New South Wales is constantly claiming credit for its adoption of a Free Trade policy, but even this was brought about more by good luck than good management.  The circumstances which gave birth to Protection in Victoria never occurred in Sydney.  No one ever thought of such a thing.  A light tariff, founded on no particular principle, had been levied for many years for revenue purposes; when, on the eve of a General Election, Sir Henry Parkes, on the look-out for a good safe, cry, brought forward, under the seductive form of ‘remission of taxation,’ the existing tariff, which, though it manages to bring in as large a revenue as the Victorian Protectionist one, limits considerably the number of articles taxed.  This was the first strike-out in the direction of Free Trade.  The subsequent buoyancy of the circumstances of the colony, and the applause with which nearly the whole Australian press greeted the plunge, have confirmed the policy, and made it a safe political watchword.  But a great deal remains to be done before New South Wales adopts Free Trade as it is understood in England.  From the outward and visible sign to the inward and spiritual grace, is often a far cry.

In New South Wales, as in Victoria, large tracts of land have been bought up at very low prices to form single estates.  But the province is much larger than Victoria, and thus feels the loss less.  It was here that the squattocracy was first successfully attacked.  In 1861 Sir John Robertson passed an Act by which any person can select as much as 320 acres of Crown land in any part of the colony at the rate of L1 per acre, only 25 per cent. of which is payable on the spot, provided he subscribes to certain conditions of cultivation and of residence on his ‘selection.’  This Act was subsequently copied in Victoria, and is now being altered there so as to enlarge the area selectable to 640 acres.  Although often leading to great injustice, this has certainly afforded a healthy outlet for democratic passion.  The plutocracy of New South Wales have risen to wealth less rapidly than in Victoria, and have lived much more quietly and with little display.  And thus it comes about that there is very little class feeling in the colony, and politics are carried on without any more dangerous outbursts than the personal conflicts of excitable members of Parliament.

Not only does party government not exist in New South Wales, but burning questions are few and far between.  Since 1878 the lion has been lying down with the lamb, and the Parkes-Robertson Coalition Government has had to raise a powerless opposition to keep itself from death by inanition.  Personal politics are always more or less the order of the day, and Ministers are well content that as much superfluous energy as possible should be spent on petty squabbles between private members, and on such local questions as the taking of railways through certain districts, or the building of police-courts in certain townships.  Of course, when the General Election comes, they are bound to have something to swear by, and as they are not particularly troubled with either memory or conscience, they generally have no difficulty in sailing before the wind, even if they have to ’bout ship.