The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1903. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 303, 21 December 1903, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1903. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

#'or xne cause Uiat laclis assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The results of the Federal elections are now known with tolerable accuracy, and the general outcome of the poll is an overwhelming victory for the Labour Party all along the line. In the late Senate out of 3G members eight were Labour representatives, but the new Senate will include 15 Labour members. In the late House of Representatives out of 75 member?, Hi belonged to the Labour Party, but ce.ilainly 22, and possibly 24, have now been returned as Labour members. The effect of tliis is. of course, to throw the balance of power more completely than before into the hands of the Labour Partry- In the late Parliament the Barton-Deakin Ministry claimed to act independently of the Labour Party, but in any case they were powerless without them- In the new Parliament the predominance of Labour is assured more certainly than ever before, and nothing short of a combination nf the Ministerial Party with the Opposition wifi enable Mr Deakin to withstand Ihe authority of Mr Watson and his welldisciplined followers. In all but name, the Labour Party is supreme in the Australian political world to-day. As far as the struggle between Mr. G. H. Kcid and Mr. Deakin is concerned, the Ministry has little cause to be gratified with the returns. Of the seats gained by the Labour party in the House, the Opposition has lost one ;\rvl the Ministry has lost four. In the Senate, it is true, the Opposition loses four seats and the Ministry only three: bill the final balance at best leaves Mr. Deakin in command of a very smell majority. The Sydney "Daily Telegraph," which has always been optimistic about Mr. Reid's chances, calculates that the new House consists of 22 Labour members, 20 Ministrialists, and 27 Oppositionists. The Sydney "Herald." with perhaps sounder judgment, givc-3 the Ministry 20 members. Opposition 24, and ljhbour party 24, and leaves onp Independent. It is clear that Mr. Deakin (if he is to retain office) must depend largely on the amount, of support he can get from the Labour party. But in spite of Mr. Reid's comments on ihe "abject dependence" of Government upon the Labour party, it is evident that the- sanio remark applies equally to any Ministry that he or any other Opposition leader might form. Mr. Ileid still appears to believe in the ultimate triumph of Free Trade principles in Australia. But though the majority of the .Labour party are Protectionists, it is certain that Mr. Watson and his followers will continue to pivo a block vc\ic for that policy, fiscal or otherwise, which best suits the requirements of the Laboil)' programme. As consistent advocates of the prin-

ciples of democratic Liberalism, we naturally sympathise with those leaders of the Australian Labour party who are endeavouring to gain for the wage earner recognition of many privileges which are fully an-d freely admitted here. At the same time, there is a danger lest the possession of supreme political ~ower should urge the more violent members of the party to excesses which their more reasonable followers may regrer. The gloomy anticipations of the Sydney "Herald" of Ihe evil that will result from the ascendancy of "misguided sentiments and mistaken self-interest" do not appeal to us as well-founded. But at the same time, circumstances

have produced a. bitterness of antagonism, between the Labour party and their opponents in Australia that is happily riot paralleled in this colony; and it is to be hoped that the Labour leaders will have the good sense and public spirit to make only such use of their advantages as will react beneficially upon the whole Commonwealth. It is, we think, a favourable omen thai, the Labour leaders of 1 Victoria have emphatically refused to associate themselves with the incendiary propaganda of Mr. Tom Mann, whose late attempt to commemo--1 rate the death of the Chicago "martyrs" who were hanged for bombthrowing has disgusted the connnonsense working m an, as well as the capitalist and the employer. There is no room for tbe rabid fanaticism of the Continental Anarchists in these colonies; and there is no danger that Mr. Watson will ever raise the Red Flag and stir up riot and revolution in the streets of Melbourne. The Australian Labour party understands perfectly well that its strength really depends upon the inherent reasonableness of most, of its claims. But anything like the political tyranny that the ".Standard" and the

"St. James' Gazette" predict would gimply lead io a sweeping reaction in the public mind, and a combination of all poliycal parties for its overthrow. Even now it is distantly possible that the conservative sections in Government and Opposition will be drawn closer toother hy the triumph of Labour. But tire success of the Labour candidates. due partly to the female vote, partly to scrand organisation and discipline, is not likely to be transient or temporary; and we see no reason to doubt that in th« long run in Australia, as in other lands, tho extension of the franchise and tho assertion of the just rights ard claims of Industrialism will ultimately produce resuT& in every way beneficial to the people of the country.