AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 738, 10 February 1910, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

Although the impending Federal election will not be comparable '• in bitterness c"r intensity with the-tre-mendous struggle which Great Britain has just witnessed, the issues-at stake have for the Common wealth an importanc3 not less than tie importance of the Budget, Home Rule, and Tariff Reform'to the British , nation. The present really the first occa : sion since 'the establishment of the 'Federation on which= the people will not. be distracted by the appeals of three almost equally strong arid immiscible parties. ; For the - sake of the' stability of politics that, in "the present stage of Australia's political development, is even_ more important than the •' immediate settlement of such. large contentious- details as fiscal policy, it-.is; a» subject for. satisfaction that the ■; election will be fought on the basis of the fusion between the Cook- and Deakin parties which was effectod last May. '.;The fusion cannot be permanent: the coalition Government contains elements which must go to war with each other again some day; but in the -meantime the two coalescing parties are firmly united in their recognition of the necessity of-set-; tling those large national questions, such" as defence, inter-State trade, and national finance, which cannot be settled if the parties agreed upon their settlement aro-divided by other less immediately important issues. The fight that is coming is a fight between a not quite sound Liberalism on the one. hand and Labour Socialism on the.other. > • In his Ballarat speech, reported yesterday, flu. Deakin outlined the .Government. oolicy. ' The ■ most im-

portent electoral issue ,is the new national finance scheme,, under which the- Federal Government, if the necessary sanction from the people is obtained, will take over the . State debts, and, instead of returning a proportion of the Customs revenue to the States, make a fixed payment of 255; per head .of the population. The opposition to this proposal is based on the contention that it will necessitate the imposition of a high revenue tariff, and a high revenue tariff is considered by the Protectionists to mean the death-, blow of Protection. The view that the Government takes was set out by Mb. Cook in a speech at Parramatta last. week. "The States," he said, "must lwve a steady and adequate return of revenue from the Commonwealth. If they did not get it, ..they would have 'to find money by extra taxation.' The Government believed that the agreement would keep the States solvent, strong, and progressive, and at the same time give a fair deal to the Commonwealth: They could .take it from him that if there was no guarantee,' there.: would not be much money to come from the Commonwealth. ..They must see _. that .the agreement was embodied in the Constitution, otherwise there would be danger , of the , functions of the' States being taken over, which the Socialists desired to see brought about." Of, much greater importance from the national rather than the electoral point of view is the defence policy: of - the Government, which must be allowed the credit of having taken this great duty in hand in no half-hearted fashion. For'the sake of: the.'nation's 'future 'it is to be hoped tha,t the Government will be enabled to.push ahead with its'naval' and military programme.; ■ ; - ; ;'■;:;:;; ■•■. The'■'. Government's programme ;is not'all good: 'its ideas are not all sound. . Me. Deakin says, for; example, that he "hopes; that the tariff will in future be dealt with apart from theory and, general political doctrine." This is very -much as if a sea-captain were to pray for ..the day when steamers would.be allowed to run without- compass,' sextant, and chronometer. The 'fiscal issue, however, is for the present set'apart from-discussion, and Mr. Deakin's extraordinary "hope"'has no immediate importance. It is early yet to estimate i the prospects':. 0f,.; the Opposition, but it seems-at present to be.: improbable that the Govern v inent can be: defeated. . . .... . •