摘要：The grandest colonial building in Hobart is its Custom House. It is a magnificent vestige of the time colonies imposed tariffs on the import of commodities from each other. It was completed in 1903: two years after the Federation that abolished Tasmanian tariffs. That farcical Custom House might symbolise the befuddled state of Australian Federation. Another reminder of the tragi-comedy of Federation is found in the impressive bearded face of George Adams, whose steely stare meets the eye in every Tattersalls' stall in Tasmania. In the 1890s Adams' lottery business had been driven out of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland by laws that had been contrived by the same sort of high-minded parsons who today preach against poker machines. In Tasmania Adams found a welcoming jurisdiction that saw lotteries as a pleasing source of revenue for a financially derelict polity. In 1897 — the same year as the University of Tasmania opened its door — the great oaken barrel of Tattersall was cranked for the first time. Assisted by one Mr Iken, Mr Adams himself, with a pair of tongs, removed the first number to be graced by the goddess Fortuna
