Federal Council Act of 1867 No 7a (NSW)
No. VII.
An Act to authorize the appointment of Members
of the Executive Council to be Members of a
Federal Council of the Australasian Colonies.
[9th October, 1.867.1
| WHEREAS the Governments of New South Wales Victoria New Zealand South Australia Queensland and Tasmania respectively | agreed to depute certain of their Members to meet in Conference to |
| consider and determine the best means of establishing a satisfactory system of Steam-ship Communication between the Australasian Colonies and Great Britain for Postal and other purposes And whereas in pursuance of such agreement a Conference was held in the City of Melbourne at which certain Resolutions were unanimously passed and a certain Memorial to be addressed separately by the respective Governments to Her Majesty the Queen was unanimously adopted and it was further resolved unanimously that it was expedient to establish a Federal Council consisting of Representatives from the Australasian Colonies in order to carry into effect the Agreements embodied in the said Resolutions and the said Memorial Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows :— |
1. It shall be lawful for the Governor with the advice of the
Executive Council to appoint one or more Members of the Executiv' Council to represent this Colony in any Federal Council which may hereafter be created by the authority of the Parliaments of any two or more of the Australasian Colonies.
2. It shall be lawful for the Member or Members representing this Colony in any such Federal Council to deliberate upon vote for and give assent to any resolutions or measures that may be necessary to carry out and establish the system of Steam-ship Communication for Postal and other purposes embodied in the Proceedings of the Melbourne Conference as contained in Schedules hereto A B and C or any modification thereof not involving the annual expenditure for Ocean Mail Services of more than fifty-five thousand pounds which may secure to this Colony the benefit of the proposed system and the
| at by such Council and in any case on Address to the Governor from both Houses of Parliament the said Colony shall retire from any such | Federal |
decisions of any such Federal Council in respect to the matters set
forth in the said Schedules in which the Member or Members repre senting this Colony shall deliberate vote and give assent shall be binding.
3. It shall be lawful for the Governor with the advice of the Executive Council to do all things that may be necessary on behalf of this Colony to carry into effect the decisions of any Federal Council as aforesaid Provided that no such decision shall be contrary and opposed to any law of the said Colony.
4. Notwithstanding anything herein contained this Colony
by its Representatives may retire from any Federal Council if no
decision binding upon the said Colony has previously been arrived
Federal Council Provided that all intercolonial agreements and
contracts entered into on behalf of New South Wales then existing shall be carried out and performed by the said Colony in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
5. In the event of any other Colony or Colonies retiring from
any Federal Council and this Colony continuing to be represented in
such Council the decisions of such Council shall be binding and have
effect in the same manner as if the retirement of the said Colony or
Colonies had not taken place.
6. The Votes and Proceedings of each Session of any Federal
Council shall within one month from the termination thereof be laid before both Houses of Parliament if Parliament be then sitting and if Parliament be not then sitting then within one month after the
opening of the next session of Parliament.7. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of
October one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven and may be cited
for all purposes as the "Federal Council Act of 1867."
SCHEDULES.
S C H E D U L E A.
Resolutions u n a n i m o u s l y agreed to by the Postal Conference held in Melbourne,
12th March, 1 8 6 7 .
" 1. That any scheme of ocean postal communication agreed upon by this Con ference should, in providing for the general convenience, be so adapted to special interests as to secure the concurrence and support of all the associated Colonies.
" 2. That any such scheme will be valuable to each of the Colonies in proportion to the number of points of commercial intercourse which it shall be made to include, consistently with expedition and regularity of conveyance between Great Britain and Australia.
" 3. That the facilities, for the transmission of merchandise and for passenger
traffic ought not to be overlooked as collateral advantages.
" 4 . That the advantage of more rapid telegraphic communication, by way of
Torres Straits , commends that route to the favourable consideration of the Conference.
" 5. That the contributions of the associated Colonies to the cost of any such
general scheme should be proportioned, not so much by calculation's of the actual popu
lation or the Post Office correspondence, as on the basis of a compromise of interests and
preferences in view of a common federal object." 6. That, considering our political connection, as dependencies of the Crown, and
the interests of Great Britain as a commercial nation in the trade and progress of the Colonies, one-half of the cost of any such aggregate scheme might to be borne by the Imperial Government.
" 7. That, in the proposed federal action the Colonies of Victoria, New South
Wales , and New Zealand, are considered as possessing equal interests, which may be approximatively estimated as follows : —
V I C T O R I A . — O n the basis of population and commerce, with her general interest
in Australian progress, and her special interest in the maintenance of the
Suez route, from her undoubted priority of advantages derived from it.
N E W SOUTH W A L E S . — O n the basis of population and commerce and the same general interest, with her supposed greater interest in the Panama route.
N E W Z E A L A N D . — O n the same basis of individual and general interest, with her undoubted priority of advantages in communication via Panama.
" 8. That the interests of Queensland, governed by her geographical situation,
require a special service which does not present any considerable postal advantages to the other Colonies, but that it is not desirable that Queensland should be disunited from the other Colonics in the settlement of this question.
" 9. That the Colonies of South Austral ia and Tasmania will be least affected by
the proposed adjustment of the existing postal arrangements.
" 10 . That in order to establish a postal system, affording regular fortnightly
communication by three lines via Brisbane and Torres Straits to Singapore. via Melbourne
and
and South Austral ia to Suez, and via New Zealand to Panama, with the necessary branch services, the six Colonies represented at this Conference should contribute a moiety, not
exceeding £200,000, of the total cost, in the following proportions, viz. :—
Victoria . . . One-fourth. New South Wales One-fourth. New Zealand One-fourth.
Queensland... . . . . . . . . . . . . One-seventh. South Australia One-twelfth. Tasmania One-fiftieth.
" 1 1 . That it is expedient that the six Colonies represented at this Conference should act in concert in urging these views, and should join in a Memorial to Her Majesty, setting forth the mutual advantages to be derived by Great Britain and Australia from their adoption."
S C H E D U L E B.
TO THE QUEEN'S M O S T E X C E L L E N T M A J E S T Y .
| MAY | IT PLEASE | Y O U R | M A J E S T Y . |
The Memorial of the Undersigned most humbly and dutifully sheweth :—
That the six Colonies of VICTORIA, N E W SOUTH W A L E S , N E W ZEALAND, SOUTH
A U S T R A L I A , QUEENSLAND, and TASMANIA, by the duly accredited Representatives of their respective Governments, assembled in Conference in the City of Melbourne, approach Y o u r Majesty with feelings of profound loyalty and attachment to Y o u r Majesty's throne and person.
Y o u r Majesty's Colonial Governments have had under their consideration a Despatch from the Right Honorable the Earl of Carnarvon, one of Y o u r Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, enclosing a Treasury Minute of September the 4th, 1 8 6 6 . in which they are urgently invited in combination, to provide for the Steam Postal Service between Point de Guile and Australia, the Imperial Government engaging to pay one-half of the necessary subsidy. Your Majesty's Australasian dependencies are prepared to respond to an imitat ion so appreciative of their ability to direct their own affairs ; but they feel it incumbent on them to represent to Y o u r Majesty that a single branch service connecting them with the Ocean Postal System of India and China is no longer adequate to their wants, or sufficient to meet the demands of British interests. The rapid progress of these Colonies in population and in all the elements of national wealth, and the widely differing conditions that control their progress, not only render increased facilities of intercourse with the United Kingdom a necessity for the group, but also render it impossible to give equal advantages to all, or to avoid inflicting injustice on some, by any one service. While the productive capabilities and the commerce of the associated Colonies have attained a magnitude which it is humbly submitted, entitles them to a foremost place in the consideration of Great Britain, their geographical extent imposes upon them depriva tions and hardships which can only be alleviated by new and various means of communi cation with the rest of the world. The farther the settlement of population advances the
| greater becomes the difficulty. | Thus the enterprise of the colonists, in extending the |
| bounds of the Empire, and spreading the lustre of your Majesty's name, entails upon |
them the penalty of their more certain exclusion from British intelligence. In the early
years of Australian colonization this virtual banishment was a condition of life to be faced and endured as inevitable ; but the Colonies of the present day, as fields of production and as markets of consumption for the national manufactures, have advanced to a position which makes their intimate connection not less important to the United Kingdom than to themselves.
The imports into the six Colonies during the year 1865, as valued at the different ports of arrival, amounted to thirty-five millions sterling ; and although the estimate includes the intercolonial trade carried on by your Majesty's Australian subjects, and the imports from foreign countries, by far the greater part of this sea-borne commerce assists in sustaining the manufacturing power of the United Kingdom. Their exports— consisting principally of gold and wool—for the same period, amounted to more than
| thirty millions. | The following are the returns for the several Colonies :— |
Imports. Exports.
Victoria . . . . . . £13 ,257 ,537 £ 1 3 , 1 5 0 , 7 4 8 New South Wales 9 ,928,595 8 , 1 9 1 , 1 7 0 New Zealand 5 ,594,977 3 , 7 1 3 , 2 1 8 South Australia . . . 2 ,927 ,596 3 ,129 ,846
Queensland . . . 2 .505,559 1 ,153 ,464
Tasmania 762 ,375 880 .965
£34.970,639 £ 3 0 , 2 1 9 , 4 1 1 Within
Within the last sixteen years, the two Colonies of Victoria and New South W a l e s have produced a supply of gold amounting in value to One hundred and fifty millions sterling, five-sixths of which has been the produce of Victoria alone. The Colony of New South Wales has raised from the earth 4 , 6 1 7 , 1 0 0 tons of coal, valued at £2 ,742 ,224 ; and her coal fields, north and south of the port of Sydney, may be said to be inexhaustible. The Colonies of New Zealand and South Austral ia are eminently favoured in the rich variety of their resources. New Zealand has risen within the last few years to an im portant position as a producer of gold and wool. In ten years the Colony of South Austral ia has exported copper of the value of £4 ,751 ,638 , while the produce of her corn-fields is unsurpassed by other countries. The Colony of Queensland, in addition to her pastoral and mineral wealth, has established by successful experiment her capability of growing both cotton and sugar. Nor are the resources of Tasmania
unimportant to the British Empire. Her wool, grain, and timber, with the oil of her whale fisheries, form a valuable part of Austral ian exports. In the year 1 8 6 5 the exports of the associated Colonies, in five articles of production, which are selected for their conspicuous value to the world, amounted to more than twenty-one millions sterling. The results are given from the latest official returns :—
Wool. Gold. Coal. Copper Ore. Grain of all kind
£ £ £ £ £
Victoria 3,315,109 6,190,317
New South Wales ... 1,624,114 2,647,668 274,303 New Zealand 1,141,761 2,226,474
South Australia ... 964,397 ... ... 618,472 1,228,480 Queensland 885,299 101,352
Tasmania 381,625 ... ... ... 107,268
£8,312,305 £11,165,811 £274,303 £618,472 £1,335,748
If the position of the six associated Colonies bo tested by the number of the shipping visiting their various ports, its importance to Great Britain will bo equally manifest. The shipping returns of 1 8 6 5 for the Australasian Colonies give an aggregate of arrivals amounting to 1 ,969 ,091 tons, and 2 ,018 ,224 tons as the aggregate of departures. The following table will shew the distribution of this tonnage amongst the six Colonies :—
Inwards. Outwards. Tous. Tons.
Victoria 580 ,973 599 ,351
New South W a l e s 635 ,888 690 ,294 New Zealand 295 ,625 283 ,020
South Australia 1 8 3 , 1 0 2 1 7 4 , 1 8 8
Queensland 1 7 3 , 2 2 7 1 6 7 , 1 5 3 Tasmania 1 0 0 , 2 7 6 1 0 4 , 2 1 8
1 ,969 ,091 2 ,018 ,224
The present number of those animals most useful to man, as compared with the
number only forty-two years ago, will exhibit alike the progress and the internal wealth
of the Colonies. In the year 1 8 2 5 there were in all Austral ia , 6 ,142 horses, 1 3 4 , 5 1 9
head of horned cattle, and 237 ,622 sheep. In 1 8 6 5 the returns for the Austral ian Colonies alone were as follows :—
Horses. Horned Cattle. Sheep.
Victoria 1 2 1 , 0 5 1 6 2 1 , 3 3 7 8 ,835,380
New South Wales 282 ,587 1 , 9 6 1 , 9 0 5 8 , 1 3 2 , 5 1 1
South Austral ia 73 ,993 15S,057 3 ,779 ,308
Queensland 5 1 , 0 9 1 887 ,856 6 ,810 ,005 Tasmania 2 2 , 1 5 2 90 ,020 1 ,736,540
550 ,874 3 , 7 1 9 , 1 7 5 29 ,293 ,744
The number of Y o u r Majesty's loyal subjects in Australasia is fast approaching an aggregate of two millions, and the evidences of their successful industry and enter prise which are here recorded, though necessarily brief and imperfect, will not fail to ensure for them Tour Majesty's gracious consideration. The interests of commerce are strong in uniting the Colonies to the parent country, but stronger still is the glory of an advancing civilization which belongs to the remotest British dependency as part of a great nation under Tour Majesty's beneficent reign. Nor will Tour Majesty be insensible to those claims of the poorest of your subjects which grow out of affections that cannot be severed with separated households. The parent in England and the child in Australia, actually as well as figuratively, feel the need of a closer and more constant intimacy.
The four continental Colonies of South Australia, Victoria, New South W a l e s , and Queensland, occupy a seaboard of not less than three thousand miles, with points of settlement and traffic throughout its extent; and the Islands of New Zealand are a thousand miles distant from the Australian coast. The letters brought by the way
of
of Cape Leeuin by a mail steamer calling at any port in the Colony of South Australia, could not be forwarded from that point by any practicable means of communication to Tour Majesty's subjects at the northern ports of Queensland under twelve or fourteen days, or to the ports of New Zealand under nine. A steamer arriving by the Torres' Straits route would afford still less satisfaction, as the most populous Colonies would be the last to receive their letters. The means of communication with many important set tlements in the, interior of Australia is only by a journey of several days, and cannot, on account of cost, be more frequent than once or twice a week. I t will thus be seen that any single monthly line of steamers would leave large numbers of Tour Majesty's subjects unable to reply to their correspondence by the return mails, and that any two or more lines by the same route would fail in affording general satisfaction.
The Representatives of the several Colonies assembled in Conference, after careful and anxious consideration of the whole subject, on behalf of their respective Governments, approach Tour Majesty, and humbly and dutifully represent that, in order to meet the demands of the large and growing commerce of these Colonies, and to serve in a satisfac tory manner the complicated interests that connect them with the United Kingdom, it has now become necessary to maintain three Ocean Postal Services ; one by way of King George's Sound, one by way of Torres' Straits, and one by way of New Zealand and Panama. The last two of these routes have been opened successfully by the enterprise of Tour Majesty's subjects in Austral ia and New Zealand; and their advantages to the Colonies most nearly affected by them are too apparent to be relinquished.
The associated Colonies, by their Representatives in Conference, have agreed to contribute annually a moiety not exceeding £200 ,000 of the entire cost of maintaining these three lines of postal communication, and they are prepared to act in combination in contracting for the necessary services to open and maintain these routes in connection with Tour Majesty's contract services to India and China, and to the W e s t Indies. They humbly pray that T o u r Majesty may be advised to take such steps as may be expedient, by terminating or re-adjusting present contracts, or calling for fresh tenders for the performance of the main services, to establish the proposed United Australasian Postal System without drawing upon the limited resources of the Colonies beyond the large sum which they cheerfully undertake to pay.
T o u r Memorialists humbly urge the claims of the great Colonies they represent, to the favourable consideration of T o u r Most Gracious Majesty, and they trust that a project so closely in harmony with the spirit of British enterprise, so essential for the development of British trade, so calculated in its effects to promote the welfare of Tour Majesty's loyal subjects in Australasia, and one in which the whole of the Colonies are acting in union, may receive T o u r Majesty's Royal favour and support.
A n d Tour Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects will ever pray.
(Signed) J A M E S M c C U L L O C H , Chief Secretary, and Member of the Executive Council of Victoria.
(Signed) GEO. VERDON, Treasurer, and Member of the Execu
tive Council, Victoria.
(Signed) H E N R Y P A R K E S , Colonial Secretary, and Member of the Executive Council, New South Wales .
(Signed) J O S E P H D O C K E R , Postmaster General, and Member of the Executive Council, New South Wales .
(Signed) J O H N H A L L , Postmaster General, and Member of
the Executive Council, New Zealand.
(Signed) C R O S B I E W A R D , Special Representative of New Zealand.
(Signed) J A S . P. B O U C A U T , Attorney General, and Member of the Executive Council, South Australia.
(Signed) W A L T E R D U F F I E L D , Colonial Treasurer, and Mem ber of the Executive Council, South Australia.
(Signed) A. M A C A L I S T E R , Vice-President of the Executive Council, and Colonial Secretary of Queensland.
(Signed) ST. G E O R G E R. GORE, Postmaster General, and
Member of the Executive Council, Queensland.(Signed)
THOS. D. C H A P M A N , Colonial Treasurer, and Mem ber of the Executive Council of Tasmania.
Melbourne, 20th March, A.D. 18G7.
SCHEDULE C.
S C H E D U L E C.
A L I S T of Branch Mail Services required to connect the whole of the Australasian Colonies with the three lines of Postal Communication between Great Britain and Australasia, via Suez and King George's Sound, via Suez and Singapore, and
via Panama and New Zealand.
Aqreed to by the Postal Conference held in Melbourne, March 18th, 1867 .
I .—FOR THE S E R V I C E viaKING G E O E G E ' S SOUND.
On the arrival of the Suez steamer at Melbourne, one branch steamer to leave for Launceston and another for New Zealand. On the arrival of the same Suez steamer at Sydney, a branch steamer to leave for Brisbane. Return branch steamers to leave Brisbane, New Zealand, and Launceston, in time to reach Sydney and Melbourne respectively before the departure of the steamer for Suez.
The Adelaide Mails by this line will be delivered by the Suez steamer at Kangaroo Island, and conveyed to and from that Island and Port Adelaide by a branch service.
I I .—FOR THE S E R V I C E via S I N G A P O R E .
On the arrival of the Singapore steamer at Sydney, one branch steamer to leave that port for a port in New Zealand, and another for Melbourne. On the arrival of the latter vessel at Melbourne, either the same or another steamer to proceed to Adelaide, and a branch steamer also to proceed to Launceston. Branch steamers to return to Melbourne and Sydney respectively in time to catch a return Mail to Singapore.
I I I . — F O R THE S E R V I C E via P A N A M A .
On the arrival of the Panama steamer at Wel l ington, a branch steamer to leave
for Melbourne. On its arrival there, either the same or another vessel to proceed to Adelaide, and another branch steamer to proceed to Launceston. On the arrival of the Panama steamer at Sydney, a branch steamer to proceed to Brisbane. The branch steamers to return to Sydney and Wellington respectively in time for a return Mail to Panama.
Al l the branch services to be performed at a speed of not less than nine and a half (91/2) knots per hour. The several branch steamers to take their departure, on the out ward journey, within six hours after the arrival of the trunk-line steamer ; and, if neces sary, to wait her arrival for a period not exceeding three days beyond her due date.
S U M M A R Y .
I . — K I N G G E O R G E ' S S O U N D LINE.
1. Kangaroo Island to Port Adelaide and back.
2. Melbourne to Launceston and back.
3. Melbourne to New Zealand and back. 4. Sydney to Brisbane and back.
I I . — S I N G A P O R E LINE.
1. Sydney to New Zealand and back.
2. Sydney to Melbourne and back.
3. Melbourne to Adelaide and back.4. Melbourne to Launceston and back.
I I I . — P A N A M A LINE.
1. Well ington to Melbourne and back.
2. Melbourne to Adelaide and back.
3. Melbourne to Launceston and back.4. Sydney to Brisbane and back.
No. VIII .
0
0
0