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6 corrections, most recently by smurray71 - Show corrections

SENATE ELECTIONS   "Pompey" Elliott at Morwell. Brigadier General Elliott, one of the   selected National candidates for the   Senate, addressed a well attended meet-   ing of electors in the Morwell Mecha-   nics' Hall, on Friday afternoon last.   Captain Moon, V.C., accompanied the   candidate in a secretarial capacity.   Cr.Penaluna (President of the Shire)   presided and formally introduced the   candidate.   Brigadier-General Elliott, who was     received with hearty cheers, at the out-   set explained that the other two represen-   tatives of the National Party would be     unable to visit Morwell as it was impos-   sible in the time to visit every locality.   They were Messrs Guthrie and Russell.   Mr Guthrie was general manager of   Dalgety's at Geelong. and no one knew   more about farming than that gentleman.   He was also a wool expert, and for 12   years had compiled the statistics for the   "Australian Review." and when Pro- fessor Blackhall, of Glasgow, was writ-   ing an Encyclopaedia of Modern Agri-   culture, he selected Mr Guthrie to write   an article on the History of Australian   Wool Industry. He also owned 1200   acres near Donald, and was a practical   agriculturist. Mr Guthrie had broken   away from the Farmers' Union because   he felt constrained to support Mr Hughes. The Farmers' Union had an admitted him to be the ablest man, yet   had cast him aside because he could not   hold in entirety with them. Mr Russell was the ablest and   brainiest of the old Labor Party. There   was nothing of the bigot about him.   When the I.W.W.'s and Sein Feiners got hold of the party he deliberately   broke with them and decided to support     Mr Hughes. The National Party was   bound to stand by Mr Russell as he   stood for National Honor and Patriotism.   A few years ago he had stood at the   head of the poll for Labor. Now he   stood with his boats burned behind him.   lie stood for unity, justice, and a fair   deal to all men. For himself he had not much to say.   He felt that the returned men must   have some one to speak for them.   He had signed no platform, and was   free to advocate or oppose measures. He had strong sympathy with the far-   mers. His brother was a farmer at   Tocumwal.   With regard to himself, he was born   in the Mallee and lived there till 20, when he studied law. Then the South   African War broke out, and he enlisted   as a private and was paid 1s 3d per day.   After the war was over he returned and   took up law, his infant steps in that   direction being guided by Mr Frost- Samuels. He qualified, and practised in   Melbourne. He was also a member of   the military forces. When the War   broke out the Government sent and asked him to get volunteers. Although   married, he did not conslder it just to   ask men to go and stay back himself, so   he put his name at the head of the list,   and said I'm going, who are coming with   me and he got a magnificent response.   By the mercy of Providence he had re-   turned safely, and taken up profession. Again the Call came. He had achieved   success in the war, owing to the loyalty   and devotion of the boys, who had never     failed him. Time and time again they   had attempted the seemingly imposible,   and achieved it. If returned he would   be able to render service to them, so he would not regret the sacrifice of the quiet he had looked forward to. The reason he supported the Ministry I was eIleanse it had fullilled the contract I it lhat set out to oerompOlish. I had won the war. The National t Party had originated the ..AI.F., wihich I body of soldiers was admitted at the end of the war, and admitted by tihe enemy according to despatches alptured, to be the nmost dreaded force oa the \\'tern a Front. The A.I.F. Ihad taken the lin-. denburg line, and brought a onfusion to I the Germians. Astralia ltniraiosd miore soldiers for t;e W'ar than the Empire I had put ill tfie Boer War, and had gained t a name that would be a credit to any r nmodern army. Honor was doe to the 1 National Party for selecting ollicers a outside of political Influence. Political t influence in the Ameniean andl Canadian arnies hadl created a scutndiul, and at last it had got so adil thata reqlest was sent i to the Legislature to desist front such tactics. The blood of brave lienit hIad paid the price of the " duds" appointed. General Pershing interferei and sent I back to Amoricia three shiploads of i eolonels and generals ilto letd proved I incompetent. Pressure hid beten brought I on 1tr llughes to make appo ntmentJ, I but lie haId resisted such. aCIaOALIANSI' toosDI. In France in Mlarch, 111181, tile Aus. tralian Army saved Alniiens, and in I savilg that hod saved Paris and tile aoinmme Valley. And that saved the British froln retirement front France. In case of failure of the above effort, thle Nanvy had all preparations made to take the British Atloy off;, au111 lun then agani at lordeuux. . nstead of that. I w hieh wtoul hlave meant a Ilong exteln. tioln of the war, a check was given at I Villiers.Brettonieux, followed up by the victory of ilsh August by General Sonlash, whose pltlns so pleased Foet that lie placed tile Canadian and British troops under him, practically super seding General ltawilinso. On the first day they" pentetre'ed eight miles, the :irst time sluch had been done during the war. In the victory of 1ith August was first real the inevitable doomn of Germany. LAOtloa IARTY ANDn THl- n'0. At this ano.zL critical time of the war tile Ollicial Labor Party turned the soldiers iown. Their cry was, " 'Pcce with it British victory is impossible; the Allies cannot beat the Central Powers. a TIe Labor IParty standsl for thie llnleo. ildiate cenoatini If hoatilitie,, ai aunnnea l. ions, no indelnltieis." TIhi'-e were the y men now aonkilg power over tlhlell. Tllhey Sdid not represent the trie workinK oni of Ars ralia, and never did. Their men are the type of Ozanle anll i M'Gratl tand Yates. Uoantne, wlho got hisun discharge Sin EnIgland, came to see me ih ]:rince at d my hbeadquartcr ili fronut of Flcrs as ii eivilian anlld i.P. lie askedL solme .qutli.tiolls abouLt thi' menl. an1d i off'erel tf take bhim lp to tihe front line and let r hii see nllnt te lieen were silffcriig , anid eaduring. We wee about three milaes beliinL thtie line there, and hlie re Sfusedl to go il. Yet lie wrote iomne to Speople in iGeelong long letters almut Id iring for weeks in tren hes uip to tis 'g Waist illn mul0 t).(Luglter). .AIid InoItI lie is uposilg a a relturned eldier. You o will look in vain to 1i11d aleongst tile rt odlicial labor rauka one man naho diatin.

tuished himself on the field, sare as an skitator and malcontent. The true man will not stand them at any price. They asked Jacka to stand for Flinders, but bewould have none of them. Again at tie Peace Conference no one cno den}y lint Mr Hltughes and Sir Joaseph Cook lid worthily represent usa, and secured most valuable advantages to us. In the League of Natiousawe stand now of equial status with the independent powers of the world. What would have been our poasition had we followed the expressed desire of the official Labor eaders and witllhdrawn our macn from the front at the de.isirvo noment." rl OOVEaRNMEBnl AND TiHE PRODUCER Onle frequently hears the remark, What have the 'atiolnalists done for the former f" It is very easy to be critieal, particularly with fault.linding destructire tritieltnm, Moses, leading the Israelites out of the land of bondage was not confronted with greater dillienl ties, greater vexations, greater distrae tions, land one 0may aldd, with more eriti. isnms, than the National larty. They nade sone umistakes, and though ?Moses wtos under Divine guidani e lie nmde mistakes, and suffered for them. The lixantion of mlellt prices was, as most prac. tieal meat thought woond be the the a, a saseo, but the Government was Inaking an honest attetupt to keep down the coat of living. But allowing for this one failure, the aationalist Government hins accomplisbed great things for the pro. ducers, and has brought great prosperity out of what threatened to be oar ruin. The Government Ias perforlmed tell good nets for onemistake. At the out. break of the war, for which we were so unprepured, businesu shook to its foun tlations. Even the most astute business utnll lost their heads, for we, ail export teg ination, whose very life depended ot keeping tip our exports, had the doors of Ito world's markets slantuled in our faces and locked. We were, in fact. lreatened with national and individual annkruptcy. In 24 hours wool, our reoatest asset, fell ti value fromt £18 per bale to half that price, and even at that price bee?aoe quickly unsnltable. Banks old wool brokers alike were loath to idvaece their clients imore than £t a bale against wool actually in store. Then |r lHughe sumnloned Mlr Guthrie laud ,thern like hit, sand hesought them to lilt themselves together andl face the uituation, After a lot of talk these ex. perts agreed upon lifteen peace au enough to ank in all the cireulstancen They Ineti that with woollen mtills goingtheir hlnrdst we couldt only use up t0t per cent of the wool, and tilltt if we watinted cash we would have to titae whatever thoe ritish Governmuent cared to give. Well, ilr lHughes commences negotiations on that basis, and surprised everybody, and no one more than thlese experts, by bninging offa sale at 134d per pound. lie thus obtained £l,723,208 more ont that one deal tor the farmers of Austratli titan their bust mt asked, and this was in cash-(applilause)-and so the waholo thling went on through the uar. By the :00th Ju. e next they will tave paid uis £1t5,00,nnfl0 in cash for wool alone, antd we will be storing here between £'20(itiO,(K)O I land .30,utO(ll(k) which the growers will have beenl paid cash for, and on whticth the British Governmient will hli still paying storage charger to Australianl lirms. That is in wool alone. During the war the like was also done for wheat, butter and Othe like. Somtte errors there were, but ot the whole rust profits accrued to the producer. A total of £3;(t),i$ti,tl) Irnts been realised for tile producers through. out the war. Without the wool poul, the wheat pool, the tetal pool, the butter pool, the Commuonwealth ships which savrl the situation by keeping iup trade, all of which originated and were worked out by Mr Hughes, Australia aould have been hopelessly ruined. Uttetlploytment, disecoatent, and aetual starvation would have been rife. Insitead of which, by the win-thel-war policy, rwhicl raised and eqttipped a mighlyI army, twthich kupt the foes far front ni, lnd which organised our trade for i.., our people were kept in safety and com. parative luxury here. " AUSTRALItA 11S DONE Ie:t OOl." While the Miniistry did all this, the ery of hlyau all the time wais, "Australia [It Done Enough. Ste id llmore thalln her share." Ollicial ligures showed that in Great Britain nearly 6i per enut of the population ct lsh dt, andit in Australia 13 per cent. Iott Ptt L'? s. For the past tlie. years the wsorld had clhanged from being a vast productive agency to a huge lt strluetiv'e agency. Meill;aus were diverled fromt useful em. ployment, and engagel utijnu nuoitiuns tand supplies, and the world to-day was literally starving for goalods a a result of the delicieucy thus crealed. That is the real meanilng of the extrtaor~inary rise in prices. Doubtless here iand there there are instances of profiteering. Untoonb. tedly those who Ihave been fortunate etnough to 0 rner portion of the available supply have taken advaningo of the situ. ation to put tip their prices. In some eases this rise in to an extent justilied, for where the hnillnesa turnover is re. dtced and the overhlead charges remain thte same, or are increased, the price tiurt rise, or the shopkeeper go out of business. A.tnother cause of course is the flood of paper imoney causing deprecia. tion tit the purchasing power of the sovereign. But prollteering does exist, antI it is to enable the Cotnuonwealth to deal w ith it you tire asked to vote for the referendum giving power to deal with "trusts," "combines," "monoplies," Su. They are wide powoers, but are only sought as as tetmporary mneasure to try and deal sitlt these abuses. If they prove elffective. you will have another op]portunity of saying you will mlake them pertmanent. A\other contributing eause to the rise int price of living is labor troubles and industrial unrest. Power i.l asked to deal with these qitles. tions without restriction. It is seen that the Arlitration Court as estbtlishtcd is not satiiftetory, atId it is proposed to set uip boairds or coint.ils, more like our St;tle \'uuges Boatrds, ot the lines advo. e.tted in Ilritain, untder the Whltitey Coneltission. ]'tncourtgement is to be given to systLems of protit sharing, whieth ias iprovedL a greait lsuesscr i unitny Ius.ineuses ilready. A sycltetl of insurantce agutitst unCmIltUoymiient anld vicknessh is to Ibe developed, antl encouragemntet give to tie deveClopmentII of Atstrlnlitnt itdu.tries. A tneo I ariff has boeet drawo up to ensLre that the bcelit of prole . iton give natuInilly by the war ias nlot lost with the restoratioun of unormal coi. ditions. Shilbuiilding in purtieular. in eonjunetion wilh our tirot works, tutly ie cxpceted to derelop ritder the iri conditions. A vast tttoitIt of iuportnut work still reCiuain?s to bI' tIutte in tlis dircC. tion. 'ttit bhusiit sclt.henme for soldiers anl th,. ir it, pitdeluts t ill be Itshecd on with, ard thywill mntterially help the rentlcltu 'ntinu, uhic is ote of the oltot grievouts lurdes ohicLl now affect oar sttarkntcn. Ilon.e rents have risen i tutir g cat cities to beyoud till reason, ntId it is essentiail IthOt thousatnds of hlutise snhoultt be built to relieve the eonge·utiton, itInd brinIg rents doiwn to a retiouaIble lig.re, lwhich lone wouild Sjustify the ' rlioterment cetoring upoo the `theme. Then there are the dis. abled soldiers, who aire to te traited to take up occupations in which

their disabloment does not unfit them, or wherein it can be overcome. The An zoo tweed industry was established for this purpose. The men who.left their sludires nd apprenticeship are hbeiti granted sust-.naee whilst they make themselves ellicient. In the maitt r of land settlement every qualified soldier is being provided for, wl.iie should ulti mately result m himu being allotted a farm. Vhilst tihe arrange ents are in the hands of the State, the scheme is finauced by thie Commonwealth. rnA?tns' U'NION It was unfortunate thaot at the june. ture, when tohe inancial and industrial situations were so serious, that the tinuistry's attention should bo distracted by new cause of strifo and disunion, the Farmers' Union appearing. The Far. mers' Un'ons aims were national. No one objected to the Farmers' Union platform, and it would have been better Ihd they thrown in their help rather than theit hostility, and endeavrour to secure justice and a fair deal to all. It was doubtful if they could have done any better than they ilid under the Government pool. It was still open to farmers to take control by means of co. op trtive agencies ot the whole of their produce, but he trusted that this would not mean tihat they intended, having achieved complete control of these goods to starve the reot of the comamunity by keeping up the cost of, their goods be yond the world's parity. He was sure a community like this was not so selfish. oaba Eroara Tihe speaker referred to the great adve tisemeltl, Australian boots, jams, etc., received i the wvar, and to the greatmuarket awaiting in Europe. To encourage their industries, however, they must show the meni that nothing will be gained by strikes or direct aenion, while o sure and spee.ly means mi st be devi. ied of redressing tiny grievances they t'y have. PIlE-EIIEUNCa VOTE In conclusion, te again expressed re. gret at the breatk-way of the Farmters' JUnion from the National party without adeqluate reastot, andi appealed to his hearers if thery could not give the i'atio. nal Senate candidate their first rote to irve tlhen tlheir preference, and put the Labor candidates last. The speaker resumed his seat amidst hearty applause. The Uthairim anuunouneed that the cunididdate would be pleased to answer questions, but none were forthcoming. A vole of conlideace itn the three National Senate candidates was subse. quently moved by Mr S. Vary, seconded by iMrG. Bond and carried in an enthu Giastic luanller. [George Watson, Morwell.]

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