Equality of trade is to be preserved throughout the commonwealth, and any law or regulation derogating from that principle is to be null and void. Parliament may appoint an interstate commission to execute and maintain upon railways within the commonwealth, and upon rivers flowing through, in, or between two or more states the provisions of the constitution relating to trade and commerce. The commission is to have such powers of adjudication and administration as may be necessary for its purposes, and as the Parliament may from time to time determine, but shall have no powers in reference to the rates or regulations of any railway in any state, except in cases of rates or regulations preferential in effect, and made and used for the purpose of drawing traffic to that railway from the railway of a neighbouring state. [1] "The Federal Council of Australasia," by the Hon. Alfred Deakin, _Australasian Review of Reviews_, February, 1895. [2] Cap. iv., Clause 13. [3] Cap. i., Clauses 54 and 55. [4] "Notes on Australian Federation," by Sir S. W. Griffith. Parliamentary Paper, Queensland, 1896. [5] An article published in the Melbourne _Argus_ of April 26, 1897, and included with the kind permission of the London agents of that newspaper. {244} X _SALIENT FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALASIAN DEMOCRACY_ Indirect effects of the discovery of gold--Causes of the financial crisis--The origin and extent of State Socialism--The thriftiness of the working-classes--Labour Representation in Parliament--Parliamentary Government--Direct Taxation--Conciliation and Arbitration in Industrial disputes--Protection and its corollaries--The feeling towards Great Britain--General conclusions.