Page:Speech by Sir John Forrest - Western Australia - 1900.pdf/19

 of me sometimes by the Press on the Eastern goldfields, and being a Scotch man, I generally hit back. The motto of the Order of the Thistle might well be mine, Nemo me impune lacessit ("No one provokes me with impunity"). (Hear, hear.) But that does not prevent me from doing justice to the goldfields. The position of the colony to-day is mainly due to the production of twenty millions of gold, nine millions of which have been produced during the last eighteen months, The figures almost stagger us when we think of them. The first thought which probably occurs to most of us when we think about the subject is a feeling of some disappointment that so much gold should have been obtained, and that we should have secured so little of it. (Laughter.)

We can never be a great country, we can never occupy any very important place in the world's affairs, unless we have a larger population, and we must do all we can, if we want to see this country flourish and be a great country, to encourage population to come here. I read some years ago a most interesting book, a work by the late Sir Henry Parkes—(applause)—an autobiography of fifty years of his life in Australia. Amongst other wise things, Sir Henry Parkes said was this: "The more men of the right class you have in a land where life has ample room, the better it must be for every man of every class; that where all is a wilderness before us, nothing is so valuable as human labour." (Applause.) Those words are applicable to this country. We have plenty of room here, with unrivalled gold mines, which should attract and encourage people to come and throw in their lot with the people of this colony, and thereby add to the population, and make this a great country. As I have already said, Federation, when it comes upon us, as I hope and believe will be the case, will no doubt bring with it plenty of drawbacks, disappointments, and difficulties. Even now we have some of them to confront, and it is a very good thing, because the world would be very uninteresting if we had no difficulties to surmount. The difficulties under Federation may be even greater than at present, yet I think we should be in no way dismayed. I hope and believe that Federation will do many good things for us. I believe that it will elevate and dignify our public life, and everyone throughout Australia desires that. I might, perhaps, say that there is plenty of room for it. With a wider area for electorates and more people as electors I hope and believe there will be greater care taken in the selection of the members of the Federal Parliament, and consequently that public life will be elevated and dignified thereby. In Western Australia we live too much by ourselves, around the corner out of sight, as I have often said, no one coming to see us unless for some set particular purpose. That disability will be removed when the mail steamers call at Fremantle, as I hope they will shortly. I believe also that Federation will moderate our polities, place the Parliamentary system on a broader and surer foundation, and above all will "make the bounds of "freedom wider yet."

What, after all, is the object we have in view? Surely it is not to help the few at the expense of the many, or to enable a few to flourish and grow rich? The great object we all have in view, especially those who are entrusted with great responsibilities as leaders of public opinion, is to uplift and exalt the masses of the people—(cheers)—and to build up a nation of healthy, intelligent, happy, and high-minded people. That is the great work that we have before us, and I believe that under Federation that great work will be better done.

I thank you for the way you have listened to me, and I will conclude by quoting the last words of Sir Henry Parkes in his autobiography. Writing on the prospects of Australian Federation, he said: "A new generation is close upon us; the many will know no other land than Fair Australia. They will bring, let us hope, with the tie of nativity, more ample stores of knowledge, nobler capacities for patriotic service, and an imperishable love of freedom and