cHAP. IT) THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 785
which, however, was dismissed with little attention. Mean-
while, however, a new spirit was manifested in the country ;
the Australian Natives’ Association developed in 1890 a
strong propaganda in favour of federalism, and a meeting
at Corowa in 1893 showed that the matter was passing out
of the hands of the Governments into those of the people.
The Premiers’ Conference at Hobart of J. anuary 1895
marked a further step in the process. The Premier of New
South Wales suggested, and the conference accepted, a resolu-
tion that federation was an urgent question, that ten dele-
gates chosen by the electorate from each Colony should
draft a constitution, that this constitution should be sub-
mitted to a direct vote of the electors in each state, and that
Bills for this purpose should be introduced into the several
Parliaments. A Federal Enabling Bill was drafted and
passed in five of the Colonies, in New South Wales and South
Australia in 1895, and in the rest in 1896, excluding Queens-
land, where a divergence of opinion between the Houses caused
the Bill to be lost. In New South Wales and Victoria the
number of the majority in favour of federation was to be
50,000, raised by Act No. 34 of 1897 in the former to 80,000,
in Tasmania and Western Australia 6,000, while South
Australia was ready to accept a simple majority. Western
Australia provided for the choice of the members of the
convention not by popular election as did the others, but by
nomination by the members of both Houses of the Parliament
sitting together and voting by ballot, and made the reference
of the Bill conditional on the approval of Parliament. The
tonvention thus appointed met at Adelaide in March 1897,
and the Bill then drafted was in substance that of 1891, but
there were sharp fights over questions of financial relations.
Then the Bill was remitted to the consideration of the
Legislatures, and in September the Convention reassembled
at Sydney to consider the suggestions thus made. The
larger Colonies desired more deference to the wishes of
Population and less to state rights, while the lesser states
fought to secure their autonomy. The conflicts centred
in the position and mode of selection of the Senate. Finally
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