Remew of Remewe. 1/10/06. f»oIilicaI JPowcr vcrsus PubUc Ititcrest. 



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certain reforms to go through the Upper House. 

 Take, for instance, the Victorian Legislative Coun- 

 cil, which fifteen times has coolly refused to pass 

 the Woman's Franchise Bill which the State Govern- 

 ment has passed year after year practically without 

 debate, no discussion being necessary. Land Re- 

 form Bills, Electoral Reforms, Housing Problems, 

 Charitable Reform, Liquor Reform — what a vast 

 cemetery of reform the Upper House is in some of 

 our States, and what a number of graves lie there, 

 is inconceivable until one takes the trouble to walk 

 through their histories ; and in nearly every instance 

 opposition has been manifested because personal 

 interests were at stake. The men who have 

 blocked these measures have had no high ideals. 

 They were there to conserve personal interests. 

 Personal gain, personal gain, p>ersonal gain, is the 

 one Shibboleth of these people, and if the common 

 people refuse to say it they are either compelled or 

 are politically killed. If the country will not think with 

 these reactionaries, Bills are coolly dropped. One can 

 hardly conceive a greater sense of irresponsibility 

 than is manifested by some of our Upper Houses 

 over Refonn measures. No matter what the clamour 

 and the demand, measures have been dropped with 

 scarce any debate. The sentence has been passed 

 before the Court has sat. There is going to be re- 

 form in this direction, and in a very little while. 

 A good deal can be said against a nominee Upper 

 House, but its ills are undiscoverable when com- 

 pared with the iniquities which may be perpetrated 

 by a class House, made up in many instances of 

 men who are where they are simply to guard per- 

 sonal interest. The task is such a foolishly easy 

 one. One has simply to be an Individualist with 

 no regard for the people, wrapped up in his pro- 

 perty, fearing that the encroachments of popular 

 libert\' will injure his bank balance, and it is the 

 easiest thing in the world to put a spoke in the 

 wheel of legislation or administration. A man owns 

 property likely to be inimically affected bv the ad- 

 ministration of an Act. He becomes the Superin- 

 tendent of the Department which controls the Act 

 which affects his property. Drastic legislation and 

 administration would rebound upon him, reduce his 

 personal gain, and reduce the value of his property. 

 Therefore necessary legislation is delayed. And it is 

 so easy to be a lax administrator. It is such a nega- 

 tive crime. I have, on behalf of the people on the 

 platform, hurled invectives against lax administra- 

 tors of Departments. Retorts have been made, 

 " These are good men. They are benevolent, etc., 

 etc., and the worst that can be said about them is 

 that they are lax administrators," until one's soul 

 sickens at the talk which aims at minimising the im- 

 portance of the crime. When Christ delivered His 

 thrilling message concerning the ultimate judgment 

 of men and of the standards which are to be ap- 

 plied to human actions, the man who " did not " 



came off just as badly as the man who " did." It 

 is a perfectly reasonable position to take up. A 

 man who can do a thing, and thus prevent damage 

 and deterioration, and does not do it, is just as re- 

 sponsible as the man who deliberately produces the 

 damage and the deterioration. That has been the 

 kernel of my indictment of the Victorian Chief 

 Secretary's Department for the last eighteen months. 

 The position that ought to be taken up by the 

 Government is this : that as far as possible a man's 

 private interest should not conflict with his public 

 interest and position. No judge would ever dream 

 nf sitting in judgment upon a case in which his own 

 or his family's interests were concerned. 



A CONCRETE CASE. 



What is the case in Victoria in connection with 

 the administration of the Chief Secretary's Depart- 

 ment? There is a man at the head (Sir Samuel 

 Gillott) very largely interested in property which 

 comes immediately under the purview of the Chief 

 of that Department, and therefore under his own. 

 He controls the Police. Licensing matters are 

 under his control. The hunting down of the Gam- 

 bling evil, and the making of efBcient legislation to 

 deal with it, are practically under his control. He 

 is a responsible man; paid a thousand pounds a 

 year to administer a Department faithfully, fear- 

 lessly, aggressively, in the interests of the people 

 who pay him. It is his to make the administrative 

 sword as sharp as is possible ; his to drive the 

 weapon home even to the dividing asunder of the 

 joints and marrow of evil. But what has been the 

 case? No more supine, weak, ineffective bit of 

 humanity ever sat in an administrative chair with- 

 out fulfilling the duties of the ofiice. The position 

 is hopeless, is pitiable in the extreme. One cannot 

 even get the man to fight. Only on one occasion in 

 this great campaign in w^hich I have uttered indict- 

 ment after indictment against him has he raised his 

 voice to protect himself. Last year, when I pro- 

 tested against his occupying the position he does, 

 while at the same time he owns Public House 

 property so largely, the newspaper reporters ap- 

 proached hirn to hear what he had to say about 

 the matter, and they rerired amazed at a purpose- 

 less and miserably ineffective " nothing to say " 

 ringing in their ears from the man who was unable 

 to give any justification at all for his occupancy of 

 a position which on the face of it bore its own con- 

 demnation. Now here are some striking facts. The 

 reader can put them together and make them touch 

 at the most effective points : — 



Sir Samuel Gillott is head of the Chief Secretary's 

 Department. 



As Chief Secretary, Sir Samuel Gillott administers 

 the Licensing laws. 



Sir Samuel Gillott is a large owner of Public 

 House property in Melbourne. 



The law as regards Public Houses in Victoria is 



