nger. Victoria has
the broad gauge of five feet three inches; New South Wales has a gauge
of four feet eight inches; while in Queensland the narrow gauge of three
feet six inches is adopted. Freight or passengers going over the
railroads from Brisbane to Adelaide must change cars twice, and from
Sydney to Melbourne--only six hundred miles--freight and passengers must
change cars at Albury. It was not very clear to the writer why this
spirit of jealousy should exist at all, much less why it should be so
universally indulged in. At Sydney, Melbourne is vilified most
recklessly; its simplest enterprises are decried: no good can come out
of Nazareth! Melbourne, on her part, returns the compliment with
interest; and so it is also with Adelaide. This feeling operates as a
serious and ever-present drawback to colonial progress in nearly every
direction.

Were Australia to become independent of the mother country, and its
divided interests consolidated, the benefit to be derived therefrom
seemed to us to be unquestionable. One occasionally heard the saying,
"Australia for the Australians," in the same sense as the Irish demand
"Ireland for the Irish." It is a favorite phrase used by the agitators
in addressing the masses. The only possible danger of this country
becoming involved in a foreign war arises from her being a dependency of
England; and it is doubtful how long these colonists will remain
contented to be exposed to such a serious emergency, in the issues of
which they could have no direct interest.

The proposal for federation, as it was explained to us, contemplates
uniting far-away New Zealand with the other colonies,--a purpose which
seems to be without any good reason to recommend it. New Zealand and
Australia are as far apart as Africa and South America, or as Turkey is
from England. The sea which separates them is without islands, is
turbulent, torn by Antarctic currents and swept by raging storms at
nearly all seasons. Even in what is called fine weather there is a
ceaseless swell heaving the bosom of this sea very trying to endure, and
which it is only safe to encounter in large, well-equipped vessels. In
ethnological respects as well as in scenery and climate the countries
are diametrically opposite. The Maoris and the native Australians--the
aborigines of the two countries--are as different as white men are from
negroes, there being no actual resemblance except that both are of
bronzed hue. New Zealand has