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WESTERN AUSTRALIA. the British Crown. The Parliament consists of a Legislative Council of 30 members elected for 6 years, and a Legislative Assembly of 50 members elected for 3 years. Electors must be residents of the election district or have certain property qualifications. The right of suffrage is conferred without distinction of sex. The capital is Perth.

In 1902 the total revenue amounted to £3,688,049 and the expenditures to £3,490,026. The customs and excise duties contribute about one-third of the revenue, and the railways about 42 per cent. The participation of the government in the construction of railways and other industrial enterprises has created a heavy public debt, which amounted in 1902 to £14,942,310.

Western Australia is one of the most sparsely settled regions in the world. Most of it is wholly uninhabited, the population being confined mainly to portions of the coast region and the gold-miniug settlements in the interior. The first reports of gold at Kimberley and Yilgarn did not result in any marked immigration, and in 1800 the total population was only 40,200. The remarkable discoveries of gold at Coolgardie in 1802 incited a rush of miners into the region which has not yet ceased. In 1805 the population had increased to 101,238 and in 1901 to 104,880. As is common in a mining region, a large percentage of the population is centred in the towns. In 1001 Perth contained 36,274 inhabitants; Freemantle, 20,444; Kalgoorlie, 6652; Boulder, 4601; and Coolgardie. 4249.

In 1901 the adherents of the Church of England numbered 75,617; Roman Catholics. 40,584; Wesleyans, 17,823; Presbyterians, 14,707.

School attendance is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. Fees are charged, but under certain conditions their payment is not required. Public instruction is secular, but religions instruction may be given by clergymen of the same denomination with the child's parents. In 1901 there were 20,548 pupils enrolled in the Government schools and 5810 in the assisted schools. For the year ending June 30, 1902, £102,359 was expended on education. Only those private schools are given aid which had enjoyed that advantage prior to 1805.

The coast was probably visited by Spanish and Portuguese navigators in the sixteenth century. In the following century the Dutch explored the shores, and Tasman surveyed the north coast. The west coast was only surveyed after numerous later explorations. The earliest settlement—English—was made in 1825. The British took formal official possession of the land in 1827. The colonization of Western Australia was definitely commenced in 1829 by a British organization to which the Government gave large land grants. Several thousand convicts from Sydney were numbered among the early settlers. It was not until 1870. however, that great efforts began to lie made by the British to facilitate the development of the colony. On January 1. 1001, Western Australia became a State of the Australian Commonwealth.

Consult: Calvert. Western Australia, Its History and Progress (London. 1804); id., Mineral Resources of Western Australia (ib., 1894); Chambers, Western Australia (Perth, 1897); Vivienne, Travels in Western Australia (London, 1901).

 WESTERN COLLEGE. An educational institution for both sexes at Toledo, Iowa, founded in 1855 at Western, Iowa, and removed to Toledo in 1881. The college is under the control of the United Brethren in Christ, but is non-sectarian in its teaching. 11 has two courses, classical and scientific, leading to the degrees of B.A. and B.S., a preparatory school under the direct control of the faculty, and, as adjunct departments, a conscrvalory of nmsic, a college of commerce, a school of elocution and oratory, and a department of art. The master's degree in art and science is conferred after one year's graduate study or three years work on approved lines in absentia. In 1003 the college had 250 students, 14 instructors, and a library of 4000 volumes. The income was $47,000.

 WESTERN EMPIRE. That part of the Roman Empire which after the division of 305 was ruled by Honorius, the younger son of Theodosius, and his successors. It fell in 476. while the Eastern or Byzantine Empire survived it by nearly a thousand years. See Rome.

 WESTERN ISLES. See

 WESTERN RESERVE. In American his- tory, the name given to a section of northern Ohio, reserved by Connecticut when that State ceded to the general Government in September, 1786, her claim to the Western lands, B_y her charter of 1662 Connecticut was made to ex- tend from sea to sea. Her claim to consider- able tracts of land in the West, however, was disiiuted by both New York and Pennsylvania. In September, 1786. Connecticut yielded all claim except that to the territory between 41° and 42° 2', extending westward 120 miles from the west- ern boundary of Pennsylvania. Out of this tract she kept a half million acres in the West, later known as the 'Fire Lands.' The remainder was sold in 1705-06 for .$1,200,000 to forty-eight men who with others afterwards formed the Connecticut Land Company, and in 1706 began a survey. (See Phelps, Oliver.) Settlement was slow at first, as there was doubt concerning the title. Connecticut had kept a shadowy claim of juris- diction, but surrendered this to the general Gov- ernment on May 30. 1800. After 1812 settlement was rapid, largely from Connecticut and other New England States, and thirteen counties have been formed wholly or in part from the territory. Tlie district has kept a distinctive character to this day. There the Abolition movement found strong supporters. Oberlin College (q.v.) was tlie first college opened to negi'oes as well as whites. Among the men from this section who have achieved national prominence may be men- tioned .Joshua R. Giddings (q.v.), Benjamin F. Wade (q.v.). and .Tames A. Garfield (q.v.). Con- sult Mathews. Ohio and Her Western Reserve (New York. 1002).

WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY. An institution of learning at Cleveland. Ohio, founded in 1826 at Hudson as the Western Re- serve College. The university consists of seven departments: Adelbert College, the original in- stitution, removed from Hudson to Cleveland in 1882, and renamed in memory of the son of a benefactor, Amasa Stone, who gave the in- stitution $500,000; the College for Women, es- 