engineers have solved the problems of water conservation and cheap transport, and when closer settlement has given new facilities for developing untouched resources.
And, thirdly, Australia is the most British country out of Great Britain. Canada has its French province, the Dutch are in South Africa, the United States is a medley of races, but 97 per cent. of the population of Australia is of pure British descent. For the first time in history, as Sir Edmund Barton pointed out with apt terseness during the campaign for federation, there has been 'a continent for a nation and a nation for a continent.'
Such a country, so situated and with these resources, should have a great destiny, provided that its people are well directed and possess a clear conception of their public duty. What, then, is the Australian people? And what the aims and methods of its politics?
The Reaction.
English sentiment toward Australia is suffering from a cold fit. People are a little 'tired' of her! She no longer attracts immigrants, and her stocks and enterprises have become unpopular with that mysterious entity 'the market.' This is, no doubt, partly due to a reaction from the excessive praises heaped upon Australians for their war services, which, indeed, were great; but Australians are convinced that this is not the whole explanation, and that the present unpopularity of their country is also the result of the much less subtle influence of prejudice and calumny. The blame for this does not attach entirely to writers in Great Britain, although some London newspapers have appeared in the past to take excessive pains to disparage Australia. The worst enemies of Australia have been of her own household; so that popular instinct has labelled with the name of 'stinking-fish party' those superior politicians and writers who misrepresent the aims of the
