LABOUR IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 4

LABOUR IN NEW SOUTH WALES

One result of the recent election in New_ South Wales, when the Labour Ministry \vas returned to power with a substantial majority at its back, is that New Zealand is* likely'to have its reputation as the home of experimental • legislation seriously challenged. The fighting platform of the. New South Wales Labour Party is a document that simply teetns with items calculated to make the boldest politicians hold their breath. It may be ventured that Mr. Houmx andhis Ministerial colleagues would gladly permit a portion of the plafcfora_ to descend into oblivion, but this is a matter in which the caucus will have a voice, and, to judge by recent events, a loud one. Even during the stormy days' of th'e Parliament which has just closed, the Holman Government was reproached by many of its prominent supporters, and by thousands of the rank and file, on the ground that no seri- . ous attempt was made to enact the I party platform; Until the results of the recent election were declared Mu. Hcslman and his colleagues' had an excellent excuse in the fact that their majority in the Legislative Assembly was very meagre and precarious, while determined opposition in the Upper House made it practically : useless to translate the Labour platform into Bills. Now, however, Mr. Holman has an ample majority at his back . in the representative Chamber, and as to the Upper House, the platform proposes that it should bo abolished. It may therefore lie taken for granted that Mr. Holman'b followers will now expect him to carry the party platform into effeet with the least possible delay. Much space.would be required to do full justice to the bristling attractions of this.most interesting document, but a: few of its outstanding features may bo . indicated. Together' with .the'abolition of the Upper House, it proposes -.tho' introduction of the .Referendum with the initiative. In addition, the New South Wales La,lio.iti*.■Government is committed to'ae'tiori*.l"o" secure for'women all the citizen , ; rights"'.now: enjoyed by men, in.chidiiig,,membcrsliip of Parjiamcnt. .shire,- and,.municipal. councils,, the. righttprpractiscvin Law Courts, and to .'.it oii .nine?, both civil and criminal. 'Proposals relating to land includo'Mho. compulsory- acquisition of

! pnvate; ! 'cstatos for closer settlement, . somewhat us. in New Zealand, but by no means' stop at that. It is proposed to establish'a tribunal to determine .the rent payable by settlers on private lands.' to secure the absolute right: of tenants . to improvements, and to prohibit by legislation speculation in urban residential . lands. Then there is a. plank providing, for legislation t0..; secure to the State the ''unearned increment";. on- : all land, '.'This, it is'stated, aims., at fixing a settled value on all land, ; the State to receive whatever profit ;is made on subsequent changes ■■.of' individual ownership. Various extensions of State Socialism'arc-also proposed, and, in addition, the platform promises a statutory universal eighthour. day, a minimum . wage of ten shillings per day in all occupations, and a number-of related proposals of an equally sweeping character. Ar, a whole, the platform is a gem of its kind.' It is safe to say that the embarrassments':-- ■ and ' pcrploxities which, :-Mn. ■■ Holmas ■' • and >■ his colleagues will- encounter when the in-evitable'whittling-down process commences will-be as-nothing compared to the tribulations'-they would cn-counter-'"if- they'attempted; to carry their --highly-imaginative -i - platform into effoei.