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THE POLITICAL CRISIS.
MR. WHITSITT'S ALLEGATIONS.
REPLY BY MR. MULCAHY.
The Minister of Lands and Works
(Hon. E. Mulcahy), seen last evening
on the political situation, said to a
"Mercury" reporter : -
"I have recently expressed my regret
that people in the different districts of
Tasmania, small as the territory may be,
have such little knowledge of the re-
sources held by other districts, and of
the general wealth to bo found in almost
every part of this richly-endowed island.
While such ignotance may be excusable
upon the part of those who are indis-
posed or unable to travel and make
themselves acquainted with the other
parts of the country, it is not pardon-
able when exhibited try a representative
of the people endowed with a railway,
pass and given from time to time oppor-
tunities by local residents of seeing what
other parts of the State are like. Pos-
sibly people in Darwin may consider
that Mr. Whitsitt should be well-in-
formed regarding the other parts of
the State for the above reason, and
may therefore attach some importance
to the statements that he is making.
It is a good thing for the special district
to have a representative who believes in
i, and Mr. Whitsitt may be credited
with believing, at any rate, in some
portions of the district for which he is
a member. But a Parliamentarian
should represent his country as well as
his district, and should remember that
Ministers have to consider all portions
of it, and that other electorates are
entitled to consideration throughout the
island besides those near the hon. mem-
ber's own home.
THE RAILWAY TO DERBY.
"I am simply astounded," said the
Minister, "by Mr. Whitsitt's reflections
on the proposal to continue the line
from Branxholm to Derby. He was in-
vited by the people there to pay a visit
and view for himself, and, as he is the
only judge of land in Tasmania, it is a
pity that he did not recognise that it
was his duty to visit the district and
condemn it from his superior knowledge.
The Branxholm-Moorina line extension
is us fully justifiable a section of rail-
way line to be constructed as any line
that has ever been built in this State.
Good as the North-West Coast land is,
and great as my belief is, and always
has been, in that district, there is no
portion of it better than the twenty to
thirty thousand acres of land we were
shown through in the North-East., and
on which I had the pleasure of hearing
the favourable comments of men who
have forgotten more about farming than
Mr. Whitsitt ever learned. The Par-
liamentary members of every party were
surprised to find such a splendid area,
undeveloped, Mr. Whitsitt's condemna-
tion to the contrary.
THE PREOLENNA TRAM.
"What on earth is it, outside, of a
radius of a few miles from Wynyard,
that Mr. Whitsitt does not condemn ?"
asked the Minister. "And what on, earth!.
is it that he ever makes an accurate
statement about ? He has been in-
formed by me personally regarding the
tramline to Preolenna that the Govern-
ment only desired to obtain a know-
ledge of what really was the best route
in the interests of the country, and that
the Wynyard route would receive the
same consideration as the other one
from Cam, which, by a mere accident,
was first surveyed. He has tried to
make out that I broke a pledge to that
Wynyard people, notwithstanding the
recorded fact that I had distinctly in-
formed them that the route, the gauge,
and the grade of the line were to be
the responsibility of the Government,
just as it has been in other districts.
This is reported explicitly in two news-
papers, and any statement made by
Mr. Whitsitt, or anybody else, that I
ever explicitly promised a tramway to
Preolenna from Wynyard, and from no-
where but Wynyard, is absolutely incor-
rect. I thought the chances were it
would go from Wynyard, but took care
to guard myself on this matter as stat-
ed. Fortunately, I have a full verbatim
report of my speech in reply to the
Progress League, which approached
me at Wynyard on the question.
PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS.
"Another of Mr. Whitsitt's misleading
assertions is in connection with a
conference held between the two Houses
of Parliament to consider the question
of repairs to Parliament House. The
present State Parliament House is
really the old Customs House, near the
foreshore of Sullivan's Cove, in a mag-
nificent position for commercial pur-
poses. It is really a long warehouse,
for which it was designed, and utterly
unsuited for the purpose of Parlia-
mentary Chambers. Seven or eight
thousand pounds has been expended in
patching and fixing and altering it in
various ways since I first entered Par-
liament, and it will require at present
a substantial sum- probably £5,000 or
£6,000- to make it reasonably suitable
even from a sanitary standpoint. I
called the members'of both Houses
together, and explained the position to
them as it concerned their comfort, and
to a large extent their health and wel-
fare. My proposal was to let this splen-
did site to be used for commercial pur-
poses by renting it on a long lease and
granting building leases on the waste
of ground immediately in front of it. I
could easily have obtained an offer that
would have provided more than the in-
terest and sinking fund necessary to
construct a Parliament House of modest
dimensions, but of modern design, in
part of St. David's burial ground, which
has been closed 42 years, a place which
is lying waste to-day, and is discredit-
able to the city. My boom and burst
policy, condemned in such grossly inac-
curate and unfair terms by a man who
did not take the trouble to listen to my
proposition, was one which provided
members of Parliament with decent ac-
commodation for their Parliamentary
duties at an annual gain to the public
revenue of some hundreds, for the in-
terest and sinking fund on the new
building would have been paid for easily
by the rents arising from the much bet-
ter and more appropriate use of the
old one, whilst St. David's burying
ground could, at the same time, be
turned into a very handsome little re-
serve in connection with the Parlia-
mentary buildings without any desecra-
tion to its original purpose whatsoever.
SOUTHERN RAILWAY SCHEMES.
"I have not got time to waste on the
statements made regarding the attempt-
ed development of the Huon backcoun-
try by means of light cheap tramways,
only to say ngain that Mr. Whitsitt's
statements regarding the Arve River
tramway were absolutely incorrect, as
is also most of what he says about the
Tyenna railway. Although the Tyenna
railway was bequeathed to me by a
former Minister, when I found that
doubts were expressed as to its being
a justifiable proposition, I made it my
business to pay a visit to the district,
and came back absolutely satisfied that
there was timber enough along the line
of the route of tramway to fully justify
its construction, and that after that its
extension to the Florentine Valley would
be-only a matter of time. In the mean-
time, the fruit development will have
more than warranted the cost of con-
struction. Of course, the opinion of
experts, such as the Surveyor-General,
or other officers of the Government who
report upon those things, are not deem-
ed worth a moment's respect by Mr.
Whitsitt, but to a man who is not so
absolutely 'one-eyed' they might be
listened to as having some value.
"I will take my time and opportunity
in the House to deal with this and other
matters, but I desire in the meantime
to prevent the people of Darwin from
being misled by incorrect, and unfair
statements. I have to remind Mr.
Whitsett and those people whom he may
be misinforming at the present time

that mv appreciation of the mteiosts
of the North-West Coast, and particu-
larly the region of it which he repre-
sents w as a leading factor m my defeat
when I was formerly Minister But I
know, too that there do happen to be
a good many other bright spots in Tas-
mania than the one where his estates
and interests happen to lie."

MR. WHITSITT'S CONSTITUENTS.

PUBLIC MEETINGS BEING

ARRANGED.

The Liberals of Burnie are to hold a
meeting to-night to discuss the political
situation, brought about by the action
of Mr. Whitsitt in placing in power,and
giving support to a Labour Government.
Meetings are also being arranged for

other centres.

The North-West "Advocate" says "the
consensus of opinion appears to be that
Mr. Whitsitt has distinctly broken his
pledges, and practically thrown over the
electors who selected him as their repre-
sentative. As far is the Burnie branch
of the Liberal League is concerned, it
is probable that it will he decided to
urge Mr. Whitsitt to give his support to
the Liberals There are rumours of
what is to happen in the event of a
general election taking place. Mr. A.
T. Marshall, it is understood has prac-
tically expressed his willingness to con-
test the seat in the Liberal interests,
while the Warden of Circular Head
(Councillor J. T. Johnson) is also men-
tioned. A number of electors are ex-
pressing a desire that Councillor G.
Chapple, also of the Circular Head
Council, should consent to be nominat-
ed."

MR WHITSITT'S POLITICAL

EPITAPH.

"The political situation is creating a
considerable amount of interest in Ul-
verstone. Among the farmers the feel-
ing prevails that Mr. Whitsitt in his

present attitude is acting detrimental
to their interests. They state they do
not desire, nor is it desirable, that the
Government should repeal the Act, as
Mr. Whitsitt so peremptorily ordered.
They are not desirous, they say, of ship-
ing potatoes affected with grub or any
other disease to any of the outside ports.
The farmer is quite able to see his way
in any matter affecting his own inter-
ests, and he is able to gauge the effect
of Mr. Whitsitt's agitation. Several of
the largest growers expressed them-
selves forcibly that if the Government
had acquiesced in the proposal to re-
peal the act the whole of the markets
in the Commonwealth would have been
closed against Tasmanian potatoes in a
couple of weeks. It is idle to talk about
the Supremo Court in such a case, as
before the matter was settled this year's
crop would he spoiled, and probably
next year's also. The action of Mr.
Whitsitt will, it is expected, lead to
grave results, and many here predict
he has written his own political
epitaph."

LIBERAL MEETINGS IN DARWIN.

BURNIE,. March 29.

The Liberals of Darwin have held
meetings at Ulverstone, Penguin, and
Wynyard, and have almost unanimous-
ly condemned the action of Mr. Whit-
sitt in connection with his declared in-
tention to place Labour in power. At
Ulverstone the following motion was
passed : -

That this meeting of Liberals, re-
presenting, it is believed, the Liberal
opinion of the Leven subdivision of
Darwin, expresses its strong disap-
proval of the action of their represen-
tative, Mr. Whitsitt, but entertains
the hope that even at this stage he
will hesitate before allowing himself
to become the instrument of placing
in power a party whose principles are
in direct opposition to those of the

Liberals of this coast.

Burnie Liberals will meet on Mon-

day night, when, also, Mr. Whitsitt ad-
dresses a meeting convened by him-

self.

Local Liberals have not yet aban-
doned the hope that their party will be
safeguarded against Labour rule.
I_

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