CONSTITUTIONAL POINT

Southland Times, Issue 18840, 5 June 1920, Page 5

CONSTITUTIONAL POINT

THE QUEENSLAND CONTROVERSY. MR THEODORS IN REPLY. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON. June 3. Mr Theodore, the Premier of Queensland, replying to Mr Berriedale Keith, on the constitutional aspect of the appointment of Mr Lennon as acting-Governor of Queensland. says tlie referendum procedure is too cumbersome to settle disputes between the two Houses. He denies Mr Keith’s assertion that the swamping of the Council means its abolition as an actively independent body. Mr Theodore adds that a Council hostile to the majority in the Lower House is mere obstruction, serving no useful purpose to the democracy or the State. He emphatically denies that it is unwise or umnusl for the Government party to have a majority in the Council. Mr Keith’s deduction appears to be that the Council’s independence is only imperiled when the Labour party has a majority in the Council. Mr Keith’s fears are from prejudice through imperfect understanding of the Labour party’s aims.

Mr Theodore concludes; “Constitutional parliamentary institutions and the interest of British investors arc perfectly safe in Labour’s keeping. Labour Government in Australia is the real sheet anchor of safety against destructive tendencies of direct actionists and the inevitable stagnation of ultra-conscr\ utivc policy.”