experiments in democratic goverment which I shall have occasion to notice in my references to the other colonies. Considerable opposition was offered in the Imperial Parliament to granting the demand of the colony for self-government, and a long agitation was required before that boon was granted. An objection, which seemed natural on the face of it, was taken to handing over, to what was practically a mere handful of people, a million square miles of Territory. But territory is of little value without population to develop it; and, under the direct government of the Crown, Western Australia was making little if any advance. Wisely, the power of self-goverment was granted. Nominally, the executive power is vested in the Governor, who acts upon the advice of a Cabinet composed of six responsible Ministers. The constitutional rule, throughout Australia, as in England, is that the Crown does not act without the advice of the Cabinet; and it does not change the Cabinet unless the representatives of the people express a want of confidence in it.
Sir Gerard Smith, K.C.M.G., the present Governor, was appointed in 1895, and has proved himself to be a fairly popular representative of her Majesty. He is a courteous and kindly gentleman; and a pleasantly fluent speaker. The social duties of an Australian Governor are most arduous and exacting; though not, in ordinary times, obviously important. He is expected to preside at all functions, and to visit nearly all the provincial towns on the occasions of the holding of annual agricultural shows or races; which things involve a great deal of travelling, and a great deal of public speaking. When Lord Hopetoun was Governor of Victoria, he complained that the one crumpled rose leaf of his life in that colony was the fact that he was expected, on all occasions, to "turn on the tap," meaning the oratorical tap. Sir Gerard Smith
