SYDNEY LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17396, 6 February 1917, Page 8

SYDNEY LETTER.

TllK riUfvG(:R MUCGKK OF I'OLITiCS. FEDERAL AND'STATE. . t [FitOli OCR CORKWPO.VDEKT.] January 2-1. I .It can be taken as rcasonafily certain : ihnt the federal Labour Party will r.o;: comfe „'. to the .rescue of either the Hughegites or tho Liberals. Mr Tuclor'.s following will be quite content 10 watch their fr-ends on tho other side slew in their own juice. This allegation thai "(ill parties are being invited by tho Prime Minister to join in the formation of a National Government''' really sounds very absurd. Mr Hughes is in point, of fact trying lo throw a uoose round alio Liberals, and rope his old-time Labour colleagues in •as well. The Liberals are simply ravenous for office and will probably succumb, but the Labour men are at least astute enough to see that if they entered any such combination tlio reason for their existence would have vanished. Meanwhile wo live in* an atmosphere of most amazing humbug. Mr Hughes occasionally emerges from hiding" and calls upon every one to help him win the war. Then he disappears. Mr Cook'continues his private bargaining with Mr Hughes—and there is nothing in it more dignified than a sordid game of poker with portfolios an the ptakes. Borne, of the more hungry Liberals havo become apprehensive that Mr Cook may not make a bargain with Mr Hughes expeditiously enough' and there hare been signs of a. block developing in the Liberal camp. This would, of course, suit Mr Hughes admirably, for the moment at anyrate, and desperate efforts aro being made by wirepullers to promote a Liberal revolt, So far this has been resisted. Cat readers of the "Lyttelton should beware of swallowing without a considerable helping of salt any of those easily constructed yarns about Mr Hughes and Mr Cook being engaged in a patriotic struggle with the Dark Forces on behalf of the Empire and in furtherance of. the struggle for victory in France. They are politicians trimming their, sails and struggling to balance tho boat. Each is after office and the safety of his- political bacon-nhd the circumstances of the moment are that-Mr Hughes being the man in possession, yet without a following, is able to derive an advantage from a party that previously opposed him, wishes he was out of the way and yet is afraid to depose him.

THE STATE LABOUR PARTY. Mi' Durack, 'who suaceedcd "to Mr Holman's shoos as leader of the State Labour Party when Mr Holman became a Liberal and successor of Mr Wado. is finding himself in ft difficult, position already. As supporters of Mr Holman, tin party behind Mr Durack and Mr Durack himself agreed to the Norton Griffiths contract for the construction of public works on a commission basis. The Liberals opposed it tooth and nail. Now tho Liberals ar?i in'office they, defend the contract, and Mr Durack and his followers are vehemently dam.ling it. They demand its immediate cancellation, on tho ground that it is a public outrage. Of course, in doina; this thov condemn themselves, for they are tho authors of the contract. But in these hurried days little incidents of that sort are of no consequence. Another matter that is giving Mr Durack .some embarrassment is the question of what his attitude is going to be towards the I.W.W. Shall official Labour spurn the LW.W.,and denounce it from a thousand carttails ? There is a by-election pending at Broken Hill, and when Mr Durack ventured on a visit to that agitated political nnt-heap. in support of the party candidate at a by-election, he was bluntly asked, "Will you do anything bo secure the liberation of the LW.W. men recently sentenced to long terms, of imprisonment in Sydney, and will .you urge your party to do anything?" Miich depended on .the answer, because the official Labour candidate, knowing his constituency, had announced his earnest desire to get the prisoners released and his in- -■>■,;• nof working to that end. Mr Durack wns in this difficulty: that if he answered a flat "No" bo would antagonise the candidate and lead to Broken Hill breaking with political Labour. If he said "Yes"'ho would appear to other constituencies to be c-puuing the-I.W.W. He took refuge in the reply that "He would study the evidence and if convinced that tho men were unjustly condemned would do his best to secure- their relonsc." It was a reply that might reasonably, have been made bv anyone; hut it has led to Mr Durack being wildly called upon to "stop shuffling" and, say whether he is in favour of the 1.W.W.. or not, straight out. This-is practically absurd, but. it is putting Mr Durack in a tight place. When a politician haa to explain himself things are not going well with him. and when ono can be" even put under shadow of suspicion of being an I.W.W. supporter i it takes a lot of explanation to clear | tho atmosphere.

EMPLOYMENT AND BORROWING. The dismissal of men from Government service owing to the scarcity of loan money (the State Ministry has only spent £(5,000,000 of borrowed money during tho last six months) is seriously agitating the Trades Council, for as th» whole fohndation of employment and "prosperity" in Australia has formally years rested on public borrowing, there is great danger of a serious labour "crisis." Australia is one country in the world where . the community can only keep itself employed by negotiating loans. There was a big meeting of union delegates at jhe Trades Hall the other night to consider the situation, and the proceedings consisted in tho main of denouncing the Ministry for not borrowing more rapidly. • According to the figures produced there are 71G2 unionists in New foonth Wales out of work. Suggestions were made for holding demonstrations, ' instigating a general strike, reducing the working day to six and a half hours, starting "co-operative institutions' (whatever that may mean), and so on. One delegate struck a new note by proposing that the workers should raiso n, loan among themselves and scare the capitalists by "taking command of tho situation." This created very little enthusiasm. The,final determination of the meeting was to urge tho Ministry to show greater activity in floating loans. Of course tho Ministry is not modifying its expenditure because it is not anxious to borrow. The trouble is

Hint the hisl: cf gettine money to maintain artificial labour and cornmeroinl conditions : <; brcomi v.: ver? hard. Our bubble is almost at bursting po'nt. But Austral ; .i>n politician"* are valiant, men on the money market, and there are signs that to postpone tire breakdown tlia New Smith Wales Government will shortly be offering to pay rates of in-t'Te:-'-t*that arc dreadful to think about. Under the Norton-Griffiths contract the contractors were to get 0 per cent pins underwriting and commission for spending £10.000,000 i" five years. Supposing tliis. concern would supply the money at 5 per cent, pluH charges, and take their 5 per cent profit a.s a solatium for abandoning the work of supervision- and direction of public workon which the money was exoeihled? And supnos'9, further, the syndicate am! its London bankers could make the money available in two years instead of fire? A general election might then be, faced with confidence.' There would be plenty oP employment. Prosperity would remain. Of course, it. would mean paying about 11 \ per cent for the money, but—well you may expect to hear that projects of (his kind are riot regarded as beyond the region of sanity or practical politics.