of the gentleman in
question.

CHAPTER XXII.

A VISIT TO NEW SOUTH WALES.

Early in the year 1900 the Hon. B. R. Wise, then Attorney-General of
New South Wales, suggested a campaign for effective voting in the
mother State, with the object of educating the people, so that
effective voting might be applied for the first Federal elections. Mrs.
Young and I left Adelaide on May 10 of that year to inaugurate the
movement in New South Wales. During the few hours spent in Melbourne
Professor Nanson, the Victorian leader of the reform, with another
earnest worker (Mr. Bowditch), called on us, and we had a pleasant talk
over the proposed campaign. The power of The Age had already been felt,
when, at the convention election, the 10 successful candidates were
nominees of that paper, and at that time it was a sturdy opponent of
proportional representation. The Argus, on the other hand, had done
yeoman service in the advocacy of the reform from the time that
Tasmania had so successfully experimented with the system. As we were
going straight through to Sydney, we were able only to suggest
arrangements for a possible campaign on our return. Our Sydney visit
lasted eight weeks, during which time we addressed between 20 and 30
public meetings. Our welcome to the harbour city was most enthusiastic,
and our first meeting, held in the Protestant Hall, on the Wednesday
after our arrival, with the Attorney-General in the chair, was packed.
The greatest interest was shown in the counting of the 387 votes taken
at the meeting. Miss Rose Scott, however, had paved the way for the
successful public meeting by a reception at her house on the previous
Monday, at which we met Mr. Wise, Sir William McMillan, Mr. (afterwards
Sr. Walker), Mr. (now Sir A. J.) Gould, Mr. Bruce Smith, Mr. W. Holman,
and several other prominent citizens. The reform was taken up earnestly
by most of these gentlemen. Sir William McMillan was appointed the
first President of the league, which was formed before we left Sydney.
During the first week of our visit we dined with Dr. and Mrs. Garran,
who, with their son (Mr. Robert Garran, C.M.G., afterwards the
collaborateur of Sir John Quick in the compilation of the "Annotated
Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth"), were keen supporters of
effective voting. Among the host of well-known people who came after
dinner to meet us was Mr. (now Sir) George Reid, with whom we had an
interesting talk over the much-di