Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, MARCH 26th, 1920. N.S.W. POLITICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, MARCH 26th, 1920. N.S.W. POLITICS.

The general elections in the Mother State of the Commonwealth appear to have gone against the sitting Government, which it is interesting to note was a coalition or national Government. The final returns are not available yet owing to tlie system of counting toe votes, but semi-official estimates give the Labor party a majority of two over the Government and other parties combined, and the announcement, has been made that the able Premier is among the probable defeated. In that event the- Holman Government will require to- resign, so that a new government must be formed in any case. In the recent voting it was indicated that only about half the voters went to the poll and of the number who voted, some seven per cent wee informal. Under the preferential system of voting there is a large number of informal votes cast. F'or instance at the recent Federal elections in Australia, t’-Vj votes lecorded

"'ere in the region of a quarter of a million! The N.-S.W. elections to pass off with seven per cent shows some improvement, but the general indifference and apathy of the people revealed by the fact that only half the -lectors went to the poll, is a far more serious matter. It can be well understood that the better organisation would count in such a case, and to this might be attributed: the substantial gain made by Labor. The adjoining State of Queensland is already in the hands of a Labor Government, so that permitting New South Wales to be similarly governed was not. a step in the •lark. Indifference seems to pervade public opinion very largely in the matter of politics in Australia and New South Wales is not any exception to the general rule. The Mother State stands in need of economy and sane administration as much as any other part of -the Commonwealth. Probably the overgoverned condition of Australia nscounts for the indifference of the people. If they had less government they might be demanding more but having a surfeit of it with their Stateand Federal Parliaments and all that they carry in their train, the people

have become nauseated, and the indifference of half the people leaves it to the other half to choose the form of government. The National party apparently defeated now, and also for the moment officially leaderless, should have been the ideal government. There, as here, probably the coalition idea has broken down because of internal distrust; for after all, it- is extremely difficult to get opposite parties to knit together in general polities. The exigencies of wartime caused many matters to he left in abeyance, and the more debatable were likewise avoided. With the war past, and peace times to bo considered, general politics must come into fuller play. In New Zealand the fusion did not stand the strain. In New South Wales the fusion was maintained, but the verdict of the people suggests that much must have ibeen left undone and the fusion will be dissolved now by the effect of the peoples’ vote. A country is credited with no better government than it deserves of its own motion, and New (South Wales apparently has to accept a change for letter or for worse. Time alone will prove that and the verdict must be awaited accordingly.