nial premiers, meeting at Hobart, succeeded in drafting an Enabling Act providing for the election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention, and the act was submitted to the legislatures of the various colonies.
On March 22, 1897, the Constitutional Conven- tion met at Adelaide, whence it adjourned to Syd- ney and finally to Melbourne, completing its work on March 17, 1898. The constitution as drafted was submitted to the people of the colo- nies, and was adopted by a majority vote of five to one in Victoria, of two to one in South Aus- tralia, and of five to one in Tasmania. In New South Wales, 71,412 votes were cast in its favor, and 65,954 votes against it; but as the legis- lature had stipulated that a minimum of 80,000 votes or about one-third of the total electorate should be necessary for ratification, the constitu- tion was declared rejected. Queensland and Western Australia took no action in the matter. After certain changes demanded by New South Wales had been effected in the constitutional draft, the instrument was once more submitted to the people in 1899, and though opposition was still strong, the Federalists won by a decided ma- jority in New South Wales, and by increased ma- jorities in the other colonies that had previously taken action. Queensland ratified the constitution before the end of the year. Early in 1900 the constitution was submitted to the Imperial Par- liament at Westminster, and was adopted with but a single modification, to be noted hereafter. By the statute of 63 & 64 Vict. chap. 12, the five colonies which had ratified the constitu- tion were merged into the new Commonwealth of Australia, with the provision that Western Australia should be admitted to the Common- wealth on ratifying the constitution, which ac- tion it took July 31, 1900. On January 1, 1901, the new nation was proclaimed in the capitals of the former colonies, now known as original States.
The constitution of Australia is modeled obvi- ously upon that of the United States, in that it is based upon the principle formally stated, that all powers not delegated to the Central Gov- ernment were reserved to the States. During the process of constitution-making, this principle en- countered great opposition from those who fa- vored a strongly centralized State, modeled upon the constitution of Canada. The legislative power of the Commonwealth is vested in a Federal Parliament composed of the Sovereign of Great Britain or his representative, a Senate, and a House of Representatives. The Governor-Gen- eral may summon, prorogue, and dissolve Parlia- ment, which must meet, however, every year. The Senate is composed of six members from each of the States, elected at large for a term of six years. The members of the House of Representa- tives are chosen for three years, and must com- prise, as nearly as possible, twice the number of senators, but no State may have less than five members in the lower house. For the first Par- liament, New South Wales was apportioned 26 seats; Victoria, 23; Queensland, 9; South Aus- tralia, 7; Western Australia, 5; and Tasmania, 5. Parliament has the power of increasing the membership of either house, but no State may be deprived of its absolute or proportionate rep- resentation without its consent. The qualifica- tions for an elector to either house of Parlia- ment are the same as those for an elector to the
lower house in the different States. In defining the scope of the Federal Parliament the framers of the constitution did not show themselves so ardently in favor of State rights as to grudge it the excercise of wide powers. Profiting, on the contrary, by the experience of the United States in the matter of the conflict of State laws, and influenced, too, by the opposition of those who advocated a strongly centralized government, they included within the jurisdiction of Parliament such subjects as divorce, bankruptcy, and corporations, and prepared the way for the absorption of the colonial railways by the Federal Government. Closely summarized, the exclusive powers of Parliament are as follows: (1) Taxation, both direct and indirect, borrowing money on the public credit, currency, coinage, and legal tender; (2) defense; (3) the regulation of foreign and interstate commerce, including navigation, shipping, and interstate railroads, and the granting of uniform bounties on the production and exportation of goods (but each State may grant bounties for the encouragement of the mining industry); (4) banking and insurance carried on in more than one State; (5) bankruptcy, copyright, patents, trade-marks, and corporations; (6) marriage, divorce, parental rights and guardianship; (7) census and statistics, weights and measures; (8) external affairs, immigration and emigration, quarantine, the influx of criminals, naturalization, and the control of any race, other than the aborigines, requiring special legislation (this referring to the important question of Chinese and Japanese coolie-labor); (9) posts, telegraphs, and telephones; (10) astronomical and meteorological observations, coast service, and fisheries; (11) industrial arbitration in questions involving more than one State, invalid and old-age pensions; (12) the service of criminal and civil process, and the establishment of judicial comity among the States; (13) the control of the railways for the purposes of national defense, the permanent acquisition of the railways with the consent of the States involved, and the construction of new railways; (14) finally, all legislation incidental to the execution of powers specifically delegated. Any State law that is in conflict with a law passed by Parliament, acting within its jurisdiction, is void.
Legislation may be initiated in either house, but money bills must originate in the House of Representatives. The Senate has no power to amend an appropriation bill, but may reject such measure. In case of a deadlock between the two houses lasting more than three months, as when the Senate persists in rejecting a bill repeatedly passed in the lower house, or in adding amendments which that house refuses to accept, recourse is had to a dissolution and to a general election, and if the deadlock continues in the new Parliament the two houses meet in joint session and decide the matter by a majority vote. The executive power is vested in a Governor-General, nominated by the Crown, and in a council of not more than seven salaried ministers, appointed by the Governor-General and responsible to Parliament, of which they must be members. The judicial power is vested in a Federal Supreme Court known as the High Court of Australia, exercising original jurisdiction in cases involving treaties with other nations or the representatives of foreign nations, or cases to which the Common-
