beyond a little skirmishing over matters of detail,
it passed through both Houses with as little excitement
as any petty measure. Public opinion has also
declared itself in favour of imposing a tax either
on income or on property, which is felt not to be
paying its fair share towards the Government of the
country. A land-tax was talked of, but in view
of the re-action on the land question, which has extended
in a modified shape from New South Wales, and of the
present distress of the landed interest, such a tax
is not likely to be imposed. Certain it is that
additional revenue to meet the interest on the money
borrowed for public works must be raised from some
source. The land revenue, which had been used
for ordinary revenue purposes, is now beginning to
drop; and since the colony is but slightly taxed,
in comparison with its neighbours, it has no reason
to grumble at an increase of taxation. Amongst
the more important measures passed last session, was
one for providing compensation for improvements to
selectors surrendering their agreements, and for remission
of interest to those who have reaped under a specified
average during the last three seasons. Another
sets apart a million of money for making a railway
to the Victorian border to place Adelaide in communication
with Melbourne. The distressed condition of the
selectors, who have taken up land in country which
all experts pronounced unfit for agricultural purposes,
except in exceptional seasons, will necessitate a
measure next session to give special advantages for
improved cultivation. Here also, as in New South
Wales, the antagonism between the squatter and the
selector, though less pronounced, is beginning to
be found artificial. Owing to the clause in nearly
all pastoral leases which provides for the resumption
of all lands leased for pastoral purposes at three
years’ notice, and the want of inducements to
capitalists to open up the interior, local capital
is travelling over to Queensland. The probability
is that the impossibility of selection beyond a certain
area will be recognised, and special inducements will
be offered to persons wishing to depasture unused land
in the centre of the continent. There is some
talk of a trans-continental railway between Adelaide
and Port Darwin, which a syndicate has offered to
construct on the land-grant system. But it looks
as if the Government, which will never for years be
able to construct the line itself, were unwilling
to allow anybody else to do it.
The present Ministry, like its predecessor, which lasted four years, is eminently respectable. The Premier, Mr. Bray, has shown himself to be one of the best leaders of the House ever known in Adelaide. The Minister of Education, Mr. Parsons, is distinctly able. The Treasurer, Mr. Glyde, represents caution, and the Minister of Public works, Mr. Ramsay, shrewdness and enterprise. Altogether it is a strong combination of administrative ability, and in Messrs. Bray and Parsons it has two good speakers. It cannot be