The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1915. A NEW TYRANNY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2439, 19 April 1915, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1915. A NEW TYRANNY

Tee Premier of New South Wales (Mr, Holman) i? finding it rather difficult to hold his team together, though he succeeded in getting through the recent State Conference of the Political Labour Party without experiencing a serious fall. Some sharp collisions took place in the course of the various debates, and there was a marked tendency of individuals anu groups to,kick over tho traces. _ Some of the most unsparing criticism of the Labour Govcrnmpt seems to come from its own supporters. This sort of thing is naturally galling to Ministers, who have discovered tjiat the numbers of the Labour organisations are hard taskmasters, There are people who think that a new world can be created in a day. They seem to hold the opinion that all the ills of mankind can be remedied by Act of Parliament, and that a Premier with a Parliamentary majority behind him can pass any kind of legislation he likes. It all looks so simple to inexperienced and irresponsible dreamers. They know little or nothing of the enormous difficulties of putting political theories into practice, and when they find that their particular fads and fancies have not been embodied in the law of the land they become fretful and indignant. Men who have advocated all _ sorts of wild and reckless legislation when the responsibility for it would fall on the shoulders of others often realise when in office that what they_ may have considered to be theoretically desirable is often not practically possible. Mr, Hoi,man and bis Ministerial colleagues have no doubt discovered by this time that.they can not give legislative effect to a hundredth part of the "reforms" their friends are clamouring for, and the more impatient of their supporters are now inclined to turn and rend them. ■ Mr. Holman remarked at the conference that there were on the business paper fourteen independent votes of censure directed against the Government of which he was the head, Mr. Meagher, in making a plea for fair treatment of Governments, declared that it-was absolutely wrong for little leagues with perhaps fifteen members to pass resolutions condemning a Labour Government and have them published in tho enemy Press. ' He seems to be more troubled about the publicity given to the resolutions than to the resolutions themselves, for he went on to say that if members considered that, something wrong had' been done they should refer the matter to the executive and abide hy the decision of that body. This tendency to do things in secret and to stifle free and open criticism and disoussion is one of the most undesirable characteristics of the Labour-Social-ist movement. The supremacy of the conference over the Parliamentary Labour Party was emphatically asserted by Mr, Meagher, and the position he laid down was not challenged by tho Premier. Mr. Meagher said: "We don't want to have the idea grow up in anybody's mine] that the | P arYiamentsiTy Labour Yarty is supreme or superior to this conference, because once you get the idea ' that there is n Brahmin rnste or ! political mandarins then La-hour is ' ripo for disintegration." This, of course, means the subordination of the representatives of the people to a conference representing one section of the community. It implies till,it it is thn {hiby ol Labour members of Parliament to obey the instructions of the conference. They cease to be responsible to their constituents or to the people as a whole, and must aet as the puppets of a body of men who pull the strings from behind a curtain, and ■Ministers must bow to the decisions of the conference just as much' as ordinary membi'rs. They may chafe under the tyrannv and occasionally indulge in an outburst of petulance; but they must submit. 11 n. Holman Mi) the wnferctico that he whs Kick of criticism against the Gov-

ernmeut which prevailed in pertain quarters. Conference, he said, will ho.ve to protect its Governments against tho irresponsible back-biting few; but, he added, "wo are prepared to lie instructed and take advice, but we are not prepared to lie down like dogs and be whipped by those in whose interests we are exerting our efforts." It is a comparatively new political doctrine that Ministers should receive their instructions from any outside party organisation. The acceptance of this position would result in the setting lip of a secret tyranny, and would open tho door to all sorts of abuses. It would be a serious blow to liberty, and would undermine the supremacy of Parliament as the constitutional mouthpiece of the whole country. .