The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1907. FEDERAL POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 254, 24 October 1907, Page 4

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

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1907. FEDERAL POLITICS.

Tor the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For Vie future in the distance, 'And the good thmt vie can do.

The retirement of Mr Carruthers from political life in New South Wales has apparently not weakened the party ■vs&ich he led so long. Under the capable control of Mr Wade, Government has had no difficulty in warding off the attack of the Opposition, and Mr McGowen's vote of want of confidence has been negatived by a substantial majority. Except as an excuse for asserting the traditional policy of the Labour party, and testing the strength of the Government, we do not know that Mr M:cGowen's amendment to the Address was of much value; but the result certainly indicates that the so-called "Socialists" are not making any serious headway in the New South Wales legislature. However, the retirement of Mr Carruthers will clear the air of public life by removing the chief source of local animosity against Victoria. For there is no doubt that the popular jealousy of the Federal Government, and the absurd "Secessionist" cry were largely the work of the ex-Premier, and Mr Wade is not likely to foUow his lead in these respects. We may further observe that for a great variety of reasons the opposition to the Protectionist policy now frankly adopted by Australia is less vehement in Sydney than of yore. For even Mr George Reid has confessed in tbe Federal Parliament that he will bo satisfied to see Sir William Lyne's experimental tariff put in practice. By imposing an excise duty equal to onehalf the tariff on every article manufactured in the Commonwealth under protective conditions, and then by exempti ing all articles that bear the Commonwealth trade mark as having been produced under fair conditions as to wages and hours of labour, the Federal Treasurer has ingeniously succeeded in reconciling some of his worst enemies to his scheme; and the decision of Mr Reid to give the New Protection a chance of discrediting itself will certainly tend to calm the political atmosphere in Melbourne as well as in New South Wales.

In the Federal Parliament there has been a defection from the ranks of Australia's public men that is likely to make

a much more serious difference to Australian politics than the retirement of Mr. Carruthers. The leader of the Labour party has been compelled for personal reasons to withdraw from the position that he has so ably filled; and 1 the future prospects of the Labour section in the Federal House will depend chiefly upon their ability to find a man to fill Mr. Wateon's place. And the difficulty is not to discover his equal in intellectual ability or political insight. Mr. Watson's chief virtue is his moderaI tion and self-control. Under his guidance the Australian Labour Party has i pursued a consistent progressive policy, I without ever surrendering itself to extremists or political agitators. As the | "Age" recently pointed out, the "fighting platform" of the last Labour Conference contained only one "plank" out of nine to which the average Liberal could conscientiously object. Old Age Pen- | sions, a "White Australia," Progressive ' Land Tax, restriction of public borrowing, Navigation Laws, a citizens' defence force, Arbitration Act amendment—all these are part and parcel of the accepted Liberal policy; and the Tariff referendum, to which alone the Federal Liberals seriously objected, has since been allowed to lapse by the Labour party.

But beyond this Mr Watson has absolutely refused to commit himself or his party to the visionary "Socialism" that we hear so fluently advocated nowadays by less far-seeing and less discriminating leaders of Labour. Last month, speaking at the Trades Hall, the stronghold of Australian industrialism, he told a large and enthusiastic audience that it is hopeless to dream of transforming the whole organisation and constitution of society by any sudden political change. "As long as human nature remains what it is, any complete system of Socialism must utterly break down." Such is the dictum of the man who is credited by Mr Keid and the Australian Conservatives with stirring up the masses to undermine the foundations of society. The truth is that Mr Watson has always been a controlling and restraining influence upon his party, and in these respects, even more than in the tactics and strategy of political warfare, he will be sorely missed. ■ Imperialists, too, should be grateful to him for the steady and outspoken support that he has always given to that policy of Preferential Trade which Mr Deakin is now vigorously defending in the Commonwealth Parliament. But so nearly do the Australian Liberals and the Labourites now approximate in political views that, even without Mr Watson's guidance, we may expect that the two parties will gradually combine their politics into one united progressive Liberalism; and this fusion of public aims has been brought appreciably nearer by the advent of Sir -W. Lyne's New Protection.