The arguments advanced by the Northern and Central separationists are similar in character, and if recognised as valid in the case of the Centre, must be doubly so when applied to the North, owing to its greater distance from the capital and the difficulty of communication with many of its outlying districts. The boundaries adopted by the separationists are those laid down by the Real Property (Local Registries) Act of 1887, under which the Province was divided into three parts, of which the Northern contains 255,000, the Central 223,000, and the Southern 190,000 square miles.
The claims of the Centre, to which I have been able to give more attention, as I spent some time in that district, are based not only upon alleged unjust apportionment of expenditure, defective administration, and financial hardships endured under the protective tariff for the benefit of Southern manufacturers, but upon the inherent and inalienable right of a community of free British people. It is { 57} pointed out that Central Queensland is in a more advanced position than were Victoria and Queensland at the time of their separation from New South Wales; that it returns less members than the city of Brisbane and the country within a radius of ten miles of it; and that the Northern and Central members, even if unanimous in favour of separation, would only number twenty-seven as against the forty-five representatives of the South, and are bound, apart from the constitutional aspect of the question, to look to the intervention of the Imperial Government. The most important utterance from this source is the reply of Sir Henry Holland, now Lord Knutsford, to the Northern deputation, in the course of which he said that "there is no instance of recent years, since the Colonies attained the greatness they have, of the Imperial Legislature passing an Act interfering with the administration of one of those great Colonies, except at the request of the Colonial Government. Therefore I say it is difficult, if not undesirable, to deal with such a question as this unless we have the authority, on a desire expressed on the part of the Colonial Legislature, or unless there is some case made out which is absolutely overwhelming;" and Mr. Chamberlain recently stated, with reference to Central separation, that, even if local agreement had been reached, the difficulties and risks attending any attempt to divide the Province were, under existing circumstances, very great. He clearly appreciated the hostile feeling that would be aroused throughout { 58} Australia by any interference on the part of the Imperial Authorities with the internal government of an Australian Province. As the separationists do not hope to obtain a majority in the Queensland Assembly, they are likely to be ardent advocates of Federation, especially if a clause be inserted in the Constitution which would enable the Federal Government to subdivide a Province without the consent of its Parliament.