The Double Dissolution.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14988, 8 June 1914, Page 6

The Double Dissolution.

The Federal Primo Minister has got his double dissolution, and tho Labour Party arc annoyed. That is not surprising. "With a large majority in the Senate, they wanted a dissolution of the House only, so that whichever way tho election went, they would be able to prevent the Liberals from legislating. But this natural annoyance docs not excuse; tho application of tho term ".scandalous" to the Governor-Gi-neral's decision. Tho power to dissolve both, Chambers is given to him in black and wliite in the Constitution. The clause runs as follows:—

If tho House of Representatives passes any proposed law, and tho Sonate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which tho House of Representatives will not agree, and if, after an interval of three months, tho Houso of Iteprasentatives, in tho same or tho next session, again passes tho proposed law with or without any amendments which have been made, sur'rrpsteri. or agreed to, by +I_,r> S^n^t.-*.

and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it. or passes it with amendments tr. which the House of Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may dissolve tlie Senate, and the Houso of Representatives simultaneously.

The conditions set forth hero having been fulfilled, the Governor-General Tiad to consider whether ho was justified in exercising the power conferred npon him. Tho Parliamentary situation was surely such that he could properly grant a double dissolution. The Liberals were dependent on the Speaker's vote for their majority in tho Lower House, and under such conditions it was impossible to do justice to the business of the country. Very little has been done in the Houso since the elections, tho Opposition haying repeatedly obstructed business. Under the circumstances it would have been a costly farce to let Parliament run on. The dissolution of the House alone would favour one of the two parties, because that party would have everything to gain and nothing to lose by such an appeal. The charge that tho Gover-nor-General has ehown partisanship is amusing, but it is only Labour's way. Whenever tho other sido gets what it asks for, a section of Labour raises this

cry. The double dissolution is the only way out of an impossible situation, and it will bo a calamity for Australia if, after tho election, parties are still in the same relative strengths.

People who frequent the book shops, and have an eye for something more than ephemeral fiction, must have noticed the increasing supply of works of living poets. There would hardly be this supply without a demand, so the state of the poetry shelves in our largest shops is evidence of a boom in verse. The "Literary IHgest," an American weekly, tells us that "for the first time sinco the heyday of TennyBon's popularity, books of pootry have broken into the 'best-seller' class," and quotes the president of the Macmillan houso as saying that "the poet with a real gift has golden opportunities waiting him, and tho largest possible audience in the history of the world." Publishers, ho cays, are all on tho look-o\it for the poet whose vorse "sings to the very heart of the people, and makes a universal appeal." Tho big sales of the work of "Mr Alfred Noyes and Mr. John Masofiold aro instanced, and it is mentioned that the sale in America of one book by Rahindranath Tagoro has exceeded 100,000 copies, a ; thing which has not been paralleled since the days when tho appearance of a now Tennyson volume was the talk of two hemispheres. Why does the public now take Mr Noyos and Mr Masefield and others to its heart? Mr Noyes blames "that wretched 'aesthetic movement'," tho protagonists of which, he says, made a ! cult of insincerity and alienated seni sible people. This may not be tho whole explanation, but we think it at least part of it. Unfortunately the ave,rago man has an idea that poetry is unmanly, that it is written by degenerate men, by poseurs and weaklings, people who move languidly through life in a haze of insincerity and affectation. He is also very suspicious of the morals of the poet. Be may have a dim knowledge of the lives of Byron and Shelley, know something of the eccentricities of Wilde and his tragedy, or be, familiar with living poets in his own country or even his own town, whose long hair and flowing ties he despises. He sees a picture of i 'llr Lβ Gallienno in a magazine, or makes the acquaintance of the.unendurabLs Marchbo-nks in Mr Shaw's "Candida, ,, and he says in disgust, "There's your poet!" And in tho sickly eroticism of much modern poetry he finds further justification for his theory. Mr Js T oyes thinks Mr Kipling first rehabilitated poetry after the (esthetic movement, titr Kipling certainly is a manly poet, and for that matter so is Mr Ivoyes. The former especially shows that glowing and tendor imagination cau go with virility, and that poetry extends far beyond tho boudoir and the garden. Qne of the besfc things that could happen for poetry would be for a Newbolfc or a Masefreld to make a century in a test maUih. or captain England against Wales. It would do more than anything else to show the public that a poet can be a man amongst men.

It was stated in our cable news on Saturday morning that a deputation which -waited on the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth at Melbourne represented to him that there were 6000 men out of work in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria. If these figures are correct, there must be much genuine distress amongst artisans and »aDour«rs, cmfc it is well worth while patting beside them some statistics recently issued by the Labour Bureau iv Melbourne. A country firm wanted ninety artisans. Eighty of those registered at iho bureau as wanting work were called upon, eighteen responded, thirteen declined to go to the jobs, and five accepted the employment. The Railway Department wanted fifteen carpenters for thr.ee months at 13s a. day. Thirty of

those registered were notified, seventeen responded, twelve declined to go to the country, live accepted tho employment. According to the "Argus," the labour market is brisk and buoyant, but "sellers" aro ''holding oiF' where work in the country is concerned. The man who refuses a job .it 13s a day in - the country does so because he eos 3 the shadow of a billet in the city later on at 14s or los a day. He prefers tho city because o? its more numerous attractions, it is important to note that these artisnns were not offered work in the backblocks, but in a town of considerable size, where tho comforts of civilisation aro available. Facts like these would seem to ny-ike the deputation's figures less impressive. They arc not a healthy sign in a young country.

Devonport is not tho place in which Sir Joseph "Ward thinks his happiest thoughts. His 6peech there on Wed nosday night recalls the fact that it was in Devonport three or four years ngo that he confessed that if borrowing were checked, the bottom would fall out of tho country, two-thirds of us would go bankrupt, and the bone and sinew of tho nation would bo forced to emigrate to some less precariously poised country which had not undergone a couple of decades of "Liberal" treatment. Some people may remember how painfully, when asketl whether "Liberalism" ha* really broriEht the country to such a dangerous condition of weakness, Sir Joseph struggled to explain himself away. There must bo eomething in the Devonport air. for on Wednesday he mado an oqually curious statement—

In conclusion (so rune the authorised report of ha speech) Sir Joseph Ward said the public mwt not run away with the idea that the Liberal Party would not have a policy in plenty of t mo befow the next g S S i* / c PJ opcr iimo h « w °«ld lay down a policy for tho people of this country, falL£ Til. Tk° it that <*» resource!

The "resourcefulness", of the "Liberal" party needs no advertisement to a public which has watched with increasing wonder the amazing procession of "Liberal" fictions. But Sir Joseph is surely showing much less than his usual "resourcefulness" in his farcical attempts to get over the fact .that he has np policy to offer. Hβ knows, as a matter of fact, that everybody is laughing heartily at his explanations, but ho is in tho unhappy position of having thus to expose himself to ridicule, lest worso befall him. Actually, of course, he must ultimately announce one of two policies: either he must revivo the scrambling jumble of everything for everybody, which appeared in 1912, when his party was making: its last stand, or else he must go right over to tho Red Feds. It really does not matter which he chnoses. In tho meantime, one cannot help wondering what ho thinks lie means or what ho thinks tho public will think ho means, by "a policy which would enable individuals to work out their own welfare." Can individuals not do that now? Can it be that 21 years of "Liberalism" have destroyed freedom and the hopes of men, and that he must pome to tho rescue of a stricken nation? Thero must, we repeat, be something in tho Devonport air—something that stimulates humbug.