"SECESSION"

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 227, 24 April 1933, Page 6

"SECESSION"

Sydney Cartoon PREMIER DEPICTED ATTACKED BY LION Pros? Association.— CopyrightSydney. April 13.—A Sydney eai'-j toonist depicts the new Premier of; Western Australia attacked by a lion; labelled "Secession." He call* l»j the defeated Premier to call oi't'j the beast, but the defeated Premier says, j "No. You stole him from me, and now I you can keep him." It would be diffi-j cult to sum up the position of the newj Government more clearly. The Labour j leader will be in a quandary, especially! as unity is one of the main planks of; Labour's platform. Mr. Collier will not | be able to support unity, yet, being a j democrat of the first water—all Labour' leaders claim that—he cannot avoid do- j ing his utmost to give effect to the popu- j lar vote. Mr. Collier has said that he j will do his best to see that the will of the people carries the force to which it] is entitled, but he must know, just as j everyone else knows, that secession is j impossible under the constitution. It is plain that the vote cannot have j any effect on the federation, and as this j appears to be widely known, it is not j likely to affect the credit of Australia, j However, it might be used as a lever by j the smaller States in reference to the j Commonwealth policy. A vole might be j taken in the other States in order to. strengthen the hand against the Federal j Government. In Tasmania, for instance, j it is felt that the Western Australian i vote would do good by teaching those j in authority in Canberra that more j sympathetic consideration was due to j those States that are suffering disabilities J owing to federation. It can safely be j said that none of the State's actually. wants secession, but they all want justice, i The trouble is that there is such a diver- I gence of opinion as to what constitutes j justice. j Interest now centres in the promise i made by the Prime Minister to hold a convention at which the position of the j States and the constitution generally ] could be thoroughly examined. The Federal Government is prepared to assist to the limit of its powers to bring about a convention, if the Parliaments of all j the States agree. Unanimity or. this j point is essential and here the difficulty : arises that Western Australia has re-1 jected the convention idea. Will Western j Australia change its mind if it is convinced beyond all doubt that there can be no secession? This will be one of the first vital decisions that Mr. Collier will j be called upon to make. In the circum- j stances, it would seem that a convention j is probable. j