The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1929. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 243, 14 October 1929, Page 6

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

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1929. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

For the cause that tacks assistance, For the icrong that needs resistanc9 t For the future in the distance t And the good that toe can da.

The returns for the Federal poll are not yet complete, but it is certain that the Nationalist Party has been defeated and that Labour has won a sweeping - victory. So far as can be ascertained, the Labour Party appears to have secured enough seats to assure it of a substantial majority without considering the Independents and the results still i doubtful. Several Ministers have lost their seats, Mr. Bruee's return is still uncertain, and the triumphant message transmitted to Mr. Mac Donald informing him that Labour has won 50 seats out of 75 is quite probably no exaggeration. No competent judge of the political situation would have ventured to predict such a "land-slide," and it is extremely difficult to explain it -even now. The proposal to abolish the Federal Arbitration Court, though theoretically there was much to be said for the change, seems to have aroused among the masses the suspicion that the Nationalists contemplated an attack upon wages. Mr. Bruce, though generally respected, is not liked, and there was nothing in his policy that made any special appeal to the electors. At the same time, the financial embarrassments of the Commonwealth, the extravagance of the Government, and the unpopularity of several' of the proposed fiscal measures, notably the amusement tax, must have been responsible collectively for a large turn-over of votes. There may be some ground for the conjecture that Labour's recent victory at Home and the advent of the Mac Donald Government have proved an inspiration to Australian Labour. Moreover, the fact that the Nationalists have held power for a considerable period without a break may have affected their position prejudicially. For democracies sometimes seem to regard lengthy tenure of office by one party a good reason for experimenting with another. But whatever the precise cause of the Nationalist "debacle," the fact is that Labour has regained its lost ascendancy in Federal politics. Its leaders in the Federal Parliament are not conspicuous for political ability or statesmanship; and Mr. W. M. Hughes, by far the ablest man in Australian public life Avho has been identified with Labour in recent years, is hardly likely to regain the position that he lost through his "apostasy." Mr. Hughes has succeeded, as he threatened, in "wrecking" Mr. Bruce, but he has no prospect of displacing Mr. Scullin and little chance of beingreadmitted to the Labour fold. But the leadership of the party is less important than its policy, and on this point the Commonwealth has no ground for serious anxiety. The extremism which has manifested itself in such alarming forms in State politics, notably in New South Wales, finds little place in Federal political life, and in this respect Mr. Scullin is not likely to depart from the traditions established by his predecessors. We have sufficient faith in the ability, good sense and public spirit of the majority of the Australian Labour Party to accept this sudden transformation without any grave apprehensions for the Commonwealth's future.