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Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7814, 5 June 1909, Page 2

Except m a provisional Me sense, it cannot be said Deakin's that the policy of Mr Policy. Deakin's new Government is the policy of the. Commonwealth of Australia. Yet as the avowed programme of the party m power for, the time being, it must be worth looking into on its own account, and it* should also be remembered that no intelligent New Zealander should bo ignorant of or indifferent to the. politics of the Commonwealth, which is too near and too powerful a force to ,be without influence, direct or indirect, on the affairs of New Zealand. Our trade especially may lose or gain by the policy or practice of united Australia, arid' it should be noted m this connection that the Deakin programme provides'thatl there shall be no interference, with the Protectionist policy of the present Commonwealth Customs tariff, or m rectifying anomalies. Except m one aspect, the other prominent points m the programme bear mainly on inter-state relations and arrangements. For instance, Mr Deakin proposes "an amendment of the Constitution to enable a State wages board or Arbitration Court to refer to the inter-state commission for adjustment any unfair competitive rates or conditions existing m another State, whether arising from! the absence of such boards or courts, or from their derisions." And it is stipulated Hut "m federahsing unfairly competitno rates and 1 conditions, the inte: state commission phall take aocount of wages ancj of sm rounding cucumsta-nces,", T,o this it js added that "no'amendment of the Constitution. ;will' ,be sought, should all the State?' authorise, tbs Commonwealth to legislate to extent undei the Constiti^lion, -se,ctipii' 51, sub-section 37 The States are to be invited to take this course without delay " Anothei purely domestic proposal is that "pending the' preparation of a complete schpms to adjust the future financial relations of the Commonwealth and the States, an interim arrangement shall be proposed under which the '.Custom's and excise revenue of the Commonwealth shalj be 'dealt with." Perhaps all that a New Zealander /gaing ,'from this, is a slight insight into the nature of the local or infer-state affairs which have to be handled charily and warily by Commonwealth statesmen, though they make no appeal to the outsider, and have, perhaps, no more effect on New Zealand politics than the watering of the streets m Sydney or Melbourne has/ on a New Zealand nor'-wester. This cannot be said, however, of what it is proposed to do m the matter of defence: what the. Commonwealth medjta'tes m, ''tjiis cbiinocfton really concerns the wliole Empire, and is of special significance to New Zealand on account of the nearness of the countries to each other. "To develop the Australian naval and military forces, with the advice and assistance of the Admiralty and War Office, by means of universal training, commencing m the schools; to develop the • Commonwealth coastal defence; and also to recognise our Imperial responsibilities"—this is the Deakin Government's programme. ■ It is a continuation of ttiat of Mr' Andrei; Fisher, th'e'Go'mnionwealth Labour. " Government Premier, who with%(is ancj %r\\o pqurago stood for, a/ large peVmafjont pr : oces|, jh opposition to the effervescent emotionalism which aimed jit Australia emulating New Zealand m tlje"precipitate presentation of hypothetical Dreadnoughts. "What Mr Fisher and his colleagues did m this connection wM always gtnnd to their credit as men of largo views.and real statesmanship; and New Zealand will suffer through lack, of statesraajis'l^ if Australia^ Continued example m the matter of i defence ,is not very deliberately studied by 'our country's, public writers and public men