Maryborough, Rockhampton, Mackay, and Townsville will all be joined in due course of time, and by the land-grant system Point Parker, on the northern coast, will be included.  The next step must undoubtedly be the connection of Albany with Port Augusta on the land-grant system, and of Perth—­or rather Geraldton—­with the new settlements in the Kimberley district.  All this, I think, we may reasonably expect to be done in the next quarter of a century.  After that a line will probably be constructed across the centre of the continent from east to west, and the coastal trunk line completed along the north-west from the Kimberley district to Port Darwin, and thence to Point Parker.

Just before the last mail left with this letter, the Parkes Government in New South Wales exploded like a bomb-shell.  A fortnight after it was posted, Sir Bryan O’Loghlen wrought a coup d’etat.  On the last day of January, Victoria was amazed by the altogether unexpected news that the Ministry had advised, and the Governor granted, a dissolution.  The morning papers had not contained even a hint of such a catastrophe, and the publication of the Government Gazette containing the proclamation was the first intimation of it which anybody outside the Cabinet received.  The grounds upon which the request of the Ministry was granted were, that the House was so divided into sections of parties that it was impossible to carry on the public business; that the Parliament was moribund, having only six months to live; and that the Government, which asked for the dissolution, was undefeated.  Both the Conservatives and Liberals, and their leaders the Argus and Age, alike blame the Governor for granting the dissolution, on the grounds that the House was just as incompetent to transact business six months ago as now, and that the Government would never have applied for a dissolution but for the certain defeat which awaited them directly the House met, on account of the failure of the loan.  To me, however, it seems that the Governor was perfectly right.  Admitting the undeniable truth of the objections I have just quoted, it remains to be said that if the Government had waited to be defeated in the House, no Government capable of carrying on business could have been formed in such a House.  As it is the Government are absolutely certain to be defeated in the country, and in a new House there is every chance of a strong Government being formed.  Mr. Service, the ablest of Australian politicians, who led the Conservative Opposition to Mr. Berry’s Government throughout the constitutional struggle, and who has been on a holiday in England during the present Minister’s tenure of office, has resolved to re-enter into politics.  Although a resolute opponent of the excesses of Berryism, Mr. Service is more of a Liberal than of a Conservative, and I confidently expect that the general elections will result in a Coalition Government formed of the ablest men of either side, under Mr. Service’s