“Yes; that is another indication of the hostility between the two colonies. When the railway between Sydney and Melbourne was projected, it was impossible for the opposing interests to agree upon a uniform track for the whole distance, and consequently each colony did as it chose. The result was, that the Victorian line was of one gauge, and that of New South Wales of another. Neither passenger nor freight cars can run through from one city to the other, but all passengers and freight must be transferred at the frontier.”
“Let me call your attention to another thing while we are on the subject of colonial disagreements,” the doctor remarked. “Each of the colonies has its own postal system and each its own postage stamp. In New South Wales, a Victorian stamp would be of no use, any more than would a British postage stamp in the United States Post-office. You can prepay letters from one colony to the other in the stamps of the colony where you happen to be, but if you post a letter in Sydney with a Victorian stamp upon it, I am afraid it would go to the dead letter office, just as if it had borne no stamp at all.”
“What a pity it is,” said Harry, “that the colonies cannot reconcile their differences and come together.”
“You are not the first one, by any means, who has thought so,” was the reply. “Statesmen have been for a considerable time discussing the question of a federation of all the colonies in the same way that the British American colonies are federated. Federation would have been accomplished long ago, at least it is so claimed by the others, had it not been for New South Wales, which stands aloof from the rest principally on account of the tariff question. All the other colonies are in favor of the protection of home industries, while New South Wales, as before stated, favors a free trade policy. I saw, while in Melbourne, a cartoon representing several young women standing in a circle. All were dressed in white and wreathed with roses, and the various members of the circle were marked with the names of Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand, and West Australia. A little in the background, and leaning against the wall with one finger in her mouth as though she were angry, was a young woman dressed in black, and labeled ‘New South Wales.’ The others were evidently trying, but without success, to induce her to join the circle.
“I presume,” he continued, “that federation will come in time, and an Australian gentleman told me the other day that he believed it would be a step towards independence. He thought, as do many other Australians, that the long distance from the mother country and their diversity of interests would tend, as the years go on, to weaken the bonds between Great Britain and her Australian colonies, and that separation would be sure to come. The colonies realize their great danger in case Great Britain should become involved in a foreign war, and especially with a power possessing a powerful navy. The colonies have a military force on the volunteer system, which could no doubt do efficient service in time of war. The British government maintains a certain number of warships in Australian waters, but neither they nor the volunteer troops provided by the colonies would be of much avail against a powerful force sent here by a first-class power.”
There was further conversation upon various topics of which we have no record, and in due course of time the train reached Wodonga, the frontier terminus of the line. It halted a few minutes in the station, and then moved on to Albury, in New South Wales, crossing the Murray River on an iron bridge; Harry remarking, as they did so, that it was the same Murray, though not the same bridge, that they crossed between Adelaide and Melbourne.
Harry learned, on inquiry, that the railway line from Melbourne reached Wodonga in 1873, but the line from Sydney did not arrive at the northern bank of the Murray until eight years later. There were disagreements between the management of the two concerns, so that for three years the ends of the two railway lines were not brought together. Passengers were transferred by coaches or omnibuses, and baggage and freight by wagons, between Wodonga and Albury, a distance of two miles. At last, however, the quarrels came to an end. A bridge was built, the lines of railway were completed, and since then everything has been harmonious. Passengers from New South Wales cross the river in the train by which they have arrived, and alight in the station at Wodonga. Passengers from Victoria cross the river, and make their change of cars on the territory of New South Wales in the Albury station.
After the custom-house examination was concluded, and it was by no means severe, our friends found a fairly good hotel where they put up for the night. Then they took a carriage and drove around the town, which was evidently a prosperous one, and had the usual paraphernalia of public institutions, such as churches, hospitals, jail, town hall, etc. It is said to be the home and the place of business of a considerable number of smugglers, whose occupation is invited by the long frontier line which separates Victoria from New South Wales. A resident of Albury, with whom our friends fell into conversation, admitted that a good deal of smuggling was carried on there, and added that it would take the whole male population of Victoria to guard the frontier efficiently. Of course, smuggling, like the same business everywhere else, relates chiefly to goods where high values can be included in small parcels. No one would think it worth his while to smuggle bulky articles of small value, since it would not pay to carry them long distances on men’s backs, as most of the smuggled articles are carried.
Albury stands on the bank of the Murray River, five hundred and thirty-one feet above the sea; it is about three hundred miles from the source of that stream, and six hundred above its mouth. During the rainy season, when the Murray is at its height, steamers run up to Albury, but ordinarily the river is not navigable to that place. As our friends drove along the edge of the stream, below the two bridges which span it, they saw a small steamboat tied up at the bank, and having an appearance of idleness about it. They stopped the carriage for a few moments to inspect the boat, and found that it had been left there by a sudden fall of the river, and was waiting for the next flood to come.
“It is a very light draft steamboat,” said Harry in his notebook; “and makes me think of those they talk about in the western part of the United States, that can run on a heavy dew, or where a man goes ahead of them with a sprinkling pot. It is a side-wheel boat, the wheels being very large, but not dipping far into the water. The engine seems rather small for such a large pair of wheels, but I suppose the boat was not built for speed so much as for general utility. She has a saloon over the engines, with cabins opening out of it, and there are quarters on the main deck for the officers and crew. The rooms in the upper cabin are intended for passengers, and as there are only ten of them on each side, you can readily understand that the accommodations are limited. They told me that the steamer was built at one of the towns lower down the river, her engines having been made in Adelaide, and brought overland to the place where the hull was constructed. They also told me that the first steamer which ever ascended the Murray was named the Albury, and arrived in the year 1855. I infer, from the name of the boat, that it was owned by people living here, but on that point my informant was unable to say anything definite.”