A UNITED PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 94, 22 April 1931, Page 9

A UNITED PARTY

MR. LYONS AS LEADER

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ' : SYDNEY, 16th April.

Mr. J. A. Lyons, Acting-Treasurer during the absence of the Prime Minister, Mr. S-c.ullin, at the Imperial Conference, and side-tracked when his leader returned, is undoubtedly the man of the.hour in Australia to-day. His policy of honesty and of moderation and,of balancing Budgets and living within the country's moans,', has gripped the imagination of the people in a remarkable degree, and his progress from ono State to another has been marked by triumph after triumph. Last week lie was the idol of thousands in South Australia. At a vast meeting at Adelaide he was ch&ered to the echo. This week Melbourne gave an exhibition of hero worship seldom, seen in

that staid capital. And when Mr. Lyons travelled between the two cities crowds greeted him at every station where tho train stopped. These were no ordinary greetings cither. They seemed to bo the spontaneous outburst of a public which had at last found what it had long boon looking for —a true leader. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Lyons will continue his triumphal progress in New South Wales, but already there are indications that he will bo warmly welcomed even in Sydney, justly regarded as the hot-bed of Labour extremists. ALL FOR AUSTRALIA LEAGUE.

Developments this week make it almost certain that Mr. Lyons will bo acclaimed the leader of that vast body of public opinion represented, in. New South Wales and Victoria by tho 'AH' for Australia League and in South Australia by tlie Citizens' League. When the All for Australia League in Now. South Wales decided to form a separate political organisation, quite- distinct from the Nationalists and other. nonLabour forces, general regret was expressed, for it was hoped that the league would be an opponent of , the party system.which its loaders had: so. freely condemned. It was feared that the presence of still another party would hopelessly confuse the '■■ electors who would be at a loss to know whether they should vote for the candidates of the All for Australia League] the Nationalist Party, or the representatives of the Moderate-Lyons group. . Now' there is a distinct hope that the. three groups will fight the. next Federal election under.one banner. . . ■■ :, .

A fortnight ago it .was.■announced, that) the A.3T.A. League m. Victoria had adopted Mr. .'Lyons'as its loader, even without consulting Mr.. Lyons. Sydney opinion was that the Victorians had acted rather hastily, and Sydney was not inclined to rush in. '• This • week, however, the president: of the league in New South,. Wales (Mr. A. J. Gibson) made an important announcement. He said: "Mr. Lyons has been invited by the , leagues in Victoria, South "Australia; and New. Soiith Wales to join the league as the political leader oi \ the iaovemeiit. Negotiations, are in train, among the Parliamentary leaders opposed f.o inflation and repudiation with a view to forming .'■£ new United .Federal Parliamentary Party under , the leadership of Mr. Lyons. In this party sectional,interests are to,be dropped in order, that, under Mr.'. Lyons's leadership all sections;of, the community can come together on the policy outlined by him -to.': re-establish.-- the prosperty of Australia. There is no doubt in, the minds, of- the pfople that": Mr. Lyons represents their desire for' statesmanship, honesty, and fair dealing, and his acceptance of the leadership of a new united party would be the first steps towards' establishing- confidence throughout Australia and also overseas. Shouldthe desired unity be achieved;Hhe'.combined leagues their full support to. the new party.'.' \ .

NO MAGIC WAND. When Mr. Lyons opened his interstate campaign in Adelaide lio spoke' simply and directly, and made no extravagant promises. Ho said he had no magic wand to wive to get Australia out of her troubles. He made no pretence at being a gonius or an inspired' leader of men. In. fact, ho said, lio did not have the quality nor the qualifications of a leader, but it was soon clear that Ms audience did not agree with that particular utterance. Mr. Lyons emphasised the fact that lie had been for 22 years in. the Labour movement, and he still had the interest of his -class at heart. There wore 300,000 unemployed in. Australia. Winter was coming, and these men had to got back to work. But it could not be done with paper money. It could be dono only with real money, and. Australia could not get any real i money until confidence was restored, lie hoped to guide Australia back to prosperity by restoring confidence and so restoring credit; by restoring balanced Budgets, by protecting national currency, by re-employing people in reproductive industry, by, giving immediate help to the man on the land. Such was the tenor of the whole of Mr. Lyons's speech —a speech which he | has since repeated, amid scenes of re-| marlcable enthusiasm, in Melbourne. Mr. Lyons was originally advertised to speak in Melbourne on Monday night, but a hurried call to Canberra' caused him to change his plans. At very short notice it was announced that he would speak at the Town Hall at 9 o'clock in the afternoon. Even so, thousands wero unable to gain admission.

SCULLIN'S STRUGGLES. In the meantime, the Seullin Government is struggling for its very existence, and on Tuesday afternoon had the narrowest escape in its chequered career. It was saved by two votes, j and even then had to rely on the support of ths Beasloy group, which is definitely opposed to it. Under the influence of the Premier of New South Wales (Mr. Lang), this group has decided to prolong, the ir'scrable existence of the Seullin Gl. /eminent, for it prefers a double dissolution —the House of Representatives and the Sen-! ate. 'If Mr. Seullin wore defeated, on the floor of the House it is possible that the Nationalists, the Country Party, and the' Lyons group would form a Ministry and immediately appeal to the country. The Labour extremists can at least see the way the wind is Wowing, and'are not anxious for an election. at this stage. Still it must be rather, humiliating for Mr. Seullin to havo'to lely.on the support of opponents. The breach in the official Labour ranks is widening overy day, and there is no hope now of an eleventh hour reconciliation. Mr. Lang has carried the war to Victoria, and on Tuesday night he addressed a vast au&cnee at the Melbourne Stadium —the only placo that was made available to him. He did want the Town Hall or tho Exhibition building, but the authorities decided that they would not be \ a party to the propagation of his "dishonest repudiation policy." LANG'S TROUBLES. i Ono would imagine that Mr. Lang, in | control of Now South Wales affairs, j had quite enough trouble on his own shoulders without increasing tho burden by interfering in Federal affairs. The historic writ by which the Federal Government hopes to recover interest paid in London was served on the New South Wales Government on Monday, and the hearing of the case before the High Court is to be expedited. Meanwhile, practically all avenues of credit which the New South Wales Government has enjoyed have been stopped, and many close observers are wondering how Mr. Lang is going to escape a financial, legal, and,political debacle. If the High Court gives its verdict in favour of the Commonwealth Government, as seems probable, there is reason to believe that Mr. Lang would plead inability and refuse to pay. The Commonwealth could then put a receiver into the taxation office, and it is considered that the immediate collapse of the State Government must result from the cutting off of its only sources of revenue. It is suggested in some quarters that Mr. Lang, believing that the Commonwealth cannot maintain payments on behalf of Now _ South Wales, is anxious to cause a crisis on a grand scale, and so compel the Lonclon financiers to come to definite terms with Australia.