LABOUR NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 12

LABOUR NOTES.

(By Unionist.) FBDBRAL~ELECTIONS. Much htfeereet is everywhere being * taken in the forthcoming Eedecal elections. The following panbiculaca may prove handy for reference purpose*? — Election day, Wednesday 13th April. To be elected, eighteen Senators and--seventy-five members of the House of Representatives. The Commonwealth constitution provides that half the Senate ahtrfl retire every three years, hence once in every three years eighteen Senators have to seek re-election. Inchadsng the original elections for representation in the Senate, this is the fouctb Senatorial contest. So as to allow of only one-haW of the total number of Senators going to the porl at one time, the constitution provided at the outset that of the six Senators elected at the inauguration of the Commonwealth, in each State the three Senators receiving the least number of votes of the six elected should retire at the end of the first three years of Ebdtwafcion. There are six State* in the Common•weaffch, each entitled to send six representatives to the Senate, and Tasmania, with but a trifling population compared to New South Wales, has equal Senate representation in the Federal Parliament. In the House of Representatives, of seventy-five members, the Various States were apportioned representation in proportion to their respective population. From memory the present allocation of seats is as follows: — New South Wales 27, Victoria 22, Queensland 9, South Australia 7, Tasmania 5, aad West Australia 5. The election* far both Houses are on the adult franchise. For the Senate the State counts as one district, while for the House of Representatives the State* are divided into districts as above. Australia is entering upon its tenth year of Federation. The forthcoming elections are for the purpose of creating the fourth Parliament since Federation. There has not as yet occurred any extraordinary election, each Parliament having run its course, though frequent changes of Ministers have happened. LABOUR'S POSITION. For the first time there are only the two parties to choose from at the polls. The elections are unique, in that the contest is, for the first time in Englishspeaking countries, between Labour and anti-Labour. There is absolutely no third party, aad but a handful of "Independents," for both Senate and Lower House representation. Labour has 68 candidates in the field to date for the House of Representatives' campaign, and the full complement of 18 for the Senate contests. In all instances the Labour candidates have been selected by plebiscites of the various Labour leagues and federations of each State. Latest advices report that in New South Wales 25 Labour candidates were announced, in Victoria 10, in Queensland eight, in South Australia six, and in Tasmania and West Australia the possible (five) in each — a total in all of 68 Labour nominees. At the close of the last session of the retiring Parliament, Labour had 27 members in the House of Representatives and 15 members in the Senate. Of the 18 retiring Senators. 10 are Labour men. In QueensUnd, South Australia, and West Australia, the three Labour Senators retire, while on* of Victoria's Labour Senators retires, and completes the total of ten retiring Labour Senators. The Labour Party is thus left with only five sitting Senators, three, from West Australia, and one each from Victoria and South Australia. To obtain a majority in the Senate in the new Parliament, Labour therefore will not only have to retain the ten retired scats, but also to capture four more. With the one exception of West Australia, all the retiring Labour Senators have been re-elected m the ballots of the Labour organisations, and are now again vigorously fighting the campaign on behalf of the party. Labour has lost two representatives since the House rose. Tlr»e member for Hindmarsh died two mouths ago, and in the forthcoming elec/.ions the erstwhile Labour member for Perth, Mr. Fowler, is now a Deakin candidate, in opposition to a Labour candidate selected over his head by 'ihe leagues of the district. The position now is that Labour goes to the poll twenty -five strong, and, as is the case with tta Senate candidates, every one of the twenty-five retiring Labour memberu of the Lower House has secured the right to stand again in the Labour interest. Included in the other 43 nominees making up Labour's total of 68 candidates is a f&vr number of State Labour members, who have resigned their seats in the State) 'Houses with the hope of securing electAon to the National Parliament. Labour nas a big task in front j of it in it» attempt to secure a working majority in the new House of Representatives. In addition to retaining its present sitting repj resen tat ion of 25 members, it> rviTT need to win at least 13 seats t<» place Mr. Fisher on the Treasury benches. The cables report Mr. Fisher g $ being confident of securing the required additional representation of his r/a/.ty. Even the strongest of Labour V; -opponents admit the certainty of increased Labour, representation after 13t'a April. Ufith parties are conducting a lengthy, ex/tonsive, and earnest campaign. The I/a7x>ur party has published a long manifesto in support of its candidates Most of the manifesto deals in detail with the r/lanks and principles of Labour's platform. The preamble is aa follows :— "The issues to be decided at tho 'forthcoming general elections — in many respects the most important with which the citizens of the Commonwealth have yet bad to deal— relate to finance in several of its most important aspects, defence, the tariff, industrial legislation, land monopoly and monopolies in general, immigration and the development of Australia, the linking up of east and west, north and south by transcontinental railways, and to the imposition of further constitutional limitations upon the will of the people. And, transcending any or all of these, because in its settlement the character of the legislation dealing with all these great questions will be determined, y«u will be called upon to decide to whom shall be entrusted the reins of power for the next three years. "Two parties — Labour or Fusion ?—? — Upon this everything tump. For as the difference between the parties is fundamental, so inevitably must be the character ond administration of the laws for which they are responsible. There are, for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, only two parties seeking your suffrages — the Labour party and the Fusion. Tho circumfltances that led up to the fusion of the two old parties are too fresh in the minds of the electors to need more than the briefest reference. The facts may be grouped imder two heads. First, the amazing growth of the Labour party, which in less than ten years has nearly doubled its members in the ParKament. Second, that betrayal of the erectors, breaking of pledge!*, and abandonment of princif>les to which each section han professed ife-long adtiprrncc, which marked the formation of the Fusisn party. "The electors have now to decide which party they will support. And we h*r* no doubt what their dadtfen wilt U.