Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia were represented at the Council, and such laws as it can pass will thus affect three-fifths of the area of the continent. The absence of South Australia is understood to be accidental. She is really one of the parties to the federal bond, having agreed to the terms, and having invited the Imperial Parliament to pass the Enabling Act, and her early adhesion is expected with confidence. No continental state will then remain outside except New South Wales, and it is fairly to be presumed that she will not be insensible to the pressure of public opinion, both in Australia and throughout the Empire, especially as care is being taken to soothe the local susceptibilities that are now offended. The Federal Council meets for the present at Hobart, the chief town of Tasmania, and this town may, for the present, be called the 'federal capital.' The immigration into Australia is about eighty thousand men and women yearly. If double or treble that number came, they could well be accommodated. The labourer of to-day is the employer of to-morrow; and as soon as a man acquires landed property his chief complaint is the paucity of hands to improve his holding. A few specimens of wages may be taken from the official list of Mr. H. H. Hayter, Government Statist of Victoria. On the whole, labour is more in request in Victoria than in most of the sister states, and the figures may be taken as representing fair average rates for Australia generally. Servants, with board, coachmen, and grooms, 20_s._ to 30_s._ per week; female cooks, £40 to £65 per annum; laundresses, £35 to £52 per annum; general servants, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per week (these figures are for 1884, and there has been a heavy rise in 1885-6); ploughmen, 25_s._ per week and board; blacksmiths, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per day; boiler-makers, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per day; plumbers, £3 to £3 10_s._ per week; lumpers, 10_s._ to 12_s._ per day; masons, carpenters, bricklayers and plasterers, 10_s._ to 12_s._ per day. On the other hand, the necessaries of life are cheap. Bread is 6_d._ the 4lb. loaf, and beef and mutton are retailed at from 3_d._ to 8_d._ per lb.; butter varies from 9_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ according to the season; milk is 4_d._ to 6_d._ per quart; potatoes 2_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ per cwt.; tea 1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ per lb.; rabbits are sold at 1_s._ per pair, and hares at 2_s._ each. In the Australian colonies there is neither an Established Church, nor is any aid given by the State to the cause of religion. The denominations are now entirely dependent upon the voluntary exertions of their members for support. A strong feeling has grown up both among politicians and the people in Australia that the State ought not to interfere in ecclesiastical matters upon any pretext. The Churches, therefore, are simply corporations empowered to hold property upon certain conditions, and at liberty to manage their own affairs as they think fit.