THE FEDERAL POLITICAL CRISIS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 6

THE FEDERAL POLITICAL CRISIS

WHAT WILL MR. HUGHES DO? ATTACKS ON HIS LEADERSHIP POSSIBILITIES OF RECONSTRUCTION NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OR LABOUR CAUCUS?

"Mr. Hughes and his fellow ters stated that they would not retain office for 24 hours if 'Yes' was defeated," said the secretary of the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party the day after the referendum. "When Labour defeated Mi;. Deakin at tho 1910 elections, he did not await final figures. As soon as it was appareiit that his party was defeated beyond hope of iecovery, he resigned. This is precisely the position of the Government s policy of couscription to-day. grows larger. 'Yesses' to come -cannot ]>ossibly catch up. Will Mr. Hughes willingly leave 'tile tart shop'? After pledging himself and his Government so definitely to resign—to the Tudor alternative—should the people turn down conscription, there is only cue honourable thing for him and his colleagues to do. The valuable time of ihe country should not be wasted in this time of crisis. With the resignation •of all present Ministers there is no team on the 'Nationalist' side in vieiv in practical politics. _ Sir William Irvine has no following 'n Parliament. Nationalists representing 'No' constituencies cannot support the 'wholehogger' conscript policy of Sir William Irvine. It took Mr. Hughes 12 months to lead Labour to temporary disaster. He has led the Liberals and Nationalists to the same sad end, and has apparently destroyed himself in a like pLriod." ' - But it is not merely the political opponents of Mr. Hughes who call for his retirement from the leadership of I the National Party. Mr. D. R. Hall, I State Attorney-General of New South Wales, and a supporter of the "les cfiuso at tho recent referendum, opened the campaign for a new leader the day after the "No" triumph be- j came evident. Mr. Holman, Premier of New South Wales, followed, though in a less emphatic fashion. In a loifj; statement, ho expressed the opinion that Mr. Tudor, the Leader ot "the Federal 'Labour Party, should be given a reasonable opportunity to test his own doctrine that the voluntary system, properly handled, would produce sufficient reinforcements. He suggested that if Mr. Tudor would undertake a patriotic course, and not listen to counsels of the extremists in tho party, and if he would -remember that his Government represented the country on only ono point, he would obtain support in every step taken in the interests of voluntary recruiting. Mr. Holman urged also that as he believed tho storm centres of Australian politics to be in New South Wales and Queensland, "a statesman whose earlier personal experiences have been passed in the er calm of-tho southern States" should be chosen as a new leader for the National Party.

Defenders of Mr. Hughes. Senator Pearce, Federal Deionco Minister, promptly replied to these attacks on his political chief. "in my opinion," he remarked, "these attacks are the quintessence of meanness, and are extremely cowardly. Had the referendum been carried these men would hftve beeii the first to hcclaim their comradeship with the Prime Minister and to claim a share in the glory. One can scarcely believe that the Air. Holman and Mr. D. It. Hall, who now attack the Prime Minister, aro tho same politicians Ivho at the last New South Wales elections, ,in order to save their political skins, foreswore their convictions on conscription and declared that in the event of the ques-

tion being raised they would not lend tlieir support to it. That they liavo now the unblushing audacity to, pose as the guides, philosophers, and friends of the National Party is, to say the least of it, amazing. These nien must think that the people of Australia have short memories. ... It is very difficult to account for the desertion ol the Australians at the front by their countrymen in Australia, but the cruel fact is there. ■ One can only assumo that tlie treat majority of the people eviput their own selfish interests first,'whilst scores of thousands have been, no doubt, misled by sentimental reasons and tlie curious but manysided issues that were raised during the campaign. Now, that the battle is over for those of us who willingly went into it. to attempt to throw the blame on the' leader is perfidious basenoss, to adequatelv describe which one finds it difficult to find appropriate words." Mr. Webster, Federal- PostmasterGeneral, is still more outspoken in his championship of his leader:—"As one who has no desire to remain in public life if such demands the sacrifice of my honour or treachery to my colleagues," he writes, "I cannot, at this critical juncture, when men's reputations are the playthings of deep and designing persons, remain silent. lo do so would be worse than lie who withheld the evidence which would have saved ail innocent man from the gallows. It is remarkable how the -timid and half-bred roosters, which flew from the master bird in his prime, turn on him with beak and spur when, ha is temporarily disabled, never ceasing their cowardly attack until they have vanished their victim, unless by chance someone intervenes.' Such I am impelled to do, seeing that Mr. Hughes is the victim of such an attack to-day. The party that one time were 'delighted with his leadership, and without which would never have risen to the position it two and a half years ago, the loaders thereof having connived and broken the Labour Party, arc ceaselessly using every means, fair and foul —mostly the latter—to injure him politically, if, indeed, not bodily. Their venom knows no bounds. AYliy is it so? Because they).know his ability, courage, and loyalty to the cause- ho espouses; they know'that he is stil ltrue to all that is best in the Labour movement; they know that lie refused to be the puppet of those who were prepared to sacrifice the Labour movement, or any other movement—even the country itself—in order to gain their selfish ends, and so they hounded. him and others out of the party they had made during a quarter of a century's strenuous but honest, effort. I adtait mistakes were made; but to do so is to sa.y wo were only human. Our cne-

mies adopted such a course in preference to that which alone could secure the honour and safety of Australia." Mr. Webster then sets out to state in detail the reasons why j\lr. Hughes could not have introduced conscription without a referendum, and. recounts the desperate efforts of the Prime Minister to overcome the prejudices

and the -opposition of the Labour caucus. "Finally," lie concludes, '1 writo the above as a duty to one who is unjustly assailed l>v frieiid and foe, because I know the Prime Minister is sound at heart and clear of vision as to where his duty lies, and will yet provo, if lie lives, that loyalty pi d patriotism to country and civilisation, not personal or selfish ends, govern

liis every action in this war. This is as I know him, having watchcd and worked with him for 2n years, and thus having full opportunity Lo judgo his merits. I have not always agreed with him, but his actions during this war have won my admiration. 1 would rather fall with liiin than rise with tliose who seek his destruction."

A Newspaper View of the Situation. The Melbourne correspondent of ihe "Sydney Daily Telegraph," writing' under date December 25, in, reviewing the situation, stated:—"All the Ministors arc agreed that the Government cannot, in . the circumstances, remain in office, and ft is expected that at Thursday's mooting a lormal decision to resign will be arrived at.' This does not menu, however, .that immediate effect will be given to the decision. It is understood that the whole political position is to bo first discussal by the Nationalist Party, which is to lie called together as early as is practicable. The meeting will be held either towards the end of next week or at the beginning of the following week. It is an open secret that certain members of the party disapprove of the Prime Minister as their leader, ami fclioy perceive in tho present state or political unrest an opportunity to endeavour to bring about his downfall. Mr. Hughes is down for the time being at any rate, and as his Labour opponents say,'some of his so-called friends are 'putting the boot in.' Bitter as the hostility of tho official Labourites to Mr. Hughes, they almost unanimously condemn the attack made upon him by tbo New -South Wales Attorney-General (Mr. Hall). _ The general impression is that while the hand is the hand of Mr. Hall the voice is the voice of Mr. Holman speaking in the interest of Mr. Watt. The light promises to be keen and bitter, but it will not bo surprising if, in the end, a majority of members of the National party olect to stand by Mr. Hughes. The election of a loader of the Nationalist party will practically carry_ with it 4-he Prime Ministership, as it is obvious from tho composition of the present Commonwealth Legislature that ho Administration formed by Mr. Tudor cotild reign for five minutes without the sanction of its opponents.

National Government Expected to Return to Office. "Although the present Government intends to resign in order, to honour its pledge to the people, there is no constitutional obstruction to its almost immediate return to office should ■Mr. Tudor fail to form a Government, or, having formed ono, is defeated, and unless there is a serious division in the ranks of tho Ministerial parjy itself the probabilities arc that this will happen.. When tendering the resignation of tho Government Mr. Hughes will, no doubt, follow the usual practice of recommending that the Leader of the Opposition be sent for. Should Mr. Tudor form an Administration, its first business will Be to ask Parliament for a supply of money to carry on tho services of the country. This money, which must be voted before the middle of January, might perhaps be refused, with the result that the Government, not having the means to carry on, would also be compelled to resign. Labourites themselves admit that thus far the track is fairly clear. , They are basing their hopes on a dissolution, believing that if another general election took placo there would be, for all political purposes, a repetition of • the vote which, has just been taken; There arc members of tltoowational Party who believe that from a tactical point of view it would be better to give Mr. Tudor and his colleagues "a run" in order that they should be compelled to declare the means by which they would enable Australia to prosecuto the war to a successful termination. They believe that' tho policy which would bo disclosed would carry with it its own condemnation, and that the party would bo justified in removing the Government from tho Treasury benches."

No Surrender to Labour Caucus. Two days later the Federal Cabinet met at Melbourne. Asked after tho meeting if he would say anything about the political situation, Mr. Hughes beamed at his questioner. "There is a political situation, but 1 decline to discuss it. I've heard that it ,-exists. I know that it .exists. I am not ono of those vulgar persons who look a political situation in the face and deliberately cut it. I recognise its existence —but distantly."

"The demeanour of Ministers after the Cabinet meeting," comments the"Argus," "suggested that they were satisfied with the decisions arrived at. It is understood that tho political situation was discussed at length, in the light of a negative vote on- the reinforcements proposal and of the declaration by the Prime Minister at Bendigo, making the issue, a vital one to _ the Ministry. It is understood that Ministers decided to refer the whole question of the position of the Ministry to the Nationalist Party, and to ask' the party to say how it would carry on the work given to it to do by the electors on May 5. Involved in that question is the consideration whether the Ministry should remain in office, or whether "a new-'Cabinet should be formed, either from ihe full strength of the party, or exclusively frfflii members not now holding office. "One point upon which there is general agreement., not 'alone amongst members of the Ministry, but also amongst the members oi the Nationalist Party, is that there should be no surrender to the Caucus. 1 The impotence of that party is. indicated by its members in the two Houses. In the House of Representatives there are 92 Caucus Oppositionists, and 53 Nationalists; wliih in the Senate there arc 12 Caucus Oppositionists and 24 Nationalists. It is obvious that in so materially reducing the numbers ol the Caucus the electors desired to make certain that the country should not be submitted to Trades Hall domination, and Ministers and other members of the Nationalist Party-consider that to permit the Caucus to take the veins of office, even for an hour, would ho a betrayal of tho electors and ot representative) Government." So the situation remains.- Die National l'artv meets to-day, January 3. and it is cxnected that a decision will then be arrived Jit as' to the course to be taken.