Responsible government in the Dominions: Responsible government in the Dominions

Responsible government in the Dominions (Vol. 2)

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1896933912

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Press

Year of publication:: 1912-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1896935052

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-238139

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 2

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: XI Seiten, Seiten 570-1100

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part IV. The federations and the union // Chapter II. The commonwealth of Australia

Collection:: Economics Books

78¢ THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV agreed that an Imperial officer should inspect the military forces of Australia. Then trouble began, for Sir H. Parkes withdrew from the arrangements for the visit, and eventually the Imperial Government sent out ir 1889 their own officer, Major-General Sir J. Bevan Edwards, who inspected and reported on October 9, in effect urging federation for defence reasons, This served as a text to Sir H. Parkes, who was now fired with a fit of federal enthusiasm, and a conference of accredited delegates was held in February 1890 at Mel- bourne to pave the way towards federation. It was followed by a conference! at Sydney in March-April 1891, which passed resolutions laying down the basis on which federation must proceed. It was agreed that only so much power was to be handed over to the federal body as was necessary for the purposes of federation ; that no state should be divided without its consent ; that there should be free trade through- out the states, and that there should be one customs tariff, and that military and naval defence should be a federal matter, and committees were appointed to draft a federal constitution which now forms the basis of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia. It was also agreed that the procedure to be adopted was that each Parliament of the Colonies should consider the draft Constitution, and if three accepted it the Imperial Government should be asked to enact it for those which accepted it. But there was unexpected delay in carrying out the scheme. In New South Wales Sir H. Parkes found himself in political difficulties, and, though he managed to carry on for a time, his resignation was succeeded by the advent to office of Mr. Dibbs, who was rather in favour of a union, and suggested in 1894 a scheme to unify the Colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, ' Seven delegates from each Colony were sent (three by New Zealand)— asually five of the Assembly and two of the Council—under the authority of local Acts passed in 1890 (in Western Australia in February 1891). * Mr. Reid condemned the draft for the excessive powers of the Senate and the omission of any provision rendering essential responsible govern- ment. Queensland, Western Australia, and New Zealand did nothing, Cf, Jenks, Government of Victoria, pp. 389-96, who advocated the abandon- ment of responsible government (cf. pp. 375-84).

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