N.S.W. ELECTIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1927, Page 1

N.S.W. ELECTIONS

AIR LANG’S CHANCES

SYDNEY, Sept. 8. As the general election draws gradually nearer, there is much speculation as to the chance of Air Lang and his Government l>eing returned to power. Although tho swing of the political pendulum seems to be against the (Government, there are not a few, among them some quite level-headed people without Labour leanings, wlio entertain very seriously the possibilty of Labour’s return. With business tight, the fear of some who do not see eye to eye with Mr Lang and his Party is that if the Nationalists take the box seat, business will become tighter still if there is anything like a policy of retrenchment as one means of improving the financial position. Mr Lang, it is felt in some quarters, cannot exceed certain bounds. This, however, remains to bo seen. In view of the divided state of tho Labour Party, and of tlie clash between the Lang and anti-Lang groups, it will not come as any surprise if the balance of power in the next Parliament is in the hands of a few Independent members, representing the more moderate element in the Labour Party, and exercising a restraining influence on any party, or combination of parties, forming the Government. The Legislative Council is threatened with complete obliteration if Labour gets back. Its abolition will be one of the big issues at the election, but, as has often been observed, threatened men and threatened institutions often live long. The Nationalists will probably propose the more moderate course of reforming the Chamber. Whatever may be said of the nominee Upper House there is no doubt unquestionably that, as a debating chamber, it is superior to the Legislative Assembly, even if its level of ability has been lowered somewhat by the wholesale swampings during tho last year or two. It is safe to say that the electors generally are apposed to its destruction, and would prefer to see it reformed, either along elective lines or on a more restricted basis under the present system. One of tlio Sydney newspapers has produced the deadly parallel to show that even the Labour Party is not perfectly unanimous on tho question of the abolition of the Upper House. The Premier (Mr Lang) on the one hand, describes it as an antiquated Legislative relic of mediacvalism. One of the Labour Government’s appointees to the Legislative Council, on tlie other hand, finds it and its cushioned seats to liis liking. He says the Legislative Council has been an education to him. Ho regards it as a University, to quote his own words, and asserts that there is mo Parliament in the British Empire which has reached a higher standard. He indignantly says that to call members of tlie Upper House “old fogies” is nonsense. That Labour tribute to the Legislative Council will, no doubt, be used by tlio Nationalists during tho campaign.