VOTERS WERE ALARMED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 794, 15 October 1929, Page 9

VOTERS WERE ALARMED

BRUCE’S RASH DECISION ON ARBITRATION COURTED POLITICAL DISASTER Times Cable. LONDON, Monday. Commenting on the result ot the Federal election, the “Morning Post,” in a leading article entitled, “The Deep Calleth Unto the Deep,” says: “The deteat of Mr. Bruce is a matter for regret rather than surprise. He has been long iu office. Bad trade and industrial depression inclined the electorate to a change. A coalition is never the best ground on which to build a Government. “The work of the Arbitration Court seemed to be successful when a brisk demand for labour was raising wages, but with the turn of the tide the difficulties of enforcing awards began. I’he Australian Government was faced with the impotence of the Courts to enforce their decisions. “When Mr. Bruce attempted to make a compromise he courted political disaster. He antagonised our old friend, his enemy, ‘Billy’ Hughes, who by his

antecedents is wedded to industrial arbitration.” Proceeding', the “Post” says: —“Mr. Bruce was denounced as the Guy Fawkes of the capitalistic conspiracy against Australian trades unionism. Incidentally he offended ardent Australian Nationalists who desire to see everything concentrated in the Commonwealth. The result is the great victory jot Antipodean Labour. “The deep calleth unto the deep. No doubt the present success of the Labour movement in the Mother Country contributed to this victory in the Commonwealth. But, if Democracy makes itself too expensive to compete with the rest of the world, no social legislation will save it from unemployment and dead trade. “Australia, we believe, will live to regret Mr. Bruce’s fall. Pie is not a showy politician, but he is an honest, patriotic' man, trusted and respected at home and abroad.” GREATEST. LABOUR WIN The “Daily Telegraph,” in a leading article under the caption “Landslide in Australia” says: “Mr. Bruce once spoke of the threeyearly tragedy of the General Election. By dissolving Parliament contrary to Australian precedent within a year of the last election, he brought tragedy upon the Nationalist-Country Party Coalition. “Labour's victory is by far the greatest Labour lias won in the 28 years of the Commonwealth’s existence. The severity of the defeat was quite unforeseen, though many anticipated a result which would enable Mr. Hughes and the dissident Nationalists to hold the balance of power. “A strong majority is the ideal outcome of an electron. The people of the Commonwealth have assured that blessing to Australia, which has had a long experience of Labour Ministries. “It is clear that Labotir must have had the support of many voters who are not adherents to the party on ordinary occasions.” Continuing, the “Telegraph” says:— “Mr. Bruce has served his country well. He has fallen because, with a gesture almost of despair, he committed the Government to the revolutionary policy of doing away with the Federal machinery of arbitration. “This was a rash decision. It alarmed the voters and aroused the bitter hostility of Mr. Hughes. “Mr. J. H. Scullin, Leader of the Labour Party, is an able and respected public man, but it is hard to see how he can deal better than Mr. Bruce with the corroding vice of the Australian economic situation, namely, the resolute policy of the trades unions to maintain flat defiance >of arbitral awards and to force wages and conditions which industry cannot support.” BRUCE UTTERLY REPUDIATED “The Times” says:—“Labour in Australia has won a decisive victory. The figures, mean that Australian democracy has utterly repudiated Mr. Bruce’s policy and declared in favour of the somewhat obscure policies of his opponents. There is undeniably a good deal of hot political youth among the Australian leaders to cause uneasiness in the ranks of sober politicians, but Mr. Theodore found painful experience in Queensland of the effects of his ventures in State Socialism upon the credit of the State. Others have learned the same lesson by responsibility. “Mr. Scullin is credited with having a clear, logical mind. It may take time for the new Ministers to appreciate the position, but it is not likely that Mr. Bruce’s successors will contemplate any very desperate or alarming policy.” The “Financial Times” says: “Time will tell whether there is Immense scope for the reproductive employment of British capital in Australia, but investors will closely scrutinise the issues by a Labour Government, the financial orthodoxy of which may naturally excite doubts.” The “Daily News” says Mr. Bruce's summing up of the election as “ghastly” is not just from the strictly party standpoint. Fortunately the election seems to have been fought without bitterness. Mr. Scullin is respected on all sides. There is little likelihood of Australian affairs being mishandled or relations with Britain taking a turn for the worse. “CONTEMPTUOUSLY REJECTED” The official organ of the British Labour Party, the “Daily Herald,” says:—“Australia has rejected Mr. Bruce as contemptuously as Britain did Mr. Baldwin. It was not merely the opposition to his attempt to abolish the Federal Arbitration Court which destroyed Mr. Bruce. It was the realisation that he stood for Imperialism abroad and reaction at home —that lie was the ally, if not the servant, of big business interests in :heir attacks on hours, wages and conditions. “By a fortunate coincidence Labour has achieved power in Australia when Labour is in office at Downing Street. Mr. Scullin’s promise to co-operate with Mr. MacDonald’s splendid peace efforts will make them easier and more effective, because it will bring to the new type of Imperial problem a new type of Imperial mind where Mr. Bruce’s old-fashioned Imperialism would only have been a nuisance.”