STEPS TO IMPERIAL FEDERATION.
integral portion of the British Empire or not. It is true that, thanks mainly to the large-hearted patriotism of Mr. Dalley, an Australian contingent had been dispatched to the Soudan; but the feeling of loyalty to the Empire, of which the contingent was the evidence, was severely shaken by the way in which the Home Government had treated questions of paramount interest to Australia—the New Guinea question, the New Hebrides question, and the transportation of French convicts to New Caledonia. Many in this room will remember that the annexation of the south-east part of New Guinea by the Queensland Government was disallowed by the authorities at home; that the Germans then annexed the north-east portion of the territory which Queensland had claimed, and that thereupon the Colonial Office, stultifying its own previous action, annexed the remainder. It is not remarkable that at the time of which I speak there was great dissatisfaction with the method in which Australian interests were handled by the Imperial Government. Young Australians were undoubtedly then looking to Australia becoming an independent Empire in the Southern Seas. In 1896 I was in Australia again, on a visit to my father, then Governor of the Colony of Victoria. Young Australia, as represented by the Australian Natives Association, which in 1887 had been for separation, was in 1896 devotedly loyal. The idea that Australia was to become an independent Empire had given place to the universal conviction that Australia could better secure the well-being of her people, and could better work out her destinies under the British Flag. But even in 1896, there was considerable grumbling at the small contribution made by the Aus-
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