Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-01
A NEW REPUBLIC
OF AUSTRALIAN
COLONIES.
Mr.. Knox, Member of the House of
Parliament, Talks on the
Constitution.

MI w lllla1n hnoX, Oh llt muse
of representatives, parliament of Austria
liza. is at the Shoreham. Mr.. Knox has let
tiers of introduction to Secretary Hay. Com
missioner Mcfarland and a number of
others from the American consul. He will
spend some time in Washington and the
United States I'VE have begun life anew
he said, land have practically a new re-
public. The British parliament, you
know, in the year 1900 authorized a fedora
ton of the Australian colonies. After the
acceptance of the terms, January 1, 1901,
was fixed as the day upon which the COM
monwealth should be established and the
Earl of Hopetoun was named as the first
governor general So you we are only
a little over a year old. There are seven
colonies in the observation-disclosures, New
South Wales, Queensland, South Australia,
Western Australia and the island colonies
of New Zealand and Tasmania. The terri
tory of the new commonwealth is nearly
large as that of the United States, OK
elusive of Alaska. and the population is
nearly four million. 1t was not the inten-
ton originally to include New Zealand on
account of its distance from the mainland,
LOO miles, but it was finally included. Tas
mania is only $50 miles distant.
The New Constitution.
THE new constitution follows that of the
United States rather than that of Canada
in the distribution of state and federal
powers. The powers of the commonwealth
are limited to those defined in the consti-
tuition and in all other matters states
rights are paramount The governor gen.
eral is appointed by the crown. The gov
ernorS report directly to the secretary of
state. but the governor general is advised
of all correspondence between the COVER
nors and with the secretary of state. The
ne
ment shall consist of the king, senate ard
a house of representatives. The senate
consists of six members from each of the
seven states, which number may be in
creased or diminished long as each state
is given the same number of representa-
tiVeS. Senators are chosen for six years,
as In the United States. The house of rep
resentatives has twice as many members
as the senate, and the number for each
state is in proportion to the population, but
not less than five for any state. The quail
ficattonS of members and electors are about
the same in the United States The
house shall continue for three years I'M
less sooner dissolved. and it may increase
or diminish its membership under the
stitution.
parliament has the power to make laws
for trade, taxation, bounties, loans postal
service, navy and army, statistics, cur
rency, banking, corporations, insolvency,
divorce, marriage, old-age pensions, imm-
grafton and emigration, railways about all
the powers the Congress of the United
states possesses and a good many more.
Financial Measures.
Financial measures cannot originate nor
be amended in the senate. The senate may
return measure with a request for an adj
dition or an omission. The two houses in
other respects have equal powers New
bills may not be tackled on as amendments
In case of a deadlock the two houses sit
as one body, and majority carries the
al mo
sent, Withhold assent reserve the bill I'M
signed or return it with recommendation.
The executive power is vested in the king,
who is represented by the governor general
IN council. He appoints the minister of
state The departments of customs and
eXicse are in the control of the common
wealth, the states transferring their pow
ers. Courts of original and appellate ju-
r1sdiction are established The common
wealth collects all the customs. which shall
be uniform, and intercolonial free trade is
provided for within two years after Janu-
airy l, 1901. Western Australia alone is
exempt from this provision, being given
five years, with a reduction of one-:ifth
each year, to get rid of her tariff An in
terstate commission is appointed to regu-
late trade and commerce and prevent dis
examinations by one state against another
Admission of new states and other col
on1es is provided for The constitution NAV
be amended by absolute majority of
each house, the amendment to be submitted
to the electors. If in majority of the
states majority of the electors approve
it, the amendment is adopted. The consti-
tuition provided that the parliament should
meet at Melbourne until it meets at the
new capital, which must be in New South
Wales, not less than 100 miles from Sid
ney-''