Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

411 AUSTRALASIA.Norfolk, over five times larger than Lord Howe, is also relatively moredensely peopled. At the time of its discovery by Cook in 1774 it was uninhabited;it was afterwards chosen by the British Government as a convict stationfor the more desperate class of criminals, who were at first treated with frightfulrigour, many of the unhappy wretches being shot down within the very precincts ofthe church. Later several more or less successful experiments were made in NorfolkIsland on " the reformation of criminals." But the station was abandoned in 1842,and the island again remained uninhabited till the year 1856, when it was cededby the Government to the Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of British mutineerswho had married Polynesian women and overpeopled their native island.These half-castes, who now number over six hundred, enjoy self-governmentunder the presidency of an elected magistrate, but really controlled by Anglicanmissionaries, who have here founded a large school for about two hundredyoung students brought from Melanesia. The results of this system of isolationand strict control have not been satisfactory : the natives have lost the spirit ofself-reliance and enterprise, and have become cringing hypocrites with no industriesor manly pursuits. Even agriculture decays, and in 1885 not more than150 acres were imder cultivation. The people seem to weary of life, and evenforget to marr}^ so that in 1884 only one-fifth of the adults were living in wedlock.Like Queensland, New South Wales depends on the Crown both for herGovernor and the Legislative Council, which consists of twenty-one membersnamed for life. But the Legislative Assembly is elected by universal suffrage,and at present comprises one hundred and twenty-four members, or two for eachelectoral district. At each official census this number is increased in proportionto the increase of the electors.The armed forces comprise nearly seven thousandregulars and volunteers, and the budget is much heavier per headof the populalationthan that of Great Britain or France.Victoria.This is the smallest in extent, but relatively the most densely peopled of all thecolonies on the mainland. Yet in this respect it still falls far behind the average ofWest Europe, the number of inhabitants to the square mile being scarcely eight ornine. In absolute population Victoria is second only to New South Wales, fromwhich it was politically detached in 1851 ; it even temporarily occupied the firstplace during the height of the gold fever. To this cause of special attraction Victoriaadds an advantage of paramount importance for British immigrants in a climate,which is cooler than that of the other Australian colonies, and in its variationsmore analogous to that of Great Britain. Hence the title of Australia Felix givento this region before the general wish of the people induced the Governmentonce more to inscribe the name of Queen Victoria on the map of the world.In 1851, when it was constituted a separate state, Melboiirnr, its capital, hadalready been founded sixteen years. But compared with Sydney it was still a