Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

WEDNESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 1914

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

1870 Railways Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] British Naval Successes.

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

V\EDNESDAY, 11 NOVE:.I!BER, 1914.

The SPEAKER (IIon. W. D. Armstrong, Lockyer) took tho chair at ha!f-paBt 3 o'clock.

BRITISH XAVAL SUCCESSES.

The PREMIER (Hon. D. F. Denham, Oxley) : I ask the permiB,ion of the House to read a telegram just received from the Right Honourable the Prime Minister of the Com'llonwealth.

The SPEAKER: Is it the pleasure of the House that tlw Premier be allowed to read the telegram?

HONO'CRABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear !

The PREMIER : Just before coming to the House I received the follo-,ving telegram, which I am ,,urP will give some satisfaction to membe,·s of this House, and soine consola­tion to the so·rowing relatives of the men who have been killed or wounded in the fight:-

" IIigh Commis:sioncr announces losses on ' Sydney' three killed, fift:en wo:mded; 'Emden' losses hoav,v. 'Komgs­herg ' discovered Rufigi River. bom­barded by ' Chatham' and locked in river. Indian Pacific Ocean thus clear, except German equa,dron off Chili."

As hon. members know, the Cocos Islands,

British Naval Successes. [ll NoVE1IBEH.] Questions. 1~71

where the " Emden" was caught, are mid­way between Australia and Colombo; and Rufigi, where the ''Konigsberg" is locked up, is in German East .\.frica. It is most important that those two cruisers have been silenced, thus freeing Australian trade from menace as far as the enemy ships are con­cerned.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear !

The PREMIER: I am sure that all must experience a thrill of pride that it fell to the lot of a unit of the Australian Navy to account for the enemy's cruiser " Emden."

HoNODRABLE MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

The PREMIER: No other 'hip under the <merny's flag has done so much injury to the shipping of the Allies. vVe are, therefore, doubly proud that it s!10uld be an Australian ship that demolished the '' Emden." (Hear, hear!) ~o naval victors ic, poscible without its toll of denth and suffering, and sorrow will be mixed with pride for the three brave sailors who have been lost in the fight, ,and for the fifteen who were wounded. (Hear, hear !) Those three men fell in the hour of victory, and our sympathy goes out to the friends of the men who have given their lives for the Empire. The doings of the " Sydney" will live for all time, and the heroism of the departed will over be grate­fully remembered. (Hear, hear!) I desire to conclude with the following motion:-

"That this House send a message of sympathy, through the Right Honoura,ble the Premier of the Commonwealth, to the nearest of kin of those who have died and to the neare ,t of kin of those who are wounded; and also of our satis­faction at the immortal honour gained by the Australian cruis-er ' Sydney.' "

HONODRABLE MEMBERS: Hear, hear !

Mr. RYAN (Barcoo): I desi,.e to second the motion moved by the Premier. The incident to which the hon. gentleman has referred is a striking proof that Australia has adopted the right policy with regard to naval defence. (Hear, hear!) It is also a striking proof of the sterling qualities of Australian sailors.

HONOURABLE MEMP.ERS: Hear. hear!

Mr. RYA::\': I am sure that the general expression of praise which is heard through­out the world to-day must make us feel proud. as Australians, of the part we are taking in Australian defence. (Hear, hear!) I desire to add that I join with the Premier in <>Xpressing my sympathy for the relatives of those who lost their lives in so gallantly fighting in what I consider the cause of justice--(hear, hear !)-and in expressing a hope that tho wounde,d may soon be restored to health again.

HoNOURABLE MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

The SPEAKER: I suggest to hon. mem­bers that the~- rise in their places while I rut the question.

Members having' risen in their places,

Question put and passed.

QUESTIONS. CoAL FOR Q.G.S. "LDCINDA."

::\lr. S0~1EHSET (Stanley) asked the Prernier~-

.. 1. Who is responsible for the pur­chasing of, also for the approving of, and taking delivery of, respectivels, coal for use on the Q.G.S. 'Lucinda'?

"'2. What is the quality of coaL stipu­lated for; the name of contractor supply­in<I same; does the coal supplied fulfil conditions?

'' 3. Is he aware that, partly owing to the nature of coal supplied, firemen are at times reduced to a state of physical exhaustion 1

" 4. That inferior coal spells excessive extra hard labour, without corresponding stea1n efficiency T "

The PREMIER replied-" 1. Coal is supplied to the 'Lucinda'

on requisition from that vessel's officers to the contractors, under a contract which includes the vee,ds of the Chief Secre­tary's, Home Secretary's, Marine, and Harbour and Rivers Departments. The coal under tho contract is to be delivered to the vessels requiring same to the •atis­faction of the master or engineer of that vessel.

'' 2. The quality stipulated in the con· tract is the best quality of Queensland steam coal. The contractors are j\.IJessrs. Hcth8rit'gton and Rylanco. The West Moreton coals are of good calorific value, but burn with a large percentage of refuc;e. \\'hen complaints have been made to the contractors as to quality, thev have attended to same.

"3. No. "4. Inferior coal means more work in

keeping stean1, not nece<;sarily exces­sive.''

PREFEREl\CE TO BRITISH MANl:FACTURERS.

Mr. LE:\':\'0::\' (Herbert) asked the Pre­mie~~

·' \Vill the Government. in all future contracts, give preference to Briti~h Empire manufacturers in all publrc departments under their control 1 "

The PREMIER replied-" The Government has alwavs done so,

and will continue to do so.'' "

EVASION OF SUGAR CULTIVATIOX ACT.

Mr. LEN::\'ON asked the Treasurer-

" \Yhat is the result of his promised inquiries regarding the reported eva.,io::r of tho Su~ar Cultivation Act in the Johnstone nand Herbert Rivers dis­tricts?"

The TREASURER (Hon. W. H. Barnes, Bulirnba) replied-

" Being surrounded with co:osiderab!e difficulty and having doubt of being able to "''ecure a conyiction, so far no action has been taken. \Vhen cvidcn-e of « more definite nature is forthco:ning, fur­ther consideration will be gi,-en to this matter."

1872 Questions. [ASSEMBLY.] Boonah Show Ground Bill.

PREFERENCE TO AcsTRALIAN OILs.

Mr. BERTR \M (Jlarce) ask ;d tho Sec­retary for Railways-

" 1. Has it been tho practice in the past, in accepting tenders for oils for railw:1y purposes, to give preference to oils of Australian manufaccure?

" 2. \Yilt reasonable preference be given in future contracts to Australian oih, provided such oils comply with ;;pocifications ?"

The SECRETARY FOR RAIL \VA YS (lion. W. T. Paget, Jiackay) replied-

" 1. Yes. "2. Yes."

0VERTI:IIE AT IPSWICH \VORKSHOPS.

Mr. THEODORE (Chillayoe) asked the Secretary for Railways-

" 1. How many men have been em­ployed "t overtime work at the Ipswich wurkshops each week during the past six weeks?

" 2. How many hours overtime were worked by the respective employees in each week during the same period?"

The SECRETARY FOR RAILWAYS replied­

" 1. \V eek ended-4th October, 1914

11th October, 1914 18th October, 1914 25th October, 1914 1st November, 1914 .. . 8th N ovornber, 1914 .. .

" 2. \V eek ended~ 4th October, 1914

11th October, 1914 18th October, 1914 25th October, 1914 1st J'\ovember, 1914 .. . 8th November, 1914 .. .

Men. 449 222 237 134 163 105

1,310

Hours. ... 4,525 ... 664 ... 1,938

793 876

... 50()

9,296"

OvERTIME AT GovERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

::Y1r. THEODORE asked the Treasurer-" 1. Is he aware that at the Govern­

ment Printing Office compositors were brought back to work oYertime at night on three occasions last week?

"2. Is he aw-are that many composi­tors are out of work in Brisbane in consequence of the dislocation of trade caused by the war?

" 3. Is the action of the Government in working employees overtime, while competent men are out of employment, consistent with tho advice tendered by him to private employers to apportion work out as far as poF3ible among those who <1re available for it?"

The TREASURER replied­" 1. Yes. "2. I am aware that a few men are

out of work. "3. Certain urgent work for the Rail­

way Department 'that carne in late,' made. it nec("'3Sary to work overtime."

ADVANCES UNDER \YORKERS' DWELLINGS AcT.

Mr. WI:'-JSTA~LEY (Quecnton) asked the Secret<lry for Public \Yorks-

" 1. \Yhat is the total amount ad­vanced undrr the \Yorkers' Dwellings _\ct?

"2. \Yhat amount has been repaid to date?

"3. \Yhat number of borrowers arc civil servants?

" 4. \Vhat is the average cost of their houses?

" 5. \Yhat number of borrowers are tradesmen or artisans?

"6. \Yhat is the ayerage cost of their properties?

"7. How many borrowers are labourers or unskilled workers?

" 8. \Vhat is the average co,t of their houses?''

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS (Han. W. H. Barnes, Bulimba) replied-

" 1. to 8. As the information sought i< not readily obtainable, I decline to answer the questions of the han. mem­ber."

PURCHASE OF \VHEAT BY GOVERNMENT.

Mr. BARBER (Bundaberg) asked the Pre mier-

" 1. Is it a fact that the Government purchased for a Brisbane mill 18,50(} bags of wheat, which was aboard tho intPrned steamer ' Cannst<1tt'?

" 2. \Vhat was the price paid per bushel?

" 3. \Vhat brokerage was paid by vendors?

" 4. To whom was such brokerage paid?

" 5. Did any other mill in Queensland have an opportunity of purchasing thG shipment?"

The PREMIER replied-" 1. and 2. Owing to c:~mplications

which arose from the fact that the wheat referred to was in a captured Germar, "hip, the Government intervened to keep tho grain in Queensland, and brought to a successful issue negoti<1tions for its purchase by the Brisbane Milling Com­pany.

"3. None. "4. Nobody. "5. Yes."

BOONAH SHOW GROUKD BILL.

INITIATION AND FIRST READING.

On the motion of the SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC INSTRCCTION (Hon. J. W. Blair, lps1cich), a Bill to enable tho trustees of the land comprised in Deed of Grant No. 103853, being portion 119, in the county of \Vard and parish of Dugandan, and being <> reserve for a showground, to mortgage the> same, was read a first time.

Elections Acts [ll NovEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1873

ELECTIONS _\CTS AMENDMENT BILL.

SECOND READING-RESUMP1'ION OF DEBATE.

::\Ir. BERTR~\M (Jiarc,): The debate on the second reading of thj,, Bill has been so full that it is almo:ot impos·iblc to '·aY any­thing that has not alre-tdy been said. For that rea.- en I do not intc·nd to tJko up much tinw in di·<·u-o:,ing it. I dt '-ire to cxprc:~s concisely and brict1;- what my vicv·s are of the proposed an1endrncnts. It se(~m.:.; to me that the action of the Goycrnmont in intro­ducing this Bill c:m be likonrd h a drmvn­ing 111an ( lutching .;.t a straw. Th' Go­vcnrncnt re-~,~·ni~e tln.t they are doomed, unless they do comcth;ng to prevent a large nurnb T of electors from ext.~rcising- their fra.nchi -e at the nc,,t election. This Bill has been introduced for 110 other purpose than to provcnt a large number of electors of Queensland giving expression to their de­sire, at the ballo•·-box at th<' next ctedion. It is claimed by members opposit,, that this measure ha-. been introduced for the purpose of c'cansing the roll. and enabling every ejeetor who is eligib!P to go on the roll t·J vote at the next eleetion. That claim is nothing more nor less than hypocrisy, a.nd I use th<' word advisedly, became the more I look into it the more I am oatisfied that it i- de-igned to preYent a. large number of pcoplP from ''oting at the next election. The debate is remarkable for one thing. \Ve have the firet tacit admis•·ion from tho han. member for Murilla that tho Liberal Association in the past has been subsidi.-Pd by trusto and combine'· (Hear, hear:) He did not admit that in direct \\ords. but his tacit admission \Vas that in the pa-t the Liberal A·.,ociation had been subsidi "d bv trush and combine,.. He said that the Liberal _\,,qoc:a.tion was now dead as a. re"1lt of tho trusts and com hines having transferred their funds from that '"sociation. H is rather :..ignificant. that with the decease of the Liberal As·ociation we have a Bill introdunC'd into this Pc .. r!iament, which, to my mincl. s0eks to do the work tho Liberal Association has dono in th' past. I can only think that the han. m0mber for Nor­manby, who is the chairman of tho central executive of tho Liberal Association, de­spairing at not being able to revive interest in thu Liberal Association. ha- induced this Govcrnn1ent to introduce thiR 1nea::Jure. 'vhiC'h seeks to pre vent a large ntPnber of electors froiil using the franchise at the next election. The Chief Secret;n-v. in speaking on the Ekdi_ons Bill introduced Ia.< year, claimed thnt rt \V .ts a perfect measure; in fact. all memberc- on that side clanned that it was a perfect rneasure. Before tba t me:1., ure was given n trial at an clr[•tjon, we hnxe the Government comin" down with another nmend·nent of the Ekctions Act, just on thu < ·c of the clect;on. A mo.'t objet·~iontblc feature of this Bill i• th,ct which permits the bi-monthly revi>ion court to strike off names from the roll. Thct- will result in a large nu:nh,•r. parli< ularl:>· the nomadi0 worker, ami workinr; men gcncrallv. being unnbk to r>x0rcisc their franchise at the next. <'lcdion. Let m<' cite a hvpothetical c:1se for the Home Secretary, to ehow him how a. krp-e number of people will be unable to usc their franchise at the next election. _\s­sumc th't thu Chief Justice of Queensland left his electorate on the 1st of December. Under this amending measure he would not he entitl0d to apply for enrolment for a new

1914---5 y

electorate until the 1st February. That would be too la~e for the February revision court, and, consequently, his cla.in1 for cnrohnent would not be received until tho April court. The April court would receive the name, but it would no, be emollcd until the June <;ourt. That would apply to any person as well tho Chief J uotico who left one elec­tm·ate on the l•t of Deccmb, r for th.e pur· po ., of rc .. iding in another elcvtorate. Any pmoon leaving hi elcctoratu on the 1st Do­comber cannot get enrolled until the June court Iullo,ving. Ls that a fair thing? That shm\ .. , th 1 t tho Bill is goin!r to prevent a. lot of peoph_, fTon1 cxorci3ing thn franchise ,_'.·hen the election : dme9 on. Probablv that is the objc· t of it. Thi·· Bill would not haYO 'been inhocluc d but for tho prehure of tho corner party. Thy liom0 _SPcrctary doc· not ap­proYe of rt. He. hko other hon. members opp _site. approve of the Bill passed last _\Oar. He was quite satisfied with that Bill. It is under-.tood that so-_lle han. members opposit• exprc· ed tho opinion in caucus that they were '.tisficd with the Bill pabOed last year. and that it should first b-, given a trial. It i" at the request of the corner part,- th ,t this Bill has be0 n introduced, particularlv the hon. member for J\lurilla, who kno"'s that it ,. ill prevent a hrge numbBr of people from Yoting. The vote given at the Federal election probrtbly prompted the Government to introduce the Bill at this hour. We know that at the last State election the majority of the Labour party was increased by 40,000 votec over those polled in 1909, or a total of 67 per cent. The Government, on the other hand, only increased their voting strength by 29,000 votes, or 24 per cent. Since that time two Fedora! elections have been hold, and tho Labour party's vote continues to grow. Our friends opposite recognise that if they do not preYent many people from voting, then it is only a qn<'•,tion of time when thev will have to leave the Treasury benches, and make ay for somo other party. This Bill shows that it is onlv frantic effort on the part of the Govcrm;wnt to prevent people f~om giving Pxprcssion to their ~~ic·, t: t 1-.­

ballot-box. It is unfair that a measure of this kind should be introduced ju·<t before an election, wh~n there uro a number of other measures which were forecast in the Go­vernor's Speech, and \Vhich would be much more usdul than this one for the people of Qu0ensland. Yet. these other measures are going to be dropped on one side. \Vhat about the amendment of the Health Act to prevent oynrcrowding in houses, and to limit the area of the land on which houses could bo er<'ctncl? \Vc "ould he better engaged in deo_ling with a Bill of that kind, instf'~d of di"cn~Rlng an a.1nendn1cnt of the Ele{'tions Act. These good measures are to be dropped just because the Government want to tamper with the franchise That is a most unfair thing on the part of the Gove,·nment. Another objectionable feature in the Bill is the propos'll to ]1Prmit two electors to witness a postal vote·. I am not averse t0 giving c. po')tal votB to any "'ick or inYalid person, but the po.•tal vote has hren ahusccl to such an extent that it is almost imno"sible to pre­vent corruption under it. T a'n surprisnd that a number of mcmb0rs whn voted a~ain•,t the postal voting system arc now founc\ sit­ting hehind the Govemment. which re1nlro· {lur··s it. At one time the hon. no.>mber for East Toowoomba charactPriscd the postal vote as an iniquitous proposal. and he could

Mr. Bertram.]

1874 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

not say anything strong enough in condem­nation of it. He said it was not possible to have the postal vote without corruntion and he was bitterly opposed to it. s~ als~ did a number of members on the other side--the hon. member for Cook, Mr. Douglas, the

bon. member for Burrum, Mr. [4 p.m.] Hankin-these men all stwngly

ovpo,ed this measure when it 1vas introduced on a £onn0r o-ec::tsion, and quito a number of them, including the Secre­tary for Public Instruction, assisted Mr. Kidston, who was then Premier, to wipe it out. Mr. Kidston said that it was so open to abuse and corruption that they must wipe it OlJt root and branch, and no fev.er than a dozen members sitting behind the Govern­ment n01Y supported him when it wa3 abolished from the statute-book. Yet we find that when it is propoc-0d to reintroduce it in a morr iniquitous form than previously, they are sitting behind the Government and assist­ing to bring it about. Wo know that if this ailltnd,nPnt of the law is carried. the postal rote 1;rovi8iVn6 Y/ill be open to the grossest abuse at the next election. It was bad enough before, when it needed only a justice of the peace to witne_,,, <1 postal vote, but no\v, \Vhcn t\YO elector.., can \Vitness such a vote, the door will be opened wider than it wa'' before. I hope that 1\hen we reach the Co:nmittee stages, and an <tttempt is made from this side of the, House to alter the Bill, some members >vho previously expressed their objuction to tho postal vote will be found vocing with this side of the Hone•·•'. The hon. member for Fitzroy was very strong in his denunciation of the postal vote pro­visions, and yet we have not heard one word of protest from him again·.,t this proposal to reinsert it in this Bill. So far as the com­pulsory voting provision f<ea.ture of the Bill is concerned, I am not going to ,,ay that it is either a good or a bud one. I am as :s~et undecided as to whether it is altogether a wise provision. My own personal opinion is that it is hardly a wise thing to imut such a provision in tho me<tsure. I entirely agree with compulsory enrolment, but I do not know that it is yet a wise thing to compel ~n elector to vote whether he desires to do so or not. We <til know that there are cases in which electors are averse from voting for either candidate, and under those circum­stances I say that it is, perhaps, unfair to compel all persons living within 5 miles of a polling-booth to vote for one candidate or anothet', or render their votes informal, or be liable to a fine. M,v own personal opinion is that compulsory enrolment and compulsory voting are not going to injuriously affect the L<tbour party, but that they will enhance their chances of capturing the Treasury benches at the next el0ction. but that does not prevent me expressing the opinion that it is not altogether a wis<> thing to imert such a provision in this Bill. As I ... ,id at the outset of the few remark;; I h :vo ma-le. I did not int-end to occupy much of the time of the House•. The matter has b• en verv fully dis­cussed, and we will probably hav'e very fdl discussion when we reach the Committee stages, and I shall not do anything more now than express my hope that whon we reach the Committee stages the Bill will be amended in su<'h a >Ya v as to make it a mw·h less objectionable mt ~sure than it is at the pr~gent time.

[Mr. Bertram.

Mr. KESSELL (Port Curtis) : One cannot be surprised at the objection that hon. mem­bers opposite have to a clean roll. \Ve all know that they have a weakness in the Federal electoral arena for stuffed rolls, and they certainly object to any attempt by this party in the direction of clean rolls such as 've are now undertaking. The 1nain object of this Bill, I take it, is to remove any opportunity for that. Everybody in thi, House, and anybody who has had .-xperience of elections outside, knows that there aro persons who are placed on the rolls irre­specth-e of their claims to be there, and this Bill is to stop irregularities of that sort. \Ye had the lamentable spectacle at Dundabcrg only last week of an e'\-member of this House and a member ot this House being present in court ~Shen 135 irregular claims were made to the coud. I say it is a standing disgrace to both those men that they associate themselves with such a scandalous state of affairs. I will say this­that I do not think the han. member for Bundaberg knew anything about it, b.'cause he has not the intelligence to know wlwthor he was doing wrong in the matter-he ·held the s>va.'i outside while the other mau burgled the electorate, because my opinion, formed from my obsen-ation in this House, is that he has not the abclitv to take an intelligent view of any matt~r at all. I say that the man who engincere::: the thing--­his partner, his colleague, or his pal, or whatever you call him-he is the man on whom the' blame should lie, and, in my opinion, he committed a crime in tho eyes of every decent man in the country. \Vc have heard a lot of violent hlk opposite as to what has been done in regard to the rejcdion of electoral elaims, but I do not think there is one specifk case proving the wild statilments that hon. members opposite havo made. There arc three features that

>cmd ont in this Bill, to my mind. and tho fir>t is that no person who has a right tn enrolment shall be refueerl. There is not the slighte~t doubt that men rbim to have their names put on the roll in some casco through ignorance. I know that men have come 'to me in my electoratn, and I have asked them whether thev were on the roll and they said, "No." 'r then asked them if they wanted to get on the roll, and when I attempted to fill up a claim they could not answer the questions, and I hod to tell the·n thev would haye to wait in the countrY the spe~ified time before they ould be eligible t-o be placed on the roll. But in the ease of hon. members opposite-some of them fill up claims carefully-I know of ~orne cases­we had a case last week-where thev and their supportcrs fill up th<> claims haphazard.

JVIr. HFXlLDl: You a·-sume a lot of virtue to yourself.

:\1r. KESSELL: I do not assume any virtue to myself. It is what we expect from an honest man. The bon. member who in­terjects is a verv honourable man, in In~ ... opinion. but still hon. members opposite, and, worse still, some of their supporters, do not know tho AD C of p]ectoral honesty.

The SPEAKER : Order !

Mr. KESSELL: The senond feature of this Bill aims at providing that no name which i;; properly enrolled shall be ren1oved, and that. on the other hand, Pverv na'!le which is improperly on the roll, shall bo,

Elections Acts [ll NOVEMBER,] Amendment Bill. 1875

and ought to be. removed. No man on <either side of th.e Hou-e should for one second expect any name to be placed on the electoral roll that should not be there, and if a na1ne is in1properly there, no man in this House should expect it to remain there, and cv~ry application wrongfully made sh(Ju! l b0 rejected. vV e hear that the re­gistrar, if he has reason to believe that the daim is invalid, or that the name should not bP on the roll, can rej oct it. I know ·eomething of the registrars of Queensland, 'tnrl have had a good deal of experience v:ith Sf'Yeral of them, and n1y expL'ricnce i~ thot they are ab:-olutely upright and trust­'vorthy 1ncn.

:Yir. ;vrcCoRMACK interjected. :Yir. KESSELL: Fancy a member making

.cuch a stupid, asinine, interjection as that! He judges me from the low, thimble-rigging Btandard of politics on which he acts. I am wrprised that he should make such a stupid ml'l slippery interjection. 'I'he registrars of the electoral courts, as I kno'l them, are honest men, and they only object to names when they have grave reaso:1s for doing so. and the, know they should not be there. Such a law as we arc attempting to put <Jn to the 8tatute-books, and "hieh will be law in a few days, cannot be objected to by those who are desirous of making an <>lection the means by which tho ,-oic•· of the people may be heard. To my mind that i·' the beginning and almost thfl end of

' -democracy :Ylr. FIHELLY: It ;~ certainlv the end of

it. (Laughter.) • :1Ir. KESSELL: This particular Bill will

be the end of some of the political dead­beat~ oyer there. True democracy will come ±o stay if this Bill gets on the statute-book. (Opposition laughter.) The idea of hon. members opposite in regard to democracy i' something like their idea in regard to <Hb'tration. When it is in their favour it j, all ri<cht, but when it is against them­,, rbitration be blowed ! It is the same with <C!emocracy. When the voice of the people .,peaks for them. it is all right: but when the voice of the people speaks for rightoous­nc·3, truth, and justice, and tho Liberal partv, it is all wrong. There has been a tremendous lot said for tho~e who are un­qualifieLl to vote-men who have no homes anywhere, and do not want a home. I have no objection to a man getting a vote if he has an interest in the countrv, but it is true that these men without settled homrs-tho hon. member for Jl.furrumba ye"terday demonstrated it very clearly-can­not by any stretch of imagination claim to have a right to vote for an~·body. Thev have no interest in the oountrv. and do not want it. At the \Yestern ·Australian Federal elc,ctions recentlv Wfl had an idea of what stuffed rolls should be. I have 11•eard wme memberf< opposite SiiY that the Federal rolls had not bm·n altorr'd bv tho late Prime Minister (Mr. Cook) when he had the opportunity. Am·body "·ho fol­lowed thB events of tho yenr during' which he was Prime Minister will know that he h~d no chance of 8Jtering the electoral law. lfe had no chance of providin!! clean rolh 'f>n had no chance of providing- that on!; those who oug-ht to vote should re-nain on >J,p roll. hut. ~1! the awful roguer:v drme by King O'Malley was allowed to stand, and that is whv at the last election the Labour party crept back to power. But in Western

Australia, in spite of the alarmiug con­dition of the rolls the Labour party only Just got back by the skin of their teeth. I am sure that Mr. Scaddan has had the shock of his life. There has been a great deal said about the results of the Federal election, and their bearing on tho State elections. Everybody knows that the Federal elections just prior to our last State elections ga YO the Labour party a good majority in Australia. IV e also kilO I"

that immediat<>ly following that, with a fairly clean roll, the Labour party remained stagnant, or sitting op;:>osite, where they always ought to be and always will be. I ha '"" not the slightest doubt that at th · next State election a similar thing will happen. The State rolls are purer and cleaner than the Federal rolls. According to the figures that are shown, there arc so.ne thousands more on the State rolls in QuNmo land than there should be at presmt. Th' '· Government is desirous that ev• ry eligibl-­peroon shall take part in the Governmen: of the State, that they shall have thLir names on the roll, and we are going to ask them to yote. There will be the ful'est op· portunity given them to enrol, and every facility to record their vote. Evorybod_, knows that the Federal Labour party make it impos~;ible for the sick and the im a lid to Yote. \Vo are gomg to give everybody the facility to enrol and e\·aybody the chance to vote. Of course, while we on this side believe in the resurrection of the dead. we do not believe in them being resurrected at every election; that is a bit too strong for us, but hon. members opposite like, at everv election, to see as many as possible of those who have gone to the land of the dead come back and Yote. Some excep­tion has been taken to the que ,tions asked on the application for enrolment. \Vh:v do hon. members opposite object to people having to answer the questions from whenc·-o the:r came, when they were born, and on<l or two simple questions like that? As far as I am co;,cernod, I do not know anybod,­who refuse·' to tell when they wen: born or where the-y were born or when they came to Austrqlia. It simply means that on ac­count of their objection to that, hundreds of claims. as iu the case of those claims at Bundaberg, are invalid. Hon. members op­posite know they are invalid, and that, if the claimants fail to answer theoe questions. thev will be refused. There is an objectiort a !so to compulsory voting, for breach of which tho penaltv is £2 .. Evervbodv on this side knows that hon. members oppo.site have compulsory voting in ib most scandalons form in existence now. What is the result if some of thP L11bour supporters do not go and vote? \Yhat does it mean?

Mr. LENNON : They get shot. Mr. Kl~SSELL : They are worse than

shot : if they were dead they would be out of their misery. But if the Labour sup­porters do not go to vote there is .ostracism, abusc, boycott. turning ·a man out of work, and letting- him and his wife and children stano. That is the compulsory voting they have orposite. Of course. some of thcsP men go and vote. and. true democrats that they are. th<'v vote for thP Liberal party every timr·. !Opposition laughter.) Then we come to th» Exneditionarv Force, whieh we have heard one. or two inembNs opposite speak ahont. ;yry opinion is that the great majority of those who have gone to the front are supporters of this side. Take this Rouse

Mr. Euun.]

1876 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

for example, and I would just like to re'"d the of the members of this House who ha vo and sons at the fror;t, The llon. Logan, :Mr. Stodart, has a son and : the hon member for Mirani, has one son: Mr. Corscr, the hon. for Maryborough,

Mr. Somerset, hon. member for son; Mr. Bell, the hon. member

brother; Mr. Gunn, the hon. four nephews; Mr.

for Cunningham, , Hon. Dr. Taylor) a. n1om-

Uppor House, has one son already and another going.

:Mr. McCoRMACK: Is Dr. Taylor a Liberal? Mr. KESSELL: He is an eminently capable

and sensible man, presumably, therefore, a Liberal. And Mr. Stumm, a Federal member, has a son at the front, There is not a forty­second cousin of an hon. member opposite at the front. In addition to those men a number of nurses have gone to the front; I know one or two of them, and I am prepared to wager that thirty-four of them are supporters of this side. If they could record their ,-otes, it would be an enormous advantage to this side of the House, but it would be absolutely im­possible, to my way of thinEing, for them to use their votes.

Mr. FIHELLY: Why don't you go to the front?

111r. KESSELL : Because we want some good men to stand behind us to see that you do not rob the country. I have never had any war in my own electorate. I had four· teen bags up after me at the election, but were not men; they were only travelling humbugs. Suppose, for illustra­tion, that we could evolve some means whereby we could get votes for the Expedi­tionary Force . .and there were two Liberal members standing, and one of the Labour men who had gone to thB front handed their proxies to some hon. member opposite, for whom would they cast thB votes? I do not know, I suppose they would trade off those votes, from what I know of them. But by no stretch of the imagination can we evolve a scheme which would give a straight run for this purpose. Those men have gone to the front, and they can trust us to look after those they have left behind them, and they know that at the next eleetion the people of Queensland will . again speak with a loud, strong voice, and again return the present

to power. It will simply mean that political party wil1 come back. and those

men will be quite satisfied with what we are doing here, just as we shall be satisfied with what they are doing over on the other side.

Mr. FIHELLY: Did you say any of your relations were going to the front?

Mr. KESSELL : I am not sending .any more of my relatives. If I thought the hon. gentleman would stand up against a gun I would send him, but he would be shot in the back every· time, from what 1 know of him. Another curious statement he n1akes. Since I have been in this House I have had the honour to belong to what is called the country Liberal party, and we have regularly heard that the Premier has us in his pocket; that he has only to crack the whip and we fall into line. Most insulting and untrue things have been said on the other side. But yesterday the hon. member for Cairns sBid that we bludgeoned the Premier and also the Ministry into this Elections Bill. Of

fUr. Kessell.

course, we know that by. no stretch of imag­ination is there any truth in that. I would like to know which ,,tatement is correct. Has the Premier got us in his pocket or have we got .him in ours? (Opposition laughter.) One must be _wrong. Foy the p_ast two years they have said that he has >Ytnppcd us into !me, &nd that we bludgeoned the Premier and cioscd. the m.ouths of the .Ministry. The hon. IT.:en1bcr for Cairns said "Look at them; thoro is a man amongst them who is ga1ne to Tho hen. rnomber for Burrum and y,arty have blud-geoned them. members on this side to a man believe in a fair deal, and that is why they support the Bill. The members oll this side holieYe in democracy in the people speaking, and that. is vvhv 'we sup­port this. Bill. One reason why" members on thiS s1de support tho Bill is that it will return thjs san10 Government to power. "\Vu have the horrible spectacle we see in Aus­tralia o£ two or three States being nearly run on the rocks by maladministration. We have in Queensland a Government that has for ten long years done rrood financial ser­vice, a Government that~ has not actually reduced the public -;ervants' wages, a Go­vernment that has kept the expenditnre at a normal rate in spite of the war and a Government that i~ going along in' a sane,. steady line of progress, and this Bill will help the return of the people's choice te> power again. I use the term advisedly-the choice of the people. I will say this : If, as the hon. member who has resumed his seat has said, he is perfectly satisfied, he knows that the Bill will increase the Labour party vote. Several of thom have said that. It reminds me of the boy whistling in the dark to keep his courage Llp. Every man oppo­site sees " the writing on the wall." Thev know that as sure a~ the ~un rises to-morro1V the people will deal With them for their in­eptitude d":ring the past two and a-half years. I said a few we8ks a1;:o that not o~e of the hon. members onpos1te, from the1r leader downwards, knew the ABC of finance. I will tell you what they do know : they know more of the whole alphabet of thimble­rigging in politics.

The SPEAKER: Order !

Mr. KESSELL: In Queensland, when this Government returns to newer, as it surely will next year, we will still have a run of surpluses. We will otill have a run of no unemployed to speak of, and I think --and I am sure every hrm. member oppo­site agrees with me-that tbey know their incompetence, and th<>t they arc unable to manage the finances of tho 'State. The:v know their inabilitv to run a great qnd growing country like this, and, if we could look into some of their minds, we would see that they think that the safest thing that could happen would be for this Government to return to power. Everybody knows that for the next couple of ycar,3 we are in for a very anxious time. Ev,'r:vbody knows that what is of paramount imr·,,·tance to, Qv.Bensland is thAt •ane, steady >:"'tnagement must be the ord''' of the dn,y, and if bv any stretch of imagmation the, awful calamitv referred to by the hon. rnembcr for Burrurft last night came to pass. we wot.;d then have the spectacle of Queensland forming one in the procession of dehultmg States. Queens land for ten vears has been in the proud position of having a surplus every year. and she stands the best of any Australian State on the London market.

Etections Acts [11 NOVEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1877

· Mr. FIHEL.LY: Wh>1t has this to do with -the Electoral Act?

Mr. KESSELL: The Electoral Act is formed to give the truest rctlections of the views of the people of the State, and the people of this State must be given an oppor­-tunity to record their votes, and when they are. given that opportunity they will record -thetr votes for the partv which has carried out the policy I have Just mentioned, and we will ha vo the spectacle then of Queens­land, instead of being a defaulter-instead of being in the procession of States whose names are a by-word in the financial world -we will have Queensland coming forward and attaining the proud position to which she is entitkd as the premier State of Aus­tralia. (Hear, hear !) There is one matter to which I would like to refer, and I do so with a great deal of diffidence, because one may be misunderstood. Some invidious re­marks have been made with reference to a great number of people in this State who <Jame here at our request to be settlers. I refer to the German settlers.

The SPEAKER : Order ! Mr. KESSELL : I am going on to spe'lk

of their ability to vote. The SPEAKER: Order ! I do not think

that at this juncture any particular section of voters in Queensland should be specially mentwned.

HONODRABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear ! Mr. KESSELL: I have not mentioned

any special section in the State. The SPEAKER: Ouler ! Mr. KESSELL: I said that some members

had made certain statements, and I claim iny right ail a member of the House

[4.30 p.m.] to talk on the same particular line. I have not used any names, nor

do I intend to do so, but I claim the right to refer to the matter, and ) am sure that you, Sir-with that impartiality which has al­ways characterised your conduct of the busi­ness of the House-will allow me the latitude you have allowed other members. I do not wish to refer to any section in particular, but I think I should be allowed to complete what I have to say.

The SPEAKER: Order! During this debate there has been no question raised on either side of the House dealing with the section of the people to which the hon. member referred a moment or two ago, and I think the better judgment of the hon. member will enable him to overcome the desire to discuss that par­ticular matter. (Hear hear !) I think it will condnce more to good feeling and to the dignity of debate if the me"tter in question is not referred to, and I ask the hon. member not to refer to it.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear r Mr. KESSELL: All I can say is that I

very much regret your decision. I contecJd that I have an equal right with other mem­bers of the House to express my views on this particular question.

An OPPOSITION ME'Y!BER : You would show very bad taste if you did.

Mr. KESSELL: I do not want any dicta­tion from hon. members opposite; and I trust that my taste on matters of right and wrong will always differ from that of the hon. member on the other side. I regret, Sir, that you have taken up that stand, as my remarks do not refer to any particular section, and I do not intend to use any names.

The SPEAKER: Order ! I hone the hon. member will recognise that it is not desirable to discuss the matter on those lines, but to fo!low the lines that I have laid down.

Mr. KESSELL : I regret restrictions being placed on any member of the House, and I strongly resent be_ing prevented con1plcbag n1y ren:1arlzs when I have gone so far. They have no personal bearing, and I consider ti{at I should be allo>Yed to say what I have to s<.~v. The leader of the Opposition in cliscussi,{g this matter said it was a section of the com­munity for which he had the highest respect. :i\iy respect for the community to \Yhicl~ 1l~e hon. and lDarncd leader of the Opposition referred is as great as his. I know hundreds

p<?rsonally; some of them are c:lose of mine.

An OPPOSITION ME:I!BER: \Vho are? KESSELL: The same section as the of the Opposition referred to. They

friends of mine, and I feel that a clanger of our doing great harm

of those citizens who are a credit to and who have come here to oottlo

on the land. Owing to the interjections of hon. members opposite, it is very awkward for me to confine my remarks within the four

of the rule. I hope that members will not place me in the position of

contrary to your rule. The SPEAKER : Order ! I hope the hon.

member will not place me in the very un­pleasant position of having to ask him to resume his s-eat.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS : Hear, hear !

Mr. KESSELL: I should be very sorry to do that, I can ·assure you, but while you have not asked me to resume mv seat, it seems to me that as you have mad,;' it absolutely im­possible for me to carry on my remarks, I must resume my seat.

Mr. ADAMSON: I am very sorry that the hon. member who has just sat down sees fit to throw all the personal rema'rks he can across at members on this side of the House. I do not intend to imitate him in that matter, because I think that personalities, deliberate personalities, unkind and cruel statements which are not true, onght not to characterise the speech of any man who ad­dresses the House. It seems to me that hardly oYer does the hon. mAmber rise to spen.k in the House but he singjes out some­body on this side about whom he makes unkind and cruel rom&rks. All that the hon. member said about finance anybody can get from a good book dealinrr with currency. Everybody knows everJ:thing about green­backs, and the suggestions the hon. mem­ber made do not show that he is a great authority on finance, notwithstanding that he has been a banker. However. I need not refer to the hon. member anv fui·ther. I am very sorry that he a.lways talks in tho strain I have mentioned when addressing the House. I cannot understand at all why this Amend­in!! Elections Bill has been introduced. No­boclv has asked for it, and there has been no cry in the country tha,t the•·e should be another amendment of the electoral law. The onl v reason I can see for the intro­duction 'of the Bill is that it is panic-like lei;"ishtion, like a lot of otheT ler.:islation which has been passed during the last few vears. \Ve had a piece of nanic legislation. in 1912 in the case of the Industrial Peace Act. We had a piece of panic legislation in the Elections Acts Amendment Bill of 1913,

Mr. Adamscn.]

1878 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

and now, because the Federa.l elections in 1913 and the Federal elections of this year have caused bon. members opposite to become alarmed at the number of votes cast for the Federal Labour party, they are bringing in this Bill in order to secure for themselves at the next electior; tho position which they now occupy. Before dealing with the Bill itself, I should like to refer to one or two roma.rks of the hon. member for Bllrrum. The hon. member said that tho Federal Labour party had gone in for disfranchising- 73,000 worthy people. On another occasion hon. members opposite charged the Federal Government with stuffing the rolls. I regret tha.t on more than one occasion, when it has suited the purpo·,e of the hon. member, he has quoted in this House \vhat the Primo Minis­ter sa.id in relation to the postal vote. Be­cause tho Hon. Andrew Fisher approved of tho postal vote tho hon. member used that fact as an argument in favour of having the postal vote in Queenland. The hon. mem­ber also suggested that compulsory voting was on the same plane a.s compulsory fight­iLg. I wonder what the innuendo wus in th'at remark. The innuendo has been thrown out by members opposite that the members on this side are not as !oval a•, members on the other side of the Housn.

Lieut.-Colonel RAXKIN: I did not say that.

Mr. ADA::\ISON: \Vdl, the hon. member ;;aid that just a; it was necessary to c·,nnpel men to fight external foco so it was neces· sary to compel men to deal with internal foes in the State. \Vhat is the inference to lw drawn from that l'Omark? I may tell the hon. member that every man on this side of tho House is ju,t a.s k}al to the Empire as the hon. member fo Burrum, and \q" will show that loyalty at any time as freely as the hon. nwmber does. Last night the hon. me'nbcr for \Vide Bay­I am sorry he is not in hi, pLlce this a.ftcr­noon-g-ayc E~e th0 imprf'ssinn that in his (;~)inion tho Inr"'.:.bcr.'"' of thP prc,ent E-x:pedi­tiollarY Force are LilwraJ-.:. Some of us on this side of the House have. made groat eacrifices in lclting our boys g·o tu the front. and are just as prep~ red to n1a kc ,·1ficrs for the Empire a.s any rm nbcr of the Libel'" I party, but we do not "ant to boast about it. ~\t t~. t);no like this everv 1n tn should be prepared to stand for the· safety of the Empire and for that Ebnty which we all believe in, and there is no need for bnast:ing

::\Jr. 1iORGAX : \VIw '"a.id you were not loyal?

Mr. ADAMSON: It was said this after­noon. I knew some of the principal officers in the first force, and some of thr·m are personal friends of mine-and one of them told me that several of the officers and the great mass of tlw men voted for the Labour narty at the la.st election. I am of opinion that a large p;·oportion of the men in camp at the present time would vote for the State Labour party, just as some of them would vote for the State Liberal party. But it is a contemptible thing to bring this matter up in the House at a. time when we should all be standing shoulder to shoulder in de­fence of tho Empire.

Lieut.-Colonel RANKIN: It commenced on that side of the House.

Mr. ADAMSON: I do not think it com­menced on this side of the House. At any rate, the hon. member referred to it offen-

!llfr. Adamson.

sively, and so did the hon. member for Port Curtis.

Lieut.-Colonel RANKIN: I never referred to it at all.

Mr. ADAMSON: I hold that tho hon. member did refer to it by innuendo. I am of opinion that the Electoral Act of J?lo needs amending but that it needs ai_nen. m_g

' 1 n whwh It 1s on different lines fran: t ~ose h. B ·n The prc.poscd to amend It m .t 18 I t th Home Secretarv said in hrs reply o . e hon. member for Keppel, that the questwn of electoral uniformitv throughout the Com­tnom·l·ealth had nevei· been brought before him. I thought it had, and I propose

1to

give my reason for 'nming to that cone u­sion. Section 30 of the C':)lnmonwealth Act

says-" All offic~rs ·n the service of the Commonwealth, ~nd all police, and elec­toral offrccrs in the s,'rvico of a.ny State, or local gov,•rning body, are ~ereby authorised and required to ful:msh f to the Commonwealth plcctoral officer hor the State all such informatiOn as " require'" to enable him to pr•'pare or revise the rolle."

Clause 2 of this Bill, which is prac~ically a replica. of the provision in the Common­wealth Act, says-

" All members of the Police Forc·o, all State offi,·ers and officers of local :>u­thoritics .n~l othN Joca~ govermng bodies. are horebv authonsed a1:d re­quired to furnish 'to p]ectoral . regrstrars all such inforn1ation and n:~·,,1sta1:1ce as they rnay require in connC'ctJon 'vttl~ ~he­preparation or revision of the rolh.

I hold th1t that is one ih;,tan?e in w~ich there is an ~d:ternpt at nniforru.Ity. I~ .Is ~ small dtempt but it does th1:.. mucn · I, giYL'3 the rio·ht' to thn police to act as ?fficers to colkct n'ames for~ tho rolls from timet td time. Members on this oide have a~vocad e that in s•·:>son and out of scuson. Vi·''' a vo­cated ]ost vear that tho police ehould be en o-r ge:.·d in L (<)llrcti:no· ntunc~ for the r?lls

a t> • ·1 1 , , !J ,,~otno Glee~ from tho:··J who arc· ehgnJ c "' ... '~. here to;·s of the S~ate. The~·~ is_ ur:Horn11t._r"'t had' and we clan11 on thH srdo that ·1 '

something to do "ith bringing that about. Clause 7 ch .~Is y, ith comicnlsoe)y f'':'.j'oh(,cnt. and it is '' copv of section 32 ('1 0 '·d." ·.fm­monvYoalth A~t which also prm-J es or < ompul .. orv enr~lmont. There has been. a gre,;t deal of talk by mernbBrs 0Pl;,i,'t"'~~~ about tlw stuffin"' of the Federal and b

II d " 1 . d t' 'no-s have cen ro s, an mam; un nn 111 "" 1 d d said in relation to George Ry an t ath others. Innuendoes have been hurled a 0

head of tho hon. m<·mber for Bundab~j'g alco, but I consider that thc.so tv>'k ~enth~­men are just as honest in thnu wor Ill rs particular· as any of the a•;ents ongaJfod hn the other side. While we arc told ~ at \ 1 e Federal peopk have been stuffing t leb ro s, I noticed this paragraph in tho Me ourne "Age,. of Tuesday last-

" A large number of defendants were £ . l C' urt vesterday be ore the Rwhmonc Jo b th ·'

charged with having failed t~h1aFede~~~ na.mes enrolled as voters c:n ° fined electoral rolls. The follovnpg werRobert: .as under :-Robert Brown, ercyD h son Wm Little J'IIort.rmer ur a.m, Jos~ph F. ·conjait,' anC). Jn.st. f!lkemecl~u~~ 6d. Pach: Chas. Fit;zp a ne ' Faram, Hannah Appleton, Constance

Elections Acts [11 NoVEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1879

Clements, Wm. Connolly, Arthur Ed­wards, Geerge C. Burge, Arthur Bow­ma.n, Lily Connolly, Iona May Dixon, Daisy Faram, Florence Carter, Kate Carrick, Harriett Faram, Mary Chand­ler, Emily Edwards, J o~ephine Denton, Beatrice Flora Dollimore, May Chand­ler, and Margaret Jane Burge, 1s. each."

We are told, on the one hand, that the Federal people are a! ways stuffing the rolls, and still there is a large number of people ofl' the rolls in Yictoria, and, in fact, all over the Commonwealth. If tho Government were aiming at uniformity, they should have proc-~eded on tho lines o£ residuw0 quali­fication adopted by the Federal Parliament, and in relation to the time that a per­son has to be in the State before he can vote. I1rctead of the per,0n having to be twelve months in the State bt>foro he can vote, it should be six months. Our definition of residence should also be in harmonY with tho Federal .. \ct. l'r e should also have a uniform roll and a uniform application form. The State and Federal officers should be­come one body, controlled by the Com­monwealth, and th,,y could work together with a maximum of efficiency and a mini­mum of expense, so far as rolls and elections are concerned. It is on thme lines that the uniformity should have been aimed at. lt wa, on these lines that uniformit v wa" re· commended by the Premiers' Conference, but, as the hon. member for Keppel --ays, the Premiers go to these confcroncos, but nothing comes out of them of any practical moment. If anyone reads tho reports of the Premiers' l'onf<>rcnce and tho Treasurers' Conference, a., I have done. they will find n1nny reco1nrnendatiJns IYhich, if carried out, ,-o,rld be mote in h:.rmony "ith the polic'> of the party on this eide and for tho hP1wfit of Australie as a whole. \Vith re­gard to the bi-mouthly revision courts pro­vided for in clause 9. I must mv I do not like these bi-monthly courts at alf It makes it impossi~le for the shed workers in the \Vest. the Sllgar-workors on the coact, and a great number of miners to c: et on the roll and r, main there permurPnr'y. That is a great sh erne indeed. I vvmd d like the Pre­mier one! the Home Se-cretary to remember that these mPn are amongst our b(•ct wealth. prodnccrs. The tot 'J w0alth produced last vcar was :-\Vool, £6.296.0Y); rav.· sugar, £3,519,341; mim raJ,,, £3,857.8.31; total, £13,673.222. It is rhn m n wlw will be dis­franchiced bv this Bill who helped to create a great deaf of that wealth. This Bill dis­franchises the honest worker, and enfran­chise' the men who make ·wealth out of h;s honc,,t work. The Home Secretary and Pre­mier c•·ouH do well to look up the clauses of the Bill that have to do with bi-monthlv revision courts. I kno>v that they are regiS­tration courts as well as revision courts, but I do not want to say more against the clauses than ought to be said. \\That is thA primarv intention of <:hesc bi monthlv courts? Arc they meant to be r<'gistration courts or revision courts? Are they for the purpose of purging the rolls, or for the getting as many names on as possible? We know, judg­ing from what took place 2.fter the Federal election of 1913, that the rolls were purged then. There is one member sitting here to-dav who would not be here if those rolls had not been purged to the extent they were on that occasion. Judging from that stand­point, the aim of the Government is to try to get as many names off the rolls as pos-

sible and not to keep as many names as possible on the roll. ,

Mr. TROUT: What benefit would that be to them '1

Mr. AD .'\MSOJ\1 : If there is a full roll Labour always wins, but if there is a scanty roll the Libor:J, win. I ask the Home Secre­tarv what will take place in relation to men who have bc0n two mouths out of their eleu­toratn vvhen the first revision court. is held? Their names are marked " left." I know that the Bill provides that before they can be tnkc·n off the roll thev mu---t come before acother c·.mrt and their namP' must be marked "disqualified" as well a> " left." Suppose during the second two months that an election takes phce, what will the position of the men whose positions are marked " left " and not yet brought to the court? \Yill the reg-istrar rcfu.-e to give them votes during th:.t time if an election takes place? Will there be an official roll as well as a public roll 1 ~\ccording to this Bill, if a man i- out of his electorate one month in the four months preceding an election, he be­comes disfranchised. The clause in the orig­inal A<t dealing with this matter reads as follows. and I would like to draw the Home Secretary's attention to it. Subclause (c) of section 40 read"-

" Except in the case of electors who are bv thio Act entitled to vote in re­spor·t , of a freehold or leasd10ld estate, no pc ·;;;;on v. :10SG narnc appears on the roll for a di:-trict "hall bo ('ntitlod to vote at an\' elc•dion for mch district unlt'SS at sol1w titne within '"Cven n1onths ne'<t before tho election he has been bon\ fide l'esick·rt therein for a period of one mcnth."

Clause 7 of thi, am0nding Bill provid~,; that the word " seven'' i;::: talL'n out and the \Vord " four , in oortcd in its place.

The HmL SFRETARY: Yo·-. b.,cause we hav-e no bi-mvnthly revision court.

:Yir. ADAMSON: That me.:ns that if he is ant of hi elc"torat' for one month in fou,, ho y,-il! ~:~ di fr:mchiccd. That is the wav I read it. Th:1t shmv-s th.ct this Bill is m~1mt to disfranchise as manv a'· possible, particularly tho nomadic workPrs a v.· :,y from home. The more I look at this clause. tho rnoro I fc el that, instead of being registra­tion courts to put on as many na.n1es as po'-sible. theY are going to be reYision C'ourts to k0ep as many na1nes off as possible so far as the nomadic workers are concerned. Clauce 11 emnhasises the point I ha.vc just dealt with ab~ut fonr months b. ing sub,titu· ted for seven months. Clawo 13 deals with protested votes. I sa:v that this clause ma!me it poosible for a long process of challengmg t'J go on. If a man has boon away from hi, electorate for two months, and an election takes place between those two months and thc next two months, if he goes to record his vote he may be challenged. I ask the Home Secretar::· if that voter is going to be dis­franchised ? The Home Secretary should look at this fairly. I have had experience of a number of elections, and there has been a number of people who have gone to the polling-booth to vote. and find that their names have been left off the roll, although they have never moved from their residences at all. That has happened to people who have not moved awav from their places for years for two consecutive days, <~.nd that kind of thing is still going on.

Mr. Adamson. J

1880 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

The HOME SECRETARY: Section 40 provides for that

}Jr . .',DAMSO='\: I we·1t io the trouble to usk th J C nder Sc'Crctary if there was any

provision, and he ~aid there was [5 p.m.] no provision. If people live in

the same place and do not n ove at ail, they ehould have a chance of protc.;c'ng and have a right to vote, and their votci should be placed in custody and considered as well as the other votes that are challenged. I hnp,~ th 1t. ~:.>ome antcndnwnis will be rnade in the Bill along that line. Of course, I shall be told that no110dy should have a right to vote whoe3 nan.c is not on the roll, &nd I think, spc:lkihg r,enerally, thut i· a pri,Jciple which we ought 'cry safely to guard. But I think, as \vith every othr ~ princip1e, there is a po• .,ibility th. t E·xc,.ptious may be made. Just ns in a ger:.cr1l '" ~ty pooplo ar.e allo\ved to vote without being challenged, so the:-· can be chall Jh:·• d if they are on the rolL So I say that :r men arc !crt off the roll, they ought to have tho chance to vote if thev can show that the,, have nw;er left tho place\dwrc they li\ and th0ir votes should be placed in cuc­tody in the same way as others may be put aside in custody. Clause 16 makes provision for compulsory voting. From some points of view one would say that compulsory voting is a corollary of compulsory enrolment. I am of opinion that if V·'e are going to have com­pul'•orv voting. then everybody who is to be compelled to vote should have an equal chance of voting. I am of O]"inion that a lot of people out in the West and in the outsid~ districts will be under very f!Teat disadvan­tages in voting unless the polling-places are multiplied, and unless we make provision for "b.sent voting, which in my opinion is one of the fairest means of voting. In Switzerland they luve compulsory voting. but I \vould like han. mPmber. to notice that there they have got "'hat we have not got-they have got the initiative an<! refcrt'ndum, and thev leg-islate for themselves; and, because they legislate for themseh-es, it is said thev must vot.P. I hold 'hat if we had the initiative and referendum­if we were able to introduce Bills and amend Bills by the direct action of the people, if we wcYe able to Rav what kind of a law we wanted to live under, !f the people were able to legis­late in a direct way-then there might be something in it. But we have half a dDzen dif­ferent franchises in the CommDnwealth. There is tho Commonwealth franchi•e requiring- six months' residence, and S' n'ral othnr Ptote fran­chises requiring only six months, and New f'! mth IY .lie,, askinr, for onlv three if a m:•n hos been six months in the; Commonwe~lth. H<,:re we have tv.-e]ve months' res;dence, and we are told bv hon. m0mbcrs on tho other side that "' e h·Rve the m0st liberal, the most democratic law in Australia.

Mr. TROUT: Are you opposed to c0mpul­sory voting ?

Mr. ADA1fSON: I am opposed to it, un­less all persons can be placed on an equal footin!". and ovcr,·body who wishn to Yotc. every- ''·calth-producct in tho countr0'. f-verv true citizen. is able to vote. I am opposed tD it unless the best facilities are provided far vot­ing. One of the reasons that I am against it is that we have a farcical application form for enrolment. At the Rockhampton Revision Court twenty-eic:ht persons were refusnd en­rolment because thev could not give the date of their birth, and yet it is quite evident that they were older than twenty-one years of ago. Anybody could see that at a glance, and do not

[Mr . .Adamson.

hon. members think that it is absurd that when pcor·le can soP a man is over twenty-one vcars h· should be refused a votn because he cannot give the date o£ his birth? Then, t'?a of them vvere r~:fuscd enrolment bc:_·ause t:.ov ...,ould not anS\YGr the question '' II a YO

mi bona fid0 and continuously resided in (,):w .. nsland for the last preceding twelve luonths." I think tho~, should ha vc ber•n able to answer that. Thirty did not answer the CJ.lH,·~tion, ''If so, in \vhat place or p1aces '?" I think the:v should have been able to answer that also. CBut I thidc that if these people can show that th<':V are \vorking here, and that thcv are wcalth-nroducers, bdore their names arc taken off the roll, or they are rc­fusced enrolment, inquiry should be mude, and if it jc, possible to find out how long tlw.v ha-, e br·en here. then it should be done. I do no: think it is a wise thing to disfranchise them as drastically as is being dono. Apd, bcoide.,, I be!icyo we ~hould have a six months' and Lnt a twelve months' qualificatiDn. Then, >W'."r-n did not 'tnswer the quc3tion number 12-"' If y.)n .. uc not a natiYe o£ Queer•sLnd. wh~'n did ~'Od arriYe in thi··· State?" ~?:.ty of thcrn fail. rl to answpr the quf':::twn. 1f you are not a native of Qurc''lH;]nncl. by \Vhat 1!'-r:ans did You arrive in this State'!" In n1y op1n1on, some of these- questions are very friv-olous, though some of them are m'ccssary. Then, I find that thirteen were disfranchiP:8d be­cause the witnep;,, had not signed, and I find, ton, that many female•, simply be.cause they had married and had changed their names, were left off the roll. This may not be the fault of f'he Act, be­cause the .Act nrovides that the Registrar­General shall send certain information to the electoral registrars in relation to deaths and mRrriages, but I think the very fact that somebodv has changed her name iq no reason why she' should be taken off. I think some inquiry should be made bdore these people are disfranchised in that wav. and because of all these reasons I am not in fayour of Cf1'11-

pulsorv voting. Lot us have a franrhise th ·t is Pqnal all round, let us give to oYer,+ody proper Iacilitic• for voting and getting- their name on the roiL J-et us do av.Tn~T 1sith so1ne c£ the:::,e vexatious qnr(,tionP, and particularly let us have the initiLtive and refer<•nclnm. Pnd I ,vill vote for compulsory votin~ ('Yery time. At nn S'·nt I am onnosed to it. In clause 7 \\'P hnYe the pc'·.';bilit:y of a wore frnndnh-nt use of thn poe: 3] vote. It is to bP­comc n1ore c,.,sy to us~ thf' pc"t-tl vo··e fra.udn~ ]pTJth· th.1n it 'vas <'Yf'r bP~'ore, m,~~ I v;ant to a .. o.J,.! wh't the hon. }/fr. Batlo'\Y S'lid in t('la­tinn t.o thi" matt0r \\Offif' VC''lr~. a~o. I d;J r )t t',irk that he hn o alterer1 his opinion since. and T rememher that l\Ir. Kids+on. ~nd a roocll number of others, made similar statements. Mr. Barlow said-

" . \t the last J'evision of the electoral lawP, in 1905, when the C'ouncil. in spi~e of such opposition as I could offer to It, put in the .iwti~., of the ncacc, I then predictec!-what no particular cleverneoa was requir.,.,] to sec-that. if a ballot­paper is once allowed to go .out of the pop,;ession of tho vot-er. or If anybodv else is preoent when that voting-paper is marked. there is a very p:rave danger of '1'-rono-. The _\sscmhlv, I believe, in the last~ davs of the sp.ecial session of 1905, accepted that amendment, and tho svstem was tried at the last g<'mn·al election. What the result was, everyone mugt form his own opinion. Rut we strongly opposed it, and did our best to

Elections Acts (11 NOVEMBER.) Amendment Bill. ltlSl

ke<>p it out, but we were unsuccessful. Postal voting is quite an innovation. If we look baek over ~;iectoral matters, we shall find, first of all, that voting was open. Everybody had to present him­self at. the polling-place. }cs a lad I have seen open voting. I have seen men go up to a counter: thE'\' were asked in the presence of the scr·utinoers and the returning officer for whom thev voted, and a mark was made in a book. Then tho ballot was introduced. Tlwre was privacy, but there was the ';arne neces­sity\! for personal attt'ndanco at the poll. Now the whole of that is swept av.ay by smart canva,sing. If men have pknty of nwney at their disposal, an l'lcction may be decided before polling­day."

l say that that condmuuation of the postal vote stands ju-t as true to-day, and I know that ···hat is being done now to make it possible for any two docJors to witn0ss a postal vote is opening the door still wider to the fraudulent use of the postal vote. \Vhile I would like to see the sick and the invalid able to vote, >till I think if we are going to have a repetition of what took place at Charters Towers and mauv other place'., during the elections a few years ago, when people wore threatened that unless they voted in a certain way their husbands might lose their jobs, we should be verv c'lreful how we altered the law in the direu­tion the Bill proposes. For this reason, I be­lieve, this Bill is being introduced now­not in the interests of democracy, but in the interest. of privilege, and in the interests of those who want to keep possession of the Government benches they now. occupy. I have already referrf'd to the Expeditionary Force. and I say that if thc,,e soldiers had the right to be enrolled, and if they are going to fight for tho Empire, just as the soldiers of the first Expeditionary Force were able to vote at the Federal election, so something should be done to enable these men to indicate how they would vote at the next State election. I do not see that there are any insuperable difficulties in the wa v. Their vvtes can be lodged with some public official, a man of standing, a man whose position would guarantee, or ought to gunr­antce. that he would act honourably, and if there' are goin[r to be three parties, let them just mark for the party they wish to vote f0r. Let those who want to vote for the Labour party nark for the Labour partv, and those who wish to vote for the Liberal party mark for the Liberal party, and thooe who wish to vote for the: formers' party mark for the farmers' party. In my opinion these men who are going to die, perhaps. for the country, who are willing to give their all, to make the supreme sacri­fice, should be better treated. We should be prc1Jared, not merely to shout "Hurrah " when they do certam thing;J, but to make it possible for them to exereise the rights of citizenship before they leave the'e shores. I do not know that I have anything more to say on this Bill. We have discussed it pretty widely, and, perhaps. there has been a certain amount of repetition, but I sup­pose that in a discussion of this kind that is inevitable. I think there are times when we should have "Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little," and when repetition is necessary. reiteration is necessary. I believe that this Bill is meant to disfranchise particularly the nomadic workers. I hold that we are now preparing

the ammunition with which to fight the next election, and if the ammunition is not fairly shared, if the voters arc not treated fairly all round, and one section of the voters find it is harder for them to get on the roll, and that it is harder for them to exercise their franchise than for another section, then I say the battle is largely won before we start. 'I'o gd the rolls in the right order is far the greate't part of the electoral battle, and all we stand for on this side of the House is a clean roll, out we stand fur full roll, and I say that members opposite stand Hot only as they .<ay for clean rolls, but they stand, in my opinion, for a meag-re roll, a small roll if possible, bec;mse with a full roll the Labour party is bound to win, and with a meagre roE the Liberals will have " bettm· chance.

OPPOSITION ME~fBERS: Hear, hear! Mr. LK\'l\0:'\1: Before addressing a few

remarks to tho House reg:nding this extra­ordinary 1neasure \Ye .a.re consid._~ring, I 'n:onld like to nw ke a fL\V remarks in reply to th;> hon. n1C>mb,:n~ for Port Curtis. Yd1ose renn.rks, as usual, wer(~ tins·cd with a great d••,d of bitterness Xot content with slinging­mud fr.·oly ~t this side of the House, he practic:1ll:· charg·ed hon. nwmbers on this side of tho House with want of loyc, lty, inas­much as he stated that not one of them had a forb--second cousin who had volunteered to go 'to tb~ front. but that members on the othf'r side h"d sons, aud brothers, <md ~~ou.~ins, and nephe\YS going to the front. He should not make such n statement as that without due inquiry. I venture to say that the hon. member did not interrogate any mc11bcrs on this side to find out whether they had any relations engaged in this unfortu­note war. I know of one hon. member on this side whoe"' two sons offered their services, but wero not for the time being accepted, and he has no less than four nephe'•' s alread;~' at the front. And yet the han. member said that not one member on this side has even a forty-second cousin who has gone to the front! Such a statement ,hould be treated with the contempt it deserves. Th0 outstanding features. accord­ing to my view, of tte present Bill, which is introduced to amend tho Elections Act, n ,.e these: n intcoduces an altnation in the time allowed un elector to be absent from his r<'Si·dtnco, and it also introclun)B a new featnre under the heading of protested votes, :md ,,,]so, I am sorry to say, .adds still fnrt.h'·t hJ thf' ohj~'rtion1.hle f~·atun~s of the postal vote. \V" ha<l an .vnendm0nt to the Elections Act no later than hst ve<H, and the Government in that Act cmdeavoured-and I am sorr:v to say succ~ednd-in dishanchi·>ing a considerable number of eledors. whose voc·~tion necessitated their going from place to place. I should say that prohablv 20,000 men have been alreadv disfranchise·d under th~t Act. Not content with that, the Go­vernment come along now, and, by the alteration of the term of seven months into four. have attempted to make sure that a considerable addition will be ma-de to the number of disfranchised v·orkers of Queens­land. I know from my own experience in Quconsl:nd that many men, such as shearers, sug-ar-workers. \vharf h:nnpers, raihva~.,. naY­vies, commercial travellers. and others, will he disfranchised under this Bill. Th?Y will be off the roll, and be on the roll agam, end will really ne ter know whether they are elie-ible for vote or not, ber'ause the power is given to the Chief Electoral Registrar to

Mr. Lennon.]

1882 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

list them in tho first instance, and finally report them at the court as being disquali­fied, and on the recommendation of the Chief Electoral Officer the court may ·decide to strike their names off. I think that is a verv unusual and very unfair stand to take. J am not aware that such a condition exists in any of the other Elections Acts in Australia and I should be very .<orr;, ind0•·d that a so~ called democratic Government should father ~uch a proposal. The postal vote, as we kne\\ it in the past, is sufficiently objection­able surely. witb•mt adding to its hid,ous­ness; but the GoYernment ,., ants to facilitate opurations of such a n1easure by makino- it legal for two or-dinary electors to witnes~ a pos~ul vote. This affords a very fine oppor­tumt:- for people to exercise their ingenuity to. make a very improper use-to usc a mild term-of the postal voting facilities. We have had experience in the :\forth, and partlcularlv as mentioned by the han. mem­ber for Rockhampton, and on Charters Towers, Townsville, Ravenswood, and other parh _with which I am familiar, the posta.l vote IS regarded with the verv strongest aver- ion by all fair-minded )1eo)11e, yet the !1overnment. not cont<'nt ,,-ith having it in Its present form, -dr'·'ire to render it still mo"o objectionable by allm•, ing two ordinary electors to he~ome witne"es to a postal vote. 'The Horne Secretory attempted to point out what a splendid thing the Bill for people to c;et on the roll who are off the roll. The Bill provides that the electoml registrar, if he l:.ts rea',,Jn to believe that a person has left the district, may list him as having left, and in like manner, if he notifie-s him as '' left," " do ad," or " disqualified," .and he gets no contradiction from him of the state­m<•nt that he is "·dead " "left" or "dis­qualifi~d," then in tcvo Jn1onths hj-s na1ne is remoYcd f"cn tho roll on the responsibility of the Princin:.l, Electoral Registra-r alone. Provid,od hD has reason to believe that a man has ldt, it simply com.-,s <!own to this: That if the nun doe•: not renlv to thP notice he concludes that he is de~d. A notification rr, 1.y hP SPnt through the post to a, man working at Charters Tov, ers. Ravenswood, Townsville. or Bo"-en A lo1. of th<>se men are c1gaged as sugar~\vorkers, lump0rs, timber-getters, or miners, on-d thev rro from place to place, and do not always, when they return to their place of n•sid<>nce, stay at the same place. They may stav nt a public­house or a boarding-house. ·when a, man has rHided six. twelve, or eighteen months in those places, he sumet-imcs has had enough of it, an-d when he returns he decidos to change his residence ; and when the electoral rP::'i~rrar .~0nds notification. sav, to John 8n1ith. ,~,.hat hf' is "left.'' "dea·d;" or "·dis­qti-'llif\rd." anrl that notice ie sent to his last known place of residence, the people there do not v ant to take any trouble to look for John Smith, who has gone awav in search of E'lllnlovmrnt, SO he neYer receives tho noticE'., m1r1 he is marked off as having "left." He returns in the course of a few months, but by choic<> rroe" to some other boarding-houge or hof0l, and bec<tuse he goes to another place of residencP, the E'IC'doral rPgistrar mav conr!ude. if he likes, nnrler this Bill, that he ie not th0 mme John Smith, and, possibly, he has to put in a fresh claim, and go through the troublesome course of getting on the roll again. The Home Secretary, in his speech the other night, dealt very fully with many of the

f.Mr. Lennon.

features of the Bill, and spoke about tho necessity for the production of the original claim to prove the identity of a claimant, and particularly in the case of marksmen; The hon. gentlema.n went to the length or saying that he could identify the signature of a marksman. \Ve have heard the remark that a signature is not valid unlesc, wit­nes·:ed by two persons, and the only peo]Jle who can be certain as to the identity of the .<vnatnre are the witnesses, nut from the character of the mark, but from the fact that the:t had signed as having witne-,sed, and ''ere present at the time the man nfade the marie But the han, gentleman left it to be inferred that a man who wa,s once a marks­man must be always a marksman, so that if any intelligent person in six or i\velve rnonths le.crnt to write his or her name, and went to vote at the election, and tho vote wa,s quc"tioned, and the original claim was pro· dtteed which show, that Mary Ann Smith or John Smith have hitherto signed with their marie the result will be tha-t while they have got out of tho rut and are able to write their name, they disqualify them­edves by having taken off the brand of illiter­acy and acquired the power of writing their name. \Vith reg&rd to compulsory voting, I think that the- hon. membPr for Rockhamp­ton has put the matter in the most logical and dfeetin• way I have heard so far in this Hou-.e, Personally, I am in favour of eompulsory enrolment. I will not, without further expericnco, go the length of sta.ting that I am in f::t veur of COl>llJUlsor~ .. voting. 1 lvant ~-.oint' experi0nce of its effect before 1 can arri vo at the conclmion which the bon. >:F11nber for Rockhampton has arrived at. I am aware tha-t a certain bodv of people, rorthinly not a nu~ncrou3 body,~ are ,;ot ;,, fa n:ur cf compubory 'ot'ng. but I do not think thcv will be tr02tcd like the anti-\ dccinationi,ts hav" been hc:Jctod in tho olc1 C'ountr:v. \Vhcre they haYe been fined re~ p. atcdly. I thinl: it ie regrettable that these pcoplt>, though they be smaP in JJUlnber, Fhould be compelled by ~\.rt of Parliament to n '-'ord th 1 ir Yot• ·when theY have con sci en~ tious 8-:ruples against H. There i~ EI r mall bor1y of pcr)plc in this and ever:· other State in Au~tra]iu ,,Yho have < 'Jll cientious scruples, and I, for one, would not for e the:n to re­cord their V()te-J when tb:. V' ha,~e <'On -cicn­t'cms scruplC's agaiL ,t doiilg .a. \Y ith re­gard to rornpul:::or~~ voting. I a1n of opinion th.·"t it is utterly i 1pr,wticablc. I re;;-trd it ac well described by the old f,1yin,

0, ' ' Une

:man t ~l_.n lead a hor~e to the \vatcr. but ton rncn c,lnnot make hin1 drink"; and though you n1ay eo1npol a n1:1n to go i-o thP polliug­pla.co to rcc ·Jrd his vc~-2, h2 c ~~ n dodge the i"~uc b;,~ rt r;ording an inforn1al vote, by voting fc r neither of the candiclntc'., or by writing his opinion nf the candidates. Ho n1ight ''rite a very stron~; opinion if he was writinP," ,-Lout some hon. gentlemen. The Bill pr·ovides that if he faiL to record his vote, and upon being brought to the test, fails to give a valid excuse for not having voted, he is fined £2. Tho Act is perfoctlv silent on the point as to what is a valid' excuse. Thev do not go to the length, as they usually ha vc done in previous Elections Acts, of giving a specimen of what would be a valid excuse. The sole decision as to wha-t is a valid or sufficient excube for not having recorded one's vote is left to the Principal Electoral Regi;trar, who is saddled with a very grave responsibility in thi; matter. I do not think it a fair thing to give him that power, or saddle him with

Elections Acts [ll NovEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1883

the responsibility of reporting a, man. There may be hundreds of men reported, who will each pay the fine of £2 for having fa.iled to record their vote at an ele~tion. The Bxpeditionnry Force has been referred to by most members who have spoken. I briefly sketched out when we were discus<,ing the Bill in its preliminar" stages what, to my mind, would be an effective method of per· mitting the-;e bra.ve voluntcpors to record their YOt<.o nJ, the election. In New Zealand, the r<''t,son why they were granted the opportunity of recording their votes was be­cau··e the election as not so far off as it is here, \Vhat is the uso of hon. members expres·ing their admiration of these valia.nt young men, who arc probably giving their lib's blood for us who ltre stnying at home, and doing nothing more than giving a few paltry subscriptions. \Vhy deny them the simple privilege which we a.re sure they v. ill cherish more than anything else. vVhen they are kaYi;.g the shores of Queensland why should not Parliament say, "In recognition of the great sacrifice you are about to make, wo will allow you to record your vote for your n:ttivo land?" \Vhat sacrifice can a man make grcccter than to lay down his life for hi·• friends? Men V'ho are prepared to lay down their lin, for their country like those young men, arcl entitled to our unqualified gratitude ;1 -1d admiration, but hon. rnmnbers oppos::;, try to mct.kc out that thc"C1 men's mind' d10uld not be disturbed by drag~C;ing them into the political battle; that they should be left cct!m and undisturbed fit to go about their bu,irioss to fight for us. That is the attitude of hon. members opposite; that 'vr chould not disturb their minds. I shoulc~ think their minds ere disturbed al­l'f'l:td~··, since they ar-, prepared to go away from our J.~~nd, perhaps never to return. Yet Parliament tells them that thcv will not allow them to record their Yoto, but that if the,,, >hould happeu-and I hope mane' of them will-to return they will be gratified to fmd thot their n t.>:lC" arc still on the Toll. Tho reason that the Home Secretary gave rh< other dv: as to wh,, tllP'' should not be allowed to votn i that~ t}-,,~y Inight b- dead at tho time their vee e should be recorded. C0rtain ,~rhe1nes have b(>'ll t~vol·n 1 bv \Yhich these flOn should record their votF" a.nd I will g-iye anoth<'r one. I would sug-g •st that tho chief military officer in Queons].,.nd. who I am euro "·ill be able. even if this House

· ctinnot do so. to appr0~iato the fLlrrifiC'e which these young men are making, should be charc-Prl with the responsibility of the takinp: of the votes of .all the men in the pro;rnt Expoditioncry Farro at Enog­gera. They sh,Jttld be asked to record their votes before they leave, and, with the pre­science he must have of the sacrifice they are makin;;. h' should b<> able to deal with th< ' of these young mr·n at the election when arises. I a~·;1 sure that thjc<, sido of the House and th'lt side ·of the Home could trust him. If the suggestion that I made

previous!~· be not aecephble, then [5.30 p.m.] this one might sene, tha.t the

chief military officer in Queens­land should be entrusted with th<.' dutv of collecting in the ballot-box all tho vote's of the members of the Expeditionary Force, marked for the Libeml party or the Labour party or the country party, as the voter prefers. Members opposite say that the difficulty of giving votes to the members of the Expedi­tiona.ry Force is insurmountable. It is only insurmounta.ble because they do not wish to give those men votes. The hon. member for

Mirani, the hon. member for Port Curtis, and particularly the hon. member for Carnar­Yon, stated that they were quite satisfied that there would be a prepondera.nce of Liberal votes a.mong the men at the Enog­gora Camp. If that be so, why do they object to give those men an opportunity to record their vote.e? ::Yiy attitude is that I care not what their politics ma.y be-I do not care if they are all Liberal voters, or if 80 or 90 per cent. of them arc Liberal Yoters, but I contend that we should let them have a vote, and let Parlia.ment :-:ho·,,~ tho:;c brave youn1::- n1or. 'vho are going a\vay to fight for us that we apprecittte thP e,wrifices they are making, and take this as the only m0ans we hu ve of letting them see it.

~fr. RCXTER (1~faranoa): I rise to oppose the pas,age of this Bill, because I am of opinion that it is not the right time to intro­duce such ct measure. ~Iy principal objec­tions to the measure are-firstly, th.at it sc,,ks to strangle the remaining rights .and political heedom of the people; secondly, l: e 'use the time of this Parliament wouJ.d be better occupied in considering· the be't means of fostering und promoting our ptirnary in­dustric,,, and of absorbing the unemployed in our midst; and, third!::, that the intro­duction of this measure in the dying hours of th0 Parliament savours 0£ political dis­honestY. Tho·,e ro1>ons are suff..cient to justify the atnCllct•nent -,,,hich I propose to moYe at the close of the few remarks I have to rna:.o on the Bill. The measure is un­noce~sary, and it has not been callccl for by tho p< .. 1ple. Machinery i; provided 'vher:eby the Government may call into use varwus nul>lic officers in the Stnte and local govern­iwr bodies to aid anc' ab,•t the cause for ' hich thev stand. Ilowevf'r favourabl:: one uighc feci towards th~ proposal that offkcrs of the St 1to ehonld be •·m;>loved to as~ist in tho compiling of rolls and thn purifying of ro!!s. one fails to see what jmtification there i., for us in~ th{' loc_tl governing bodws for that pm·p(l-, 0. I do not think the local gm,erning bodies will "pprociate t.hc .o.ttempt to U''C' them. nor do 1 think it is desir­able that the,· should be bnployed for thll+ purpose. " Aga.in, anotlwr attempt is h"ing made to cotu.hlish bi·mo;othly revision conrte. and the MinicL'r who int reduced the me m1r0 has rcpon.todh- saicl that at tht'''e hi.monthlv reyision courts it ,-.ill be po•.··ible

a ner'· on to tranRfer his na1no from one­Jr,al roll to another right awa~·.

The Hmm SEC:,ETARY: ::"Jo, no; I never said that. I said he would make application at one court. and that his appli'''tion wou],d bo confirmed at the succeeding court.

Mr. Hl'NTER: I am glad of the hon. gentleman's denial, for assuredly there is nothing in the Bill to justify it. Accord­•ing to claus,e 5, it seems to me that when tho:· bi-monthly court marks against the name of an elector that he has ldt the district the fact will be listed, and that at tho next revision court, two month,, later, if the elector does not justify his name being kept on the roll, it will be removed from the roll. vYe contend that if the name of an elector i~ challenged by the electoral registrar, and the elector has qualified in another electorate, }lis appear­ance at that court .,hould warrant the trans­fer forthwith of his nam<' to the roll for his new electoral district. ClNtrly an attempt is being made in this measure, not only to

Mr. Hunter.]

1884 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

pre,·ent. elector, getting on the roll, but also to p rov1de an eusy rneans of rernoving from tho ;·oll the names of those. who are qualified a.s ewct<;~o. .it rs rather amusing to listen to ti1D J ustiftc~twn t.hat is offered by han. m·cm­berb opposrte for this m~asure, and for the attempt v. hich is being made-I am sorry to .,ay succeesfully m'ldo--to ]>revent the labour­rug cla~ "~S gt:tting their nr.n1es placed on the electoral rollo of the Stat" and remaining th_crc when on. Thc•y claim that this llrll alLws all who >Lre entitled to get therr names on thr) roll, but they forget to add that ail the tune they £tre claiming th0 nght to say ;;ho shall be entitled to be enroJ!ed. That may spem ver,; plausible to per.:~)ns \\-'ho n1erely listen tv their staternents, but I take exception to thD measure becau-ce it. will limit. t,Jw number of those people who wrll "" entitwd to get their names on the roll, and will preveut "' number of worthy pr'hOns fron1 g( thng on the roll or remainincr ?H tho roll once thev havi> D•·•en enrollccl Ih' electoral registrar is to be given the nght to chall<"nge the name of any man in th•c el-edoratec, and that seems to "me to he alto~c·ther unfair. The Government in this measure· >Lrc aiming a blow a.t all the no medic '> orkcrs in the Stak. Thev are not giving to a body o: men whose avocations CDlllpel them to travf'l from place to place in or,~e~ to earn a living that consideration whiCn t]lf .. ,, dcso·ve. At one period of the year in the electorate of Marano>L a man may be hal'Yesting on wheat farms, and, perhaps, m the course of the next two monthF. when he has finished that work he m.ay pass over to Murilla, or \Varrego: or the Bulloo. \Yhen he is two months out of thP electorate of ::Vlarunoa tho electoral registrar has the right to challenge his name being on the roll. Of course, he hm t.Q send out a notice to the elector to that effect to the elector's last known a·ddrcsq, but there is no possibility of that notice reaching him, and long bcfort• he receives the notice his name will h>Lve disappeared from the roll, so that when he rt·turns to his elector:1.te he will find himself disfranchised and deprived of the right of citizenship, ulthough he may have been born in the country, and rna:.~ be one of the men who have helped to build up the rcre•lt \V estm·n countrv, Yvhich has con­tributed and is contributing to the revenue through the railways and through the Income Tax Office. \Vithout tho•.e men those revcnu•'s \vould not be what they are to,day. We know that Queensland is a big country, a very UllRettled <c mntry, and that the con­cliti?ns of lah;mr a -e such that men pursuing Y-<"Hrous cmlilO,\ rnon+s havo to travel lonO' distances in the State in •CJarch of em~ ployment. V cry often a man does not have a job. for any great length of trme. The smkmg of a dam does not la·>t mo1·e than two or three months, and a fencing job or ringb:uking job doe·; not last for more than a month or two. All those jolJs take men out of their electorates in their efforts to provide for their wives and families, and the Government, in,;teud of showing consideration to those men, are by this Bill making it more difficult for them to have and retain tho rights of citizem,hip. The provision for compulsory voting is not a fair one, and it will press very heavily upon the same class of men, as well as on a large number of farmers who live at great distances from a polling-booth. Those men will some­times find it impossible to reach a polling-

[Mr. Hunter.

booth, and under this measure, unless thev can give !1 sufficient excuse for not voting, -they may be penalised to the extent of £2. While it n1ay be a vorJ desirable t'1_ing to corrrpel a man to get his name on the roll, it is quite a. diff~n~llt thing to compel u man to go to the ]Joll. I do not propose to enlarge on the sugge::,tion that th€re 1nay be C011'''cientiDUS n::lSOllS why a .in an rnay not "\Vant to go to the poJ, hut l woul·d point out that circum­stance,; over which he has no control may prevent him from going there. It is cer­tain!: providcJ that it a sufficient reuson for r1ot voti:nc': is gi'~ {'D, an cle~tnr n1ay be absolve,! from any liability, but thd does not meet the caFe of a man who is living 30 or 40 miles from a polling-boot11. I know one fem>Lle voter ·,dw rode 50 r:1iles in order to vote-, but everybnd0 does not feel that way, <tnd circ:unstanm's ~ornetirnes happen vvhich pr·evcnt people from g·oing to the p0ll, and if they do not send to the registrar an ex­plan"tion of their ab•.euce they Y!ill be sub­ject to a penalty. ·while it is all very >~ell tu cmnp -~1 uwn to eHrol, "\Y8 certainly should not compel them to go to the poll.

Th" SECRET.iRY FOR PGBLIC LANDS: Whv shoul·d you compel them to 0nrol? ·

Mr. HUNTER: I will tell the han. gentle­man. Thev have the whole t\\elve months in which they may do that; the-. pacs by tbe registrar's office time and ag,in, and they have an opportunit,;' to b'leome enrolled, and they :rnay do so whC'n it is re~t'3onably con­venient for them to do it, and so be ready to vote if necessary. There is only one polling-day, and that may be !111 incon­venient day, and because, forsooth, the Go­vernment say that they must vote willy nilly, they· mu-.t vo to the poll and perhaps they will not vote for either of the candi­dates on the ballot-paper. The Government no longer seerns to regard it as a citizen's right to have .a vote. \Vhat the Government wi•,h to do is this. They wish to make it inconvenient for peopl<e to get on the roll ,,nd to make it easy to put off the roll those who vote against them, .and· then compd tho,,c who are favourable to them to go to the poll and vote for them. If this Bill should become law, I .think the electors will show their prote..,t against the action of the Government. by voting against them at the next election. I know that I would vote against the Government if I were roped 'in and compelled to go to the poll and vote.

The SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC LA;o;"DS : Y cu are roped in as it is.

Mr. HUNTER: If the han. gentleman i~ half as free in the exerciee of his will m this House as I am, then he is a lucky man. I am not the sort to be roped in by th'l han. gentleman or his party. I do what T think iJ ric~ht, and ,,,cting as I am in moving an amemlment, wliich I will do at the clasp of the few remarks I have to make, I shall be expressing exactly how I feel in r<'gard to this matter. I regard the action of the Government as undemocr-atic in the extremE', as it takes away the civil rights of the people. It not onh' takes away their r1ghts to vote and relllain upon the roll, but it compels them to do onmething that they do not want to do. I think we should be dealinv with more important legislation than this at the present time. This House wonld be b0tter emplo:ved instead of con­sidering the best means to return to power a Government which has already lost the

Elections Acts [l,l NoVEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1885

confidence of the countrv if we considered the great questions at st,;:lm, such as finding the means of making homes for hundreds, nay thousands of peopie who will be short!;:, thrd'wn out of empl0 yment through the fear­ful war which is upon us. Imtcad of doing that, what are we doinq;? \Ve have already spent five days on this Bill. Do hor\. gr•ntle­men opposite mean to tell me that the p;iSS­ing of this Bill is of such importm,cll to Queensland as to warrant so much timn being spC<rt on it. Could not that time be spent to better advantage. There is r, >

clamour outside far it. I have not heard that a single elector outside considers that there is any urgent need for the a~J.leading of tho Electoral Act. Of course y, e have heard ali "SOrts of charges about roll-stuffing. I do not know anything about it, but I am sure 99 per cent. of tho electors think too much of their libertv to ~tttempt to do an:,-thing: which is illegal and contrary ta the law. 1 do not believP thPre i'< a ;::;inglc rnan, eithrr on this side of tl'o house or the othc•r sid<', who believes thev would. I do know thPt in time' gone by there was political corruption. I have seen a ballast train loaded with rnert and beH barrels tra veiling from Tom\ oombrt to \Y arwick, and the men re,•arded thei,· 'oh•s at m·cry polling-booth along tho route But tho"e days are past. \Yhat do we find? The Governn1ent no longer ask 1non to do the ''Tong thing because men are too e:n­lic·htened to da it now. The GovernmPnt <ll'O adopting coercive methods now instead. No one for a moment would sav that the public want an amending Bill of this nature. If it were sa we would hear something nbout it through the P1·ess. As a matter of fact there has been ,,othing said about it, Last year they brought dovm an Amendin<s Electoral BilL Why did they not include these amendment•, in that Bill? Thc:v r"­cognise now that their political life is at stake, and they think it will be a goor] thing to bnttrecs them so a' ta save them from polifcal cxtindion at the next general election. That is umvorthy of anv Gm·ern­mcnt. It is bettor to trust the peo;Jc. If our electoral la,vs are Ro unsatisfn\'tor~~, the right thing- to do is to get a con~ solidating Bill and bring our e'cctoral laws on a lin0 with some of the clector,tl laws in the other States of the Com non­wealth. This piecemeal sort of ler;isla­tion sho,rs that the Government are not grvmg that concentration to the bUFi­D€'• which they bring before this IL!Il?'' thc.t one would expect from tlwr,1 aTl'l •shich the country commands them to bring to bear upon tlw work ent:usted to the·n, If fhPv d!rl thev woulu C0'1113 rlown ·ith < nc Bill and haY~ done with it, and not inrru· duce two amending Bills in two years. \V''· shonlrl im·cstigate the electaral m01tter6 o' other Stah"· and find out whether it i' not po"ihle for us to be a little maP clr,moc·c'atic in O\H electoral laws. \Vhen 0:1" cons'dm how f"r we are behind the ather States i'r tho Cowmonwealth one wonders that H 3

pcop:o ha.-e not risen up in their wrath anl }~ur!r d thi..; Goyernmcnt fro:rn the rrrPJ,.;:Ul'

benchPs lono; ao;o, \''e find th1t thr· :'\Htion~ l ParliomPnt allo''' ·' the rig-hte of citizenship 'lfter six months' rc,-de·c<", th' l'\e-;- South Wa)po, Parliflmc-nt, nftor th:-r" months in the State and six in the Common· wealth, Victoria afti>r six months' ro·idGnce, and Tasmania aftec six months' residence, We find that the most Conservative State i:1

the Commonwealth allaws full citizen rights after six months' residence in the State, Dut Queensland •,tands out alone with twelnl months <!S the resid0nce qnali1ication before­a man has a right to sety who shall gavern him. That is not ,·hat we exncd from :t party clai:ming to be a dcmo;ratic party. Surely WP 1night rrasonably t:ay tb.~t Queen~­land should be in the vanguard of all Liberal leg-islation. The party which claims \.1 be a LJber.d party comes rlown inside of bvo yr ars with t\vo .. An1cn(1ing Electoral Bills, and eYer}· proposal thev make is one step further back in the clark ul{co, \Vhv should Qu•·ensland da C'W!r;rthing that makes for retrogre--""iion. I \Yt~s rather arnustd n+­

th.: loc:ic of the hon. member for Por:, Curt'', who said that Mr. Cook, the Primo \~ini of A.ustralia, did not have an opportnnit:.­of amending the electoral law during the sho,,t time he was in office, and that ac­~ountc'd for ,th:, ret~n·n of the Labour party LO po\vcr ar tno last gener'1l election. I want to know what accounted for the defeat of the L·· bour party at the election in 1913, becau'<:- the same eJe,ctoral laws were in farce when Mr. Fisher was defeated as whPn he v.·as returned with a big rna i m·itv last Sentember. That is the sort nf logic \,·e get from the other r'irle of the House as a justification for this repreh,•nsible :~ttempt on the part of the Governmc-nt to sandbag the electors of Quer nsland by introducing- a nwasure at the close of the life of PaJlia­rrwnt and by a Government which na longer possesses the confidence of the countrv. I do not propose to delay the Home· any longer on the matter. I propose to move an amendme-nt to omit all the words after "now." 1vith a vie\v of insertinQ' thP fo1-lowinr-:-

" rejected with a Yiew to the intr0-duction of a Bill to cousolir!ate anc! antend thP Eiecti::)l;;\ _\.r-t aftPr due in­auirv into tho electoral S'> otc-ms of th" various , \ustralian States and the Com· monwcaith, particularly in regard to the form· of franchis' and facilit;es for en· rolment."

\Ye should endeavour to have our electoral laws on the same lines as those of other States ·and the Commonwealth, anrl sa re­mow fram us the charl'e which to-rla:<· is le\'elled at Qneemland of being the most undemocratic State in the Commonwealth.

Mr. BOW:YlA::--.J (Fortitude T'a/lcy): I have much plf'asure in secon~IJng the arnendment. I think that the" course that he has adopted this aftf'rnoon is f1n exceedingly "\Vise one, because I think our ekrto,·al lawd should be morr in conformitv y•i,th the other States of c\ustralia, DS '"'ll as the Cammonwealth, Our present electorol iaw ;, the most retro­lrr,·<Bivr in aw: of the Australian State,. It has been pointed out bv the hon. member for l\Iaranoa that Qur>cn,]anll is the one ex­ception in all the Shtcs that provides a hnlve months' rhidPlll''0 qualification he­f.,;-<' an eledor can ~l't on the State roll. Ta "mania has borne th0 reputatian for many, yPars of being oYie of th•, n1nst ConserYat,ive States in the Comm0llWPalth. anrl vet Tas­mania has ado~tcd the six month~' quali­f:cation. Ron. mcmb r J opposite do not like to sec' the Commonwealth sy,km ;11 voguf' in Queensland. because it h so Yery ea'·Y to get on the roll un-br the Commonwc-,lth syste'll as Clmparer1 ith the process thRt has to ,be gone through in Queensland, Ws

.tlr. Bowman.]

1886 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

should give the fullest facilities to every man and woman in the Commonwealth to get their names on the roll after they have been six months in .wy part of the Common­wealth. At the present time if a person leaves, say, \Yestern Australia or Tasmania, and goes to either of those States, he has only to \% ait one month after being in either of those States before he can get on the elec· toral roll. That is, provided he has lived for six months in the Commonwealth. Con­trast that with the pre,<mt Bill. If a man happens to be in an electorate for many years and he removes to another eelctorate, he has to wait two months before he can apply to get on the roll again. Case's have come under my personal observation "here men have b,·,en many years in an eleDtorate, and through the Redistribution of Seats Act passed some time ago, part of their old elec­torate was cut out, and they were put into a new electorate. Under this Bill such men as that would have to wait two months be­fore they could apply to get on the roll again. The Home Secretary has made many speocho:> in this House and outside, as to his democratic spirit, and what he has done and is prepared to do. If we take the Bill

that is before us I am afraid ,[7 p.m.] that anyone \vho judges the bon.

member on that will find that he comes very far short of being democratic. Last session, when the bon. member was in charge of a Bill containing the electoral Ia ws \YO have at the present time, he stated that that measure v. as one of the most demo­cratic in Australia. I think he must ha\ e been allowing his imagination full play when he described it in that way, because I think that nobody could help thinking that if there is a retrogressive Elections Act in Australia to-da,·, it is the one fathered by the hon. member on that occasion. That i, one of the reasons why I think it desirable that the amendment moved bv the hon mem­ber for Maranoa should be a'ccepted, so that we may have an opportunity of comparing­the variout Acts in Australia, and bringing in a Bill in conformity, not only with the Ia ws of other States, but with those of the Commonwealth. This desire to bring about a uniform franchise is not a new one. We were reminded bv tho hon. member for Kepn<>l that during this present year, at tho Premier,,"' Conference, there \\'as a very strong desire to bring· about a uniform fran­chise nnd uniform electoral laws of States and Commonwealth. But, when we think of the hon. member who repres~nted this State, the Tn'asurer, as Acting Premier, on that occasion, we can quite imagine his luko­warmne:-;s of desire to bring about .anything­in tho shape of a uniform standard which would placB us on a par with the democratic States of Australia or the Commonwealth itself. But still. that IS the desire, even of manv Liberals in other StatGs of Australia. The,: have expressed their strong opinion that the time has vrrived when we should have a uniform electoral law for State and Commonwealth. \Vhcn we compare the resolutions, and, probably the opinions cx­P"'''· ed, at that con£erE'nce, with the atti­tude of the HomE' S<>cr0tary on the intro­duction of this BilL I think it is easy to jud!);e that so far from his being· democratic, we must class him as one of the rank0st Conservatives in Australia to-day. The bon. member laughs, but what I have said is absolutely true, judging by the Bills he has introduced this session, D!ld by his attitude

[Mr. Bowman.

last session. This party does not desi~e that any advantage shall be given to any particu­lar party in this Honse, but it is desirous that every man and woman in Queensland shall have the right to have his or her name on the roll, and <J.lso Lhe right to exercise their votes. I think the hon. member for Burrum made reference to me as having said, " Trust the people." I say that still, but not a section of the people. What I de­sire to see is that our laws shall be as liberal as those of any other State in the Commonwealth. Then I am prepared, and l believe this party as a whole is prepared, to trust the people. At the present time the laws in Queensland, as ha·, been pointed out, and as I think was admitted by the Home Secretary when we were discussing· the present Act in Committee last year, had the effect of making it likely that a number of men will be disfranchised because they cannot say that they nro in the same posi­tion as those who have settled places of abode. l do not know any section of the communitv which deserve" more l1beral treat­ment thim the nomads of Queensland, whether they be shearers or labourers, or railway construction vYorkers, or sugar workers. These are the men who help to develop this Stat>o, and they have often had a good deal of prai.,e from han. members opposite for what they have done in the way of wealth prodwJtion, but w.hen it comes to a case of their exercising their right to say who is to reprcs0nt them in the Legis­lative Chamber, they are debarred under our present law. I think that is absolutely un­fair, and it is one of the reasons that can be advanced in favour of the amendment. Those who have been in this House for any length of time will remember that our Elec, tions Act has taken a good many turns dur­ing the last tBn or twelve years. \Ye re­member the time wh,·n it was po'-sible for some men in Queensland to exercise as many as fifteen votes in on~ day, and they bc'"Lsted of tbat fact. That, forbmaieiy, has boon done away with, and i£ thoro is one thing we have to Le thankful for it is that when Sir Arthur Morgan, "ftcr the coalition in 190\, introchccd his Elections Bill, the prin­ciple of adult fran~hiso 'Yas htablished. \\-e owe that to th0 Labour party who sup­ported it. The :Minister for Public Lands in a previous discu- <ion openly stated that we made planks and thov stole tho planks, that they simply put onr principles into practice. \\"o have no objection to that at all, but what we do claim is that every man ~nd "'oman in Qu"ensland shall be entitled to have a Fay, and under our pre"~ent system everv man and woman has not that chance, desp.ite what the hon. member said-that a rrian cannot be knoC'ked off the roll before he is. put on anoth~r. That has been an­swered bv H<'VC'ral bon. members who have replied t"a tho Hon. the ::Ylinister. When wo think of the many questions on the ap· plil'~ttion forms which have to be answered­sixteen in al1~1.ve ask oursel·n~s whether an v other State in _\.u~tralia.. or the Commor{­wealth, has sue h an application form, with snch a numb0r of qu0st''ms? \Vhon you compare our applicatio'l form with that of the Commonwealth--well, comparisons are odious! The latter is simnlicity itself. but, the dec-ire on the part of hon. gentlcnwn oppositP seems to be to trv and p0rplex the elector as much a-, possible, so that he ·will not be able to get on the roll as readily, and as effectively, 11:1 under the Common-

Elections Acts [11 NovEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1887

wealth Act. All I can say in seconding this amendment is that I believe the Government would be wise, even at this stage, to accept it, and allow the election to take place on the law we have a,t the present time. I do not see why this particular Bill should have been introduced at all at this time. We have had two amending Electota,l Bills since the last election, and, as has been truly stated by hon. members, no mandate was given by the people as to an amendment of the Elections Act. Surolv the last State election should have pleu•ed ihe pr<lsent Go­vernment, but there have been mighty chang"'' since then, and the jnfluence of events caused tho Government to bring in the law of last session, and tne Bill now be­foro tlw House, in order to retard the Labour party which has made such excol­ient progress in Queensland at tho last two Federal elections. Of course. the Govern­ment have sufficient power behmcl them to do what they like, but, if they are fair-minded men, they '\ill give tho opportunitv that we desire as an Opposition to get the-verv best Act we possibiv can for the whole of Aus­tralia. Let it· be a model for any other State to copy from, for certainly no !o;ta,te desires to copy us now. We are far behind them in mc't prin,iplos of electoral law. The Government could, with advantage, emulate the Commonwo.:tlth, which has an Act that provides that everv man or woman, from one end of Austl:alia to the other, shall have the right to be on the rolL If a, person comes from the old country he has only to be hero six months to be quali­fied to vote. A man may come here from New South \Vales or anv of the other States, and he has to be h<>re twelve months be­fore he can make application, and then to wa,it four to six months before his name can be put on the roll. That is a rc·trogressive •tep to perpetuate. and the Government would bn wise to fall into line with tho sister States of Australia, and give us an e9ual opportunity with thPm. \Ve do not de­sue anv more than that. Let there be a liberal 'electoral law framed, on which we cap go to the countty, and let the best side wm. Roll-stuffing has been prominonth brou!!'ht under the notice of the House. I discount roll-stuffing as much as anY man in Queensland. I believe that no one on this side would encourage roll-stuffing. But we desire to see every man and woman who has b( em in Queensland for .:t specified timo "hall be able to get on the roll, and that when thc0 are on, it will not be a" eaw t~ get them off .:ts it is under 'our present law. The amendment of the hon. member for Maranoa is one that should com'llencl itself to ever•.· hon. mPmber in the House. It is not asking more than what is to-clay in exist­ence in all the other States of the Com­monwealth, and it is trying to bring the han. gentleman who has professed in the past to be such a democrat to a. further stage of clevclopmPnt. If the hon. member does that, he will show that he is desirous of fair play. If he does not do that, all one ea!l sav is th":t t~e motive for introducing thrs mensure rs srmply to try and retain the power possessed by tho front Treasury bench. I venture to sa v that if this Bill is JY'SS'~cl. there Will be a great revulsion of feeling in Queensland. more especially on tho part of the nomad", who arc some of the best workers we> have, and who have clone so much to create the wca,lth in the pastoral and sugar industries, but who are to be de­pri,·ecl of having an equal chance with those

in the cities. I do not trouble ven~ much so far as the metropolitan area is concerned, but as one who represented a country dis­trict for some time, I can say that the op­portunities which are given to take men off the roll in the North and W ost of Queens­land is no credit to the Government which is introducing this Bill. I tn>'t that the amendment will be carri<>cl, and that a bir chance will be given to overv man and woma,n in Q.uecnslancl to get enrolled, and if that ie not given the Government will be given their death-knell' in 1915.

The IIO:::VlE SECHETARY: I submit that the amendment is out of order, and in support of that contention, I would like to point out that on 3rcl November, when I moved, pursuant to notice,-

'.' That the House will, at its next sitting, resolve itself into a Committee of the \Vhole, to consider of tho clesir­a.bleness of introducing a Bill to amend the Elections Acts, 1885 to 1913, in cer­tain particulars,''

the leader of the Opposition moved an amendment, which had the effect of con­siderably broadening the scope of the Bill, as I proposed to introduce it. After con­siderable clebatP, the House decided that tho order of leave should bo in the form I proposed. Then, on the next occasion, when the Bill was bcforo the Committee of the House on the motion for loa ve to come to a resolution, a, further amendment was moved by tho lPader of the Opposition, which he said was for the object of enlarging the scope of the Bill. The Committee again decided that tho Bill should remain as it originally f:tood. 'rhen, again, there '"'as a further amendment moved, namely, the postpone­ment for further consideration thereof at the next sitting of the House. _\gain tho Com­mitt?e clccid<>d that they had sufficiently consrderocl the Bill, and that the Bill in the form in which it \Vas introduced should bo the Bill for consideration nf the House. "Ma:v," in tho elevedh edition, page 472, points out nuious amendments whi<>h mav be made or, the second reading of the Bill. · a.ncl he first of all speaks of an amendment which proposes that the Bill shall be read a' some future time ether than the time originally contemplated He goes on then to say-

" It is also competent to a member who desires to place on record any speoial reasons for not agreeinO' to the second reading of a Bill, to r~ove an amend­ment to the qu<>stion. a resolution de­claratory of some principle adverse to, or diffe~i!lg from, the principles, policy, or. p_rovrsrons of the Bill ; or expressing op1n1ons as to an:v circumstances connec­ted with its introduction, or prosecution; or o~herwise opposed to it~· progre···<; or seekmg further information in relation to the Bill by committees, commissionerc tho production of papers or other evi· dence, or, in the Lords, tho opinions of the judges."

I submit that the amendment is n'}t within the scope set out by "1\Jav" a,s to ·,vhat mav be an. amondment ?n t~e' sr;concl rending of tho Brll; and, ha vmg m new the previous am<;n.clmenb moY~cl by the \cacler of th1· Op­poorhon, I submrt that this amendment is simpl:v submitted for the purpos0 of obstruc­tion. and that it is not an amendment which may be accepted a.t this stage of the Bill.

lion. J. G. Appel.]

1888 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

Mr. RYAN: I should like to say a word on thi, question. I think the Home Secre­tary was quite unjustified in the latter portion of his remarks when he said !hat this amendment was introduced for obstructive purposes. HO\vcvcr, tho only matter that concerns you, Mr. Speaker, j, whether the amendment is in order or not--\\'hether the Ilouse rna.v take it into consideration. I take it th,;t this amendment has two parts. The question \vhich vou put to the House iF. "Th:::t the words \>roposed to be omitted stand part of the quc.tion." The point is \Vhether it is competent for this House to omit those word·. It is clearly laid down bv our Standing Order 247, that amendments nia} be propo>o~d to the que>otion by omitting the \Yard "now" ttt the end of the ques­tion, and a.dding " on this day t.hrce rnonths," "on this dav six 1nonths.'· or u.11v other tirne: or that the' Bill be withdrawn' or rejected. There are many instances of amendments being m.•de in this House within your period of ocPupancv of the chair. The exact in­,tan"". I need not bring to your notice be­cause vou must have them ih mind yourself, where 'a•ncndmcnts were moved that the Bill be withdrawn for the purpose of rerast­ing or consolidating the Bill. The Railway Bill was one of them, and the Agricultural Bank Act Amcudment Bill wa< another, . v-herc the amendment was in the nature of the withdrawal of the Bill with a. view of consolidating the Savings Bank funde. Tho Liquor Bill was another, as I am re,ninded. All these are precedents. which I eubrnit will guide you in your decision upon this amend­ment. which is, aft·'r all. a very important question. I hope, therefore, that you will hold ra.ther in favour of allowing discussion then in favour of narrowing the limits \vi thin which the amendment mav be considered to be in order. •

Tho SPEAKER: The point which was raised bv the Home SecretarY was one to which f have given some "consideration. After considering the matter, I havu to rnle that the amendment is in order. (Hear, h~ar !) Had it not been <o, I should have ruled it out of order wh0n it was moved. The re.l' on for its being in order ·is this: " Mav " a.!lows tho.t similar amendments may 'be rrtoved to the question at succe,sive stao-es of the Bill if noc8tisary, on the order of leave, on the second reading, and in Com­mittee. I therefore rule that this amend­ment is in order.

::\1r. O'SuLLIVAN (Krnnuly): I "ould like to say a few words b·lfore the Bill goes through. I think the Gonlrnmcnt would be "' isc if they would witbdravv tho Bill, and en~ deaYour to make the Elr,;toral Act mor" in coriformik with what v-·c miGht cctll "the truL' insti~lCb of c1cmocracy," to ~ZO in fo!' haYir~:\ a ll·:-.s qualification than '"bat is con­Llin~ t in i.lH" Bill. IIon. n10n1bers oppc~,ito ln11,h about democracl'. .o\ftcr they haye onpcscd adult suffrap:e in the paoct, it is a~·:Iusing to hc,1r the-m say . th0.\' \Yan·t. to bmarl'•n democ r:1cv and go m for a wHIN franchise. \V e sc;e the moti.-e b··hind thie. ] io to disfronchis~ the people end narrow the ft-ccnchi:e. \\·hich is undoubtedly narrowed nuler th0 existing Act. c.nd they do it fo_r th0 pu"pose of strengthening t~eir own polt­t;~ d pnrt:v in the co:mtrv. _\'\ c k_now that there is nltPrior mohvP behmd thJS. I be­J;PY•' in compulsory votin!!", but I do not be­licw in t,Jw Bill which we havp before _us, becanse it restricts so 1nany from bPcom1ng

:?l{r. Ryan.

eligible to vote, that it leaves the ultra Con­servative party, as we may call it, in en­trenched positions. I hope that wiser connseh will prevail with the Government, although I ;;m afraid it is almost impossible to expect it, because they are out to try to prevent men and women from being on tne roll if they pcs .. ibl~. can. If we could have a franchis<·

here like the :Federal franchise or [7.30 p.m.] the broader franchise of tro sist.'r

States of .'l.ustralia. then '" e should ha\c a measure which would enable the JWO[Jh• generally to become enrolled. 'G mlcr this Bill many persons in the country 'vi!! not be able to cast a vot~. Th0re ar( rnany men in 1ny own electorate who have to go from one plac3 to anoth•_r in order to earn a living·, and those men will ccrt cinly bo eli franchi.-.cd by the operation of this measure. It is very inco.:.1sistent on our part to dc1nand a greater rc,;identiul qualification for a voter than is re­quired undc•r the Commomvealth law. Six months' residence in the Commonwealth is suffi .iunt to enable a man to get 0n the roll, and th,tt P•'riocl should be suflicient in Queens­! ,nd, hut persons from the other States and from oversea ha,.,, to wait. for t\Y(~lvc months befmY they on apply for enrolm0nt. That is a restriction of the franchise which is in­tended to entrench the present occupants of the Tre:Jstuy bench in their position. ProYi­sion should be made for the simple and easy transfer of names from one electoral roll to !>noihrr in tases in which people arc com­rwlled to change their plac~ of residence. As this measure stands, if an election takes place thr,,c months after a prrson has left an elccto­utr·. he will probably be disfranchi,c•d. If wP are going to ha Ye ccmpulsory voting. then ,,-c should offer the grPatcst facilities to pnsons h-inrr at a long distance from the polling­booth to go lo the noll. I think that free rail­way pa<'·es should be gi'"'' to those who h~Ye no o+h·cr mean' of r-cttin!!" to the poll. so that they ma;:t not be put to the cxpf:lnse of nayinrr for the cost of their conveyance in addition to losinl'" a da;~-'s work. \Yith regard to th<> smd­ing of a notification to an elector to his last known place of address informing him that opposite to his name on the rc1l thcro has b ·f'n murkPd thP \Yord "lPft " that is a farc-e in m.-n~y in·"J1nce9 bPrauso. the! pt..'rsons ·wh0-L~Ye ldt may be 100 miles awav from the district. I hrrve seen " little post offic2 in a c-ro·· ",·.-.- di, 1 1·1C"'~ fn11 of r·otiflcations to persons · ·',~ lucl left i he district, and the postmas~er c.nlrl not tell where those persons were on;.­lnore than tb:-' n1m1 in th0 moon. 'rh-erc are ~" ., ~· prn' i.<:.11ns in this Blll that WP .:1ould like to imnrove, and if the amendmen' is· accc ,t.od arid carried we shall haYc an e>ppor­tunih- of effcding those improycmcnts. If w•' Pxp~ct. p>·o:JlP to obc~- the laws of thn ("·cmntr'~~, tlH'n cv0rv man and 'vomnn should lw nblc to P':<'rcisc· the franchise- and to vote f 0 r 7!i • election of the law mak<'r,:. not bn­ean',-; h" or ~he has been in an f'lf'-;to,_·atP for fourt .. ~, 11 or sixtt'Cll TDonths, hnt bt"C'(UlSC' thPY hwP to abc,- the la\Ys of tho country. Bv rcs'-ric<_-il"'r the franchise' n.s nropob -d il', this mPcsurP tPns of thousands of persons will he unable to vote. and that will mak0 it nc· -ible for t!'" reactionarv partv in Qn0enslnnd to rnmqin in po,vcr. · I rl..o ·not proposr to sav '"'vthin,- further at the present s+ar-P. bnt 1 •t"r on I .<h •ll have "DmPthing to S";l' on ihc TP:{:TI ltll0Stion.

Thr PRE~llER: The hon. ml'mber for Fortihtcle Vallev, who sPC·rmdecl thP amend­ment. un:;ecl as 'a reason wh:v the Bill shou'd he withdrawn with a view to substituting a

Elections Acts [11 NOVEMBER.) Amendment Bill. 1889

<'Jnsolidating law in conformity with the laws of other States and of the Common­wealth, that the present amending Bill is contrary to the spirit of democracy. The real purpose of this Bill is to Pnsuro a wider and fuller determination b;;- the people. (Hear, h·lar !) That is the simple and sole desire in introducing the Bill. Democracy has been defined a3 government of the people by the people for the people. This Bill will secur0. government by the people. (Hear, hear!)

Mr. RYAN: A certain number of the people.

The PREMIER: I'\o; by the people. The Bill eims at ensuring that eyery adult qualified to possess the franchise shall be enrolled. That principle is enshrined in the statutes of the Commonwea'th-namely, that all who are entitled to the franchise

·must enrol, and we are adopting the prin­ciple. But we ·•ay that the natural corollary of being enrolled is that the enrolled elector must vote. The hon. member for Fortitude · Valley urged that we should get a vote of the whole of the people, and not a part of the people. That is precisely what we are seeking to accomplish-to ensure that all who are qualified for the franchise shall enrol. and that, being enrolled, they shall record their vot<'\ at an election. '!'hat dis­poses of the first argument that the objec~ of the amendment is to secure a rec:~sting of the measure with the view of ensuri.,g to democracy the full exercise of their p;:w·er. A~ I have already said, the object of the Amending Bill is to accnmplish that very thing. I further object to the amen_dment on the ground that it will dog 1·lw whr:els of democracy rather than speed them.

Mr. RYAN: There does not seem to be " ring of sincerity in your speech.

'l'he PREMIER: Yes, I am absolutely sincere. This measure proposes that every person who is qualifif'd must enrol, and that being enrolled he must vote when polling­day comes round. Another reason advanced in favour of the amendment was that the Bill should be brought more into conformitv with the Commonwealth Electoral Act, and with the Electoral Acts of the other Statm·. I am not familiar with the electoral laws of the other States, and therefore I cannot <]note them, but I venture to say that in some rpopects the Commonwealth Act is not es good or as democratic as the Queensland Rlections Act. T:nder the Commonw<-ctlth Act they have compulsory registration, hut not compulsory voting. Under this Bill then\ will be thA due corollarv of compulsorv registration-namely, ~ompulsorv vo~ing, S()

that we may know what is the mind and will of the entire c.ommuni+.v. Our .-\ct is also more generous than the· CommcHm ealth A<.t because the Common we~ ;th Ad makes no p•·oyjsion for ~ick person:, or for tbD::;e who live at a distance from a polling-booth. The Commonwealth "\ct is also inferior to ours inasmuch as tho absente" provJsJon which it contains renders it possible--

1\'l:r. McCORMACK : For every man to vote.

The PREMIER: Evcr:v man can vote under our Act.

Mr. McCoRMACK: If qualified ..

Tho PRE::IiiiER: If qualified, certainly. I sav that our Act is superior to the Com­mon:.Vealth Act because in the Common-

1914-5 z

wealth Act there is a provision for absentee voting, which makes dummying or persona­tion possible. Again, the machinery under the Commonwealth Act for compiling the rolls i., defective, and is not equal to that provided in tho Queensland Act. I do not think there is .any just cause why v.c• should long delay the decision of this matter. You. i::>ir, ha1 e already ruled that the amendment is . in order. I did n_ot hoar you soy any­thmg on the pomt wrth rcgarcl to obonuc­tion, but manifest!} these m c ob,tnJCtive tactic<. \Vhat has been the progress of this Dill right from the time when it was first m«ntioned in the House? Many hours were spent in discussing the motion for leave to introduce the Bill, many more hours weFe spent on the introductory stages of the Biil, and thoro has been a verv full second-read­ing debate. A large number of members on both sides of the House have spoken, and it is clear from the late stage at which the amendment was proposed that it can onlv be for tactical or obstructive reasons. 'r hope that the obstruction will soon be re­moved, and that we shall soon come to a division on the amendment, and then !l'et a division on the motion for the second read­ing of the Bill. (Hear, hear!)

Mr. RYAN: I do not think I have ever heard a weaker sp<eech come from the hon. gentleman than the opeech he has just delivered. He has completely avoided what is the ·main issue and what the people of Queensland are considering. The hon. member for :i\1aranoa has moved what, to my mind, is a very sensible amendment, an amendment which has for its object the rejection of this Bill with the object of bringing in a consoli­dating and amending measure. If it is at all necessary to interfere with our electoral laws at the present time, it should be done in the way of some comprehensive consoli­dation. To my mind Lhis is not the time at all for interfering 'Vith the electoral laws. (Hear, heM !) Quite apart from the state of war in which we are <lngaged at present, l do not think that the rast session of Parlia­ment-the session immcd1atPly preceding a general election-is the right time to make a serious and drastic interference as has been done in this case by the Home Secretary. I might add that it is being done in the dying hours of the session. 'l'hat is not only my opinion, but I call, as Pvidence in support of that contention, the statement made bv the Chi0f Secretary himself during the last session of Parliament, when he pointed out that the proper time for aml'nding the elec­toral law was during the middle session of Parliament, at a time when we were not immediately coming back t.o the House from the heat of a general election, nor at a time when we were· about to enter into the heat of a general e-lection. When, in addition to that, we find that we are involved in the most serious war in history, surely there should be some sound, strong, and urgent reasons giyen why a measure of this kind should bo introduced at all! I have no doubt that the Premier him~elf, if he were attacking this Bill. would point out that the very ftrst consideration would be to ask the reason whv the m-•a,nrc was introduced. Most of the people of Qtleensland would <expPct that the am0nding Electoral Bill in· traduced now would b" Aomething arising out of the exigencies of the war. somethin(( to enahl" those who. unfortunately, through stress of the· war and through the closing

Mr. Ryau.]

1890 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendm, nt Bill.

up of mine~, hav8 to move from their elec­torate into other electorates, to enable thern to have their names kopt on the roll. Some means should be devised whereby the exrst­ing rights of doctor,, chould iJe preserved, and some means should also be devised b v which those who in doing their duty tO the Empire are leaving our ~hares, should be able to cast their votes, to decide so far as they em how the govPrlll1H'nt ot this countrv shall be carried on in their absence. (Hear, hear!) Do we find any of those thing·s in this Bill? Do we find in this measure a provi ion made to keep men on the rolls in their oltctoratPs when the:v have to move out of their electorate looking for emplo:y mont throu;;·h causes which are dircctlv attributable to the war? The hon. gentlcinan knows that (.>~ttain n1ining -works have clo·ed down, that cmployrncnt has coas•cd, and tl1at men have to move from those electorates as a direct consequence of the war. Do we find this House rising to its duty, aiul ba:c·ing '• \Yn ,,hall keGp these ffil'll en t1P roll?" :-\o ! \V e frnd the Govern­ment introd1Ceing a Bill which has the direct object of filching the votes of these men. I place conduct of that kind on the same level as the act of " trader \Yho takes advantage of tho war to raise the price of commodi­ties. (Hear, hear !) I cc,ee no distinction be­tween tho trader who will filch a higher price from the person who has to pay and the filching of votes from a person who is compelled to leave his electorate to look for work as a direct .-;onsequer~~c~ of the war. Vile find non0 of the things that we expect in a Bill like this. On the contrary, we fmd hon. members on the other side getting up and ;,aying, \vith regard to these men ,,,-ho have to lcavP their electorates, that thcv have no right to a vote because their quali­fication has been removed, although they know that thcv had to leave their electorates to look for work as a rr ,u!t of the war. The Government are unable to devise anv means whorebv the volunteers should be 'given a vote. '"Every person volunteering for the war should be entitled to vat• before he leaves. \Yith regard to the volunteers, I would be quite prepared to allow them a Yote wheth0r thev have been twelve months in Queensland or' no•, or whether they have been two months in a particular electorate. I am snre if tho Government granted them a vote they would havo the gratitude of th0 whole of tho people of Quecrsland. (Hnr, hoar!) If the Government said that the vohmt0ers wonlrl be entitlf'd to a vote, they could ea,ilv find meo.ns for enabling thorn to do so. They did it in :!'\ew Zealand.

Mr. MACROSS.\N: Hav·c i·,hc:v all got votes? Mr. RYAN: Some d them have not got

a vote at all. :,rr. :Jf.'~cEOS~.\.N: ThC'n, would you giYc

th" other fcllo11 ., two votes? ~.Ir. RY)K: I ;;oulcl be nropanrl to give

m·erv volunteer a vote. cmd I would waiYe the 'qualification with regard to thf' twehe months' re~idonco in Queensland and the two months' roeidPnce in an cloctor,ltP. I would easilv devi~c means bv which that vote shonid be cast. It \\"US done in ~ow Zea­land, and it can be clone herr. In ="cw Zca land we find there is a Govorn-nent of a more genprous typo and a GoYernrnent of a more generous SPntiment than the GoYern­ment here. Thov have there a GovPrnmen\ whi{'h rises to the occasion with which t,he Briti~h dominions are confronted at this time. The Premier of New Zealand paid a

[Mr. Rynn.

compliment to the pn ;ent Commonwealth Labour party. Ile said he thanked God for the existence of the Australian Nav.). He did not hesitate to pay that compliment. YL•t here in queensland we finre that the Gov0rnment are unable to devise mrans bv which the votes of the volunte•"rs shall be ca>t ! One hon. member thi: afternoon pointed out that the votes would all be given for tho Liberal party, and cons •qucntly the LibPral ]-,arty 'vcro generou.;; in n:Jt nwking provision for thPm to cast their Yotc'. The hon. member said that all the nurseR, num­bering thirt} -four, would Y0tc for tlr' Liberal part.Y. He also said that all the volnnteers would vote for thP Liberal party. If they are supporter., of the Liberal parte-, it b

not a matter of cow:ern to me, but they should have the l'ig-ht to exor~iso tlwir franchise, no matter whom they vote for. The ptc·Jp!o of (}uecllsland natura ll:v look at thrs time for a measure which will proY'de some relief from the oontingcncies th :t :haYe arisen from the war. \Ye find in this n1easure a narro,ving of the ti1n0 for the qualification. \Y c find that a man who is absent from his electorate one month in the four months immediatel.v precr dina- the election i' not entitled to a vote. If he is three months and one dav out of his Plcctorate on the eve of an election, he is not entitled to a Yotc, and he has no right to be placed on another roll. TJ nder the present- law a man can be out of the eloc­tora te for six months before his name is struck off tlw roll, but during- that six months bP is able to g'et on to another raJ\. Here we have a deliberate taking awav of thn Yates of peonl0 who will he out of their olertorates thl'ee- months and a day previous to a g-eneral olf·rtion, althoug-h \YO know that tho exiv,encies of the nosition make it ocressarv for them to lJP a-\\ •tv looking for work. ~\ larg0 portion .-,f these men will Lc~ r.c~tn& :lie "·orkf'rs, ,,·ho moye about fron1 e!P:·hn'atc' to electoraV'. This Parliament CP!!ht to be ashamed to allow a meosurc of this sort to pass through on an occasion nf thi~ ·-ort. (Hear, hf':>r !) Tlwre is als0 a provision for protested votes. No ground is given for the protest. The protest may hP. lodged against every voter. If thr return­ing officer chooseo. to allow that protest, th ·' man who lodg-es it- has a ri!!ht to appc1l to the B'cctions Tribunal. That is th,• rcmcrly. He must haw' money enough and means enonrrh to carrv tho matt<'r to th" F.lPctions Tribunal '"nrl. have it te,tnrl there. Is that a democratic a'1lenrl>ne'lt 0 Is that not reason whv this Bill ch0u:d be with­clra wn and \Vh)~ some conE<oliclating rnr a sure should be introduced on tho lines mor.crl bv the bon. member for JI.Tarano·1? This mea-un is merelv narrowing thf' lim;ts of the

franchice of thosr• qualili .. d t0 vote. Thf'·1 it nrono~r'fl to make it '"~OlllnHJ,;;orY to ("'l~t th Jc ,:otc, bc'causn theY thi'1k that th" ma;.)rit•- of thoe,e woon th<> roll will be com­prJlr,l to Q"ive a yote for the'n. \Yhv should en elc•tor be {'O>npolled to cast a yote \Yhr"t he docs J1i,t belior.-c in either cancl;d"t"? Ts that not vvronr- in nrinr:n 1e? I can Cl'Uito nnderstrmrl the .fliff~rencp bctwN•n ,f'omnnl· f01''H cnroJm0nt anrl co•npnlsory voting. Com· pn 1s0rY "ll-ro1m0nt nrovidPR th'd n 1na11

ct-·11 Lolc'l hims0!f in retdiness to c1st a vote at the nrorwr time if he shall he s0 P•;nded. \Yh•· shonld he be co'Tlnel'ed t.-, <""')~+ a vot0 if' he is not so m!nrlPd? I a1n certain that thousands of people in Queens­land will resent this attempt on the part of

Election,, Acts [11 NovEMBER.} Amwdment Bill. 1891

tho Liberal Goyernment to dng th0m to the poll and comvel them to vote for them. There is no doubt that the majority of th0 people are people of conunon sen 'c. ='Jo one will dream for one moment that the prcsenc Denham Gov<',ntdmt aro introducing thi3 Dill with a Yiew of prote:;ting {1crn0crac_r. It is an insult to thP intellir.e·rco of their own ,,trongc".t supporters to s~y that a mea· sure of this sort is introdw ··d to protccL democracy. I wonder that the Guvcrn;nent so far imllO'·<'S upon the credulity of the people of Queens!: nd that the:· can get thc·m to belieYe that this Bill is brouo·ht in for the purpose d allo'.>ing all peo]lh to have votes. That has been reneatc•d over and o\·er again-that thoPe entitled to be on the roll shall be put on the roll and that -only those will Le allo ed to yote. Ron. gentlemon oppo::itn scen1 to forget that the rule of argnin~ in a circle can be eac;il~~ seen through. The GoY0rnnwnt hav!' de­liberate]:~· sot about narrowin'l· down the limits of tho elPctoral law. When men leave their electorate in search of employment, the:v are to lose their vote". \Vhat did the Chief Sr·•.~rduy say a 1Jout c'lmpulw•·:.· vot· ing? \Y e n1ust bear in mind his own senti-

ments on that qucstiol! when [8 p.m.] speaking here last year. \Vo

heard what he said this after­noon. and we will put his two opinions si-de by side. He said. to-day that · cmnpulsory voting "as a necessary thing. It was more necessary than attPnding to th"· wa'lts of the people during the present crisis. It was moro necessary than devising some sf'h8lne to deal with the conditions that will U!l·

doubtedly follow upon tho present cri,is. This is what he said-

.. Tho hon. member askr·d why we did not go in for oompulsor~ enrolment. \Yell, that matter had consideration. The natural corollary of ·compulsory 0nrolment is compulsory voting."

OPPOSITION ME}1BERS: 2'\ot ncc< S"!lrily.

" The PRE}!IER : I sa v it is o. fair corollary. \Vith compofment to enrol, there should be compul:<JY.V voting, and th' only way of comnclling the vote woulrl lw to give what I should be very un illing to give. and that is ·absolutely u rc trictud opportunity to vote by "" ms of the post. That would be un­desirable."

In the middle •O'··ion of this Parliament, during last Sl'c'ion. tho Premier •aid that' he would not haYe compul•ory voting be· cause it meant ·an extension of the postal vote. and here, on the evo of an election, he comes down and tells this House the directly opposite thing. How can members opposite hold up their heads am~ g-o to the country and ca v that this Bill i" not intended to <'W},oa ,:~ur to SPCUre th0ir return bv disfran· chi<i,•g many thoueands o: fhe pe~ple, and hy >l ·cing the machiner:: of the postal vote in the hands of others? I think the time can lw v,ry useful!~· spent in endc1vouring to P''"\ <'!lt the pa ,,,onrre of S'Jeh a measure. I ·did think--- end I think you. :VIr. Speaker, yery p:--opn·ly preYentf'd any reference to any narti<:'uhr section of the communitv this afternr,on-I -did t~1ink t'hat the GD"'rl11Il.'ent at a tim<' like this would end<'avonr to see that no leg-islation .," '"s introduced that would put one ~lues against another. Imtc'1d of that, we find a ·m-ost contentious Electoral Bill

brought down in order to save th~ir political skim·. I venture to sa·,· that in not another Parliaruent throughout ~the Briti .h dorninions is 1 1n~a~-1re liko this bei!lg int::oduced now­I go further, and I .c,ty no rneasure that is altering the franchise. Can any hon. 1nernber c,1;pc-.ite deny that'! I f<'el conlidcelt, what­ever the intention of the Government may bP, and I thiuk it is obvious, whatever -their objc1et may be with regard to narrowing the ,~oting pov cr, and then con1pclling that narrow nurnbcr to vote for thmn, I am satifi­JiP<l that the Jl'1ople of Queensland are so di,,;"'~'·d ·,yith the present Governnwnt, they hnvP lwcmne so apathetic in regard to them •::hen the:· find the bludp;eon of compulsion-b. name that is what it is~­

Mr. KESSELL: Rub it in.

:J!Ir. HY) .. X: The hon. mc"nLT who inter­jects will be pa'3ed out as a memller of this ( 'h tmber. He will find that tho pe0ple will rrwnt the action which tlw Government a.r-e taking "ith regard to so many thousands of tho ' lectors. and thev ·.vill also resent the attf: 'npt o~ the Govcrllrnent to endeavour to c-orm.c•l them to g·o to thr 1 .ull and cast their vote·,, for them. ·I trust tl)o •ltn<''ldment wi !I be carried. IndN'd. I hope the Home Socre­tarv will vet be induced to accc:Jt the am<md­rne~Jt th0rebv removing fron{ the present Parliament a' measuce which should never have been introduced. and always >Yill stand as a diso·race to the Gow•rnment that intro­duced it

* ::Ylr. THEODORE: I think, when consider· ing the proposed amendment of the Elections Act. clue regard should have be.•n had to the forms of franchice in existence in the Southern State<, and the pr.::diee which is adopted of allowing or disallowing absent voters to record their votes. and the practice gene' c1lly adopted by Southern States i!' con· ncction with elections. \Y e ha YO had eVIdonc<' t<J-night in the definit-e statement of the lP.ad!'r of the Government that he was 'en· tireh- i"norant of ,,,hat were the franchises in Southern States. The amendment asks that this Bill should be I'ejPeted. and that another consolidating the Elections Acts chould br introducecl, having due regard ~o the laws of tho Southern States. I want to refer hricflv to some of those h\YS v:hcre touched up~n bv this measure. or which shonld be tho s;Ibject of an Elections Act Amendment BilL In \Vostl'l"n Austcalia. the electoral machinery re1uir"s only six months' rcsic!cncc in that State, and one month in the district. An:v person m•.'I. the. age of h;·enty­one vr,us h.avin!): that quahficatJon of resic!cmce maY· make application. and got on the State rolio without anv further difficnltv or dp]ay. almost forthwith: That is in st'"ikinp; contrast to the requirements of th<' Queenslan-d law, brcausn under no set of circutn:;;tances can a man <rd on the Queensland electoral roll Lmlccc/'hc has benn resident here for about sixteen or s,'YontC'en months-that is. after havin"' fnlfilled the residence qualifiration <tnd gone thtough the ordinary . process of enro]n!('nt. The ·western Austrah<L c·kctora.l J:n\· ,dso n1akPs bt'tter nro'fision for .t~·ansfer. (' ntil now we ha vo had no )JrOVls;on for trC!ncfcr in Queensland. A man might be qualified. and live. h~lf his life in a. P.ar­ticl' Jar electoral -distnct, ancl. upon ehlftmg be has to commence the process of electoral enrolment all over again. The o_nly pr~­vision this Bill makes for transfer rs that. It does not require a person who has applied

!Jfr. Theodore.]

1892 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendment Bill.

to get on a new electoral roll to answer quite so manv questions if he has been already c>IL olkci: In \Ve3tern Australia, this is the pro;ision-

.' Provided that em cleclor who ha~ chauged his re-siden<>' to another district rnav, until his nan1e is tran~ferrcd to another roll, vote for the district in which his name continues enrolled at any elec­tion."

It makes proper provision that without any transfer claim his name shall be registered for the new district. It provides for con­tinuous registration, as a voter, onee he is put on the rolL because he cannot be struck off one roll until his name appears on a new roll, and he cannot be prevented from voting for the district in which he wa~ enrolled unless his name has been transferred to the neVI roll. The South Australinn law is also much more liberal than the Queensland law. I might say that all the other States of the Commonwealth have much more demo­cratic laws than Queenslar>.d, and I am going to point out three or four which are in advance of Queensland in regard to de­mocracy, and tha.t is why I think due re­gard should have been had to the electoral law of other States when an amendment 'vas being considered. In South Australia a person who has lived six months in the State may claim enrolment. Therf\ is no re­quirement of residence in one particular dis­trict, and he is registered forthwith. There is no tedious or prolonged delay. in the matter in considering his claim before suc­cessive bi-monthly courts as there is in Quc>ensland. And then, again, there is a clear differenf'" in the South Australian law as compared with the Queensland law. There is no disfranchisement in South Aus­tralia of any person in receipt of Govern­ment aid, as there is in Queensland. The Premier seems to be under the erroneous impression that we have democratic electoral machinery in Queensland. Everybody knows that he is not sincere when he makes that statement, and he is acting the part of a hypocrite, as do all hon. members on that side when they claim that the provisions are democratic, when they know they are not. They ar0 retaining unnecessarily their dis­franchisement of people in receipt of Go­vernment aid. That has been discarded wholly in South Australia, if ever it was in force. In the Commonwe'alth they recognise no similar disability at all. People in re­ceipt of Government aid, such as the old­age pensions, are fullv qualified to exercise the right~ of the franchise, and the privilege also extends to the State as well as the Commonwealth aid. In South Australia they make much better and more democratic pro­visions for transfer: This summarises the provisions of the South Australian Act-

" \Vhen a person ·whose name is on the roll of an,· division has removed to another district, his name could be transferred forthwith. Upon receipt of the transfer claim the returning officer could there and then register the ap­plicant on the roll for which he applies."

It gives every facility for a penon once he 'has r2moved his residence without having to wait for residence in the r.ew district to comply with the conditions. He fills in a transfer claim and his name is forthwith revistered on the new roll. He does not go before an electoral court. I think these are provisions we would do well to copy here,

~..M1·. Theodore.

becacue we have a large population con· tinually removing·, because the exigencies of industrial occupation which the voters fol­low require them to move from one part of the Shtc to another, and we should protect those persons b:, CI 'luring that they shall rcmn..in on the electoral rolL or give them fuller facilities of transferring their name» from one el0~toral roll to another. There c~n be no valid argument against it. and the old argument that a person who had no particular' home, and frequently removed his re9idenc,- 1 and so had no opportunitv of becoming acquainted with the politics of his district, docs not :J.ppl: in thi·· case. And it was practica.ll;' s·ated by the hon. ·nom­her for Port Curtis that such men should be disfrcnchiscd. In fact, his exact words, which :·rc ,,-orth 1 Jting, were these-

" Th0re are men in this countrv who have no right to vote 'for Parliament or anything else."

There are m:·n who have no right to vote, he f'a:vs-a clear statement. in my opinion, against the working people, against the toilers.

l\:Ir. E. B. C. CORSER: Birds of passage.

Mr. THEODORE : The hon. member agrees with that. as he wants to disfranchise birds of passage. The hon. member was dearly referring to the nomadic workers, "hosG work take' them from one district to another in Qucenslnnd, men who have to build up the domestic industries of the State, scores of whom are working in the :Mary­borough electorate, many of whom are work­ing for Walkers Limited-" birds of pas­s:•.ge," as the hon. member stigmatises them -porters who work in the Railway Depart­ment, and who are sent to Maryborough, perhaps afterwards transferred to Bundaberg or Brisbane, or somewhere else-these men are shifted about compulsorily, without any desire of their own, and these are the men who are stigmatised as birds of passage­men who arc not worth giving a vote to or worth considering when we arc conferring the franchise on the people. This is the sort of way that honest and worthy citizens of this State are referred to.

Mr. E. B. C. C:OR'lER : I referred to those who come up from Sydney, and do not intend staying here, as birds of p'tEsage.

Mr. THEODORE: No one has been ask­ing for a vote for the man who came up

, from Sydney, and who stayed only two or three months. \Y e consider them Queensland citizens if thev have com~ here, and have resided for six' months with the intention of ::cttling here. To characterise thousands of men in Queensland •vho are compelled to moVe' from plr.ce to place in following their avocations as birds of passage is .dis­paraging decent citizens. I remember in 1893, whr"n the goldftelds were in full swing in \Vcstern Australia, that the Con­s0n·ative Government in office there, realis­ing that the spread of democi'acy was likely to be rapid on account of the great nu'Ylbcr of anivals from other States. introduced a measure to limit the franchi'-e. The leader of the Government there referred to the miners who came w \VP'-ter'l Australia as birds of pa,,ag-e. Thf'sc' men came tempor­arilv into a district, with the implements which thPv m"' in tlwir employment, and settled down for a while, and then shifted h annthor district. It was asked why they should be given the franchise, and thus have

Elections Actd [ll KovE;;IBER.] Amendment Bill. 1893

the power to upset tho ,,ettlcd policy of the Government, and because it was thought that they should not b8 given the franchise, it "\Vas kept frmn the1n for :· 'VL'ral year:::., but they got it mbsequAntly, and that Govern­ment "ere hurled out <Jf ollic·J. Han. members opp'?-ite i"ill hypocriticc~l_ly claim to be. dem?­cratw. "~.Yncn nne of tJl.Ell' ··"8Pl'0f>'ntatrv .... s rn anotLer plar<', one ci the most influential member· of the Liberal part:", in an un­guarded moment referred disparaginglv to the orkers of Quo2nsland as '' ver.::nrnous loafers." In my opinion that disclosed what the true opinion of the Government i" re­garding tho alleged cl'mocrucy which they are EUJ1lJOsed to adhere tCJ. I started by oomparing the Queensland electoral law with that in some of the other States, and pointed out that inquiry should be made before we launched out into new regions of electoral law, as propvoetl bv tho Bill we are con­sidering. In \\-c.tern Au ·tralia and South Australia the rrsid0nce cj'ualification is much more libPrnJ than that of Queensland. The same thing mn be ·,aid of New South WalE's. Six months' residence in the Commonwealth, and three months in th,, Rtatc,, is required there. A person who has qualified as a Conunomn;alth elector. if he has only re­sided in ~ew South \VJ.!cs three months is entitled to get on thu Rtate r<J!l. They ~!so give great facilities for the transference of electors from one electorate to :mothm·, rec·Jg­nising that it is nere ·,sarv for the conven­ience of those who r1-,ift. about that that facility ,,hould be given. In New South \Vales the position may be summarised as follows :-Anv elector who removes to an­other district' may, after ono month's resi­dence, transfer his name. The registrar shall register the name on the roll for the new district. As soon "" the registration elaim is received hy the regiotrar. he will register the petson's name apon the new electoral roll, and he then lJccomcs an elector for !hat di~trict, . Then, m r<>gard to the strik­mg-off provisiOn. The Queensland Govern­ment, in their frenzic'd desire to d<J what the hon. membGr for Port Curtis called keep­ing a C'lean Staff' roll, had giv0n extraor­dinary facilities for striking names off the roll. The Liberal id0a of a clean roll is a roll on which thNe ere as few Labour people as possible : their ide a of purity is the re­tention on the r<Jlls of Liberol voters. There­fore, inferentially, Labour voters are un­clean.

The PRE}IIER: It is onlv an unclean mind that would make that deduction.

Mr. THEODORE: The han. gentleman has often spoken about getting a clean roll. By a pure roll he means as manv Liberals on tho roll as possible. H,, calls the Liberals pure and the Labour people impure and un­clean.

Mr. THEODORE : The han. gentleman claims to he1ve a pure roll, because he stops the on1inary shearer and sugar-worker from getting on the roll. Judging from the re­marks of thn Chief Secretary and the Minietor for Lands. their ROle desire 'is to have> a clean roll to S<'Cnre their. s~:tts on the Treasurv hPnch. "

The SECRE1''ARY FOR PUBLIC LANDS: Han' I made use of the expression ?

Mr. THEODORE: If tli.c bon. gentleman will contribnte £5 to the Brisbane Hospita1. everv tim., I can show him a remark about an impure roll, the Brisbane Hospital will be in

funds. The han. member for Port Curtis rc­pcltod the exprc•.,ion half a dozen timeR.

Tho SECRET \RY FOR PeBLIO LAC':DS: llo said 1 ~_,~hing about rernoying Labour yoters or any~ thin;_"': liko thut.

Mr. THEODORE: Th. t is the inference. Ilo wantJd a clean roll which woukl pre\·cnt t;,, • n;)i.D attic -,T,'orkcrs fron1 f: 'tting on tho :oiL Evc"y facility is given b,· sdtin;, up revision courts every two months. It is not likch that those revision courts are going to be 1;1ade us;; of eYcrv two 1nonths, but if is quite cerhin that they are going to be w ,,de u-. of in tho next two bi-monthly c:oc;rb .:1.1t sit in Febru.1ry and _\pril. With the ac,Jist­anco of the police and the machinery at their dispor·li the Liberal partv will wipe as many people off thP roll as possible.

The PREi\liER : \Vhat has this to do with the amendment? This ig a second-reading b[W• ch.

~lr. THEODORE: It has a lot to do "ith th<' amendment, because the amendment asks for the rejectim1 of the Bill. I think the Bill

should be rejected, because it is [8.30 p.m.] making provision for the Liberal

narty to expunge Labour voters from the rolL A desperate effmt will be made in Februarv and ~'l.pril at the two bi-monthly courts. Th~, Minister for Lands smiles C.'T..ic­allY. He sees that the plot is discovered. Tlio hon. member must have an imagination if hn did not know that it would be utterly impossible with the pres·ent machinery to carrv out tho revision of the roll everv two mo1ith;. It is unnecessary and wouid be dan~erous but the Liberal party are putting tint in the Bill so thaI tlH'y can jus!_ify the wholesale expunging from the roll of Labour supporters at the revision court imme?iately bdore the election. It is most unfa1r and unsportsmanlike, and rio other party on the face <Jf God's earth would adopt the unclean tactics of trying to defeat their opponents by such mean and paltry subterfuges. \Vhy were th<'se amc:Jclmenh not mentioned in tho first sr"ion of Pariiament? \Vh,· were the,- not mentioned in the Premior's policv speech during the last genc·1·al election? There was s<Jme reference made to an amendment of the elector a! machin&ry in this direc­tion h:v the gentleman who was running !n the Liberal interests for Maree, Mr. Dav1d Hunter who r,aid that if the Labour supporters did not !<Jok out they would vd a swing<'!DP-: Election~ Act that would m::ko them s1t up. It might haye. been m the mind,; of the Liberals at that tim<>. but he was the onlv one to mention it during the campaign. If 'the Government _ha? intende_d u.t the last election, and the begmnmg d this Parliament. two and a-half years aro, to make the' 0 amendments. the,- should hav.e been in­cluded in the Bill of l8d ,·ear, but thrsc amendmenls have on!, becon thought of since :he Bill was introduced last year. \Vhat can it be, that has induced the Government to c·onsider it at this sta.c'e excent the FcdNal <'lcction? I am quite c.prtain that the Liberal pa-,·tv realise that t.hcy arf\ going. to suffer if tlwv allow the people to exerctse a free fnwchis.c and the onh consideration thev muld h~ve had in th,; introduction of this Bill wa' to limit the franrloise. Tn New South \Vales in regarc1 to the striking off procec,g, thn' 1)o1iee notifv the rE'gistra.r of pNsons who have left the electorate m a similar manner to what has to hE' done here.

Jfr. Thendorel

1894 Elections Acts [ASSEMBLY.] Amendmmt Bill.

The registrar informs the elector by notifica· ti',HL That also is done here, But here is the difference: The p<'rson in :\ew South \Vales \vho is notified may object to his name bemg e'nwk off, either orally before the registrar, or in writing addrcss~d to tho registrar. Here tho only proce~s by which a man can have his name retained on the electoral roll after he h-1S brc·n notihed that the word "left " or "die qualified" has been marked against his na.1ne is to attend the revision court in person, or to get some one to attend on his behalf; and because of that cumborous process thou­sands of persons aro wrungly struck off the 8lectoral rolls of Queensland. Electors very often find it inc on veni ent to attend tho court p(ersona!ly,

Liout,-Colonel RANKIN: You do not mind employing agents to put them on the roll.

Mr. THEODORE: The wr;, fact that petsons arc employ"d by all parties in Queensland to put electors on the roll shows that tho machinery for em'olling people is not complete. This Bill uffet , too many facilities for wrongfully striking off the names of persons who are on the roll, and docs not give as great facilitiea' to persons to obi ect to their names heine; sb uck off as arc given in New South \Vales, whore the registrar n1ay receive .a notice frod1, say, John Smith, stating that although h'' has been notified that he has left the district ho desired to inform the regirtrar that he has not loft the district and wishes to have his name retained on the roll. If a man writes falsely, he is liable to a severe penalty, and that is a sufficient safeguard, I hope the amendment will be carried, and that the Bill will be rejected, if it is only to defeat the proposal with reg.ud to protesting vote-' -the giving to a scrutineer the right to protest against a vote without an;- ground for doini; so, and compelling the elector to write his signature on an envelope so that it may be con1parc-d -vvith his :,ignature on the claim form. Sa v a man's name is J arne \Yillia-,1 Smith, a~d ~ ou fill up a daim form for him and a ok him to sign it, he will prol-ably cJk you, "How >hall I sign it -with my full name?" You will reply, " \Vith your ordinary signature!' But, as a rule, those mon do not have an ordinary signature, and miturally he will write the full name James 'William Smith, which he see' in the claim. Observe his signature when he signs for his mon\hly pay, and you will find that at one time he signs "J, Smith," at .another time "James Smith," at another time "James \Villiam S·nith," and at another time "J. \V, Smith!' I have seen that kind of thing frequent!;~·. I hayo also seen men sign with a flourish to their signatures on somo occasions, and without a flourish on other occasions, From what I have said it will be seen that if you take the signature of such a man as appended to a claim made up five years ago and com­pare it with the specimen signatur-", you will probably find that they do not agree. There will be no similaritY in nine cases out of ten, and if the retu'rning officer re­jects the vote bec-ause the signature is not the same as the signature on the claim, that will mean that Labour voters will bo robbed of the franohise, Of course there will be some Liberal voters who "ill also suffer in that way, but in the majority of cases they will be Labour vcters. I contend that this is a dastardly attempt to deprive work­ing men of their vote. There al'C sufficient

[Mr. Theodore.

safeguards in the Elections Act to protect the interests of the publio and the int~rests of candidates without this extraordmary dragging in of further intimidation. If _a person personates ano~hcr , elector, [he '" liable to five years' tmpnsonment under the Criminal Code, If the Government thought that there as a vast arpount o£ peponation at the last State elect_wn, 1t ~s strange that they should, have '':''"'ted untrl almost the ond of the th1rd scsston of Par­liament before making any provis_ion a;;ainsc it. They have not given o:Ie msta";ce of personation at a State electwn, It 1s the cluty of the returning. office_r to S';'PPlY all candidates at an electwn wtth a hst of, all case, in which there are apparent duphca­tions and at the la ot election a list of sevor~teen cases of apparout c1uplication \vas supplied to me. I cxami•Jod them careh1lh, and I could see that m c-,·ory 0aso "1:':':-­werc proiJably mi-takos, occause they_ were mostly common names lllw John Sn.tih or Thomas Brown. If there was any apparent personation at the last State election it "as the bounden dutv of the Gm-ernment n investigatB suci;. c<J.:..es and discover and I•ro­secute the persons who had wrongly voted, but they have not done that; tlwre ,~,-a~ J?~t one prosecution for such, an offen<:;e m~tl­ated by the Government m connectwn vnth the ):,qt election. The cumborous ~~stem to which I have referred is introduc0d for the purpose of allowing Liberal scrutineers to hara>< Labour voter' by compelling them to give specimen signatures on polling-day, Is thnro anv other int0ntion behind it? The Hom" Scc~etary thinks the Liberal ;,cru­tinoer the cute gentleman who is chosen for th~ particular purpose, will challenge all the Labour voters, he will be able to _in­timidate and brmvbeat them. and depnve them of their right to vote, The scrutinenrs y, ill challenge every vote that is attemnted to be cast in everv polling-booth for Labour candidates. Taka' a big polling-booth in a metropolitan area, or some nlace ":he<·c there is a congc-;tion of voters, the .~ ... 'rubneer C;tn prote~t ~,gainst. every Yote, a:Ld \ hvt chance will there be of gcttin12: the JlO 11 through? There would be leso o~joction t.o it if tho scrutinoer had to state h1s grounds for the objection, . and_ if th0r_e ,;-as s_ome penalty a gaiL .t hnn tf he dtd. It fnvol­ouslv and without r<'ason and \nthont juo­ticf': ::\Ic- investigation of tho elect 1_ral la.w in the Southern Statr''o-thc PrcmlH wdl not be able to C''lntradict me in this m ':t·•r, becJ.uso hP apparentlv !tHO\'>~s nothing at-out the electoral Ia\' s in' the Sont;1wr'l Slates­shows me that their laws n·e ITI'"'h more up-to-date and much memo eJfr ~ti·. '· and much bott0r safeguarded, and give a hu~r reprr-"enhtion of the people ;m tiP rcrne­t!'red roll, and render JlD•stble a truer refle'C of tho opinion of the people, than is possible in Que"nslancL \'\-ith the limited franchise under this Bill thf' (iur<'TIS!nnrl franchise can no Ienger be oallod 8'1 adult franchise, It is only a limited franchise­certainlv those neonle whcm the Premier says ar~ qu~lified v~ill be on the roll, and only those people will be able to vote.

The PREJ\IIER: The •1ualification is adult franchise,

Mr. THEODORE: It is not adult fran­chise, Adult franchise mc'-ms franchise to the adult. An adult is a per"m over twenty­one years of age for this purpose, who is not

[ll NovEMBER.] AmPndment Bill. 1895

a felon, not a bankrupt, and under the Queensland bw, not ·1 per7on rcr"'nvmg Govern.ment aiel. In Qu"en ~land there are 1GO 0(1() adnlL who on c•le::tio·1 day will not be ab'o to vob bec"u:J of the disqualifica­tions made possible by the Liberal policy. That is what the\ call " adult franchise." The Sccrctar.:· for .. PubE· T,ands smiles.

The SECHBTARY FOR PUBLIC LANDS : I was wondering where you got that 100.000 from.

::Ylr. THEODORE: I will tell the han. member. There is a di,crcpancy at present of 70,000 eler>tors bctv;ecn tho·· e enrolled on the Commonwealth roll and those enrolled on the State rulls.

The SECRE~'ARY FOR PUBLIC LAKDS : Which proves nothing.

Mr. THEODORE: It indicates that a large number of people who are qualified to get on tho Comrnom: oaith roll are not on the State rolls, and if you make due allow­ance for duplications 0:1 both rolls, you will find there are 50,00U not on the State rolls who are qualified to be on the Common­wealth roll. Then, under this I3ill, if it be­comes law, there will be anothet 50;000 who arc on tho rolls "' ho 'lre alY·ent from the district, and who, for other disq'•alifications, will he prevented from voting. 50,000 and 50,000 make 100,000.

The SECRETARY FOR PuBLIC LANDS: All that proves nothing, neverthol ess.

::Y1r. THEODORE: The hon. member kno\vs hov{ many wer~ enroll· d in Queens­land at the last elec!icn-r,bout 360,000-and there were about 20~.000 who voted, and 40,000 who were preventcd hom voting because thev could not fulfill the qualifica­tion imposed on them by the Liboral.Govcrn­mcnt. Under this Bill evPry person v:ho ha•· been three months awav from the district in "hich .they arP enrolled ,, ill be pteventcd from vohrg: and QYE'ry pcr:-::on ~,vho can bo intimidate,! under 1:his protest , ote will not be able to veto; Pvorc· pcr"on y:ho can be intimidated under the Libe1tal electoral law

ill not bo able to vote; and in that man­ncr there ''ill be 100,000 who "·ill not· be able to vote on electim. day, and that is the Liberal ide~ of an adult franchise. It is the wor~t form of Conservative franchise, becans? it confers the franchise on privilegocl people and it debars the democracy of the right to votr·.

At fiftecm minutes to 9 o'clock,

The PRE::YHER: I beg to move that the question bn now put.

Question-That the quec.tion be now put­put; and the House divided:-

AYEs, 39. 1\1r. Allan

, Appel :\n:ter

, Bnrnt>s, G. P. , Barnrs, \V. H. , Bt>bbington

Bell Blair Booker

, Bridges Caine

, Corser, B. H. , Corser, E. B. C.

Crawford Cribb Denham

, Forsyth Grant Grayson Gunn

:Yr. Hoclgt' , Kess. 11

Lnkf' 1\!ackav

:: Mat'killtosh , , 1f acroE 1 an , Pag-et , Peh·it~ .. Philp

l.i!f'llt.~Col. Rankin. :Mr. :-:omerset

,, St('V('llS , ,.:::,va)ll~,

, Tolmie Trout

, Yuwks , Walker

White Williams

Tellers: Mr. Grant and Mr. Williams.

:Jir . ..Adamson Barber Bertram Bowm~.n

, C'1yne

NoEs, 24. "Mr. KinYan

Land Larcom be Lf'nnon

, May J.fcCormack

, :JJurphy O'Sullivan Payne Ryan Thcoc1on~

, Fihelly Folcv Gilllt•s Hamilton HarclncrC' Hunter Huxham

Tellc1 s: }1r. , \Yinstanl(:ly

Larcombe and Mr. Jl1urphy.

l'AITL

Ayc-}Ir. :Yiorgan. :Xo-~Ir. Gilday.

Resolved in the affirmative.

Quc·stion-That tho words proposed omitted (Jir. Hunt· ,·'s am endmcnt) part of the question-put; and the divided:-

AYES, 39.

Mr. Allan , "\ppel ,, Arclwr

Barnes, G. P. Br.rnes, Vil, H. lklJbington Bl'll Blair

'\Ir. Hodge Kessell Luke

, Mackay }iackintosh Macros"an

, Paget Petrie

to be stand

House

Booker , rhilp . Lieut.-rol. Rank1n. 1ir. ~omrrSl't

~tevr-ns

Brj(lges C nne C'or .er, B. H.

., Corser, E. B. C. ~;W:'•Yllf' Tolmie Trout Yow lea Walker White Williams

Crawford Cribb Denham Forsyth Grant Grays; on Gnnn

Tellers: Jfr. Mackay and llfr. W"lker.

:Mr . ..:\d"_mson Barber Be-rtram Bowman

~' Coyne FihPlly Fol('Y Gil1fPs l.!u.,milton I: arducre Bunter Huxham Teller~: ~fr.

'!'\oES, 24. =.\Ir. Kirwan

Land l.arcombe T.f'llllOll

" ~~~Zormack , :IIurphy

O' ,·;ullivan raYnC Rv·-~n

Tf1 "mlore , \Vinstan~e-y.

Gillie~ and 31 r. K1rwa11.

PAIR.

Ayc-Jifr. :\forgan. '!'\o-Mr. Gilday.

Resoh·ed in the affirmative. :Mr. FIHELL Y: It appc 'rs to me ver.y

di .. c;·editable that the Government a.t this stage should be int_roduci'_lg. any measu':e affecting the franchJ~€' .. \\ hile t~e war IS going on in Europe 1t Js d1 ;cred1~able that the GO\ ernment should be att<'mptu;g to de­prive people in Queensland uf then· votes, and that the Home Secretarv should [,e en­deavouring by this means to give him~elf a.nd hi .. , col!Aagues " frosh Jon sc of ?ffice. I do not know anything more discred1tab!e than that in the dying hours _of a. de?repit Parliament-because this Parliament Js be­coming decrepit-tho. <Government should be resorting to the tactiCs of a burglar of the Bill Svkes type. vVe real!~ want measures of reform, social and economK', and we cannot get th<>m. We get nothing at all but :w.hat might be expected from a set .of ~;oht!Cal acrobats. After the gem;ral stnk.e m ~912 we irnmediatelv rushed mto pa.mc legisl.a· tion, and pa~,sed the ~ndt~strial ?e~ce Bill for the purpose of cnpplmg ~momsm. It had not the desired effect, and m 1913, when

Mr. Fihelly.]

1896 Elections Acts [ASSE:\fBLY.] AmendmLnt Bil7.

the Fed ral Labour party <:cured a victory in thh State, tho Govormr,nt introdw ~d a Bill to defraud people of the franrhis and .interfere with their right to vote. The Pre­mier said on tho floor of this House th •.t that Biil would be tlu Lst "·ord-that it would be a.n unjust and an incJ,ccont thing to introdur0 any measure aff<:ctinf" the fran­chise either in tho fir ,t or the last S( .sion of Parliament-that it was honourable and right to introduce such ml<.t"m·es in the middle ·,ssi'ln-w.· han· that stutement in '' Hansa.rd." and ot tho hon. geni·leman has broken his '"ore!· bocau·.e tho 1913 Act hns pro>·· d usdess from his point· of view. and b~causo h0 and his part:• rLteivod another fnght w:1on the Federal elcc!ion of this year r··sulted in such a w:~y a, to m:.ke them anxiou·, by de:·ious m8thod.c, to obtain their mis,_'rable e~~lb. TlL' Prcrnier's declara.­tion of last se··sion was plain and frank that no Lill of this description should be in­troduced. He did not burke the question. \Ve may , .. sk now whv he has broken his "ord. \Yith regard to compulsorv enrol­mc~t rnd con1pul"'Dry voting, his \Vo~rd.'\ ',vere dehbera.te and "dl thought out. He said the matter had been discussed. \V e can imagine ourselves in a ~illl(:Us uf th0 hon. gentlemen oppo;,ite when the matter was dis­cussed last year, and they came to the con-

clusion that compulsory enrol­[9 p.m.] ment and compulsor.y voting were

unne<l''8ary. That IS the conclu­sion they arrived at. It can be found in ":ffansard" of laiJt year, where the Premier said that both compulsor;· enrolment and ~ompulsory voting had had· con,ideration. If It did have consideration last year, why on earth are "'(' subjected to a similar measure this yenr? Vi'hat is th,- purpose aimed at? \Yhat do han. mcmb0rc opposit,, hope to gain? An h,.r1. memb•T reminds me that thev are playing upon tho misfort,;n-;s of the· war. Thcoro ir• no quc•.tion about it. Thev are m,aking tlw hc·-t tlwy ca.n out of the. war. Tney arc ende<Lvourmg by every method to use th_c war for political purposes. They arc ucmg the war to sc: ve their own skins. On the 5th September last t hov uc.f>d the Lnion Jr. k as a party symbol. Everv mem­ber ~ppos_ito had .~hc Union J ~ck 'printPd on h~--, miserable nttle l·-aflct m order to ~core a pc:ltry_ votG or. two. Comp•Jlsor.)' vot­mg wa• considered m the caucus of bon member,. opposite last year, but it was not :cd~pted until after the FEderal election', in wh1ch :!Ylr. Cook, who had charge of his own electoral machinery, was " blown out" b"' the p,cople of _Australia. Members opposite- saw

the wntmg on the wall." Thov saw th"v could not s_tifle, un_ioni'·m in 1912; they saw that b:y the 1r E1ec.1:10ns Act of 1813 they could not ;vm an elechon, and after the Federal 2k·twn they again tamper with the fran­chise. In ~outh __ \frica working men were shot down m the streets and the leaders of t,he. »orke1:s werP depor~ed from _South ~-~.fnra. This Government IS too cunmng to do that. They are more recklet> and more unscrupulous. They . are going to interfere at the ;·ery outset With the franchise uf the people m order to prevent them from votino­They are doing that in order to socu;~ a fresh lease of political lifo. \Ye kno» that stnke~ lead to unrest. Do hon. members oppos.Ite c·xpect . strike's to be abolishPd ·if !he~· !nterfere w1th the right of an ordinarv mdivid.ual to vote? If they don't give every adul~ m the State the right to vote for Pa~hament, ho~ do they expect to avoid stnkes? There IS an old axiom, " No taxa-

[M1'. Fihelly.

tion \vithout repre~ontatinn." In fact, it is a well-known Briti3h tradition that there f'hould be no taxa:ion without representa­tion. Tho working man under this Bill will havo no representation. l-Ie is the only man '"ho pay& t"xe: It may be said that he does not p .. y income tax. Calr·Ilate it for ::our'.elves. The inc:~me of an ordinary work­ing man amounts to £100 a year. not £2 a ·'"eek. A man with a "ife and family of three chilclr('n ····ill ha vo to a.llow 5s. a week for ca~h child, and. say. 17s. 6d. for both himf·' 1f and his wife. Then there is Ss. for hous•-' rent, 2s. for ~lathes, and, say, 1s. 6d. a W( .J,,. for lodges, unions, and the like, so that tho aY Tag·" expenditure of the v.·orking man in any part of Aus~ralia cannot bo lo·•· than 44<. a week. How is he goin[;' to haYe any comforts on that 1 \Vhat about tho pi~turo shows that han. members are so fond of talking about 1 If he spends 3d. on a picture show, it is as much as he does, and that docs not lE'ave him anything for toLacco or for a.n o·~caRional ch·inlc It does not lcaye him with any of the comforts :md dccc·ncics of life. ThE' Home Secretary ha •· got no sympathy for these people, and, consequc-ntl;~·, he is depriving them of a vote. Thec--e men have to work all the year round, and they cannot show a surplus. \Vc arc told that it is the coQ.t of high living, and not tho high cost of living. The working man pays all the taxes. because he creates all the wealth. Somf• members opposite and their associates conspire with the squatting interest' and put a ta" on the people of Queensland in one year to the extent of £2.250,000. It represented that amount ow­ing to the incrt>:tsod price of meat. Han. members opposite will say that they are the wcalrh-producer··., but it is the v. or king man who produces the wealth. and he do ' not a\ cr:•ge £1~0 a year. ::'oimv, hon. memb<'rs opposite propose to deprive them of th•_,il' vote,, \Vherc is that going to end? lion. members opposite are raising a Frankenstein for them,elws. Thov will b .. pursued b:.· a monster of their own crea­tion. Their methods mu't sooner or later rebound and hit thPm back. The Home Secretary shoc:ld £, .. ,] ashc··11ed of him-~lf for tampering 'vith the~~c mea~'ures yf'ar in and year out. He should fe;;l ashamed of the Bill he introduc,·d last· vear to curtail tho rights of the y:orking p0op]0 to vote. and then introduc0 another Bill thie VC"H which absolutPlV rank~:.; the franch~;;A a nrivilcve and a L]bcrA.l prerogative which .. gives only the Liberal supporters the right to get on the roll. Th;• Bill then providP' that these Liberal supporters ehall bo compelled to vote. If \VD deal with tho ethics of compulsory votin9-:, we might have a fair argument and tlwro ,·auld be plenty of scope for dif­ferences of opinion .. Compulsory enrolment is a good thing, as it enta.ils no oblig-ation and it does not interf<'re with the lib,..rty of conscience, or liberty in any shape or form. Compul--.ory voting does do so. Say, that in \lw Home Sc•cntarv's electorate there arc two Liberals --tanding, how could any de~:mt-mindcd man vote for the Home Sec­retary? (Laughter.) Probably his opponent would be just as bad. If a man has a con­scientious objection to voting, we should not compel him to do so. Han. members op­posite want to get their own people enrolled and then compel them to vote. If we are going to have equitable representation, we must give every person who is taxed the right to vote. With regard to compulsory voting, how is a woman with infants at

Elections Acts [ll NOVEMBER.] Amendment Bill. 1897

home going to vote? I will read what the Premier himself said a bout th0 postal vote last year-

,, The only v, ay of compelling the vote would be to giv" what I should be very um,,illing to gin,, and that is absolutely unre,trictcd opportunity to vote by means of the post. 'l'hat would be undbirable, and, unless we give that, we cannot have con1pulsory voting.''

The han. gcc1tleman lhen said it would be undesirable to give the postal votP, \Ve know that the postal vote leads to corrup­tion, because it has dono so in years past. The S<,cretary for Lands was not a member of the C'llinistry when he stood for Too­woomba, and he knows that tho po,;tal vote \Yus u<;:ed in a corrupt n1anncr in Toowoomba.

The SECHETARY FOR LA~DS : It was as purfl as the driven snow. .

Mr. FIHELLY: It is pleasant to find that in one c ctse the pootal vote was recorded in a pure manner. \Ve know that the ditierent polieo magi,tratos said that the postal vote "as tlw most diseased, corrupt thing they had over como in contact with. The postal vote was not used by the sick, by the in­valids, by the women with familit>~, by those v. ho could not go to the poll, but ott places like Cha-rters Towers, where von would fall over a polling-booth at ever~y corner, and votes wer~ lJOught at £1 or lOs. each.

::Vlr. WrLLLUrs: Rot!

::Vlr. FIHELLY: The han. member was onr~ of ihe blg·gestp c..Jll"LJirators concel'ned in it.

::V1r. \YrLLIA:\18: You are telling an absolute untruth. ·

Mr. FIHELL Y: As a solicitor in Charters Towers, he, and the present secretary of the Farmers' Union, worD concerned in the col­lection of more postal votes than any other two individuals there.

Mr. \VrLLIAMS: That is an absoluto0 false­hood.

Mr. FIHELLY: Mr. Boyce, t:w present secret<try of thB Farmers' Union--

Mr. vVILLIA:IIS: I am not :Mr. Boyce.

Mr. FIHELL Y : The han. member is as bad as he \\ab. They are of the same poli­tical kidney, and they d€scende·d to the same tricks. 1\Ir. Bovee was Ji'ecretary of the Liberal Association at Charters Towers, but now he• h:1s gcaduated, an<:! is secretary of the Farmers' "Cnion, and he is against Liberalism to-day. Probably he is in favour of this Bill. He is quarrelling with Mr. Fenwick, of the Liberal Ac>sociation, and they arc fighting tooth and nail. ThB member for Charters Towers kno\\B as much about the corrupt practicc3 in connection with the postal vote as anv member in this Chamber; and even if Toowoomba, which is represented by th0 Secretary for Public Lands, was )JUre-the Minister himself knows it was not-he has beside him a colkague who knows more about the inside working of the postal vote than anv other man in the Chamber, as much about it as would bring a blush of shame to the cheek of any decent man or woman in Queensland. This postal vote was used in Charters Towers, Toowoomba, Rock­hampton, and Townsville, and even in Bris­bane, not in the country districts. It was

not n>ed by the women with big families who could not leave their children, or by swk per,,ons; it wu' not used in tl10 hoe,>itals, but lH thoc,' in the tov crs, who were prepared to Jl:;,V, ancl more particularly wl/~rc 12ollrr:g­booths ""we at every corner. I he Premrer said la,,:t ye0.r ~hat it w: :; not dnrrable to 8xtend the poshl vote, but that i0 what ;ve MC o-oirrrr to do-to give the people opposrte the ~'l'>O~'tunity of invcoting that £2,000 re­ceived 'by the han. member for 'l'oowong, and "'' ed on to the Promiu-that famous, ;,nonymous gift will be, used to .buy postal ,-ot(:s to interfere with the adrmmstrutron of the Elections Act and, perhap ', to harass th0 officers a,,oci'ated with its administra­tion. I am very sorr0 that tho thir,d S''SSion of this Parlhment should be used for a tnc,, urt:! of this dcscrintion. I an1 very sorry that \YP should be fighting for, or catching, votes. I am vor.) sorry that we shoul<l come down to _that lov<>l when our snldrers are fig-hting on the battle fields of Europe fo: a much greater issue. \V c are !'~"'e grabbmg fat 5,-.oils. vYe are out for pohtrcal loot. At least; the members on the other sid: .are, ar:d 'hev are more concc:rned about polrtrcal ga'n tlm;1 about the sinking of the " Emden." The people of Queensland arc concerned about what is being stolon fro'n them, stolen from them in a much more insicliou.o wa' th.an that in which the dtomocracy of South Afnca had its right, etolen from it a few mor:ths 2 o-0 . Thev are being im;1oscd upon at a trme "1ren ordinarily their att0ntion is <;oncen­trated else" h ore. The Ministry is takmg ~he opportunitv of d"priving them of sonwthmg uwre valu'ablo, something their forefathers fought very hard for, Some years a!l'o the Liberals were on the downward path, !tke the Liberal Aecnciation--whosc . obsequres we were celebrating the other m~ht-and t~ey conceived another sclieme to m~erfore wrth the franchise. They had what rs known as "tho hab0 vote." If a person had two habic,, he ·had two votes. Th.ey had all sorts of int:-igucs working to deprive ~he avcr;age man 0 ( a vote. 2'-Jothing at all rs too drrty en f,ll' as thoir t<1ctics :l!O concerned.. They would impose iit<e most se',cre re"!tnctwns o.n the avcrao;c voter, and then ther!· sct-therr followers---can haYe what votes tney please, 01nd have them as often as they pleased. Fane:; t"·o vat, c, for tw? babies suj;_portcd by the Sccretnr~c for Pubhc Lands ! 1.he Secre­t<J.ry for Public L;ands supported th~, baby .-ate. " The Darlmi! Downs Ga~ette s~lp­portcd t-,.-0 yates for two babros, whrch .haul(\ have been much worse, from . a yirtuous point of view, than the matcrmty bonus of the Federal Gm·ernment. Fa~cy the Secretarv for Public L'lnds suppo;'tmg :~ babv vat~! He is not even ma~r~e?­(laug-hter)-and hcs not the respomrbrhtos of the avenge citizen. And yet. when the two vatu< for two babies did no.t get through, he has something else, qmte as cunning. in the Elections Act of 1913. He decided then that the nomadic .-oter could d;:> without a vote. The han. member now, t~rs vear--because one Liberal with two babres ~annat get two votes-wants to provide th~t every Liberal shall be comp~lled to record hrs own vote. It is aptly doscnbed by the han. member for Maree as "a drowning man clutch­ing at a straw." He tries the baby .vote, and then he tries to deprive the nomadrc worker of a vote, an<l then he introduces a Bill to

Mr. F1:helly-)

1898 Elections Acts [ASSEYl:BLY.] Amendment Bill.

provide that every Liberal shall get on the roll and vote. It is scandalous, but it is on <L le1-o1 w-ith the tectics purmcd by the Govcrrl!rwnt. Thon, there is another vote­c-ltching device with which tho Premier came ho,ae from the Premiers' conference last week. He is not g·oing to a vail himself of the loan arrangf·.l by the FL,hcr Govern1nent because· lw '' .going to pretend to the people t' _ct; he has c1.ough money to seo him through for all iime, but when he comes back after the• election he is g-oing to borrow the money. The Premier rdusrd that money deliberately l'ccause of tlw inuninenee of the elections. It i., one of the peculiar political devices adoptPd bv the Government-on a level with this m:ttt<ir of the Elections Bill. Anything that is peculiar and cunning iB adopted at the pn·t·nt juncture for the sake of loot, for tlw calw of tho spoils of office, by the most sordid-minded Governm0nt that ever existed in the history of Australia._ They .have done nothing to improve the !tving conditions or the people dnrin!' t11is last Parliament. I pointed out that tho .man who is going to be di·franchised by this Bill would have so little left out of his wag<>s at the end of the year tlwt he would haw· not sufficient to buy a <lrinlc although the Home Secretary cal1ed them drunkards and frequenters of tho public­hou,es, and an hon. gentleman in another place referred to them as " verminous loafers." Tho Government have done noth­ing to improve their living conditions.

The SPEAKER: Order ! The hon. member will not be ju ,tificd in referring to that.

Mr. FIHELL Y: 'vVith reasonable. sugges­tions I think I can touch a little on those matters in passino-. 'vVith dderence to you, I\Ir_ Speaker, I

0

Will suggest that if the people had full electoral power they would, perhaps, see to it chat the) had cheaper furniture, that brick Y:orks \Vere established, public utilities ;cuch as electric light and gas taken over, and no pebon like B:dger would ]){' permitted to make hundreds of thousands of pounds--

The SPEAKER: Order 1 l mu't ask the htJn. n:emb0r to desist from observations of that character. which have no reterP-lC<' to the Elections Bill. He mu .. t ccmfiwc himself to tho second reading.

Ml'. FIHELLY: I see the point you are making, and I agree \vilh it uln1ost en­tirely. At the same time, I think I am entitled to m:,ke a pas,ing ref<>rence to these matters to elaborate my argument. Hon. members opposite use all sorts of means to bolster up their argunwnts. When I elabo­rate my arguments, I might occasionally have to ref<>r to snch m:::tt:ers as the \Yorkers' D'.Yellings Act. It is wortl'iy of note that the foreshorc·s of the Brisbnne River are held almost in perpetuity oy the shipping com­panieo, and that wou!J not be tolerated if we had a, free and unrestricted franchise. We can go back as far as the '90 strike to show what the Liberal methods are. I will again remind the House the_! the men who blacklisted there are the men who are doing most of the businesr> of the country to-clay. The bush worker" of 1890 were the most intelligent men in this continent, and they were subjected to all sorts of indignities and hunted out of Queensland. They were pursued to the four corner-s of Queensland and blacklisted. This electoral law is in­t-ended to take the place of the defunct

[Mr. Fihelly.

Liberal org·anieation, whose machinery is unoiled antl rusted, and to do in a better '' av what the Liberal Association has en­doO:voured to do for itself. The blacklisting of the ·G men in the ninetie., was a social crime, a crime which made the average pt·rson ruYolt, and offended the good sense of all persons of the commu_,ity. Dut the crime to-day is much more gi·ie\ou·, It interferr, , not only ·.vith ihe m.:n, but with their wives and children who are growing np. It makes rt·gistration more formidable, and the changing from one electorate to another almost impossible. It is the easiest way for hon. members opposite. Previously, at an annual reviRion court, ·we had an opportunity of getting people on the roll for a while, but now a revision court every two months can kr,ock the people off, and men who have lived in Queensland for twenty, thirty, or fifts yean will be at th<> end without a vote. They will go off one roll and not be ab:e to get on another. They must "ait four months .altogether. I hope that some amendment·- will be inserted in Committee to provide that every adult citi­zen can got on tht' roll. l do not mind if every adult citiz.en is compc !led to get on tho roll and the •ra0 is made easy. Then umpulsory voting is not objectionable, but, with a preferential or Liberal roll, it is a dis~race to the State which h'Ls tolerated Liberalism. The Liberal party arc prepared to buy and sell the people. to do anything to keep the legislatiYe machinery in their po~"bsion. Production, after all, is deter­mined by the· enor;:y with which people \1 ork, but the distribution of that wealth is contro!Jod almost by po!Jtics, and tho privi­leged class are determin0d to keep under their control the me.1ns of dictributing what is c:tlkd " production." There is not one 1ne1.n1 Pr \vho ri:'l.PS in this IIous>J vvho doeq not talk of his own pri,·ate affair·,, and \Yhat interests him person lily. lYe hav.e the re­spected member for Eno~_;gera blkmg about his little· butcher's shop. And one member after another talks in that -ain. They ore not talking of the electm·.e, whom thev arc suppo,;c:.l to rcprnent. but tl"ery hon. mc>n­bcr opposite i., grinding his own axe. The Secrehr" for \gricult11i·e ho;oed meat would go over ls. a lb., and he is a perfect repre­scntati,-e of tlw cla·s opposite_ He was more h·enk and or10n than other hon. members. Everv hon. member opposite thinks the 'arne a.,, the Secretary for Agricult•1re, but is not game to sav it. Thev hoped thot the squat­ter would 'got more·; the squatter who is making £2.250.000 more out of the working man than he did a few yc ars ago; the squatter whom the 3d. rise in m,·,1t is making untold millions for.

The SPEAKER: Order! I must ask the hon. member not to repeat previous argu­ments.

Mr. FIHELL Y: I should be very happy to follow your sugge;tion, Mr. Speaker, but, unfortunately, most matters in connection with the Elections Act have been covered by other speakers. I am going to resume my seat in a moment. I hope the 'Govern­ment will not proceed with this mea,ure. If they do proc<e>ed with it, probably the result will be something similar to that which occurred when the Philp Government tried to inaugurate the baby vote. They paid no regard to the interests of the worker, and paid no attention whatever to the require­ments of the people of Queensland.

Elections Acts [ll NOVEMBER.] Ammdmrnt Bill. 1899

Mr. MAY {Flinders): I do not wish to see this measure go through the second reading \VIthout say1ng a u .. nY "\Vords. Tho \vhole of

tho Bill has been pretty well [9.30 p.m.] thrashed out at this stage, and

naturally when we are in Com­mittee the claue8S will be fully discussed. I "''ant to point out a phase which I have not seen elaborated at all. and that is that we should revert to a system under \vhich even man should have his voter's right-. the sam"c as they' have the minn's right. That would be a very good system, and it would not lend itself to corruption. If \YO have com­pulsory enrolment and cowpulsory voting, then every n1an and won1an over the age of t -, onty-one years should be compelled to ob­tain a stamped certitic.;te that they arc on the roll, even if th-:-y ha vo to pay 6d. for such "''rtificate. They hac! a similar system in 2'\ c>\· South Walo'l for ,,ome year~ and it 'vorkcd fairly well, and I feel sure that if it \\ere introdu:_._,J here \' e Hhould get a fair re­cord of the opinion of the pi-oletariat and of the upper classes in Queensland. But, no nutter what system may be adopted, there \rill always be some corruption. There is a vaect amount of corruption on the Home Sec­rehry's side of the Hoc;sc, and there mav h<> a &mall amount on our side. I do not sa\- that it is all on one side. At thG time the 'postal votG was in operation there was a g·ood deal of intimidation and con Ulltion at election times, as was evidenced a,t Charters Towers and Tm\ nsvillL The postal vote is one of the most iniqctitous provisions in the Act, and should bt~ repealed. I an1 exercised \'ery rnuch about the way iu ·which this n1easurc clitni~ nah•s tho absentee vote. L ndcr the svstcm ~;.doptPJ for gi\·ing abS€llt0C~ U vote, if a man clunr •d to be in another electorate than thr, one for which he was enrolled he could re­cord hj, vote in that electoraL•, and there

'F, no chan.Jc of corruption in connection with it. \Yith reference to tho provision rP­ducing from se• en to four months the tine ,· .r-in _, "·hich a person may be absent from Li"., clector.ttc Y i{hout l"cing struck off the roll, th· t is driving a peg into th" chances of

hon. member for FlindP•' the hon. member for Gregory, the hon. ~le!e,ber for lllitchc!L .,nd the hon. member for Burke at th·' next ch•ction. It v.·ill deprive manv of the nom• die populatiun of their vote-,· and yet they arc t.ho men who had the Ftamina and intPlligence to go out into tho Northern and \Yt".tcrn portioi1 of the State to dew;lop its rf· -ourcos. Th"'l, what arD tc·rmed the pimw,;rs--the squatters and tho speculators­folio'>' eel thos0 nwn after thev had done the \1-ork and home the hr>at and burden of thn clay. \Ye cannot do without capital, and we c mnot do without labour. On one side of tho <'1PctorEt0 which I represent there are miners, fos,ickers. and that honourable class of men called copper gougers, who have been working thet'e for the benefit of the countrv. On the. eastern side of the electoratf\ there are sh(arers and rousnabouts, who were at work there before the mining- fie-lds were open, ,,nd who have bv their labours assisted in developing the co~ntr~·- It seems to me that one of the obiocts of this measure is to have the names of such men removed from the electoral rolls. I c11n onlv enter mv nrotPst ag-ainst the dastardly pro~isions in this Bill, and I hope that. if it j, carried in its pre­sent form. when wo como back in six or eig-ht months' time, one of the first measures brought forward will be a Bill to repeal it and bring our electoral laws up to date.

Every man and woman over the age of twenty­one ve us should havG tho rig·ht to vote, no matt~,- in what part of Queen-sland they may be. They should have their electoral right &tamped on a certific-ate at the time they re­cord their votes, and then there would be no Hlch thing as roll-stufling, and the Liberal party are trying to stuff the rolls at the pre­sent time.

Mr. H'CXHAM (lJurancla) : I protest against this Bill, on Lho ground that it is al,olutcly unnoceHary at this time of the .:;, S"'ion to bring forward such a n1casure. We thouc:ht last year, when the Elections Act ''as llassed that the Govormnont thought the Act was an admirable one; in fact, if it had all the virtues that were as,ribed to ;t, it would have been a perfect measure. I think the Govornmc 1t have made a very serious blunder if thev imagine that the introduction of this Bill " going to iw, to their m;n advantage. \Ve have, ~ctnll;llY had it from members on tho oppo~,tc SJde tlu,t th:<t io the reason it bas 1:--oen brought forward, recognising, as they sa:v, that only 75 per cent. of the people go to the polL

At seventeen minutes to 10 o'clock,

:vir. G ILD.W called attention to the state of the House.

Quorum formed.

::\lr. H'GXHAM: I think the Bill will be of absolute disadvantage to the Government. \Vhile this discu;sion has been going on no me-mber has been so full Df vituperation :tgain-::,t n1en1bers on this side n 1'l the hor.L me -nber for Port Curtis, who laid emphasis on the statement that all tho virtue was <•n tht t sicle of the House Another objPct in bringing for\vard this nw:::sure, _i as . .stated bv tho hon. member for Port CurtJS, \\as n;at the Government may be returned st on !Tel' ,,-hen they have to face the people again, ov-ing to the method'' they. have adopted as far a" the pnbhc sc cnce IS con­ce,·ned-that is. that there has been no reb·enchmcnt-which wa, so differ ,nt to tho Stah-s gm·erned by Labour Governments. I maintain that if a Labour Government, when it gets into power, cannot do betkr thun has been c]o·1e up to the pre' •nt tnne-- ts far as employing our people are concerned-­then thev will des~rve as short a shr1ft a~ I hope the Government will rect ive when thev face' the rountrv. F};p<-cially do I um­ph~siee thn treatmc·J~t that has. been meted out to certain of the lo\ver nrnd c nployc:s i~'l the r;Yihra 1,T service. I knOw t1H t· -lnrin~' this week there hao been -a v<'r~- co·1sicfcrab1c dis]J('nsing of men in the raihYa.v7 service, while nothing has been done so far as the officials are concerned. A Government that co.rllloi devise something bet ... 1~r than to r0· trench men who are ,;ctting £2 a week and less, whil0 they keep up the some number of officials in the Railwav Department. desc;rve verv little consideration at the hands of the peo.ple. And I -am satisfied that w~ n the time comes for them to be dealt w1th, the measure brought forward now will bo the undoino- of the Government. There is one thing :bout the Bill that a:1peals to me verv considerably. I have been very out­spol<en on this matter in days gone by, and I am not going to be less outspoken now. Both compulsory enrol!'lent and compulsory voting I am strongly m favour of under a

Mr. Huxham.J

1900 Elections Arl9, Etc., Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Fish and Oyster Bill.

democratic franchiee, but not at thn present time, when so many people aro kept off the roll. I favour a sptcm where people will be put on the roll and kept there-that they shall not be wrongly removed from the roll. I say compulsory enrolment and compnlsory votin<T nre absolntclv c·-scntial for the hone,.·­ad.I.dini>tra+ion of O~lr Govern1nent. \V(:' ro­cosrnise th~t in dealing with th" attendance of juror". They are compelled to attend. and I maintain that tho attende.nce at the oourt>' of l::t w is not more important than tho election of mcmhers to Parliament.

An Orrosrno!-1 ::\1E:\!BFR : Jurors arc paid for their attendance.

1\lr. HUXHA"1: The el,•ction of repre­sentatives is one of the most important duties tho people have to pnrform, and I do not think the;~ should expect payment for it. I am satisfied that if a 5s. f"e were attached to the attendance at a . polling-booth, every individual would take advantage of his fran­chise to get the 5s. The systf'm of compul­sory voting is a good one under fair cir­cumstances, but I do object to so many people being disfranchised as is provided for by the Act of 1913 and th0 pr0sent Bill. Another thing I object to is the Gov0rnment having reverted last session to the postal voting system instc<1d of kePping to the absent vote. It is most unseemlv that the postal vote should be reinhoduc0ci. ' I know from my experi­ence during my second contest for S-outh Brisbane in 1908, the troTJb!e that was caused by the postal vote, and, after the wav in which it was dealt with bv the then 'Pre­mier, Mr. Kidston, and by' ::'vir. Barlow in the Upper House, one -,,·auld have thought thP Governnwnt WOi.lld not h.:tve had the temerity to attempt to rointn1duce that me­thod of voting. It mHms that the same old villainy will be practi.>ed, and I am satisfied that. when this party is transferred to the other si(i,. of the C'hamber, it will take the very earliest opportunity of abo l ;,bing the system. A question that I feel most strongly about in connection with our electoral system is that it pays more consideration to a privi­leged class than to workr-rc'. A man who has a piec·e of land worth Jn~o is more en­titled to have his name kept on th<' roll than the man "ho may emplo:· 2GO or 300 hands. I maintain that· the basis of our franchise should be manhood and womanhood suffrage, and I hop0 the time is not far distant when we shall abolish the system undn which a man can bo enrolled if he i': th·c owner of a 16-per{'h :cllotmont or if ho pays a rent of £20 a Year. The present f.vstem is most illib<'r~l. and privilege shou tel' give place to manhood and womanhood suffrage. I enter my protest ag-ainst the passing of this Bill. because I consider that the Government have overstepped the bounds of decency in bring­ing forward such .a measure ill the last session of a Parliament. It would have been more seemlv if they had put to the to· t the Act passed last oession, to which they ascribed all the virtues and perfections. Evidently their intE>ntion in bringing in this Bill when their old organisation has passed away is to get the memliers of the public service to do th0 work that they formerly

deputed to their paid officials. 1[10 p.m.] I hope that the Government will

not be ;riven the opportunity of putting into operation at an election a mea· sure. based on such a system of compulsion as this Bill is, and I sincerely hope that the

[Mr. H uxham.

few weeks or months that ma v be in front of this Government will oe the last oppor­tunity they will have of legislating for this State.

Question-That the Bill b" now read a sr.e0nd time-put; and the Hou'e divided:-

c\YES, 41..

}Ir. ,\Ibn , ,\ppd

\n:her , Barnes, G. P.

Barnes ,V. H. , Bebbington , Bell

Blair Bou, hard

, Bridges , Caine , Corspr, B. H.

Con<'r, E. B. C. Crawford (':·ihb DPnham For&vth Gr:nlt Gravson Gnnll

, Hoclge

Mr. KP"'oCll Luke mackay

" ::\fackintosh l\Iacros.,.ln

,, Pag('t Petrie

.. T'hilp 1-irut.-Cnl. Rankin. 11r. Tioherts

,'om{'rsct Stevrns

, ~todart ~wavnc ToJniie Trout

, Vowles 'Vall\"T

, White Williams

Teller8: Jlfr. Bell and :\fr. B. H. Corser.

}Ir. ~\damson Barbr-r Bertram Howman Coyne

,. Fihelly Folcy

, Gilday Gilli<'S Han1ilton Harclacre Hunter Huxham

NOES, 2:J. l\ir. Kinvan

Land L:lrcomlJe Lr-nnon

, May McCormack ~Jurphy O'Sullivan Pa·yne n·,an Theodore Winstanley

Tellers: Mr. Barber and ~Ir. Coyne.

Resolved in the affirmative.

The committnl of the Bill was made an Order of the Day for to-morrow.

CRDIIN.AL CODE AJYIEND:.VIENT BILL.

MESSAGE FROi\1 Cov:-.crL.

The SPEAKER announced the receipt of a mc<~acce from the Legislative Council, r~­tnrnirw

0

this Bill with an amendment m clause

0

11, in which they invited the concur­ren<<e of thP Assembly.

Ordered that the meosage be taken into consideration to-morro·".

FISH AND OYSTER BILL.

CovxcrL 's A1IE:-<Di\1ENTS-Co;~rMITTEE.

(Jfr. Stodart, Logan, in the chair.)

0!1 clause 34-" r,ersons unlawfully in pos­session of oy::Jters ~

The TREASURER pointed out that the Council had altered the penalty from £10 to £20. The clause would then read-

" Any person who, on being charged before a justice of the peace with hav­ing 05 ;ters in his posse~sion which may reasonably be suspected of being stolen or unlawfullv obtained, cloPs not give an account to the satisfaction of such

F1sh and [ll NOVEMBER.] Oyster Bill. 1001

justice how he came by the same, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding t"·enty pounds."

He moved that the Council's amendment be agreed to.

Mr. COYNE (Warngo) objected to the amendment. Persons could wrongfully re­move any man's name hom the electoral roll without suffering a penalty, and that was a greater off0nce than 1Jeing found in possession of oy ters. He, therefore, opposed the clause.

Que,;tion put and passe d.

On clause 47-" Lessee or licensee convicted to lose license "-

The TREASURER: The Council had de­leted the words, " or of stealing fish .or oysters from any area under lease or license granted under this Act," so that clause would read-

" Any holder of a lease or license under this Act "· ho is convicted of an offence against this Act shall be liable, at the d-iscretion of the Minister, to have his lease or license cancelled in addition to any other punishment that may be inflicted upon him."

He moved that that amendnlE'nt be agreed to. He did not propose to accept the next amendment proposed by the Council, but would reduce the penalty they imposed from three years to one year, and the sum from £100 to "not exceeding £50."

Mr. PAYNE thought this w:1s too much power to put into the hands of any Minister. The whole matter could be settled at the sweet will of the Minister, and the lessee had no redress at all. The Committee should not give such po\\er to any Minister.

Mr. E. B. C. CORSER (Jiaryborough) pointed out that for years back there had been svstematic stealing of oyster' b:~ people who ,;:,ight have their lease, alongside an­other leasc. They either took them away in pnnts or dumned them on to their own lease or dredged f~r them. Men engaged in the industn- had told him that they had lost as much a' £800 in one year through stolen ovsters. He would ask members to re­u";ember that the penalty for cattle stealing, in which it was not nearly so hard to get a conviction a;; in oyster stealing, '\Vas up to :oeven years. He thought that the penalty suiTgested bv the other Chamber \ras not too gr~at whm; thny took into consideration the sums that. comparatively poor men lost without any possibility of tracing the thief. He sincerPlv hoped that the Treasurer would make the penalty sufficiently high to pre­vent people robbing their fellow lessees.

The TREASGRER: He would like to point out that the amendment he had sug­gested did not come under the paragraph of the dau.<c which they wore discu,,sing, and as he mpposed that they w,mld have to proceed by paragraph, members might with­hold their viewH as to the amount of the penalty until they came to tho next para­graph.

Mr. BARBER thought that the amend­ment proposed by the Treasurer as to the

amount of the penalty was a very reason­able one. \Vith regard to the remarks of the hon. member for Maryborough, his ex­perience was that there were few poor men who could lease and work big- O} stc•r con­cerns. Most of thP oyster banks were I ea cod by men who could b:, no ctrclch of the imag­ination be described as " poor." At the sctme time, they must see that they pa,,sed the legislation that would be best in thG intcrc'ls of both rich and poor. That was the principle of the Labour partv. He knew that a considerable amount of ovstcr pilier­ing Wf'nt on, althOU[h hP did not think the a verav,e lev;ce wuuld seek tu enforce th<> extreme penalty, if a man took a dozen or two and ate them on th0 .. not. \Vhen a mnn expended a good manv h{mdreds of pounds on putting oyster cu !tu"l-e on a bed he leased, and fencing it-and fences in salt water won rotted and deturiorated--he thought the Committc>e would be wise to accept the amendment s';'ggcsted by the Treasurer.

Question put and passed.

The TREASURER mon•d an amendment to the new paragraph inserted bv the Coun­cil in the same clause (47), as folfows:-

" Any holder of a lease or license under this Act who is convicted of steal­ing fish or oy'oters from any ar0a under­lease or license granted under this Act, shall have his lease or license cancelled, and be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, and be liable to a :penalty of one hundred pounds. Any person not being the holder of a lease or license who has been so convicted shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, and be· liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds."

He moved that the words " three years," in line 28, be omitted, with a view to insert­ing "one year." He pointed out that this particular part of the clause did not refer to a. person who was visiting the place, but to the holdN of a lease or license.

Mr. FOLEY pointed out that tlw first part of the paragraph said that the holder of a lease or license was to lose his lease or license if he was convicted of stealing oysters. Even if he was convicted of otealing half a dozen oysters, it would be the same. The :Minister might in some cases think the offence was not sufficientlv heinous to war­rant him in cancelling a ~an's license; but, under the clause as it stood. the Minister would have no alternative. He agreed tha.t the term of imprisonment slwuld not exceerl one year, nor the fine £50; but the MinisL'r should have discretionary power as to whether the man should lose his lease. It wo11ld be very hard on men who were. making a living in this indnstr.1 if the_.; were deprived of their living simply becauso the:; had committed the offence <'tlCe in a small way. At the same time he did n0t hold a brief for anyone stealing o:pters.

Mr. P A Y="JE said there should be a dis­tinction made between the man who stole· oysters in a wholesale way and a man wh~ only took a few. He did not hold with any

Mr. Payne.]

1902 Fish and Oyster Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Special Adjournment.

man who stole oysters, even if it was only a dozen, but they should allow ±he matter to be decided by a mag-istrate, or a jud_,.,, in the ordinary way, .and not gi vc the power to fine a man £100. His experience was that when a very heavy fine could he imposed, there v. as a tendency, even if the offence was trifling, to make the fine larger than when the maximum penalty was lower. and it was the same way with regard h imprisonment.

.:\lr. E. B. C. CORSER thought tho word, "Any holder of a lease or license" covered the position. The holcler of a lease or li,·~nse would understand th0 rcsvon,ibility. of tak­ing oysters from another person's bed. It was hard to trace anybody who had taken oysters in a \1 holesale way. The losseec- Jaid the industry could be more largely cle­Yeloped than it was now if they were pro­tected from oyster thieYes. The penalty should be a heavy one. The TrHlsur.;· rie· cei.-ed about £2,000 a year in lieen•·e fc" from the Wide Bay district alone, ar::l r·er· sons engaged in the industry s . .id that unlcs., some protection in the shape of a hea ,·ior penalty was given, which would rc orain thiC\·es, the revenue would greatl.v deere tse. The oyster bank lessees did not mind p~ople having a few oysters to r;at on the S!10t, but they objected to people taking them away in punt-loads. He had two letters making complaints about punts lying abom the oyster-beds for a considerable time and about oysters being taken away. The size of the pnnt could be seen from the im­pression it had made on the oyster-bank. The same kind of thing happened with re­gard to dredging. Men went at night with a dredge over a lease that did not belong to them, gathered in the oysters, and drop· perl them onto their own bed•, a·1d nobodv was any the wiser. In order to prevent that kind of wholesale robbery the ponalt,· shonld be severe. If the nenaltv for cattle· stealing was up to seven ,Ye-ars' h~prisoninont. and it was less difficult to catch a cattle­stealer than an oyster thief, why should the penalty in the latter case not be made severe!

Amendment agreed to.

The TREASURER moved that the words "of one hundred pounds," on line 29. be omitte<l with the view of inserting the words "not excee<ling fifty poun<ls."

Amendment agr<>ed to.

The TREASURER moved that the "ords "thrco year.,," on line 29, be omitted with the vic1v of inserting "one year."

Mr. PAYNE; This part of the elause dealt with "any person," and not with the "holder of a lease or license," and he thought it n1ight very 1vell lx~ omitted, as without it theY would still be ablo to accom­plish the obJect of the h{lll. mem her for J\1aryborough, and deal with persons who sto !e ov-ters in a wholesnle wa v. Cattle­stealing was ,a very <lifferent t.hing from stealing half a dozen oysters, and if they made the JWnalty for stealing a few oysters imprisonment for a term not exceeding one YE'tr. O" a penalty not exceeding £50, that

·would be a mO'•t drastic provision.

The TREASURER pointed out that in the administration of the old ,\ct it had been found that the amount of ovster-stealing was surprising. and that it had been most difficult

[ilir. Payne.

to catch the thieves. The new clause, <ts amended, '·'auld Ie~ve it to the discretion of the magietrate to impose an:: penalty up to one year's irnprisunrnent. l\Iagistratos and justi{'es "\Yere, as a rule, reasonable n1en, and if an offence was a very light one, they \vonld dr a! ,,·ith it c.ccordin.;lv. and would not pnnieh peopl~ unne"c- sarilJ.

An:cndm cnt agree<:! to.

The THEASGHER moved that the ,,ords '' one lnuHlred," on line 33, Lo o1nittcd with the view of inserting the word '' fift.y."

Awenchnont agreed to.

Council's arnendn1cn~, us an1ended, agreed t0.

Tho House resumed. The CHA!lUIAN re­ported that the Committee had agreed to one of· the Council's arrF ndments with amend­nwnts, -aud agreed to the Council's other arnend1nents in tho Bill.

The r~port was agn•od to by the House, and thn Bill ordered to b" returned to the Conner! with the following mes ·age :-

·' .:\1r. Presiding Chairman,-" The Legi,lative Asso,HL:y having had

under con>ideration the Legislative Coun­cil's amendments in the Fieh and Oyster Bill, bog now to intimate that they-

" .Agree to the a1nendlnent jn clause 47, page 16, lines 24 to 33, with the following amendments:-

Line 28~0n1it ' three year~,' and insert • one year,'

Line 29-0mit 'of one hundred pounds,' and insert • not exceed· 1ng Gfty poundB,'

Line 32-0mit 'three years,' and insert • one year,'

Line 33--0mit ' one hundred,' and insert 'fifty,'

in which amendments they invite the concnrrence of the Legislative Council; al!d

•' ,-\gree to the ol·hcr '" nondments in the Bill. "Legislative Assembly C'nan1bcr,

·· Bri "· .une, 11th )Jovc1nber, 1914."

SPECIAL ADJOURN:YlE::\T.

The PRE:YliER; I beg to move that the I-Iouse, p~, its rising, adjourn till to-n1orrow evening at 7 o'dock. I might explain that this afternoon an invitation was re­ceiYed from Lieutenant-Colonel Ca.nnan, of tho 15th Batallion of the 14th Infantry Brigade, A.I.F., inviting members of the LcgislatiYe Ase,,mbly to be' present to-morrow afternoon <tt the presentation of the ban<:! instrum~nts to the briga<lc. I move the adjournment till 7 o'clock p.m. to-morrow, so that members may be prcsout to <lo honour to those brave men \vho have volunteered to go forth to f\ght in defence of the Empire

Hoxoc:RABLE JY1E;,1BERS: Hear, hear ! Question put and pas;ecl.

The' 'House a•ljonrnocl at thirtePil minutes tc. 11 o'clock.