The Review of He views. 



I'ebruary, rqT2. 



States should hnnd over to the Federation the 

 ])()\ver — 



To deal with riieputes withiu a State. b?yo-iul merely 

 inlei'stato dibputes. 



To override, if necessary decisiciis of State tribunals. 



To jiiuke its awards into oonuiiori rules for the whole of 

 an industry. 



\\'hat the Federal Government can have in view in 

 rejecting this is hard to see. Herein Mr. Holman 

 pro\ed himself a loyal Labourite, for it gives full 

 control to the Commonwealth Government to deal 

 with all kinds of industrial disputes, from the most 

 widespread to the purely and severely local. Now 

 this might work out all right, and it might prove ac- 

 ceptable to the community had it not had a taste 

 of other methods of dealing with matters. Events 

 have proved that the Federal Arbitration Court has 

 not l)een one of the most satisfactory methods of 

 settling disputes, but there is a method which stands 

 out, by reason of its excellence, above all others, and 

 that is Wages Boards. No scheme of settlement 

 machinery has yet been devised which surpasses 

 them. And as compared with the work of putting 

 Federal machinery into motion, they are so simple 

 in operation that it would he madness to interfere 

 with them. Disputes extending beyond a State m.iy 

 well he brought under Federal control. No one 

 disputes that. 



But one is puzzled at Mr. Hoi- 

 Mr. Holinan's man's logic. With regard to mono- 

 Inconsistency. p,,,iies he would not have the 

 Federal power deal with any but 

 interstate. States may, he says, be left to manage 

 their own affairs. With regard to transport, too, 

 he says that there is no reason why the Federal 

 Government should not have power to regulate navi- 

 gation, but he would keep their hands off State 

 transport. And one naturally a.sks why the same 

 argument should not apply to industrial matters. 

 One cannot follow Mr. Holman in the intricacies of 

 this inconsistency. Certain broad powers the Fede- 

 ral Government ought to have, but there are rfiany 

 things in which the power of governing tha.t is a 

 characteristic of Anglo-Saxons and their descen- 

 dants has given the very best results. Especially 

 in State industrial matters, the number of men who 

 have been brought into active participation with the 

 public weal is great. The Federation would be 

 wise to conserve this power, but the effect of Mr. 

 Holman's motion would be to withdraw all this inte- 

 rest and governance, and to centre authority. It 

 would mean an enlargement, too, of many trivial 

 disinites to an importance they would not deserve. 

 Interstate troubles Ijelong by right to the Federation, 

 but administration must be locali.sed in order to pro- 

 duce the finest results, both with regard to the best 

 decisions, and the interest of the philanthropic in 

 industrial conditions, an element that ought to be 

 respected and fostered. The decision of the Con- 

 ference was that State rights should be preserved, 

 New South Wales and West Australia being a 

 minority that voted for larger jiowers. 



PholoA [.S/I/m/^ &■ Co., A,klaiilc. 



MK. HARKV JACKSON, 



Who su( ct'ciled liie lale Sir Jenkiii Coles as Speakri of the 

 Souih .\ii>tralian .\ssenibly. 



South 



Australia's 

 Deadlock. 



Folk were somewhat startled at the 

 suddenness with which the South 

 Australian Government brought 

 about a dissolution as a result of 

 the deadlock lietween the two Houses. Mr. Verran's 

 appeal to the Home Government to interfere struck 

 one as an incongruous sort of thing, seeing that the 

 methods by which it might have dealt with the situa- 

 tion were by no means exhausted. The fact that 

 London had the jiow^r to step in had almost been 

 forgotten by the |)ublic. Of cour.se no one dreamed 

 that the Imperi.il Government would interfere. The 

 question of how far self-governing States might go 

 would l)e one of far-reaching imjiortance, affecting 

 other States than South Australia. My friend 

 Major Smeaton, who is a member of the South Aus- 

 tralian House on the Government side, ha.s sent me 

 a precis of the situation, which in view of the im- 

 portance of the 'juestion of Imperial interference, I 

 print in full : — 



" The political situation in South Australia at the 

 time of writing is jieculiar, and may l)e epoch- 

 m.ikiug. The crisis which has resulted in .sending 

 tile House of Assembly and half oi the Legislative 

 Council to the country, is caused by a deadlcx:k be- 

 tween the two Houses on the ijuestion of their re- 



