exception of Tasmania and New Zealand, on the one continent; and they possess (more by good luck than good management) the whole of that continent, and are, therefore, not troubled by the presence of any foreign element.
The inducements to federation, again, are of course very great One of the primary advantages to be derived is a common system of defence. At present each colony has its separate forces, and no force may act outside its own dominions; so that the troops could not be massed at any one point of danger under a single commander. Then there is the important consideration that an Australian Commonwealth will speak to the world with far greater weight than the whole of the colonies acting separately. It is also strongly felt by the colonists that the merely political divisions which exist might tend to grow more marked as time goes on; and that disputes between states of the same race are, like disputes in families, often embittered by the actual nearness of the parties to each other. There are some questions, such as the control of the few important rivers of Australia, which might in time lead to bloodshed, failing any other method of settlement. If one colony, for instance, absorbed so much of the waters of the rivers which flow through it as to interfere with the navigability of the lower portions, it might inflict great loss on its neighbours; a thing to which they could scarcely be expected tamely to submit. Then, again, there is a strong desire on the part of many to do away with the inter-colonial Customs duties, by which the products of one colony are heavily taxed on entering another.
For all these and other reasons Australian federation has been a matter of discussion in the colonies for many years past. It must be credited to Lord Grey that he had
