POLITICS IN VICTORIA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6138, 19 February 1907, Page 4

POLITICS IN VICTORIA

The speech delivered at Brighton on Saturday by the Victorian Premier, Mr Bent, is of much more interest to outsiders than is usual in the preelection utterances of the Australian State Premiers. Mr Bent is easily the most notable figure in the State politics of Australia, not alone by reason of his personality—a personality which might be characterised roughly as a blend of the German Emperor, the late Mr Seddon, and Sam Weller—but also because of the singular success of his administration. He has established his reputation as the "funny man” of Australian politics, he has never been known to refuse any invitation to sing a comic song, he is at all times ready to make any situation the occasion for a display of elephantine humour, he is subject to sudden fits of ursine anger as diverting as his farcical ballads; but he has substituted a healthy financial condition for the bankruptcy which he found when he took office, and he has found ..time Also to carry out » political pro-

gramme of a distinctly progressive character. The pride with which ho declared that “it had rarely been the good fortune of a Premier to tell such a golden story as he had to tell” is abundantly justified by the remarkable figures which he quoted. A surplus of over half a million, he said, was assured for the current financial year, and "the position of the railways account had changed from a deficit of £365,000 per year to a surplus of £109,000 in three years.” A return issued two or three weeks ago showed that for the first seven months of the current financial year the general receipts of the State were £336,390 in excess of the receipts for the same period in the year 1905-6. Not the least remarkable feature of these figures is their grotesque excess over the Premier’s modest estimate of a surplus of £43op.

The progress of the railways, even when allowance is made for a of favourable seasons, has been nothing short of astonishing. Before the Commissioners wore appointed, the railways, as Mr Bent pointed out, were showing a daily deficit of £IOOO, but in the financial year 1905-6 they yielded a surplus of £200,000, or £550 per day, and this in spite of the fact that the sum of £600,000 had been expended out of revenue upon tho purchase of now rolling-stock, the maintenance of repairs, and the repayment of borrowed funds. Tho programme outlined by Mr Bent is that which has been agreed upon with Mr Maokinnon’s Opposition corner, with which tho Government has effected a coalition to oppose the extreme Labour party. The leading feature of the programme is the proposal respecting a land tax. Mr Bent has explained the Government’s policy upon this point as having for its object the “classifying of land according to its producing capabilities.” Exactly what this means is not clear, but as the latest Melbourne files reported that tho Government’s land proposals were the subject of differences between tho coalescing parties, it is probable that the Government will submit some modification of its original policy of a tax upon unimproved values coupled with a system of compulsory land purchase. In any event, it appears clear that a much-needed beginning is to be made with progressive legislation affecting the land.

'As to the remainder of the Govern-’ meat’s programme, the Premier has expressed his opposition to the extension of the suffrage to women, but .his proposals respecting old-age pensions and preferential voting will bo noted with satisfaction by those who might have feared that a coalition against labour would amount to a compact of reaction. What may bo considered by many people the one reactionary item in tho Government’s programme is tho proposal to submit a bill to Parliament to provide for the taking of a referendum on the question of Bible teaching in schools. Under pressure from the Protestant Churches, tho Government in 1994 agreed to take what was called an “executive referendum” upon the subject. The “executive referendum” was nothing more than a means of obtaining a general expression of opinion, and throe questions were submitted to the electors. The issue of the plebiscite was highly ridiculous, for, while a majority of more than 26,000 affirmed, in answer to one question, that the Education Act should remain “secular, as at present,” an almost equally handsome majority, probably representing exactly the same people, declared on the same voting paper in favour of the introduction of religious lessons,. hymns, and prayers into the schools! It is not anticipated that the Dill proposed by Mr Bent can command a majority in whatever Parliament may be elected next month, so that the concession of the Government is not a very great triumph for the sectarian agitators. It is almost certain that the Government will retain its majority in the next Parliament, and there is every prospect that, with a few more prosperous years, Mr Bent may attain in Victoria to the unique position which Mr Seddon made for. himself in this country.