was not a 
proportion which was capable of effecting much, and 
therefore for a considerable period it was impotent, as 
a rule, in obtaining what the native people really 
wanted. 

The representation of the Maori race in the New 
Zealand Parliament sometimes brought about rather 
curious developments. Occasionally, but not for many 
years past, it happened that European parties were so 
equally divided that the Maori members actually held 
the balance of power in their hands, and the defeat of a 
Ministry was either secured or averted by these four 
votes. Thus, Governments which possessed neither the 
confidence of the majority of European members nor of 
the country were able to retain office through the success 
of their n^otiations to induce the Maori members to 
follow them into the Ministerial lobby. In that case 



294 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

the practical outcome was that these four votes, repre- 
senting about 40,000 natives, controlled the policy and 
legislation which affected over 700,000 Europeans. It 
was during crises of this character that the Maori vote 
became an important factor in deciding the fate of 
Ministries, and the way in which it was cast depended 
upon the party from which it could exact the best 
terms and the side which it could look to with most 
confidence for a fulfilment of its promises. It was when 
parties were so unequally divided as to give an inde- 
pendent preponderance upon one side or the other that 
the native vote counted for little, and from a Maori 
standpoint was practically ineffective. That was the 
case, with the periodical exceptions referred to, for 
many years after this special concession was granted to 
them ; but in recent years they have been holding 
Parliaments of their own, and agitating for control of 
their own affairs, more especially in regard to their 
lands; and last session a measure was passed which 
conferred upon the native race a considerable measure 
of home rule. They have displayed undoubted capacity 
for the management of their own concerns, and there is 
every reason to believe that they will make the best 
use of their opportunities in that direction. They have 
arrived at a stage when they see how valuable the 
possession of the land is to them, and are not likely to 
part with any more of it except on fair terms, much less 
to dispose of it indiscriminately without calculating how 
much it is necessary to retain as an inalienable heritage 
for those coming after them. In that determination, 
and in the absolute suppression of the drink traffic 
amongst them, lies the only hope of the preservation 
of the Maori race. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND — SIR ROBERT 
STOUT, MR. BALLANCE, SIR JULIUS VOGEL 

NEW ZEALAND owes a great deal to Sir George 
Grey. He was unquestionably the most dis- 
tinguished statesman who has yet been connected with 
that Colony. The greatest and most important portion 
of his career is intimately associated with it ; his love 
for it was strong and enduring ; he loved its people, and 
they worshipped him. Twice its Governor, at periods 
of perplexity and even peril, his skilful and humane 
statesmanship brought the Colony safely through the 
difficulties which beset it, and laid the foundations of 
that peace, prosperity, and progress which have since 
made New Zealand what she is to-day. No man had 
so clear an insight into the temperament, disposition, 
and requirements of the native inhabitants as Sir George 
Grey; he recognised their rights, and strove all his 
might to make that recognition the groundwork of 
colonial policy in its treatment of them. In this desire 
to solve the native question in a way fair and equitable 
to both races, Sir George Grey had much to contend 
against ; inside and outside influences were constantly 
employed to checkmate his plans ; he was too pro- 
Maori to please many people who not only had the ear 

of the Colonial Office, but had power also with the 

295 



296 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Colonial Legislature, and exerted that power to neutralise 
his efforts in what Sir George Grey honestly believed to 
be the true solution of the native question. If he did 
not succeed to the full extent he could have wished, it 
was no fault of Sir George Grey's ; still, he accomplished 
a great deal as the true friend and protector of the 
Maori people, whose gratitude is now evidenced by the 
reverence they pay to the memory of their benefactor ; 
and viewed in the light of subsequent events, it is much 
to be regretted that Sir George Grey was not allowed a 
free hand in dealing with native affairs after the suppres- 
sion of the first Maori war. 

What the author wrote of Sir George Grey and his 
island in 1879 is even more appropriate of that dis- 
tinguished man now that he is no longer of this earth. 
In " His Island Home and Away in the Far North," the 
author wrote : — 

" Years hence, when the present generation shall have 
passed away, and personal and political prejudices shall 
have been obliterated by the lapse of time ; when men 
can calmly review the history and associations of the 
past with intelligence and impartiality, unmoved by 
party considerations and private animosities, then must 
the historian, in describing the principal features of the 
land he lives in, devote a considerable portion of his 
descriptive narrative to the island about which I have 
been asked to furnish a few particulars that may prove 
at least interesting, if not instructive, to a very large 
section of the population to whom the Kawau, except 
by repute, is practically unknown. He will find it 
incumbent upon him to do this, not only on account of 
the manifold natural attractions of this lovely spot, 
which Nature has endowed so copiously with her most 
precious gifts, and the good taste and wealth of our 
Premier have helped to beautify and make more lovely 
still, but because there is associated with it a name th^t 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 297 

will for ever hold a prominent place in the history of the 
past, so long as New Zealand has an existence, and its 
records are preserved. In writing this sketch it is not 
my intention to refer to Sir George Grey in his public 
and political capacity, but rather to speak of him as I 
found him — a private gentleman, retired after the fatigues 
and turmoils of the session to a place which for loveli- 
ness is not to be surpassed, nay, equalled, by any other 
which it has been my good fortune to visit in this 
Colony. ... I need hardly say with what feelings of 
pleasure I accepted an invitation to visit Kawau ; and 
these were enhanced when I discovered that I should 
have the privilege of being escorted over the place by 
its owner, and by him shown the various objects most 
interesting to behold. , . . 

" On our starboard side lay the Kawau, fringed here 
and there by bush growing down to the water's edge. 
Taking a general glance at the island as we passed along 
its shores, we could not help being strongly impressed 
with its beauty and situation. It is rather hilly than 
mountainous ; here it dips into the ocean in the form of 
abrupt cliffs, and at other points terminates in a succes- 
sion of gentle slopes, which relieve the scene of all 
monotony. The surface had a very emerald appearance 
about it for this advanced period of the season, and we 
are all pleased with the picture presented to us. We 
still go on, finding it difficult to determine which is the 
most lovely nook that discloses itself to view, when with 
a suddenness almost magical we emerge from troubled 
waters, and find ourselves in a beautiful cove, where the 
surface of the water is as placid as a mill-pond. The 
transformation is effected so rapidly that we can hardly 
realise the fact that but a moment before we were being 
rudely tossed by the angry billows which continue to 
play as angrily still only a cable's length from where we 
lie in smooth water. Overhead there is not a cloud to 



298 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

be seen ; the sun sends forth his joyous rays with 
uninterrupted brilliancy, and imparts a truly grand and 
gladdening effect to everything around us. The atmo- 
sphere is pure and still ; the water beneath us composed 
and transparent; the distant islands clothed with a 
beautiful bluish tint ; the land in front and on both 
sides of us decked out in its gayest holiday attire. 
There is an air of calm serenity and repose about the 
place which is peculiarly fascinating, and, resist the 
inclination as we may, the mind is disposed to travel 
back into the distant past, to the days of our boyhood 
when tales and pictures of fairyland formed our sole 
literary treasures. The ripple on the shore is scarcely 
loud enough to be perceptible, and the continual buzzing 
of the locusts, which tells us it is summer, and the sing- 
ing of native and imported birds, are the only sounds 
which disturb the reigning tranquillity. Large native 
trees overhang the shores and rear themselves in majestic 
stateliness to the hill-tops which overshadow the cove 
into which we have been conducted as if by some magic 
agency. The lark is already sending forth its joyous 
notes, and the birds indigenous to the island and those 
which its owner has imported, vie with each other as 
though they were engaged in a competitive chorus for 
supremacy. The gentle zephyr there is wafts to us 
from the shore scents of the richest fragrance, and our 
delight at the whole prospect is unbounded. Gaze 
where we may, there is something to please and interest 
us, something to enlist our admiration. At the toe of 
the horse-shoe, which in shape best describes the natural 
formation of the cove, a nice sandy beach forms the 
foreground. Behind this beach, on which stands a well- 
appointed boat-shed, are magnificent gardens, in the 
midst of which the residence of Sir George Grey rears 
its stately dimensions. The picture is rendered com- 
plete by the rich curtain of foliage which surrounds it, 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 299 

and the undulating space in the background, on which 
the tall English grass rolls wavelike submissively to the 
gentle breeze. This clearing is surmounted by several 
native trees and pines of various descriptions, which 
have been planted in such positions as to produce a 
most artistic effect. Viewed from the deck of the 
Hinemoa^ the whole scene presented a coup d'ceil of 
most enchanting magnificence, to which it would require 
the descriptive powers of a Sir Walter Scott or a 
Lamartine to do ample justice. 

"Many months had elapsed since Sir George Grey 
had been to Kawau, and on shore there were evident 
indications of joy at his return. , . . Acting as our 
guide, Sir George Grey showed us over his residence, 
which is a truly beautiful mansion, built of permanent 
materials, the rooms large, lofty, and cheerful, admirably 
furnished, and the walls hung with paintings of great 
antiquity and value. Once again in the open air, we 
followed Sir George in our excursion through the 
grounds and gardens surrounding his residence. These 
are replete with the choicest shrubs and plants ; there is 
hardly a country under heaven from whence Sir George 
has not obtained a plant of some kind or other, and they 
are now all to be seen growing at Kawau with as much 
health and vigour as though they were indigenous to 
the soil. For variety of colour and species I have never 
seen anything to equal the flower-beds at Kawau, which 
struck me as being remarkably well cared for. As the 
gardens are encompassed by hills, except on the harbour 
side, they are well protected from the prevailing winds, 
and the soil being good and warm, every delicacy is fit 
for the table many weeks before they make their 
appearance in the South. As I passed through the 
gardens, finding so much to rivet my attention, it was 
rather difficult to say what pleased me most, until I 
came to the orange and lemon trees, which thrive here 



300 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

to astonishing perfection, bearing latitudinal considera- 
tions in mind. The trees were laden with fruit, and Sir 
George told his visitors to help themselves freely to it. 
The summer oranges were very large, but tasted some- 
what bitter compared with those we get from Fiji ; but 
a finer fruit than the lemons I pulled at Kawau, alike as 
to size and flavour, I have never seen. Any of them 
would make two or three of the ordinary lemons which 
people buy in the shops. From the gardens, by a series 
of zigzag pathways. Sir George conducted us to spots on 
the island from which some splendid views could be 
obtained, and in the course of our progress we could not 
help reflecting on how bountiful Nature had been to this 
gem of the Southern Pacific, and how much art had 
done to adorn Nature with the lovely mantle she now 
wears so gracefully at the Kawau. . . . Our verdict is 
unanimous as to the beauty and serenity of the whole 
scene, as the eye wanders over hill and dale, over beauti- 
fully undulating slopes and meadow land, and rests on 
the surrounding waters of the Pacific, which lend a 
majestic charm to the whole picture, as seen through the 
rows of lofty pines which stand between us and the 
ocean. 

" Those who have the honour of a personal acquaint- 
ance with Sir George Grey can see at once that he is an 
extensively read man, well versed in every department 
of literature. His knowledge of men and books is not 
of that superficial kind which begets pedantry, but is 
deep, penetrating, and reliable. Like most really well- 
leamed men, he does not bore you with a display of his 
superior learning and intelligence ; but to him a literary 
conversation is at all times irresistible, and he will join 
in it with the ardour of an enthusiast. He is brimful of 
Anecdote, and crop up what subject there may, you will 
hear from him something that is always d propos^ and 
either instructive or amusing, according to the nature of 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 301 

the matter under discussion. To a man of such strong 
literary tastes a good library is an absolute necessity. 
This essential is also to be found at Kawau, and Sir 
George can with truth declare that he 'possesses the 
finest private library in the Colony. It contains, not one 
or two, but dozens of works which the British Museum 
would like to have, besides a number of original manu- 
scripts of which facsimiles even do not exist. There 
you will see the handiwork of the monks done centuries 
ago, long before Caxton had discovered the art of print- 
ing. You take up the ponderous volumes one after 
another, and as you turn over the leaves and trace the 
marvellous uniformity of the characters : as you pause 
in breathless admiration of the brilliancy of the illumina- 
tions which ages have not sufficed to tarnish or make 
dim, or behold with reverential eyes the artistic illustra- 
tions with which the pages abound, you wonder at the 
patience with which these holy men must have laboured, 
at the time it must have taken to produce these works, 
and feel how deeply grateful succeeding generations 
ought to be to men who have done so much to promote 
the cause of learning and to preserve our literature. 
You restore these volumes reluctantly to their shelves, 
and take down one of the very first books issued from 
Caxton's printing press, which is, of course, a curiosity 
worth seeing. You afterwards trace the improvements 
made in printing by an examination of several most 
valuable works issued from the press at various dates 
from the discovery of the art down to the present day. 
The library comprises all kinds of literature, and the 
linguist will find in it ample materials wherewith to 
while away the time. Leaving the books, which are far 
too numerous for systematic examination. Sir George 
next showed me a large portfolio containing many 
original manuscripts of the Cromwellian period of almost 
incalculable value, amongst others several letters written 



302 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

by Sir Philip Meadowes and the poet Milton. A little 
book has recently been issued, which alleges that a 
certain epitaph written by Milton has only just been 
discovered ; but on making a comparison of the foe- 
simile of the original with the handwriting of Sir Philip 
Meadowes in his possession, Sir George Grey arrived at 
the conclusion that the authorship of the epitaph had 
been wrongly attributed to the immortal poet To 
myself and the gentleman who accompanied me on my 
visit to the library, Sir George pointed out the great 
similarity existing between the facsimile of the epitaph 
and the handwriting of Sir Philip Meadowes; we 
examined the formation of the characters with a critical 
scrutiny by means of a powerful glass, and arrived at 
the same conclusion as Sir George — that there were 
general and particular proofs by the comparison we 
made that the epitaph was written, not by the Latin 
secretary (Milton), but by the general secretary of the 
Commonwealth, Sir Philip Meadowes. Other manu- 
scripts equally interesting were brought under our 
notice, and our only regret was that time would not 
permit of a more lengthened inspection. Sir George 
Grey has maintained a correspondence with many of 
the greatest statesmen and scholars of the day, and 
when the time comes that no objection can be raised 
against the publication of the letters which his library 
contains, the public will reap a great advantage by 
having the collection submitted to them for perusal. 
I noticed quite a heap of letters which Sir George Grey 
had received from Dr. Livingstone, and these will no 
doubt hereafter prove of intense interest, as affording an 
insight into the motives and aspirations of the greatest 
of modern explorers. Before leaving the library I ran 
my eye casually along the shelves containing hundreds 
of volumes of general modern literature, and I pulled 
out a book which appeared to be most expensively and 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 303 

elaborately bound. It was entitled, * The Early Years 
of the Prince Consort/ and on opening it I discovered 
that the volume had been presented to Sir George 
Grey by her Most Gracious Majesty, that fact being 
recorded in the Queen's own handwriting. A visitor to 
the Kawau could spend quite a month in the library, and 
by the end of that time he would find that he had not 
exhausted all the objects of interest and curiosity which 
it contains, and which must contribute in no small 
degree to make a sojourn at the Kawau particularly 
instructive and agreeable. 

" The area of Kawau is between five and six thousand 

acres. The island was originally Crown-granted to an 

Aberdeen company, who for several years worked the 

copper mines there, and the locality of their operations 

is plainly visible as you pass along the southern shore 

of the island. Kawau contains a variety of minerals, 

including gold, specks of which are to be found almost 

everywhere, but the precious metal does not exist in 

payable quantities. Copper ore is abundant, and in 

reply to my question as to why he did not work it, Sir 

George told me that he had no desire to see mining 

going on and the privacy of his island home disturbed. 

Sir George Grey purchased the island from the Aberdeen 

Company, and about eleven years have now elapsed 

since he first took up his residence there. In purchasing 

Kawau Sir George Grey was instigated by motives of 

a purely philanthropic character. It was his intention 

to convert it into a kind of acclimatisation depdt for the 

introduction of foreign plants, animals, and birds for 

subsequent distribution throughout the Colony. He 

incurred a considerable expense in this direction, and 

in his early efforts he was even more successful than he 

believed he could be. A large number of foreign plants, 

birds, and animals were accordingly introduced to the 

Kawau, and to the acclimatising exertions of Sir George 



304 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Grey the Colony, and more especially the northern 
portion of it, is in no small degree indebted for a great 
deal of the game and rare plants which it now contains. 
Deer stalk over the Kawau at the present day, and game of 
various kinds abounds upon it in all directions; the 
waters which encompass it are alive with fish of all sorts, 
and oysters cling to the rocks in millions, not more than 
a hundred paces from where Sir George resides. The 
gardens surrounding the mansion produce most luscious 
fruits — all combining to make the Kawau what it really 
is, an earthly paradise. With such attractions as these 
it is little wonder that Sir George Grey should take 
up his abode at the Kawau, for here indeed one could 
retire without regret, and live at peace with all mankind. 

" There are no fewer than three harbours leading into 
it, in all of which there is deep water and excellent 
shelter for the small sailing traders which frequently 
take refuge there. . . . The Kawau is not the solitude 
which some people imagine it is. There are, generally 
speaking, from eighty to one hundred inhabitants on 
the island, including the wives and families of those to 
whom Sir George Grey gives employment during the 
year. Their cottages are dotted all over the island, and 
each family has a patch of its own to cultivate for its 
particular use. The residents of the island are a 
happy and contented lot of people, and they all appear 
to have a deep regard and affection for Sir George. The 
monotony of their lives is relieved by a series of enter- 
tainments, which are held once a week, and these 
terminate with a dance, in which all take part as though 
they were one happy family. They are at liberty to 
invite* the settlers on the mainland to these entertain- 
ments, and the latter return the compliment by inviting 
their Kawau friends occasionally to similar entertain- 
ments on the opposite shore. There are many children 
who have been bom on the island and have never yet 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 305 

left it. They think a great deal of their native place, as 
an anecdote which Sir George related to me will show. 
It is Sir George's custom on ftte days to invite the 
citizens of Auckland to visit Kawau, and hundreds avail 
themselves of the opportunity. The influx of so many 
people of course arouses the curiosity of the Kawau 
youth, and leaves various impressions on their minds. 
It was on one fine morning, shortly after a visitation of 
this kind, that Sir George was proceeding up one of 
the roads leading to the high ground. A little boy, 
who walked before him at some distance, suddenly 
stopped as if to take an admiring survey of the whole 
scene, and as soon as Sir Greorge reached the point 
where he was standing the boy exclaimed, * Oh, Sir 
George, what a beautiful place our island is ! ' as though 
he had a partnership interest in it * What makes you 
think so?' Sir George demanded. 'Because,* readily 
answered the boy, 'so many people come to see our 
place and we never go to see theirs.* There was so 
much innocent reasoning in what the boy said, and such 
an apparent feeling of contentment with his island 
habitation in the sentiments he uttered, that the lad's 
words will never be forgotten by him to whom they 
were addressed, 

''The Kawau for the most part is laid down in 
English grass, and about 2,000 sheep depasture upon 
it, besides a number of cattle. A portion of the land is 
cultivated every year, and a sufficient quantity of com, 
potatoes, turnips, carrots, &c., grown to meet the 
requirements of those living on the island. The cause 
of education has not been neglected at Kawau. . . . 

" Sir George Grey, during a sojourn at the Kawau, 
has plenty of material at disposal to occupy his 
mind and attention. He is an early riser, and frequently 
indulges in long rambles through the island. He takes 
a personal interest and pride in everything that goes on 

21 



3o6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

in the shape of improvements, and exercises a sort of 
general supervision over them, offering suggestions to 
his workmen, and at other times giving way to them in 
matters as to which he supposes they ought to know 
better than himself. A great deal of his time is occupied 
in his library and in the inditing of private corre- 
spondence which has fallen into arrears by reason of the 
demands of public duty. At home, he is in all respects 
the true type of an English gentleman — kind, hos- 
pitable, and considerate. His love of children is 
proverbial, and there is no nurse living whose tongue 
can command so many nursery rhymes. 

" When I now sit down to write this hurried sketch of 
the Kawau, and what came under my observation 
during my visit, I am puzzled to understand how any 
human being can give up the repose that is to be found 
there in exchange for the cares and troubles inseparable 
from active public life. Politics may have their attrac- 
tions, but to my mind the amount of happiness to be 
derived from a residence at this sublunary paradise far 
outweighs all other considerations." 

Such was Kawau when the author visited the island 
in 1879. Sir George Grey was then Premier of New 
Zealand. 

After his second term of office as Governor, Sir 
George Grey proceeded to England, but did not remain 
long in the Old Country. He returned to New Zealandi 
so great was his love of the Colony, with the intention 
of retiring into private life for the rest of his days. He 
therefore sought the seclusion of Kawau, but was not 
allowed to remain long there without being asked to 
enter the arena of politics. The people of Auckland 
brought strong pressure to bear upon him, and at last 
he consented to become a candidate for that city in the 
House of Representatives. Of course he was elected ; 
and thus the unusual spectacle was presented of one 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 307 

who had been its Governor becoming a member of the 
representative branch of the Colony's Legislature. He 
soon showed that he was the greatest orator within its 
walls, and the House and galleries were always packed 
when it was known that he was to speak. 

Sir George Grey's entry into active politics had the 
effect of strengthening and consolidating the Liberal 
party, which had a very precarious and impotent 
existence before he assumed the leadership of it The 
Conservatives had it all their own way, but Sir George 
Grey infused new life and vigour into the Liberal ranks. 
He had as lieutenants such men as Mr. Stout, Mr. 
Ballance, and Mr. Sheehan, and the party grew so 
strong that in 1877 it was able to turn out the Ministry 
and to take its place on the Treasury Benches. Sir 
George Grey's Ministry lasted until 1879, when the 
Conservatives had another turn at the helm, under the 
Premiership of Sir John Hall, until the 21st of April, 
1882. Sir Frederick Whittaker became Premier on that 
date, and was succeeded on the 25th of September, 1883, 
by Sir Harry Atkinson, but the Ministries of which Sir 
John Hall, Sir Frederick Whittaker, and Sir Harry 
Atkinson were successive Premiers from 1879 to 1884 
were Conservative Ministries. The Stout- Vogel Ministry 
assumed office on the i6th of August, 1884, but only 
lasted until the 28th of the same month, when it was 
succeeded by Sir Harry Atkinson, whose new Cabinet 
only survived until the 3rd of September. Thus three 
Ministries had been turned out of office between the i6th 
of August and the 3rd of September, 1884, less than 
a month, so hard and determined was the struggle at 
that time between the Liberal and Conservative parties. 
The Liberal Party won, and the Stout- Vogel Ministry 
came into power on the 3rd of September, 1884, and 
kept in office until the 8th of October, 1887. On that 
date Sir Harry Atkinson again assumed the reins of 



3o8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

office, as the result of an appeal to the constituencies, 
and he was Premier until the 24th of January, 1891. 
The general election of 1890 brought Mr. Ballance into 
power with an overwhelming majority. Sir Robert 
Stout had been out of politics in the meantime, 
and abstained from presenting himself at the 1890 
elections in order that his great personal and political 
friend, Mr. Ballance, might obtain his well-earned 
reward of the Premiership. But if Sir Robert Stout 
kept out of active participation in politics, he continued 
to exercise great influence upon the course of events, 
and cheerfully rendered his old friend and colleague, 
Mr. Ballance, every assistance in forming the policy of 
that gentleman's Administration. The result of their 
consultations was that a most attractive programme was 
submitted to the electors. It was far more liberal than 
anything that had ever been placed before them ; it was a 
statesmanlike and well-constructed policy which bore the 
hall-mark of true Liberalism -upon it, and the result was 
that Mr. Ballance and his followers swept the country. 
His was the truest Liberalism compared with the shoddy 
samples of it which have been presented since his 
untimely death, and it is scandalous to find that other 
people are constantly taking credit for the reforms 
which he foreshadowed at the 1890 elections, and 
proceeded to give effect to one after another until his 
death on the 27th of April, 1893. ^^- Ballance was a 
statesman beloved by the people, and the splendid 
statue to his memory erected in Wangauni testifies the 
hold he had upon the public heart It was to him far 
more than to those who have succeeded him that the 
people of New Zealand owe most of the great reforms, 
at all events the best of them, that have been brought 
about in that Colony, and it is shameful to find other 
people claiming the credit of conferring benefits upon 
the Colony which are the outcome of the programme 



SIR GEORGE GREY AND HIS ISLAND 309 

which Mr. Ballance carried out in part, and would have 
continued to completion had he lived long enough. 

True Liberalism in New Zealand will always be asso- 
ciated with the names of Sir George Grey, Sir Robert 
Stout, and Mr. Ballance — statesmen all of them — and 
not with the opportunist politicians without constructive 
ability who have since come into prominence. Their 
bluster and self-advertising has served them for a long 
while, but there will be an end of it some day, and then 
we shall see public and political life in New Zealand 
restored to something like its old form, and true Liberal- 
ism take the place of that sham democracy which has 
been productive of some of the worst features of 
political corruption and tammanyism, as everybody 
knows who has watched the progress of events in that 
Colony. 

There is one other name besides those of Sir George 
Grey, Sir Robert Stout, and Mr. Ballance which will 
always be associated with New Zealand prosperity and 
progress : it is that of Sir Julius Vogel, whose public 
works and immigration policy gave it a great push 
onward. It is to be regretted that Sir Julius Vogel did 
not adhere strictly to his original scheme ; but it must 
not be forgotten that there were ten millions of money 
to be scrambled for, and the result was that " political " 
railways and other works were put in hand which ought 
never to have been undertaken because of their certain 
unproductiveness. It mattered not who was in office, 
political pressure in this respect would have been 
irresistible when there were so many people in Parlia- 
ment who placed personal and local advantages above 
Colonial interests, and exerted themselves to that end as 
long as there were borrowed millions to be voted from 
year to year. It would have been a wise provision, 
under the circumstances, if the expenditure of that 
money had been removed from Parliamentary appro- 



310 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

priation and placed in the hands of a Board of Works 
which would have been beyond the reach of political 
influence and control. As it was, large sums were 
frittered away upon works of an unreproductive cha- 
racter, and to that extent the administration of the 
scheme was unsatisfactory, costly to the country, and 
burthensome to the general body of taxpayers. 

There are two institutions for the founding of which 
Sir Julius Vogel deserved the Colony's best thanks : the 
Post Office Savings Bank and the Government Life 
Insurance Department. Both of these encouraged great 
thrift amongst the people, and have been successful to 
an astonishing degree, as anybody will find who takes 
the trouble to inquire into the operations of both de- 
partments. To show this it is only necessary to state 
here that at the end of 1898 the total number of 
accounts open at the Government Post Office Savings 
Banks was 169,968 ; that the deposits during that year 
amounted to ;^3,279,6i i ; the withdrawals to ;f 3,191,893, 
the excess of deposits over withdrawals being £64^717, 
The total sum standing at the credit of all accounts 
on December 31, 1898, was £4,957,771 Ss. 5d., which 
gave an average of £29 3s. sd. to the credit of each 
account. 

Then as to the Government Life Insurance Depart- 
ment, at the end of 1898 there were 37,848 policies in 
force, and the sum assured amounted to £9,304,742, 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER — HIS LIBERAL POLICY — 
CREATION OF A LABOUR DEPARTMENT — LAND FOR 
THE PEOPLE — ^STATE ASSISTANCE TO SETTLERS 

THE defeat of the Conservatives in 1890 and the 
overthrow of Sir Harry Atkinson's Government 
was easily accounted for. Prior to that time successive 
Governments neglected almost everything in the shape 
of domestic and social legislation. The unemployed 
question was one that was frequently cropping up, but 
no Government had as yet attempted to deal with it 
except by temporary expedients in the shape of what 
were called relief works. The cry of " unemployed " 
was a constantly recurring one, but the Conservatives 
seemed either unwilling or incapable of suggesting a 
remedy. Then came the great maritime strike of 1890, 
and feeling against Sir Harry Atkinson's Government 
was very strong. The result was that at the General 
Election of that year, the Government was defeated by 
an overwhelming majority, and Mr. Ballance took office 
on the 24th of January, 1891, as leader of the labour-* 
Liberal party. It was a part of Mr. Ballance's policy 
to deal with the labour question without delay, and he 
therefore determined to establish a Labour Department, 
with a Minister of Labour at the head of it. In June, 
1891, that Department was created, and Mr. W. P. 

3" 



ill AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Reeves, the present Agent-General for the Colony, was 
the Minister upon whom the new portfolio was con- 
ferred. Mr. Reeves had identified himself very consider- 
ably with labour interests, and had complained bitterly 
that the industrial classes had been scandalously n^- 
lected by successive Administrations and Parliaments. 
Consequently, it was considered that no better selection 
could have been made, and Mr. Reeves justified the 
confidence reposed in him by the general mass of the 
people. Labour enactments followed in rapid succes- 
sion, and besides this the Labour Department became a 
real live and useful institution of the State. While Mr. 
Ballance lived and Mr. Reeves remained at the head 
of this Labour Department, an immense amount of 
good was done on behalf of the industrial classes ; but, 
after Mr. Ballance's death and Mr. Reeves' departure 
for London, abuses soon manifested themselves, and it 
is therefore much to be regretted that Mr. Reeves did 
not continue to control the Labour Department, as he 
would never have permitted the scandalous use that has 
since been made of it for political purposes. These 
abuses will be referred to later on. 

Another great reform introduced by Mr. Ballance was 
that of the Land Laws. The main principle of his 
policy was " the land for the people," or State owner- 
ship of the soil, with a perpetual tenancy in the occupier, 
and the restriction in area of the land which any one 
individual might hold. Under the Land Act of 1892, 
most of the Crown lands are now disposed of under the 
lease in perpetuity system for 999 years, which practi- 
cally means freehold tenure. The choice of selection is 
by ballot, and the quantity of land which a selector may 
hold is so fixed as to encourage the small-farmer class. 
The amount of land which any one may select (subject 
to his chance at the ballot) is 640 acres of first-class 
land or 2,000 acres of second-class land, inclusive of any 



MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER 3^3 

land he may already hold. There are three tenures 
provided for by the Act of 1892: (ist) for cash, in 
which one-fourth of the purchase-money is paid down 
at once, and the remainder within thirty days : the title 
does not issue until certain improvements have been 
made on the land; (2nd) lease with a purchasing clause, 
at a 5 per cent, rental on the value of the land, the 
lease being for twenty-five years, with the right to 
purchase at the original upset price at any time after 
the first ten years ; and (3rd) lease in perpetuity, at a 
rental of 4 per cent, on the capital value. The Act and 
its subsequent amendments also provided for settlement 
by small-farm associations, village settlements, im- 
proved farm settlements, and for small grazing runs, 
and pastoral runs. Small grazing runs are divided into 
two classes: first-class not exceeding 5,000 acres; second- 
class not exceeding 20,000 acres» The rental in both 
cases is not less than 2^ per cent, of the capital value 
per acre, but such capital value cannot be less than five 
shillings per acre. Small grazing runs are leased for 
terms of twenty-one years, at a rental of 2^ per cent., 
with right of renewal for other twenty-one years at a 
rent of 2J per cent, on the then value of the land. No 
holder of a pastoral run, and no holder of freehold or 
leasehold land of any kind whatever over 1,000 acres in 
extent, exclusive of the small grazing run applied for, 
can be a selector under this system, and only one small 
grazing run can be held by any one person. The lease 
entitles the holder to the grazing rights and to the 
cultivation of any part of the run, and to the reservation 
of 150 acres round his homestead through which no 
road may be taken, but the runs are subject to the 
mining laws. Residence is compulsory under certain 
stipulated conditions, and improvements also, and these 
runs may be divided, after three years' compliance with 
the conditions, amongst the members of the selector's 



314 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

family. Pastoral country is let by auction for various 
terms not exceeding twenty-one years, and, excepting 
in extraordinary circumstances, runs must not be of a 
greater extent than will carry 20,000 sheep or 4,000 
head of cattle. No one man can hold more than one 
run, but in the case of any one holding a run of a 
carrying capacity less than 10,000 sheep, he may take 
up additional country up to that limit 

One other important feature of Mr. Ballance's policy 
of " land for the people " was that of affording relief to a 
numerous class of colonists who were struggling under 
the burden of high rates of interest and heavy legal 
expenses of mortgages. He did not live long enough 
to see that portion of his programme introduced, but 
the year after his death, namely, in 1894, Mr. John 
McKenzie, the Minister of Lands, carried his Advances 
to Settlers Act. This Act authorised the raising of 
three million pounds sterling for the purpose of assisting 
settlers by loans from the Advances to Settlers Board. 
The Act provided for loans on mortgage, repayable by 
73 half-yearly instalments, or at any time, and the 
amending Act of 1896 provided also for fixed loans 
on freehold lands only, for any term not exceeding 
ten years. These fixed loans are repayable at the 
end of the term for which they are granted ; they 
must not exceed in amount one-half of the estimated 
value of the security, and bear interest at the rate 
of 5 per cent, per annum. The Board, under the 
instalment repayable system, has power to advance 
ur^"V? 60 per cent, of the estimated realisable value of 
freehol4^ccu"tics, and up to 50 per cent of the lessee's 
interest m"^^ ^^^^ of leasehold securities. Loans must 
not be for a 1^ amount than £2$, nor a greater amount 
than ;f 3,000. r^talment loans are repayable (principal 
and interest) in |6J years by half-yearly instalments. 
These instalments^re calculated at the rate of 6 per 



MR. BALLANCE AS PREMIER 3i5 

cent. So much of each instalment as is required to pay 
S per cent on the balance of principal owing at the 
time of payment is charged for interest, and the 
remainder of the instalment is applied to the reduc- 
tion of the principal. As every payment made reduces 
the amount of principal owing, the charge for interest 
becomes less every six months, and an ever-increasing 
proportion of the instalment is available for paying off 
the debt. Up to the 31st March, 1899, the Advances 
to Settlers Board had authorised 7,050 advances, 
amounting to ;^2,073,425. The total amount applied 
for in the 7,050 applications granted in full and par- 
tially was ;^2,400,I35. Eight hundred and twenty-eight 
applicants declined the partial grants offered to them, 
amounting to ;£'374,28o, so that the net advances 
authorised at 31st March, 1899, numbered 6,222 and 
amounted to ;^i,699,i45. The security for the net 
authorised advances was valued as ;£^3,7 59,399- The 
number of applications received up to 31st March, 1899, 
was 9,032, for an aggregate amount of ;^2,959,528, and 
63 per cent, of the total amount applied for was wanted 
for the purpose of paying off existing mortgages at rates 
of interest higher than 5 per cent. ("New Zealand 
Official Year Book, 1899.") 

Whether or not it is to be attributed to this particular 
legislation or to the fall of interest rates in Great Britain 
and elsewhere, the fact remains that a general decline in 
the rates of interest in New Zealand set in from the 
moment the Advances to Settlers Department came 
into existence, and it is also a fact worth mentioning 
that the scheme has benefited thousands of settlers and 
increased the area of settlement. 

It can therefore be claimed that to Mr. Ballance's land 
and advances to settlers policy, and the conspicuously 
able manner in which that policy has been administered 
by Mr. John McKenzie, the ex-Minister of Lands, 



3i6 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

a great deal of the prosperity which now prevails in 
New Zealand is due. 

Mr. McKenzie deserves also to be c^pagratulated upon 
the success of his compulsory sale of land system, which 
has been the necessary sequel to Mr. Ballance's policy 
of " the land for the people." Under the legislation 
carried to the Statute-book by Mr. McKenzie, it is in 
the power of the Government to compel the owners of 
big estates to sell these estates to the Government, in 
order that they may be subdivided for purposes of 
closer settlement. Many large estates have been pur- 
chased in this way, and divided amongst thousands of 
settlers under the various tenures of the Land Act. On 
large tracts of country which were formerly in the hands 
of one individual, and which were devoted to pastoral 
purposes, thousands of prosperous farmers are now 
settled, and the Cheviot estate is a conspicuous example 
of the wisdom and splendid results of the compulsory 
sale of land system. This legislation, coupled with the 
restrictions as to the area of the various classes of land 
which any one individual may hold, has been the death- 
blow to the establishment of a landed aristocracy in 
New Zealand, and posterity will revere the names of 
Mr. Ballance and Mr. McKenzie for the origination and 
administration of reforms which have secured the " land 
for the people " in the broadest and most liberal appli- 
cation of the term. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 

IT is now many years since the various Colonies of the 
Australasian group adopted free, secular, and com- 
pulsory systems of public education ; and those systems 
having advanced far beyond their experimental stages, 
it is opportune to take a retrospective glance at their 
successes and failures — in the first place so far as the 
spread of general secular knowledge is concerned, and 
in the next in so far as the social and moral conditions 
of the rising generation are involved in the undoubted 
effects of these systems upon Antipodean communities. 
But before entering upon a comparison between the 
results of the old system and the new, it is necessary to 
give a brief outline of the progress of education in those 
distant lands before denominationalism received its coup 
de grdce by legislative enactments which transferred the 
conduct of public instruction from the various religious 
bodies to the State. In countries which from the earliest 
periods of colonisation refused to recognise the para- 
mountcy of any particular church, a healthy rivalry, in 
educational as in other affairs, was the natural outcome 
of this freedom of individual and collective effort The 
various religious communities vied with each other in 
their exertions for the moral and intellectual advance- 
ment of the children. Schools were provided not only 

in the large centres of population, but in outlying 

317 



3i8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

districts within the limits of settlement ; and, aided by 
annual grants from the State, these religious bodies pro- 
vided a sound course of instruction, not merely in the 
primary institutions they established, but in the higher 
paths of worldly teaching, and some of them were 
enabled to found colleges, which to this day are doing 
good and effective work. Religious instruction was, of 
course, a prominent feature of the daily routine at these 
primary and secondary establishments, and young men 
and women emerged from them not only well-gfrounded in 
those subjects essential to their material fitness in worldly 
affairs, but solidly impressed with moral precepts without 
whose possession really good citizenship is impossible. 
The measure of State assistance, however, was not large 
enough to permit of these religious bodies throwing open 
their schools free of charge. They were compelled to 
levy school fees, and it is just possible that they were a 
little too exacting in the enforcement of these weekly 
charges. It is undeniable that, either through the care- 
lessness of some parents or inability to send their 
children r^ularly to school, many children were grow- 
ing up in absolute ignorance, although not in such 
numbers as to justify the howl that was raised against the 
inefficiency of the denominational system. Any of its 
apparent defects could have been easily remedied by a 
more liberal display of State aid; but Governments 
showed no desire to increase their grants, and denomina- 
tionalism was doomed. It suited the politicians of the 
time to proclaim loudly against it, and the offer of free 
education was the bait devised for its destruction. The 
masses swallowed it readily, and as a consequence the 
denominational system was ruthlessly destroyed, without 
even as miich as a grateful acknowledgment of the good 
work it had done, and was capable of doing if it had 
been assisted to the extent it ought to have been by 
those who controlled the public funds, 



SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 319 

The interpretation of the "secular" system varies some- 
what in the different Colonies. In New South Wales, 
Scripture lessons are given as part of the regular school 
curriculum ; and facilities are also afforded to clergymen 
to impart religious instruction within specified school 
hours to children whose parents belong to their denomina- 
tion and desire that such instruction should be given. 
In Victoria, religion has been strictly forbidden to be 
taught during school hours, and at no time has a State 
school teacher been permitted to give instruction 
therein. Experience has shown, however, that State 
schools conducted upon principles so exclusively non- 
religious have retrograded in popularity, and that a 
serious falling-off in the attendance has occurred. Secu- 
larists attribute this appreciable diminution to the general 
scheme of retrenchment given effect to in recent years 
to restore the financial equilibrium in that colony ; but 
much of it is due to the exclusion of religious teaching, 
with its consequential effects upon the rising generation, 
so noticeable also in New Zealand. It was mainly for this 
reason, and because of the efforts of the Scripture Edu- 
cation League, that a Royal Commission was recently 
appointed in Victoria for the purpose of preparing such 
Scripture lessons as might be acceptable to all denomina- 
tions. In Tasmania opportunities are offered for giving 
religious instruction out of school hours ; and in South 
Australia religious instruction is not allowed to be given 
except out of ordinary school hours. Practically speak- 
ing, these "after school hours" stipulations are no 
concessions at all, because it is most distasteful to 
children to attend religious instruction either after the 
schools have closed for the day, or during any other 
time when their schoolmates may be enjoying their 
games in the playgrounds or elsewhere. 

One need not go outside New Zealand to adduce 
facts s^nd draw comparisons and conclusions from the 



320 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

adoption of the new system for the old. It was in 1877 
that the Minister for Education (the Hon. C. C. Bowen) 
propounded his scheme for the complete secularisation 
of all the public schools in that Colony. Briefly stated, 
it meant the establishment of primary and secondary 
schools under the control and management of the State, 
the absolute withdrawal of all assistance from the 
denominational schools already in existence, the exclu- 
sion of religious teaching, the support of the newly- 
created establishments from the revenues of the country, 
and the opening of their doors to all children free of 
charge. The acceptance of these proposals was the 
death-blow of denominationalism. The religious com- 
munities were to be starved out by the process of 
throwing them entirely upon their own resources, and 
private schools were also to suffer by these measures of 
extinction. It was, naturally enough, concluded by the 
enemies of denominationalism that the religious bodies 
could never keep their schools open and make a charge 
whilst the State schools were free to all, and the result 
was only what might have been expected. In most 
instances, the attendance at the denominational schools 
almost immediately dwindled down to vanishing point ; 
they were without funds for the payment of their 
teachers ; in vain they protested against the unfairness 
of having themselves to contribute to the support of 
schools they did not conscientiously believe in, whilst 
they were denied any participation in the State funds. 
All protests were futile, and they were reluctantly com- 
pelled to bow to the inevitable and retire from educa- 
tional work as a general rule. The Roman Catholics, 
however, have absolutely refused to come under the 
State system, and some Anglican, Presbyterian, and 
other congregations have succeeded till this day in 
supporting good schools of their own. But, however 
efficient these Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, 



SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 321 

and other schools may be, they suffer the disability of 
being denied the privilege of State inspectorship, and 
as certificates are necessary before any scholars can put 
themselves forward for examination as candidates for 
the Civil Service, they have either eventually to go to 
these schools against their will or surrender their chance 
of employment in the public service of the Colony. 
They are quite willing, in fact have time and again 
requested, that their schools should be inspected 
regularly by the Inspectors employed by Education 
Boards, fully convinced that they will be found to 
comply with all the requirements of the State so far as 
the standards of secular instruction and general efficiency 
are concerned, but these requests have been systema- 
tically refused. Thus it happens that the Roman 
Catholics, some congregations of Anglicans, Presby- 
terians, and other religious bodies have schools equal 
in all secular respects to those entirely supported by 
the State — schools which they cannot conscientiously 
avail themselves of — ^and yet they contribute in equal 
proportion per head to the general taxation of the 
Colony, without having a single penny returned to them 
to assist in the maintenance of their own establishments. 
Such self-denial and continuous endeavour, because of 
their scruples of conscience, are worthy of recognition 
and better treatment 

When it is considered that the State expends some- 
thing like half a million annually — for the current 
year the amount for general and technical education 
is ;^462,643 — out of its consolidated revenue upon 
education, some idea may be formed of the amount 
of that large sum which comes out of the pockets 
of those who, for conscience* sake, are opposed to the 
secular system ; and surely, in the name of equity and 
justice, they have a right to demand that the schools 

they are so voluntarily and cheerfully supporting should 

22 



322 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

be included in this distribution of the yearly grant for 
education purposes. If their schools were not main- 
tained upon tlie same level of efficiency as the State 
schools, there would be some excuse for the exception- 
ally bad treatment they are subjected to; but they 
challenge comparison, and are powerless to demonstrate 
publicly what is privately known to be the case when 
the State Inspectors are told by Education Boards that 
the inspection of denominational schools does not come 
within the scope of their duties. At the very least, the 
right of public inspection should not be so steadfastly 
denied them when they clamour for it and feel perfectly 
confident of the result 

But this denial of public inspection is part and parcel 
of the plan to secularise the whole growing generation. 
The education question in New Zealand, as in other 
Colonies, ha^ degenerated into a great political factor, 
which obtrudes itself upon all occasions of electioneerings 
warfare in that Colony. When parliamentary candidates 
present themselves to the electors, the first desideratum 
is that they are sound upon the education question, their 
soundness consisting in the pledge demanded of them 
that they will oppose any disturbance of the secular 
system. No evasive answer will do if a candidate hopes 
to be successful at the poll Whether he conscientiously 
believes so or not, the average parliamentary candidate 
will not sacrifice his chances of ;£^240 a year, with other 
pickings, by declaring that the case of the denomina- 
tionalists deserves to be considered in the way of State 
aid to their schools. He must be an out-and-out 
secularist, in most of the electorates at all events, if he 
hopes to be returned, even at the cost of sacrificing his 
own honest convictions. Time and again the question 
of State aid crops up; but, despite the persistency of the 
Roman Catholic Church and other religious bodies in 
that direction, there is no immediate hope of the system 



SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 323 

being interfered with to that extent State aid, depen- 
dent upon the result of public inspection, is what the 
Roman Catholics limit their claims to ; but, failing to 
obtain both these concessions, the opponents of the system 
who belong to other denominations desire at the very 
least to have Bible-reading permitted in the public 
schools. But they are at once confronted with the cry 
that Bible-reading in schools means the insertion of the 
thin end of the wedge of denominationalism, and this is 
the bogey which is always advanced to suit political 
ends. The masses are assured that a return to denomi- 
nationalism means the destruction of the free system, 
and the poorer classes do not see — they are generally 
blind in these matters — that under a reformed system 
religious teaching does not necessarily imply that they 
will have to pay for the secular instruction their 
children receive at schools which may be either public 
or denominational upon a fair basis of financial assis- 
tance from the State. In that case the selection of 
particular schools to send their children to would be in 
their own hands. 

It cannot be denied that, under the State school 
system, the spread of education has been very great, and 
that the returns of children upon the rolls show an 
astounding increase when compared with the number 
receiving education at the period when denominational 
schools were wiped out of existence. But it must be 
borne in mind that the population of New Zealand has 
increased enormously since that time, and therefore a 
comparison of the returns then and now cannot be 
advanced as a conclusive argument in favour of the 
secular system. It must also be remembered that the 
denominational schools received very niggardly assis- 
tance from State funds, and there is no real ground for 
supposing that they would not have made equal head* 
way if they had been endowed as liberally as the State 



324 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

schools have been ever since they came into existence. 
Therefore, it is unfair to suppose that with adequate 
endowments the denominational system would not have 
accomplished quite as much as the secular system has 
done during the two last decades. The difference 
between them is, that the one was practically starved 
out, while the other has been fattened with a liberality 
which has known no stint, as a reference to the annual 
appropriations by Parliament will testify. 

New South Wales affords a striking illustration of 
the healthy rivalry which was created in that Colony 
under the mixed system of national and denominational 
schools which prevailed there until 1866, when the 
National and Denominational Boards were swept away. 
At that date there were 259 National schools in New 
South Wales, with an attendance of 19,641 pupils. 
The Denominational schools numbered no less than 
317, with an attendance of 27,986 pupils; and there 
were also 604 private schools giving instruction to 
15,556 children, boys and girls. In December of that 
year the National and Denominational Boards were 
abolished, as the forerunner of what happened in 1882, 
when aid to denominational schools was withdrawn. 
But a consideration of the foregoing statistics establishes 
the fact that a preference existed for denominational 
and private schools as against those of a purely national 
character ; and the same preference would again assert 
itself if denominational and private schools had the 
opportunity of establishing their claims to State 
assistance upon the basis of periodical inspection which 
is now denied them. 

One must, of course, recognise that it is the duty of 
the State to see that all its children are educated up to 
a certain standard ; but there the State's obligation 
ceases, after making adequate provision for the highest 
possible educational achievements by all poorer children 



SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 325 

of conspicuous ability. New Zealand goes several 
steps in this direction, but as a rule its scholarships are 
not of sufficient value to enable the children of poorer 
parents to take advantage of them. Besides, it generally 
happens that these children have to be withdrawn from 
school in order to assist in the maintenance of the 
family; whereas the children of people in good positions 
are enabled to advance from the primary to the secon- 
dary schools and onward to their University course. 
Despite these obvious inequalities, the masses have it 
constantly dinned into their ears that the free and 
secular system of education in New Zealand is entirely 
for their own benefit, and that a return to denomi- 
nationalism would deprive them of advantages specially 
conferred upon themselves. It is by this method of 
political trickery that the votes of the masses are 
recorded for the maintenance of a system which only 
requires a little reflection to show that the lion's share 
of advantages are reaped by people in the higher 
positions of life. And, apart altogether from secular 
teaching, it must be admitted that the necessity for 
religfious instruction is more apparent in the case of the 
children of the poor than of the rich. Obviously, from 
their very surroundings, the former incur greater risks 
from its exclusion, and hence it is that in all schools it 
should at least be optional with those attending them. 

Although the efforts of New Zealand denominational- 
ists have hitherto been unavailing, they have no reason 
to be discouraged in their agitation against the godless 
system which has prevailed there for more than twenty 
years. It is satisfactory to think that their ranks are 
gradually swelling, and that a greater number of 
children than formerly are being attracted to their 
schools and private institutions because of the growing 
objections to a purely secular system. Without for one 
moment desiring to pose as a purist or moralist, my 



326 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

observation of the working of that system convinces 
me that the future well-being of the Colony demands a 
change, and that the exclusion of religious teaching has 
been a mistake in the past No observant person can 
fail to be struck with the utter want of reverence on the 
part of very many of the children attending these State 
schools, their general lack of good manners and of 
respect for their seniors and superiors. Let any one go 
in the vicinity of a State School at times when tie 
children are dismissed, especially in the larger cities and 
towns, and his ears will be assailed by the coarsest 
language and profanity from the lips of children of the 
earliest school age upwards. What a difference he will 
observe in the demeanour and language of those 
children who, fortunately for themselves, are the regular 
attendants of denominational establishments ! The 
contrast is greater than can be conceived by those who 
have not had the opportunity of witnessing for them- 
selves this deplorable outcome of the purely secular 
system in State schools. Under these circumstances, 
how is it possible for a generation to grow up with 
those loftier ideals which will enable them to lead good 
and honourable lives, and to be exemplary in all their 
dealings and intercourse with their fellow-men? No 
purely secular system of State education will conduce 
to this, and it is gratifying to think that so many people 
in New Zealand are beginning to find that out. 

My contention is that any system is imperfect which 
does not provide for the moral as well as the material 
instruction of the young. For all the years it has been 
in existence the State school system of New Zealand 
has Ignored this obligation, and the recommendations of 
Anglican Synods and Presbyterian Assemblies have 
been systematically unheeded. The ministers of these 
two great branches of the Christian Church are only too 
willing to visit the public schools, at any times that may 



.1 



/ 



SECULAR EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 327 

be considered most convenient, to impart religious instruc- 
tion to their own children, but their offers have been re- 
fused. Bible-reading even, without the least approach to 
dogmatic teaching, has been resisted under the flimsy 
pretext that the tendency of this innovation would be 
to place free education in jeopardy. In this manner the 
religious bodies are kept outside the threshold of all 
public schools, and at the same time are denied any 
participation in the enormous amount which is annually 
applied to educational purposes, and to which they 
contribute under the taxation which is imposed upon 
all alike. If the majority insists upon the maintenance 
of State schools, surely the reading of portions of the 
Holy Scriptures from day to day will not make them 
less free than they now are ; and, in the absence of that 
concession, surely some respect should be shown for the 
conscientious scruples of the minority. They should 
receive their fair proportion of the public funds, that 
they may be enabled to establish and maintain schools 
in accordance with their own conceptions of what 
is right and proper for the spiritual and material wel- 
fare of the children who attend them. These denomi- 
national schools, sufliciently subsidised, may be as 
free as any others in the land, and regular inspection 
will ensure the required standard of efficiency which 
entitles them to financial assistance from the State. 

It may be argued that this recognition of the claims 
advanced by the denominationalists might have the 
effect of encouraging the growth of religious animosities 
amongst the people of the Colony. The best and com- 
pletest answer to that bogey is that no such animosity 
existed during all those years when denominationalism 
with regard to education was in full swing in New 
Zealand, and none need therefore be apprehended from 
a return to that system. The truth is that in the 
Colonies religious toleration prevails to an extent that 



328 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

IS not to be observed in some older countries; each 
Church stands upon its own merits, all of them working 
without friction towards the same end, and people are 
none the less neighbourly, helpful, or charitable in 
disposition because they do not worship in the same 
edifice. 



CHAPTER XXX 

NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS PAST AND PRESENT — 
"SPOILS TO THE VICTORS" — A REIGN OF TERROR 

THE first Ministry under a system of responsible 
Government was appointed on the i8th of April, 
1856, and it was then that the Parliamentary system 
was really introduced into New Zealand. The great 
mistake which was made in the Constitution was that 
it did not provide for an elective Upper House. The 
Legislative Council was created as a nominated body, 
whose members were summoned to it from time to time 
by the Governor, or practically by the Government of 
the day. Its establishment upon this basis of life 
membership necessarily imparted to it a conservative 
composition, and when the other branch of the Legisla- 
ture was conservative also there was little fear of a 
serious conflict between them — none absolutely where 
the legislation was acceptable to both, as it generally 
was. 

But occasions happened, nevertheless, when differences 
did arise between the two Houses upon other measures, 
and if they experienced any difficulty in getting their 
bills through the Legislative Council, either because 
they were thought to be hasty and ill-considered 
legislation or for any other reason, then all the 
Government had to do was to summon a fresh batch 

3*9 



330 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

of their particular friends and supporters to the Upper 
House, and by this means convert a minority into a 
majority. And so the end was achieved without the 
electors having a say in the matter one way or another. 

This is why a nominated Upper House is objection- 
able. It places far too much power in the hands of a 
Government, and the whole Parliament may become 
a mere machine to give legislative sanction to the 
measures that are submitted to it. 

It is true that, when a popular and liberal Lower 
House has obstacles thrown in its way by a Council 
which contains a Conservative majority, the Government 
which is its mouthpiece can, by the same process of 
fresh nominations, carry its measures through ; but at the 
same time it confers an amount of power upon the 
Government which it is very undesirable it should 
possess. 

After the Conservatives were turned out of office as 
the result of the elections of 1890, the Liberal Party in 
New Zealand had a splendid opportunity of placing the 
Legislative Council upon an elective basis. Not only 
did they neglect to do this, but a far more objectionable 
system was introduced. The Constitution was amended 
in a way which has since brought the Legislative Council 
into great and well-deserved discredit. 

Under the amending Act, existing members of that 
body were allowed to retain their membership for life, 
but all fresh appointments were to be only for seven 
years, members upon the expiration of this term being 
eligible for re-appointment. This latter provision was 
a gfreat mistake. It not only preserved to the Govern- 
ment their control over the Upper House by the process 
of ** swamping," but threw the door wide open to the 
political corruption which has ensued with regard to the 
composition of the Legislative Council. For years past, 
ever since 1893, it has become nothing more nor less than 



NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 331 

the dumping ground of political touts of the right colour, 
and people have been summoned to it in the most bare- 
faced manner who have stood as Government candidates 
for the House of Representatives and been defeated by 
candidates standing in Opposition interests. One after 
another these people, rejected at the polls, have been 
called by the Government to the Upper House, and thus 
the will of the electors has been disregarded. When the 
Government appoints its particular friends to seats in 
this Council for a term of seven years, of course they 
must be obedient to the Government, or they will have no 
chance of re-appointment at the expiration of the term. 
The will and behests of the Government must be obeyed, 
or out they go, and that is the degrading position to 
which the Legislative Council of New Zealand has been 
reduced. Under a system such as this, where dis- 
obedience can be punished by a refusal to renew 
Councillors' appointments, it can easily be seen the 
corruption that is possible, and no stretch of imagination 
is required to realise the shocking abuses which the 
system has been productive of during the past seven or 
eight years. They have been too glaring to escape the 
observation of visitors to the Colony, not to speak of 
those who have been so utterly disgusted as to proclaim 
loudly for the abolition of the Upper House. Under 
existing conditions it is absolutely under the dictation 
of the Government, and is no check whatever upon any 
l^islation which may be passed by the other branch of 
the Legislature. The Government, by the process 
already pointed out, has a majority there, and woe to 
any of those holding seven-year appointments who dare 
to vote against the Ministry. Out they go as soon as 
their term expires. Occasionally, a member of the 
Council, who owes his seat to the Government, will have 
spunk and manliness enough to assert his freedom of 
action and vote against them ; in that event the Council 



332 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Chamber sees the last of him when his seven years' term 
is up. But in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, these 
seven-year-term gentry have a keen eye to re-appoint- 
ment, a salary of ;£^I50 a year, a free railway pass over 
the railways and other privileges, and last but not least 
the prefix of the word " Honourable " to their names so 
long as they are members of the Council. These con- 
siderations ensure obedience to Governmental dictation, 
and their " loyalty," as it is misYiamed, is duly rewarded 
when the question of their reappointment crops up. 
There are still several of the old life-members left, but 
their number is diminishing year by year ; and unless the 
system is changed, as it ought to be, and the Council 
made elective, the time will soon come when the 
Government will be able to control every vote in the 
Legislative Council, They will be all seven-year-term 
men, ready to do what they are told by a Government 
which abuses its powers so shamelessly and holds a rod 
continually over their heads to remind them of the 
penalty of disobedience to its commands. And yet 
they have the impudence to proclaim themselves 
democrats, when in truth they are greater autocrats 
than Kaiser William or the Czar of Russia, in that little 
Colony which they have managed to get so completely 
under the lash of personal domination and control. 

What, then, is to be said of the Lower House under 
this autocratic rigitne? No possible command of 
invective could sufficiently describe the state of degra- 
dation to which it has fallen. For a long series of years 
it was New Zealand's proud boast that it possessed the 
finest Legislature in the South Seas. It had able men 
within its walls in those days — men whose eloquence 
would have shone lustre on any representative assembly 
in the world ; men who were statesmen in every sense 
of the word, big-brained, educated men whose utterances 
it was always a pleasure to listen to. They are all out of 



NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 333 

it now. You search vainly for men like Weld, Stafford, 
Domett, Crosbie Ward, Fitzgerald, Fox, Featherston, 
Fitzherbert, Richmond, Gisbome, Sewell, Vogel, Atkin- 
son, Grey, Macandrew, Ballance, Stout, Bell, Sheehan, 
Carleton, Reacher Wood and many others whose recorded 
speeches show the stamp of men they were. And what 
an array of Speakers presided over both Houses ! — Sir 
Charles Clifford, Sir David Munro, Major Richardson, 
Sir Francis Dillon Bell, Sir Harry Atkinson, and Sir 
William Fitzherbert With what dignity they filled the 
high office to which they were all called in turn ! One 
can imagine what any one of these men would have 
done if any Government had dared, as it never did, to 
ride roughshod through standing orders or to encroach 
upon the privileges and prerogatives of Parliament. A 
Government which attempted to do anything of this 
kind would have been brought to book pretty sharply 
and reminded that Parliament was supreme, and that 
the Government, as its servants and the servants of the 
people, must not dare to constitute themselves the 
dictators of Parliament and the custodians of its 
privileges and rights. To pursue this branch of the 
subject further would be absolutely painful to the author, 
and therefore he leaves it at this point 

But as to the House itself, what has it come to? 
With comparatively few exceptions, it is a collection of 
time-serving, self-seeking, uneducated, and thick-skinned 
mediocrities. Its decadence began in 1890; but ever 
since the lamented death of the late Mr. Ballance, who 
was a real statesman and a true, upright, and honest 
democrat, its rush downwards has been torrential. The 
plain truth of the matter is that public and political life 
has become so degfraded in New Zealand that few men 
of respectability and good social position can now be 
induced to present themselves as candidates. To be a 
member of the New Zealand Parliament is no longer 



334 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

accounted an honour, and men of integrity and principle, 
as a rule, decline to wade through the sea of slush that 
lies between them and the portals of Parliament House. 
The unclean thing has no attraction for them, and the 
associations of membership are far from inviting to men 
of self-respect and honesty and independence of pur- 
pose. That is why the Opposition and Left Wing 
ranks are so thin to-day ; that is why the " great Liberal 
Party," as it is nicknamed in derision with particularly 
strong emphasis on the " great," finds itself so much in 
the ascendency ; that, too, is why the late Mr. Ballance's 
death was what it was so truly described at the time to 
be — ^a national calamity. New Zealand has felt his loss 
ever since. Had he lived, this deplorable decadence of 
its Parliament could never have ensued with such a man 
as he was at the head of affairs. As things have un- 
fortunately happened, lower it cannot get. It has 
reached that stage of degradation when a reaction, sure 
and swift, must soon set in ; and, for the sake of New 
Zealand's credit, let us hope that its Parliament will 
shortly be restored to something like the position it 
enjoyed before the reign of personal government was 
allowed to crush the spirit of manly independence out 
of it, and to impose upon the people themselves with a 
degree of autocratic overbearance and assurance that 
has made abject cravens and political cowards of the 
great bulk of them. Just imagine how anything of 
the kind can be possible in any young country where 
free institutions are supposed to exist! But the case of 
New Zealand demonstrates that it is possible, because 
there it is. It is no fancy of the author's ; he knows it 
is there. He has seen it in full swing since 1893, ^^^ 
he knows tlie reign of terror that exists throughout the 
length and breadth of the land at this moment. 

How has it been brought about ? is the question that 
will naturally be asked. In the first place, it has resulted 



NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 335 

from the adoption of President Jackson's policy of 
" spoils to the victors," of punishments and rewards, of 
espionage which permeates through every branch of 
the public service, and has demoralised and disorganised 
the Civil Service to an extent which has interfered 
seriously with its efficiency. There are, in the Civil 
Service of New Zealand, numbers of civil servants 
as high-minded, honourable, conscientious in the per- 
formance of their duties, and as capable and efficient 
as are to be found in any Civil Service in any part 
of the world ; but there are in it also some crawling 
and cringing creatures who are not over-scrupulous 
in their methods to secure promotion, and, as a matter 
of fact, promotions have been made over the heads 
of older and more efficient officers, who bask not 
in the sunshine of political favour and preference. 
Another way in which the Civil Service has been de- 
moralised has been the introduction of a system by 
which outsiders, through political influence, are intro- 
duced into the service by methods which remove all 
obstacles interposed by the Civil Service regulations. 
These are avoided by what are called " expert " 
appointments; and it often happens that a youth, 
who says he can write shorthand or mechanically 
manipulate a typewriter, is provided with an appoint- 
ment as an "expert," no less. One can safely wager 
that he is the son or, if it be a female, the daughter 
or some relative or friend of a member of Parlia- 
ment; or the son, daughter, niece, nephew, relative, 
or friend of some political tout of the "great" 
Liberal party, who makes himself busy at election 
times. Spies abound everywhere, inside the Civil 
Service and out of it, and no man is safe who talks 
politics in a way which shows that he is not of the right 
colour. If he does, he places his bread and butter in 
jeopardy, and never knows the moment that punish- 



336 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

ment may come upon him. At afternoon teas it is 
positively dangerous for any woman, whose husband is 
in the New Zealand Civil Service, to let fall an expres- 
sion that can be construed into a declaration of hostility 
to the powers that be. Mrs. Somebody-else is certain 
to be there, who will carry the tittle-tattle somewhere 
else, and the husband wonders why he has not obtained 
his well-earned promotion, if indeed some excuse is not 
found for dispensing with his services altogether. He 
may count himself lucky if he escapes with merely 
being kept where he is without advancing another step 
up the ladder. The whole system is such that the Civil 
servant has not a soul to call his own, no security of 
position, is afraid to open his mouth upon subjects out- 
side his daily official routine, and the consequence is 
that the Civil servant is robbed of his manhood and 
exists under a reign of terror that is truly appalling to 
contemplate. In fact, the Civil Service of New Zealand 
has become so demoralised and disorganised that the 
opportunity is anxiously watched for to get out of it. 
This accounts for so many of its best men leaving it and 
transferring their services to Western Australia and else- 
where, or striking out in other avocations of life because 
the Civil Service has become so utterly distasteful 
to them and destructive of their true manhood. The 
time was when permanent under-secretaries and other 
heads of departments were allowed to select those 
whom they considered to be the most efficient officers 
for particular positions, and their recommendations as 
to advances of salaries and promotions were given 
effect to without question. All that is altered now, and 
not only are under-secretaries and other permanent 
heads deprived of these opportunities to do what they 
think is in the best interests of the public service, but 
they are forced to employ most incompetent people be- 
cause they are ordered to find work for political protigis^ 



NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTS 337 

and they must obey this peremptory mandate or take the 
consequences of non-compliance with what is nothing 
more nor less than a " command." And what risks the 
unfortunate Civil servant runs if he is " spotted " in the 
street conversing with the leader of the Opposition or any 
other member on that side of the House ; or, worse still, 
with any member of that gallant little band known as 
the Left Wing, who are constantly engaged in the battle 
of fearless criticism in the hope of restoring purity of 
administration and a pure democracy. He is no longer 
of the right colour and becomes a marked man. And 
all this goes on, and has gone on for years now, in 
a country which is supposed to be independent and free, 
and where people are supposed — how erroneous the 
supposition is ! — to breathe the untainted atmosphere of 
political freedom and to enjoy the full rights of citizen- 
ship. The reign of terror which prevails there makes 
this an impossibility, and it is as well the people of 
Great Britain should know it. No doubt they will be 
surprised at the revelation that in what is generally sup- 
posed to be a free, enlightened, and self-governing 
Colony, freedom of thought and speech has been more 
than muzzled ; it has been crushed absolutely, and is non- 
existent And yet that species of political blasphemy 
is constantly indulged in which misapplies the word 
democracy to autocratic conditions so completely at 
variance with what could possibly exist in any com- 
munity where the principles of pure democracy are 
faithfully observed and given effect to. Democracy, 
indeed! Let its name not be sullied by connecting 
it with the things that have been going on in New 
Zealand since Mr. Ballance's death. Democracy has no 
connection with them. 

It is not only in the ranks of those who are in 
Government employment that this reign of terror pre- 
vails. Doctors, lawyers, and other public men hav^ 

23 



338 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

been affected by the contagion, and have been duly 
impressed with the "indiscretion" — what a constant 
reproach it must be to their inmost minds ! — of saying 
fearlessly what they feel and think. Sometimes they 
are to be seen at social laudatory functions to the powers 
that be, slinking timidly out of one room into another, 
as though their consciences and inner manhood told 
them they had no right to be there, giving involuntary 
countenance to politically worked-up manifestations, 
which they detest in their hearts. But it would not 
" pay " to absent themselves ; and so the whole com- 
munity has been blighted by this reign of terror, by this 
policy of "spoils to the yictors, of punishments and 
rewards," until feelings of personal interest have domi- 
nated all classes, sapped their manliness, and made 
them what they are — either arrant hypocrites or dumb, 
unresisting spectators of a system which should be fear- 
lessly condemned by every honest man who has the 
real interests of a pure and untarnished democracy at 
heart. If South Africa has been aptly termed a land 
of lies, with equal appropriateness New Zealand can be 
described politically as a land of cravens. Their spirit- 
less toleration of abuses, constitutional and otherwise, 
has no parallel even in autocratic Russia. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

MORE REMARKS UPON PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 

IN NEW ZEALAND 

THE author would not fulfil his task, disagreeable 
to him as it is, if he did not throw some 
additional light upon the subject of parliamentary 
decadence referred to in the previous chapter, in order 
that his readers may thoroughly realise the pass to 
which parliamentary government in New Zealand has 
been reduced. He has already pointed out the period 
at which this decadence began and the causes to which 
it can be ascribed. He has also drawn attention to 
the system of nomination to the Upper House under 
which the Government has secured to itself an enormous 
amount of power and patronage altogether repugnant 
to the principles of democracy and the ideas of govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people. 
He has drawn the picture of that subservient Chamber 
as it now exists ; and he has also shown, with regard 
to the House of Representatives, why it is that so 
comparatively few men of standing and character will 
consent to present themselves before constituencies for 
election. He will now continue his sketch of the Lower 
House, and has no doubt it will both surprise and 
interest many readers in Great Britain. Upon one 
thing they may positively rely — that, astounding as the 

339 



340 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

portrayal may appear, it is presented without the least 
exaggeration of the facts. It is no product of the 
imagination. He has seen it and felt ashamed of a 
body which has become an object of public derision 
and scorn, and if any one doubts the contemptible 
position it has got itself into, let him peruse the files 
of New Zealand newspapers at and immediately after 
the end of last year's session ; let him go through the 
files of these newspapers throughout the length and 
breadth of New Zealand, and he will see the howl of 
indignation which was raised in their editorial and 
correspondence columns over what they called "The 
£4^ steal from the Treasury"; in other words, the 
voting to themselves of a sessional allowance of ;f 40 in 
addition to the salary of ;^240 a year which each of 
them draws by monthly instalments of ;f 20. But the 
author must not anticipate by any digression here upon 
a subject which he intends to deal with later on. He 
merely mentions the circumstance to direct the reader's 
attention to sources of information which give a clear 
indication of what most of the members of the New 
Zealand House of Representatives are capable of doing 
— ^for themselves ! 

Outside the Opposition and Left Wing ranks, with 
a few other exceptions, the average member of the 
New Zealand Parliament is a prince of cadgers. He 
is a past-master in the art of getting as much as he 
can "on the never," which is the expressive slang of 
the Colonies to indicate that he never parts with 
anything for what he gets — if he can possibly help 
it He receives a salary of ;f 240 a year, has a free 
railway pass which enables him to travel through 
every part of the Colony all the year round, and by 
means of a complimentary ticket this deadhead can 
go backwards and forwards on the Wellington and 
Manawatu Company's line — ^the only private company's 



PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 34I 

line open in New Zealand — while Parliament is in 
session, which is generally from three to four months 
in the year. He is allowed his expenses to and 
from Wellington to attend the session; in addition 
to this, the Union Steamship Company allows him 
to travel to and fro on its steamers at half fares at 
any time during the sitting of Parliament, and a like 
privilege is allowed his wife. Now, one would suppose 
that a salary of ;f 240 a year and the other privileges 
which have been enumerated would satisfy him, because 
they are vastly in excess of what the average member 
of Parliament is worth. But no ; his maw is too 
rapacious to be .satisfied. He must have more still ; 
so at the commencement of last year's session a con* 
siderable number of them actually had the audacity 
to suggest that a round-robin should be presented to 
the Government to the effect that all members' wives 
and unmarried sons and daughters should be allowed to 
travel free of charge upon all Government railways and 
steamers carrying mails. There were other members 
of Parliament, to their credit be it recorded, who were 
roused to indignation by this monstrous proposal, and 
therefore it came to nothing ; but the mere suggestion 
of such a thing shows the lengths to which the average 
member on a particular side of the House is capable 
of going to secure advantages for himself at the public 
expense. They have not yet gone so far as to propose 
that they should be supplied with liquid and other 
refreshments and Havannas to smoke at the PcU'liamen* 
tary Bellamy's ; but it has often happened that scores 
have been run up at that establishment which have 
never been wiped off the slate, and the House Com- 
mittee has been driven to the necessity of placing these 
scores in the list of bad debts, and of directing Mr. 
Letham, the Custodian of Parliamentary Buildings, to 
insist upon accounts being paid weekly. 



342 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

The member of Parliament has more privileges still. 
He has a magnificent library placed at his disposal, and 
boxes of books are mailed to him periodically during 
the recess ; he can also secure the loan of books for 
his friends. He lolls upon sumptuously upholstered 
benches and capacious armchairs which he has never 
before in his life been accustomed to ; he can use 
stationery without stint, get letters and telegrams 
franked through the post, and has the unrestricted run 
of hot and cold baths at the public cost. Free billiards 
have not yet come within his grasp — they may some 
day ; but to compensate him for this deprivation he has 
tennis lawns, balls and rackets placed at his disposal. 
He has public-paid messengers to run errands for him, 
and altogether finds himself in clover pastures which in 
his wildest dreams he never could have hoped to enter 
but for the parliamentary decadence which has come 
about. Then he has pleasure excursions upon Govern- 
ment steamers here, there, and everywhere to look 
forward to, with party - organised banquets, smoke 
concerts, and other sources of jollification. Still he 
wants more, and gets it. A Royal Commission is 
appointed — New Zealand is the most fruitful country 
in the world of Royal Commissions, which generally 
end in smoke — ^and the member of "the great Liberal 
party " finds himself accommodated with a seat upon it 
at a pound a day and free travel all round the compass. 
It is an enjoyable pleasure-trip for him, and the pound 
a day makes a nice little addition to his salary of ;C240 
a year. 

In a House of which this average member of Parlia- 
ment is a fair sample of the majority, what are the tone 
and character of the debates? Need the question be 
asked ? But, as it has been put, here is the answer to it. 
Any one who takes the trouble to peruse Hansard 
Debates before and since this Parliamentary decadence 



PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 343 

set in will soon perceive the vast difference between the 
two periods. Formerly, the proceedings of the House 
were dignified, and the speeches of its members, in most 
instances, clear, argumentative, and frequently eloquent. 
What are they now? Occasionally a good speech is 
made which is well worth listening to, but it does not 
come from the benches on which the average represen- 
tative type of member sits. The ear of the listener is 
generally assailed by torrents of flatulent declamation 
and inane drivel, full of atrocious English in which the 
eighth letter of the alphabet gets roughly handled. 
And the most curious point of all is, that the most 
uneducated and rough-spoken are generally those who 
" bore " the House with their balderdash. Some thick- 
skinned and soi'disant labour leader, with more im- 
pudence than brains, will undertake to lecture the 
opposite side with all the vehement stump oratory at 
his command, and will make himself ridiculous by a 
sing-song dissertation upon social and political problems 
when it is quite evident that he has not the remotest 
acquaintance with the most elementary treatise upon 
social and political economy. Some other equally 
illiterate member will inflict an hour's speech, if the 
House is debating the Address in reply or discussing a 
no-confidence motion, brimful of noisy platitudes, in- 
coherency, and unintelligibleness. And so the afternoons 
and evenings succeed each other, with an almost con- 
tinuous stream of talk, which serves only to exhibit the 
ignorance, incapacity, and servility of the average 
member of the New Zealand Parliament. How a man 
like John Burns would despise such men as these, who 
have the presumption to call themselves democrats ! 
Taking down this deluge of twaddle is a positive 
degradation of Pitman's winged art, as it is called by 
shorthand enthusiasts, but it must be done ; these vapid 
utterances must be reported verbatim in the first person. 



344 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

because Parliament maintains an official Hansard to 
do the work at a cost of something like ;f6,ooo a 
year. Of course, the reporters turn out the speeches 
in readable English, but the illiterate member is not 
satisfied with that. He must be supplied with the 
type-written copy of his speech, and, with the assistance 
of some educated friend or brother member, he sets to 
making what he calls "corrections," introducing new 
matter and excising other portions until the original 
becomes another speech altogether. This privilege to 
make corrections is shamefully abused, and that is why 
Hansard is said by the outside public to contain, not 
what members said, but what they intended to say. 

The time limit has been tried, and is now in force 
in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Mem- 
bers are allowed to speak for an hour each upon the 
Address in Reply and in the Budget discussion — they 
cannot be dignified by the word debates — ^and for half 
an hour when speaking on a Bill ; four turns of ten 
minutes each upon any question in Committee, and 
so on. Ministers are allowed an hour in moving the 
second reading of a Bill and in replying. There is no 
closure. The time limit was introduced in the hope 
that it would shorten discussion and prevent stone- 
walling tactics, but it has failed in both particulars. It 
has increased the flood of talk, because everybody 
speaks now ; and it will be seen that there is far more 
discussion than when the House, without the time 
limit regulations, consisted of ninety-five members. 
Now it consists of seventy- four members, and with the 
time limit in operation it has been proved that in the 
same number of months Hansard volumes contain one- 
third more printed matter than they used to do in the 
same type when the House consisted of ninety-five 
members and the time limit was not thought of. 
Therefore, this interference with free speech in Parlia- 



PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 34S 

ment has not been attended with successful results 
either in curtailing the quantity of printed matter or 
in shortening the duration of a Session. Its results 
have been in quite the opposite direction. 

It will doubtless be asked how it comes about that 
the party in power have been able to retain office so 
long, and how it is they came back from the elections 
of December, 1899, with such a large majority? That 
can easily be explained. At the bedrock of that 
explanation lies the fact that with them it has been 
admittedly all along a policy of " spoils to the victors." 
As a result of that policy came the reign of terror, and 
there are several other factors which have conduced to 
the general result. First of all, the system of co- 
operative works could be manipulated for political 
purposes, simply by sending large numbers of un- 
employed to swell the rolls in electorates where 
Government candidates were weak. Then another 
great factor was the Old Age Pensions Act, which it 
was declared the Opposition would repeal if it got 
into power, although there was no foundation for the 
statement. Then, again, the Government party was 
well organised, whilst there was no attempt at organisa- 
tion on the other side, and Captain Russell, the 
Opposition leader, was stricken down with illness 
during the whole of the election campaign. Leagues 
of various kinds, consisting mostly of political touts 
and billet-seekers, were hard at work for the Govern- 
ment, registering the names of those who would not 
take the trouble to go to the registrar's office them- 
selves, and keeping off others who happened to let 
slip to these house-to-house canvassers the information 
that they were opposed to the Government. Added to 
all these causes, the Government and their supporters 
had facilities which the Opposition had not for getting 
about the country here, there, and everywhere, and 



346 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

delivering electioneering addresses. Besides, the wives 
and daughters of some Ministers were sent into Opposi- 
tion and Left Wing strongholds — Palmerston North, 
for example — to organise and canvass, though in Mr. 
Pirani's case so unsuccessfully, against candidates 
opposed to the Ministry. Special trains and steamers 
were availed of all through the campaign, at the 
country's expense. The reason has already been given 
why the best class of men refuse, as a rule, to come 
forward as Parliamentary candidates nowadays ; there- 
fore there was a limited choice of candidates. Another 
thing favoured the chances of the Ministry. The 
country was in a state of prosperity, and times had 
been prosperous for some years : not that the Govern- 
ment had been instrumental in any way in bringing 
that about. That prosperity sprang from other causes 
in which they had no hand : good seasons, good crops, 
satisfactory wool clips, expansion of the frozen meat 
trade, gold-dredging in Central Otago, and fair prices 
generally for the country's products. It is the experi- 
ence of all countries that at times when things are 
prosperous there is a disposition to let matters remain 
as they are. It is in times of adversity that people get 
stirred up politically and are more alert, not when they 
are doing well, as was the case in New Zealand at the 
elections of 1899. And last, but by no means least, it 
must be remembered that Colonial politics means to a 
great extent roads and bridges. For years the repre- 
sentatives of some constituencies had been vainly 
struggling to secure for these electorates their fair 
proportion of the public expenditure. These electo- 
rates were starved because their representatives were 
on the wrong side of the House, until at last the 
electors sickened of the starving process, and deter- 
mined, very much against the grain, to put in other 
members who could accomplish more for them in the 



PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 347 

shape of public expenditure in their districts. Now, let 
the reader total up all these contributory factors in the 
Parliamentary campaign of December, 1899, and he 
will at once get the explanation of how it was the 
present obedient and subservient majority finds itself 
at the back of the Government. 

It is a remarkable coincidence that in New Zealand 
a Government which calls itself Liberal and democratic, 
without the least claim to the distinction, is supported 
by the liquor party, at the same time that an ultra- 
Tory Administration in England receives support from 
what arrogantly calls itself " the trade," whatever that 
may mean. They are both supported by the party of 
liquor — ^by brewers, wine and spirit merchants, hotel 
and tavern keepers. New Zealand has unfortunately 
come under that degrading influence as Great Britain 
has also done, and that is one very potential reason why 
the Colony should endeavour to extricate itself from 
this baneful infliction of liquor domination in its 
political affairs. Only a few months ago a Christ- 
church brewer was " called " to the Legislative Council 
of New Zealand. 

There are signs in New Zealand of a reaction setting 
in. The public seem to be at last awakening from their 
lethargy and want of public spirit in political affairs. 
The " Forty-pound steal from the Treasury," so univer- 
sally condemned by the Press, has opened their eyes a 
little wider, and by and by they will begin wondering 
why they have allowed so many glaring abuses to go on 
unchecked. This last shameful instance of legislators 
helping themselves to the people's money by voting 
;^40 as a " sessional allowance " or " honorarium " — not 
by a straightforward amendment of the Payment of 
Members Act, but by the insertion of certain words in 
the Public Revenues Act — ^has aroused public indigna- 
tion, and that is a hopeful sign. It was a Session of 



348 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

increases. The Governor's salary was increased by 
;6'2,500 ; the Premier's was raised from ;f r,ooo to 
£ifioo — a big jump — ^that of the Minister of Railways 
from £ioo to ;f 1,300 — ^another big jump— and the 
salaries of all the other Ministers from ;^8oo to £ifiOO. 
In addition to these salaries they have always been 
receiving ;f 200 a year as House allowance, and 30s. a 
day and other Ministerial allowances when absent from 
Wellington, as they very frequently are for considerable 
intervals. The Speaker's salary was raised also, so 
was the Chairman of Committees'. It was a Session of 
all-round rises, and if members voted for these increases, 
why should they not be considered also ? " Why not ? " 
they said to themselves, and accordingly the forty 
pounds apiece was voted. It is fair to say, however, 
that some members were not in the House at the time 
the thing was passed, and they and others declined to 
accept the money. But a big lot of them got it and 
stuck to it These were of the " on the never " stamp 
of humanity — those to whom Number One is the 
guiding star of their lives and actions. One of the 
leading newspapers plainly told them that " their ;^40 
steal was an act which might be expected from dele- 
gates to Tammany Hall." And so it was. 

Since the decline of Parliament and the very marked 
inferiority of its personnel which has resulted from the 
degradation of public and political life in New Zealand, 
a practice has sprung up which cannot be too strongly 
reprobated by every man and woman in the community 
who likes fair play and manliness and detests both 
moral and physical cowardice and falsehood on the 
part of those who sit in Parliament, and set people 
wondering, in the same way as with regard to the 
fly in amber, how they got there. Without a shred of 
character left, and with antecedents that will not bear 
inquiring into, some of these despicable creatures, 



PARLIAMENTARY DECADENCE 349 

shielding themselves behind the cowardly hedge of 
parliamentary privilege, are in the habit of making 
personal attacks upon people of good reputation and 
standing outside the House, who have no opportunity 
of defending themselves, and the lying statements of 
these members are published to the world, and bound 
up in the official Debates, without any redress at law for 
the punishment of the authors of the vilest and most 
foundationless slanders and libels upon decent, upright, 
and honest citizens. These statements are privileged 
by a law which is a disgrace to the statute-book of 
any country, and ought to be repealed. What sense 
of justice and fair play is there in a law which 
specially protects members of Parliament when they 
attempt to damage the characters of honest people, 
under this cowardly shelter of Parliamentary privilege, 
by statements which are absolutely devoid of truth ? 
If the practice goes on much longer in New Zealand, 
it will surprise nobody to find some day that a member 
has been soundly and most deservedly horsewhipped, 
or an ounce of lead sent through his head as the 
reward of his vindictiveness and cowardice. And the 
popular verdict will be, that it served him right. 

Although fisticuffs have never yet been resorted to 
in the Chamber itself, some very discreditable scenes 
have been enacted there from time to time, amongst 
the most painful being one which occurred between 
the Speaker and the late Sir Julius Vogel on Novem- 
ber 15, 1887. Many other scenes have taken place at 
intervals; but the most disgraceful of them all was the 
one which happened only a couple of sessions ago, 
when the lights had to be lowered in order that a 
member in a helpless state of drunkenness might be 
carried out and the process of his removal screened 
as much as possible from the public in the galleries. 
But if physical conflicts have not occurred between 



350 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

members in the Chamber itself, in Bellamy's and in 
the lobbies personal encounters have occasionally 
happened, with blackened eyes and bleeding noses 
as the consequence, to those most conspicuous in 
the fray, and much commotion and wrangling amongst 
their respective sympathisers. tentpora ! O mores ! 



CHAPTER XXXII 



OLD AGE PENSIONS 



IT was in 1898 that an Act was passed to provide 
old age pensions in New Zealand. Under the 
provisions of that Act the following conditions must 
be complied with before any pension is granted. In the 
first place he or she must be sixty-five years of age, and 
must be residing in the Colony when the claim to the 
pension is established. Secondly, the applicant must 
have resided in the Colony continuously for not less than 
twenty-five years immediately preceding, provided that 
continuous residence in the Colony shall not be deemed 
to have been interrupted by occasional absences there- 
from unless the total period of all such absence exceeds 
two years, nor in the case of a seaman by absence there- 
from while serving on board a vessel registered in and 
trading to and from the Colony, if he establishes the fact 
that during such absence his family or home was in 
the Colony; and also that during the twelve years 
immediately preceding such date he has not been 
imprisoned for four months, or on four occasions, for 
any offence punishable by imprisonment for twelve 
months or upwards, and dishonouring him in the public 
estimation ; and also that during the period of twenty- 
five years immediately preceding such date he has not 
been imprisoned for a term of five years, with or 



352 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

without hard labour, for any offence dishonouring 
him in the public estimation ; and also that the 
claimant has not at any time for a period of six 
months or upwards, if a husband, deserted his wife, 
or without just cause failed to provide her with 
adequate means of maintenance, or neglected to main- 
tain such of his children as were under the a^e of 
fourteen years ; or, if a wife, deserted her husband or 
such of her children as were under that age. It is 
provided that, if the pension certificate is issued, the 
petitioner's rights thereunder shall not be affected by 
any disqualification unless the fact of such disqualifi- 
cation is established at any time to the satisfaction of a 
stipendiary magistrate ; and also that he is of good 
moral character and is, and has for five years imme- 
diately preceding such date, been leading a sober and 
reputable life ; also that his yearly income does not 
amount to £$2 or upwards, that the net capital value of 
his accumulated property does not amount to ;£^270 
or upwards ; that he has not directly or indirectly 
deprived himself of property or income in order to 
qualify for a pension. Aboriginal natives of New 
Zealand are eligible for pensions, but not aliens, 
Chinese or other Asiatics, whether naturalised or 
not. Naturalised subjects are eligible where they 
have been naturalised for the period of five years 
next preceding the date on which they establish their 
pension claims. 

The full pension is ;{^i8 a year, payable in twelve 
monthly instalments ; but for each ;f i of income above 
£i4y also for each £1$ of accumulated property 
above ;Cso, ;£"! is deducted from the amount of the 
pension. The total number of pensions granted up to 
March 31, 1899, was 7,487, representing a yearly pay- 
ment of ;£■! 28,082, the average pensions being about 
£17 zs. The number of pensions granted since that 



OLD AGE PENSIONS 353 

time has considerably increased, and the amount now 
required is ;f 200,000. (Budget 1900, p. 14.) 

It will be seen that under the New Zealand system a 
man or woman must have attained the age of sixty-five 
years before they can establish a claim to a pension 
of 6s. I id. a week, and that one of other numerous con- 
ditions is that before an applicant can be successful in 
establishing his or her claim to a pension, it must be 
shown that they have resided in the Colony for twenty- 
five years immediately preceding the application, with an 
allowance for occasional absences unless they exceed 
two years. 

The money required for these old-age pensions is 
taken out of the consolidated revenue of the General 
Government without any contribution by the pensioners. 
In other words, if there was a deficit — ^and many a time 
there have been deficits in New Zealand, but not of 
late years — the amount required for old-age pensions 
would have to be provided by means of deficiency bills, 
the diversion of revenue from other objects of expendi- 
ture, direct loan for the purpose, or further taxation. 

It will be seen, therefore, that old-age pensions in 
New Zealand rest upon no solid or sure foundation, 
because there is no knowing when a period of depression 
may come about, or how long the Colony will be able to 
bear the annually-increasing demand upon its revenues 
for these pensions. Therefore no political economist 
will be found to admit that the scheme is a financially 
sound one, or is deserving of being called a scheme at 
all. The Treasurer simply says, " I have a surplus ; I will 
take so much of it for old-age pensions," and he takes it, 
just as he would take any other number of thousands to 
do anything else with. But if there were no surplus, and 
the revenue was not sufficient to pay interest upon the 
enormous public debt and to carry on the necessary 
services of Government, what then ? 

24 



354 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Sir Harry Atkinson had all these contingencies in his 
mind when he suggested a system of compulsory life 
insurance to provide for people in their old age. It is 
obviously right and proper that old age should be pro- 
vided for in some way or other, and Sir Harry Atkin- 
son's idea was that this could best be done by a system 
of universal contribution, under which, at the qualifying 
age, any man or woman in the community could claim a 
pension as a right, not as a charity contribution from the 
State. 

That is what a New Zealand old-age pension now is, 
and the system at work there is not a solution of the 
problem ; it is out-door relief pure and simple, with the 
high-sounding title of old-age pensions applied to it. It 
is therefore absurd to claim that New Zealand has shown 
the whole world how to deal with its aged poor, and 
given it an object lesson in social economics which it can 
profit by. There is nothing whatever of a statesmanlike 
character in the haphazard plan which has been adopted 
in that Colony, nothing which imparts to it any measure 
of permanence or an assured finance. Such a scheme 
has yet to be devised, and the solution of the problem 
will not be achieved until right, and not charity, is 
made the basis of these old-age pensions. 

There is one particular feature in connection with the 
administration of the Act in New Zealand which makes 
that measure repugnant to a large section of its aged 
poor — people who have been in good positions and been 
reduced to want through causes altogether unavoidable. 
The Act provides that all persons applying for pensions 
must appear in a stipendiary magistrate's court and state 
their circumstances publicly before every Tom, Dick and 
Harry who chooses to go there. Now, many highly 
respectable and deserving poor have a pardonable abhor- 
rence to such an ordeal as this, and therefore abstain 
from sending in applications when they are in sore need 



( 



OLD AGE PENSIONS 355 

of assistance. They would rather want than go into 
open court and relate their family histories and the 
reasons of their impecuniosity. The majority of people 
are not, of course, so sensitive, and have no inward 
feelings of pride to contend against when they submit 
themselves for examination to substantiate their claims. 
Respect is always due, or ought to be, to reduced 
gentility, and therefore it would be better if these 
examinations were conducted in camera by those who 
are appointed to decide as to whether or not the appli- 
cants have succeeded in establishing their claims to 
pensions out of the Consolidated Fund. Under that 
system the feelings of sensitive people would be respected 
in their old age and reduced circumstances, and there 
would be no more chance of fraud or imposition than 
there now is by insisting that these applications must be 
sustained in open court. Until the system is altered in 
that way, a considerable number of most deserving 
people will be excluded from participation in this 
provision for out-door relief which is misnamed old-age 
pensions. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 



NEW ZEALAND was the first British possession 
to grant the franchise to women at Parliamentary 
elections, the next to follow being South Australia a 
year afterwards, namely, in 1894. 

In New Zealand the Legislative Council passed the 
Bill conferring the franchise on women on the 8th of 
September, 1893. It was carried by a majority of only 
two votes, and one of these was cast in its favour inad- 
vertently by an aged Councillor who found afterwards 
that he had voted on the wrong side. However, it 
passed and was placed on the statute-book very shortly 
afterwards, and in full time to allow of its being brought 
into operation at the general election on the 28th 
November, 1893. Female franchise was previously 
brought forward in Parliament by Sir John Hall, who 
did not succeed in passing it. 

Amongst the women of New Zealand there was never 
anything in the nature of a general demand forthis pieceof 
legislation. The agitation in its favour was confined to a 
comparatively small section of New Zealand's woman- 
kind, mostly composed of women agitators of the 
hysterical type, and those who had direct personal and 
political interests to serve. Nothing is more certain than 

that if the question had been relegated to a Referendum 

356 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 357 

of New Zealand's womankind, the proposal to confer 
the franchise upon them would have been rejected by 
an overwhelming majority. They did not want it; 
they had no desire to take part in politics ; they con- 
sidered that men only should engage in that sort of 
thing ; and as a matter of fact thousands of the best 
class of women absolutely refused to register their votes, 
or to record them, if registered, at the general election. 
Afterwards they found it necessary to do so in self- 
defence, but they did it very much against their 
inclinations. 

The movement for female franchise outside of Parlia- 
ment was never a strong one ; it never " caught on," as 
they say of a play, and it was the apathy of the great 
bulk of women themselves which enabled the compara- 
tively few agitators amongst them to have the proposal 
submitted to Parliament. 

And when it got there in 1893 what was the spectacle 
presented? In its reception and treatment by the 
Lower House many members supported it absolutely 
against their opinions and convictions, and walked into 
the ayes lobby under the certain belief that the Legis- 
lative Council, as it had done before, would throw the 
Bill out when it reached that branch of the Legislature 
for final acceptance or rejection. Had these members 
known that there was a possible chance of the Bill 
passing that Chamber, the division upon it in the House 
of Representatives would have shown a considerable 
majority against the Bill. They were deceived, how- 
ever, in their reliance upon the Upper House to throw 
it out, and they were mad with themselves that they 
had not honestly and straightforwardly assisted in 
strangling the measure before it got there. Of course, 
their hypocrisy and insincerity were properly punished 
by the unexpected course of events in the Legislative 
Council, and so the Bill came to be passed there by a 




3S8 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

majority of two votes, one of which was given under a 
misapprehension. Such is the true history connected 
with the passing of the Act conferring the franchise updn 
adult women in New Zealand. 

Let us see how far that measure has justified the prog- 
nostications of its advocates and supporters. One of 
the arguments used in support of it was that the admis- 
sion of women to a participation in political affairs would 
not only improve the tone of public and political life in 
New Zealand, but would improve the character, reputa- 
tion and standing of its House of Representatives. It 
was argued that women's influence would be exerted 
in the selection of men of unsullied reputation, and that 
none but candidates of good and unblemished character 
and honesty of purpose could ever hope to enter the 
elective branch of the L^slature. Has female franchise 
ensured these results ? No one with a spark of honesty 
and candour can say that it has. Not only has it not 
fulfilled any one of the improving and refining services 
which were claimed for it when the measure was before 
Parliament, but as an absolute fact public and political 
life, and the personnel of Parliament itself, have degen- 
erated to a most deplorable degree ever since the 
introduction of female franchise at parliamentary 
elections in that Colony. The author does not say that 
this is solely owing to the franchise per se^ but it is 
responsible in a large measure for the d^eneracy and 
decadence which have happened ever since it came into 
operation in New Zealand. Account for it as the 
supporters and apologists of the system may, the 
fact remains that the course has been a downward one 
ever since its introduction. Three general elections 
have taken place since then, at intervals of three years 
between each of them, and what do we find ? That the 
character of the House elected in 1893 was of a lower 
grade than the House of 1 890, that the House chosen 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 359 

in 1 896 was inferior even to that of 1 893, and that the 
one returned in 1899 is of a kind which must render it 
exceedingly irksome to men of character, honesty and 
independence to sit in it in such company. Such is the 
result after the female franchise has been in operation 
ever since the general election of 1893. It shows that 
character has had absolutely nothing to do with the 
choice of candidates at these three general elections, 
and that fact is emphasised by the circumstance of one 
member being re-elected at the 1899 election who in the 
session previously had to be carried out of the House in 
a state of helpless intoxication, with lights specially 
lowered to conceal his identity and the process of removal. 
Other men equally characterless were re-elected also in 
the same year. These are facts which cannot be denied. 
Now, it cannot be advanced on behalf of female franchise 
in New Zealand that it is in an experimental stage, 
because it has been in operation for over seven years, 
with abundant opportunities in the meantime to justify 
its existence. This it has utterly failed to do. 

Whilst exercising no influence or control in the selec- 
tion of good men to represent them, let us see now the 
other things that female franchise has done. 

It has brought into existence a number of organisa- 
tions for purely personal and party purposes, whose only 
aim is to keep a certain set of men in power and to get 
men returned to the House, it matters not who they 
may be so long as they pledge themselves to vote in a 
certain way and to kennel up at the cracking of the 
party whip. These organisations are for the most part 
composed of an unintelligent and illiterate class of people 
who are the dupes of leaders who have personal interests 
to serve — political touts who display great activity, 
especially at election times, in order to secure billets 
either for themselves or their friends ; and in the case of 
men either to get billets for themselves, their sons, 



36o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

daughters, or other relatives. And they invariably 
succeed. Perhaps it is their ambition to be subsequently 
selected as candidates of the party or to be called to the 
Upper House as shining lights of the " great liberal " 
confraternity. Everything comes to the man who waits, 
and the rewards come to these political touts some day ; 
that can safely be reckoned on. 

They are supposed to have a Corrupt Practices Pre- 
vention Act in New Zealand, but a coach and four is 
constantly driven through it, and things are done which 
would not be tolerated in any other part of the world. 
A favourite device of these party organisations is for its 
members to set out on canvassing expeditions from house 
to house. They produce claims to vote to those who 
have not been sufficiently interested in politics to take 
the trouble of going to the registrar's office to register 
their claims. They induce them to fill up these forms, 
taking care to wheedle out of them what their political 
views are. If they are antagonistic, these claims never 
reach the registrar's office. They are taken away with 
the assurance that they will be registered, but they are 
cast into the fire, and when the men or women go to 
the booths on election day they find that their names 
are not upon the rolls. Hundreds of people are cheated 
of their votes in this way, and yet the system is allowed 
to go on from one election to another. 

One thing more the female franchise has done. It has 
swelled the electoral rolls immensely and added pro- 
portionately to their cost In the majority of cases the 
sons and daughters of a household will vote as their 
fathers and mothers vote, but there are numbers of 
instances where the female franchise is the cause of 
great family dissension. Wives vote for one candidate^ 
or candidates in the case of city electorates, whilst their 
husbands vote for those of an opposite party, and sons 
and daughters differ from their parents and each other 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 361 

in the same way. The whole family circle is divided 
against itself, and it is easy to conceive what the result 
is ; in some instances serious trouble is the consequence. 

The franchise is conferred upon every female in the 
Colony as soon as she attains her twenty-first year. As 
with the men, so with the women, it is practically 
womanhood suffrage, with the one-man-one-vote prin- 
ciple allied to it The cook or parlourmaid has the 
same voice as her mistress in the selection of members 
of the House of Representatives, just as the employer of 
hundreds of men has no more " say " than any one of 
them on election day. 

As applied to men, the author holds the view that 
manhood suffrage with conditions and with the one- 
man-one-vote principle, should be the prevailing system 
in any country at all parliamentary elections. The 
theory is good, but the practice, as he has seen it in New 
Zealand, is not altogether satisfactory. It does seem 
not quite the proper thing that a mere bird of passage 
who has qualified himself by a twelve months' residence 
in the Colony and three months in the electoral district 
he registers in, who may be a very worthless fellow — 
one who is prepared to sell his vote for a pint of beer — 
should have the same voice in the selection of candidates 
as the man who is permanently settled in the place and 
has a very large stake in the country, and a real interest 
in the proper government of it. When one sees the 
worthless pint-of-beer elector going into the polling 
booth with the same amount of power as the biggest 
employer of labour in the community, one must confess 
that he beholds one of the worst features in the theory 
and practice of universal suffrage. But how is it to be 
remedied so as to justify its existence in countries where 
it prevails and its extension to other countries where it 
has not yet been adopted? Surely it is possible to 
impose character and intelligence conditions which will 



362 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

divest universal suffrage of what is so plainly objection- 
able in the system, and causes thinking men to hesitate 
before they will be parties to its adoption. 

What applies to manhood applies equally to woman- 
hood suffrage in New Zealand — some women are allowed 
to vote there who should never be permitted to enter 
a polling booth. The author, in order that he might 
write from his own knowledge about the female franchise 
and the exercise of it, has stood at the central polling 
booth in the city of Wellington at three general elections, 
and has seen political touts return from the slums oft 
Taranaki Street, with numbers of female voters belong- 
ing to the demi-monde class, and these women have 
recorded their votes just as respectable women in the 
community would do. There the process of expurgation 
might be very legitimately applied, just as worthless 
men should be deprived of electoral privileges they are 
incapable of exercising in the true interests of the 
country. 

It will be seen on reference to the statistics at the 
end of this volume that at each succeeding general 
election which has taken place since the female franchise 
came into operation, a smaller percentage of women 
on the electoral rolls have recorded their votes. This 
is owing to the well-ascertained fact that the franchise 
is distasteful to a great number of the better class of 
women, many of whom, after their names are placed 
upon the rolls, absent themselves from the polling 
booths on election day because of the limited choice of 
eligible candidates which has resulted from the de- 
generacy of parliamentary institutions in the colony. 

The author has no hesitation in declaring that female 
franchise in New Zealand has failed utterly in producing 
any beneficial results, and if any one is doubtful of his 
verdict, let him go there and see for himself. He will 
have his eyes opened, not only with reference to the low 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE 363 

status to which Parliament has been reduced, but with 
regard also to the abuses and corrupt practices which 
are the products of that system. If his inquiries be as 
searching as the author's, and his opportunities for obser- 
vation equally extensive, he will return to England a 
most uncompromising opponent of female franchise. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION — COST 
OF GOVERNMENT — PAYMENT OF MEMBERS 

IN 1890, a great maritime strike occurred in the 
Colonies, and whilst it lasted trade was to a con- 
siderable extent paralysed, and a large number of men 
were thrown out of employment Capital in the end 
proved too strong for them, and to the workers this 
strike was little short of disastrous, as many of them 
were never reinstated, and had to seek employment else- 
where, or in other avocations of life. That strike 
demonstrated the necessity there was for the introduc- 
tion of laws to prevent strikes and lock-outs for the 
future, and to place the relations of workmen and their 
employers upon such a footing as would secure industrial 
peace and goodwill amongst them. When the Hon. 
W. P. Reeves was Minister of Labour, that gentleman, 
in 1894, carried through the New Zealand Parliament 
his Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Mr. 
Reeves was actuated by a sincere and laudable desire, 
not only to make strikes and lock-outs impossible 
occurrences in that country, but to provide lawful 
remedies for the peaceful settlement of all industrial 
disputes upon a basis which would be equitable and fair 
to both sides. This was evident from the fact that on 

the conciliation boards which he proposed to establish, 

364 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 365 

as well as in the Court of Arbitration itself, labour and 
capital should have an equal amount of representation. 
Therefore there was everything that was commendable 
in Mr. Reeves' plan for the solution of the difficulty as 
between employers and employed, and great hopes were 
held out that the Act which Mr. Reeves was instru- 
mental in placing upon the Statute Book would serve 
all the purposes it was intended to provide for. Un- 
fortunately, Mr. Reeves did not continue at the head of 
the Labour Department, and ever since his withdrawal 
from the Colony to London, his Act has been adminis- 
tered in such a way as to render it nothing more nor 
less than a piece of machinery for party purposes. 

It was Mr. Reeves' idea that when a dispute arose 
between the employers and workers in any particular 
trade, that dispute should be referred first of all to a 
conciliation board, consisting of two representatives of 
employers and two of labour, with a chairman appointed 
from outside by the board, or, when the board did not 
choose a chairman, then he was to be appointed by the 
Governor, which of course means the Government of 
the day. This was a mistake, for it has since been 
shown that where a board fails to elect its chairman, the 
Government has invariably placed a staunch party sup- 
porter in that position. This was not all. Since con- 
ciliation boards have been in existence, the labour 
organisations have in very few instances placed the 
best men that could be found upon these boards; on 
the contrary, political hangers-on have worked them- 
selves into the position of representatives, and the result 
is that the conciliation boards have not fulfilled the 
purpose for which they were intended. The system of 
remunerating them is a bad one. They are each paid 
a guinea a day ; it is a case of more days more dollars, 
and the result is that the proceedings of these boards 
are protracted to the most unconscionable lengths. 



366 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

This, however, is not the worst that can be recorded 
against them. It has been proved beyond denial that 
in some instances the members of these boards (labour 
representatives) have gone amongst trades unions and 
fomented disputes between the men and their employers 
in order that cases might be brought before these boards. 
For confirmation of this fact readers are referred to the 
howl of indignation which was raised last year by the 
newspapers. In fact, the scandal became so great that 
these papers advocated that unless the personnel of 
conciliation boards was improved they should be wiped 
out of existence altogether. 

It has been shown times out of number that em- 
ployers have been cited before conciliation boards when, 
as a matter of fact, the relations between themselves 
and their men were most harmonious and satisfactory 
to both. 

The working of these conciliation boards has been so 
mischievous and inefiectual as to demonstrate quite 
clearly that they ought to be done away with. What 
is the result of their existence? Continuous warfare 
between employers and employed from one end of the 
Colony to the other, and pages of newspapers con- 
tinually filled with the protracted proceedings of these 
boards as an outcome of the more days more dollars 
principle of paying for their services. From the author's 
observation of these proceedings he is convinced that it 
would be proper policy to abolish these boards ; they 
are unnecessary, costly, and irritating, and effect no 
good purpose, because the number of disputes they are 
instrumental in settling is ridiculously small compared 
with those which are carried beyond them to the Arbi- 
tration Court It would be far better if all trade dis- 
putes were taken direct to that Court ; but conciliation 
boards are maintained because of the use that is made 
of them for political purposes. 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 367 

It is different with the Arbitration Court This body 
has done really good service to the country. It consists 
of a Supreme Court Judge and two other members, one 
of them elected by employers* associations and the other 
by the trades unions. Mr. Justice Williams and Mr. 
Justice Edwards have both recognised that capital and 
labour have each their responsibilities, and they have 
been ably assisted in upholding that principle by the 
two other members of the Court, Mr. Samuel Brown 
and Mr. Slater. Both these gentlemen have always 
acted upon the policy of give and take in the settlement 
of industrial disputes, with the result that when their 
awards have been pronounced — and these can be en- 
forced by law — they have given satisfaction to both 
sides. Not only this, but the sound and common -sense 
nature of their decisions has tended to prevent indus- 
trial contention between men and their employers. 
Why ? Simply because the Arbitration Court is beyond 
the reach of political influence or control. 

Not so the conciliation boards ; they foment rather 
than discourage industrial disputations, and apart from 
the party uses they are put to, there is this other feature 
about them which shows what useless bodies they are. 
They are composed of one set of men for a definite 
period. During their term of office, industrial disputes 
of all kinds are referred to them. Their members may 
belong to two particular trades, with the technicalities 
of which they may be familiar, but there are numbers of 
other cases in which they are grossly ignorant of the 
nature of these trades or the principles and processes 
under which they are conducted. How, therefore, can 
they give an intelligent judgment in cases where they 
possess no expert knowledge ? Labour representatives 
upon conciliation boards act generally upon the prin- 
ciple that capital must be saddled with all the obliga- 
tions and responsibility, whilst labour should go scot free. 



368 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

They are encouraged in this by what labour repre- 
sentatives in Parliament say upon the subject A few 
sessions ago one of these parliamentarians, a working 
compositor, who had been pitchforked from his frame at 
the Government Printing Office into the Legfislative 
Council, declared from his place in that Chamber that 
he considered it was the duty of every working man to 
obtain the highest wages he could, and to do as little 
work as possible for it 

The man who talked this nonsense is a typical labour 
representative in the New Zealand Parliament to-day, 
and it is men of this description who are doing so much 
harm in industrial affairs at the Antipodes. They are 
going from one extreme to another, and unless trades- 
unionists get men of more brains and common-sense 
to lead them, trades-unionism will fall to pieces. What 
has been the result of such men being chosen on con- 
ciliation boards and sent into Parliament ? To keep up 
a continuous state of industrial warfare, to prevent the 
expansion of industrial enterprise upon the scale it 
would otherwise advance, and to lock up in the banks 
the millions of capital now lying there at short rates of 
interest, because capitalists are frightened to embark in 
industrial undertakings of any kind in the existing con- 
dition of affairs. 

The failure of the Act may be attributed to that 
portion of it which relates to boards of conciliation, 
which are nothing in the nature of what their name 
implies. These boards are a constant source of irri- 
tation to employers, and the cost and loss of time 
entailed upon employers and employed are enormous. 

Therefore, let conciliation boards be abolished, and 
the next step that should be taken is to insist that 
every registered union shall belong to a central council 
of unions, that it shall contribute per capita to a central 
fund to meet awards. No union should be able to go 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 369 

to the Arbitration Court without the consent of the 
federal council. Such a system as this would greatly 
reduce the smaller issues which are now raised in these 
abortive boards of conciliation. The Arbitration Court 
would sit three or four times a year at Wellington, 
consisting of a Supreme Court Judge and associates 
chosen in this way ; every year each union would 
appoint its representative on the Federal Council, and 
this representative would act as the representative of 
that union if a dispute in which it was immediately 
concerned were taken to the Arbitration Court. The 
result would be that the unions would select their most 
able men to represent them on the Federal Council, and 
that the President of the Arbitration Court would have 
the assistance of two experts at all times, one repre- 
senting labour and the other the employers concerned 
in each dispute. Days would suffice for the weeks it 
now takes the Arbitration Court to transact the busi- 
ness before it, the duplication of disputes under the 
conciliation board system would be avoided, each side 
would pay its own costs, and all the heat and irritating 
surroundings of these boards would be obviated. Had 
such a system been in force. New Zealand unions would 
have fared far better than they have done under the 
present plan of conciliation boards, and an Arbitration 
Court consisting of a judge and two permanent asso- 
ciates who may not be conversant with the techni- 
calities of the large variety of trade disputes now 
referred to the Court 

The author has been absolutely astounded at the 
statements which have found their way into print 
about New Zealand being a land of industrial peace. 
These statements are made by persons who have taken 
a run of a few weeks through the Colony, and have got 
their information from quarters upon which no reliance 
can be placed. These birds of passage appear tg 

25 



370 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

throw themselves straight into the arms of those who 
wilfully mislead them, and the result is that New 
Zealand is misrepresented as a land of industrial peace 
when in point of fact it is a land of industrial warfare 
of a very acute type. Let any one who wants to see 
what is happening there go through the files of New 
Zealand newspapers, and he will have his eyes opened 
as to the true state of affairs so far as employers and 
employed are concerned. 

The total number of industrial disputes referred to 
Conciliation Boards since the Industrial Conciliation 
and Arbitration Act came into operation (namely, from 
April, 1896, to March, igoo\ was 90. Of these 90 
disputes 29 — ^not quite a third — were settled by the 
Boards, 3 were partly settled by them, and one case wa§ 
settled apart from the Board before which it was taken. 
Thus it appears (according to the official return laid 
before the Legislative Council last session) that the 
Board of Conciliation failed to effect settlements in no 
less than 57 industrial disputes, which had therefore 
to be sent on to the Court of Arbitration. 

The Conciliation Boards took 134 days to dispose 
of the 29 cases they settled between the employers and 
employed, and were engaged for eight days on the three 
cases they partly settled, and one day upon the case of 
the Wellington linotypists, which was settled apart from 
the Board. 

The total number of industrial disputes arising from 
April, 1896, to March, 1900 (90) were brought by trade 
unions, representing tailoresses, bakers, painters, 
plumbers, carters, furniture trades, butchers, carriers, 
bootmakers, carpenters, coalminers, seamen, builders, 
saddlers, gold-miners, linotypists, drivers, moulders, 
coach builders, tailors, engineers, tinsmiths, grocers, 
tramway employes, pastry cooks, and wharf labourers. 

Yet in the face of these official facts we have people 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 371 

who have visited the colony for a few weeks grandilo- 
quently describing New Zealand as "a land of in- 
dustrial peace ! " 

In hearing the 57 other cases which the Conciliation 
Boards failed to settle, and which had therefore to be 
sent on to the Court of Arbitration, these Conciliation 
Boards took a total of 289 days. 

It will be at once conceded, from the extensive range 
of industrial disputes dealt with, that the system of 
appointing members of Conciliation Boards for definite 
periods is a bad one, because they cannot possibly 
possess the requisite expert knowledge to enable them 
to deal intelligently with all the disputes coming before 
them. How, for example, can a compositor or a baker 
know anything of the technicalities involved in a dis- 
pute between shipmasters and a seamen's union? In 
all probability they could not tell you the port from 
the starboard side of a ship. 

The opinion has always been held by the author that 
in no department of labour should any man be called 
upon to work more than eight hours a day. In fact, to 
quote the doggerel on the subject, in New Zealand the 
principle has always been recognised of — 

"Eight hours' work, 
Eight hours' play, 
Eight hours' rest, and 
Eight bob a day." 

Therefore the position of the working man— and this 
term embraces the whole of the industrial classes — has 
always been a good one in New Zealand, and capital 
has never imposed upon him to the extent it has done 
in older countries. But there is reason in all things ; 
and when one hears blatant labour leaders talk in 
Parliament about reducing the working hours to six, 
and when he knows that employers are harassed and 



372 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

dictated to as they are in New Zealand as to the manner 
in which they shall conduct their business ; when they 
are constantly being cited before conciliation boards 
when their men are thoroughly well satisfied with their 
treatment of them ; then it is right that he should speak 
out and tell the people of Great Britain that all they are 
told by birds of passage about New Zealand being " a 
land of industrial peace" is the purest moonshine. 
Industrial peace does not exist there, and never will so 
long as the blight of party politics dominates and 
degrades almost every institution in the land. 

If trades unionism is true to its own interests, it will 
get rid of the army of self-seeking men who have been 
fattening upon it ever since that fatal mistake was made 
of attaching itself so blindly to a party of political 
mediocrities who make use of it for their own advantage. 
Until that is done, it will be hopeless to expect that 
amicable relations can be re-established between em- 
ployers and employed, or that labour will recognise that 
it has its obligations and responsibilities as well as 
capital. Surely in time they must see that the irritation 
which prevails amongst themselves and those who em- 
ploy them is encouraged for the sake of the political 
capital that is made out of it. 

New Zealand is a truly wonderful country. Its 
natural resources are so great that it has defied bad 
and extravagant government to ruin it. Its prosperity 
is due to no Government that has ever been in office, 
but solely to its own productiveness. How much 
better, however, might be its position if it were governed 
upon the principles of a pure democracy? Then 
millions of people might be induced to emigrate to its 
shores, and capital would flow in for investment ; but 
that will not be the case so long as the present feeling 
of insecurity prevails in regard to its legislation and the 
management of its afljiirs, 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 373 

That New Zealand has always been an over-governed 
Colony cannot be denied. What is the position to-day ? 
Its Governor costs it ;^ 10,000 a year in salary, household 
allowances, and expenses — the President of the United 
States is modest in comparison ; he gets a salary of 
only ;£'io,ooo as the head of nearly eighty millions of 
people. New Zealand, with its 800,000 inhabitants, has 
seven paid Ministers of the Crown — one at £ijSoo a year, 
another at £i,yx> and five more at ;^i,ooo each ; all 
these Ministers get a house allowance of ;f 200 each and 
30s. a day while away from Wellington, which is often 
and for long periods, and other ministerial allowances. 
Then it has a House of Representatives of 74 members 
at ;f 20 a month each, travelling expenses, and free 
railway passes, &c. ; the Speaker and Chairman of 
Committees get far more than that — £iQO and £$00 
respectively for sixteen weeks ! Between 40 and 50 
members of the Legislative Council at ;f 150 a year 
each, travelling expenses and free railway passes, and 
its Speaker at a big salary. All this money spent on 
its Governor, ministers, and members of Parliament, 
and the population numbering less than 800,000 souls — 
just as many people as are in one corner of London, 
and that not the most populous! 

And now as to the public debt of the Colony, what 
do we find? That on March 31, 1900, the gross 
public debt amounted to ;f 47,874,45 2, or an increase of 
;^936,446 for the year ; but deducting accrued sinking 
funds to the amount of £g44j$y6 the net public debt of 
the Colony on March 31, 1900, was ;f 46,930,076. The 
annual charge for interest on the debt is ;^i,8i6,S92 
and sinking fund ;^47,i46; total annual charges for 
interest and sinking fund ;^ 1,863,738. The public debt 
so stated does not include Treasury Bills amounting to 
j^700,ooo. (Budget, 1900, and Returns by the Secretary 
and the Accountant of the Treasury, laid before the 
House of Representatives July 26, 1900.) 



374 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

It would astound English readers if the various de- 
partments of Government and their cost were enume- 
rated, not to say anything of the fourteen hundred local 
governing bodies which exist all over the country dis- 
charging various functions. The cost of its ministers 
and Parliament is an outrage. Just imagine giving 
such men salaries ranging from £iyOCX> to £i,6oo, 
besides other additions, and members of Parliament 
;f 20 a month and other pickings. The thing is mon- 
strous, as any one will admit who knows who the men 
are that draw these salaries. 

There are five Supreme Court Judges who draw 
salaries of only ;£^ 1,500 a year, except the Chief Justice, 
who gets ;^i,7SO. Now, if ministers get from ;f 1,000 
to ;f 1,600 each, a puisne judge of the Supreme Court 
is worth at least ;(^S,ooo and the Chief Justice £6,000 or 
£7fiOOy but professional learning and ability are not 
paid for in the Colony as they ought to be. And so it 
is that judges get such inadequate salaries, while ministers 
would still get more than most of them are worth or 
could earn at any other occupation if they were paid 
;^25o a year. And as for the average run of members of 
Parliament, £'i a week would be the utmost that any 
one of them could earn at his trade. Yet the shoe- 
maker, the carpenter, the coal-heaver, the printer, and 
so on, gets his ;^20 a month all the year round, a free 
railway pass always, and travelling expenses for being 
in Wellington about sixteen weeks in the year ! Could 
anything be more absurd? 

The author believes in the payment of members of 
Parliament, but not upon a scale which brings into 
existence the very worst type of public man — the 
professional politician. New Zealand abounds with 
them now, and always will, so long as public money is 
frittered away in this fashion upon men who are in no 
respect qualified for parliamentary life, and who seize 



INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION 375 

upon the first chance that offers to vote themselves still 
more money out of the public funds, as witness " the 
£/^o steal from the Treasury " of last session by way of 
" sessional allowance." The Colonial press has scourged 
them unmercifully for that Will it continue its con- 
demnation of the gross abuses that are going on in New 
Zealand until the Augean stable is thoroughly cleansed 
and purified, and public and political life are restored 
to something like decency and honesty of purpose? It 
lies with the Press and people to do this cleansing. 
The question is, Will they arouse themselves from their 
lethargy and do it in the thorough way it requires to be 
done, or will they meekly submit to the continuance of 
a condition of things which has brought the Colony into 
disrepute amongst people who have obtained some in- 
sight into the conduct of affairs there ? We shall see. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

THE LOSS OF SAMOA— NATIVES SATISFIED WITH 

GERMAN ANNEXATION 

THERE was never an instance in which to a 
greater extent circumstances can be said to have 
altered cases so much as with regard to the partition of 
the Samoan Islands between Germany and America, 
For many years the Australian Colonies had regarded 
with some alarm the current of events which led to the 
presence of Germany in New Guinea, situated so closely 
to the northern shores of the great island Continent. It 
was hoped and believed that foreign encroachment 
would end there, and that the islands in the Pacific 
other than those which had already been acquired by 
France would be safeguarded against annexation by 
any other European power except Great Britain. The 
Colonies, as the sequel showed, were living in a fool's 
paradise upon that subject. They had seen, it was true, 
the unsatisfactory condition of affairs at Samoa under 
triple management, and they had been witnesses of the 
sanguinary outcome of the international jealousies and 
rivalries which culminated in the outbreak of war 
between the two great sections of the native people in 
those islands. They had allowed the Samoan question 
to drift too long ; there was no united Colonial opinion 

on the subject, because New South Wales on the one 

376 



THE LOSS OF SAMOA 377 

hand, and New Zealand on the other, wanted Samoa for 
itself. Each was as determined as the other that the 
prize should be its own, because of the commercial 
advantages which were expected to result from annex- 
ation. They resembled two dogs fighting for a bone 
and a third one coming along and depriving both of 
them of it. That third dog was Germany. That power 
knew all along of the feelings of jealousy and dissension 
which existed between New South Wales and New 
Zealand with reference to Samoa, and from the moment 
that Germany obtained a foothold there she exerted 
herself in every possible way to establish her supremacy. 
For the loss of Samoa the Colonies have themselves to 
thank. Nearly three years before the dissolution of the 
triple arrangement, the author, in the columns of the 
Melbourne Age^ warned the Governments of Australasia 
of the designs of Germany upon Samoa. The substance 
of that warning was immediately cabled back to New 
Zealand and was published in the newspaper press of 
that Colony, On being interviewed by a local press 
representative, the New Zealand Premier pooh-poohed 
the idea, and declared that there was nothing in it 
The author pointed out in the Age that there could not 
be the slightest doubt, from information in his possession, 
that Germany meant to acquire Samoa. That intention 
was only postponed through the outbreak of the Spanish- 
American War. So far from there being nothing in the 
warning, there was, unfortunately, too much in it, and 
the surrender of Samoa and its partition between 
Germany and America came about exactly as the author 
described in the Age nearly three years previously. The 
author feels convinced that but for the laissez-faire 
attitude of New Zealand's Premier and similar inactivity 
on the part of the Governments of Australia, this regret- 
table consummation would not have happened. A 
combined and vigorous protest on the part of the 



378 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

Governments of Australasia at that time would have 
upset the intentions of Germany, because England 
would never have dared to disregard the wishes of 
combined Australasia upon a question of such vital 
importance to those Colonies. As it is, they have now 
an undesirable neighbour like Germany at their very 
doors, and to the apathy and want of foresight of those 
in authority must be attributed this lamentable issue of 
events. 

In an article contributed by the author to the New 
York Times of December 24, 1899, he made the following 
observations upon the Samoan question : — 

" No more unwelcome tidings could have been wafted 
to Australasia than that Great Britain had come to an 
arrangement with Germany to hand over to that power 
the control and management of the lion's share of 
Samoa. The transfer has occurred at a time when there 
is little disposition to call into question the wisdom of 
Great Britain in surrendering Samoa without taking the 
Colonies into her confidence on the question. The out- 
break of the Transvaal War has brought with it a tidal 
wave of imperialism all over the Colonies of Australasia, 
and the feeling is so intense that for the moment the 
Colonies generally are blind to the danger of having a 
great European power like Germany brought into such 
close proximity to their shores. Had the proposal been 
put before them in a time of peace, there would have 
been a howl of indignation from all the British 
dependencies in these seas, and a stubborn diplomatic 
effort to prevent Germany from obtaining the foothold 
she has gained in Samoa. 

** Powerless as the Colonies now are, without any hope 
of getting the thing undone, a strong undercurrent of 
feeling prevails that Great Britain has not treated the 
Australasian Colonies as she ought to have done, and 
this sense of injustice will become intensified with the 



THE LOSS OF SAMOA 379 

restoration of peace and a more thorough realisation of 
the danger to which Germany's presence as a close and 
powerful neighbour exposes us. It is well known that 
Germany's interference in Samoan affairs has always been 
repugnant to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants 
of that country, and no less to Australasians, whose 
chief desire has always been to keep foreign European 
control out of the Southern Pacific as much as possible. 
To this end, resistance has always been offered against 
the acquisition of the New Hebrides by France, and, in 
spite of this, Samoa has been quietly surrendered to 
Germany, as an expedient of British policy to cultivate 
the friendship of that nation in a fleeting emergency. 

" The only atom of consolation we can discover in the 
arrangement is, that Tutuila is to be American, and that 
an alliance between the two great English-speaking 
nations of the world can at any time minimise the 
dangers arising from such an undesirable Germanic 
proximity to our coasts. One immediate effect of the 
handing over of Samoa to Germany will be this : it will 
impress the Colonies with the necessity of inaugurating 
and gradually perfecting a combined system of defence 
on land and sea, as well for internal safety as for the 
protection of their commerce with the outside world, 
and the insuring of a greater influence in the councils of 
the Mother Land." 

The author has visited Samoa since German rule has 
been established there, and he must express surprise at 
the splendid relations which exist between the German 
authorities and the natives of that country. He was 
anxious to ascertain what the feeling between them 
really is, and found from his inquiries both from pro- 
minent natives and residents of the Anglo-Saxon race 
that the natives feel thankful that Germany is in posses- 
sion. This state of feeling has been brought about by 
the wise policy which has been pursued by Germany 



38o AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

towards the native race. The authorities have given to 
the natives a system of home rule under which they are 
to have the management of their lands, and this is ex- 
actly what the natives wanted. They feel confident that 
Germany has no intention of taking the land from them, 
and this accounts for their cheerful acceptance of Ger- 
man rule. They are quite content with the new order 
of things, and if Germany continues to act towards then 
as she has commenced there will be no fear of native 
outbreaks in Samoa. 

The author ascertained that the natives always 
dreaded the possibility of being placed under the con- 
trol of New Zealand. They know all about the treatment 
of the natives in that Colony, and the way in which they 
have been deprived of their lands, and they feared that 
if New Zealand obtained control over Samoa their pos- 
sessions would no longer be assured to them. They 
are thankful, therefore, that connection with New Zea- 
land is no longer possible, and to hear them refer to 
the subject one would suppose that their escape from 
annexation by that Colony was esteemed by them as 
one of the greatest blessings that could have been 
bestowed upon them. The Fijians are evidently of the 
same opinion with reference to themselves. 

Probably this feeling on the part of the Samoans 
against New Zealand has been embittered by the 
knowledge that whilst New Zealand was anxious to 
annex Samoa, it was not out of any consideration for 
its native inhabitants, but because of the material 
advantages which would result from trade and the 
acquisition of territory. New Zealand showed her hand 
too plainly when its authorities cabled to Mr. Chamber- 
lain that they were prepared to send down a strong 
force of men to assist in quelling the disturbances which 
arose there by force of arms. The Samoans saw clearly 
through the whole business, and were determined that, 



THE LOSS OF SAMOA 381 

so long as they could prevent it, they would never 
consent to be governed from New Zealand. The feeling 
amongst the Samoans is very decided upon that point 
They are a magnificent race of people, proud, intelligent, 
and intellectual, and it is satisfactory to find that they 
are so happy and contented with the system of govern- 
ment which Germany has conferred upon them. It is 
but just to Germany that this fact should be made 
known to the outside world, and the author has all the 
more pleasure in recording it because of his previously 
expressed objection to the presence of a foreign power so 
close to Australasia. 

But because the Germans are managing affairs so 
much to their credit and to the satisfaction of the 
native inhabitants in Samoa, that does not alter the 
fact that such a power located there may in the future 
become a serious menace to Australasia. It might have 
added somewhat to their security if Samoa had been 
made a Crown Colony of Great Britain, but it would 
certainly have been worse for the Samoans themselves 
if they had been annexed to any of the self-governing 
Colonies, especially New Zealand. It was one of the 
late Sir George Grey's ideals that Samoa, Fiji and 
other islands in the^e latitudes should be grouped 
together under one great confederation ; but it was never 
a portion of his scheme that any of the self-governing 
Colonies should exercise control over them. 

The author is glad to find that the following letter 
has been sent to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 
Secretary of State for the Colonies, by the Aborigines 
Protection Society : — 

Aborigines Protection Society, 

Broadway Chambers, Westminster, S.W. 

April 3, 1901. 
Sir, — I have the honour, by direction of the Com- 
mittee of the Aborigines Protection Society, to address 



382 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

you with reference to suggestions that have been 
publicly made in favour of transference of the Fiji 
Islands from the direct rule of the Crown to the control 
of the New Zealand Government. 

2. As this Society took an active part in urging that 
Her late Majesty's Government should accord to the 
Fijians the protection which led to their islands being 
taken over as a Crown Colony in 1875, ^^ is especially 
incumbent on our Committee that it should now appeal 
against any measures being adopted that will violate 
the conditions under which the inhabitants invited and 
accepted British Sovereignty, and that will expose them 
to the risk of their interests being thereby prejudiced. 
I am to submit to you that those conditions will be 
violated, and that, to say the least, grave risk will be 
incurred if the proposed transfer is made, and that the 
dangers incident to it will not be limited to this portion 
of His Majesty's dominions in the Western Pacific. 

3. Although exception has been taken to some details 
in the carrying out of the policy initiated under the 
governorship of Lord Stanmore — and continued by his 
able successors, Sir G. W. Des Voeux, Sir J. B. Thurstin, 
and Sir G. T. M. O'Brien — that policy has been both 
acceptable and beneficial to the natives. While equit- 
able and generous towards them, moreover, particularly 
in its recognition of their rights to ownership of land 
and maintenance of local institutions, it has also secured 
such reasonable and substantial development of the 
resources of the colony, and of their legitimate com- 
mercial value to European and other traders, as affords 
satisfactory assurance as to its future progress under 
existing arrangements. Appeal is now made to His 
Majesty's Government that it will do nothing which 
may weaken the present safeguards against injustice to 
the natives, even with the expectation of rendering Fiji 
more profitable to New Zealand and its colonists. 



i 



THE LOSS OF SAMOA 383 

4. Our Committee has viewed with considerable alarm 
the encroachments of recent years on the rights of 
natives in New Zealand, which have been supplementary 
to much larger encroachments prior to the pacification 
of 1 87 1. But these events occurring in a self-governing 
colony, it was considered that there would be no advan- 
tage in representations on the subject being made to 
His Majesty's Government. I am to submit, however, 
that they afford strong grounds for not entrusting to the 
New Zealand Government the protection of natives in 
Fiji, which now devolves on the Crown. 

5. I am further to submit that the surrender of direct 
Imperial control in Fiji could scarcely fail to imperil 
and complicate arrangements for protection of natives 
in other islands of the Western Pacific which, in the 
opinion of our Committee, ought to be strengthened 
rather than weakened. So long as the Governor of Fiji 
is also High Commissioner for the Western Pacific 
Islands, his duties in the latter capacity, and those of his 
subordinates, may be carried on far more conveniently 
and economically than would be practicable if a separate 
establishment were provided for them. Our Committee 
cannot suppose that, if Fiji were handed over to New 
Zealand, His Majesty's Government would also hand 
over to it superintendence of the numerous and widely 
parted groups of islands whose inhabitants have been 
brought under the guardianship of the British Crown by 
the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1872 and sub- 
sequent legislation. But the difficulties under which 
the High Commissioner now labours would be greatly 
increased if he were deprived of Fiji as a base of 
operations and of the assistance he derives from its 
administrative machinery. 

6. As regards the Western Pacific Protectorate, our 
Committee invites your attention to the growing import- 
ance of the duties of the High Commissioner being 



384 AUSTRALASIA OLD AND NEW 

efficiently performed under the immediate direction 
of, and responsibility to, His Majesty's Government 
Recent extensions of territorial hold, political influence 
and commercial activity in this part of the world by 
France, Germany, and the United States, appear to 
render it necessary that preservation of the legitimate 
interests of Great Britain should not be abrogated by its 
central administrators; and, apart from the danger of 
international complications arising from the delegation 
of Imperial duties to a subsidiary part of the Empire, 
there is more imminent danger of injury to natives of 
the Pacific Islands resulting from such a course. 

7. The demand for Kanaka labour, more or less forced 
and stolen, in foreign possessions as well as in Queens- 
land, continues, and the evils incident to it can only be 
aggravated by the increasing difficulty of obtaining it in 
sufficient quantity and at a cost low enough to make 
it remunerative. Our Committee, therefore, earnestly 
appeals to His Majesty's Government to render more 
effective than heretofore, instead of in any way impair- 
ing, the provisions of the Pacific Islanders Protection 
Acts, and, as a part of its general policy in this respect, 
to adhere to the promises made to the Fijians when 
their offer to become British subjects was complied 
with. 

I have the honour to be. Sir, 

Your most obedient Servant, 

H. R. Fox Bourne, 

Secretary. 
The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 
Colonial Office. 

No reply to the foregoing communication has yet 
been received from the Colonial Office ; but the author 
has the best authority for stating that no annexation of 
Fiji by New Zealand will be permitted by the Imperial 



\ 



THE LOSS OF SAMOA 3^5 

Government, and that if any change in the Government 
of Fiji should hereafter be decided on that change will 
be the result of negotiations between the British Govern- 
ment and the Australasian Commonwealth. [Since the 
foregoing was in type a reply has been received from 
the Colonial Office, stating that the New Zealand 
Grovernment has been informed that the Imperial 
Government does not intend to sanction any change 
in the administration of Fiji.] 

As in the case of the Samoans, so also in that of the 
Fijians — they dread the idea of annexation to New 
Zealand. They, too, fear that annexation would mean 
the loss of their lands. It is quite reasonable and 
natural that their thoughts and fears should run in that 
direction ; and, viewed from the native standpoint, it is 
inimical to their best interests that they should be 
brought under the control of the New Zealand Govern- 
ment. They will have reason to congratulate them- 
selves, therefore, if they escape that misfortune, and 
Sir Thomas O'Brien is to be commended, rather than 
condemned, for the efforts he is making on their behalf 
to avert it. 



26 



t\ 



I 



APPENDICES 



APPENDICES 



STATISTICAL INFORMATION. 



POPULATION OF AUSTRALASIA. 



Colony. 


x86o. 


1870. 


x88o. 


1890. 


X899. 


New South Wales 

Victoria 

Queensland 
South Australia ... 
Western Australia 

New Zealand ... 


1   
»•■ 

•  

• • 

• • 


Persons. 

348,546 

537,847 
28,056 

124,112 
15.227 
87,775 
79b7ii 


Persons. 

498,659 

726,599 

115.567 

183,797 

25,084 
100,765 

248,400 


Persons. 

747,950 
860,067 

226,077 

267,573 

29,019 

114,762 

484.864 


Persons. 
1,121,860 
I,i33,a66 

392,965 
31*414 
46.290 
145,290 
625,508 


Persons. 
1,356,650 
1,163,400 
482,400 
370.700 
171,030 
182,300 

756.505 


Australasia 


1,221,274 


1,898,871 


2.730,312 


3,784,593 


4,482,980 



These figures are exclusive of Australian aborigines and New 
Zealand Maoris. It is impossible to arrive at an estimate of the 
former. The Maoris, at the census in 1896, numbered 39,854 — 
21,673 ingles and 18,181 females. 

In the estimated population (exclusive of Maoris) on December 
31, 1899, the males in New Zealand are put down at 398,679, and 
the females at 357,826. 

PUBLIC DEBT OF AUSTRALASIA. 

{From Offia'al Sources.) 







Date. 


Public Debt. 


Colony. 


Fixed Debt. 


Floating 
Debt. 


Total. 


Queensland 

Wew South Wales... 

Victoria 

South Australia ... 
Western Australia... 

Tasmania 

New Zealand 




Dec. 31, 1898 
Tune 30, 1899 
June 30, 1899 
Dec 31, '898 
June 30, 1899 
Dec. 31, 1898 
Mar. 31, 1899 


33.5^414 
61,580,082 

49,264.277 
24,672,810 

8,938,363 

7,721420 

46.938.006 


£ 

2,181,584 
1,115,000 

243.500 
1,550,000 

691,484 

 • 


33,598,414 
63,761,666 

50,379,277 
24,916,310 

10,488,363 
46,938!oo6 



389 



390 APPENDICES 

The Secretary and the Accountant of the New Zealand Treasury 
have since furnished a return to Parliament showing that on 
March 31, 1900, the gross public debt was ;£47i874452, and that 
the annual charge for interest amounted to ;£i, 8 16,592 ; sinking 
fund, ;£47,i46. The sinking funds accrued amounted to 
;£944,376. Net public debt, ;£46,93o,o76. 

New Zealand has just issued a half -million loan locally at par 
and 4 per cent, for three years. 

A table attached to the New South Wales Budget for 1900 
shows that on June 30th of last year the public debt of New South 
Wales amounted to j£65,33 2,992 3s. 8d., bearing an annual charge 
for interest of j£2,369,39i 13s. 5d. 

Appendix No. 17 to the Victorian Budget for 1900 shows that 
on June 30th of that year the public debt of Victoria amounted 
to ;£49,324,884 los. 2d., bearing an annual interest charge of 
£1,887,354 9s. 9d. 

The Financial Statement of the Tasmanian Treasurer for 1900 
shows that at the end of 1899 the funded public debt totalled 
;£8,253,9i2. This included £2^8,^3^, the amount of loans to local 
bodies, but excluded ;£ 141,726 of local inscribed stock and Treasury 
Bills issued to provide for the temporary deficiency and needs of 
the Treasury. 

In his 1900 Budget the Queensland Ck)lonial Treasurer states 
that on December 31, 1899, the public debt of that Colony was 
£37,000,000. 

Appendix 12 to the last Financial Statement of the Colonial 
Treasurer of South Australia shows that on June 30, 1900, the 
public debt of that Colony was £26,156,180, and the annual 
interest thereon £899,373. 

On June 30, 1900, Western Australia's gross public debt stood 
at £11,674,640, or £63 8s. per head of population. 



TAXATION IN AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. 
{From Advance Sheets of New Zealand Official Year Book for 190a) 

The following were the rates of General Government taxation 
per head of population in the Australasian Colonies for 1898-9, 



APPENDICES 



391 



specifying the proportions derived from Customs and other 
taxes : — 



Colonies. 


Rate of Taxation per Head of 
Mean Population. 


Proportion 

of 
Taxation 

from 

Customs 

and Excise 

Duties. 


Ratio of 

Taxation by 

Customs 

to 

Value 

of Imports. 




Customs 
and Excise. 


Other 
Taxes. 


Total. 


Queensland 

New South Wales ... 

Victoria 

South Australia 
Western Australia ... 
Tasmania 

New Zealand (exclu- 
ding Maoris) 


£s. d. 
303 

' i ^ 
I 18 

1 14 2 

532 
290 

2 15 3 


£ 8. d. 

10 
13 II 
13 II 

17 I 

079 
12 II 

18 


£ 8. d. 
3 10 3 

1 18 

2 II II 

2 II 3 
5 10 11 

3 I " 

3 13 3* 


Per Cent 

8579 
6338 
7319 
66-73 
92-98 

791 1 
75-40 


Percent 
21-44 

11-38 

9-24 

17-10 

24-58 

23.83 



TRADE OF THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. 

The following table gives the value of the imports and exports 
of the Australasian Colonies for the year 1898. The figures 
include the value of goods produced in one Colony and taken 
into another ; in other words, they include the intercolonial as 
well as the foreign trade : — 





Total Value of 


Excess of 


Excess of 


Colony. 






Exports 
over 


Imports 






over 




Imports. 


Exports. 


Imports. 


Exports. 


Queensland 

New South Wales 


£ 
6,007,266 


10,856,127 


4,84*,86i 


£ 

• •• 


24,453.560 
16,768,904 


27,648.117 


3,194,557 


• •■ 


Victoria 


15,872.246 


 •• 


896,658 


South Australia 


6,184,80s 


6,79&774 


6i€^969 


• •• 


Ditto, Northern Territory 


"3,960 


182,596 


68,636 


• •• 


Western Australia 


5,241,965 


4,960,006 


• • • 


281,959 


Tasmania 


1,650,018 


1,803,369 


153,351 


• •• 


New Zealand 


8,230,600 


10,517.955 


2,287,355 


• •• 



* Or, including the Maoris, £s los. sd. 



392 



APPENDICES 



IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF AUSTRALASIAN 
COLONIES FOR THE YEAR 1899. 

{From the respective Budgets 0/ 1900.) 



Colony. 


Imports. 


Exports. 


Queensland 

New South Wales 

Victoria 

South Australia 

Western Australia 

Tasmania 

New Zealand 


6,7^,097 
25.594.000 

18,370,873 
M72,30S* 
4.473,532 
1,769*324 
8.739.633 


£ 
11,942.858 
28,445,000 
18,827.506 

7.197,375* 
6,985,642 
2.577,475 
11,938,335 



EXTERNAL TRADE OF AUSTRALASIA. 

The following table represents the total external trade of 
Australasia from 1885 to 1898, the intercolonial trade being 
excluded : — 



Year. 


Total Trade. 


Imports. 


Exporta 


Excess of 
Imports. 


Excess of 
Exports. 


1885 


£ 
72,220,444 


41,136,038 


3i,o§,4o6 


10,051,632 


£ 


1890 


75.143,818 


38,451,160 


36,692,658 


1,758,502 


• •• 


1891 


84.565.778 


41.325,033 


43,240.745 






1,915,712 


1892 


75,325.933 


34.529,501 


40.796,432 






6,266,931 


1893 


67,788,738 


27.925.990 


39,862,748 






11,936,758 


1894 


65,192.202 


26,063,630 


39.128,572 






13.064,942 
12,772.867 


1895 


67.624,317 


27.425.725 


40,198.592 






1896 


74,511,262 


34,A20,596 
37,862,741 
37.310^583 


40,090^666 






5,670,070 


1897 


83.569,568 


45,706.827 






7.844.086 


189* 


85,600,442 


48,289,859 


• •• 


10,979,276 



MINERAL PRODUCTION (VALUE) OF AUSTRALASIA 

TO END OF 1898. 

The total value of mineral production in the Australasian 
Colonies to the end of the year 1898 is shown in the following 

* For the year ending June 30, 1900, South Australia's imports were £7.401,831, and 
exports, :^8,892,02^. 



APPENDICES 



393 



table. The figures, except those for New Zealand, are taken 
from Mr. Coghlan's ** Statistics of the Seven Colonies of Austra- 
lasia, 1861 to 1898 " :— 



Colony. 



New S'th Wales 
Victoria 
Queensland ... 
South Australia 
Wst'n AustraUa 
Tasmania 
New Zealand ... 

Australasia ... 



Gold. 



45.^198 
250.738,820 

44*499.955 

2.133.746 

10,659^716 

3.954.647 
54.453,325 



SUver 

and Sllyer 

lead. 



412,334,407 



35,»a,340| 

845.S 

697.41 

105,043 
250 

1.547,790 

235,831 



29*244.961 



Copper. 



4,6ad,oa9 

206,395 
3,022,927 

21,529,746 
172,115 
874.5161 
17,938 



Tin. 



£ 

6,292,056 
695,'oo 

4,448,800 
26,142 
76*227 

6,612,442 



22,447,666 



18,150,767 



Coal. 



£ 

34,321,205 

680,046 
2,282,692 

• •• 

1,625 

368,295 

6*705,802 



44.359.665 



Other 

Minerals. 



3,010,101 
218,244 
239,496 
430,281 

369.944 
10,777 

ft332,384* 



13,611,337 



Total. 



119.853.929 

253.384.294 

54.i9i»288 

24,225.558 
11,279,877 
13.368,467 
70,745,280 



547,048,693 



EXPENDITURE ON AUSTRALASIAN RAILWAYS. 

{From Advance Sheets of New Zealand Official Year Book for 1900.) 

The following table shows the cost of railway works, the 
mileage, the average cost per mile, the population, and the cost 
per head of the population in the several Colonies referred to : — 



Colony. 



Sueensland ... 
ew South Wales 
victoria 

South Australia f 
Western AustraUa 
Tasmania 
New Zealand... 



Year ended 



Dec. 30, 1898 

, une3a 1899 

\ une 30, 1898 

une30, 1898 

une 30, 1899 

>ec. 31, 1898 

Mar. 31, 1899 



|Cost of Con- 
struction 
of Open 
Lines. 



18455,317 
37.992,276 
38,593.205 
13.919.258 
6»427.37o 
3.585,040 
1^404,676 



No. of 

Miles 

of Line 

open. 



2,742 
2,707 
3, "3 
1.870 

1.355 

438 

2,090 



^l^ 


Estimated 


Aven 

Cost 
Mil 


Popula- 


Uon. 


£ 




6,731 


498,500 


14.035 


1,351.500 


12.397 


1,169,400 


7.443 


369,300 


tin 


169^600 
177.300 


7,849 


746,700 



Cost 



uostper 

Headof 

Popula- 

tioi 



ion. 



£ B. d, 

37 o 5 

28 3 3 

33 o 1 

37 13 10 

37 17 11 

20 4 5 

31 19 5 



* Including kauri-gum valued at ;£9,099,6t9. 
\ Including Northern Territory. 



394 



APPENDICES 



LIVE-STOCK IN AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. 
{From Advance Sheets of New Zealatid Official Year Book for 1900.) 

The following gives the number of the principal kinds of live 
stock in the several Australasian Colonies in the years 189&-99 : — 



Colonies. 




•  •  •• 



 •• • • • 



Sueensland 
ew South Wales 
Victoria ... 
South Australia ... 
South Australia (Northern Territor}*) 
Western Australia 
Tasmania-... 



•>• •»• ■•• ••• 



 a • • •• 



•«• ••• 



New 2Eealand 



••• •■• ••■ •■■ 



•■• ••• ••• ••• 



17.552,608 

4i,2ii,O04 

13,180,943 

5,012,620 

64,076 

2,244,888 

1.493,638 

April, 189& 
19.673.725 



CatUe. 


Horses. 


5,571,292 


480.469 


2,02a5l6 


491.553 


1,833,900 


431.547 


260,343 


161,774 
15.406 


353.551 


245.907 


63,442 


148.558 


2ft797 


Nov., X898. 


Nov.. 1898. 


1,203,024 


258.115 



Pigs. 



127,081 

247.061 

337.588 

60,132 

1,710 

39.284 

45.274 

N0V..Z898. 
193.512 



REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF AUSTRALASIAN 
COLONIES DURING FINANCIAL YEAR 1899-1900. 

{From the respective Budgets.) 



Colony. 


Revenue. 


Expenditure. 


New South Wales 

Victoria 

• Queensland 

ik>uth Australia 

Western Australia 

Tasmania 


£ 
10,323.391 
7,450,676 
4,588,207 
2,780,858 
2,875.396 
1,040,107 


£ 
10.341,293 
7.318,945 
4.540,418 
2,779^317 
2,615,675 
92^364 


Totals for Commonwealth 
New Zealand 


1» 


28,523,012 
5,14<M28 


Totals Australasia 


;^34.53ft02I 


;fi3.3,662,l40 



ESTIMATED REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF 
AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES DURING CURRENT 
FINANCIAL YEAR 1900-1901. 

{From the respective Budgets,) 



Colony. 


Estimated Revenue. 


Estimated Expenditure. 


New South Wales 

Victoria 

Queensland 

South Australia 

Western Australia 

Tasmania 

New Zealand 




io,3M,899 
7,482,350 
4.594.370 
2,869,377 
721,758* 
1,04^650 
5,463,000 


10,4^170 

7,481,263 

4.571,738 

2,862,317 

480,152+ 

973,239 
5.441.523 



* Furst three months only, 
t First two months only. Rest of estimates not yet available. 



APPENDICES 



395 



WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE IN NEW ZEALAND. 

From advance sheets of the New Zealand Official Year Book 
for 1900, received by last mail, the author finds that the number 
of women who voted in 1899 (119,550) is 7570 per cent, of the 
females on the rolls (163,215) ; while in 1896 there were 108,783 
who voted out of 142,305, giving the higher proportion of 76*44 
per cent. ; so that (assuming the figures to be correct) there is no 
evidence of a greater willingness now on the part of the females 
to go to the poll — quite the contrary. The following table shows 
the results at the three general elections since the female 
franchise came into operation : — 



Date of 
Geaeral 
Election. 



1893 
1896 

1899 



Estimated 

Total Adult 

Females. 



Number on 
Rolls. 



139,471 
15*656 
171,378 



109^461 

143.305 
163,21s 



Proportion 
of Adult 
Females 

re^teredas 
Electors. 



78-48 
8913 
9534 



Numt)cr who 
Voted. 



90,200 
108,783 
iift55o 



Proportion 

of Females 

on Rolls 

who Voted. 



8518* 

7644 
7570* 



* Excluding figiures for three electorates in which there was no contest. 

Out of 163,215 women on the rolls 119,500 recorded their votes 
at the general election of 1899, l^^ving 43,665 who did not vote. 
The total adult females in the colony was estimated at 171,378, so 
that 8,163 ^^ ^ot registered. The total number of females on 
the rolls of the three electorates in which there was no contest 
was 5,386, made up as follows : — Hawke's Bay, 1,878 ; Westland, 
1,598 ; Waihemo, 1,810. These 5,386, added to 43,665 makes a 
gross total of 49,051 women on the rolls who did not vote at the 
general election in December, 1899. 



THE TOTALI9ATOR. 

This is the machine which legalises betting on horse-racing in 
New Zealand, Queensland, and South Australia. 

In New Zealand, as the subjoined table shows, the Government 
derives a considerable amount of revenue from the use of the 
machine on the racecourses in that Colony. The table is taken 
from the advance sheets of the New Zealand Official Year Book 
for 1900. 



a 



396 



APPENDICES 



• Year. 


No. of Totalisa- 

tdr Licenses 

Issued.' 


Days. 


Percentage paid to 
Treasury. 


Total Amount 

Invested by the 

PuUic. 


1889-90 


187 


241 




£ 

• •• 


1890-91 


219 


278 


•■• 


• •« 


1891-93 


234 


300 


7,591 
10,800 


506.078 


i89a-93 


240 


307 


72^029 


1893-^ 


247 


318 


10,375 
10,446 


621,673 


1894-95 


ao7 


268 


696,456 


1895-96 


170 


256 


11,156 


743,763 


1896-97 


158 


250 


11,911 


W 


;« 


155 


a68 


I3,a97 


144 


250 


13.695 


912,969 


1899-X900 


154 


178 


15.983 


1.065.583 



r 

9J 



Hi 



.d 



N.B.— The years used for purposes of the table are financial years, not the radng 
years. This accounts for the number of licenses issued in some of the periods being 
over the legal limit for one year. 

The Colonial Secretary issues to Jockey Clubs permits to use 
the totalisator. The Clubs charge investors 10 per cent, on their 
investments. These two shillings in the pound are deducted 
from the total sum invested in the totalisator ; 2^ per cent, of 
this goes to the Government, and is included in the general 
revenues of the Colony. 



UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAld PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON. 



^J 



1 



^ 



'-I 



1 ' 



Of, 



THE NEW 
RBF 

This book is 
tak 


YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
BRBNGB DEPARTMENT 


nnder no oiroumttanoes to be 

en from the Building 

1 


 




r 
1 






. 






* 




















t 






















































form tl« 







"Tf 



ii. 






i 



I