AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 352 AUSTRIA 150 miles. The highest peaks are in New South Wales, and the highest of all, ac- cording to Lendenfeld, is the peak called by him Mt. Townshend (7,353 feet), be- longing to a group which he calls the Kosciusko group, the latter name hav- ing been previously applied to another peak (called Mueller's Peak by Lenden- feld), a few miles to the N. which was long believed to be the highest. The peaks next in height belong to the Bo- gong group in Victoria, and the W. of the Mitta Mitta, the highest of which is Mt. Bogong (6,508 feet). They do not reach the snow line, though snow lies in the higher valleys all the summer. Volcanic rocks cover the tableland to the S. of Mt. Bogong. AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH, a political union of all the Australian colonies, the agitation for which began in 1852. The first convention for this purpose was held at Hobart in January, 1886. The colonies represented were Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, West- ern Australia, and Fiji. This effort was abortive, but another conference took place in 1891, at Sydney, N. S. W., which was attended by delegates from each of the colonies. A plan of Federal gov- ernment was proposed, which resembled in many of its features that of the United States. A draft bill to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia was adopted by the convention, and it was agreed to submit it to the approval of the individual Legislatures of the sev- eral colonies. This bill met with suc- cess in the lower branch of but one co- lonial Legislature — ^that of Victoria. In January, 1895, there was a conference of premiers of five colonies at Hobart, and the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales passed a Federal enabling act in November of that year. The first prac- tical step was taken in 1898. A conven- tion of representatives of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Aus- tralia, and Western Australia succeeded in drafting a constitution, which was sub- mitted to the popular vote of each of those colonies in June. By the terms of the plebiscite, an affirmative vote of sub- stantially one-third of the electors of New South Wales, and of one-fifth of the elec- tors of each of the other colonies, was re- quired to adopt this constitution. The returns of the election in June were fatal to the scheme. On Feb. 2, 1899, a unanimous agree- ment was reached by the colonial pre- miers in conference at Melbourne, re- garding the unsettled questions referred to them by the colonial Legislatures, thus insuring the success of the federa- tion project The new Commonwealth came into ex- istence on Jan. 1, 1901, and the Earl of Hopetoun was appointed first Governor- General. Melbourne was designated as the temporary capital until a site for a Federal district could be selected. Measures passed for restricting immi- gration greatly retarded the growth of the Commonwealth. A protective tariff bill was passed in 1902. A notable fea- ture of the political development of the first years of the twentieth century was the growth of the Labor party, which stood practically for a modified social- ism and especially for the principle of the so-called "White Australia." The Commonwealth has grown steadily and its loyalty to the Empire has remained undiminished. Conclusive proof of this was given by the prompt and unsolicited entry of Australia in the war. See Aus- tralia, section Australia in the World War. AUSTRASIA (the East Kingdom), the name given, under the Merovingians, to the eastern possessions of the Franks, embracing Lorraine, iBelgium, and the right bank of the Rhine. AUSTRIA, REPUBLIC OF, the terri- tory which formed the nucleus of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, and known as the Archduchy of Austria, occu- pying both sides of the valley of the Danube, between the Salzach and Inn on the W., which form the boundary with Bavaria to the S. of the Danube, and the March and Leitha on the E., which form together the greater part of the boundary with Hungary; divided into the crown- lands of Upper and Lower Austria, the boundary between which, S. of the Dan- ube, is partly formed by the lower Enns; chief towns, Vienna in Lower, Linz, in Upper, Austria. The surface for the most part is mountainous or hilly, but sinking down to plains on both sides of the Danube in the E., the Marchfeld on the N. of that river, between Vienna and the March, being remarkably level. The only special agricultural product that need be mentioned is wine, some choice kinds being produced on the sunny slopes of the Wienerwald. The most im- portant mineral product is the salt of the Salzkammergut, the center of which is Ischl. As regards other minerals, the chief mining districts are Wels in Upper, St. Polten in Lower, Austria, and the principal products, lignite in Upper, and coal, iron ore, lignite, and graphite in Lower, Austria. The principal manufac- turing centers in Lower Austria prior to the war were Vienna (miscellaneous), Wiener-Neustadt (cottons, etc.), and, in the W., Waidhofen (iron) ; in Upper Austria, Steyr (iron), and Linz (wool-
