it is in existence no able-bodied man need starve. Finally, a measure, passed in 1896, aimed at the protection of pastoralists, farmers, and other cultivators of the soil by providing machinery by which the State might grant loans to them, upon adequate security, at a low rate of interest, with a sinking fund extending over a long period of years. The salient features of Victorian legislation are the strong note of humanity and the confidence in the wisdom and efficiency of State action. If this confidence has sometimes been misplaced, there is no reason to suppose that the Victorians have imposed upon themselves a burden that they are unable to bear. They are an energetic race, who have not only developed the resources of their own country, but have obtained large interests in New South Wales and Queensland. If in the past {155} they were too much inclined to draw bills upon futurity, they have had a sharp lesson which has taught them the necessity of retrenchment and compelled them to reduce their annual expenditure by a third of the total amount. It is impossible to form an unfavourable estimate of the prospects, or of the high average prosperity, of a population of less than 1,200,000 persons, which includes 185,000 freeholders and has accumulated at the Savings Banks L7,300,000 divided among nearly 340,000 depositors. {156} VI _THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA_ Constitutional history--The relations of Church and State--Natural impediments to development--The construction of railways--The scarcity of water--The promotion of the mining and other industries--The absence of parties in Parliament.