March, 1912. 



History of the Month. 



xliii. 



the people's safety, stood by supinely and allowed 

 it to go on. It 'vas regarded by the i eople as a 

 breach of trust, and they resented it. For whatever 

 quarrel the worker may have with his employer, 

 the citizen can not see why he should U' bumped be- 

 tween the two parties, ..nd made the subject of on- 

 slau;,'hts, while a Cloveriiment sits by to .see the lig'ht 

 out. Besides, a Government should shi>w no par- 

 tisanship, -but .should keep order. .And it is 

 quite possible that the South Australian people, re- 

 membered their own trouble as tht-v viewed the 

 Brisbane hold-up, and smote the thing — the thing 

 that had hit them, the spirit of anarchy and mob- 

 rule and hiwlessnes.s — smote it, through the South 

 Australian Latxiur Party. I -have .some personal 

 friends in it. and I frankly say I am sorry thev have 

 gone down. \one the less do I think tJiat a tactical 

 blunder was made in sacrificing the great opportunities 

 they held for a problematical good. None the less I 

 can see the causes that have made for defeat. They 

 hoijed that the election would be fought on the one 

 issue. But that could not be. It was a battle of 

 parties, each brought out all its partv artillerx , and 

 the Lilx'rals won magnilicentlv. 



A Turning 

 Tide. 



Perhaps it is' an indication of a 

 rai)idly turning tide. A few more 

 Brisbane strikes would make con- 

 verts to Liberalism by tens of 

 thousand.s. It is more than probable that an 

 election in New South Wales at the present time 

 would send the Gmeriiment to tlie right-about. 

 There are mnny who wish that the Federal 

 elections, with the referendum tacked on. could 

 take place now. For the Federal Govern- 

 ment is not |K>[)ular. Beyonri ordinarv offi- 

 cial administration, about the only original thing 

 it has done has Lkvu to drag in preference to union- 

 ists in the Government service. And it is more than 

 likely that it would experience a .set-back. Mr. 

 Fisher almost appeared to be expecting a change 

 when, speaking of the .South Australian defeat, he 

 said his party must expect to oliange its iilace .some 

 time. Th.it is .self-evid<-nt, but it is not the cock- 

 sureness that has up to now, and since the Federal 

 elections, characterised the utteranc<'s of the Party. 



, . ,..,,, ^ Australia could not li<lp laughiiiK 

 Bars'a'ns'"'' ''«■ '>t'<'-^ '"•''y when the l't.rar> stalT 

 with l.iihour. "^ 'ji<^' " \\'orker," <>r a goodly part 

 of it, went out on strike becau.se 

 Ihey Cf>uld not, awording to their statement, get 

 considiT.ition from their em[)l<)yers to their request 

 for wages corresponding to those paid to other jour- 

 nalists in Sydnry. |i is understood that the strike 

 wa.s successful. ()t iour.se the [iroprietors and 

 managers appl.iuded this action, cheering on the men 

 to withstand the gretdy mono])olists (them.selv<\s), the 

 grasping capitalists who would not [lay their hands 

 profier wages, and whn c .nipellcd them to n-sorl tothe 



strike, praised their courage and loyalty to partv dis- 

 cipline. Did tliey ? That was what they ought to have 

 done to be consistent with what they have done in 

 every other strike. But the mighty fell, and fell with a 

 tremendous whack. They condemned the strikers, 

 made explanations, and thought so little of their 

 previous conduct which led up to the strike that 

 they danced a new tune to the employees' piping. 

 And the things that some of the Labour leaders said 

 alwut the strikers ! — well, it took men wiio believe 

 in ducking non-unionists to try to convert them, to 

 say th<' things they said — and we will have compas- 

 sion on them, considering the difficulties of the case, 

 and the provocation they had, and not perpetuate 

 the memory of their strong words by putting them in 

 print. But it goes to show what we have all along 

 contended, that the average Labour man is out for 

 himself, and the talk of brotherhood is .so much 

 high-falutin. The brotherhood of man is never 

 coming along the lines of blatant unionism. For 

 brotherhood means sacrifice if need be, and kindlv 

 feeling, and that kind of unionism stands for war 

 and hard, uncom])rfvmising selfishness, and cares 

 not at all for the higher qualities that alone will 

 make brotherhood possible. 



The Government in New Zealand 

 New is in somewhat of a fix. Its major- 



Zealand, i^y i^.,5 mostly gone, and at the time 



of writing it hardly knows where 

 it is. There was talk of resignation, but that would 

 have been a pity, and we are glad that the Govern- 

 ment is going to make a fight for it. To have gone 

 out without a clash of arms would have been an in- 

 glorious ending to the long and successful career 

 the Lilier.il Party has had. And when Parliament 

 met, the Government submitted a long programme 

 of reforms, chiefly in connection with land settlement, 

 which would keep a party going for a nunrber of 

 years. It had all the .appearance of being ill- 

 digested. ,111(1 somewhat garish; nevertheless it 

 spoke a determination to see the thing through. 

 It is to lie regretted that Sir Josqjh Ward intends 

 to resign. But this he has done to allow the Labour 

 and LiUral fbrces to iiiriti'. Whv thev could not 

 unite under him it is difiicull to unilerstand. 



The Tasmanian Premier has de- 



Tasmania. ''^■*'''*^f' , \ , P'e-sessional siieech, 

 crowded with all sorts of promises, 

 which are not likely to find fulfil- 

 ment if he remains in office. For the Tasmanian 

 Government is notoriousK slow. Somehow or other 

 the term " hidebound Conservative " seems parti- 

 culail) .ipplic.ible to them. The Premier talked of 

 land settlement and railway extension, and ex^iressed 

 regret that the ;£yoo,ooo the Government wanted . 

 from the Federal Parliament as an offset against 

 Customs lo.sscs since Federation, is likely to mate- 

 rialise .It only ^500,000. which regret is not to be 

 wondered at. Hut it will need a new infusion cf 



