AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 December 1944, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

CABINET RECONSTRUCTION MR. CURTIN’S HEALTH (N.Z.P.A. Special Australian Correspondent) 1 SYDNEY, December 28. The Prime Minister of Australia . (Mr Curtin), now. recuperating after ; a protracted illness, is again in resif dence in Canberra, and his Cabinet ; colleagues hope the Prime Minister ; will be well enough to resume his ofJi ficial duties about the end of Jani With a General Election due in , 1946, Mr Curtin's Administration L faces a critical year, likely to impose a heavy strain upon the Prime Min- , ister. The parties contesting the 1946 i election will be judged largely on , their policies and activities in the . next year. The defeat of the Com- ’ monwealth wider powers referendum , last August and the manifest public ; resentment of the mounting indus- ' trial troubles indicate that Labour is T losing ground to a degree which might bring about its defeat at the 5 1946 polls. 1 The three main concerns of the 5 Federal Labour politicians in the ’ New Year are whether Mr Curtin has ■ recovered sufficiently in health to : continue to lead the party, the possibility that radical and conservative I elements within, the party have seri--1 ous differences over socialisation t proposals, and the increasingly urgent : need for post-war planning as against ; purely war-time measures. Of these ! three concerns, Mr Curtin’s health is . the most important. He is the one man > commanding the respect of all fac- ; tions within his own party, and Labour’s last election win was due . largely to his personal prestige. -If Mr . Curtin’s health is unequal to the strain of continued office the rival ’ contenders for leadership may cause ’ serious strife within the Federal Par- ' liamentary Labour Party. Once con- ’ sidered an unlikely successor to Mr ' Curtin, Mr Forde’s shov/ing during his period-of Deputy-Prime Minister appears to make him a logical choice. When Mr Curtin resumes duty he will have to face the solution of the • tumultuous industrial situation caused ; chiefly by the coal shortage, as weil : as decisions on contentious banking I and financial policy. In these and other matters he is likely to do everything possible to steer Labour in a safe, central course, thus retaining that middle class vote which won the party an overwhelming majority ’in 1943. This will entail Left Wing opposition within the Labour movement. The party’s radicals believe that the Government’s announced intention to nationalise Australia’s air lines is a pointer to the early nationalisation of other public utilities. But since few shareholders and comparatively few of the travelling public are affected the nationalisation of the air lines will prove much simpler than, for instance, the nationlisation of banking. “With elections looming the nationalisation of banking might be a fatal step,” comments the “Sydney Telegraph’s” political correspondent. ‘Labour’s new banking legislation next year may enable the Commonwealth Bank to compete on better terms with the private banks, but it will not take over the private banks. The effects of Commonweaj.th Bank competition with private banks wilt be so gradual that they will make little immediate impact on the public generally, which may prevent unfavourable election reaction.” To strengthen his party and Administration, Mr Curtin is expected to make major Cabinet changes m the New Year. Earlier it was thought that senior Cabinet Ministers would be sent to important overseas posts, but the need for keeping a strong team at home is likely to veto such a plan. It is known that the Government previously intended to appoint the Minister of Supply (Mr Beasley) as Australian Minister to Washington, and the Minister of Munitions (Mr Makin) to a similar position in Ottawa, but both these senior Ministers are loyal Curtin supporters, .and in a critical year the Prime Minister will be reluctant to spare them. COAL PRODUCTION Dec. 28. Most of the New South Wales coalminers are expected to obey the direction of the Miners’ Federation and end their Christmas holidays on Tuesday. In the next week, however, it is likely that absenteeism will be heavy and that coal production will be much below normal. Even in ordinary circumstances production immediately following the Christmas holidays period is always well below; average. This year the situation has been complicated by conflicting directions from the executive of the Miners’ Federation. In the first place the men were instructed not to return to the pits until January 8. Then, at an allunion coal cbnference the delegates, including the miners' representatives, voted for a resumption on January 2. Immediately afterwards the Miners’ Union executive repudiated this resolution. After a subsequent conference with Federal Ministers and officials of the Council of Trades Unions the miners’ executive ordered a return to work on January 2. [ A warning that this action has averted a coal crisis only temporarily is given to-day by the Labour Party’s | official organ, the “Standard.” De- f daring that last week’s crisis will re- I cur unless the whole of the coal in- | dustry faces up to realities, the news- | paper says:—“Coal must-be won if £ Labour is to live. Without coal’ no I Government can carry on. The pro- s mised inquiry into the coal industry | will be valueless if concerted action g is not taken to control elements in | the industry who are not wanting to | work themselves and will not allow I others to do so. The one-day strike § addict must be put down because war-time industry has no place for the fellow’ who makes it impossible for the other man to work.”

SHIPPING SHORTAGE

CANBERRA, Dec. 28.

Mr. Beasley., Commonwealth Minister of Supply and of Shipping, said: “Australia is faced with a shipping shortage in 1945 more critical than in any other year of the war.” He gave a warning that it would be impossible for Australia to receive help from the United Nations pool of shipping and she would be lucky if she pulled through without serious repercussions on her war activities, and without a severe impact on every home. This critical position had been caused by one of the most disastrous droughts in history. It meant that in 1945, shipping space would have to be found to transport more than one million tons of wheat and other foodstuffs from Western Australia and South Australia, these being the only States with reserves, so as to prevent serious shortages in the other States.

Mr. Beasley indicated the tremendous strain on shipping by revealing that General MacArthur’s landing in the Philippines required one and a. half million tons of supplies and ammunition. Another 332,000 tons of supplies were needed for the first month’s operations. It took a minimum of 1200 ships to keep the supplies flowing.