the object of the great harbour works at Fremantle, and the settled desire of Sir John Forrest, his Ministers, and everyone interested in Perth, to make Fremantle the first and last port of call for the European mail steamers. The construction of this railway would be a reversion to the earlier policy of the colony, expressed by a Select Committee of the Western Australian Parliament in 1884, and revived by Dr Boyd in 1886; from which the construction of Anthony Hordern's Albany line was a departure. It is not likely to be attained for a long time under the Commonwealth, unless a distinct arrangement is made before federation is concluded, as Adelaide would probably object; and by the proposed constitution her objection would be fatal. Again, it is the desire of the Minister of Agriculture and the older settlers not to take any definite step till the local agriculturists have tightened their hold on the local market, which would mean a delay of four or five years. Sir John Forrest, on the other hand, is pledged to refer the question to the people; and though it appears that every effort will be made, even by enfranchising the women of the coastal districts for the occasion, to counterbalance the preponderant adult male vote of the goldfields, yet it seems possible that in a Referendum the voice of the Outlanders, who cannot be expected as yet to be over-jealous of the special advancement of this colony in particular, will carry the day. But I will recur to this question in a subsequent chapter. The draft Commonwealth Bill has been submitted to the criticism of a Select Committee of the local Parliament, and will go to the people with the Committee's amendments, if at all. In Western Australia, alone of the Australian colonies, politicians are unpaid. They are therefore unusually independent of their constituents. And the Government as a whole, in spite of Sir John Forrest's pledges, is clearly hostile to Federation.
