AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20098, 8 November 1928, Page 14

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

LIVELY ELECTION CONTEST.

THE COMMUNIST ISSUE.

MR. BRUCE AND HECKLERS

| l ltu.M (It'll OWN COIIItKSI'ONPENT. ] SYDNEY. Nov. I. The (*oitiin 11 nisi issue, ;iikl that of law uiid order, are .still paianirniut in < lie Federal election campaign. Willi t lie

i-lim (ions a foil nielli, away, is increasing every day, and is now much more pronounced than at any lime before the last general eleeti which resulted in such a sweeping victory fur the Nationalists. In this some people see an indication of a swing in favour of the Labour Party, hut I hey are probably superopt iniists.

The fact njmaiiis, however, that Mr. Bruce is <not having things all his own way, as he did three years ago. Ho has been subject to a great deal of heckling at several of his meetings, and Iho Nationalists are beginning to realise that they will have to tight much harder on this occasion than they did on tho last. Even when the Prime Minister visited his own electorate he was given a lively time, and that was a new experience for him. Mr. Bruce was attacked on countless subjects, and he found it impossible to make anything like a speech. His audience on this occasion included a number of waterside workers, and this, no doubt, accounted for the lively nature of the proceedings. ■ He was asked whether it was fair that the Government should pay the chairman of the Development and Migration Commission LSOOO a year while there wen; men starving. Of course he did not have much difficulty in justifying that. Then he was asked about his expensive home at Canberra and about a dog kennel which is supposed to have cost a considerable sum. Mr. Bruce became rather annoyed. Two Thousand Noisy Women. The liveliest meeting of the campaign to date has been one for women held at Melbourne, which Mr. Bruce was invited to address. He was greeted by 2000 women, the majority of whom screeched and yelled, and used insulting terms. Policemen tried in vain to stop these hysterical outbursts, and Mr. Bruce found it impossible to get on to policy matters. " Tell lis something about your housing policy," shouted a woman from the back of the hall. " Not the one for yourself and vour dog at Canberra, but the real dinkum one."

ilr. Biuco commenced to explain the Government's policy, but the questioner interrupted him. " I know all about the scheme, tell me when you are going to begin it." " Well, most people are not such close students of politics as that," said Mr. Bruce. His remark was misunderstood by the woman, who. leaving her seat, rushed up to the stage shaking her list excitedly at Mr. Bruce. " I would have you know ijiat I am riot stupid,"' she said. " I have spent my life at the washtub, and if your wife had worked as hard as 1 have her brain would not be as clear as il is." So noisy was the uproar that followed that Mr. Bruce had the greatest difficulty in explaining that he had not called the woman stupid, hut a student. Two Optimistic Reviews. Since Ihe delivery of policy speeches by the leaders there has been practically no mention of ordinary policy matters. The Labour Leader, Mr. Scullin, who had a wonderfully successful nlVeting in the Sydney Town Hall this week, seems content to criticise the past actions of the Bruce Government. He thinks that his party has an excellent fighting chance of securing a majority. He says that he has received reports indicating that there has been a definite swing in all States in favour of Labour. He himself had visited four States, and in each of them lie had had most encouraging meetings. lie explained that the drastic regulations framed by the Government under the Transport Workers Act had enraged many people, and even some Nationalists were strongly opposed to any attempts to destroy unionism. They had been shown the way the wind was blowing, and they were taking precautions accordingly.

On the other hand, the director of the Nationalist campaign says that the workers everywhere have been flocking to the assistance of the Nationalists, because they realise that the present Government is anxious to preserve sane unionism. Any review of the situation seems to depend on the point of view of the observer, but the unbiased can scarcely predict anything but a Nationalist victory.

The Australian elections will be held next Wednesday—the day of the New Zealand polls.