Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/714

 546 General History oj Europe The king is represented by a governor-general; the Federal parliament is composed of two houses a Senate, consisting of six senators from each state, and a House of Representatives chosen in the same way as in the United States. This body has extensive power over commerce, railways, currency, banking, postal and telegraph service, marriage and divorce, and industrial arbitration. The system of secret voting, called the "Australian ballot," has spread from Australia to England and the United States. Its purpose is to discourage corruption by making it impossible for a political manager who has bribed men to vote for his side to be sure that they really fulfill their promises. 988. The Settlement of New Zealand. To the southeast of Australia, twelve hundred miles away, lie the islands of New Zealand, to which English pioneers began to go in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1840 the English concluded a treaty with the native Maoris, by which the latter were assigned a definite reservation of lands on condition that they would recognize Queen Victoria as their sovereign. The English settlers established the city of Auckland on North Island, and twenty-five years later New Zealand became a separate colony, with the seat of government at Wellington. 989. Social Reform in New Zealand. New Zealand has re- cently become famous for its experiments in social reform. Dur- ing the last decade of the nineteenth century the workingmen became very influential, and they have been able to carry through a number of measures which they believe to be to their advantage. Special courts are established to settle disputes between employers and their workmen ; a pension law helps the poor in their old age. VI. THE BRITISH EMPIRE: SOUTH AFRICA 990. England and the Boers. England's possessions in South Africa have caused her much more trouble than those in North America and Australasia. During the Napoleonic wars she seized the Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope. It was inhabited mainly by Dutch farmers, and the name "Boers" generally given