EXIT DEAKIN-COOK.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 796, 20 April 1910, Page 5

EXIT DEAKIN-COOK.

RESIGNATION. GOVERNOR - GENERAL SENDS FOR MR. FISHER. REFERENDUM ISSUES. Bi Telegraph-Press AjsociaUon-Oopvrleht (Rec. April 19, 8.45 p.m.) Melbourne, April 19. ' After a meeting of the Deakin-Cook Fnsion Government had discussed the I situation caused by the election, Mr. Deakin visited the Governor-General, the : Earl of Dudley, and handed in Minis-1 ters' resignations. > Mr. Deakin advised the Governor-Gen-eral to send for Mr. Fisher, Leader of the Federal Labour party. Ministers will hold .office until their successors are appointed. (Bee. April 20, 0.3 a.m.) Mr. Deakin informed the GovernorGeneral that Ministers accepted the verdiot of the electors as a forfeiture of confidence in them. ■ ' Lord Dudley has telegraphed for Mr. Fisher, who will."reach Melbourne on Monday. DEPOSITS IN DANGER. . (Rec. April 20, 0.40 a.m.) Sydney, April 19. The three Socialist candidates, who stood for the Senate 6eats in New South Wales seem to'be in a fair way to lose their deposits. Some half-dozen candidates in the House of Representatives are also considerably short of the number of votea required to save'their deposits. SENATE SEATS ALL LABOUR. Brisbane, April 19. Messrs. H. Turloy, T. Givens,; and'J. Stewart, the Labour bunch, now lead for the Senate. Labour has thus completely swept the.Commonwealth for that Chamber. THE REFERENDUM. NOES LEADING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. (Eeo. April 20, 0.40 a.m.) Sydney, April 19. In connection with the referendum on the two issues—the replacing of the Braddon clause with the arrangement to pay the States annually 255. per head of. population, and the transfer of the State debts—the counting of the votes is slowly proceeding^

In-New South Wales the noee have now established a growing majority on both the issues involved. LABOUR'S PATRIOTISM AND SENSE. A,FORMER OPPONENT'S TRIBUTE. (Rec. April 19, 10.35 p.m.) London, April 19. The Authors' Club banqueted Sir Geo. Roid,' High Commissioner for Australia. Referring to the result of the Federal elections, Sir Geo. Reid said that the Labour party of Australia was a body of honourable men with patriotic. feelings. Although there might be experiments, which some people might regard with apprehension, it was comforting to-think that in the past Australia had had a' number of daring experiments which the most advanced and enlightened nations had since copied. Australia was young enough, to afford to political experiments; and if mistakes were made, the common-sense of Australia was active enough to put things right.' WILL MR. WADE RESIGN? '> TALK ABOUT A JUDGESHIP. • ' « Sydney, April 19. It is believed that Mr. C' G. Wade, New South Wales, Premier and AttorneyGeneral, contemplates accepting a puisne judgeship, and that Mr. W. H. Wood, Colonial Secretary, will succeed to the Premiership.

MR. WADE AND MR. WOOD. AND THE IMPENDING ELECTION. When Sir Frederich Darby died, it was believed that Mr. Wado would take the vacant Chief' Justiceship of New South Wales, but he appointed the Hon. W. P. Cnllen, K.C., a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Mr. Wade is a native of New South Wales, 47 years of age, was called to the Bar. in 1886, entered tho' New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1903, and. became Attorney-General in 1904 in the Carruthers Government. ; He was Mr. (no> 1 Sir Joseph) Carruthors's right-hand man for three years, and when Mr. Carruthers resigned in September, 1907, Mr. Wade became Premier. He has thus been Premier for 2i years, arid has been continuously in office for' twice that period. His party fused with the Waddell following (then the third party in tho State's politics) in order to present a united front against' Labour, and the united Government force succeeded. Special interest attaches to whether it will succeed in tho forthcoming New South Wales election, especially in view of the defeat iu the Federal election, at the hands of Labour, of the Deakin-Cook fusion. Mr. Wade is the author of last year's Industrial Disputes Act—the "Coercion Act?' of Labourrunder which Mr. Bowling and other strike leaders aro in gaol. The State Labour party will concentrate ita attack on the Act and its author, and in somo quarters the Act is blamed for the triumph of Labour in the Federal sphere. The loss of its leader just prior to crossing the ford would not be likely to improve the Government party's prospect at the forthcoming election. Mr. W. H. Wood, Colonial Secretary, mentioned as Mr:. Wade's probable successor, is probably not less disliked by labour; they clashed notably at the time of the sending of the police to Broken Bill. Mr. Wood has been in Parliament since 1894, was Minister for Justice in the Lyne Government from 1899 till 1901, and joined the Wade Government in October, 1907. Mr. T. Waddell, State Treasurer, was subsequently absorbed by the Government, along with his following.

PAST FEDERAL, GOVERNMENTS. The present is the seventh Ministerial crisis that has ocenrred since the establishment of the Commonwealth in January, 1901. Sir Wro, Lyne, as Premier of the Mother State, was given an opportunity to form the first Federal Ministry, but on his recommendation the GovernorGeneral sent for Sir Edmund Barton, who formed the first Commonwealth Government. The Barton Ministry was comprised chiefly of the Premiers of the different States, and included men whose political views ranged from the Conservatism of Sir John Forrest to the wholesouled Radicalism of Mr. Kingston, of South Australia. On the tariff, which was the most important question before the first Parliament, the Government had a majority of H. The party grouping on other : matters was uncertain throughout. The first session lasted from May 9, 1901. to Octohor 10, 1902, and the measures passed included the tariff, the Immigration Restriction Act, and the Kanaka Act. i In the second session, which opened in May, 1903, it became obvious that considerable! friction had arisen in tho Cabinet. Mr. Kingston resigned in July in constqnenco of the refusal of his colleagues to extend the jurisdiction of the proposed Arbitration Court to the crows of oversea vessels trading on the Australian coast. In September, a Labour motion to extend the benofits of the Arbitration Act to the railway servants of tho-States was carried against tho Gos-

eminent by 26 wrtes to 2L Sir Edmund Burton thereupon dropped the Bill, and Deakin himself refused to take a porttion on the High Court Bench; handing' over tho reins to Mr. Deakin, Attnae?-' General in tho first Ministry.

Deakln, Watson, and Reid Cabinets. The elections in December, 1903, resulted in the return of a House of 26 Ministerialists, 26 Oppositionists, and 23 Labour members. Parliament opened in March, 1901, the Government again brought in the Arbitration Bill, and in Aprir was _dofeatcd on precisely the 6ame Eoint as in the previous session. Mr. >eakin at once resigned, and' Mr. Watson, the leader of the Labour party, was called upon to form tie first Federal Labour Ministry. After' three months of office, Mr. Watson was defeated on the Arbitration Bill, in connection with the question of preference to unionists, the voting in this case being 36 to 34. Mr. Watson tried in vain to secure a dissolution, but the then Governor-Gene-ral held that the resources of the House were not exhausted, and called upon Mr. G. H. Beid, leader of the Free-trade and anti-Socialist opposition. Mr. Reid had previously spent some time in endeavourarrange a coalition with Mr. Deakin by calling a truce on the fiscal question. On August 17 he took office as head of the Reid-M'Lean coalition. The two parties had come to an agreement of a temporary nature, but Mr. Deakin himself refused to take a portfolio in the Ministry. The Government put through the Arbitration Bill as it stood, passed a few non-contentious measures, and went into recess. Second Deakin Ministry. A few days before the opening of the n*xt session, Mr. Deakin declared the fiscal truce at an end, as the Ministrv had a Koyal Commission to investigate the anomalies in the tariff. The Reid-M'Lean Cabinet immediately prepared for its decease, and a few days after the opening of Parliament was defeated on a no-confidence motion. The second Deakin Ministry then (Ju'y, 1905) came into office, and carried on more or less with the support of the Labour corner. The general elections in December, 1906, resulted in the return of throe fairly equal, parties, and the conditions were substantially tho same as in tho former Parliament. "The Times,'' in its estimate after those elections, gave the Deakinites 19 members, Labour 26, and Opposition 20; but admitted that many members classed Opposition would support Mr. Deakin in the bulk of his programme. Tho result showed that Mr. Deakin was able to tarry the tariff, old age pensions, , and the Surplus Revenue Act, but Labour split with him in 1908 us to the terms of the amendment to the Constitution, which he proposed to submit to a referendum, in order to mate the New. Protection constitutional. Thus the Deakin-Labour compact was broken, and in November, 1908, the second Deakin Ministry was defeated, the Labour party and the Eeid-Cook Opposition voting together. . . '" ■

Second Labour Government. Mr. Fisher then formed the second Labour Ministry, and carried on till May, 1909, when the Deakin-Cook Fusion caused the Ministry's defer.t by 39 votes to 30. The Fusion, described only re; cently as an oil-and-water affair, aroused intense-Labour, bitterness, it being held, that-Mr. Deakin and Mr. Cook could not find a common, ground without sacrifices reflecting on honour. In a ■ drnmatio passage-at-aTms in the House of Representatives, Sir Wm. Lyne branded Mr. Deakin "Judas." Fusion Administration. But despite the intensity of feeljng arouetd, it was plain that the Fusion Government (Deakin-Cook, formed in May, 1909) would hold the old House for the balance of its term of existence. Both sides bnckled on their ■ armour to fight a decisive duel in the election just held, a duel now rendered possible by the- return to. the two-party system. The result is a Labour majority of 13 or U in the House and 10 in the. Senate. In view of the fact that Mr. Fisher has been sent for, it is worth while reprinting the names of his last Cabinet: Mr. A. Fisher,' Prime Minister and Fed- ' eral Treasurer. Mr., W. M. Hughes, Attorney-General. Mr. E. L. Batchelor, Minister for External Affairs. 'Mr. 1 Hugh .Mahon,. Minister for .Home Affairs.' ■;•'' Mr. Josiah ThomaSi Postmaster-General. Senator Geo. F. Pearce, Minister for Defence. ■...' • !'.. ■ : Mr. F.'. G. Tudor, Minister for Customs, Senator Gregor M'Gregor, Vice-President of the Council and Leader in the Senate. "■•'-'.■ ■'.:'■ Mr. James Hutchison, Honorary Minister. ■ : •