e extreme views.

+State Legislatures.+--Even after federation the State Houses will still
continue to touch at most points the daily lives of the people; they
will merely be shorn of some of their powers and drained of some of
their best leaders. The fiscal issue, which has had great influence in
deciding party lines in the past, will be removed from the arena of
strife, leaving no other than an indefinite line of division into
Liberals and Conservatives, which in practice tends to become a division
into lower and upper classes. This is the danger ahead; and it can only
be avoided by the formation of strong party organizations appealing to
all classes to work together for the general welfare. Party government
is just as necessary in State politics as in national politics.

The present position is intolerable; the disintegration of parties is so
complete that there is not a responsible ministry in Australia worthy of
the name. Among the causes which have led to this deplorable state of
affairs the present method of election is undoubtedly the most potent;
it frequently happens that four or five candidates, representing as
many groups, contest a single seat. In Victoria, where the state of
chaos is perhaps worst, the influence of the press, the existence of a
strong Labour section in the Lower House, and the class character of the
Upper House, representing property and capital, have been the principal
contributing causes.

With the advent of federation a revision of the State constitution is
widely demanded, and is likely to be conceded. One of the first steps
necessary to restore harmony must be reform of the Upper House by a
gradual extension of the franchise and a lowering of the qualification,
so as to ensure that elections are freely contested; it is its present
unrepresentative character which gives force to the appeals of the
radical press and intensifies class divisions.

The relation of State parties to the national parties is an important
subject. In the article from which we have already quoted, in _United
Australia_, Mr. Deakin writes:--"There cannot be a series of Liberal
parties, one Federal and the others in the States, each going its own
way. There must be but one party, with one programme, to which effect
will require to be given continuously in both the States and the
Commonwealth." He therefore deplores that the Liberal party, together
with its "left wing," the Labour class, will be split on the fis