The Daily News. FRIDAY', DECEMBER 22, 1922. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY', DECEMBER 22, 1922. THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

The election o£ members of the Australian Federal House is exciting keen interest in New Zealand, following as they do, closely on our own. Apparently the results in both Dominions will close ly approximate, it being doubtful whether either of the two main parties in Australia —Nationalists and Labor —will secure a sufficient majority wherewith to carry on the government of the Commonwealth. Although, seemingly, the two cases have much in common, there are several important differences. In the first place the Federal election is separate from the elections to the Parliament" of the various States comprising the Commonwealth, the functions of the Federal House being to make laws for trade, taxation, bounties, borrowing, postal services, naval and military matters, currency, banking, divorce, marriage, old age pensions, immigration, emigration, and other matters, while the State Parliaments retain legislative authority in regard to all matters not transferred to the Federal Parliament. New Zealand has but one legislature, and so avoids the double elections, for which the people should be truly thankful. In both cases, however, it is extreme Labor that is striving for domination, and that phase of the matter is one of the outstanding features of the elections in both countries. Another reason for closely watching the Federal election results is the operation of preferential voting, which is causing so much delay and uncertainty in the final results. It will be noticed that the system of group polities in Australia has become an evil of considerable dimensions, and it is considered that preferential voting facilitates the growth of the evil, hence the moral deduced should be taken to heart in New Zealand. A remarkable feature of the recent Federal election is the smallness of the vote, for, whereas at the 1917 election seventy-eight per cent, of the electors voted, and much was made of the increased interest shown on that occasion, yet in the 1922 election only fifty per cent, of the voters exercised their privilege. It is a moot question whether this large falling-off in vote recording was due to apathy or to bewilderment concerning the issues at stake. In all probability there was a proportion of both causes responsible for the result, voters being in doubt as to which of the parties was most likely to serve the interests of the people as a whole. A straight out issue between the Nationalists. and Labor would have left no room for doubt, but the advent of a Country Party, however estimable its platform might be, could only complicate matters and weaken one or both of the other parties. As a result, the National and Labor official' each claim to be the largest party in the new Parliament, while the Countrj Party must hold the balance of power. While it is evident that the Nationalists and the Country

Party favor a broad, moderate and constitutional policy, there are points on which they differ, thus there appears a prospect of the groups being at times antagonistic to one another. In the last Parliament Mr. Hughes retained office . only by the help of a small independent majority, and at times his majority on a division was a single vote. It is possible the Nationalists may, in the new Parliament, have a majority over Labor, but there can be no possible doubt that, if there is to be a strong stable Government that will be able to keep in check the Labor Socialists, there must be a close union between the Nationalists and the Country Party, the alternative being another election. In this respect the situation is much the same as in New Zealand. It would seem that the New South Wales Majority Socialists have been eliminated as a political force, but the lesson of the election is such a.s should open the eyes of the voters to the need for combining against the disruptive forces of Labor. Whether or not there is dissatisfaction with Mr. Hughes as a leader is of .little importance compared with the need for a safe and sound constitutional Government, and that is -.nly possible by combining solidly against Socialistic Labor.