AN AUSTRALIAN REPUBLIC.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17112, 6 April 1921, Page 9

AN AUSTRALIAN REPUBLIC.

WHAT THE EXTREMISTS WANT.(FJftbll OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) j SYDNEY, March 31. ! The Victorian Labour Conference, after lively argument, decided to shelve its proposal that the main plank of tho Federal Labour Party's programme •he tho creation of an independent Ausj tralian republic. Tho matter may bo considered' settled only until the party meets again. ' This move is important as .being the* first definite step in the direction in which an influential section of the Labour Party is most anxious to go. The proposal for a republican government has not developed far enough, even in tho Victorian conference, to command a majority. Still, it is an indication of whero tho Labour Party is being driven by an element which is hostile to the Empire and which would, if it had the chance, sever the Imperial connexion. This clement has an immense influenco within'the Labour Party. It will not; be deteri'ed by one failure or by several. For the past week or two it has been glorying in the insult offered to Jfkic British flag during the Irish procession on St. Patrick's Day. AH that type of activitv comes from one quarter—the anti-British Irish—and it is powerful enough to lead by the nose some powerful men who are not anti-British "but who do hot seem to realise wherw they arc going. In spite of their strong pull, the, extremists are still in the minority in the Federal Labour Party. The stigma of the resolutions they get passed', however, sticks to the Labour Party as a w l, o le —much to the resentment of the saner Labour members of the Federal Parliament. There i_s nothing to prevent a man-moving what he likes in a Labour conference, and as such are generally held-in secret there is nothing to show the circumstances inwhich the resolution was produced and whether or not it was opposed. The extremists, at present, arc trying to "submarine" Mr Tudor, leader of the Labour Party in tfic Federal Parliament: and Mr Doolev. the State Par•liarae.ntnrv leader in New South Wales, who is Aetin'4-Piymicr. Both are able men of moderate views, anil both are regarded b'v the extremists here as dangerously reactionary. Vet both would be looked upon in New -Zealand—which is ft him; way behind Australia in La-, hour "development"—as men of very extreme views indeed.