MORE ELECTION TURMOIL

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 85, 10 April 1917, Page 8

MORE ELECTION TURMOIL

(FltOU OCR OWN COItRBSPONDENI.)

: SYDNEY, 4th'April. The echoes of the State election have not cleared away—there; are still some second ballots to take place—but already a new tribe of wrangling,politicians has descended like a plague upon, the countryside. The Federal election is.a clear month away, but each side,' avidly seeking victory, is determined to have -the advantage of:an early start,.. The.candi-. dates pause now and then in; their iurious denunciation of the;, other side'to urge Australia to keep the war-in mindTo remember the growing need for every effort to; secure victory.. And then they dash off .again into the alarums and "excursions..of ,their miser-. able party warfare. If.,the politicians'; insistence in bringing "their petty-wrang-ling under the noses of- the people- were not so tragic^-' it would-be,pitiful;--if itwere not so .pitiful it: would be. coihic.. The "professional politician" is-held in utter contempt by all? the. betterclass of Australians, and yet he. persists in .taking himself so seriously, Vlri the "prosperous times of peace,■■■with', only fair weather in sight, one could afford to laugh at the little slaves, of cliques-and shibboleths; but the .spectacle; .of "these excited men making the control'of the national affairs in time of war a plaything over which to squabble, ; is- arousing the great'mass bf-Australians to:-a. dangerous pitch of exasperation: ...'•'. ; No one outside of theP.L:L'."Wantsthe P.L.L. to get: control, and the alternative is to vote for'ithe' Hughes-Cook combination, on the 1 principle that the devil you know is better than-"the-devil you don'tknow. But there is a remarkable wave of feeling against the Hughes-Cook combination sweeping through;:the country," and it may conceivably-clear a track for the P.L.L. men right up to the.Treasury Benches. It is difficult to see how Mr. Hughes and Mrv 'Cook' * coul<T have acted™ differently.. They coalesced, if with very? bad- graces when -coalition-was--the'only proper course, they were forced to the country by. the blind, bitter prejudice and lack of patriotism shown by the P.L.L. party. The .people did-not' want an election—they'nought only political peace and concentration on the war— and'their resentment In havjngit -thirst" upon them is being'expressed not against^ the culpable P.L.L'., -but against--Sir.' Hughes, whose personal amhition and endless intrigues, .Jhey./;;;say,'.; brought., about this-condition- of "public; affairs.-v? :;A MLITAN^JIEr>;IUGGEEi^r^ AH red-raggers, no'doubt, are/militant,', but' Mr. Percy Brookfield, the newlyelected member for Sturt (Broken- Hill),h'as- in this respect Avon more than the usual notoriety; His ease „is attracting, quite a lot of attention.. The PfL.lf:^ apparently, is going to4ise'him to remove; some ugly aspersions front' its reputation., Before the election ~the -'P.L.L}.,finding, itself being associated to an alarming degree in the public mind with, the I. W.W. called upon Mr. Brookfield to renounce the I. W.W. and all its works, Mr." Bfcokfield comes from the nervecentre of 1.W.W.-ism in .this ..State.—.. Broken Hill—and he receives the support of the I.W.W. adherents and haa promised to work " lik-e the devil" to secure the release of the ■ recently-con-victed I.W.W. firebugs. But' Mr. Brook--field declared lie was not an;'I.W.W.; man, and his candidature was endorsed by the P.L.L.. Within a few hours of his election, addressing hi 3 constituent* in Broken Hill* -he said-that he-would not ispill a drop of his blood in any -war for the Upon Jack or any other flag" while millions of people -were allowed to starve, and while a, few'were "allowed to make a profit out;of the "War; but if any! army camo here to attempt to lower ■ the. standard of living, he "would fight under the red flag to.maintain the condi-. fcions of life here.

This was. too much, for the. .P.LJj.y alreatly smarting under th& knowledge that it suffered in the recent election because the people doubted his loyalty. It peremptorily called upon Mr. Brookfield to repudiate his reported utterance, or appear before the P.L.L. Executive. Mr. Brookfield replied by publicly repeating his sTatement. He was thereupon summoned by the P.L.L. to SydDey;

He started for Sydney, via Adelaide. In / Adelaide he was informed by ■ the Joint House Committee of <, the South Australian Parliament " that the privileges in connection with the use of Parliament Buildings, usually accorded to visiting members of Australian Parliaments, cannot be extended to you until such time as the disloyal utterances reported to have been used by you . . . have been repudiated, or unreservedly withdrawn." ' ' '." ' ■

Speaking at Port Adelaide, and ref bt-. ring to Mr. Brobkfield, the Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes) said: "This man takes the King's shilling,, takes the oath' of allegiance, and swears to be loyal to the- Empire. Either he is a liar, or a perjurer, or a traitor to his, country."Mr. Brookfield will appear before the P.L.L. Executive this week. - .■■•••. ••