QUEENSLAND.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16853, 5 June 1920, Page 9

QUEENSLAND.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL ; SONTEOVEESY. (B v Cable—Press Association—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, June 3. The Hon. E. G. Theodore (Premier of Queensland), who is at present in London, replying to Professor Bernedale Keith on tho constitutional aspect, of the appointment of the Hon. W. Lennon as Acting-Lieutcnant-Governor of Queensland, says the referendum procedure is too cumbersome to settle disputes between the two Houses. Ho denies Professor Keith's assertion that the swamping of the Council means its abolition as an actively independent body. lUr Theodore adds: "A Council hostile to the majority of the parties m the Lower House is mere obstruction, serving no useful purpose to the democracy and tho State." .He emphatically denies that it is unwise or unusual foi a Government party to have a majority in the Council. Professor Keith's deduction, ho says, appears to. tm that the Council's independence is only imperilled when the Labour Party has a majority there. Professor Keith's fears are from prejudice, through an imperfect understanding of the Labour Party's aims. Mr Theodore concludes: "The constitutional Parliamentary institutions and the interests of British investors are perfectly safe in Labour's keeping. The Labour movement in Australia is the real sheet anchor of safety against the destructive tendencies of direct actionist<s and tho inevitable stagnation of the ultra-conservative policy.''