FIERCE CONTEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 113, 16 May 1933, Page 7

FIERCE CONTEST.

STEVENS VERSUS LANG UPPER HOUSE FORGOTTEN. TRIAL OF STRENGTH. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 12. Before these comments are published the Referendum will have been taken, and a most momentous decision will have been reached by the people of Now South Wales. Naturally with the approach of the fateful May 13 the public interest and excitement is being intensified, and the outcome of the struggle will be awaited with the keenest anticipation.- For Saturday's vote will be a trial of strength between the Nationalists and the Langites, quite ns definitely as the poll which confirmed the expulsion of Mr. Lang from office nearly a year ago. So completely has this idea taken possession of the public mind that most people have already, to some extent, lo?t sight of the original question at issue. The leaders on both sides have contributed largely to this result. The Langites began by criticising the Stevens reform plan, principally on the alleged ground that the new House, once established, would be impregnable, and that the people would never be able to reconstruct it. This view has been supported by two lawyers of recognised professional standing, Mr. Mack and Mr. Piddington. But Mr. Mack, who a year ago said publicly that Mr. Lang was a madman, is—as Mr. Weaver told his audience the other day with rather brutal frankness — a "disgruntled" officeseeker who was disappointed to find that his services did not receive due recognition from Mr .Stevens; ai.d Mr. Piddin.uton, though capable and high-minded, is so eccentric in his views and his methods of thought that no serious importance can be attached to his conclusions.

Arguments Demolished. Moreover the Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice have completely disposed of the arguments advanced by Mr. Piddington and Mr. Mack, and have proved conclusively that the reformed Upper House would still be wholly subject to the people's will and could not possibly reject a demand for its own reconstruction or abolition, by referendum.

On the whole, the Larigites liave had so much the worst of the argument that they have fallen "back on general principles, and have contented themselves with denouncing the Reform bill as i; prelude to the establishment of i: Fascist tyranny in New South Wales. The "Labour Daily" has striven to rally its followers to the polls by holding the menace of "Hitlerism" constantly before their eyes; and the alleged secret alliance "between the New Guard and the Nationalists plays a large part in it> propaganda. On the other hand, Mr. Stevens ant his colleagues, having established their ca6e firmly on theoretical grounds, hav« been concentrating chiefly on the task of reminding the electors of all that the country endured under the Langitt regime, and depicting the terrible consequences of a possible restoration ot Langism with a nominee Uppev Hou-h still under the control of unscrupulous and "class-conscious" demagogues deeply infected with the taint of Bolshevism.

Telling The Truth. In one sense, the Nationalists have a great advantage over the Langites on such a controversy; for Mr. Lang's political record is so outrageously bad that the best way of attacking him j»to tell the exact truth about him. Though it is only a year since ho lost office, people already need to be reminded of the closing of the Savings Bank; of the outrageous Arbitration Bill which would have given trade union officials the right to enter and search privatu houses;, of the Insurance Bill, which would have ruined companies holding £127,000,000 of the people's savings; of the Mortgage Bill, which would have forced every mortgagee to pay 10 per cent of his mortgage value to the State and would have cost tens of thousands of workers the equity of their homes; of the proposed limitation, of Civil Service salaries to £500 a year; of the threat to levy a tax of 5/ in the £ on all wages, including the wages of the workers. And all this, it should never be forgotten, was only "part and parcel of a grand scheme to create disorder and disruption, to wreck the State and to lead up to the final establishment of a Soviet regime."

The "Little Soviet." There are many people who, whil« recognising the evils and dangers implied in Langism, still hesitate- to believe that Mr. Lang was deliberately paving the way for Bolshevism. Most, opportunely for Mr. Stevens, Mr. "Jock" Garden has saved the sceptics any further doubt on this score by the assurance which he gave the State Labour Conference a fortnight ago that Mr. Lang will go further than Lenin, and that Langism, is even greater than Leninism. Naturally the- Nationalists have eeized eagerly upon this admission. They have christened Langism the "Little ■ Soviet" policy, and they have done their <best to utilise Mr. Garden's confession for the purposes of the Referendum campaign. Huge cartoons representing Lang and Garden, cheek by jowl with Lenin, or depicting a particularly hirsute Bolshevik grinning through the bars of a locked and '. bolted cell have been conspicuous in the Nationalist newspapers. And so a contest which started with the discussion of a measure intended to reform a nominee Upper House has been metamorphosed, in the. minds of the voters into a trial of strength "between Hitlerisin on the one hand and Bolshevism on the other.

A Prediction. In such a caee as this definite predictions about the result of the poll may seem more than ordinarily futile. Yet there are certain indications which ar, least suggest the possible outcome of this great struggle. There is no doubt that Mr. Stevens started his campaign agaiiir-t, strong opposition, for many who fear and hate Langism were doubtful about the scheme for the "indirect" election of the Upper House. Four or five months ago, the betting wae said to bo ''four to one against" a "yes" vote. But there U no doubt that the pendulum has swung strongly against the Langites during the past three weeks, and the country section of the Nationalists are confident o. a strong majority throughout the rural district?. On the other hand Mr. Garde... who usually forms an accurate eW of his party's voting power, 1 '? that the '.'No" vote will Wjn ««Ij the city.