Among the exhibits was a trophy of that world-commanding product, wool, of which the value exported from Australia in 1908 is given in the Federal Treasurer's Budget delivered in August last as £22,914,236. The Commonwealth returns do not differentiate between the various States, but, assuming the average value of the fleece to be the same throughout Australia, the value of Queensland's share of the clip was about £5,000,000. Another product which has the world for its market is cotton. Of this article there were three splendid exhibits—one from West Moreton, in Southern Queensland; another from Rockhampton, in Central Queensland; and the third from Cairns, in Northern Queensland. Nothing save the cost of labour in picking prevents cotton being classed among the staple products of our State, and it is hoped by experts that as families upon the farms increase this difficulty will be removed. The Cairns exhibit was of Caravonica cotton, a variety of the valuable Sea Island species, concerning the extensive cultivation of which the most sanguine anticipations are expressed. In agricultural products emulation was greatly stimulated by the district exhibits, of which there were five, and on the whole they were superior to any that had ever before been shown in Queensland. Almost every product of the temperate and torrid zones appeared among the exhibits, though, of course, many of them are not yet being cultivated on a commercial scale. Among the most prominent of those of commercial value may be mentioned sugar, butter, cheese, hams, bacon, wheat, maize, fodder crops, potatoes, pineapples, and citrus and deciduous fruits, in all of which the displays were a revelation, not only to visitors from other parts of the continent and oversea, but also to many of our own people. The same may be remarked of the magnificent exhibits of gold, copper, tin, coal, and other minerals, which form so large a proportion of our wealth-producing exports. Statistics relating to the production and export of these commodities will be found in the appendices to this volume, and need not be further referred to here. Another attraction meriting special notice was the collection of gems and precious stones, the industry represented by which is at present struggling against the want of access to profitable markets; but the great interest aroused at the Franco-British Exhibition of last year by the magnificent display of Queensland gems is calculated to remove this disability, and to place the industry on a prosperous and permanent footing. The great variety of foods manufactured in Australia was another feature of the display, while in the machinery section the entries surpassed any previous exhibition in Queensland. Consequent upon the removal of border duties and the adoption of a uniform tariff, Queensland has suffered keenly from the competition of the Southern States. Statistics abundantly prove that some of our nascent manufactures have been checked seriously by such competition, although these losses are being gradually compensated for by gains in the form of enlarged free markets for products in which Queensland is safeguarded by natural conditions; but even freetraders must admit that our protective Customs duties are stimulating what are called native manufactures in a surprising degree, and that year by year Queensland and the Commonwealth at large are becoming less dependent upon the outside world for the products and manufactures which are essential to the existence of a civilised nation.
Politically, 1909 has been rather a trying year, but the result of the general election on 2nd October seems to give promise of better things in Parliament. Both the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition agree that the practical extinction of the third party by the appeal to the electorate will be beneficial to the country. The election also ratifies the fusion of parties carried out towards the end of last year, with the consequential placing of the Labour party in the position of a constitutional Opposition. These salutary changes are held to be equivalent to a restoration of responsible government, which had been practically suspended by the impossibility of any party carrying on the work of legislation without making humiliating terms with an irresponsible section. It was contended that there were three parties in the country, and that the existence of the same phenomenon in the Assembly proved it to be a true reflex of the electorate at large; but the late general election has dispelled that illusion, for on no occasion since the splitting up of parties had the issue been put in so clear-cut a form to the country. Another result of the election has been to add somewhat to the strength of the Labour members, who are now sufficiently numerous in the Assembly to give them a reasonable expectation of being called upon in due time to assume the responsibilities of government. The State must gain from the resolution of the House into two parties, for the purity and effectiveness of party government demand that His Majesty's Ministers shall always be faced by an Opposition fitted and prepared to become the advisers of the King's representative whenever the existing Administration loses the confidence of the Parliament and the country.
As mentioned elsewhere, a most satisfactory event of the year is the prospect of a settlement of the financial relations between Commonwealth and States on a durable and mutually acceptable basis. Public opinion throughout the continent is so clearly in favour of the agreement that its ratification seems certain during the present financial year, and it seems also certain that it will come into force on 1st July next. From that date there is reason to hope that the benefits of federal union will become so conspicuous as to silence cavilling opponents and justify the aspirations of its advocates. The general opinion throughout the Commonwealth with respect to the vital question of national defence has undergone a marvellous change for the better during the past twelve months, the unanimity displayed justifying the most sanguine anticipations of future unbroken concert between Great Britain and her self-governing dominions, and the supremacy of the British Empire on the ocean, a supremacy which means the protection of the world's trade routes and unimpeded maritime commerce.
[Footnote a:] As indicative of the progress made in the local manufacture of railway stock, it may be mentioned, on the authority of the Commissioner, that one Brisbane engineering firm has this year completed its 100th locomotive for the Department.
[Footnote b:] Treasury figures. The Commissioner's figures differ somewhat from those of the Treasury. In estimating the percentage return the Railway Department takes into account only the expenditure on open lines, whilst the Treasury bases its calculations upon the expenditure on all lines, and charges the Railway Department with its proportion of loan deficiencies and flotation charges.
CHAPTER II.
THE FEDERAL OUTLOOK.
Proclamation of the Commonwealth.—The Referendum Vote.—Queensland's Small Majority in the Affirmative.—Representation in Federal Parliament.—The White Australia Policy.—Temporary Effect on Queensland.—An Embarrassed State Treasury.—Assistance to Sugar Industry.—Continued Protection Necessary.—Unequal Distribution of Federal Surplus Revenue.—The Transferred Properties.—Effect of Uniform Tariff.—Good Times Lessen Federal Burden on State.—The Agreement between Prime Minister and Premiers.—Better Feeling Towards Federation.—National Measures of Deakin Government.
After several vain attempts on the part of Australian statesmen to bring about federation, the Commonwealth Constitution Act was adopted by the several States in 1899 and ratified by the Imperial Parliament in 1900; and Her Majesty Queen Victoria issued a proclamation, declaring that on and after 1st January, 1901, the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia should be federated under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia, the several colonies being thereafter known as "States." The union took place by the freewill of all the colonies, a popular vote being taken in each. The poll was small, only 583,865 electors recording their votes, of which number 422,788 voted for federation and 161,077 against, the majority in favour being 261,711. In Queensland 38,488 voted in the affirmative and 30,996 in the negative, giving the narrow majority of 7,492, equal to only 10·78 per cent. of the total votes polled. That majority was obtained by an almost block pro-federation vote throughout the Centre and North of the colony, the majority in the Southern district, which contained about two-thirds of the population, being adverse to union. There was no objection to the abstract principle or to the wisdom of a federal union—rather the reverse; but Queensland had not been represented at any of the Conventions at which the Constitution was drafted, and no provision was made, such as was made in the case of West Australia, to meet the peculiar geographical, industrial, and financial circumstances of this State. In the absence of legislative safeguards and guarantees, the unsatisfactory experience of New South Wales administration in pre-separation days led the people of Southern Queensland to doubt whether the vaunted fraternal spirit would withstand the actual attrition of business competition. They feared that the great urban populations of Sydney and Melbourne would, under the proposed democratic Constitution, secure for themselves industrial, commercial, and administrative advantages at the expense of their brethren, but none the less rivals, in the more remote parts of the continent. Believing that, though their occupations and products were the same as those of the Southern States, their interests were conflicting, the majority in Southern Queensland cast their votes against the union. Finding themselves in a minority, many of the opponents of federation deliberately refused to exercise the franchise in the first election, held in 1901. Instead of taking steps to secure the return to the Commonwealth Parliament of men who would try to avert any evil consequences arising from non-representation at the Conventions and who would oppose any unfair discrimination, the short-sighted abstention of these people from voting enabled the Labour party, who certainly did not comprise a majority of the electors, to return nine out of our fifteen representatives in the two Houses.