Review of Re'vieia, l/lifiS. 



History of the Month. 



535 



The Bulletin.) Secash. 



In Westralia some persons of no accouut are running what 

 they call a secession movement. 



COMMONWEALTH; "What's the trouble?" 



N.S.W, CAKEUTHERS : " I'm howlin' Ijecause he's howlin'. 

 He ain't got no right to howl. This is my howl. He's been 

 an' tooli my grievance. Boo-hoo!" 



real progri^ss of Labour or Anti-Labour, Socialism 

 or Anti-Socialism, cannot be determined till the 

 Federal elections. 



The secession suggestion (it is 

 Shall There be hardly a movement) in West Aus- 

 Secession. tralia seems to be lizzling out. The 

 Westerners have, without doubt, 

 some reason for being nettled, and bo one will 

 grudge them in the sUghtest degree the volcanic out- 

 burst which has relieved their feelings. It is infinitely 

 better to blow off anv superfluous steam while the 

 pressure is low than to wait until endurance is past, 

 and the explosion is so big that it scatters evervthing 

 to pieces in a general wreckage. Now that the vent 

 is ojien there is security, and West Australia will not 

 attempt to secede. The railwav will come in due 

 course, and the West will feel less isolated. The 

 spectacle of Sir John Forrest, on his return to his 

 home at the close of the session, displaying unex- 

 pected volcanic fury, created almost as much stir as 

 if an actual outburst had taken place in the Golden 

 West. He has been so quiet and lamb-like during 

 this session. But his return home wakened him up, 



and he began wielding the cudgels on his old friend, 

 Sir Frederick Holder, and using him as a scapegoat 

 to bear the sins of all and sundry who were respon- 

 sible for the non-survey of the railway line. He 

 charged Sir Frederick with not havmg kept his 

 word in pledging himself to do all he could to get 

 that surv'ev made. But talk about the hopeless and 

 (Juixotean task of tilting at windmills, or of trying to 

 smudge the sun ! People smiled, for no man in Aus- 

 tralia is more loved and revered for his personal and 

 political integrity than Sir Frederick, and no one 

 could entertain the thought for a moment that he 

 had been false to any pledges. Indeed, the worthy 

 Speaker of the House of Representatives need not 

 have penned a line to protect himself. His splendid 

 record was armour ample enough to guard him 

 against any attack. But Sir John's fit of the blues 

 has passed. He already feels better, and Sir 

 Frederick is not harmed. 



Some of Sir John's Western friends 

 State Needs. j^^pg (1^^^ j^g ^^iji ^e defeated at the 



Importance. F^^^eral election, so that he will be 

 driven to take up State pontics. He 

 ruled the West so long, so strongly, yet withal 

 so kindly, that it is no wonder he is regarded as the 

 strong nian of the West. But Sir John is not likely 

 to be defeated, and, moreover, he would not take 

 kindly to State politics after having bad a taste of 

 work' in a larger field. He has outgrown local 

 politics. Nevertheless, the desire on the part of the 

 West to regain Sir John in their State Parliament is 

 a very natural one, and it voices a feeling that is 

 growing in other States with regard to some of the 

 best men who are overlooking State needs as though 

 thev were trivial. In Victoria there are several 

 grievous examples of this. Men of splendid reputa- 

 tion, who could win State seats without any difficulty 

 .ire seeking "bubble reputations in the cannon's 

 mouth " in Federal politics. A difficulty that the 

 States will have to face is the getting of men of the 

 highest character, and the best class seem to look 

 askance at the State Legislature as being rather in- 

 significant. This is a wrong attitude. Some of the 

 best reform work is to be done in the State Parlia- 

 ments. 



The New Zealand Government came 

 in for a good deal of cricitism, both 

 humorous and caustic, over its 

 shelving of the Land Bill for this 

 session. There is no doubt whatever but that the 

 Bill would have gone through both Houses, and land 

 reformers outside New Zealand would have hailed 

 its passage with delight, not so much for what it 

 might have done for that colony as for the object- 

 lesson it would have been to sorne of the more con- 

 servative States of Australia which are holding on to 

 obsolete land laws with the tenacity of an octopus. 

 If New Zealand had pas.sed that Land Bill, for in- 

 stance, she would have been so far ahead of Tas- 



The N.Z. 

 land Bill. 



