A DISTURBED POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 256, 27 July 1939, Page 8

A DISTURBED POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE

In recent weeks the Australian political atmosphere has been a disturbed and critical one in both the Federal and State spheres. .Up till Tuesday of this week a serious stalemate was faced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, and his Federal Cabinet, by reason of the hostile attitude of the Australian Council of Trades Unions toward the National Register. Fortunately, the immediate Federal crisis has now passed. The firm stand taken by Mr. Menzies, which indicated that he would go to the country rather than retreat from his defence policy, together with his assurance that the National Register would not imperil the strength of the industrial award system, resulted on Tuesday in a settlement of the dispute. Providing the new Prime Minister can proceed to settle his differences with the Country Party, which holds a balance of power in the House, the path of his Government once more will be clear.

In the meantime, after seven years in office, Mr. B. S. Stevens, Premier of New South Wales, is threatened by a party split arising directly out of the resignation last week of his Minister of Public Works, Mr. E. S. Spooner. On various occasions Mr. Spooner has lieen criticized for his dictatorial methods, but the likelihood, of a party split on the question of giving him freedom of action did not become apparent till after the 1938 elections. Then, in the Cabinet reconstruction, the Premier dropped two of Mr. Spooner’s former colleagues. There were immediate signs of revolt, accompanied by talk of Mr. Spooner replacing Mr. Stevens as Premier. The situation remained in hand till a week ago, when efforts made by Mr. Stevens to restrict the scope of Mr. Spooner’s administration of relief works by transferring control to a sub-committee were given as the reason for the Minister’s abrupt resignation. The nature of the party meeting that followed showed that Mr. Spooner has nursed his' ambitions for leadership assiduously, for he had many supporters. The position as it stands is an unfortunate one, particularly as it is accompanied by reports, that the State Government may soon have to contend with economic difticultics. Mr. Stevens’s danger, unlike that of Mr. Menzies, comes from within the ranks of his party, which has been long enough in powei to develop rank-and-file opportunism. It is not improbable that the Premier will be obliged to take conciliatory action —thus far foreign to his political reputation—if he is to hold his Government intact.