The following pages have been written from the point of view of the year 1896, the greater part of which I spent in Australia. During the earlier months of the present year I was in New Zealand, but I was unable to continue my survey of general Australasian affairs. A result of the limitation that I was compelled to impose upon myself will be observed in the apparent antiquity of the chapter dealing with Australian Federation; but this is not so great as might have been anticipated, the new Federal Convention having drafted a Bill which is based, to a large extent, upon that of 1891. For purposes of comparison I have, with the kind permission of the London agents of the Melbourne Argus, included an article in which that newspaper has summarised the provisions of the new Federal Constitution Bill. I have also included a brief account of a visit to the Coolgardie goldfields which, though alien in purpose from the remaining chapters, may not be without interest as a record of personal impressions of a Province which has but recently felt the effects of a budding prosperity. It has been suggested to me that I should attempt to discuss Australasian problems with reference to their applicability to Great Britain; but I have preferred to leave this task, of which the importance cannot be overstated, to persons of greater experience, and to confine myself to a record of Australasian action and to a comparison of the points of similarity or the reverse between the several Provinces. It will be seen, however, that, in some cases, as when dealing, for instance, with the results of payment of members and with the powers and privileges of Australasian Upper Houses, I have noted differences of conditions which must render deductions by analogy a matter of extreme difficulty.
About the Author: Henry de Rosenbach Walker (30 May 1867 - 31 July 1923) was a British Liberal Party politician and author.He worked as a clerk in the Foreign Office from 1889 to 1892. He travelled extensively in Russia, Central Asia, the Far East, North America, the West Indies, and the Antipodes. From his travels he had two books published; Australasian Democracy in 1897 and The West Indies and the Empire in 1901.He stood as a Liberal candidate for parliament on four occasions. First he contested a Liberal seat, the Stowmarket division of Suffolk in 1895, losing to the Conservatives. He then contested the marginal dual member seat of Plymouth in 1900 and finished in fourth place. He was then elected Liberal MP for the Melton Division of Leicestershire in 1906, gaining the seat from the Conservatives.