PREFATORY NOTE.-These Notes were written in response to a desire expressed in different parts of Australia that I should write something in the nature of a short statement or exposition of the general subject of Australian Federation ...
It follows from what has been said that a first matter for consideration in determining the nature of a Federal Union of autonomous States is "What powers are they willing to surrender to the Federal Authority?" It may be said generally that the subjects which naturally fall within the sphere of federal control have reference mainly to external relations, internal commerce, defence, the status of citizens, and the general government of the Federation with respect to matters of common concern.

It may be convenient, by way of illustration, to give the list of subjects which by the Draft "Commonwealth Bill" adopted by the Convention of 1891 were proposed to be assigned to the Federal Parliament. It is as follows (Ch. I. S. 52) :

1. ... Trade and Commerce;
2. Customs and Excise and bounties ...;
3. Raising money by any other mode or system of taxation ... ;
4. Borrowing money on the public credit of the Commonwealth;
5. Postal and Telegraphic Services;
6. ... Military and Naval Defence ... ;
7. Munitions of War;
8. Navigation and Shipping;
9. Ocean Beacons and Buoys, and Ocean Light-houses and Light-ships;
10. Quarantine;
11. Fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits;
12. Census and Statistics;
13. Currency ... ;
14. Banking, the Incorporation of Banks, and the Issue of Paper Money;
15. Weights and Measures;
16. Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes;
17. Bankruptcy and Insolvency;
18. Copyrights and Patents ... ;
19. Naturalisation and Aliens;
20. ... Foreign Corporations;
21. Marriages and Divorce;
22. ... Civil and Criminal Process and Judgments ... ;
23. ... recognition ... of Laws ... of the States;
24. Immigration and Emigration;
25. The influx of Criminals;
26. External affairs and Treaties;
27. ...relations to ... Islands in the Pacific;
28. River Navigation;
29. The control of Railways with respect to transport for the purposes of the Commonwealth;
30. Matters referred to the ... Commonwealth by the ... States ... ;
31. Commonwealth territories;
32. Any matters necessary or incidental ...

The question of the immigration of the coloured races is both a political and social question, and involves important issues in both aspects. It seems necessary that the ultimate power of dealing with the matter should be left to the Federal Legislature, for it may give rise to difficult political problems seriously affecting the external relations of Australia; and the question of the character of the future civilisation of any part of the Federation concerns the whole of it. There may, however, be reluctance on the part of the people of the Northern part of the Continent to entrust the uncontrolled exercise of this power to a Legislature in which the majority would necessarily represent the people of other parts differing in climate and natural conditions, and might have no adequate knowledge of the real nature of the social and material aspects of the problem with which they were called upon to deal. But the probability is that the representatives of the Nation would rise to the occasion, and would decline to do any act that might inflict disaster on any part of the Continent merely in obedience to a popular cry. The gravity of the matter with regard to both external and domestic consequences would be felt to be so great that it could not fail to exercise that steadying influence which the undertaking of great responsibilities has almost always exercised amongst the British race.

Perhaps, all that can at present be asserted with confidence on this subject is that the future social history of Nothern Australia will depend upon the effect which its climate produces on the European race, an effect which is still quite problematical, and on which little, if any, light is thrown by history. This is, indeed, so obvious to unprejudiced observers that it may be anticipated, with some degree of confidence, that a Federal Parliament, imbued with a due sense of its responsibility, would not, until it is in possession of much fuller knowledge than is at present attainable, permit any action which would either result in the general substitution, within any part of the territory under its control, of Asiatic for European civilisation, or in the definite condemnation of any part of that territory to barrenness and desolation ...

IX.-THE FEDERAL CAPITAL

The Federal Capital should be central, easily accessible, and not unduly exposed to the risks of war or invasion. And its climate should not be such as to render it an undesirable place of residence.

The framers of the Constitution of the United States were of [the] opinion that the capital should not form part of the territory of any State, but that the Federal Legislature should have exclusive power within it. The reasons for adopting this view are thus stated by Madison:

The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the seat of Government carries its own evidence with it. It is a power exercised by every Legislature of the Union, I might say of the world, by virtue of its general supremacy. Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted, and its proceedings interrupted with impunity, but a dependence of the members of the general Government on the State comprehending the seat of Government for protection in the exercise of their duty might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonourable to the Government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy. This consideration has the more weight as the gradual accumulation of public improvements at the stationary residence of the Government would be both too great a public pledge to be left in the hands of a single State, and would create so many obstacles to the removal of the Government as still further to abridge its necessary independence".

Federalist, No. XLLIII

If the seat of Government were a populous city, the dangers, anticipated by Madison, of interruption, awe, or influence, would be intensified. The final selection of the Australian Federal Capital will probably rest with the Federal Legislature; but the weighty arguments of Madison may be expected to have due effect. If this should be so, it is unlikely that any of the present great Australian capitals would be selected, or even that the people of any Colony in which any such capital is situated would desire its selection, inasmuch as the withdrawal of so large a population from the State would largely diminish its representation in the popular House of the Legislature, and that population would be deprived of a direct voice in the national Government. These considerations may lessen the alarm which is sometimes felt as to the possible dangers to be anticipated from an undue aggrandisement or influence of any single city in the Federation which might become the Federal Capital.

X.-FEDERAL FINANCE

Every State must have at its own direct command sufficient sources of revenue to enable it to defray the cost of government. The principal objects of Federal expenditure, in addition to the salaries of the Head of the State, and of the Ministers and officers of the State Departments and the Judiciary, and the cost of collection of the revenue, would be the administration of the Post and Telegraph departments, Defence, and Marine Lights and Beacons. The sources of revenue would, it must be assumed, include the Customs and Excise duties, as well as the revenue from Posts and Telegraphs ...

XI.-STATE FINANCES

The effect of Federation, as soon as a uniform tariff was established, would be to deprive the separate States of all power to impose Customs and Excise duties. They would also be relieved of the expense, and deprived of the Revenue, of the Post and Telegraph Department. All other sources of Revenue would be open to them. But these would all be in the nature either of payments for benefits or services, or of direct taxation, the advantages and disadvantages of which, as compared with indirect taxation, must vary according to time, place, and circumstances ...

XIII.-GENERAL POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF FEDERATION

The first effect in point of importance, ... will be the creation of an Australian nation ... having one mind, speaking with one voice instead of the six, often discordant, and sometimes inarticulate, voices now heard, consulted on all matters of Imperial concern, and exercising a powerful influence in the political affairs of the whole world ...

Yet it is not extravagant to anticipate that a powerful autonomous State ... would possess material attractions that cannot be found in small and isolated communities. An Australian travelling out of his own country would meet other men with a different feeling-a firmer sense of equality. And, when at home, his vision would no longer be limited to his own corner of the continent, but everything affecting the welfare of any part of it would interest him. The effect on his whole character could not be unimportant. Refer Defence.

The Defences of the continent would be put in the hands of a central and competent authority, and the maintenance of internal order would be effectually secured. There are, undoubtedly, many persons who cannot be brought to regard the necessity for defence as a real one, but they are probably a small minority. The era of war is not yet over, and the hunger for territory which might be gratified by the annexation of some part of unoccupied Australia is not yet satisfied.

The establishment of a Federal Court of Appeal might be expected to bring about a greater confidence in the speedy and inexpensive administration of Justice. The SOCIAL EFFECTS would probably be considerable. The Federal Capital, at which the leading men of the nation would be resident, and where the work of the Government would be carried on, might be expected to form a real centre of social and intellectual life in Australia.

The most important of the MATERIAL EFFECTS of Federation would probable be those which would follow from making "trade and commerce absolutely free" within the Federal territory, as must inevitably happen when a uniform tariff is established for the whole Federation. This means the abolition of such Customs duties as have the effect of protecting the industries of one Colony against those of another. Those who believe in Freetrade would hail this result as an unmixed good. Those who favour the doctrines of Protection would regard it as a necessary evil incident to Federation, and some of them as so great an evil as to turn the scale against all its advantages.

If trade and commerce were absolutely free, the sugar, rice, fruit, and cattle of Queensland would have free entrance into all the other Colonies, which would be of advantage to the producers of those articles. On the other hand, the wines, cereals, fruits, and manufactures of the other Colonies would be imported free into Queensland; and the Queensland producers of these things would be deprived of whatever advantage the present duties may give them over their neighbours. Similarly in the case of other Colonies ... There being a fair field and no favour, the energies of the people would naturally and necessarily come to be directed to those industries in the prosecution of which the conditions of Nature and locality give them an advantage over their neighbours.

The greater facilities for TRAVEL that would be afforded by the abolition of intercolonial customs barriers might be expected to bring about a large increase of intercourse between the people of the several Colonies, with a corresponding increase in their acquaintance with one another and with the different parts of the Continent. The effects, both social and material, of such an enlargement of knowledge and extension of movement could not fail to be highly beneficial. The present lack of more general acquaintance and intercourse is, indeed, probably, one of the most serious obstacles now existing in the way of Federation.

In this brief forecast of the effects of Federation, the element of the political views that may probably be prevalent in an Australian Nation has, of necessity, been omitted from treatment. The sole object has been to assist the reader in forming a more or less definite idea of the conditions of political, industrial, and social life that may be looked for in an Australian Nation. Brisbane, July, 1896.