LABOUR DESPOTISM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1067, 4 March 1911, Page 5

LABOUR DESPOTISM.

THE AUSTRALIAN REFERENDA. CHANGES DENOUNCED BY MR. DEAKIN. . WORSE THAN RUSSIA. By releirasb-Press Association-Oopyrlt'bt. Melbourne, March 3. Mr. Dealdn, Leader of tho Commonwealth Opposition, opened tho campaign las't night against tho referenda on the proposed amendments to the Constitution. He addressed an immenso audience. Ho declared the carrying of the amendments might mean tho ushering in of a reign of despotism, meaning the crushing of State sovereignty. It was only by true Federalism that effectivo development of the country could bo ensured. The referenda vote was more important than a general election, or even the vote which created Federation, because no State can retiro; all must be bound by the majority. The Federal Government would have power ,to give preference to unionists, a power which could be horribly abused, making industrial unions political and increasing a despotism which Russia could not rivcl. Ho was prepared to ■ givo the court power to give preference to unionists for industrial purposes, not : for political. Tho latter concession would create a privileged class even above that of the Lords in Great Britain. Mr. Deakin pointed out how Ministers in Now South Wales had been crushed by a majority vote. The- referenda proposals would, ho urged, leave tho State powers intact, but the Federal lav/ would override every State law, and the resultant cost in litigation would be enormous. ■ i

COMPETITION DYING. Sydney, March 3. Mr. Hughes, in his speech, referring to tho proposal to give the Commonwealth power to deal with corporations, said competition was dead or dying over half tho industrial, commercial, and financial sphere' of tho ComniGnweilth. TO DEFEAT THE MEAT TRUST. Sydney, March 3. Mr. Fisher, Federal Prime Minister, is in Sydney. He states if thd referenda are passed it will undoubtedly strength-/ en the Commonwealth's hands for dealing with tho American Meat Trust. "DAILY NEWS" COMMENT. London, March 2. . Tho "Daily News" (Liberal), in an article under the heading' "Some Lessons from Australia," refers to the campaign by Mr. Fisher, Federal Prime Minister, as a movement- full of instruction to tho United Kingdom. "Australians," says tho "News," "are abandoning precisely the kind of Constitution which Unionists are seeking to commend. ' Australia abandons it because it is tho stronghold of vested interests, and the solidest obstacle to social justice."