Review of Reviews, 



History of the Month. 



in 



the problem of the poor. The matter, however, is 

 hardly likely to come to a head this year. The 

 question of finance renders the path so thorny that 

 there is little likelihood of the next Parliament pick- 

 ing its way through it. However, it will make a 

 good election cry, and will serve a useful purpose 

 at the next elections. 



The Federal Navigation Commission 

 The Federation h as a i so completed its report. It 



Commission has witnout doubt gone very closely 

 into matters. Everyone, of course, 

 remembers how drastic was the character of the 

 Navigation Bill prepared by the Barton Ministry. 

 That has been the foundation upon which the Com- 

 mission has worked. Several of the present recom- 

 mendations have very much to commend them. The 

 Commission has given special attention to both the 

 wages of waterside workers, and the conditions of 

 their labour, and also to those who earn their living 

 on the face of the deep. One point of very great 

 interest is that relating to coastal trade. The Com- 

 mission is evidently determined to get the very best 

 that can be got for workers. But as against this, 

 and the consequent expense of local lines, it sug- 

 gests that Australian Shipping Companies should be 

 protected against the competition of over-sea ships, 

 which do not pay local rates of wages. It is there- 

 fore recommended that all over-sea ships doing 

 coastal trade, either passenger or cargo, shall pay 

 Australian rates while in Australian waters. The 

 P. and O. Company and the Orient Royal Mail 

 Company are partially excluded from this provision, 

 as its enforcement might cause them to raise fares 

 and freights between Fremantle and Adelaide. It 

 is, therefore, proposed that until the trans-Australian 

 railway is built, these lines should be exempt from 

 the rule between these two ports. It is very prob- 

 able that, as an outcome of the report, some local 

 Federal members will go to England as a delegation 

 to attend the Imperial Conference on navigation, an 

 invitation to which was received some time ago. 

 This, by the way, is another illustration of the way in 

 which Britain and the Colonies are coming together 

 in the war nf conference. It is a most desirable 

 thing in obtain the line on which both can mutually 

 be agreed, and this can only be done across a table 

 of friendly discussion. It is almost certain that as 

 the outcome of the report a Federal Department will 

 be instituted. Indeed, at first sight it seems as 

 though it will be indispensable, for if the recommen- 

 dations are adopted by Parliament, it will necessi- 

 tate concerted action. 



The Secession movement in New 



The Secession South Wales is scurrying back to its 



Bogey. shelter as fast as its heels can carry 



it. The suggestion created such 



derision that the few who instituted it are cowering 



out of sight behind a suggestion that it was not 



seriously intended to advocate such a movement, 



but merely to draw attention to the necessity for the 

 better consideration o'f the State of New South 

 Wales. It is now solemnly affirmed that the cannon 

 which looked so dangerous was not even loaded. 

 The Federal capital site is no nearer settlement, as 

 Parliament is out of session, but there is no doubt 

 that the raising of the question of the Lake George 

 site is going to project the question forward inde- 

 finitely. Had the advocates of this been true to the 

 decision of Parliament, there would have been a 

 probability of something definite being soon done 

 regarding Dalgety. 



Medical We have before commended Mr. 



Institutes and Deakin and his Government for 

 the their excursions into the region of 



Mail Service. t h e " humanities," and another in- 

 stance of their determination to work for good 

 ends is evident from a proclamation which has been 

 issued by Mr. Austin Chapman, the Postmaster- 

 General, prohibiting the delivery of any postal ar- 

 ticle addressed to a certain medical institute. The 

 firm has got an injunction from the Court in Sydney 

 against the Department, so the matter will be fought 

 out in public. Setting aside, however, the merits of 

 this particular case, there is urgent need for public 

 enquiry into the practices of some firms which do 

 business on medical lines. Some of them are 

 responsible for more evil to the community than the 

 average person has the slightest idea of. 



Australia will give a very hearty 

 . The welcome to delegates of the English 



Br ' tl * h L a bour Labour members who propose to 

 6 e9a S " visit Australia, especially as it in- 

 cludes such names of world-wide interest as Mr. Will 

 Crooks and Mr. Keir Hardie. The visit will be made 

 in September next The Conference will have an his- 

 toric interest. Labour all over the world is uniting 

 and measures looked upon at one time as purely 

 Labour, are being passed by Liberal Governments 

 all round the globe as part and parcel of their 

 own programmes. A Conference like this holds 

 vast potentialities, for it may be the beginning 

 of an organised, world-wide combination of workers. 

 The power of the party has been felt in all English- 

 speaking countries, and is indeed being felt all over 

 Europe to-day. What, however, might be accom- 

 plished if hands were joined all over Europe, civil- 

 ised America, and Australia, no one can even dream. 

 Most of the wars have been undertaken by the 

 aristocratic section of the community, and the re- 

 mainder has followed dumbly and unenquiringly at 

 heel. Supposing that the Labour Party all over the 

 world made one of its first objectives universal 

 peace, the workers of one nation steadfastly refusing 

 to take the life of the workers of another nation, 

 determining to settle their disputes by peaceful arbi- 

 tration ; the rulers of the world would be power- 

 less. Whether the first Conference of Labour mem- 



