The Land of the Kangaroo / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through the Great Island Continent

by Thomas Wallace Knox

To this the gentleman replied that he did not have the exact figures at hand, but he believed the last census gave the number of inhabitants as very nearly half a million. “Including the suburbs,” said he, “I think it is fully that, and if it had not been for the dullness of business for the last two or three years, caused very largely by the labor strikes and other disturbances of trade, I think we would now exceed the half million figure.”

While he was saying this, Ned called attention to a large house on a little eminence about half a mile away, which resembled a palace more than it did a private dwelling. As Ned pointed towards it and told Harry to look in that direction, the gentleman said:—

“That house was built ten or twelve years ago by a millionaire merchant of Melbourne. He spent a great deal of money upon it, being determined to have the finest house in the country. About the time of its completion he met with heavy losses in business, and was unable to carry out his plans concerning the grounds around the building. It was his original intention to have a park, in which he would enclose specimens of all the animals of Australia, and an artificial lake, with specimens of all the fishes of the country. He has never carried out this part of the scheme, but declares that he will do so whenever his wealth returns to him.”

“A very good scheme, indeed,” said one of the youths, “and I hope the gentleman will be able to carry it out.”

“Yes; and I hope so, too,” was the reply. “The place would be made interesting if he should do so, but, after all, you can see the same thing in the parks of the principal cities of Australia. Each has, I believe, collections of the animals of the country, together with many animals of other countries, and any one is at full liberty to go and see them.”

Houses became more numerous, and towns and villages made their appearance as the train went along. Harry observed that in some of the towns which they passed through there were imposing buildings, which seemed rather out of proportion to the number of dwelling-houses.

Their impromptu guide explained that this was the outgrowth of Australian politics. “Every town in Australia,” said he, “is desirous of having some of the public money spent within its limits. It wants a courthouse, jail, or some other public edifice, and in order to secure his election to the legislature, a candidate is compelled to promise that he will obtain the desired appropriation. These appropriations are secured by what you call in America ‘logrolling.’ That is, Smith of one town makes an arrangement with Brown, Jones, Robinson, and I don’t know how many others of as many other towns that he will vote for their appropriations, provided they will vote for his. In this way a town of five hundred inhabitants gets a courthouse and jail large enough for a population of five thousand, or perhaps twice that number. A great deal of government money has been wasted in this way, but there is no help for it as long as human nature remains as it is.”

This led to a little talk on Australian politics, in which the youths learned that the people were divided into parties very much as in England and the United States, and their quarrels were just as fierce. The party in power is always bitterly denounced by the party out of power, and the outs can always demonstrate how much better they could manage public affairs than the ins are doing it. The great questions usually before the people are the tariff and public improvements, and the fiercest fights are usually those concerning the tariff.

Protectionists and free traders are just as skillful and just as earnest as the same parties in the United States, and each can demonstrate mathematically how much better its own system is than that of the other side. The colonies are themselves divided on the subject of tariff, all of them favoring protection with the exception of New South Wales, where the free traders are in the majority.

There has been a great deal of talk about a federation of the colonies, but the stumbling-block in the way of it is the difference in the colonial tariff. Federation would have been brought about years ago had it not been for New South Wales and its free trade policy.