LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." j
have read with much interest the two letters that have appeared in your issues of August 4th and 18th respectively, under the heading "Queensland and the Naval Defence Bill," and shall feel obliged if you can allow me space for a few remarks in partial corroboration of a statement made by your correspondent, Mr. Hy. Ling Roth.
I have been travelling in Australia, New Zealand, and America during the past seven or eight months, and have been studying the "Chinese problem," as it has developed itself in those countries. A ten years' residence in China has enabled me to view the question in its broader aspects, and from different standpoints. Whilst in the Colonies, I lectured on various topics relating to China and the Chinese. I came into contact with the official, the merchant, and the artisan classes, and thus heard opinions from persons occupying very different social positions. I was in the Colonies when the recent anti- Chinese movement was passing through its most acute stage, and was a witness to the effect produced upon the Colonial mind by that movement. Previous to visiting the Colonies, I was an ardent believer in and advocate of Imperial Federation ; but gradually and reluctantly I was convinced that such Federation is a dream. A warm attachment is cherished towards the homeland by those who were born here and have gone out from us ; but the young Australian regards Australia as his fatherland, and for him England only exists as any other country exists which he has not visited. He complains that we do not understand him, and consequently misjudge him. He is conscious of growing strength and importance, and thinks himself competent to manage his own affairs without any advice or assistance from a distant and, as he imagines, an un- sympathetic country. When travelling on the railways, or staying in the hotels, I have frequently been asked,—" For what have we to thank England ? What is Tibet, or Burmah, or England's trade with China to us?" However such questions may be answered, they indicate the trend of Colonial thought. The Chinese question is loosening the bonds between the Colonies and England, and the ramifications of the question, however important to us, are disregarded by the majority of Australians. They have but a very small trade with China, and the possibilities of future development are disregarded or lightly esteemed. The problem of the future will be how the federated Republic in Australia may best be established, so as to preserve kind and generous feeling between England and the continent in the Southern Pacific. That ultimately "the Australians will declare themselves an independent nation," I thoroughly believe; but whether that result will be brought about through the peaceful agency of commerce, as indicated by your correspondent, I question. The indications of a growing jealousy and estrangement between Australia and New Zealand are several and striking; but I must not trespass so much as to relate them. Self-consciousness is developing very rapidly in New Zealand, and being almost a week's steaming from Australia, and possessing so much territory, she objects to being "tacked on" to Australia. Speaking generally, the article, "The Next Centenary of Australia," that appeared in your issue of January 28th of the current year (which article I read in a railway-carriage whilst travelling between Ballarat and Sandhurst, in Victoria), appears to me to depict with tolerable precision "the vision of the world and the glory that shall be."—I am, Sir, &c.,
GRAINGER HARGREAVES.
97 Grove Street, Rochdale, Lancashire.
Previous page
