THE COLONIST Published Every Morning. Wednesday,. April 20, 1910. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12772, 20 April 1910, Page 2

THE COLONIST Published Every Morning. Wednesday,. A pril 20, 1910. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

The sweeping victories of the Australian Labour ?arty in the election the returns of which arc even yet incomplete, has-been-as .touch a surprise to the' Labour Party itself as to those who obnfideritly jcbuiited upon the Fusionists under. Mr jDeakiri' being returned with a comfortable majority. The result is certainly an indication th£t the people;' did : -nbt appyove of the political trick by which the late. Government secured office, although Mr Fisher employed as a means to power precisely the same device as that by which he was ousted. The result is also an indication that the electors ■of the Commonwealth are tired of the : iii stability of political arrangements which has prevented any Government since the. federation carrying into ef-j i'fecfc -really valuable work or settling r'thci vexed questions involved in the States Versus Commonwealth disputes. Mr Fisher will assume the Premiership 'unhampered by such drawbacks. With the solid majority the electors have given him. in both Chambers, he will be able .to carry into effect without let or hindrance the progressive !>;>!icy he has always favoured. Foremost in his platform is the betterment of the wage-earning classes by the restriction of the employment of women and children and in other desirable directions. His other demand, which he says includes everything, is' a fair field in Australia for all white labour. "This includes defence, because it is necessary to make the field secure. It includes immigration ; because that is hocessary. to fill t*ie field. It includes development of the Northern Territory) for the same reasons. Vlt includes finance; because sound finance is necessary to ensure the best conditions of labour. It includes the landquestion ; because the abolition of land monopoly is essential for all schemes for. permanent labour betterment. It includes the abolition of industrial and commercial monopolies." The^o . i?, n^iin^ ; in" : tß|tf'diff«ing vfiry. mar^'dr•ly" "Mm J th<3 i p' Tfl^amme Mr ' DiaSin' :p;top^^'toput*'fe% : eff€rt'iiad%e-been given the opportunity, but there isa profound aiffercnoa to point of me*

thod. Defence, railways, immigration, every Federal enterprise require* money in abundance to accomplish anything. Mr Deakin would raise the necessary funds by means of borrowing ; Mr Fisher, on the other hand, has all the Labour Party's objection to borrowing if it can possibly be avoided. He would make taxation provide ways and means, and lane! taxation would have to find the greater share. He expressed his views on the question of land versus Customs taxation in one of his election addresses: "Customs taxation, as now applied, is the taxation of the many for the. good of the few, of the poor so ; that the. rich may escape. Of course, all the forces of the privilege oppose 'a land tax. It is clearly to their profit to tax mouths and hacks rather than estates and landed incomes. So the borrowing policy of the Fusion party is designed to evade a land tax and make tha people keep on paying through the Customs. That makes immigration on any large scale impossible. Immigration on a large scale means access to the land. The only land worth access to is monopolised. [ Therefore, before you can get a full tide- of the right kind of immigrants, you must tax the land so that monopoly becomes unprofitable." The dominions will watch with lively interest the working out of this policy. As Australia is definitely committed to a Labour Government for some time to come, it is to be congratulated upon having as its leader Mr Fisher. He is by far the most able director the Labour Party" has had since Mr Watson .^ceased to be actively identified _with Australian politics. Public men who, have watched his career, his bitterest political opponents as _ well as his friends, pay admiring tributes- to his sterling worth and ability, and press references to him are generally friendly. There is about him nothing of the extremist; in this he is rather out of sympathy with a largo section of the trades union element. He is above all a sane politician. He will, however, find it difficult to purround himself with colleagues whose views are as moderate as his own, and that is where internal troubles "for the Government may arise.