YES OR NO !

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1112, 27 April 1911, Page 5

YES OR NO !

THE AUSTRALIAN REFERENDUM. FIRST RETURNS. ~ THE '• NOES" IN THE LEAD^ GREAT CROWDS: INTENSE EXCITEMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association—CoDyriirlit (Rec. April 20, 8.50 p.m.) Sydney, April 2G. The weather is fine ior the Referendum poll. The booths wore crowded soon after the opening and again just before closing. Tho voting proceeded steadily and quietly throughout the dnv. A laTge army of canvassers wero at work for both sides, motor-cars and other vchiclos being freely pressed into service. Tho women voters turned out more freely than was expected. Tho voting ceased at 7 p.m., and before that hour crowds began to gather in the vicinity of tho newspaper offices, where the returns wero to be posted. < Later on tho streets in tho vicinity wero densely packed, excitement running high as the numbers for and against mounted up. Tho electors wero asked to say "yes" or "no" to whether they desired an alteration ic the Constitution to givo tho Commonwealth Government power to deal with— (1) The creation, dissolution, and control of corporations,, including foreign corporations; also the regulation of wages, conditions of labour, and employment in any trade, industry, or calling; prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, and power to deal with combinations and monopolies in relation to the production, manufacture, or supply of goods or service, (2) Whore Parliament has declared any industry or business to be a monopoly, whether Parliament shall be given power to make laws carrying on such business under the control of the Commonwealth, and acquiring for that purpose on just terms any property used in connection with such industry or business. To carry the referenda a majority of "yes" votes must be obtained in at least four out of the six States, also a majority of tho wholo votes polled. (Ecc. April 2G, 11.15 p.m.) v Sydney, April 26. Referenda returns aro extremely slow in coming in. Early figures from New South Wales and Victoria show a majority for tho nces on both questions. It is unlikely that anything like complete returns will be availablo for somo days, and oven the decisive figures may take a day or two. THE LATEST RETURNS. -V NOES IN A STRONG LEAD.

ON BOTE ISSUES. (Rec. April 27, 0.50 a.m.) Sydney, April 26. Tho latest returns, which are all far from complete, place the "noes" in a strong lead in all the States on both issues. Tho first question, as stated above, refers to the extension of the powers of the Federal Parliament, and the second has reference to the control' of monopolies. The voting at the present stage' stands as follows:— New South Wales. 'Yes. No. Majority. Ist issue ... 54,017 83,148 29,131 agst. 2nd issue ... 49,30-1 72,099 22,735 agst. Victoria. Ist issue ... 100,593 135,953 38,360 agst. 2nd issue ... 48,325 68,737 20,412 agst. Queensland. Ist issue ... 6,153 10,928 4,775 agst. 2nd issue ... 0,054 10,937 4,SB3agst. South Australia. Ist issue ... 3,705 4,614 £49 agst. 2nd issue ... 985 385 600 for. Tasmania. Ist issue ... 14,057 15,438 1,381 agst. 2nd issue ... 13,717 14,373 656 agst.

No returns have yet been received from West Australia. THE TOTALS TO DATE. First Issue. No 253,C51 Yes 178,585 Majority against ... 71,106 Sccond Issue. No 165,031 Yes 119,015 Majority against ... 4S,SS6 COMMENTS BY "THE TIMES." (Rec. April 27, 0.12 a.m.) London, April 26. "The Times," commenting on the referenda vote and the successive attempts of the State Legislatures to defeat the Commonwealth Government's proposed changes in industrial legislation, which probably the great mass of Australians very earnestly desire, declares that such a policy may succeed for a •time, but can hardly in the long run oppose an effectual barrier to tho wishes of the people. WHAT THE REFERENDUM MEANS, A PLAIN STATEMENT. What is called the Referendum is an appeal lo the people of Australia to say whether or not they are in favour of amending the Federal Constitution in order that the Commonwealth Parliament may exercise powers now confined to the State Parliaments, and expressly withheld from Federal legislation. The chief object of the proposed amendments is to enlarge the industrial powers of tho Commonwealth, so as to give the Parliament complete control of wages, hours of labour and conditions of employment in every trade, industry, and calling in Australia and Tasmania. The words "tr.id", industry, and calUns" are explicit enough to include every State employee as well a* tlio-e engaged oy private firms or municipal and public corporations, but that there may be no misunderstanding, State railway employees are specifically mentioned as coming within the industrial powers to be conferred on Parliament by an affirmative vote at the referendum. Thus, whatever may be the financial condition of tho States, and of their respective railway systems, the Federal Parliament, with no responsibility for finding the money for running the railways, will have power to sav what the wages of tho various grades of railway servants shall be, and to establish equal rates of pay for similar classes of work from Perth to licickhampton. Other amendments of the Constitution are proposed, but the control of every form of employment, is the most importlint, and as the other suggested alterations nro included in the one question, the elector, if he says, "No" to one will sav "No" to the lot. He cannot accept part of the question' and reject tho remainder. By putting his X opposite "Yes" or "No" he has settled the four points of the first referendum. ' The Proposed Amendments, The Federal Constitution at present provides that Parliament shall have power to

make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth, with respect to: t. Trade and commerce with other countries and among tho Stales. 2. Foreign corporations and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth. 3. Conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending -beyond the limits of any one Slate. The object of the referenda is to extend the powers of the Commonwealth in Order that the Federal Parliament may make laws with respect to:— 1- Trade and commerce. 2. Corporations, including the creation, dissolution, regulation, and control of corporations; corporations formed under tho law of a State"— except any corporation- formed solely for religious, charitable, scientific, or arlistie purposes, and not for the acquisition of gain by the corporation or its members—including their dissolu- ■ lion, regulation, and control; and foreign corporations, including their regulation ami control. 3. Labour and employment, including the wages and conditions of labour and employment in any trade, industry, or calling; and the prevention and settlement of industrial'disputes, including disputes in relation to employment on or about railways tho . property of any State. 4. Combinations and monopolies in relation to the production,, manufacture, or supply of goods or services. The electors were asked whether they were in favour of an amendment of the Commonwealth Constitution Act to give Parliament power to deal with the above questions. Tho opponents of the referenda—the proposals are presented in two bunches urge that Labour is on a side track, leading to unification. Tho "Sydney Morning Herald," in urging its readers to vote "No," says that if the proposed amendments of -the Constitution bo carried, the Federal Government will bo so overladen with work that the whole structure will stagger and fall with its very top-heavi-ness, The Crucial Point. "The crucial issue" (says the Melbourne "Age") "centres in tho two sections of the question dealing with wages and labour conditions in general employment, and disputes in relation to Stato railway employment. It is placing a stupendous task in the hands of the Federal Parliament to delegate to it controlling powers over every trade and employment in tho Commonwealth, giving tho Parliament authority to udjust the scale of wages and all the relations between employer and employed do,wn to tho smallest detail. "At present tho Commonwealth Legislature has power to make laws for "conciliation and arbitration for tho prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond tho limits of any one State." If tho referendum bo carried. Parliament will have jurisdiction over all labour troubles in the Commonwealth, no matter where the.v arise or how restricted their area. if the boys who gather tho refuse of Melbourne's streets demanded another Gel. or Is. a week this grave crisis would have to come beforo somo Federal authority for settlement. "With such comprehensive forces .for the regulation of industry tho Federal Parliament would stand like a policeman ever every household that employed a charwoman or an occasional help' determining the wages and the amount of work for each. Farmers would not only be bound down by strict conditions, with regard to wages paid to farm hands, but tho Parliament would decide the maximum number of cows a man should be called upon to milk, the quantity of potatoes he should dig, or tho fruit ho should gather in a day, and whether it was the man';; or the employer's duty to wash tho milking utensils or water tiio stock.

Crushing Out Private Employment. "After what has recently transpired in Sydney, and when wo consider the normal attitude of tho agitators generally to economic consideration?, have we' any reason to doubt that the real objective of these poor deluded beings is to crush out private employment by demands that cannot be met, so that every form of-pro-duction may be conccntrateil in a Federal Government bossed by Labour? The Socialists and , Communists make no secret of this intention; the iron workers on strike declare it every day; it is the ultimate aim of (ho referendum. Give the organisations power to order the legislation they want, and you might as well confiscate every private enterprise and make it a Government department. "Much the same argument may be directed to the proposed adjustments of the wages and industrial conditions .of State, railway employees. It can mean nothing else but the removal of the railways from State ownership. Taxpayers in some of the States have to bear a heavy burden to keep the railways going. If this load is increased by tiie action of railway employees in insisting on high wages, and the order of the Commonwealth Parliament tli.at the demands must be obeyed, the States with nonpaying railways will simply ask the Federation to take them over and relieve the States from threatened insolvency.

"The referendum, in fact, moans "national stagnation. It proposes to do so much that it will do nothing at all. It is putting a steam plough into a flower garden, or using a traction engine to gather strawberries. The Federal Parliament will become such an unwieldy machine in the exercise of its new powers that it will ba incapable of movement without breaking something, and its most serious danger is that it may break up the State."