Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1927 RE-ENTERING POLITICAL LIFE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 57, 4 February 1927, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1927 RE-ENTERING POLITICAL LIFE.

Mil Theodore's re-entry into political life as a candidate for the vacancy caused in the representation of the Dailey (New South Wales) Federal electorate, by the resignation of Mr Mahony, who has held the seat in the Labour interest, is not arousing any great amount of enthusiasm in Labour circles in the Commonwealth. It may be remembered that Mr Theodore, like his former leader the late Mr Ryan, resigned the Queensland Premiership to contest a Federal electorate in Queensland, where he was supposed to have an easy win. The fates were against him, however, for, when the numbers went up he was found to have been defeated by a fairly substantial majority. Mr Theodore subsequently organised the Queensland electorates for the Labour Government, and materially assisted Mr McCormack and his colleagues in their successful campaign to retain office. Since then, he has acted as arbitrator in the Labour disputes between the Australian Workers’ Union, the Australian Labour Party and the Sydney Trades and Labour Council, but has failed to bring about a reconciliation between the two former. Reputedly, Mr Theodore is a wealthy man; politics have made him such and, in Queensland, he is regarded as belonging to “the aristocracy of tlie Labour Party,” which a writer in the Brisbane Daily Mail says is “constituted of members of Parliament and of union officials who employ their talents in feathering their own nests and in increasing their own salaries.” It is hinted that Mr Mahony has been paid to stand down in Mr Theodore’s favour, Dailey being regarded as a safe seat for any Labour candidate. It covers a thickly populated suburb of Sydney in which workers predominate, and it should, therefore, prove an easy seat for Mr Theodore to win. But the ex-Queens-land Premier is said to have other ambitions. It is hinted that he aims at becoming the Leader of the Federal Labour Party, and that he also intends (if possible) supplanting Mr Charlton as Leader of the Opposition in the Commonwealth Parliament. Opinion appears sharplydivided upon the question of the leadership. Mr Charlton has neither the forceful personality nor the driving force of former leaders of the Labour Party in Parliament. Had the late T. ,T. Ryan lived, Mr Charlton would probably have been content to act as his lieutenant in the Federal House of Representatives. Whether he would be content to serve under Mr Theodore is quite another matter. But Mr Charlton is not quite his own master. The all-powerful A.L.P. controls Labour members in both the Federal Parliament and the Parliaments of the several States, and the question of the party leader-

ship in Parliament is settled, not by the Parliamentary Labour caucus, but by the leaders of the organisation outside of ' Parliament, who dictate the Labour policy. It is possible, probable even, that the intention is to replace Mr Charlton by Mr Theodore. But Mr Charlton has many friends and Mr Theodore’s political record is not such as to make him acceptable, as a leader, to the great majority of the Australian people. He was a member of the spendthrift Labour Government and, as Treasurer of the State, was responsible for the big drift to leeward of the State finances. The latter were in a very bad way when he resigned and handed over the Premiership and his position as head of the Treasury to his successor, Mr W. N. Gillies, so much so that the latt.er took the earliest opportunity of getting out, by securing a snug position for himself as one of the members of the new Industrial Court, set up by the Government to deal with labour disputes. Mr McCormack was left to clear up the mess and, as we pointed out the other day, he has been forced to close down upon the State enterprises, the establishment of which by his predecessors in office, Messrs Ryan and Theodore, had done so. much to increase the cost of government and the burdens of the Queensland taxpayer. While the Labour electors of Dailey may “suffer him gladly,” it is vex*y doubtful if he would help the fortunes of the Labour Party in the Commonwealth, by allowing himself to be placed at its head.