be of no use, any more than would a
British postage stamp in the United States Post-office. You can prepay
letters from one colony to the other in the stamps of the colony where
you happen to be, but if you post a letter in Sydney with a Victorian
stamp upon it, I am afraid it would go to the dead letter office, just
as if it had borne no stamp at all."

"What a pity it is," said Harry, "that the colonies cannot reconcile
their differences and come together."

"You are not the first one, by any means, who has thought so," was the
reply. "Statesmen have been for a considerable time discussing the
question of a federation of all the colonies in the same way that the
British American colonies are federated. Federation would have been
accomplished long ago, at least it is so claimed by the others, had it
not been for New South Wales, which stands aloof from the rest
principally on account of the tariff question. All the other colonies
are in favor of the protection of home industries, while New South
Wales, as before stated, favors a free trade policy. I saw, while in
Melbourne, a cartoon representing several young women standing in a
circle. All were dressed in white and wreathed with roses, and the
various members of the circle were marked with the names of Victoria,
Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand, and West Australia.
A little in the background, and leaning against the wall with one finger
in her mouth as though she were angry, was a young woman dressed in
black, and labeled 'New South Wales.' The others were evidently trying,
but without success, to induce her to join the circle.

"I presume," he continued, "that federation will come in time, and an
Australian gentleman told me the other day that he believed it would be
a step towards independence. He thought, as do many other Australians,
that the long distance from the mother country and their diversity of
interests would tend, as the years go on, to weaken the bonds between
Great Britain and her Australian colonies, and that separation would be
sure to come. The colonies realize their great danger in case Great
Britain should become involved in a foreign war, and especially with a
power possessing a powerful navy. The colonies have a military force on
the volunteer system, which could no doubt do efficient service in time
of war. The British government maintains a certain number of warships in
Australian waters, but neither they nor the volunteer