Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1943. A DEADLOCK BROKEN.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1943. A DEADLOCK BROKEN.

]£VEN Ilio.se to whom it has brought the sting of defeat may find' in the outcome of the Australian Federal election—a sweeping victory for the Labour Government led by Mr Curtin a measure of relief in the ending of a state of affairs that was intolerable, not only to the political parties concerned, but to the population of the Commonwealth at large. Prior to the election on Saturday last, no Federal Government, throughout the war period, had been in office with an adequate working ma jority and lor nearly two years a couple of Independents had held the balance of power in the Commonwealth House of Representatives.

Since the main parties were and are broadly agreed on the vigorous prosecution of the war, the narrow balance of strength might have been expected to favour the formation of a National Government, but instead it gave rise to conditions that were at times little belter than chaotic. Mr Curtin is rightly credited with a considerable persona] success, not only in establishing a measure of working agreement with the Opposition, but in doing something to repress extreme elements in his own paitw

Undoubtedly, however, it also contributed to the success of the Labour Partv at the polls that the Federal Opposition was far from being a united and happy family. In the month or two preceding the election a good deal of public prominence was given to disputes and differences on questions of policy between Messrs Menzies and Fadden, who had successively occupied the Premiership during the term of the Parliament which latelv ended. The sharp defeat they have suffered may impel the Opposition—the United Australia and Country parties—to set their affairs in such order that, on the occasion of the next appeal to the country, they may be in a much better position than they were during the recent contest to offer an acceptable alternative Government.

Looking to the immediate future, a great deal must depend upon the extent to which Mr Curtin is enabled to exercise his admitted powers of leadership, and not least upon the measure in which the members of his party are influenced by his personal judgment in the selection of his Ministerial colleagues. Observing some weeks ago that, with three or four brilliant exceptions, the Cabinet material allotted by Caucus to Mr Curtin had proved itself indifferent stuff, the “Sydney Morning Herald” added:—

In, any case, whether Caucus chose well or badly, there just was not enough good material to go round, with the result that the Prime Minister and his leading colleagues have been grossly overburdened during the darkest 18 months in Australia’s history.

Although it is hold by the newspaper just quoted that Mr Curtin and some of his Ministers stand nearer to the moderate group on the Opposition side than to some of their own extremists, the establishment of a National Government in Australia is now presumably out of the question. The personal triumph with which Air Curtin is credited will be seriously incomplete, however, unless he is given the best men available as Ministerial colleagues and is given also all necessary support in controlling, and repressing if need be, the more extreme section of his following. That he is possessed of exceptional powers of leadership is not open to question. Whether he will be permitted to use these powers in an unfettered exercise of his own judgment remains to be seen.