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PARTY' MEN
In Tasmania thc school of ad-
versity under Federally imposed
conditions has long ago driven
from the citizens' minds the old
fashioned devotion to political par-
ties which matched, but in a much
more ignoble form, the principle of
"mycountry, right or wrong." People
here have come to recognise that there
is something higher than a blind devo-
tion to a party; that parties whatever
their colour must justify loyalty by
their deeds and their usefulness to the
State; and that leaders cannot claim
allegiance merely because of their
position if they interpret the party's
principles wrongly and do not show
themselves worthy of leadership.
Driven by necessity, we have had to
sink party to some extent in order to
demand with a united voice the due re-
dress of our grievances. Thus it came
as rather a shock to find that what
everybody is agreed upon in Tasmania
is by no means agreed upon in the
Federal Parliament, where party in
the old bad sense still rules. The em-
phatic expressions we print to-day
from various representative Tasman-
ians show how general is the protest
against such party stupidity as was
shown by the Labour Senators, happily
a minority, who voted against Senator
Mitten's motion to obtain reasonable
Federal assistance, for the one island
State of the Commonwealth in thc
event of a shipping strike or lock-out
destroying our means of communica-
tion with the Mainland. The Senate
is supposed to represent the Stateí
rather than the electors as individuals
and therefore should be superior to the
claims of any party when true states-
manship demands a non-party view
Fortunately the Senators of the Minis-
terial side are in a majority and wer«
amenable to reason, so that even with
out the valuable aid of Senator Ogden
as Senator for Tasmania, the' motioi
asking the Federal Government to as
sure our shipping communication:
being maintained would have been car
ried.. But Senator Ogden was none
the less the splendid exception on the
Labour side-the other Labour Sena-
tors had to obey the lash of the party
whip that called them to stifle their
minds and come to heel. It is all very
well for the Trades-hall to excuse them
on the ground that they could not give
"an open order" to the Government
without an .indication of what mea-
sures would be taken to do what Tas-
mania desires. The important question \
was not how the safety of Tasmania
would be se»ured but whether the Gov-
ernment should or should not try to
secure it For the simple proposition
that in the event of a dispute isolating
Tasmania, for no fault of her own, the
Federal Government should do its best
to keep boats running, any Senator
possessing a reasonable mind might
surely have been expected to vote,
whatever his political party. That no
Labour Senator save Senator Ogden
had such reasonableness and independ-
ence is a proof that Tasmania cannot
look to thc Labour Party as a whole
for justice when there is any question
of party expediency to consider. Clear-
ly the Rights League was well advised
in making itself a non-party organisa-
tion, for only by putting party spirit
into its proper place of subordination
can any Australian State expect to get
out of the political slough in which all
are becoming more and more deeply
engulfed.
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