gaily MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1929. AUSTRALIAN ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1929, Page 8

gaily MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1929. AUSTRALIAN ELECTION.

Though returns are far from complete, it is evident that the election in Australia has been won by the Labour Party. The victory is likely to be very decisive, Labour holding a winning position in 44 of the 75 seats. The Coalition of Nationalists and Country Party which held 43 seats at the election last November is reduced to 31, and of these seats four at least will be held by. Independent Nationalists whose breakaway from the policy of the Prime Minister (Mr. S. M. Bruce) in regard to the Federal Arbitration Court led to the defeat of the Government and the appeal to the country made last week. When counting ceased on Saturday night it was by no means certain that Mr. Bruce could retain his own seat, though last November he won it against the same Labour opponent by a majority of over 12,000. Four of the Coalition Ministers have been defeated, while all the Nationalist members who broke away from the Ministry have been returned with sweeping majorities- • The remarkable feature of the Labour victory is that it has been won almost "without any programme except the retention of the Federal Arbitration Court which Mr, Bruce proposed to abolish, except in regard to waterfront workers and seamen. The country has given the Labour Leadei’ (Mr. J. H. Scullin) almost a blank cheque, and it remains to. be seen whether the responsibility of office will prevent any ultra- ■ Socialistic legislation, or whether the “Red” element that, has obtained so great a hold of the Australian labour movement will try to put its proletarian ideas into practice. The cause of the defeat of the Coalition Ministry is not difficult to surmise. A divided party has little chance of winning an election, and when its resources are dissipated in personal recrimination the prospects of convincing the electorate are diminished accordingly. Though he has held office for seven years Mr. Bruce has never been a “popular” leader in the general acceptance of the term, and by virtue of his responsibilities has been unable to make extravagant promises in his appeal to the electorate. lie staked the existence of his Government on the question of the abolition of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. Believing, as he did, that it was duplicating work done by State industrial courts, and was actually a hindrance rather than an aid to industrial peace he could, as a high-minded Minister of the Crown, do no other than propose its removal. In this-view he has failed to obtain the support of the community, but whether his was the sounder judgment history will disclose. Apart altogether from the arbitration issue was the economic position in Australia. This gave the retiring Government little assistance in obtaining a renewal of public support, for there are unmistakable signs that the Commonwealth is far from prosperous- Prices for Australia’s chief exports, wool and wheat, have fallen considerably; industrial troubles affecting coal miners, timber workers, and manufacturers generally, constitute difficulties so grave that one Australian firm of international reputation, the Sunshine Harvester Co., has decided to remove its main factory to Canada. Coupled with this is the general tightening of finance that is world wide at present. Unlike that of New Zealand, Australian credit is not buoyant in the London money market, though it is to Mr. Bruce’s credit that he has done a great deal to rehabilitate the reputation of the Commonwealth in this regard. The fact remains that as loans fall due they can only be renewed at higher rates of interest, and the burden of the taxpayer is therefore so much the heavier. The new Government! will have no easy life. It may claim that public opinion has decided, as Mr. W. M. Hughes claims, that arbitration is to remain an integral part of Australia’s industrial life. If this be so there have still to be devised ways and means of making the court effective and its decrees respected when they do not agree with trade union views. This was a task which baffled Labour’s political opponents, but it is none the less one that must be undertaken by whatever Ministry is in office. ‘With industrial problems calling for -immediate solution, finance difficult, and commerce and manu* faetures suffering a decline, it seems doubtful wisdom to have changed the country’s administrators. That, however, was a question for the Commonwealth to decide, and there was certainly no indecision in the reply given on Saturday last-