It appears that things are not going quite so smoothly as way hoped in regard to the differences that have arisen between the Delegates and the Government'on the subject of the Australian Commonwealth Bill. It was hoped that the Delegates and those whom they represent had reconciled themselves to the British Parliament modifying the Bill so far as concerns the clause relating to appeals to the Privy Council; but it appears that this is not the nse, and that any modification whatever of the Bill will be deeply resented in Australia. It is admitted that Mr. Chamberlain's proposed new Tmperial Court of Appeal removes much of the objection which was felt to appeals home, and that if this Court had been in existence when the Commonwealth Bill was framed, the difficulty would never have arisen. But they urge with some show of reason that if the colonists are capable of passing their own laws, their judges should be capable of interpreting those laws without reference to the judges at home: And even those who ara in favour of an appeal home urge that the Federation Scheme will be seriously delayed if the Commonsealth Bill is not passed in its entirely. It ix suggested that if this were done an amending Act could subsequently he passed; and a compromise on this basis not improbable. No serious objection would be felt in this country to such course. The appeal home is no doubt a valuable link of Empire, but there are others still more valuable, and most people would be willing to"dispense with this one rather than imperil in the smallest degree the good feeling which now exists between the Australian colonies and the mother country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.