CABLE NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 118, 20 May 1907, Page 7

CABLE NEWS.

[bt electric TirLECRjLrn. — ooptbiohtl] o GENERAL ELECTIONS IN QUEENSLAND.

POSITION OF LABOUR. CONTINUANCE OF THREE-PARTY SYSTEM. Vfti KIDSTON'S SUCCESS PJISSS ASSOCIATION. BRISBANE, 19th May. , The elections fov tho Stats Assembly look place yesterday. There was fine weather for the polling. Interest ian high, a feature of the elections being tho excellent service done by women workers for various candir dates. Returns up to this morning show tho state c^ parlisß to be approximately : — Ministerial 24 Opposition ... '„,i ... 2b , Labour :. 20 There are, however, a lob of postal votes still lr> come in, and one or two sea,le remain in the balance, notably Herbert, where Sir A. S. Cowley, Speaker of the lats Assembly, may be defeated by a Labourite, and. Flinders, where- Mr. Airey, tho Homo Secretaiy, may give place to a Labourite. All the other Ministers are apparently safe. Tho Premier (Mr. v Kidston) has been returned by a big majority. A surprise of the election was tho defeat of Mr. Tolmie, a Morganito, who went over to tho Philp (Opposition) party. Ex-Senator Drake, who contested North Brisbane, will forfeit his deposit. 1 The Opposition sjcui-ed ten out of thirteen scats in the metiopolitrin area, but did not do to well in the country. Tho outciandir.g feature of tho election is tho diicct 10.-s suffered by tho Labour party, which ia last Parliament numbereu 1 thirty-live. Generally Gpeakin:*, Mr. Kidaton's party is stronger, mostly at the expense of Labour. A continuance of vlie threeparty system atenv impeia-tive, us it will be imposablo for _Mr. Kidston to carry on. without the.cuppoit of the Opposition or Labour. HAS LABOUR LOST? MR. BOWMAN CLAIMS A TRIUMPH. MR. PHILP DISAPPOINTED. (Received May 20, 10.23 a.m.) BRISBANE, This Day. Mr. Days Bownun. Labour leader, claims that the elections cro a triumph ior i/ie dhcit Labour moTcmcr.t r considering that this p^jriy went to t&: country divided. Labour holds the golden key of tho position. I.lt. Philp, Leader ol the Opposition, h disappointed with thn result, which \7lll had to an impossible complidt'on of psilhs, militating egainst offactive government. .

Th^ position in Queensland is thit | Premier Kid3tou declares himself a { Labour man, but ho docs not go far enough for Ilia. Labour party. When iho fattsr party decided to contest the", elections as an independent factor, tho i prediction was freely rpado that the ! nplit bstwenn tiio Liberal-Labour Govcnunent and Labour Party would let the third ' (Phiip) party i:ito power. According to tha above cabbgram, the Laboui- Party has lost seats, but the ! lost ground hns gone rather to tho Gov- ! ofnmcnt thin to tho Philp Party. | TII3 decision cf th:> Labour Party to ' pro to tho polls "phdged to the plat- i form of ths Labour Convention and un- ' hampored by any compact, with another party," was arrived at ni Mr. Boivman's motion. Ths party's .election manifesto lays down that " .ho filt-'mato aim of the party is to secure tin lull ra3ult of tbf>ir ] industry to iho v/eaH h-producors. • The only radical cure fcr tho unemployed ' question is tliD r.boiition of tho Eystoni ' of production for profit. Tho parly advocate.-. Stato settloments, where work could be obtained as a right. Ifc is opriosad to State-aidocl iinmisvation until tho_ surplus labour of Australia is absorbed.'' Ths following mensuren are advocated — A progressive land-tax with an exemption of JBiOO ; old-apa pensions ; nationajisrXion of mines ; a State banlc ; protection o£ tvado union funds. „ Mr. Kidston has oh the oni hand r,efusod to bo drawn to the Philp party — his colleague, Mr. Dcnham, resigned from tho Ministry becauss of this— and on tho other hand refused to bo pledged by tha Labour Convention. He said ho was ono of thoso who kept on putting Labour laws on the statute book without talking about it. The main planks of the Government programme, as ehunciatod by Premier Kidston, are :—Encouragement of mining, water conservation, wago3 boards, and similar Labour legislation ; liquor law reform ; old-ago pensions. In .i 'recent speech, Mr. Kidston said tho people were now in a position to see what forces wero opposing tho Progressive Party in the State. On the one hand they had Mr. Philp, and on; tho other they had Iho Labour extremists — those who took their orders from the Tiades Hall. Manj- of thoso men had lone; followed him (Mr, Kidston), but' he received munh more abuse from them than from tho Opposition. Tho groat question for tho elector was — was thf* Government policy likely to benefit tho Statft ? * Mr. Tolmie, liko Mr. Donham. left tho Government for tho Philp Party. For a whilo a .Denham-Tolmio Party wan talked about, but it docs not seem to hovo materialised. It would seem now that the three-party system will remain as before— that Mr. Kidston cannot rulo without Labour, and that Labour cannot get anything on the slatuto book without Mr. Kidston.