The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1918. AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL COMPLICATIONS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 113, 30 January 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1918. AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL COMPLICATIONS

The racent activities of Federal politicians must certainly bo regarded as rather hindering than helping the people of the Commonwealth to throw their weight into tlw war. The defeat of the consaription made a bold and decided policy and the subordination of party and personal interests more than ever necessary, and there is no reason to doubt that the people of Australia would have responded to a lead of this kind. .But at thf. moment there is less evidence of instructive activity in the Federal political field than of intrigue and ferment, which threaten to degenerate into a scramblo tor office. The conscription issue appears to, no somewhat hopelessly shelved At the same time it is generally agreed that political staDl Ucy is impossible with the FedOral Ministry constituted as at preand material changes in the existing arrangement of parties are regarded as not unlikely. Though the no-confidence motion recently moved by Mr. Tudor in the Commonwealth House of Representatives was defeated by an overwhelming majority, no one pretends that this is in any real sense an index to tho political situation, or implies that Mb. Hughes and his colleagues are firmly established in power. Indeed, the no-confidence debate and its side features made it perfectly plain thai the Nationalist Party is verv far from being a happy family. One episode which was described at-length in our news columns yesterday is noteworthy both as affording evidence of internal dissension in the combination of parties which for tho time being acknowledges the leadership of Mr. Hughes and in its bearing on the future. On lie last day of the noconfidence debate, Sir William Invine and some other Liberal members of the Nationalist fusion arranged that the following amendment should be moved by Mr. Austin Chapmas. a member who • has named amongst others as a possible successor to Mr. Hughes in the office of Prime Minister: That the. effective prosecution of the irar and tie securing of the necessary reinforcements without the power of conscription can only be brought about by he corporation of both parties in Parhamont; that such co-operation, in the opinion of this House, can best be fiecural by the retirement of tho present Government from office aiid tho formation of a new Ministry from within the Nationalist Party. Sib # Willtam Irvine has explicitly denied that he and Jus immediate supporters conspired with the Labour Opposition to secure tho passage of this amendment, or that, they engaged in any secret plot against the Government, and his disclaimer is, of course, accepted. But apparently credible reports declare that without Sir William Irvine's knowledge negotiations aiming at tli'.} defeat of the Government were carried on by a section of tho Nationalist Party and the Labour Party led by Mr. Tudor, and that the project only collapsed when Sir William Irvine and his immediate followers withdrew their support from tlie proposed amendment. This incident has attracted much attention as an indication of : the approaching dissolution of the Nationalist fusion, but it is equally important that tho most determined ■ advocate of conscription in Australia has apparently abandoned all hope of seeing it enforced. Sir , William Irvine's attitude on tho ' conscription issue is familiar, but ( the terms of the amendment which j he took a leading part in promoting , strongly suggest thathc regards the j institution of conscription in Ann- . fcralia as being, for the time at. j lcast, t outside the pale of practical j politics. Presumably if there had " been any immediate'prospect of re- , viving the conscription issue by a , dissolution and an appeal to "the | country Sir Wiixum Ikvike would j have been identified with tho move- j ment to this end and not with an \ attempt (r> promote a party com- j promise on a substitute policy. [ Although no party or group in j sight is prepared to revive the con- f scription issue, the creation of a t stable Government is still opposed ]■

by formidable difficulties. A union of all parties is apparently not a practical possibility. Attempts to promote such a union were made from the Nationalist side while the-no-confidence debate was in progress, but they we;v, coldly received, aiuLit must be addeii that the tactics of the Commonwealth Prime Minister were hardly calculated to assist a settlement. A week before the debate ended he offered to stand aside if the Labour Party would .igrce to :i coalition with the Nationalists. In closing the debate, Mr. Tudor pointed out that in the t Hansard report of the Prime Minister's spceoh (his offer was saddled with the stipulation, "if he (Mi;. Tudor) is prepared to agree to a policy acceptable to the Nationalist I arty," although Mr. Hughes did not mako this stipulation in delivering his speech. To this charge Mr. Humiiis offered no reply. He pave his opponents an opportunity they were prompt to seize of at once rejecting his ovci lures and denouncing them as insincere and as intended only to divert attention from the political jugglery which enabled Mr. Hughes and his Ministry to (umiJnue in power after having given the clear and definite Pledge that the Government would "Ot attempt to carry on if the conscription referendum was carried in the negative." These arc the concluding words of a resolution in winch Iho central executive of tho Laoour ParCy formally rejected tho coalition proposal. It is evident that unless the Nationalists speedily settle their internal differences they will play into the hands of their opponents. The Tudor Party is numerically weak, and is on all grounds manifestly unfitted to govern the country in timo of war, but a serious split in tho Nationalist ranks would be apt to revive tho three-party system, and might enable Mr, Ti-noR and his supporters to hold the balance of power. It is by no means certain that even a genoral election would provide a lemody for this slate of affairs. Reversion to the. three-party system would undoubtedly mean a maximum amount of political bickering find_ a minimum amount of concentration on the prosecution of the war, but there is a distinct danger that these conditions may arise. The evident disinclination of the Commonwealth Prime Minister to withdraw voluntarily fiom office, in spito of the evidence afforded that ho no longer enjoys tho support of a united party, is perhaps tho most serious obstacle to an escape from this hopelessly unsatisfactory state of affairs.