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Evening Star, Issue 14003, 9 March 1909, Page 4

The statesmen of the Australian Com-

monwealth are still conCommonwealth fronted with their finanFinance. cial problem. Year

' after year the State Premiers have- met in conference, the Federal Prime Minister has been in attendance, proposals have been put forward and resolutions carried, and yet, in 1909, tho Commonwealth is little if any nearer finality than it was in 1900. About the only phase of the question on which the various Ministers are agreed is that' of tho necessity of doing something. It has l>een said that the authors of tho Federal Constitution saved it and themselves by putting off till 1910 what they found they were unable to do in 1900. The ideal of the delegates to tho Federal Convention was to secure, a strong Commonwealth, and at the same time to preserve the independence of tho States. At bottom, therefore, tho subject resolved itself into one of finance—tho control of tho public purse. How was if possible to grant, as was imperative, absolute power of taxation to tho Fedoration and also to satisfy the reasonable claims of tho States? Not till the last hours of tho final day of the Convention was a way out of tho impasso suggested. It was then that Sir Edward Braddon's resolution for the permanent distribution of tho Customs and Excise revenue was adopted. Had New South Wales not intervened, this famous clause, as amended, would have become an integral part of the Constitution, and there would probably at this hour be no financial problem pressing for solution. Tho representative of New South Wales, however, at the subsequent Premiers' Conference effected a further amendment in the Braddon clause by eliminating the permanency of the arrangement agreed upon by the Convention and substituting therefor a limitation period of ten years. Henco it is that a way out has now to be found. The clause (known as the " Braddon Blot") is open for review in 1911, and the States are nervous as to the possible intentions of tho Federal Government. W T hat Mr Deakin and Sir W. J. Lyne have laid down as an elementary proposition of axiomatic finality is that " the finances of " the Commonwealth and of the States "must be absolutely separated at the "earliest possible moment," which means, according to the critics, that "the whole "of tho Customs and Excise revenue must " at tho earliest possible moment be secured "by the Commonwealth." Obviously the question is one of serious moment to the States, and naturally there have been numberless suggested solutions. But so far, according to the 'Argus,' "it may be " safely asserted that not one scheme' yet " devised will command such a body of "support as will lead to its acceptance." The 'Argus' probably is right. To-day we are advised that Mr Fisher, the Federal Premier, told tho Conference now meeting in Tasmania that he had no scheme to propound, but that he was prepared to be advised by the Conference. Whether lus expectations will be realised, and whether, as Mr Kidston believes, the Conference will prove equal to the occasion, we shall shortly know.