CABINET CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1648, 30 September 1903, Page 75 (Supplement)

CABINET CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA.

Cabinet crises, like other misfortunes, have a way of coming “in battalions.” Fallowing close upon tho dissolution of tho Cape Parliament by the resignation of Ministers, came news of important changes in the Imperial Cabinet; and now we have tidings of judicial appointments in Australia involving the resignation of the Commonwealth Ministry. The Premier, Sir E. Barton, and the Hon. Mr O’Connor have been appointed Judges of the High Court of Australia, with Sir Samuel Griffith as Chief Justice, and the resignation of the Premier will of course mean the resignation of the whole Cabinet-. There can be little doubt of the wisdom of the appointments to the High Court Bench. Sir Samuel 'Griffith is perhaps the most eminent giving lawyer in Australia, and Mr O’Connor enjoys an almost equal reputation for knowledge and sound judgment. For Sir Edmund Barton himself the change from politics to a judgeship should prove welcome, while it will be approved by tho public, despite the fact that he has never betrayed any special qualification for the position. It is no disparagement to the first Premier of the Commonwealth to say that ho is constitutionally unfitted to he an exponent of “the strenuous life,” and this fact militates against His permanent success in the political arena, where earnestness and hard work are so essential. In one respect the new appointments coincide with New Zealand experience, showing that a political career is the best introduction to judicial distinction., Ajll .three Judges have been in p&litics, as so many New Zealand Judges past and present have been. In other respects, dissimilarity may be noted. It is quite unprecedented for a New Zealand Premier to appoint himself and one of his colleagues to judgeships. It would have been .. more in accord with New Zealand precedent had Sir Edmund Barton given the Chief Justiceship to Mr 'Geo. H. Reid —thereby at one stroke gettmg rid of a dangerous political opponent and earning for himself a reputation for magnanimity and a desire to place the welfare of the State above personal or political considerations. It must be placed to the credit of Sir E. Barton that he did not seize the Chief Justiceship for himself, but gracefully recognised the superior claims of Sir Samuel Griffith. The retirement of Sir Edmund Barton, it must be confessed, will tend to strengthen rather than weaken the Commonwealth Ministry. From the first he held the position by courtesy, rather than by merit, and as a recognition of his labours on behalf of federation. There are many able politicians from which to choose liis successor, and it may safely that the new Ministry, with Mr Beakin or Sir George Turner at its head, wii*

have a firmer grip of power than the late Ministry has ever had.