A POLITICAL MISALLIANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18323, 13 August 1921, Page 9

A POLITICAL MISALLIANCE

When the Country Party, (known officially as tho Farmers’ Party) combined with the Labour Party in the Victorian Legislative Assembly to create the political crisis which will culminate in a general election on the 30th inst., its action was doubtless prompted by material motives. The effect of it, however, will probably he simply to illustrate how fallacious it is to suppose either that a political alliance is possible when there is no affinity of principle or that government for a section of the people is wise or even possible. In nearly all respects th© Country Party and the Labour Party have little or nothing in common. The immediate and chief point at issue between the Government and its opponents in Victoria was connected with th© question whether there should be a compulsory or a voluntary wheat' pool. The Country Party demanded a compulsory and the Government offered a voluntary pool. In the Assembly, which has just been dissolved, the Government had 30 supporters, the Labour Party 20, the Country Party 13, and there were two Independents. The want of confidence motion which sealed the fate of the Government was constructed out of several amendments and covered six different subjects, the compulsory wheat pool being, however, the central point on which the Labour and the Country parties joined hands against tho Government. In the course of a memorandum to the Governor, after tho defeat of the Ministry, it was pointed out by Mr Lawson, the Premier, that the compulsory wheat pool “was not an issue at the last general election ”; that it “ was a war measure, necessitated by the extraordinary finance and shipping dislocation during the war and immediately afterwards, and there is an insistent public demand for return to normal conditions.” The Country Party had previously supported /the Government in most cases 'and had always done so against challenges directed by the Labour Party. At the same time it played with th© theory of the balance-of-power to such an extent that it has been described by th© Melbourne press as devoid of political principle.

The contest which will result from the crisis is of more than ordinary interest. The Labour Party favours a compulsory wheat pool as it favours compulsion in many State activities, though it illogically draws the line at compulsory military service. During its term of office the (government has kept the State of Victoria free from embarrassing financial and otner difficulties, and it consequently goes before the electors with a good record. But the chief point about Mr Lawson in his unequivocal declaration of policy. A cable’ message this week summarised the chief points in his election address in the following terms : “ The Government would be a socialistic masquerader in Liberal garments if it had not refused to continue the wheat pool system. Every Liberal in the National Government stood for the control of production and industry by private enterprise. The proposal for a wheatgrowers’ compulsory pool was an instalment of revolutionary syndicalism in Victoria.'’ This declaration is made the more intelligible by an extract from the Premier’s speech during the no-confi-dence debate:—

Mr Lawson said that there could bo no departure from the stand the Ministry had taken up—no surrender of any vital principle to retain office. The Ministry had made a stand on two principles—that there should be as little interference as possible with the natural course of trade, and that there should be as fewtrade enterprises as possib’e. He was in favour of compulsion when the public interest demanded it. suoh as compulsory resumption of land or compulsory education, but not the compulsory marketing of a man’s goods in a way he might not approve of. This had been interpreted

in some quarters as ind-cating tho Ministry’s opposition to co-operative enterprise. but he had long been an apostle of 00-operation.

The Government had vainly endeavoured to satisfy the demands for a compulsory wheat pool by arranging with the banks for an advance of 3s per bushel, but tho Parliamentary advocates of tho pool refused to be appeased. The Country Party has already been condemned by certain farmers’ organisations for allying itself with the Labour Party, which for its part is embarrassed by the demand of its supporters that it shall not openly or overtly ally itself with any other party. It will be surprising if Victoria, which alone among Australian States has shown a decided disinclination .to trust its political destinies to the Labour Party, swerves at the polls in any marked degree from its previous path of political safety.