NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1608, 27 November 1912, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Mr. Speaker Wilms, of the New South Wales Logixlatiw, Asscinhly, has onec more scurud at the exnoiiw) of the Government that clcctcd iiim to the honourable oflicu which lie lian, by his farcical system of cliseipline, brought into ridicule and contempt. His triumph furnishes another illustration—it more were needed—of the degradation to which a political party will sink itself in its determination to cling to ofiicc at whatever cost to its own dignity and that of Parliament. According to a cable message from Sydney yesterday, the censure motion tabled by Mr. Wood, Acting-Leader of the Opposition, was, at the Speaker's own suggestion, cut down to a bare expression of want of confidence in himself (Mil. Willis), and the Assembly had therefore an opportunity of voting upon a clear-cut issue. Had members voted in accordance with their personal opinions of the Speaker's rulings and conduct, the cable message referred to would in all .probability have announced a crisis in the New South Wales political situation, with the resignation of Mr. Willis as a pleasing incident. But the motion was defeated by 34 votes to 32, the division being, as the cable message almost unnecessarily addß, "a purely party one." If the Labour Government in .New South Wales can persuade Mn. Willis to- temper his repime with a little moderation, the party will probably be able to cling to power until the general , election, but it would bo difficult to imagine a more humiliating position than that in which the Government's supporters have just allowed themselves to be placed, m order that their leaders might retain their portfolios. Meanwhile, Mb. Willis is_ master of a political situation which for sheer absurdity stands unparaljeled in the history of Australian politics.