The Times of Tuesday gives the text of the Bill
for splitting. Queensland into three Home-rule Provinces, with a united Central Government., which Sir Samuel Griffith recently laid upon the table of the Assembly. It is doubtless quite right that the Southern, Central, and Northern Districts should be made autonomous, but their union can only be a temporary measure,—can only last, that is, till the Australian Common- wealth is ready to receive them as Provinces. For this reason the scheme of Government now proposed ought to approximate as nearly as possible to that which will be adopted for the Com- monwealth. If that is done, the Provinces will naturally fall into line when Federation is accepted by Queensland. Un- fortunately, however, Sir Samuel Griffith proposes to establish a serious obstacle to this process of constitutional evolution. Under his scheme, "the Parliament of the United Provinces" will have no power to levy Customs duties. This mode of taxation is, contrary to all precedent, to be reserved for the Provinces. Each Province will, apparently, be able to tax all commodities, except " the natural products " of the other Provinces. The rest of the constitutional provisoes are un- objectionable, and the happy Canadian precedent for making
marriage and the criminal law matters for the Central Authority is followed. It is greatly to be hoped that the Customs provisoes will be struck out when the Bill comes to be discussed. If no source of revenue other than Customs can be found for the Provinces, it would be better to let the Central Authority collect the duties, and then distribute them on a per capita apportionment.
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