By the Constitution of the Commonwealth, it is required that the seat of government "shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney;" and "such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles." "New South Wales," says a correspondent, writing from Sydney, "is naturally anxious to get the question decided as quickly as possible; but Victoria will equally be inclined to procrastinate, and the new Parliament—which cannot be more comfortable than it will be at Melbourne—will not be in a hurry to shift. The necessity for a new and artificial capital arises entirely out of our provincial jealousies, and it would have been a great saving of initial expense and a great diminution of inconvenience if we could have used one of the old capitals for a quarter of a century." To remove preliminary difficulties and avoid delay, the government of New South Wales appointed a commissioner to visit and report on the most likely places. The report of this commissioner, made early in October, "reduces the possible positions to three—one near Bombala in the south-east corner of the colony at the foot of the Australian Alps, one near Yass on the line of the railway between Sydney and Melbourne, and one near Orange on our western line. On the whole he gives the preference to the first named." AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: A. D. 1900. Old-Age Pension Act.