AUSTRALIA AND ITS CRITICS
By THE HON. B. R WISE
Australia is a very perplexing factor in the problem of Imperial politics.
From her geographical position—if for no other and more sentimental reason—her armed strength and the disposition of her people must always be a matter of concern and interest. Dominating the Pacific and placed astride of the trade-route between America and China, she is not only the outlying frontier of England on the Far East, which is the Empire's most vulnerable side; but she is also the ultimate heir of Java, Sumatra, and the Celebes in the event of the absorption of Holland by Germany. In one set of contingencies, when promptitude might make the difference between salvation and destruction, she could anticipate by a fortnight the landing of troops in either India or China; in another, she would be the mistress of the richest tropical possessions in the world, at a time when commercial supremacy largely depends upon control of the tropics.
Nor is Australia less worthy of attention if we regard her internal development and her material wealth. That four millions of people scattered over a continent which is as large as the United States if we exclude Alaska, and larger than Europe without Spain, should in one year (1904) export £57,000,000 of produce is almost without a parallel in history; and yet, as everyone knows who is acquainted with the country, even this vast output will be greatly increased when the
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