The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914. TURMOIL IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1988, 19 February 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914. TURMOIL IN AUSTRALIA

Australia is at the present time passing through a .time of extraordinary political and industrial ferment-. There is serious trouble among the waterside workers 1 regarding the question, of overtime, and a strike oi. ironworkers at Granville was announced in yesterday's issue; but both these disputes have been overshadowed by the big struggle between the Sydney master butchers and their employees. The strike fever seems to have become ■chronic in New South Wales, notwithstanding the elaborate machinery which the Legislature has brought into existence-for-the prevention and settlement of industrial strife. It is true that Mn. Holman declares that statistics' show tJ\afc confidssrsc in arbitration methods is increasing in Australia, but the fact remains that at the present moment a considerable section of the workers is ignoring the arbitration tribunals, and. indulging in the oldfashioned method of a. fight- .-to a finish, much to the inconvenience of the general public. The * result is that in Sydney the butchering trade has been completely thrown out of gear, and the community, is face to face with a meat famine. The workers concerned may have a real grievance; but, as the Daily Tetcf/raph points out, that is "a matter for an expert in the trade, or for somebody who can sift the statements of the contending parties, to determine. This is exactly what arbitration laws have been passed to ensure. Men of legal training or special knowledge are appointed under the statutes, and forms, of procedure arc adopted for _their_ advice to be secured or their arbitrament to be invoked. But the peculiarity of the numerous situations is that, with all these imposing tribunals and thoir elaborate and costly machinery, the primitive weapon of a combined cessation of work is constantly resorted to." If • the State • and Federal arbitration laws are to be flouted with impunity the whole legal system for settling labour disputes will be seriously discredited! The political outlook in Australia is quite ft a unsettled as the industrial position. A practical deadlock exists in the Tasmanian Legislature, the Victorian Parliament has just passed through a crisis, New South Wales recently experienced one of the bitterest elections in its history, and the party conflict, in the Federal Parliament has produced a situation that makes an early ajopeal to the people inevitable. ' The Prime Minister (Mr. Cook), in a speech at Cowra a few days ago, declared that Ministers could not- stay on with any sense of dignity under present conditions. [Hiring the previous session the Liberals had only been able to hold tljeir own by a pure battle of wits, and only by straining of the Standing Orders and such' like methods had ther teeil able to hold on at all. Sensible people

must agree with Mb. Cook when he states that this kind of thing "cannot be repeated without a severe loss to every function of the Government, as well as to the reputation of the country.''' At present the whole machinery of government is practically at a standstill, though there arc, a number of matters of great importance to the country that urgently need attention. The Government is rendered helpless by the narrowness of its majority in the House of Representatives, and by the fact that its opponents in the Senate are,so overwhelmingly strong that they are in a position to take the conduct of business there out of the hands of Ministers. The only thing to be done is to bring about' a dissolution, and, as Mr, Cook points out, the electors must make tip their minds to return one party or the other with sufficient strength to put its proposals on the Statutebook, and to administer the country's affairs with ef&ciency and success. Whether the Liberals can securc a double dissolution, or whether only the House of Representatives will go to the country, is a question that is still in doubt. A double dissolution seems to be the. only way that would give the Liberals a chance of carrying out their policy, arid no doubt Mil. Cook and his colleagues will do their utmost to,bring about j a re-election of both Houses.