132 Australian Life 



this vaguely worded policy a very disquieting 

 menace. 



The restriction of public borrowing implies an 

 alternative of heavy direct taxation, if public 

 works in Australia are to be constructed in the 

 future as in the past. This taxation, the Labour 

 party indicates, should take the form of a land 

 tax, framed in such a way as to press with special 

 weight upon absentee owners and the proprietors 

 of unimproved lands. In any case, the members 

 of the party adhere firmly to the opinion that the 

 large public debt of Australia should not be further 

 increased, and by consistently maintaining this 

 view command the sympathy of many who are 

 not in accord with their general aims. 



Upon this programme, the Labour party went 

 to the polls for the Commonwealth election of 

 1903. For many months before the election, the 

 labour organisations were at work, distributing 

 propaganda, and selecting suitable candidates. 

 For the women's vote, exercised for the first time 

 at that election, the proposal for the regulation of 

 the liquor trade was a tempting bait, since the 

 experience of New Zealand and South Australia 

 has shown that in this subject of all others the 

 woman rather is most keenly interested. The re- 

 sult of the election was a remarkable triumph for 

 the party, which received a notable accession to 

 the number of its members in both Houses, and 

 especially in the Senate, or Upper House of Legis- 

 lature. In the session that followed an unexpected 



