234 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



hardly help themselves. Something in 

 the wa}- of soothing s}Tup is impera- 

 tive, from their point of view, with a 

 general election ui sight. 



The Barrier Strike. 



The labour troubles on the Silverton 

 tramway came to an end when the com- 

 pany carried its point that its highest 

 officials should not be forced to become 

 members of the men's Union. While it 

 lasted the dispute paralysed Broken 

 Hill and threw many men out of work. 

 Unfortunately there is every prospect 

 of further trouble. The Federation of 

 the different unions in this great min- 

 ing centre is a very powerful bod}-, 

 and tends more and more to dominate 

 the situation. Broken Hill is just now 

 an experimental laboratory for poHti- 

 cal economics, and the results achieved 

 there must have considerable influence 

 throughout the Commonwealth. 



An Intellectual Aristocrat. 



The dust of battle is already being 

 raised in New South Wales through 

 the impending State general election. 

 The Liberals are organising in a spirit 

 of unusual hopefulness, and quite a 

 galaxy of new men have been selected 

 to enter the lists as candidates. There 

 is much speculation as to the prospects 

 of the Government Party. Premier 

 McGowen has put a stop to all rumours 

 concerning himself by announcing that 

 it is not his intention to seek re-elec- 

 tion as leader of the State Labour 

 Party after the elections. Mr. 

 McGowen is a tired man ; but Mr. Hol- 

 man, with mind and strength renewed 

 by his holiday in Europe, is on his wa}' 

 back to prepare himself for the respon- 

 sibihties of leadership and the Premier- 

 ship, should his party emerge in tri- 

 umph from the battle of ' the polls. 

 That is problematical, for at this stage, 

 with the State in an unparalleled con- 



dition of industrial chaos, the prospects 

 of the Labour Party are not too bright, 

 and the Ministers, least of all, are 

 counting on a certaint\-. How far Mr. 

 Holman's leadership will inspire the 

 Labour vote has yet to be tested. The 

 London "Daily Chronicle" describes Mr. 

 Holman as an " intellectual aristocrat," 

 and his natural ability is unquestioned, 

 but whether he is the type of leader 

 that the rank and hie are sighing for 

 just now is doubtful. Time must de- 

 cide whether Mr Holman is prepared 

 to go the w^hole socialistic hog, but the 

 tone and temper of the part\' seem to 

 indicate that nothing less will satisfy 

 the popular Labour demand. 



The Northern Territory. 



Dr. Gilruth, the Administrator of the 

 Northern Territory, paid a visit to Mel- 

 bourne last month. He was enthusi- 

 astic about the possibilities of the 

 Commonwealth property' in the north, 

 and, to the demand as to what we 

 were getting for all the money we were 

 si^ending up there, he truly said the 

 question ought rather to be what 

 would we get if we did not sj^end 

 mone}' in the attempt to settle whites 

 in the Territor\-. The White Aus- 

 tralian polic}' makes it imperative to 

 develop the northern parts of the Com- 

 monwealth with white labour. Whether 

 this can be done or not can onl\' be 

 proved by time, and until the question 

 is settled one way or the other it be- 

 hoves us to make every effort to have 

 land taken up by white settlers. We 

 all hope that Dr. Gilruth will be suc- 

 cessful in the attempts being made, but 

 it is quite evident that the settlers 

 needed must be drawn from Australia 

 itself, immigrants direct from England 

 could never stand the climate. In this 

 connection the possibility of settling 

 Maltese on the land is worth grave 

 consideration. The\- are fellow sub- 



