The Dominion MONDAY. NOVEMBER 16, 1925. THE COMMONWEALTH ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 44, 16 November 1925, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY. NOVEMBER 16, 1925. THE COMMONWEALTH ELECTION

Voting in the Australian Federal election has taken very much the course that was expected. The volume of voting presumably was increased substantially by the enforcement of compulsory voting, but the strength of parties in the House of Representatives apparently remains much as it was. „ ’Grouping five Independents with the Nationalist-Country Party coalition, the Bruce-Page Government tad rn the late House a majority of 17 over its Labour-Socialist opponents. Present indications are that the Government has if anything improved slightly on thlS To this extent, and as regards some of the implications that may reasonably be based on the trend of voting, the result of the election is satisfactory. So far as the House of Representatives is concerned there is an undoubted victory for stable government, and the party that is prepared to pander to the Communists and other disruptive elements that have wrought so much havoc in the Commonwealth has suffered a definite, though not crushing, defeat In the Senate election, the results of which will not be known for some days, the Government fought under a handicap. In the late Parliament, it had a majority of . eight in the Senate, but of the twenty-two Senate seats vacated for purposes of this election, seventeen were held by its supporters and only five by LabourSocialists. The latter are thus rather more favourably placed than the Government to improve their position in the Senate. Should the Labour-Socialists obtain even a bare majority in the Senate they would be able to block the Government’s legislation and compel it to seek a double dissolution. At best this would entail delays the effect of which might be very serious in times like the present. ■ ... I, So-called industrial troubles, which are really in the nature of a guerrilla insurrection stirred up by extremists, are rife in the Commonwealth, and there have been outbreaks of serious lawlessness which the Labour-Socialist Governments of the various States concerned have done little to repress. It was never more desirable that the Federal Government should be given an unqualified mandate to uphold law and order, and any weakness or delay arising out of the necessity of regulating the constitutional position would be exceedingly unfortunate. There is, of course, an open possibility meantime that the present Federal Government may retain its majority in the Senate as it has in the House of Representatives. One of to-day’s messages, while observing that the Senate figures are too incomplete to'be a guide, adds that so far the Government appears to be well holding its own. This presumably means that the Government is considered to have prospects of retaining the adequate Senate majority with which it went to the country. The election appears to have produced little in the way of detail surprises or outstanding incidents. One item in the latter category, however, is the return of Mr. Theodore, the Labour-Socialist exPremier of Queensland. Mr. Theodore is commonly regarded, as an aspirant for the leadership of his party in Federal politics. Whether the present leader (Mr. Charlton) is prepared to resign his position without a struggle has yet to appear. Ina few days, when the results of the Senate polling are declared, it will be known whether the Bruce-Page Government is in a position to develop immediately the strong policy that is needed to cope with and defeat the extremists who are attempting to paralyse the industrial life of the Commonwealth.' The voting in the elections to the House of Representatives probably gives some indication of the outcome of the Senate contest, but this cannot yet be taken for granted. It is of definite significance that the Government has retained a substantial majority in the House of Representatives in an election fought mainly on the issues of industrial policy and the repression of lawlessness.