454 



Ihe Review of reviews. 



June 1, ISO'S. 



and prevented him from embarking in enterprises 

 which otherwise he might have initiated for the 

 good of the State, thereby obtaining a surplus in 

 the face of all these obstacles he had shown him- 

 self the right man for the place. These were, gener- 

 ally speaking, the \iews of the more moderate mem- 

 bers of the community, but those very virtues which 

 gained the Premier votes in one quarter lost him 

 p-crhaps as many in another. His personal popu- 

 larity, however, counted for much. From plain Jack 

 Evans, skipper of an ocean steamer, he had risen, 

 by sheer geniality and ability, to be successively 

 master-warden of our most important Harbour Trust 

 and member of Parliament ; from member of Parlia- 

 ment he had risen to be Hon. J. E. Evans, Premier 

 >-f the State, the accidenlal loss of a colleague made 

 him Treasurer and Minister of Education, and, in 

 everv capacity he had proved himself equal to the 

 responsible duties which devolved upon him. No 

 data, he was always ready to speak ; no statesman, 

 he dealt with current problems in the light of com- 

 mon-sense; and no courtier, he was yet naturally 

 courteous and amiable to everyone he met. And in 

 the Hon. Alec. Hean, the Premier had a colleague 

 who was as popular as himself, who was a practical 

 agriculturist of considerable administrative experi- 

 ence in his own district, and well qualified to pre- 

 side over the Lands Department, of which he has 

 been some time at the head. The question which 

 the electors had to decide was whether they would 

 throw over a Government, which, though cautious 

 and slow to move, had yet shown a capacity for 

 practical administration of which the Opposition, 

 when in office, had given no very startling proof. 

 A NASCENT DEMOCEACT. 



The main importance of the recent election lay 

 in the appeal that was made to the nascent demo- 

 cracy of the State. The working-classes recognised, 

 as thev are beginning to recognise evervwhere, that 

 the conditions under which they live are unjust, and 

 that that injustice can be remedied, and perhaps al- 

 together removed bv legislative means. The\ there- 

 fore determined, so far as they could help it, that 

 the power of initiating sjch legislation, whatever it 

 might be, should be p'.aced in the hands of those 

 who were in sympathy with themselves, and who 

 had some definite schemes to offer bv which their 

 condition might be improved. It did not matter 

 very much what tliose schemes actually were, the 

 nascent democracy was not altogether prepared to 

 criticise very keenly the plans laid down for its 

 go id, it was sufficient for the time being that thev 

 were put forward by a party which had studied these 

 quest ons for yeirs, and which had crystallised its 

 asp'rat'ons into definite and tangible forms. On the 

 other hand, the upholders of the present state of 

 things, the fat-sided and complacentlv disposed bour- 

 geois, the comfortable middle-class which profits by 

 the existi:ig inequality and swears by its counting- 

 h'Tses and its bank«, fought a strenuous battle from 



one end of the island to the other, denounced hip 

 and thigh the Socialistic tendencies of the Labour 

 Part), but took care to offer no saving policy of its 

 own. It was the mistake made by Conser\^atism all 

 over the Commonwealth, and which, if adhered to, 

 is bound in the long run to drive immense numbers 

 of the dissatisfied workers into the Labour Party ;. 

 ranks. That, at any rate, was the effect of the Tas- 

 manian campaign. The Labour Party had a pro 

 gramme, every plank had been considered and dis 

 cussed for years, ever\ member of the partv was 

 bound to vote for it as one man, and from the head- 

 quarters and farthest limits of the Commonwealth 

 Labour members came to urge the Tasmanian de- 

 mocracy to vote for Labour men. The result was 

 that the Labour Partv, w-hich had hitherto been 

 an almost negligable quantity, nearly doubled its 

 strength, and came back a solid body of seven men 

 pledged to certain definite and drastic reforms, and 

 ready, when opportunitv occurred, to join the Op- 

 position members to oust the Government from 

 Its seat. 



THE EESULTS OF THE ELECTION. 



Exactly how parties stand it is impossible at pre- 

 sent to say. That can only be precisely ascertained 

 by a dividing vote. Out of a House of 35 members 

 the Premier reckons his supporters at 17, the Op- 

 position at six, the Labour members at seven, and 

 the Independents at three. So long as the Minis- 

 terialists and the Independents vote together, the 

 G:nernment is safe, bur the least defection might 

 be followed by a shuffling of the cards which might 

 lead to a scattering of the present regime. Presum- 

 ing, however, that the present Government remains 

 in power we may look forward to a continuance 

 of the cautious policy which has characterised it in 

 the past. Local Option, without compensation, will 

 probably be tackled soon ; the Ability Tax, which 

 falls so heavilv and unjustly on family men who 

 have to take a larger hojse, will be amended with 

 a view of making it slightly more acceptable to 

 the poorer classes. Tattersall's will be let alone ; 

 free education will be dropped : closer settlement 

 will probablv be dealt with bv a.sking for power to 

 spend a certain amount in the purchase of estates 

 without referring each case to Parliament, as is now- 

 necessary. Whether the Government will move in 

 the direction of altering the Land Tax Act so as to 

 enable taxation to be levied on land values only, 

 instead of on lajid values plus improvements, re- 

 mains to be seen. Commissioner Downie recently 

 returned from a trip to the other States, where he 

 was sent to make enquiries on the subject, but pro- 

 bablv few people expect that the present Govern- 

 men: will go out of its way to secure this urgently- 

 needed reform. Neither is it ver\ probable that so 

 Conservative a Ministrv will accede to the request 

 of a recent deputation and introduce a measure 

 to enable mun'cipalities, a.s in Queensland and New- 

 Zealand, to levy rates on land values apart from 



