State Socialism 127 



It is the knowledge that the future of Australia 

 has been so liberally discounted by the loan policy 

 that tempers the admiration which is certainly due 

 to the Australians for their provision for the aged. 

 There are now many aged couples in Australia 

 who are living in content in the little home they 

 have made, and who, under a less humane system, 

 would be separated and forced into charitable in- 

 stitutions. Not all the Australian States have 

 adopted the system of old-age pensions, and it is 

 true that instances have occurred of these benefits 

 bestowed upon persons undeserving of them. 

 These, however, are but faults of administra- 

 tion, and cannot be urged against the principle 

 itself. 



In the same spirit of humanity, Australia has 

 experimented with legislation designed for settling 

 the differences between Capital and Labour, and 

 preventing the occurrence of strikes. The laws 

 under notice provide that all such disputes shall 

 be settled by an Arbitration Court, over which a 

 judge presides, while representatives of both sides 

 help in its constitution. It is claimed that these 

 courts have worked satisfactorily on the whole, 

 although some grave defects have come to light 

 in the operation of the Arbitration Acts. This 

 principle of compulsory arbitration is one of the 

 foremost doctrines of the political party known 

 as the Australian Labour party. As this politi- 

 cal party, now rapidly growing in power in the 

 Commonwealth, promises to exercise a notable 



