CURRENT TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 9 November 1916, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

To the thoughtful student of politics the recent expulsion of a Hughes and Mr. J. C. Watson by the Australian Political Labour League will, cause no surprise. Mr. Watson was the first Labour Prime Minister in the Commonwealth, or for tn% matter of that,, in the British Empire; and he has peculiar ci^ r .s on the gratitude of the in that he brought his party in sight of the goal they had been striving for during the last decade. But his services counted for nothing in view of his pronounced views on conscription in therecent referendum campaign, and he was promptly jettisoned when his ideas conflicted with those of a majority of the Political Labour League. But whatever excuse the Labour Party had for expelling Messrs Hughes'* and Watson from their ranks, the action of the Australian Workers* Union in expelling Mr. W. F. Spence, M.P., stands out as a case of supreme 'ingratitude. Mr. Spence was the father of this great union. He has given forty years of his life to work' ing for the workers. He took up the Victorian miners' cause when he saw them threatened by Chinese lajjpur, and when he had organised them lie took in hand the bush workers, particularly the shearers. Of his work in that field, a writer in the "Bulletin" says:—"Nobody who doesn't know the violence of the pastoralists' opposition, at that time,, and the apparent hopelessness of organising nomadic lab"our, can 'realise the size of the job that this great-hearted man faced. But he was as indomitable as he was gentle, as valiant as he was unselfish and incorruptible. Ever since then he has been the guide and philosopher of the big bush union, the long-headed oldman who sought to benefit everybody but himself. And now, because he can see no way out but conscription, and because he must tell the truth as he sees it, he is 'suspended.' He isn't good enough to belong to the unions which he fathered, which he fought for when there weren't a dozen others to do it. He must be a sad old man —not for himself, but remembering "that those whom the gods destroy they first make mad." . .

The Hon. W. C. Carncross,- who has just returned from a visit to : England, ,has been giving some interesting impressions to the Press. Referring to Mr. Asquith, he said that, while some professed to hold him in Contempt, a still greater number regarded him as being one of the outstanding Ministers that Great Britain had ever had, and as even a greater man than Pitt. His most prejudiced crltics admitted the Prime Minister must have wonderful powers of tactandcontrol to have so ably kept his party together. "We were t01d,,". pfpceeded j Mr. Carncross, "that sometimes when stormy scenes occurred at Cabinet meetings, his wonderful manner of putting the facts before his colleagues convinced them' that -his. ideas were the proper ones to adopt. So far as the deputation is concerned we are not In a position to form a considered judgment, because Mr. Asquith did not appear before us on what might be termed any great occasion." j * * * * j In speaking of the men who have been shouldering the burden of Empire,, Mr. Carncross says: "Mr. Lloyd George is undoubtedly one of the great men of the Empire. Men who not long ago were most bitterly opposed to the "little pedagogue Welsh attorney' are now loudest in voicing his praises as a man of activity, energy and initiative t-hat know no bounds. In every part of England I heard, this view expressed, .and on numerous occasions by his strongest political opponents. So far as I can gather, ,it appears to me that Lloyd George's success in organising .the munition works has been brought about by the tact which he displayed in taking into his confidence the best commercial minds that can be found in the manufacturing circles of Great Britain. As a result of confident and party cooperation the whole system of munition manufacturing -has proved to be a gigantic success, which perhaps can ,only be appreciated by those who ar© afforded opportunities for observation as were permitted to the overseas delegates. Huge factories, covering hundreds of acres of land, and thousands of machines, neither of which existed eighteen months ago, are now working at steam-hammer force night and day, turning out munitions of war in inconceivable, quantities.-