Protection in South Australia.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6847, 8 May 1890, Page 1

Protection in South Australia.

The Age of April 26 Eay3 :— The utter and complete rout of the Freetrade party in South Australia will Btagger the supporters of the cause in the neighbouring Colonies, and more especially in New South Wales. A3 will be seen from an Adelaide telegram which appears in another column, the elections just concluded have resulted in every candidate who stood by Freetrade being rejected at the polls. The new Parliament will thus be Protectionist to a man. An ounce of fact is worth a ton of wordy argument, and by this conclusive verdict from a Colony which only the other day, co to apeak, became a convert to Protection, the Freetrade patty in Sydney, who profess to believe that they will yet bring a federated Australia to their way of thinking, should receive their final quietus. The South Australian elections are further notable, insomuch as they show that the single tax campaign undertaken by Mr Henry George has been labour thrown i away. Though the arch-apoßtle of land nationalisation and of Freetrade wa3 in Adelaide during the voting, his presence, his oratory and his sophistical arguments have not resulted in a single success for his supporters. Indeed, thq latter have rather found that to follow Mr George was to make defeat a matter of certainty. The faith of the few who have clung to their prophet's teachings, and have brought him all the way from America in a last desperate effort to hold together their rapidly dissolving forces, should now be finally shaken. Such a complete overthrow of » party has seldom taken place in the history of the Australian Colonies, the only parallel being the Victorian elections in May, 1877, when "the gaggers," led by Sir James M'Culloch, had their force 3 annihilated.