MR. ANDREW FISHER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2371, 29 January 1915, Page 6

MR. ANDREW FISHER

» A TALK ABOUT AUSTRALIA DROUGHT ENDED THE STATES AND THE COMMONWEALTH. After a strenuous three weeks into which a. maximum of travelling, sightseeing, and speech-making have been crowded, the Right Hon. Andrew Fisher arrived in Wellington yesterday morning to await the departure of the Sydney steamer, sailing to-day. In a brief chat on a variety of topics yesterday Mr. Fisher said that ho has had a very happy holiday in our country, and that he will carry away most pleasant recollections of the kindness and hospitality with which he has been received everywhere. For Mr. Fisher is ho stranger to the strenuous life and especiallyto hard travelling. Every year it is his custom to visit every State in the Commonwealth, even the remote West, and some idea of tbe vasteess of the island Continent, and the long distances to be covered may be gathered from the one quite irrelevant fact that it is farther from Melbourne to Mr. Fisher's own constituency than it is from Melbourne to Wellington. Progress Has Been Made. First of all as to' tlio business the Commonwealth Prime Minister has had withthe Dominion Prime Minister, concerning reciprocity in trade and the payment of pensions, Mr. Fisher said that all the proposals would 'have to remain in abeyance in the meantime. "But I think progress has been made,"'he add"and I think that whatever .the political fortunes of New Zealand may be, something will be achieved. There seems to bo no difference as between your parties on the matters which wo have discussed, and I think they are both agreed that the way to reciprocity is. the way to progress. I have said that I hope you seud over delegations to us. We want to get closer together —the Australians and the New . Zealanders—aud I think that even New Zealanders may learn something in Australia if they find it convenient to visit us as circumstances permit. And when I go back I shall have something kindly to say about New Zealand, its beauties, and. its suitability, for holiday-making. Just now it is unfortunately a fact that you hear nothing about .Australia, and we hear nothing about what is going on here." Federal Capital. "Simple tootling to the local feeling," was Mr. Fisher's laconic comment on the adverse criticism by the Melbourne newspapers on the exodus of Federal Ministers to Sydney. "It is no doubt rather a dull time and they must say something. I think a little perambulatory experience will do no harm to the Commonwealth Government. Ours is a great continent. No, I can't give any estimate of bow long it will be before the Federal capital is finished, but I think it will be in fewer years than many people think. The Drought Is Over. "I have every hope of prosperous times for Australia in the next few years. We have just come through a severe drought, but the needed rains have come, and we should now be justified in hoping that we shall have a succession of good seasons again, in which all our present difficulties will disappear. Up til] the present the drought has hit us. a great deal harder, than the war. But I should say that so much publicity has been given to the effects of this drought that an exaggerated impression of the seriousness of it has been created in the minds of outsiders. In some places it has been more severe than the drought' of 1902-3, but it has been felt in a limited area, and there should therefore be no difficulty in replenishing stock in the stricken districts. Also the present high price of wool should give the, settlers heart at oncej and I feel sure they will speedily recover all their losses, heavy as they have been. I anticipate that in the cereal-growing country the sowings for next year will be heavy, and that given an ordinary season we shall have a large excess of wheat available for export. State Rights and the Constitution. Mr. Fisher declined to express any opinion as to the wisdom or otherwise of the action of the State Government of New South Wales in seizing all the wheat and dealing with it.. Nor would he say whether, as has been stated by important journals in Anstralia and by meetings of farmers all over the wheat districts, it was possible- that the fixing of low maximum prices for wheat was likely to discourage farmers from sowing, and so to reduce next year's harvests. With regard to the dispute between the Federal Government and the Now South Wales State Government about tbe prohibition by the State Government of the carriage of wheat over the State boundary, it was necessary to have the point decided as to whether a State could make itself a water-tight compartment on the plea of necessity. The Commonwealth contended that a buyer in one State should be able to demand delivery from another State of goods purchased there is accordance with wnat appeared to be tho Constitution. "Wo shall never be done with the State rights question," Mr. Fisher continued, "because the Constitution is continually being interpreted by the High Court. The judgments of' the Court have been of a most restrictive character from the Commonwealth's point of view. No doubt their judgments are in accordance with the letter of tho Constitution, although they aro not in accordance with the views taken by those who drafted it and explained it to tho people when the referendum was taken. Tho fact is that the Constitution needs amendment in many important respects, with tho object of giving larger powers to tho Commonwealth Parliament. Wo aro the only British country that has adopted tho United States system of Government, and it has not boon a tjroat success. Tho writton Constitution is not flexible enough. In order to carry amendments a Bill must bo passed by the Federal Parliament, providing for the taking of a referendum, and then the question must be submitted to tho electors. We got within « few thousand of carrying some amendments. They were, defeated t'y some 10,000 votes out of a million votes recorded. We intend to introduce some of them ai*i\m,"