Part 21

The following morning I looked out upon a sandy track which represents the main street of Coolgardie. It was already a scene of some animation; camels, driven by Afghans, were carrying their heavy burdens in and out of the town; aborigines, with their wives and children, in all their degraded ugliness, were passing to and fro; and bustling merchants and clerks were hurrying past on bicycles to their various occupations. The houses of Coolgardie are built of a framework of wood, covered with a sheeting of galvanised iron. The town is entirely dependent for all its supplies on the outside world, as the country, within a radius of at least one hundred miles, will produce food for neither man nor beast. The question of water supply, even for domestic purposes, was until recently a great difficulty; but several fresh water wells have been sunk which, together with the output of numerous condensers, give an ample supply for the town. The rainfall is very small, and too irregular to be depended upon. The sky is often overcast for weeks and rain threatens daily, but the clouds gradually disperse and leave the land as parched as before.

Strolling out of the town we found ourselves {309} on the outskirts of a mining district. As far as the eye could see, the country was studded with tents, mining shafts, and condensers, and the soil was everywhere raised in irregular heaps. For miles around every sod of earth has been turned over and put through a blower in the search for the alluvial gold which has been found there in great quantities. We came upon an old man who said that the land upon which he was working had not been thoroughly sifted, and showed us a few grains of gold which he had obtained as the result of his labours. A little further on we came to some mines, and my companion pointed out and explained to me the machinery by which the gold is separated from the stone. A return of an ounce of gold to a ton of quartz is, speaking generally, regarded as satisfactory, but many other factors have to be weighed in the consideration of the question whether a mine is likely to repay the outlay upon it, such as the width and probable extent of the reef, and the possibility of obtaining an adequate amount of water for working the machinery. I gathered that there could be no doubt as to the richness of the reefs on several of the goldfields of Western Australia, but that, on most of them, the great difficulty has been, and still is, the inadequacy of the water supply.

We did not remain long at Coolgardie, but continued our journey to Kalgoorlie, a small township twenty-four miles from Coolgardie and {310} the centre of the field where my companion had to do most of his work as a mining expert. We travelled by coach in the early morning and had a further experience of the discomforts of a rough and heavy track. Kalgoorlie was a repetition of Coolgardie, on a smaller scale. Both are the creation of the last few years and must not be judged by too high a standard. The town authorities have done their best to procure good sanitary conditions and have been aided by the Government, who give, as a subsidy to municipalities, one pound for every pound raised from general rates, and have also assisted them in the erection and maintenance of hospitals; but the lack of funds has retarded improvements which the authorities have been anxious to carry out. We arrived at Kalgoorlie on a Sunday, and noticed that the inhabitants, most of whom are adults, bachelors or married men separated from their wives and families, were loitering about with every appearance of utter boredom.

From the town we walked to one of the neighbouring camps where my companion had acquaintances. These camps offer a much pleasanter life than that in the towns. Each forms in itself a small settlement of large canvas tents fitted up by the residents, who have a common mess and every opportunity of leading a sociable life. At the camp which we visited we found several of the men disporting themselves in hammocks in an arbour made of {311} closely plaited branches of trees, which kept off the heat of the sun and admitted a cool current of air. In the course of conversation it was arranged that we should visit several of the mines on the following day.

In the morning we visited a mine upon which little had, so far, been done. We were placed at the top of the shaft in a small cage, by which we were let down to a depth of a hundred feet. Then we were led along a labyrinth of passages from which my companions gathered the direction and extent of the reef, and we were shown various points at which the gold, which was of a coarse character, could clearly be seen in the stone. In the afternoon we visited another mine which was of more interest to me. A shaft had been sunk to a depth of two hundred feet, at which level water had been struck, and the miners were busily at work. Again we were let down in a cage, and wandered through seemingly endless passages, which reminded me, in my ignorance, of parts of the catacombs at Rome, as nothing appeared to the unsophisticated eye but the bare rock. The gold was very fine, and only visible to us when the foreman struck off a flake and pointed it out to us glistening in minute particles in the quartz. He told me that ordinary miners earned L3 10s. a week, those working in the water at the low level L4, but that they could not live on less than L2, and, even so, only in the roughest way. The life is, however, not an unhealthy one, {312} as the mines are, to judge from those that I visited, well ventilated. The mine and other surrounding properties have created a thriving settlement; well-built offices have been erected, hundreds of men are employed, and the ear is continually greeted by the din of machinery. In the evening we returned to Kalgoorlie and heard, near our hotel, a service held by the Salvation Army in the centre of the street. A large group of loungers stood around, moved neither to ribaldry nor attention, but apparently listening in complete indifference to the passionate pleadings of the preachers. Some yards away a mining agent was doing a brisk business in shares.

A few days later I retraced my steps to Coolgardie, and thence to Perth. On the homeward journey I had experiences of much discomfort. On the coach between Coolgardie and Bullabulling, I managed, as on the previous occasion, by a private arrangement with the driver, to secure the box-seat, in order to be at an elevation from the dust. But the wind was behind us, and we were soon enveloped in such a cloud of dust that it was often impossible to see the leaders, and, as there is no rule of the road, we had narrow escapes of colliding with teams travelling in the opposite direction. Upon our arrival at Bullabulling, we found that the contractor's train contained only one passenger carriage, which was already crowded; so several of us climbed on an open luggage truck and made ourselves tolerably {313} comfortable, though we suffered from the blazing heat of the mid-day sun. My neighbour was a man who had had a most varied career. In his youth he had managed a small hosiery shop in an English Midland town; then, as his health was bad, he had emigrated to Victoria, where he had unsuccessfully carried on grazing operations. He had been attracted to Western Australia by the discoveries of gold, and had bought a waggon and team of horses, with which he had carried goods between Southern Cross and Coolgardie before the construction of the railway. He told me that the life had been very hard, and pointed out to me portions of the road which were so heavy that a progress of ten miles was regarded as a satisfactory day's work. He was then on his way to revisit the "old country," after an absence of five years. At Southern Cross we changed into the Government train, and I travelled through the night in a compartment with four others, two of whom were ill, one of them suffering from some form of ophthalmia which caused him excruciating pain and kept him the whole time awake. None of us obtained much sleep, and we were glad to reach Perth early next morning.

Thus ended my trip to the goldfields, upon which I look back with considerable satisfaction in spite of the obvious discomforts which it entailed. I found that all with whom I came in contact in Western Australia, and, I might add, in Australasia, whether they were custom-house officials, railway employes, {314} hotel proprietors or servants, had done their best to be obliging. Of the kindly hospitality of all whom I met on the goldfields I cannot speak in sufficiently high terms. They were uniformly straightforward, generous, energetic men, who gave me the impression of a good moral standard. I do not speak of the adventurers who congregate in any place where money can be made rapidly by unscrupulous methods, but of the managers, foremen and others, who are directly engaged in the development of the mines. The great curse of the mining districts, and also, to some extent, of Perth, is the absence of sufficient means of recreation. This state of things may be inevitable in the case of towns of very recent growth, but its result is, that men who have worked all day, requiring some form of diversion, find it in drink. But, in spite of the large consumption of liquor, drunkenness is rare and rowdiness almost unknown. At Coolgardie on a Saturday evening the streets were perfectly quiet; beyond some discordant strains of music, scarcely a sound was to be heard. In spite of one or two recent burglaries, life and property are scarcely less safe than in England. A bank manager who travelled with me from Kalgoorlie told me that, in starting a new branch of his bank at an outlying township, he had been obliged at first to live in, and keep his money in, a tent, but that on no occasion had he been menaced by the slightest attempt at robbery. I shall long remember {315} the sight of townships which have sprung up where a few years ago was nothing but bush, and promise to become the scene of great industrial activity, and my intercourse with some of the pioneers of the mining movement, men who have penetrated hundreds of miles into the interior of the country, have endured for years the terrible hardships of life in the bush, and have, by their untiring exertions, seconded by the influx of capital following upon their success, done much to raise Western Australia to a prominent position among the Provinces of the Southern Hemisphere.

{317}

INDEX

A

Aborigines: Constitution Bill for establishing Federation, special provisions for, 220 Maoris of New Zealand [see that title] Protection of, 158, 305 Right of possession not recognised in Tasmania and Australia, 85

Absentee Tax, assessment of in: New Zealand, 91 South Australia, 19

Adelaide, Agricultural Bureau and Agricultural College in, 20, 21

Adult Suffrage: Lower Houses of South Australia and New Zealand elected on basis of, 2, 192 Liquor legislation in New Zealand, Local Option and Licensing Committee polls placed on basis of, 198

Advances to Settlers Act, New Zealand, 99, 118

Agricultural Bureau and Agricultural College, Adelaide, 20, 21

Arbitration and conciliation in industrial disputes: New South Wales, 281 New Zealand Act, 283 Awards under, 286 Queensland, 76, 282 South Australian Act, 24, 283

Assisted Schools Abolition Act, 159

Australasian Federation Enabling Act: Queensland Bill, rejection of, 235 Victorian Act, provisions of, 230 Western Australian Act, provisions of, 233

Australasians, character of, 302

B

Batchelor, Mr. E. L., 5 Plebiscite, Bill for establishing introduced by, 29

Benevolent asylums for aged and incapable persons, 255

Betting and gaming, suppression of: New Zealand, female voters in favour of, 196 Tasmania, Parliamentary measures for, 170

Board of Land Purchase Commissioners, New Zealand, 97

Braddon, Right Hon. Sir E., 177

British capital in Australia: Co-operative enterprise due to, 248 Dependence on, causing ill-feeling towards Great Britain, 296 Financial activity arising from, 246

British fleet's protection, Australians' appreciation of, 297

Broken Hill, strike of 1891, 1892, 281

Building societies, Australian labouring classes availing themselves of, 260

Byrnes, Hon. T. J., 75

C

C.D. Act, Repeal of, advocated by female voters in New Zealand, 196

"Caucus" meetings of New South Wales Labour Party, 51

Central and Northern Queensland's separation from the South [see title Queensland]

Character of Australasians, 302

Charitable Aid expenditure for 1896, New Zealand, 116

Chataway, Mr. J. V., 66

Cheviot Estate purchased by New Zealand Government, 93

Chinese: Anti-Chinese legislation supported by Australasians, 293 Cabinet-making in Victoria, Chinese competition, 136 Immigration Act of 1887 limiting number of Chinese immigrants to Tasmania, 170

Christchurch, New Zealand, boot manufacturers' dispute, Arbitration Courts decision, 286

Churches, Western Australia, grants to, abolition of, 159

Civil Service, New South Wales: Public Service Board for investigation of all departments, 44 Royal Commission inquiry, 43

"Civis Brittanicus Sum," necessity of realising Australian unity before appreciating, 299

Cockburn, Hon. Dr., Minister of Education and Agriculture in South Australia, 3, 22, 26, 28

"Colonial," objection to term, 297

Colonial Office, Australians' resenting interference of, 298

Conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes [see title Arbitration and Conciliation]

Conflicts between Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council: Causes of contention: New South Wales: Rejection of Taxation Bill, 36 Tasmania: Female Suffrage Bill, 177 Public Works Expenditure, 178 Victoria: Additional Taxation, 124 Electoral Bill, 125, 126 Protective Tariff, 123 Right of selection upon pastoral properties, 123 Proposals for remedying, 273-276 New South Wales, 130 New Zealand--Proposed joint session of the two Houses, 131 South Australia--Dissolution of both Houses, success of, 178 Tasmania--Plebiscite, 180 Victoria: Dissolution of both Houses, 131 Royal Commission's recommendations, 129 Town and country antagonism, reflex of antagonism between the two Houses, 131 Ultimate appeal, absence of, 129

Consolidated Goldfields Company dispute, New Zealand, 286

Constitution Bill for establishing "the Commonwealth of Australia," 1891, 218 Governor-General's Executive authority, 219, 224 Failure of Bill, 227 Money Bills, authority of Senate with regard to, 222 Parliament of Commonwealth: Aboriginals, special provisions for, 220 Postal and telegraph services, &c., to be exclusively managed by, 221 Revenue and expenditure, regulations for, 221 Salary of members, 220 Senate, composition of, 219 States: Provinces to be so called, 219 Powers of, under Commonwealth, 226 Supreme Court of Appeal, 225 Tariff, uniform, to be imposed, 222 Territories surrendered by states, administration of, 221

Constitution Bill for establishing "the Commonwealth of Australia," 1897, draft of, reprint from Melbourne _Argus_, 237

Consumptive persons, Bills forbidding immigration of, 295

Continuity of representation in Australian Houses of Assembly, means of obtaining, 276

Coolgardie Goldfields: Camp settlements, 310 Coolgardie town, 308 Drunkenness and rowdiness, absence of, 314 Earnings of the miners, 311 Kalgoorlie, 309 Mines, description of, 311 Perth to Coolgardie, discomfort of journey from, 307 Population of Western Australia increasing since discovery of, 305 Salvation Army services, 312 Waterworks for supplying water from a distance, 164

Coolies [see title Kanakas]

Co-operative construction of Public Works, New Zealand, 105

Crown Lands: New South Wales, Act of 1884, means of diminishing political pressure in, 37 New Zealand: Local land boards for disposal of, 117 Sale of, 93 Western Australia--mining rights on acquiring, 165

D

Darling Downs, Queensland, pastoral industries, success of, 70, 71

Darling, Ex-Governor, proposed grant to, cause of conflict between Legislative Council and Assembly in Victoria, 123

Death Duties, graduated, assessment of in Australia, 278

Democratic Government established in New South Wales, 48

Democratic tendency: Gold, discovery of in Australia, result of, 244 South Australian democratic tendency due to Constitution, 2

Denominational Schools, Western Australia, termination of grants, 159

Dibbs, Sir George, 36, 50

Dilke, Sir Charles, 300

Domestic servants' weekly half-holiday, Bill for establishing in New Zealand, 203

Drunkenness and rowdiness, absence of among Coolgardie miners, 314

Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, 214

E

Eastern Railway, Western Australia, course of, 162

Ecclesiastical Grants, Western Australia, Abolition Act of 1895, 159

Education: South Australia: Primary and Religious Education in, alterations proposed, plebiscite taken on, 29, 274 Religious instruction in schools, 29 Secular character of, effect on working classes, 32 State system of in Australasia, 256 Western Australia--Assisted Schools Abolition Act, 159

Elective Executive: New Zealand Bill, 277 South Australia, substitution of, advocated, 26

Electoral Legislation: Queensland--Contingent vote, 176 Tasmania--Modification of Hare's System of Voting, 173 Victoria--Electoral Bill, cause of conflict between Legislative Council and Assembly, 122

Electoral Reform Policy: New South Wales Labour Party, 48, 49 Queensland Labour Party, 74

Expenditure [see title Revenue and Expenditure]

Export [see title Produce and Export Department].

F

Factories and Shops Acts, Victoria: Cabinet-making, Chinese competition, 136 Definition of factory, amendments, 133, 139 Protection of workers in factories, 137, 140 Royal Commission of Inquiry into working of the Act of 1890, 134 Shops, hours of closing, 140 Tailoresses' Union, formation of, 135 Wage Boards, appointment of, 138

Factories and workshops in Queensland, Royal Commission of Inquiry into, 77

Fair Rent Bill, New Zealand, 103

Family Home Protection, New Zealand, Act of 1895, 101

Federal Council: Abstention of New South Wales and New Zealand, from, 216 Act of 1885 establishing, 215 Permissive character of, 216 Status of, effect of Federation agitation on, 229 Utility of, causes tending to minimise, 217

Federation of Australasian Provinces: Artificial boundaries between the provinces, 299 Australasian Federation Enabling Act [see that title] Benefits of, 235 Climatic differences engendering divergence of opinions, 299 Committee appointed by House of Assembly, Victoria, to consider, 214 Constitution Bill [see that title] Federal Council [see that title] Hobart, Premiers' conference at, 227 Interdependence of Provinces, hastening establishment of, 230 Inter-provincial conference on, 214 New South Wales, Governor of, receiving commission as Governor-General of Australia, 213 Plebiscite, new Federal constitution proposed, referring to, 228 Prospects of, 236 Sydney conventions, 215 Town and country inhabitants, difference in development of, 299

Female Suffrage: New Zealand: C.D. Act, Repeal of, advocated by female voters, 196 Domestic servants' weekly half-holiday Bill, 203 Elections, Radical returns, 193 Electoral Bill of 1892 conferring franchise on all adult women, 192 Equal wages for similar work of men and women demanded by female voters, 209 Juvenile Depravity Suppression Bill, 203 Liquor legislation and prominence of temperance movement, due to, 194 Modifications of female voters' views, 207 National Council of Women, resolutions passed by, 204, 205 Sentiment, tendency of subordinating reason to, danger of Female Suffrage, 210 Totalisator, suppressing, result of, 196 Women's franchise leagues inducing female voters to support candidates on moral considerations, 205 Queensland, result of adopting in, 185 South Australia: Election to Parliament, women eligible for, 187 First elections under new franchise, 188; results of, 189 Licensed Victuallers' Act, prohibition of employment of barmaids, proposed under influence of, 191 Plebiscite [see that title] Voting privileges accorded to female electors in, 192 Tasmania: Plebiscite, proposed application of for, 177 Result of adopting in, 184 Victoria: Plural voting, abolition of, included in Bill, 186 Result of adopting in, 184

Finance [see title Revenue and Expenditure]

Financial crisis in Australia, causes of, 246

Financial extravagance in New South Wales, means of diminishing, 34

Financial statement, Queensland, 1896, extract with regard to export of home produce, 79

Foreign competition in Australasia: Great Britain, hostility towards in consequence of, 296 Labouring classes' opposition to, 294

Foreign politics, Australasians' imperialistic views of, 298

Forrest, Right Hon. Sir John, 157, 166, 253

Free trade policy of New South Wales, 212

Fremantle, Government harbour works to induce mail steamers to call at, 303

Friendly societies and savings banks, individual efforts of labouring classes demonstrated by, 259

Frozen meat industry: Queensland: Distributing agencies, 80 Financial statement of 1896, 79 South Australia, receiving depot at Port Adelaide, 21 Victoria, State advances for, 148

Fysh, Hon. Sir P. O., 178

G

Gold-mining: Discovery of gold, effect of, on Australasian Democracy, 244 New South Wales, right of mining on private land obtained by Labour Party, 49 New Zealand goldfields, roads and water-races on, Government constructing, 105 Victoria, state encouragement 147 Western Australia: Coolgardie goldfields [see that title] Crown lands, miner's rights on acquiring, 165 Inducements offered to immigrants, 165

Goldstein, Colonel, Honorary Secretary of Leongatha Labour Colony, Victoria, 151

Government advances to Settlers Act, New Zealand, 99, 118

Government Architect Department of New South Wales--designer of Crown Lands office receiving less salary than principal messenger, 44

Government Railways Act of 1888, New South Wales, means of diminishing political pressure, 39

Graduated Death Duties, assessment of, in Australasia, 278

Great Britain: Closer union with, Australians' indifference to, 298 Friendly relations with, suggestions for maintaining, 298 Ill-feeling towards, causes of, 296 Sympathy of the middle classes of Australia with, 297

Great Southern Railway, Western Australia, loan for purchase of, 163

H

Hobart, Premiers' conference on Federation of Australasia at, 227

Homesteads Act of 1893, Western Australia, free grants of land offered to settlers by, 166

Humanitarian Legislation in Queensland: Factory Act of 1896, 77 Labour Party's complaint, 74 Royal Commission of inquiry, 77

I

Immigration: Chinese Immigration Act of 1887, Tasmania restricting immigration of coloured races, 170 Consumptive persons, Bills forbidding immigration of, 295 State-aided immigration, workmen's objection to taxation for, 294, 295 Western Australian goldfields, inducements offered to immigrants, 165

Improved-farm settlements, system of in New Zealand, 111

Income tax: Assessment of in: New Zealand, 89 South Australia, 17 Tasmania, 181 Property and personal exertion incomes, difference between taxation of, 279

Industrial disputes, settling by conciliation [see title Arbitration and Conciliation]

Inter-provincial conference on Australasian Federation, 214