Reciew of Heriews, lil2/n 



PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



dealing with the possibility of a conflict 

 between the two Houses says : — 



If the House of Representatives .passes 

 any proposed law, and the Senate re- 

 jects or fails to pass, or passes it with 

 amendments to which the House of Re 

 presentatives will not agree, and, if after 

 an interval of three months, the House 

 of Representatives in the same or the 

 next session again passes the proposed 

 law . . . and the Senate again re- 

 jects or fails to pass it . . . the 

 the Governor-General may dissolve the 

 Senate and the House of Representa- 

 tives. 

 Clever Leadership. 



Mr. Cook was able to get through the 

 Abolition of Preference Bill without the 

 help of the Speaker, owing to the sus 

 pension of Mr. McGrath. The M.P. for 

 Ballarat had been reported as having 

 niiide remarks derogatory to the Speaker 

 in a speech to his constituents. As he 

 refused to withdraw them he was sus- 

 pended for the rest of the session. This 

 gave the Liberals a majority of one. 

 The Labour Senators are clearly out of 

 hand. They refuse to be guided by the 

 Caucus of the whole party in matters re- 

 lating to the Senate, but endeavour to 

 control affairs in the Lower House. 

 On the other hand they are somewhat 

 divided as to what course they should 

 pursue themselvds. Those who ha\c 

 lust been elected are not nearly so eager 

 to precipitate matters as those whose 

 term is nearing' its close. The Liberals 

 have stuck close together, and have 

 steadily follow'ed out the programme 

 mapped out at the beginning of the 

 session, which would ultimiately bring 

 about a double dissolution. Mr. Cook 

 has demonstrated himself a past master 

 in Parliamentary tactics ; there is no 

 one on the other side, with the possible 

 exception of the late Mr. Frazer and 

 Mr. Higgs, who comes anywhere near 

 him. 



The Senate's Mistake. 



Labour Senators must bv now realise 

 the mistake they have made. The\' 

 merely hung up business and achieved 

 nothing. When the Loan Bill came up 

 to them they abandoned their adjourn- 

 ment scheme, and sat to discuss it. 

 After omitting two items, ;^400,ooo for 

 the Pine Creek Railway and ^,300,000 

 for the purchase of land for defence 

 purposes, they passed the Bill. It would 

 not be surprising if the Senate at the 

 last moment decided to consider the test 

 Bills. Meantime it has brought in and 

 passed the six Constitution Alteration 

 Bills on which a referendum of 

 the people was taken at the last 

 election. There is no chance of 

 the Lower House accepting these. 

 Parliament will be prorogued about 

 the 19th December, and will probably 

 not meet until March. The necessary 

 three months will then have elapsed, and 

 the two Bills the Senate refused to con- 



THE LATE HON. A. FISCHER. 



