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 South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, West Australia and South Australia as for the time being are parts of the Commonwealth, and such colonies or territories as may be admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as states; and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called “a state.” “Original states” shall mean “such states as are parts of the Commonwealth at its establishment.” Following out this distinction between the Commonwealth and the states, articles 106 to 124 of the Commonwealth constitution deal with the respective positions of the Commonwealth, the original states, and the new states. Article 109 in particular provides that “when a law of a state is inconsistent with the law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid,” thus paving the way for the ultimate consolidation of the federal power.

Much has been written on the “science” of the state, or, as we prefer, in Anglo-Saxon lands, to call it, “political science.” In Germany the subject is dealt with as an independent branch of university education. Several of her universities have a staatswissenschaftliche Facultät, granting a special degree in the subject. In consequence of the great attention paid to the subject in Germany, her state polity has been largely the work of her political writers. The result has not unnaturally tended to a system bearing some resemblance to that of the American Union, with this very important difference, however, that whereas in the United States the federal power is derived from the democratic forces of the individual states, in Germany it is derived from their aristocratic and absolutist forces. German political thinkers, in fact, have worked out Staatsrecht as a comparative study, in which arguments in favour of absolute government have received as much careful consideration as those in favour of democratic institutions, and the German state has developed upon lines based on the best theoretical arguments of these thinkers. There is, therefore, no anomaly in its practically absolutist government working out the most democratic reforms as yet put into legislative form. It follows, however, that German theories are of little use in the consideration of the state problems with which British and American political thinkers nave to deal. Anglo-Saxon institutions are following their independent development, and if the influence of foreign institutions is felt at all, it is probably that of the clear logical detail and cohesion of French institutions.

STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF, a designation popularly applied to all the principal ministers of the British Crown, but strictly applicable only to the: lord high steward, the lord high chancellor, the lord high treasurer, the lord-president of the (privy) council, the lord (keeper of the) privy seal, the lord great chamberlain, the lord high constable, the earl marshal, and the lord high admiral. Of these, three —the lord chancellor, the lord-president of the council, and the lord privy seal—the first and second are always, and the third almost always, cabinet ministers. The offices of two more—those of the lord treasurer and the high admiral—are now executed by commission, the chief of the lords commissioners, known severally as the first lord of the treasury and the first lord of the admiralty, being likewise members of the cabinet, while the first lord of the treasury is usually at the head of the government. But, although it has become the rule for the treasury and the admiralty to be put in commission, there is nothing except usage of longer or shorter duration to prevent the Crown from making a personal appointment to either of them, and the functions which formerly appertained to the lord treasurer and the high admiral are still regularly performed in the established course of the national administration. The four offices of the high steward, the great chamberlain, the high constable, and the earl marshal stand on a different footing, and can be regarded at the present day as little else than survivals from an earlier condition of society. They have practically ceased to have any relation to the ordinary routine of business in the country or of ceremonial in the palace, and the duties associated with them have either passed entirely into abeyance or are restricted within extremely narrow limits, save on certain occasions of exceptional pomp and solemnity. All of them were once hereditary, and, taking the three kingdoms together, they or their counterparts and equivalents continue to be held by right of inheritance in one or other of them even now. These and the more important foreign great offices of state are all dealt with under their proper headings, and other information will be found in the articles, , , , and.

STATEN ISLAND, an island constituting the borough of Richmond, New York City, and Richmond county, the southernmost of the counties of the state of New York. It is separated from Long Island on E. by the Narrows which connect Upper and Lower New York Bay; from New Jersey on the N. by the narrow channel of Kill van Kull which connects New York Bay with Newark Bay; and from New Jersey on the W. by the narrow channel of Staten Island Sound or Arthur Kill; and on its S.E. coast are Lower New York, Raritan and Prince’s Bays, Great Kills, and the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1890), 51,693; (1900), 67,021; (1905), 72,845; (1910), 85,969. Staten Island is connected by ferry with the borough of Manhattan, 5 m. distant, and with Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The Staten Island Rapid Transit railway extends along the north shore and the south-east side, and there are several electric lines and pleasant drives. The island is triangular in shape, is 13 m. long from north-east to south-west, has a maximum width of nearly 8 m. at its north end, and has an area of about 70 sq. m. The north-east quarter is broken by two ranges of hills having a precipitous east slope and rising to a maximum height of about 400 ft., 1 m. inland from the Narrows; but on the west and south the hills fall gently to the Coastal Plain, which, occupying the greater part of the island, is broken only by low morainal ridges and terminates in salt marshes along much of the west coast. There are many species of forest trees and more than 1300 species of flowering plants and ferns. The climate is subject to sudden changes, but the temperature rarely rises above 90° F. or falls below zero. The island is chiefly a residential district, and in the picturesque hill section are many fine residences. Forts Wadsworth and Tompkins commanding the passage of the Narrows constitute one of the strongest defences of New York Harbor. The principal villages are New Brighton, West New Brighton, Port Richmond, Stapleton, and Tompkinsville on the north coast,