Popular interest in the subject was kept alive by the press (which is a potent factor in political matters in Australia), and by public discussion. The advocate of the Bill worked hard, but there was in each colony a strong party of opposition. A tax of 30s. per head is levied on all cattle coming into the colony of Victoria, and it was gravely contended, on behalf of the grazing interest, that the abolition of this stock tax would reduce the value of land in Victoria by no less than £37,500,000. In New South Wales Mr Barton and a large party made splendid efforts to induce the people to accept the Bill, but Mr Reid's attitude was peculiar. For a long time he refrained from expressing his opinion. Then he made a speech in the Sydney Town Hall, so carefully balanced in praise and blame, that till the last sentence no one knew what course he proposed to recommend. He finally said that though he would vote for the Bill himself, he could not recommend others to do so, but would leave them to the exercise of their own judgment. He had, however, previously declared that if the Bill was accepted as it stood, he thought the federal capital would be certainly fixed in Melbourne, and had raised other strong objections.
The draft of the Enabling Bill, agreed to by the Premiers at Hobart, provided that in New South Wales the Commonwealth Bill should not pass unless 60,000 electors voted for it, in Victoria 50,000, and in the other Colonies in proportion. The Bill was at first passed in that shape in New South Wales, but subsequently, with the consent of Mr Reid, the minimum for New South Wales was raised to 80,000.
On June 3, 1898, a vote was taken in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania, on the Draft Commonwealth Bill, as passed by the Federal Convention in March, 1898. The voting was as follows:
