Part 5 (1/2)

The restriction of the immigration of coloured races--Betting and lotteries--The adoption of a modification of Hare's System of Voting--Conflicts between the two Houses of Parliament--Finance and taxation--Land Grant Railways.

The session of the Tasmanian Parliament in 1896 was of a quiet character as far as the Ministerial programme was concerned. Measures were introduced, among others, for the extension to certain coloured races of the restrictions imposed upon the immigration of the Chinese, for the better suppression of public betting and gaming, for the inspection of certain products intended for export, for the consolidation and amendment of the electoral laws, and for the reference to a plebiscite of disputes between the House of a.s.sembly and the Legislative Council.

The first of these measures was introduced in pursuance of a resolution pa.s.sed at the Premiers' Conference at the commencement of the year, and was based upon the Chinese Immigration Act, 1887, which limits the number of Chinese, not being {171} British subjects, that may be brought to Tasmania in any vessel in proportion to its tonnage, and throws upon the masters of the vessels the duty of paying a capitation fee of 10 for every such Chinaman that they introduce into the Province. It was proposed to apply this provision to ”all male persons belonging to any coloured race inhabiting the Continent of Asia or the Continent of Africa, or any island adjacent thereto, or any island in the Pacific Ocean or Indian Ocean, not being persons duly accredited on any special mission to Her Majesty by the Government or ruler of any country, state, or territory, or to Tasmania under the authority of the Imperial Government.” The Bill, which also exempted from its operation the native races of Australia and New Zealand, was accepted by the two Houses of Parliament, but was reserved by the Governor for the Imperial a.s.sent, which was likely to be withheld, as the measure would undoubtedly lead to the strongest protests from the j.a.panese, who will scarcely submit to be treated as an inferior race by an Australian Province. Should this att.i.tude be adopted, a considerable amount of friction may be antic.i.p.ated, as measures on similar lines have been adopted by the two Houses of Parliament in some of the other Provinces.

The Bill for the better suppression of betting and gaming should rather have been called a Bill for their regulation, as, while it aimed at the entire suppression of book-makers and betting-houses, it did not {172} interfere with the totalisator or with any lotteries which had been authorised by Act of Parliament or were carried on solely by correspondence through the post-office, and in accordance with regulations which might be made by the Governor in Council. The totalisator is now to be found in all the Australasian Provinces except New South Wales and Victoria; in the latter its adoption has widely been advocated, but has been opposed by the clergy, who have entered into an unconscious alliance with the book-makers. The organisers of the large ”Tattersall” Sweeps, which are worked from Tasmania and attract subscribers from all parts of Australasia, will also be unaffected by the Act; to a certain extent they will even be benefited, as they will be freed from the compet.i.tion of many of their more humble rivals.

The measure dealing with the inspection of exported produce was deemed advisable on account, partly of the proposed action of other Provinces in regard to Tasmanian fruit, partly of the importance of enabling Tasmanian producers to obtain an official certificate of the quality of their produce. In outside markets, it was contended, in which the Provinces come into compet.i.tion with each other, dealers gave the preference to, and paid higher prices for, imports which had received the imprimatur of the Government stamp. The interests of the community also would be protected against those of selfish and dishonest traders.

It was, therefore, {173} proposed that all dairy produce, fruit, or timber intended for exportation should be examined by an inspector, and should not be s.h.i.+pped until he had certified that it was sound, free from disease, and likely to reach its destination in a good state of preservation. The Governor in Council was also authorised to make regulations for the inspection of the s.h.i.+ps in which such produce was to be carried, for the protection from unnecessary suffering of live stock when carried by sea, and for the branding and s.h.i.+pment of products approved of by an inspector for exportation. The Bill was read a second time in the a.s.sembly on the understanding that it would be referred to the persons who would princ.i.p.ally be affected by it, and was so unfavourably received by them, and especially by the fruit-growers, that it was shortly afterwards dropped. In several Provinces inspection has been accompanied by a system of bonuses to producers, but in this respect Tasmania has taken no action.

Substantial bonuses were, however, offered some fourteen years ago to manufacturers of considerable quant.i.ties of sugar, sacking, and woollen goods, but of these the last alone has been claimed.

Tasmania has not followed the example of New South Wales and South Australia in the adoption of manhood or adult suffrage and the abolition of plural votes, but has pa.s.sed a new Electoral Bill which adopts a modification of Hare's system, and thus secures a considerable representation of the {174} minority in both Houses of Parliament. It provided, as introduced, that the two princ.i.p.al cities, Hobart and Launceston, which return, respectively, six and three, and four and two, representatives to the a.s.sembly and Council, should thenceforward be single const.i.tuencies, and that ”each elector shall have one vote only, but may vote in the alternative for as many candidates as he pleases; and his vote shall be deemed to be given in the first place for the candidate opposite whose name in the ballot-paper the figure 1 is placed; but in the event of its not being required to be used for the return of such candidate, it shall be transferable to the other candidates in succession, in the order of priority indicated by the figures set opposite their respective names; and the elector shall insert opposite the names of the candidates for whom he wishes to vote, the figures 1, 2, 3, and so on, in the order of his preference.” The method by which the returning officer was to decide who were the successful candidates was so complicated as to require two pages of the Bill for its explanation. Briefly stated, it was as follows: the total number of votes divided by the number of representatives being the ”Quota” necessary for the election of candidates, the returning officer declares the candidates who have a number of first votes equal to or greater than the quota to be elected; he then notes how many of the second votes on the papers of the successful candidates are given to each of the other candidates, {175} and distributes the surplus votes among them in accordance with their respective proportions. One or more additional candidates are probably thereby elected, and the process is repeated until the requisite number are elected or a further quota is no longer reached. In the latter case, the candidate who has the smallest number of votes is excluded, and the second votes of those who supported him in the first instance are counted to the other candidates. The second votes of the candidates who successively become lowest on the list may be distributed, as often as may be necessary, among the remainder; in this manner a final result must at length be obtained. The a.s.sembly provided by an amendment that each elector should vote for as many candidates as there were vacancies, while signifying the order of his preference; the Council reduced the number of requisite votes by one-half, and limited the operation of the Bill to the next general election. A doubt was expressed whether the benefits would counterbalance the additional trouble and inevitable confusion which would attend the first application of the new system.

It was also contended that, among a population of not more that 160,000 persons, if the experiment were worthy of a trial, it should be extended to the whole country. The only other electoral peculiarity that I have noted in Australia is to be found in Queensland. Under an Act of 1892 which deals with the election of members of the a.s.sembly, an elector may ”indicate on his {176} ballot-paper the name or names of any candidate or candidates for whom he does not vote in the first instance, but for whom he desires his vote or votes to be counted in the event of any candidate or candidates for whom he votes in the first instance not receiving an absolute majority of votes.” These contingent votes are not counted unless the requisite number of candidates fail to obtain an absolute majority of all the primary votes; they are of no value where the candidates are not in the ratio of more than two to one to the vacancies, as it is provided that in such cases the candidates who receive the greatest number of votes shall be elected.

It is a noteworthy fact that the four Provinces, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, which decided in favour of popular election of the delegates to the new Federal Convention and the subsequent approval or rejection of the Draft Const.i.tution by a direct popular vote, are those in which the Ministry advocate a plebiscite for the settlement of disputes between the two Houses of Parliament. The acceptance of the Federation Enabling Bill by the Legislative Councils of these Provinces must weaken the moral force of their opposition to the plebiscite, as it may reasonably be argued that, if the people can be trusted to give an intelligent vote upon the most important of all Australian problems, they can still more be trusted to deal with any question of current politics. In Tasmania Ministers are {177} confronted with a Legislative Council which continually amends, as well as rejects, their financial proposals, justifying its att.i.tude upon the wording of the Const.i.tution Act of 1854. The section in question states that ”all Bills for appropriating any part of the revenue or for imposing any tax, rate, duty, or impost shall originate in the House of a.s.sembly, and it shall not be lawful for the House of a.s.sembly to originate or pa.s.s any vote, resolution, or Bill for the appropriation of any part of the revenue, or of any tax, rate, duty, or impost for any purpose which shall not have been first recommended by the Governor to the House of a.s.sembly during the session in which such vote, resolution, or Bill shall be pa.s.sed.” As the right of amendment is not specifically withheld, as in the Victorian Const.i.tution, the Legislative Council a.s.sumes its possession. The case for the plebiscite was put by the Premier and the Treasurer upon the second reading of the Bill. Sir Edward Braddon stated that the financial privileges of the a.s.sembly had continually been infringed by the Council, and that, on one occasion, in reference to the Drawbacks Bill, they had almost a.s.sumed the power of initiating a money vote.

Curiously enough, the princ.i.p.al question mentioned by him as suitable for the application of the plebiscite was that of Female Suffrage, which, introduced as a private measure, had been rejected by the Council after he had failed to secure its defeat in the a.s.sembly. In the {178} preceding session, he said, the a.s.sembly had vainly asked the Council to agree to a joint dissolution of both Houses when a Bill had twice been rejected and a General Election had intervened. A similar measure, pa.s.sed in South Australia in 1881, had operated most successfully, its mere presence on the Statute Book having put an end to the deadlocks which had previously been of constant occurrence. It is probable, however, that the comparative absence of disputes has mainly been due to the democratisation of the Council, which has brought it into close touch with the feeling of the a.s.sembly; and that, in Tasmania, where the electors for the Council are only one in five of those for the a.s.sembly, a joint dissolution would produce little change in the _personnel_ of the former body. The Treasurer, Sir Philip Fysh, treating the subject historically, pointed out that the Council had thrown out year after year votes, first pa.s.sed in 1863, for the expenditure of 103,000 upon the construction of roads and bridges, and had several times rejected the Launceston and Western, Hobart and Launceston, and Mersey and Deloraine Railway Bills. They had three times refused to accept a Bill for the re-a.s.sessment of the land of the Province with a view to the imposition of a tax on unimproved values.

As regards its opposition to the proposed expenditure of borrowed money upon the construction of railways, roads and bridges, it would appear that the Council in most cases acted {179} wisely, and that the Province would have been benefited if it had persisted in its opposition. The total public debt at the end of June, 1896, was nearly 8,150,000, exclusive of 215,000 in temporary Treasury Bills and 250,000 in Local Inscribed Stock, and entailed an annual liability for interest of 313,000. Towards this amount, the works which should be directly reproductive, such as the railways and the postal and telegraphic services, returned a net revenue, after payment of working expenses, of only 26,000. It may be contended, of course, that the country could not have been developed in the absence of a large expenditure; but, as the liability forms a heavy burden upon so small a population--a burden, indeed, which might have become almost unbearable but for the valuable discoveries of minerals--the Council seems to have had abundant justification for its efforts to check the extravagant tendencies of the a.s.sembly. The Ministry, after pa.s.sing the second reading of the Bill in the a.s.sembly by a small majority, withdrew it, as there was no possibility of getting it through the Council; its introduction appears to have been due to the desire that it should be discussed at the pending General Elections. The princ.i.p.al clause provided that ”any Bill which shall be pa.s.sed by the House of a.s.sembly in two consecutive sessions of Parliament, and which shall be rejected by the Legislative Council in each of {180} two such consecutive sessions, may be submitted for the approval of the people of Tasmania by means of a general poll of, or referendum to, the electors for the House of a.s.sembly.” An interval of not less than six weeks was to elapse between the two sessions, and where a Bill had been amended by the Council, the a.s.sembly was to be vested with the final decision whether the amendments effected such substantial alterations as to be tantamount to a rejection, and might present an address to the Governor requesting that a Bill which had been rejected twice or substantially altered might be submitted to a general vote of the electors. A bare majority of the votes so recorded was to be sufficient to secure the enactment of the measure subject to the const.i.tutional rights of the Governor.

The placid progress of the Session was impaired by the introduction of a private railway Bill, which led to many nights of contentious debate and much hostility among the various sections in the a.s.sembly. All the railways are owned by the State with the exception of a few short lines in the Northern and Western portions of the Province which have been constructed by Mining Companies without any concessions from the Government. During recent years the Western district has become an important mining centre, and should, in the opinion of most Tasmanians, be connected by railway with either Launceston or Hobart. But the condition of the {181} finances is such, as has already been seen, that the Government cannot venture to undertake the construction of further public works unless it can be shown that they will immediately give an adequate return upon the outlay. The small surplus of the last two years was obtained at the cost of rigid retrenchment and high direct taxation, an income tax of eightpence in the pound upon incomes derived from personal exertion, and a s.h.i.+lling upon those derived from property, and a land-tax of a halfpenny in the pound upon the capital value of land. It, therefore, became necessary, if the construction of the line or lines were not to be postponed indefinitely, that the aid of private enterprise should be invoked and that concessions should be offered which would be sufficient to attract private capitalists.

In 1895 a Bill was pa.s.sed which authorised the Van Diemen's Land Company to construct a railway of about forty miles in length, which would place the West Coast in communication with Emu Bay in the North.

At a distance of eighteen miles from the latter place is Ulverstone, which is directly connected with Launceston, and the Government have a balance from loan funds which may be devoted to the construction of a railway across the intervening s.p.a.ce. The inducement offered to the Company was the right to mark off, within certain areas, twelve blocks of 320 acres of mineral land, which would be granted to them upon the {182} completion of the railway. They were limited in the charges which they might make for the carriage of pa.s.sengers and the conveyance of merchandise, were to pay a royalty of 2- per cent. upon the gross value of all minerals obtained by them in addition to the statutory income tax of one s.h.i.+lling in the pound, and were to be liable, after the expiration of twenty-one years, to the resumption of the railway and all its appurtenances by the Government at the price of 20 per cent. above the actual cost of construction. At the end of 1896 the Company had not taken the initial steps towards the commencement of the undertaking.

The proposal made by a Victorian Syndicate and submitted to Parliament during the session of 1896, aimed at the connection by railway of the West Coast with some point on the State lines in the South. In return for the construction of the railway, which would be about a hundred miles in length, the promoters asked for a concession of large areas of land along its proposed route and for considerable rights to make use of the rivers in its vicinity, which are running to waste in the greatest abundance, as sources of electrical energy. As the railway would, admittedly, be worked at a loss for many years, they based their hopes of a profit upon the probability of the discovery of minerals and upon the generation of electricity, which they would either use themselves or dispose of to companies mining on land belonging to the {183} State. The district in question, it may be stated, is believed to be of little agricultural value, but to be likely to carry minerals, though it has not adequately been prospected. After its second reading the Bill was referred to a select committee, which made reductions in the concessions, and these were further reduced, after prolonged debate, upon its reconsideration in the a.s.sembly. I have mentioned these details in order to show that, while the State was not in a financial position to undertake the direct construction of railways deemed to be necessary for the development of the resources of the country, the a.s.sembly was not unmindful of the interests of posterity, and sought to reduce the inevitable concessions to the lowest possible point.

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VIII

_FEMALE SUFFRAGE_

I do not propose, in the present chapter, to discuss the hackneyed arguments for and against female suffrage, but to indicate the progress of the movement in the several Provinces of Australasia, and to note some of the results of the adoption of adult suffrage in South Australia and New Zealand.

As regards the other Provinces, we are bound to consider the existing franchise for the election of members of the a.s.sembly in order to realise what would be the effect of extending it to women upon similar terms. In Victoria manhood suffrage would be superseded by adult suffrage; in New South Wales and Western Australia, where residence of three and six months, respectively, forms a qualification, the vast majority of women would obtain a place on the rolls; but in Tasmania and Queensland the right to exercise the franchise would be confined, practically, to widows and women of independent means.

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We are also bound to take into consideration the const.i.tution of the Legislative Council in order to gauge the full significance of female suffrage. If it is elective, as the electors must be qualified as freeholders, leaseholders, or occupiers, the vote would be confined to women of independent means and widows or spinsters in personal occupation, and, while the wife and daughters of the poor man would necessarily be excluded from the register, those of the rich man might, as has been done in South Australia, receive special gifts of freehold property which would be sufficient to render them eligible. To this extent, therefore, as in Tasmania and, to a small degree, wherever plural voting is allowed, female suffrage would const.i.tute a new property vote. Similar conditions would not prevail when the members of the Council are nominated upon the recommendation of Ministers who are subject to the control of the popular representatives.

It is probable that Victoria will be the next Province to follow the example of South Australia and New Zealand. A ministerial measure which would have introduced female suffrage, though only in the const.i.tuencies of the a.s.sembly, has twice been pa.s.sed by that House.

On the first occasion it was rejected by the Council, on the second it was laid aside on the ground that it had not been approved by the absolute majority which is required in the case of amendments of the {186} const.i.tution. Both Bills were rendered distasteful to the Council by the inclusion of a provision for the abolition of the plural vote, but it is unlikely that the first would, apart from that fact, have been accepted. Many members of the Council, I was told, are favourable to female suffrage, but would have voted in accordance with their opinion that important const.i.tutional changes should not be pa.s.sed until they have been placed before the electorate. As the life of the a.s.sembly may not exceed three years, the reference need not long be delayed.

In Tasmania, in 1896, the House of a.s.sembly pa.s.sed a private Bill containing a similar limitation to that in the Victorian measure, and was equally unable to secure the concurrence of the Council. A resolution in favour of female suffrage has been adopted by a large majority in the a.s.sembly of New South Wales, but the question has not been taken up by either of the recognised parties. The Premier may be reckoned as a personal supporter, but declines to move in the matter in view of differences of opinion in the Cabinet. Neither in Western Australia nor in Queensland does the subject arouse much interest.

Such is the state of feeling in five of the six Australian Provinces.

In South Australia an arduous contest was concluded in 1894 by the pa.s.sage of an Act which placed women upon an absolute equality with men in the right to vote for {187} members both of the a.s.sembly and of the Council. It is unnecessary to trace the history of the agitation which may be said to have commenced in 1888 upon the formation of the Women's Franchise League, though a Bill for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women of property had previously been introduced. Thenceforward it was pursued vigorously, and culminated in 1893, when the Government p.r.o.nounced in favour of adult suffrage. But the difficulties were not at an end: the Bill of that year was wrecked, mainly because its adoption was to be dependent upon an affirmative plebiscite; reintroduced in the following year without the obnoxious clause, it was pa.s.sed through both Houses of Parliament, though only by the bare statutory majority in the a.s.sembly, and shortly afterwards received the Queen's a.s.sent.

During the course of the debates the Premier, who holds the portfolio of Attorney-General, said that, if women were ent.i.tled to vote, they would have the right to sit in Parliament, and the a.s.sembly, by twenty-eight votes to eight, refused to exclude them. A doubt has since been expressed, which is not shared by the Ministry, whether they are qualified to be elected to the Council. I have not had the opportunity to read the arguments, which concern the interpretation of several statutes, but they would be of no great interest, the main point being that Parliament intended to enable women to sit in both Houses. {188} In New Zealand, on the other hand, the enfranchising Act of 1893 expressly denied to women the right of election to the House of Representatives or nomination to the Council; and the succeeding House, though elected under adult suffrage, refused to go back upon this decision. The subsequent proposal of the Premier that women should be eligible for nomination to the Council, was intended, I believe, partly as a bid for their support, partly as a means of casting ridicule upon the non-representative body.