The debate in the House of Lords on the second
reading of the Western Australia Bill, which took place on Monday, left nothing to be desired in regard to the manner in which the subject was approached. The speeches of Lord Knutsford, Lord Kimberley, and Lord Norton were conceived in exactly the spirit which ought to animate English statesmen in dealing with Colonial questions, and contrasted strongly with the mixture of ignorance and want of any sense of the larger patriotism, displayed by the new Radicals in the House of Commons. It was generally agreed that the Bill had been improved by leaving out the clauses giving the Home Govern- ment the control and management of the lands north of the twenty-sixth parallel of latitude, and declaring that legislation restricting emigration should be reserved for her Majesty's pleasure. The restrictions in both cases would have proved useless if disagreement had taken place, and therefore only served to irritate the Colonists. We wish, nevertheless, that the Northern Territory had been specifically set apart to form a peculium for the Australian Dominion. When the Federation is formed, it will still be possible, however, to endow it with the powers now reserved to the Crown for splitting the Colony.
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