TASMANIAN IMPASSE (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 78, 2 April 1914, Page 8

TASMANIAN IMPASSE (From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, 29th March. Moths, not of the political order, but of the kind which play havoc with potatoes, are a material .factor in a , deadlock which has been established in Parliamentary affairs in Tasmania. In 1 tne General Elections of 1912 there Were returned to the House of Assembly six* teen Liberals and fourteen Labour mem- , bers. After providing a Speaker the Liberal majority was a bare one, but the Premier, Mr. Solomon^ was able ito carry on. However, in a by-election for Denison this year a Labour candidate won a seat which a Liberal had held. Thus the position arose that whichever side nominated a Speaker was bound to be in a minority on t the floor of tho . House. Before the discovery of a way out of this predicament a new element has been introduced. Mr. Whitsett, one 1 of tho Liberal fifteen, says he is prepared to vote against the Government on a no-confidence motion. Mr. Whitsett , is incensed _ because of a rather cavalier answer which he ( received from the Minister for Agriculture to an extraordinary demand. He asked that tliA law which provides for inspection and prohibition of exports in regard to areas where the potato moth has appeared < flhould be suspended in regard to some property for which he is trustee. My. 1 Whitsett has declared his allegiance to 1 the Ministry to be ended. He announces his perfect confidence in his ' ability to generally direct affairs by l means of his determining vote.