REFERENDA IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21990, 14 January 1937, Page 7

REFERENDA IN AUSTRALIA

DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT PREDICTED OPINIONS OF MR CLIVE EVATT The opinion that both the referenda being submitted by lhe ,^ y ° ns ment in Australia would be was expressed by Mr Clive Evatt, K.L. of Sydney, in answer to a question from a representative cf , The . P A e! iL last evening. The referenda are to be taken to obtain the f altitude of the people towards an enlargement of r eueral legislative powers so as to include control of aviation and ‘marketing. The marketing referendum would net succeed because the administration of marketing had resulted in an increase in the price, of foodstuffs to the consumer. There had been no corresponding increase in the price obtained by the primary producer. Organised marketing as administered by the Federal authorities had not been a success,. Mr Evatt said, and it did not seem likely that Australian citizens would be prepared to hand over to the Commonwealth Government the control that was being sought. ■ The control of aviation was also to be submitted to the people in the hope that the States would relinquish their present sovereignty over this subject matter. In 10 to 20 years’ time aviation would be the principal means of transport in Australia, as elsewhere, Mr Evatt said, so that if the Federal' Government were to obtain control of aviation they would be obtaining control of transport facilities for the future. Federal maladministration had reached such a pitch that it was' hard to conceive Australians handing over this important function to the Lyons Administration. Australians remembered with regret, he continued, that Kingsford Smith and Ulm, two of the greatest aviators of all time, had been .passed over by the Federal authorities and had .both been obliged to undertake several flights, which, although courageous, had, from the point of view of the advancement of aviation, been unnecessary. The Federal Government had failed to find these intrepid men administrative posts in the control of aviation that Would have made it unnecessary for them to continue dangerous flying. - The same Government was now asking the citizens of the Commonwealth to hand over to it complete and unrestricted control of aviation. Mr Evatt added. It seemed fairly obvious that the reply would be in the negative. Dealing with his tour of the West Coast he had a word of constructive criticism to offer, in suggesting the speeding up of the bus-and rail services in that district. Most tourists with whom he came in contact considered three days from Nelson to the glaciers an unnecessarily long period. Mr Evatt is accompanied on his tour by Mrs Evatt. who is a daughter of Mr E. P. Andreas, of Leura, New South Wales. Mr Andreas pioneered big game fishing in the Bay of Islands, and introduced the present King and Queen, then Duke and Duchess of York, to the sport during their visit to New Zealand.