AUSTRALIA & LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1909, Page 3

AUSTRALIA & LABOUR

♦ THE LESSON OF QUEENSLAND. NOTHING TO FEAR FROM SOCIALISM. (From Our Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, 9th October. From three ' years' political turmoil, Queensland emerges to something like political pepce. Mr. Kidston, as head of the Government .Party, has his sufficient majorit3 - — whether of half-a-dozen or a dozen L> immaterial ; and tho Labour Opposition is powerless io disturb him. Like the Labour Opposition in New South Wales, it must submit to be dragged, however protesfcingly, at the heels of the successful coalition. The image of a stout urchin, his stolid face set forward, unemotionally hauling a noosed dog with feet braced vainly against the pull of the rope, is suggested irresistibly. The dog and the Labour Party come along in jerks and snatches, fighting for new foothold ; but they are compelled along to vhe inevitable end of major force, majority rule. In Queensland three parties return to two, according to historical precedent. It has been said fancifully that Nature abhors a vacuum. Scientifically it is just as true that Nature abhors a triangle. The balance of three forces exists, in theory. A moment's weakness at any point, and, the poise is practically itpset. One force, one recoil, represent the tendency •of natural law both in physics and in politics. Yet nearly every political coalition has to fight for its life against enemies of its own household. Its alliance of opposites needs time for amalgamation, and within the formal bond there is plenty of room for the quarrels of ag-" grieved principle or disappointed ambition. The chief interest of the Queensland upshot lies is the moral it holds for the Commonwealth. One can argue with better reason that just \as the O'Sullivan third party was rubbed out in New South Wales, just as the Blair third party has been rubbed out in Queensland, so will the Lyne third party be rubbed „ out in the Commonwealth. Yet before that issue is reached it is quite likely that the Commonwealth will have to pass through the struggles by which Queensland has attained a harbour of comparative calm. It is more likely than in' Queensland that an incident or those struggles may be the temporary rule of Labour in the Commonwealth. ELEMENTS OF STABILITY. Conservative elements, the elements of stability, predominate in Australian politics as in the politics of New Zealand. The social base must be wider than the superstructure, or the social building would not stand. Always in Australia., as in New Zealand, there are more people contented than discontented, more people who would loee rather than gain by * the success of revolutionary doctrine. But the proportion of thoee who will, and of those who will not, risk their substance for a shadow, varies in different States. In Tasmania the general election fixed the pronortion at 40 per cent, of electors in favour of Labour notions and the chance of something better, and 60 per cent, of tho electors against Labour and the chance of something worse. The Tasmanian election was fought on a clearer issue than that in Queensland, and the intrusion of the middle party makes the Queensland deduction less certain. Undoubtedly, however, the Labour vote is proportionately stronger in Queensland ; and to state it at 45 per cent of the whole electoral body would not be far ( wrong. There are several good reasons. Queensland is a younger State, with a population less settled. It is a pastoral State, with many men irregularly employed on wages. It has a gre.it number of artisans. It has a greater number of Irish, and the Irish admixture is always in favour of political disturbance^ — partly for the sake of "a bit. of sport," and partly because the Irish are idealistic. They nourish more aboriginal fervour than either the Scotch or the English, and, as a political minority, their vote can usually be trusted to follow the programme- that promises change and excitement MORE CONSERVATIVE. As the pastoralist gives way to the agriculturist, under universal suffrage, the Australian State grows more conservative. The Australian farmer makes the Labour Party despair. No chimerical scheme of a glorious progress appeals to him. The possession of land, or the hope of possession, makes the farmer an uncommonly sober citizen. Hare-brained enthusiasm loaves no impression upon him: he votes for the steady man, the man of character, whose influence in Pailiamenfc will first go to increase his security, and later, possibly, will aid in gaining his private ends of light taxes and sure markets. So the growth of the dairying industry in New South Wales has been clearly" at the expense of the Labour movement. The proportion of Labour votes in New South Wales is less tha» in Queensland, and approximates the proportion in Tasmania. In Western Australia, on the other hand, we have another State which is young politically, however old in settlement; and an unsettled mining population to vote for Labour. The political elements of South Australia, and Victoria are not greatly dissimilar from those of New South Wales. The point is that, all over Australia, there is a greater or lesser majority ' which in one senee may be called Conservative, in another sense may be called Liberal, but which may be always relied upon to vote against Socialism and to oppose aggressive Labour. That majority may not reach the 60 to 40 odds found in Tasmania, but it does not fall to the 55 to 45 odds attributed to Queensland. The entire Australian electorate may be judgtwi to remain, as a voting entity, about midway between the electorates of Tasmania and' Queensland — with a preference of 15 per cent, at least in favour of slow political growth, and a. tendency to increase the difference at the expense of the Labour Party. Prosperous Australia has nothing to fear from Socialism. The Labour Party has been professing exultation at the increased number of its representatives in the Queensland Assembly. The gain is of little moment. In ©very Australian Parliament, Labour representation may be expected to rise until it reaches the limit of Labour voting power. Then, as far as the States are concerned, and with due allowance for occasional accidents, the rise will" stop. To a permanent minority, it makes small difference whether ten votes are lacking or fifty. There are thirty Labour members in the New South Wales Assembly, quite impotent, and thoroughly reconciled to their impotence. They exercise the function of a critical Opposition, but their criticism (apart from its merit) is merely noise, and their opposition is simply brushed aside whenever the Government chooses. The situation has its comic aspect. Labour also nourishes Conservative tendencies; and what matters to Mr. M'Gowan and his followers is not the triumph of "tho Cause," but the retention of their sea.ts and salaries. They have become "old Parliamentary hands," supplying . thunder and lightning when required, and for the rest agreeing easily with Mr. Wade and his followers. Tho loyalty of Labour is euch, and tho opportunities of a sitting member to cement his influenca

with electors are so many, that it is very difficult for rivals to alter the payroll. The men in possession are allied for offence and defence, and prowlers I around the camp find no weak point. Yet j for the purpose of legislation, the New i South Wales Labour Party in Parlia- j ment is a cipher. So will it be with I the Queensland Party. | The Commonwealth Parliament is in a different position, for the reason that j it is impossible to ensure at a Commonwealth election the same organisation against Labour, the same ardour in the fight, that are commanded at a State election. The Labour machinery is as 1 efficient in the one case as in the other. ! But Mr. Kidston and his supporters in Queensland, for example, cannot be expected to fight as zealously for the Dea-kin-Cook coalition as they fight for themselves. As the proverb pays : ' 'The skin is closer than the coat, however excellent the coat." The consequence is that Labour's chance of capturing the Parliament of an Australian State is very small, because antagonists are always keen, and the electoral o_ds are heavy. But Labour's chance of capturing H\t Commonwealth Parliament is considerable ; because, although tho voters are unaltered, tho opposition to Labour is less concentrated and less eager. This is particularly true at present, while the union of the coalesced parties remains mechanical, and personal feuds persist among the coalition's supporters.