SHEER CHAOS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1648, 15 January 1913, Page 8

SHEER CHAOS.

TURMOIL IN AUSTRALIA. LABOUR'S RULE. , CLOCK-WATCHERS OR WORKERS? . [Br-.Tom L. Mims.] Australia is -a largo spot on tho. map, but Australians havo smaller ideas than the largeness of their country warrants. Tho reason for this narrowness of vision is easy of explanation. The great bulk of Australians are cityfied. ' Tho Sydueysiders' horizon ' does not extend further than his harbour, and tho Melbournian's no further than St. Kilda. The man in the country envies his cousin iri the city, and longs for the day when ho can-get ft job right in the heart'of-things, where every prospect pleases, .and only work is vile. The man in tho city,.on tho other hand, gives not a thought to his cbuntry cousin. There is no community of interest. Tho one is not-recognised by the other as tho • backbone of the country. Over here in New Zp,aland tho city labourite looks upon tho man in .the country as a factor "to be reckoned against in a time of industrial trouble. But tho city man on tho other side of Tasman Sea has not even that respect for the man on the land. Tho Australian citizen 18 solfishness personified. Sport First; Work Nowhere. Sydney workers, in common with almost every section of that pleasure-loving city, are devoted to sport of all kinds, bitt. particularly, horscracing,.and every Saturday- thero is 'a race meeting. The crowds aro seen/pouring out .'of tlie big factories at noon, men and, .women and tlie youth of,;both sexes dressed in their glad rags'for an outing "of some kind. -Home' is the last placo thought of on Saturdays in the-New South Wales capital, 'which has absorbed almost one-half -of the whole, population of the .State. "It's me for the open!" is the .week-end cry of the Sydrieysidcr as he-hikes out at nopn, for liis pleasure. The, ': result; of:' this Saturdayisirig is that employers complain that workers give next to'- no thought on that day' to their work. Their minds tin fixed upon what is-td happen after they knock off. ' This . clock-watching ... habit, ■pliis' the! continuous' efforts "of': trades unions towards a shorter work-week, is having its effect. In:the priritiiig arid/allied trades alone there is a serious uiove"merit for a five-day's' week;'-' When, tho proposal'came, in proper'form.-tho otherday/ before the. master printers, of : Sydney, there was only one employer-who stood in tlie' : way, of a "general; closirig down < of factories from Friday/evening .to'.Monday morning! That one employer happens to be'i in a very' largo way! of 'business and a mail of force of character and influence. But it is Considered that even he will be worn' down to acquiescence by tho end of/thisjearo ', ' ■ ,i : ;; ; Of Course, the Imported Socialist it . Everywhere. ■ . ";• ~' '• ' Over thore, as in New Zealand, the World-Wide Worker,'tho imported Socialist of the glib-tongue and with all the tender and ardent tendencies of an American hobo for work, has got the-car of I the masses, and is working mischief in their midst.: .'He is tho clog on tho wheel of' progress'. ■ • He wants to smash things up. Iconoclastic, he has neither, time nor inclinati6n,."ov«n if helms tho wit, for a constructive policy. He plays/tho mischief with his party in ami out of cauouS, ■and as for his leaders: well (ho suggests), who wants a leader, anywayF: The-result, is, that: in. neither the' Federal nor tho Now South' Wales Parliament was thero anv appearance of respect or discipline. Tho ■ onlooker from New- Zealand felt 'thankful' every-..time he visited those -chambers;'that he belonged to .another country and another -people. I witnessed'a .scene in. the ledcral,House in Melbourne, one afternoon in which, to their own party's decided loss, ntembprs. of tho.'Labdur party treated itheir- leader" (Preihicr" Fisher) with open (contempt'.'and absolutely ignored his ap_». peals to let the House get on with busi,ness. Thisi action on' their' j. art arose, /too, simply out of petty spiter-becauso ; tho Premier had taken a certain emergency,; action in the chamber on his own initiative, and'had'not ca)led the caucus to-, gethcr to its'sariction! , '~-' -./'■' ;:..

■0 Temporal "0 Moros! ■~,■,'.: ' In the New South Wales: .Assembly. Speaker Willis was certainly a Daniel come-to judgment. In my'opinion the Willisian influence in Now South Wales ' politics has been all for the pood of clean government; Speaker Willis had a House, of political larrikins and .uridis-•ciplincd'carpet-baggers to deal with.. Ho did the right thing in the right .way in making'it a House of Correction. At anyj rate, these are my impressions gained on the spot and after seeing the man, the men. and their manners. _.' '" When the historian comes to write the history of Now Zealand,' he wilWeclare that the quality of the Parliament which went out in 1911 was the worst ever—and that Parliament Was one of kings and priricss compared with the present Parliament of New South Wales. Labour arid its Million Envies. Parties over there are in a 6tato of flux, and in the Federal, as in tho New South Wales Parliament, legislation passed has been; more in' the nature or compromise than effective. There is -no strong. ■, dominating leader; 'and most of the Ministers have that tired: feeling—or their followers are tired of them or envious. .This crivjous, .jealous'trait has ever been the weak spot in the Labbur party.' Tho man just under envies tho man just'abov.f) him though' tlio man on "top bo'spending his life for rind lifting up the other .-s'cllow. Tho Labourites'of New South Wales largely idolise Mr.-Hol-uian, and'for.long enough havobeen-urg-ing 'that.'he, the-real power behind the throne, = should: become-Premier: But Mr. Holman,'brainy though'ho is, and a.very Saul in ability' above his fellows', has not the tact of Mr. M'Gowen. Now Mr. Holman is leaving tho country and Mr/Becby, tho stalwart, has left' the Ministry, and tlio Liberals are better' organised than ever they, havo .been. .So that a' great change may come o'er the scene in the immediate future. .-' •'Affable Alfred" Deajdn.

Mr. .Alfred Deakin's .retirement from tho Leadership of the. Opposition party in'the Federal House is not unexpected. Some of his followers will make no secret pf their joy that he has "pulled out!" They consider he is. too much the' "AffableAlfred" to their enemies. Just as Sir William Russell- was considered too'gentlemanly in his method of fighting, the' Soddon party, so Mr, Deakin has been criticised by his own party as a kidgloye fighter. "Ho .gives way .-.too much to- Fisher," ; was ■the' way one critic put it to riio> in 'Melbourne. '"Wo can never meet . the Labour party_ successfully- while our leader is .giving-. them concessions ;or meeting Fisher .more than half-way in some of hSs proposals, and actually admitting' that, he sees'something good in samo of the' Labour party's schemes!"

So that here is an. indication of something rotten in. the state of Denmark. Uneasy . lie the heads 'of Kings Fisher,' Deakin, arid. M'Gpwen! Mr. • Deakin's Fighting Lieutenant' ha,s been', Mr. Joseph Cook; who has ' been the heavy-weight piinohcriri Federal politics. Yet look'nt his genesis. He was the "Holy Joo" (because-.ho was" a , local preacher) of N.S.W. politics and is tho holy terror of Federal politics. Like Andrew Fisher,' ho dropped his pick and shovel and came out of a mine.into Labour: politics; but, unlike.the Prime Minister, he would notsign the Caucus Pledge. The Labour, party turned against him. as it has now against Mr. Beoby, when ho sought' political independence, nnd swore that he should not see Parliiiniont again. He has never yet been defeated at the noils. (So that thijro is yet hope for Mr. Beeby.) It Ivould bo a queer irony of fate, a -strange turning of the whirligig of time, if Sir. Cook became Leader oftlie-Opoosition; nnd also a uni'iiie coincidence for two miners to lead the parties. ■ Jack Always the Peer of Dill. . ' The weakrioss'of Labour rulo, in A us-, tralia is the weakness of the Trades.and Labonr'Council.' The' Labourite docs not know how to control -success, because ho is not disciplined to control himself. 'If a man cannot rulo himself, how, con he rule hii home? , Thero has boon case'

after .case of individual or small sections of unionists kicking over the traces' in their own team work, and.striking: (literally) on a 'course of their own. There is still much of tho personal element in organised Labour'that the union and the party count for a. mere nothing when the ;mnn and the moment' or the movement meet. Jack is as good as Hill, and consequently Bill must not have an! office or scat any longer than .Tack thinks fit, no matter what the qualifications. 'Measures; not ineii/'Ms the ideal; but men iill tho time is the real-play. -Tho tendency in Australia, therefore, will continue to bo ?, a «wiff nature in politics liven. the Labourito over there feels that it is any party's victory at tho coming elections. Ho has that genuine sec-saw feeling-he-is up and' down, because the people are changing theirminds so often. •