POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 367, 19 April 1910, Page 7

POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA

PAST GOVERNMENTS. SEVEN MINISTRIES IN TEN YEARS. Seven different Ministries have held «ince since the establishment of the •Commonwealth at the beginning of 1901. The first Government, formed bv Sir Edmund Barton, was chiefly composed of the various State Premiers. The {Ministry had a majority of fourteen on the first important question dealt with. During the second session of the Commonwealth's first Parliament, in September of 1903, the Labor Party carried •a motion against the Government by 20 votes to 21, and a few days later Sir Edmund Barton banded in his restgmttion. Mr. Alfred Deakin, who was At-torney-General in the first Ministry, was then sent for. He was defeated by the Labor Party almost immediately the House met in March 1904, and resigned without delay.

Then followed the first Federal Labor Ministry, Mr. J. C. Watson, Leader of the Labor Party, being called upon to assume the Premiership. He held office for three months, and was then defeated on the preference to unionists question. His request for a dissolution was .refused, and Mr. G. H. Reid, Leader of the Freetrade and anti-Socialist Opposition, was sent for by the GovernorGeneral. Mr. Reid took office on April 17th as head of what was known as the Reid-MeLean coalition, after arranging a truce with Mr. Deakin on the fiscal question.

Before Parliament met again after the recess which followed a short session, Mr. Deakin declared the fiscal truce to be at an end, and a few days after the House met the Government was defeated on a no-confidence motion. Mr. Deakin's second Ministry took

charge in July of 1905, and carried on for a time with the support of the Labor Party. The general elections at the cud of 1000 resulted in the return of three fairly equal parties, the conditions being much'the same as in the preceding Parliament. Mr. Deakin and his Ministry remained at the head of affairs until November, 1908, when the compact .with the Labor Party was broken, and then downfall followed. Mr. Andrew Fisher, the Labor leader, was sent for and formed the Ministry which held office until the end of Mav last, when Mr. Deakin, having formed a coalition, or fusion, as it was called, of his own party and that led by Mr. Josenh Conk. Leader of the regular Opposition, defeated the Government on a want-of-confidenco motion for refusing to make an offer of a Dreadnought to the Imperial Navy. Mr. Deakin formed a Cabinet and took office for the third time as Prime Minister on June 2nd.

THE COMING PREMIER. \ ANDREW FISHER: MIXER, LABOR. LEADER AND POLITICIAN. ! I In view of the result of the elections it is only a mutter of (lays when Mr. Andrew Fisher will be asked to assume the direction of the Federal political destinies. Born at Crosshouse. Ayrshire. Scotland, on August 29th, 1862, Mr! Fisher went to Queensland in 18S5, and worked in the goldfields there. He represented Gyrapie in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1803 to 1901,' and held office as Secretary for Railways and Minister for Public" S\?Qis3 in the Dawson Ministry in 1800. He was returned to the Commonwealth Parliament in 1001 by Wide Bay and became Minister for Customs in' the Watson Cabinet in 1904, and deputy leader of. the Labor Party. On Mr. Watson's retirement in 1007 Mr. Fisher succeeded him as leader of the .party and formed a Cabinet, as stated above, in November, 1908. A CHARACTER .SKETCH.. . In May of last year Mr. Fisher, then Prime Minister, addressed a meeting at Sydney on the subject of "The Church and Labor." Writing on this in a spe cial article contributed to the New Zealand Times, Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P., said: It was a notable gathering, and a notable man who was the central figure. Prime Minister Fisher was a,,working miner a few years ago. ' Entering the Queensland Parliament as a Labor member, he was drawn into' Federal politics when the Commonwealth was established. He is a young man, and in appearance a typical worker. On "wharf, in workshop, on farm .and amongst unskilled labor in many departments you find thousands of men of his stamp, fie is above the average height, physically strong and compact. He looks as though the day is ia long way off in which he will not be capable of throwing oft his coat and doing a hard day's manual work with anv man. He looks a working i man, :and the class from which he | sprang, and which ha,s confidence in him ] as its Parliamentary representative, may i well be proud of him. I predict that he .will not only remain loyal to the work-' ers, but that he will not secretly nurse I a desire to escape from them... He is' not an impulsive man. There is an j uncommon degree of deliberation about him in ordinary conversation which suggests reserve strength. I judge him. as dogged as he is sincere. He looks as though denser mioht easily mahe him the most distinguished man in a crowd. He is fair of complexion and has grey eyes. AS A POLITICIAN. As politician, lie should have as perfect a knowledge of organisation as any man in Australian politics. He keeps in close personal touch with the detailed' work of the Labor Party in nil the States. During the recent naval scare the Labor Prime Minister remained unperturbed hv the frenzied cahlejrrain or the .popular el.unor of the commercial and capitalist class in the Commonwealth. Tie publicly announced that he. was in close touch with the Imperial Government on the great question of Imperial defence, and was acting under a deep sense of his responsibility to (he people. He announced the lines upon which be thought the defence of Austra-' lia should be provided for. and Australian workmen are now on their way to Britain to help in constructing the nucleus of an Australian Navv. He has declared for compulsory national training and the establishment of factories for the manufacture within the Commonwealth of small arm= and ammunition. He has declared thai the lands of Australia shall become liable to a progressive land tax, subject, to an exemption of £SOO.

Amongst tilir multitude of Australia's public mm. Prime "Minister Pisbpr stands out. prominently as fi leader of a ipnrtv possef-siii? a definite platform, briiifriiK' t'lie platform before tlio people, n>id'dominated by national rather than bv narlv ideals. Ho is pertain to remain a vital factor in Comiiiomv'">i"i loll'.:.:, L'ocausi he possogfts in quite

an uncommon degree the qualities which deservedly win confidence. THE DEFEATED MINISTER. Colonel Justin Fox Foxton, Honorary Minister in the Deakin Cabinet, who has been vanquished by a Labor man at Brisbane, is a solicitor of the Queensland Supreme Court, and represented the Carnarvon district in the State Parliament for twenty-one years without interruption. On several occasions he held portfolios in different State, Ministries. He was a member of the Federal Council of Australasia until its abolition on the establishment of the Commonwealth. He represented Australia at the Imperial Defence Conference in London last year.