Chapter XXII: Part 22

As one result of the strike of 1890 a movement was set afoot by a number of enthusiasts, more visionary than practical, that has resulted in a measure of more or less disaster. This was the planting of a colony of communistic Australians in South America. After much negotiation the leader, Mr William Lane, a Brisbane journalist, decided on Paraguay, and he tramped across the continent, preaching a new crusade, and gathering in funds and recruits in his progress. On the 16th of July 1893 the first little army of "New Australians" left Sydney in the "Royal Tar," which arrived at Montevideo on the 31st of August. Other consignments of intending settlers in "New Australia" followed; but though the settlement is still in existence it has completely failed to realize the impracticable ideals of its original members. The Queensland government assisted some of the disillusioned to escape from the paradise which proved a prison; some managed to get away on their own account; and those that have remained have split into as many settlements almost as there are settlers. Another effect of the Great Strike was in a more practical direction. New South Wales was the first country which endeavoured to settle its labour grievances through the ballot-box and to send a great party to parliament as the direct representation of Labour, pledged to obtain through legislation what it was unable to obtain by strikes and physical force. The principle of one-man one-vote had been persistently advocated without arousing any special parliamentary or public enthusiasm until the meeting of the Federal Convention in 1891. The convention was attended by Sir George Grey, who was publicly welcomed to the colony by New Zealanders resident in Sydney, and by other admirers, and his reception was an absolute ovation. He eloquently and persistently advocated the principle of one-man one-vote as the bed-rock of all democratic reform. This subsequently formed the first plank of the Labour platform. Several attempts had been made by individuals belonging to the Labour party to enter the New South Wales parliament, but it was not until 1891 that the occurrence of a general election gave the party the looked-for opportunity for concerted action. The results of the election came as a complete surprise to the majority of the community. The Labour party captured 35 seats out of a House of 125 members; and as the old parties almost equally divided the remaining seats, and a fusion was impossible, the Labour representatives dominated the situation. It was not long, however, before the party itself became divided on the fiscal question; and a Protectionist government coming into power, about half the Labour members gave it consistent support and enabled it to maintain office for about three years, the party as a political unit being thus destroyed. The events of these three years taught the Labour leaders that a parliamentary party was of little practical influence unless it was able to cast on all important occasions a solid vote, and to meet the case a new method was devised. The party therefore determined that they would refuse to support any person standing in the Labour interests who refused to pledge himself to vote on all occasions in such way as the majority of the party might decide to be expedient. This was called the "solidarity pledge," and, united under its sanction, what was left of the Labour party contested the general election of 1894. The result was a defeat, their numbers being reduced from 35 to 19; but a signal triumph was won for solidarity. Very few of the members who refused to take the pledge were returned and the adherents of the united party were able to accomplish more with their reduced number than under the old conditions.

The two features of the Labour party in New South Wales are its
detachment from other parties and the control of the caucus. The
caucus, which is the natural corollary of the detachment, determines
by majority the vote of the whole of the members of the party,
independence of action being allowed on minor questions only. So far
the party has refrained from formal alliance with the other great
parties of the state. It supports the government as the power alone
capable of promoting legislation, but its support is given only so
long as the measures of the government are consistent with the Labour
policy. This position the Labour party has been able to maintain with
great success, owing to the circumstance that the other parties have
been almost equally balanced.

Parliamentary Labour party.

The movement towards forming a parliamentary Labour party was not confined to New South Wales; on the contrary, it was common to all the states, having its origin in the failure of the Great Strike of 1890. The experience of the party was also much the same as in New South Wales, but its greatest triumphs were achieved in South Australia. The Labour party has been in power in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, and has, on many occasions, decided the fate of the government on a critical division in all the states except Tasmania and Victoria. Different ideals dominate the party in the different states. The one ideal which has just been described represents the Labour party from the New South Wales standpoint. The only qualification worth mentioning is the signing of the pledge of solidarity. The other ideal, typified by the South Australian party, differs from this in one important respect. To the Labour party in that state are admitted only persons who have worked for their living at manual labour, and this qualification of being an actual worker is one that was strongly insisted upon at the formation of the party and strictly adhered to, although the temptation to break away from it and accept as candidates persons of superior education and position has been very great. On the formation of the Commonwealth a Labour party was established in the federal houses. It comprises one-third of the representation in the House of Representatives, and perhaps a still larger proportion in the Senate. The party is, however, formed on a broader basis than the state parties, the solidarity pledge extends only to votes upon which the fate of a government depends. Naturally, however, as the ideals of the members of the party are the same, the members of the Labour party will be generally found voting together on all important divisions, the chief exception being with regard to free trade or protection. The Labour party held power in the Commonwealth for a short period, and has had the balance of power in its hands ever since the formation of the Commonwealth. (T. A. C.)

Recent legislation.

Australian legislation in the closing years of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th bore the most evident traces of the Labour party's influence. In all the colonies a complete departure from principles laid down by the leading political economists of the 19th century was made when acts were passed subjecting every branch of domestic industry to the control of specially constituted tribunals, which were empowered among other important functions to fix the minimum rate of wages to be paid to all grades of workmen. (See also the articles ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION; TRADE UNIONS; LABOUR LEGISLATION.)

Victoria.

Victoria was the pioneer in factory legislation, the first Victorian
act of that character dating from 1873. In 1884 a royal commission,
appointed two years earlier to inquire into the conditions of
employment in the colony and certain allegations of "sweating" that
had then recently been made, reported that:--"The most effective mode
of bringing about industrial co-operation and mutual sympathy between
employers and employed, and thus obviating labour conflicts in the
future, is by the establishment of courts of conciliation in Victoria,
whose procedure and awards shall have the sanction and authority of
law." This report led to the passing of a number of acts which,
proving ineffectual, were followed by the Factories and Shops Act of
1896, passed by the ministry of Mr (afterwards Sir Alexander) Peacock.
This measure, together with several subsequent amending acts, of which
the most important became law in 1903, 1905 and 1907, forms a complete
industrial code in which the principle of state regulation of wages is
recognized and established. Its central enactment was to bring into
existence (1) "Special Boards," consisting of an equal number of
representatives of employers and workmen respectively in any trade,
under the presidency of an independent chairman, and (2) a Court of
Industrial Appeals. A special board may be formed at the request of
any union of employers or of workmen, or on the initiative of the
Labour department. After hearing evidence, which may be given on oath,
the special board issues a "determination," fixing the minimum rate of
wages to be paid to various classes of workers of both sexes and
different ages in the trade covered by the determination, including
apprentices; and specifying the number of hours per week for which
such wages are payable, with the rates for overtime when those hours
are exceeded. The determination is then gazetted, and it becomes
operative over a specified area, which varies in different cases, on a
date fixed by the board. Either party, or the minister for Labour, may
refer a determination to the court of industrial appeals, and the
court, in the event of a special board failing to make a
determination, may itself be called upon to frame one. The general
administration of the Factories and Shops Acts, to which the special
boards owe their being, is vested in a chief inspector of factories,
subject to the control of the minister of Labour in matters of policy.
Before the end of 1906 fifty-two separate trades in Victoria had
obtained special boards, by whose determinations their operations were
controlled.

South Australia.

A similar system was introduced into South Australia by an act passed
in 1900 amending the Factory Act of 1894, which was the first
legislation of the sort passed in that state.

Queensland.

In Queensland, where the earliest factory legislation dates from 1896,
keen parliamentary conflict raged round the proposal in 1907 to
introduce the special boards system for fixing wages. More than one
change of government occurred before the bill became law in April
1908.

New South Wales.

In New South Wales, whose example was followed by Western Australia,
the machinery adopted for fixing the statutory rate of wages was of a
somewhat different type. The model followed in these two states was
not Victoria but New Zealand, where an Industrial Conciliation and
Arbitration Act was passed in 1894. A similar measure, under the
guidance of the attorney-general, the Hon. B.R. Wise, was carried
after much opposition in New South Wales in 1901, to remain in force
till the 30th of June 1908. By it an arbitration court was instituted,
consisting of a president and assessors representing the employers'
unions and the workers' unions respectively; in any trade in which a
dispute occurs, any union of workmen or employers registered under the
act was given the right to bring the matter before the arbitration
court, and if the court makes an award, an application may be made to
it to make the award a "common rule," which thereupon becomes binding
over the trade affected, wherever the act applies. The award of the
court is thus the equivalent of the determination of a special board
in Victoria, and deals with the same questions, the most important of
which are the minimum rates of wages and the number of working hours
per week. The act contained stringent provisions forbidding strikes;
but in this respect it failed to effect its purpose, several strikes
occurring in the years following its enactment, in which there were
direct refusals to obey awards.

Western Australia.

In the years 1900 and 1902 acts were passed in Western Australia still
more closely modelled on the New Zealand act than was the
above-mentioned statute in New South Wales. Unlike the latter, they
reproduced the institution of district conciliation boards in addition
to the arbitration court; but these boards were a failure here as they
were in New Zealand, and after 1903 they fell into disuse. In Western
Australia, too, the act failed to prevent strikes taking place. In
1907 a serious strike occurred in the timber trade, attended by all
the usual accompaniments, except actual disorder, of an industrial
conflict.

Federal Arbitration Act of 1904.

In all this legislation one of the most hotly contested points was
whether the arbitration court should be given power to lay it down
that workers who were members of a trade union should be employed in
preference to non-unionists. This power was given to the tribunal in
New South Wales, but was withheld in Western Australia. It was the
same question that formed the chief subject of debate over the Federal
Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which, after causing the defeat of
more than one ministry, passed through the Commonwealth parliament in
1904. It was eventually compromised by giving the power, but only with
safeguarding conditions, to the Federal arbitration court. This
tribunal differs from similar courts in the states inasmuch as it
consists of a single member, called the "president," an officer
appointed by the governor-general from among the justices of the High
Court of Australia. The president has the power to appoint assessors
to advise him on technical points; and considerable powers of
devolution of authority for the purpose of inquiry and report are
conferred upon the court, the main object of which is to secure
settlement by conciliatory methods. The distinctive object of the
Federal Act, as defined in the measure itself, is to provide machinery
for dealing with industrial disputes extending beyond any one state,
examples of which were furnished by the first two important cases
submitted to the court--the one concerning the merchant marine of
Australia, and the other the sheep shearers, both of which were heard
in 1907. An additional duty was thrown on the Federal arbitration
court by the Customs and Excise Tariff Acts of 1906, in which were
embodied the principles known as the "New Protection." By the Customs
Act the duty was raised on imported agricultural implements, while as
a safeguard to the consumer the maximum prices for the retail of the
goods were fixed. In order to provide a similar protection for the
artisans employed in the protected industries, an excise duty was
imposed on the home-produced articles, which was to be remitted in
favour of manufacturers who could show that they paid "fair and
reasonable" wages, and complied with certain other conditions for the
benefit of their workmen. The chief authority for determining whether
these conditions are satisfied or not is the Federal arbitration
court.

Old age pensions.

The same period that saw this legislation adopted was also marked by
the establishment of old age pensions in the three eastern states, and
also in the Commonwealth. By the Federal Act, passed in the session of
1908, a pension of ten shillings a week was granted to persons of
either sex over sixty-five years of age, or to persons over sixty who
are incapacitated from earning a living. The Commonwealth legislation
thus made provision for the aged poor in the three states which up to
1908 had not accepted the principle of old age pensions, and also for
those who, owing to their having resided in more than one state, were
debarred from receiving pension in any.

Tariff.

An important work of the Commonwealth parliament was the passing of a uniform tariff to supersede the six separate tariffs in force at the establishment of the Commonwealth, but many other important measures were considered and some passed into law. During the first six years of federation there were five ministries; the tenure of office under the three-yearly system was naturally uncertain, and this uncertainty was reflected in the proposals of whatever ministry was in office. The great task of adjusting the financial business of the Commonwealth on a permanent basis was one of very great difficulty, as the apparent interests of the states and of the Commonwealth were opposed. Up till 1908 it had been generally assumed that the constitution required the treasurer of the Commonwealth to hand over to the states month by month whatever surplus funds remained in his hands. But in July 1908 a Surplus Revenue Act was passed which was based on a different interpretation of the constitution. Under this act the appropriation of these surplus funds to certain trust purposes in the Federal treasury is held to be equivalent to payment to the states. The money thus obtained was appropriated in part to naval defence and harbours, and in part to the provision of old age pensions under the Federal Old Age Pension Act of 1908. The act was strongly opposed by the government of Queensland, and the question was raised as to whether it was based on a true interpretation of the constitution. The chief external interest, however, of the new financial policy of the Commonwealth lay in its relation towards the empire as a whole. At the Imperial Conference in London in 1907 Mr Deakin, the Commonwealth premier, was the leading advocate of colonial preference with a view to imperial commercial union; and though no reciprocal arrangement was favoured by the Liberal cabinet, who temporarily spoke for the United Kingdom, the colonial representatives were all agreed in urging such a policy, and found the Opposition (the Unionist party) in England prepared to adopt it as part of Mr Chamberlain's tariff reform movement. In spite of the official rebuff received from the mother-country, the Australian ministry, in drawing up the new Federal tariff, gave a substantial preference to British imports, and thus showed their willingness to go farther. (See the article BRITISH EMPIRE.) (R. J. M.)

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For Physical Geography: Barton, _Australian
Physiography_ (Brisbane, 1895); Wall, _Physical Geography of
Australia_ (Melbourne, 1883); Taylor, _Geography of New South Wales_
(Sydney, 1898); Saville Kent, _The Great Barrier Reef of Australia_
(London, 1893); A. Agassiz, _Visit to the Barrier Reef_ (Cambridge,
Mass., 1899); J.P. Thomson, _The Physical Geography of Australia_
(Smithsonian Report, Washington, 1898); J.W. Gregory, _The Dead Heart
of Australia_. For Flora: Maiden, _Useful Native Plants of Australia_
(Sydney, 1889); Bentham and Mueller, _Flora Australiensis_ (London,
1863-1878); Fitzgerald, _Australian Orchids_ (Sydney, 1870-1890);
Mueller, _Census of Australian Plants_ (Melbourne, 1889). For Fauna:
Forbes, "The Chatham Islands; their Relation to a former Southern
Continent," _Geographical Journal_, vol. ii. (1893); Hedley,
"Surviving Refugees in Austral Lands of Ancient Antarctic Life,"
_Royal Society N.S. Wales_, 1895; "The Relation of the Fauna and Flora
of Australia to those of New Zealand," _Nat. Science_ (1893);
Tenison-Woods, _The Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales_ (Sydney,
1883); Ogilvy, _Catalogue of Australian Mammals_ (Sydney, 1892);
Aflalo, _Natural History of Australia_ (London, 1896); Flower and
Lydekker, _Mammals, Living and Extinct_ (London, 1891); J. Douglas
Ogilby, _Catalogue of the Fishes of New South Wales_, 4to (Sydney,
1886). For Statistics and Miscellanea: T.A. Coghlan, _A Statistical
Account of the Seven Colonies of Australasia_, 8vo (Sydney, 1904); G.
Collingridge, _The Discovery of Australia_ (Sydney, 1895); W. Epps,
_The Land Systems of Australia_, 8vo (London, 1894); Ernest Favenc,
_The History of Australasian Exploration_, royal 8vo (Sydney, 1885);
R.R. Garraa, _The Coming Commonwealth: a Handbook of Federal
Government_ (Sydney, 1897); George William Rusden, _History of
Australia_, 3 vols. 8vo (London, 1883); K. Schmeisser, _The Goldfields
of Australasia_, 2 vols. (London, 1899); G.F. Scott, _The Romance of
Australian Exploring_ (London, 1899); H. de R. Walker, _Australasian
Democracy_ (London, 1897); William Westgarth, _Half a Century of
Australian Progress_ (London, 1899); T.A. Coghlan and T.T. Ewing,
_Progress of Australia in the 19th Century_; G.P. Tregarthen,
_Commonwealth of Australia_; Ida Lee, _Early Days of Australia_; W.P.
Reeves, _State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand_; A. Metin,
_La Socialisme sans doctrine_.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The literature of the geology of Australia is enumerated, to
1884, in the bibliography by Etheridge and Jack. A general summary of
the stratigraphical geology was given by R. Tate, _Rep. Austral.
Assoc. Adv. Sci._ vol. v. (1893), pp. 1-69. References to the chief
sources of information regarding the states is given under each of
them. A geological map of the whole continent, on the scale of 50 m.
to the inch, was compiled by A. Everett, and issued in 1887 in six
sheets, by the Geological Survey of Victoria.

[2] The statistical portion of this article includes Tasmania, which
is a member of the Australian Commonwealth.

[3] In his _Discoveries in Central Australia_, E.T. Eyre has
ingeniously attempted to reconstruct the routes taken by the
Australians in their advance across the continent. He has relied,
however, in his efforts to link the tribes together, too much on the
prevalence or absence of such customs as circumcision--always very
treacherous evidences--to allow of his hypothetical distribution
being regarded very seriously. The migrations must have always been
dependent upon physical difficulties, such as waterless tracts or
mountain barriers. They were probably not definite massed movements,
such as would permit of the survival of distinctive lines of custom
between tribe and tribe; but rather spasmodic movements, sometimes of
tribes or of groups, sometimes only of families or even couples, the
first caused by tribal wars, the second to escape punishment for some
offence against tribal law, such as the defiance of the rules as to
clan-marriages.

[4] _The Languages of India_ (1875).

[5] The existence of "Group Marriage" is a much-controverted point.
This custom, which has been defined as the invasion of actual
marriage by allotting permanent paramours, is confined to a special
set of tribes.

[6] Australia, it may be noted, has woman's suffrage in all the
states (Victoria, the last, adopting it in November 1908), and for
the federal assembly.

AUSTRASIA. The word _Austria_ signifies the realm of the east (Ger. _Ost Reich_). In Gregory of Tours this word is still used vaguely, but the sense of it is gradually defined, and finally the name of _Austria_ or _Austrasia_ was given to the easternmost part of the Frankish kingdom. It usually had Metz for its capital, and the inhabitants of the kingdom were known as the _Austrasii_. Retrospectively, later historians have given this name to the kingdom of Theuderich I. (511-534), of his son Theudebert (534-548), and of his grandson Theudebald (548-555); then, after the death of Clotaire I., to the kingdom of Sigebert (561-575), and of his son Childebert (575-597). They have even tried to interpret the long struggle between Fredegond and Brunhilda as a rivalry between the two kings of Neustria and Austrasia. When these two words are at last found in the texts in their precise signification, Austrasia is applied to that part of the Frankish kingdom which Clotaire II. entrusted to his son Dagobert, subject to the guardianship of Pippin and Arnulf (623-629), and which Dagobert in his turn handed on to his son Sigebert (634-639), under the guardianship of Cunibert, bishop of Cologne, and Ansegisel, mayor of the palace. After the death of Dagobert, Austrasia and Neustria almost always had separate kings, with their own mayors of the palace, and then there arose a real rivalry between these two provinces, which ended in the triumph of Austrasia. The Austrasian mayors of the palace succeeded in enforcing their authority in the western as well as in the eastern part, and in re-establishing to their own advantage the unity of the Frankish kingdom. The mayor Pippin the Short was even powerful enough to take the title of king over the whole.

At the time of Charlemagne, the word Austrasia underwent a change of meaning and became synonymous with _Francia orientalis_, and was applied to the Frankish dominions beyond the Rhine (Franconia). This Franconia was in 843 included in the kingdom of Louis the German, and was then increased by the addition of the territories of Mainz, Spires and Worms, on the right bank of the river.

See A. Huguenin, _Histoire du royaume merovingien d'Austrasie_ (Paris,
1857); Aug. Digot, _Histoire du royaume d'Austrasie_, 4 vols. (Nancy,
1863); L. Drapeyron, _Essai sur l'origine, le developpement et les
resultats de la lutte entre la Neustrie et l'Austrasie_ (Paris, 1867);
Auguste Longnon, _Atlas historique_, 1st and 2nd parts. (C. Pf.)

AUSTRIA. (Ger. _Osterreich_), a country of central Europe, bounded E. by Russia and Rumania, S. by Hungary, the Adriatic Sea and Italy, W. by Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the German empire (Bavaria), and N. by the German empire (Saxony and Prussia) and Russia. It has an area of 115,533 sq. m., or about twice the size of England and Wales together. Austria is one of the states which constitute the Austro-Hungarian (Habsburg) monarchy (see AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: _History_), and is also called Cisleithania, from the fact that it contains the portion of that monarchy which lies to the west of the river Leitha. Austria does not form a geographical unity, and the constituent parts of this empire belong to different geographical regions. Thus, Tirol, Styria and Carinthia belong, like Switzerland, to the system of the Alps, but these provinces together with those lying in the basin of the Danube form, nevertheless, a compact stretch of country. On the other hand Galicia, extending on the eastern side of the Carpathians, belongs to the great plain of Russia; Bohemia stretches far into the body of Germany; while Dalmatia, which is quite separated from the other provinces, belongs to the Balkan Peninsula.

_Coasts._--Austria has amongst all the great European countries the
most continental character, in so far as its frontiers are mostly
land-frontiers, only about one-tenth of them being coast-land. The
Adriatic coast, which stretches for a distance of about 1000 m., is
greatly indented. The Gulf of Trieste on the west, and the Gulf of
Fiume or Quarnero on the east, include between them the peninsula of
Istria, which has many sheltered bays. In the Gulf of Quarnero are the
Quarnero islands, of which the most important are Cherso, Veglia and
Lussin. The coast west of the mouth of the Isonzo is fringed by
lagoons, and has the same character as the Venetian coast, while the
Gulf of Trieste and the Istrian peninsula have a steep coast with many
bays and safe harbours. The principal ports are Trieste, Capodistria,
Pirano, Parenzo, Rovigno and Pola, the great naval harbour and arsenal
of Austria. The coast of Dalmatia also possesses many safe bays, the
principal being those of Zara, Cattaro and Ragusa, but in some places
it is very steep and inaccessible. On the other hand a string of
islands extends along this coast, which offer many safe and easily
accessible places of anchorage to ships during the fierce winter gales
which rage in the Adriatic. The principal are Pago, Pasman, Isola
Lunga and Isola Incoronata, Brazza, Lesina, Curzola and Meleda.

The political divisions of Austria correspond, for the most part, so
closely to natural physical divisions that the detailed account of the
physical features, natural resources and the movement of the
population has been given under those separate headings. In this
general article the geography of Austria--physical, economical and
political--has been treated in its broad aspects, and those points
insisted upon which give an adequate idea of the country as a whole.

_Mountains._--Austria is the most mountainous country of Europe after
Switzerland, and about four-fifths of its entire area is more than 600
ft. above the level of the sea. The mountains of Austria belong to
three different mountain systems, namely, the Alps (q.v.), the
Carpathians (q.v.), and the Bohemian-Moravian Mountains. The Danube,
which is the principal river of Austria, divides the Alpine region,
which occupies the whole country lying at its south, from the
Bohemian-Moravian Mountains and their offshoots lying at its north;
while the valleys of the March and the Oder separate the last-named
mountains from the Carpathians. Of the three principal divisions of
the Alps--the western, the central and the eastern Alps--Austria is
traversed by several groups of the central Alps, while the eastern
Alps lie entirely within its territory. The eastern Alps are continued
by the Karst mountains, which in their turn are continued by the
Dinaric Alps, which stretch through Croatia and Dalmatia. The second
great mountain-system of Austria, the Carpathians, occupy its eastern
and north-eastern portions, and stretch in the form of an arch through
Moravia, Silesia, Galicia and Bukovina, forming the frontier towards
Hungary, within which territory they principally extend. Finally, the
Bohemian-Moravian Mountains, which enclose Bohemia and Moravia, and
form the so-called quadrilateral of Bohemia, constitute the link of
the Austrian mountain-system with the hilly region (the
_Mittelgebirge_) of central Europe. Only a little over 25% of the area
of Austria is occupied by plains. The largest is the plain of Galicia,
which is part of the extensive Sarmatic plain; while in the south,
along the Isonzo, Austria comprises a small part of the
Lombardo-Venetian plain. Several smaller plains are found along the
Danube, as the Tulner Becken in Lower Austria, and the Wiener Becken,
the plain on which the capital is situated; to the north of the Danube
this plain is called the Marchfeld, and is continued under the name of
the Marchebene into Moravia as far north as Olmutz. Along the other
principal rivers there are also plains of more or less magnitude, some
of them possessing tracts of very fertile soil.

_Rivers._--Austria possesses a fairly great number of rivers, pretty
equally distributed amongst its crown lands, with the exception of
Istria and the Karst region, where there is a great scarcity of even
the smallest rivers. The principal rivers are: the Danube, the
Dniester, the Vistula, the Oder, the Elbe, the Rhine and the Adige or
Etsch. As the highlands of Austria form part of the great watershed of
Europe, which divides the waters flowing northward into the North Sea
or the Baltic from those flowing southward or eastward into the
Mediterranean or the Black Sea, its rivers flow in three different
directions--northward, southward and eastward. With the exception of
the small streams belonging to it which fall into the Adriatic, all
its rivers have their mouths in other countries, and its principal
river, the Danube, has also its source in another country. When it
enters Austria at the gorge of Passau, where it receives the Inn, a
river which has as large a body of water as itself, the Danube is
already navigable. Till it leaves the country at Hainburg, just before
Pressburg, its banks are pretty closely hemmed by the Alps, and the
river passes through a succession of narrow defiles. But the finest
part of its whole course, as regards the picturesqueness of the
scenery on its banks, is between Linz and Vienna. Where it enters
Austria the Danube is 898 ft. above the level of the sea, and where it
leaves it is only 400 ft.; it has thus a fall within the country of
498 ft., and is at first a very rapid stream, becoming latterly much
slower. The Danube has in Austria a course of 234 m., and it drains an
area of 50,377 sq. m. Its principal affluents in Austria, besides the
Inn, are the Traun, the Enns and the March. The Dniester, which, like
the Danube, flows into the Black Sea, has its source in the
Carpathians in Eastern Galicia, and pursues a very winding course
towards the south-east, passing into Russia. It has in Austria a
course of 370 m. of which 300 are navigable, and drains an area of
12,000 sq. m. The Vistula and the Oder both fall into the Baltic. The
former rises in Moravia, flows first north through Austrian Silesia,
then takes an easterly direction along the borders of Prussian
Silesia, and afterwards a north-easterly, separating Galicia from
Russian Poland, and leaving Austria not far from Sandomir. Its course
in Austria is 240 m., draining an area of 15,500 sq. m. It is
navigable for nearly 200 m., and its principal affluents are the
Dunajec, the San and the Bug. The Oder has also its source in Moravia,
flows first east and then north-east through Austrian Silesia into
Prussia. Its length within the Austrian territory is only about 55 m.,
no part of which is navigable. The only river of this country which
flows into the North Sea is the Elbe. It has its source in the
Riesengebirge, not far from the Schneekoppe, flows first south, then
west, and afterwards north-west through Bohemia, and then enters
Saxony. Its principal affluents are the Adler, Iser and Eger, and,
most important of all, the Moldau. The Elbe has a course within the
Austrian dominions of 185 m., for about 65 of which it is navigable.
It drains an area of upwards of 21,000 sq. m. The Rhine, though
scarcely to be reckoned a river of the country, flows for about 25 m.
of its course between it and Switzerland. The principal river of
Austria which falls into the Adriatic is the Adige or Etsch. It rises
in the mountains of Tirol, flows south, then east, and afterwards
south, into the plains of Lombardy. It has in Austria a course of 138
m., and drains an area of 4266 sq. m. Its principal affluent is the
Eisak. Of the streams which have their course entirely within the
country, and fall into the Adriatic, the principal is the Isonzo, 75
m. in length, but navigable only for a short distance from its mouth.

_Lakes._--Austria does not possess any great lakes; but has numerous
small mountain lakes situated in the Alpine region, the most renowned
for the beauty of their situation being found in Salzburg,
Salzkammergut, Tirol and Carinthia. There should also be mentioned the
periodical lakes situated in the Karst region, the largest of them
being the Lake of Zirknitz. The numerous and large marshes, found now
mostly in Galicia and Dalmatia, have been greatly reduced in the other
provinces through the canalization of the rivers, and other works of
sanitation.

_Mineral Springs._--No other European country equals Austria in the
number and value of its mineral springs. They are mostly to be found
in Bohemia, and are amongst the most frequented watering-places in the
world. The most important are, the alkaline springs of Carlsbad,
Marienbad, Franzensbad and Bilin; the alkaline acidulated waters of
Giesshubel, largely used as table waters; the iron springs of
Marienbad, Franzensbad and of Pyrawarth in Lower Austria; the bitter
waters of Pullna, Saidschitz and Sedlitz; the saline waters of Ischl
and of Aussee in Styria; the iodine waters of Hall in Upper Austria;
the different waters of Gastein; and lastly the thermal waters of
Teplitz-Schonau, Johannisbad, and of Romerbad in Styria. Altogether
there are reckoned to exist over 1500 mineral springs, of which many
are not used. (O. Br.)

_Geology._--The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is traversed by the great
belt of folded beds which constitutes the Alps and the Carpathians; a
secondary branch proceeding from the main belt runs along the Adriatic
coast and forms the Julian and Dinaric Alps. In the space which is
thus enclosed, lies the Tertiary basin of the Hungarian plain; and
outside the belt, on the northern side, is a region which,
geologically, is composite, but has uniformly resisted the Carpathian
folding. In the neighbourhood of Vienna a gap in the folded belt--the
gap between the Alps and the Carpathians--has formed a connexion
between these two regions since the early part of the Miocene period.
On its outer or convex side the folded belt is clearly defined by a
depression which is generally filled by modern deposits. Beyond this,
in Russia and Galicia, lies an extensive plateau, much of which is
covered by flat-lying Miocene and Pliocene beds; but in the deep
valleys of the Dniester and its tributaries the ancient rocks which
form the foundation of the plateau are laid bare. Archaean granite is
thus exposed at Yampol and other places in Russia, and this is
followed towards the west by Silurian and Devonian beds in regular
succession--the Devonian being of the Old Red Sandstone type
characteristic of the British Isles and of Northern Russia.
Throughout, the dip is very low and the beds are unaffected by the
Carpathian folds, the strike being nearly from north to south. After
Devonian times the region seems to have been dry land until the
commencement of the Upper Cretaceous period, when it was overspread by
the Cenomanian sea, and the deposits of that sea lie flat upon the
older sediments.

Some 25 or 30 m. of undulating country separate the Dniester from the
margin of the Carpathian chain, and in this space the Palaeozoic floor
sinks far beneath the surface, so that not even the deep-cut valley of
the Pruth exposes any beds of older date than Miocene. Towards the
north-west, also, the Palaeozoic foundation falls beneath an
increasing thickness of Cretaceous beds and lies buried far below the
surface. At Lemberg a boring 1650 ft. in depth did not reach the base
of the Senonian. West of Cracow the Cretaceous beds are underlaid by
Jurassic and Triassic deposits, the general dip being eastward. It is
not till Silesia that the Palaeozoic formations again rise to the
surface. Here is the margin, often concealed by very modern deposits,
of the great mass of Archaean and Palaeozoic rocks which forms nearly
the whole of Bohemia and Moravia. The Palaeozoic beds no longer lie
flat and undisturbed, as in the Polish plain. They are faulted and
folded. But the folds are altogether independent of those of the
Carpathians; they are of much earlier date, and are commonly different
in direction. The principal biding took place towards the close of the
Carboniferous period, and the _massif_ is a fragment of an ancient
mountain chain, the _Variscische Gebirge_ of E. Suess, which in
Permian and Triassic times stretched across the European area from
west to east.

In Bohemia and Moravia the whole of the beds from the Cambrian to the
Lower Carboniferous are of marine origin; but after the Carboniferous
period the area appears to have been dry land until the beginning of
the Upper Cretaceous period, when the sea again spread over it. The
deposits of this sea are now visible in the large basin of Upper
Cretaceous beds which stretches from Dresden southeastward through
Bohemia. Since the close of the Cretaceous period the Bohemian
_massif_ has remained above the sea; but the depression which lies
immediately outside the Carpathian chain has at times been covered by
an arm of the sea and at other times has been occupied by a chain of
salt lakes, to which the salt deposits of Wieliczka and numerous brine
springs owe their origin.

The large area which is enclosed within the curve of the Carpathians
is for the most part covered by loess, alluvium and other modern
deposits, but Miocene and Pliocene beds appear around its borders. In
the hilly region of western Transylvania a large mass of more ancient
rocks is exposed; the Carboniferous system and all the Mesozoic
systems have been recognized here, and granite and volcanic rocks
occur. In the middle of Hungary a line of hills rises above the plain,
striking from the Platten See towards the north-east, where it merges
into the inner girdle of the Carpathian chain. These hills are largely
formed of volcanic rocks of late Tertiary age; but near the Platten
See Triassic beds of Alpine type are well developed. The Tertiary
eruptions were not confined to this line of hills. They were most
extensive along the inner border of the Carpathians, and they occurred
also in the north of Bohemia. Most of the eruptions took place during
the Miocene and Pliocene periods.

The mineral wealth of Austria is very great. The older rocks are in
many places peculiarly rich in metalliferous ores of all kinds.
Amongst them may be mentioned the silver-bearing lead ores of
Erzgebirge and of Pribram in Bohemia; the iron ores of Styria and
Bukovina; and the iron, copper, cobalt and nickel of the districts of
Zips and Gomor. The famous cinnabar and mercury mines of Idria in
Carniola are in Triassic beds; and the gold and silver of northern
Hungary and of Transylvania are associated with the Tertiary volcanic
rocks. The Carboniferous coal-fields of Silesia and Bohemia are of the
greatest importance; while Jurassic coal is worked at Steyerdorf and
Funfkirchen in Hungary, and lignite at many places in the Tertiary
beds. The great salt mines of Galicia are in Miocene deposits; but
salt is also worked largely in the Trias of the Alps. (See also ALPS;
CARPATHIANS; HUNGARY and TIROL.) (P. La.)

_Climate._--The climate of Austria, in consequence of its great
extent, and the great differences in the elevation of its surface, is
very various. It is usual to divide it into three distinct zones. The
most southern extends to 46 deg. N. lat., and includes Dalmatia and
the country along the coast, together with the southern portions of
Tirol and Carinthia. Here the seasons are mild and equable, the
winters are short (snow seldom falling), and the summers last for five
months. The vine and maize are everywhere cultivated, as well as
olives and other southern products. In the south of Dalmatia tropical
plants flourish in the open air. The central zone lies between 46 deg.
and 49 deg. N. lat., and includes Lower and Upper Austria, Salzburg,
Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Central and Northern Tirol, Southern
Moravia and a part of Bohemia. The seasons are more marked here than
in the preceding. The winters are longer and more severe, and the
summers are hotter. The vine and maize are cultivated in favourable
situations, and wheat and other kinds of grain are generally grown.
The northern zone embraces the territory lying north of 49 deg. N.
lat., comprising Bohemia, Northern Moravia, Silesia and Galicia. The
winters are here long and cold; the vine and maize are no longer
cultivated, the principal crops being wheat, barley, oats, rye, hemp
and flax. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 59 deg. in the
south to 48 deg. in the north. In some parts of the country, however,
it is as low as 46 deg. 40' and even 36 deg. In Vienna the average
annual temperature is 50 deg., the highest temperature being 94 deg.,
the lowest 2 deg. Fahr. In general the eastern part of the country
receives less rain than the western. In the south the rains prevail
chiefly in spring and autumn, and in the north and central parts
during summer. Storms are frequent in the region of the south Alps and
along the coast. In some parts in the vicinity of the Alps the
rainfall is excessive, sometimes exceeding 60 in. It is less among the
Carpathians, where it usually varies from 30 to 40 in. In other parts
the rainfall usually averages from 20 to 24 in.

_Flora._--From the varied character of its climate and soil the
vegetable productions of Austria are very diverse. It has floras of
the plains, the hills and the mountains; an alpine flora, and an
arctic flora; a flora of marshes, and a flora of steppes; floras
peculiar to the clay, the chalk, the sandstone and the slate
formations. The number of different species is estimated at 12,000, of
which one-third are phanerogamous, or flowering plants, and two-thirds
cryptogamous, or flowerless. The crown land of Lower Austria far
surpasses in this respect the other divisions of the country, having
about four-ninths of the whole, and not less than 1700 species of
flowering plants. As stated above, Austria is a very mountainous
country and the mountains are frequently covered with vegetation to a
great elevation. At the base are found vines and maize; on the lower
slopes are green pastures, or wheat, barley and other kinds of corn;
above are often forests of oak, ash, elm, &c.; and still higher the
yew and the fir may be seen braving the climatic conditions. Corn
grows to between 3400 and 4500 ft. above the level of the sea, the
forests extend to 5600 or 6400 ft., and the line of perpetual snow is
from 7800 to 8200 ft.

_Fauna._--The animal kingdom embraces, besides the usual domestic
animals (as horses, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, asses, &c.), wild
boars, deer, wild goats, hares, &c.; also bears, wolves, lynxes,
foxes, wild cats, jackals, otters, beavers, polecats, martens, weasels
and the like. Eagles and hawks are common, and many kinds of singing
birds. The rivers and lakes abound in different kinds of fish, which
are also plentiful on the sea-coast. Among the insects the bee and the
silkworm are the most useful. The leech forms an article of trade. In
all there are 90 different species of mammals, 248 species of birds,
377 of fishes and more than 13,000 of insects.

_Divisions._--Austria is composed of seventeen "lands," called also
"crown lands." Of these, three--namely, Bohemia, Galicia and
Lodomeria, and Dalmatia--are kingdoms; two--Lower and Upper
Austria--archduchies; six--Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola,
Silesia and Bukovina--duchies; two--Gorz-Gradisca and
Tirol--countships of princely rank (_gefurstete Grafschaften_);
two--Moravia and Istria--margraviates (march counties). Vorarlberg
bears the title simply of "land." Trieste, with its district, is a
town treated as a special crown land. For administrative purposes
Trieste, with Gorz-Gradisca and Istria, constituting the Kustenland
(the Coast land) and Tirol and Vorarlberg, are each comprehended as
one administrative territory. The remaining lands constitute each an
administrative territory by itself.

_Population._--Austria had in 1900 a population of 26,107,304 inhabitants,[1] which is equivalent to 226 inhabitants per sq. m. As seen from the table below, the density of the population is unequal in the various crown lands. The most thickly populated province is Lower Austria; the Alpine provinces are sparsely populated, while Salzburg is the most thinly populated crown land of Austria. As regards sex, for every 1000 men there were 1035 women, the female element being the most numerous in every crown land, except the Kustenland, Bukovina and Dalmatia. Compared with the census returns of 1890, the population shows an increase of 2,211,891, or 9.3% of the total population. The increase between the preceding census returns of 1880 and 1890 was of 1,750,093 inhabitants, or 7.9% of the total population. A very important factor in the movement of the population is the large over-sea emigration, mostly to the United States of America, which has grown very much during the last quarter of the 19th century, and which shows a tendency to become still larger. Between 1891 and 1900 the number of over-sea emigrants was 387,770 persons. The movement of the population shown in the other vital statistics--births, marriages, deaths--are mostly satisfactory, and show a steady and normal progress. The annual rate per thousand of population in 1900 was: births, 37.0; still-births, 1.1; deaths, 25.2; marriages, 8.2. The only unsatisfactory points are the great number of illegitimate births, and the high infant mortality. Of the total population of Austria 14,009,233 were scattered in 26,321 rural communities with less than 2000 inhabitants; while the remainder was distributed in 1742 communities with a population of 2000-5000; in 260 communities with a population of 5000-10,000; in 96 towns with a population of 10,000-20,000; in 41 towns with a population of 20,000-50,000; in 6 towns with a population of 50,000-100,000; and in 6 towns with a population of over 100,000 inhabitants. The principal towns of Austria are Vienna (1,662,269), Prague (460,849), Trieste (132,879), Lemberg (159,618), Graz (138,370), Brunn (108,944), Cracow (91,310), Czernowitz (67,622), Pilsen (68,292) and Linz (58,778).

+-----------------+----------+-------------------------+------------+
| | | | Density of |
| Administrative | Areas in | Population. | Population |
| Territories. | Square +------------+------------+ per sq. m. |
| | Miles. | 1890. | 1900. | in 1900. |
+-----------------+----------+------------+------------+------------+
| AUSTRIA-- |
| Lower Austria | 7,654 | 2,661,799 | 3,100,493 | 405 |
| Upper Austria | 4,617 | 785,831 | 809,918 | 175 |
| Salzburg | 2,757 | 173,510 | 193,247 | 69 |
| Styria | 8,642 | 1,282,708 | 1,350,058 | 156 |
| Carinthia | 3,992 | 361,008 | 367,344 | 91 |
| Carniola | 3,844 | 498,958 | 508,348 | 132 |
| Kustenland | 3,074 | 695,384 | 755,183 | 245 |
| Tirol and | | | | |
| Vorarlberg | 11,287 | 928,769 | 979,878 | 86 |
| Bohemia | 19,997 | 5,843,094 | 6,318,280 | 315 |
| Moravia | 8,555 | 2,276,870 | 2,435,081 | 284 |
| Silesia | 1,981 | 605,649 | 680,529 | 342 |
| Galicia | 30,212 | 6,607,816 | 7,295,538 | 241 |
| Bukovina | 4,022 | 646,591 | 729,921 | 181 |
| Dalmatia | 4,923 | 527,426 | 591,597 | 120 |
| +----------+------------+------------+------------+
| Total | 115,533 | 23,895,413 | 26,107,304 | 226 |
+-----------------+----------+------------+------------+------------+

_Races._--From an ethnographical point of view Austria contains a diversity of races; in fact no other European state contains within its borders so many nationalities as the Austrian empire. The three principal races of Europe--the Latin, the Teutonic and the Slavonic--are all represented in Austria. The Slavonic race, numbering 15,690,000, is numerically the principal race in Austria, but as it is divided into a number of peoples, differing from one another in language, religion, culture, customs and historical traditions, it does not possess a national unity. Besides, these various nationalities are geographically separated from one another by other races, and are divided into two groups. The northern group includes the Czechs, the Moravians, the Slovaks, the Ruthenians and the Poles; while the southern group contains the Slovenes, the Servians and the Croats. Just as their historical traditions are different, so are also the aspirations of these various peoples of the Slavonic race different, and the rivalries between them, as for instance between the Poles and the Ruthenians, have prevented them from enjoying the full political advantage due to their number. The Germans, numbering 9,171,614, constitute the most numerous nationality in Austria, and have played and still play the principal role in the political life of the country. The Germans are in a relative majority over the other peoples in the empire, their language is the vehicle of communication between all the other peoples both in official life and in the press; they are in a relatively more advanced state of culture, and they are spread over every part of the empire. Historically they have contributed most to the foundation and to the development of the Austrian monarchy, and think that for all the above-mentioned reasons they are entitled to the principal position amongst the various nationalities of Austria. The Latin race is represented by the Italians, Ladini and Rumanians.

The following table gives the numbers of different nationalities, as
determined by the languages spoken by them in 1900:--

Germans 9,171,614
Czechs and Slovaks 5,955,397
Poles 4,252,483
Ruthenians 3,381,570
Slovenes 1,192,780
Italians and Ladini 727,102
Servians and Croats 711,380
Rumanians 230,963
Magyars 9,516

The Germans occupy exclusively Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg,
and, to a large extent, Lower Austria; then the north and central part
of Styria, the north and western part of Carinthia, and the north and
central part of Tirol. In Bohemia they are concentrated round the
borders, in the vicinity of the mountains, and they form nearly half
the population of Silesia; besides they are found in every part of the
monarchy. The Czechs occupy the central and eastern parts of Bohemia,
the greatest part of Moravia and a part of Silesia. The Poles are
concentrated in western Galicia, and in a part of Silesia; the
Ruthenians in eastern Galicia and a part of Bukovina; the Slovenes in
Carniola, Gorz and Gradisca, Istria, the south of Styria, and the
Trieste territory. The Servians and Croats are found in Istria and
Dalmatia; the Italians and Ladini in southern Tirol, Gorz and
Gradisca, Trieste, the coast of Istria, and in the towns of Dalmatia;
while the Rumanians live mostly in Bukovina.