"The five colonies of the Australian continent, Tasmania, and New Zealand constitute seven practically independent commonwealths under the British crown. Australians and New Zealanders have therefore been able to develop their countries along their own lines, and have surpassed all other Anglo-Saxon nations in the number and variety of functions which the state is called upon to perform. … The railways almost without exception, and all the telegraph and telephone lines, are in the hands of the community. In the few cases in which there is private ownership of railways, a particular line was demanded at a certain time, and the government were not then in a position to borrow the funds required for its construction. Western Australia has recently purchased the entire property of one of the two private undertakings in the colony. A mass of sanitary and industrial legislation also has been placed upon the statute book. "Again, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and New Zealand lend money to settlers at low rates of interest; South Australia sells its wines in London; Queensland facilitates the erection of sugar mills; Victoria and South Australia have given a bonus upon the exportation of dairy produce; South Australia, New Zealand, and Victoria receive the produce, grade and freeze it free of charge, or at a rate which barely covers the expenses; Victoria contributes toward the erection of butter factories; Victoria and New Zealand have subsidized the mining industry; and Western Australia has adopted a comprehensive scheme for the supply of water to the Coolgardie gold fields. In all the colonies the national system of primary education is compulsory and undenominational. In South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand it is also free. In the other colonies fees are charged, which may be remitted wholly or partly if parents are unable to pay them. Assistance is given in most cases for the promotion of secondary, technical, and university education. New Zealand and South Australia have appointed public trustees. New Zealand has long possessed a department of life insurance.