Printed by W. C. Penfold & Co., 183 Pitt Street, Sydney for Angus & Robertson Limited London: The Oxford University Press PREFACE Living as we do in the age of democracies with their institutions ever growing and undergoing modification, but withal rooted in the past, it seems essential that the schoolsthe training ground of our future citizensshould realise to the full their responsibility to the society in whose midst they flourish, and should anticipate the day when their present scholars will receive the full rights and obligations of citizenship. This relation of the school to society has been largely recognised of late years, and school curricula have been accordingly modified in both the primary and secondary departments. Not only have the industrial and commercial requirements of the community been kept in view, but definite instruction has been given in subjects of a more directly civic significance. Lessons in history and lessons on the public institutions of our own country have been given largely in relation to one another. In this way a dynamic as well as a static view of society is being developed. A democratic people cannot afford to disregard the study of the foundations and erection of its institutions if it hopes to comprehend them in their present form. A desire to assist towards a more intelligent and 394665 potent citizenship-the outcome of more thoroughly organised knowledge-leads me to offer this account of the origins, growth and present characteristics of Australian political institutions. It is not expected that the younger pupils of our schools should read this book. It suffices that they are enjoying some form or other of concrete civic instruction in reproducing public institutions in their own school and class organisations, and in listening to stories about Englishmen who struggled and died in the cause of freedom, and Australians who worked zealously for the constitutional emancipation and dignity of their country. This is an admirable preparation for a more formal study of constitutional machinery. It is as a first course in such a formal study that this work is intended. The youth of the upper secondary school, about to launch out from the shelter of the school into the broad open sea of life, has developed a fund of historical knowledge sufficient to engender a keen interest in public institutions and political questions. Experience leads one to believe that youths of from sixteen to eighteen years of age have as intelligent a grasp of such subjects as the average adult, particularly as they have the advantage of the guiding hand of a specially equipped teacher. Probably too, teachers and more advanced students, as well as the general reader, may find some attraction and value in the book. But no attempt is made to meet the requirements of those whose interest and business it is to examine with any thoroughness the nature and details of our federal constitution. This class of student must have recourse to more complete and formal treatises such as Quick and Garran's Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth. In order to encourage comparative methods of study and give a more thorough grasp of the principles underlying our own constitution. and a greater appreciation of the statesmanship at work in its drafting, the general features of other federal constitutions have been outlined. A study of ancient and mediaeval federations may serve to emphasise the greater elaboration and finer workmanship of modern federal machinery. The appendices will allow direct reference to original authority and practically indicate some of the sources of the historian's information. They may be passed over by those who desire an uninterrupted account of constitutional progress. Chapter X., though political rather than constitutional, will yet serve to show the constitutional machinery at work, and perhaps give fuller meaning to the preceding chapters on Australia. It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Professor Wood, M.A., of the University of Sydney, who read through the manuscript and has honoured my work by contributing the introductory chapter. I am also under obligation to Mr. J. D. St. Clair Maclardy, M.A., Chief Examiner, Department of Public Instruction, Mr. W. J. Elliott, M.A., Inspector of Secondary Schools, and Mr. A. W. Jose, for their careful perusal of the manuscript; to Mr. J. Garlick, Officer-in-charge, Local Government Department, who read the section on Local Government; to Mr. H. Wright, Curator of the Mitchell Library, who smoothed my way in the matter of illustrations; to Mr. F. Walsh, Parliamentary Librarian, for help in sundry ways, and especially to my wife, whose assistance, criticisms and reading of the proofs have been a material factor in the production of this little work. In conclusion, may I express the hope that the book will assist towards the development of a well-informed and intelligent Australian sentiment, not antagonistic to, but rather enriching, an equally well-informed and rational Imperialism. KARL R. CRAMP. May, 1913. |